Yesterday I paid a visit to Albert Square in Manchester to see my newly-installed cast iron drain cover. My cover is located in the southern end of the beautifully refurbished square, near the large tree and the William Gladstone statue, and is one of five designs created by members of the public.

After a two-year wait, my competition-winning drain cover design has finally been manufactured in cast iron. The 60cm wide piece is to be installed in the newly-landscaped Albert Square in Manchester, and this Monday I will get to see it in situ. #manchester #design #ourtownhall

I went to a dinner on Thursday hosted by @stanchow.bsky.social and Mary-Ellen McTague at Pip. It was an honour to be asked and a good time was had by all. Photos by @barneyibbotson.bsky.social

Living Colour on @nprmusic #TinyDesk tomorrow (Wednesday) livingcolour.com/blogs/news/p...

New #illustration work! I worked with Arbor Ales and 2000 Trees Festival to illustrate the can for this special festival beer, 'Holding Out for A Beero', a 'zesty session pale ale'. The beer will be available on site at 2000trees Festival in July, in shops around Bristol, and on Arbor's website

If anyone has an Adobe Creative Cloud membership, did you know there are perks such as a free year of the app Headspace? I wanted to share this with you as I figure we could all use this right now to find some peace of mind. 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋 #adobe #meditation #calm #headspace #healing #selfcare

A @bsky.app alternative to Meta shitshow Instagram, coming soon!

Almost forgot I have a Behance account. Does anyone use this platform any more? www.behance.net/BarneyIbbotson

We have a new website up. Gazillions of thank yous to my very talented friends @barneyibbotson.bsky.social (who built it) and @stanchow.bsky.social for the new logo + Benni Carol Photography emmatricca.com

New ‘C’ design. Spot the object beginning with C within the design… #design #illustration

Happy New Year! I’m hoping to do something different in 2025 because 2024 was a fucking nightmare. This year I felt like my career was finished, despite not doing anything differently to 2023. It’s hard to post on social media when nothing is working out. I can’t maintain a facade.

Anthrax! open.spotify.com/track/4fjWSt...

New ‘M’ design. Spot the object beginning with M within the design… #design #illustration

Now listening: open.spotify.com/track/2wHSoG...

Here’s a little showreel #illustration #illustrator #design

New ‘B’ design. Spot the object beginning with B within the design… #design #illustration

Show yourselves! Starter pack in progress

Those first two episodes of Skeleton Crew were more exciting, fun and watchable than the entire season of The Acolyte.

I loved this project! x+why is a London-based company that creates flexible workspaces. I was commissioned to design a mural for the reception area of their new space at 100 Embankment in #Salford. The brief asked for a design that covered the past, present and future of the site and wider area.

🦋🦋

My Instagram posts attract almost zero views and subsequently hardly anyone sees my art any more. I’m seriously considering becoming a performing monkey. I hate what this world has become

This is Susan Kare the most important designer you've probably never heard of. She single-handedly created all the icons for the original Mac, some of which we still use. The little wristwatch, the trashcan, the font suitcase, and (ugh) the bomb. Face it, none of this will ever look THIS cool.

QRP with your skull art!

If there is one thing I want tossed out the window in the freelancing world in 2025 is the stand off of clients asking how much something would cost when they know their budget Just tell us the budget, we can work from there. Let’s stop this game

‘Community’ print, created for an exhibition at the Emma Evans Gallery in Monton, Salford, in October ‘24 #art #illustration #prints

iPad symmetrical doodle #art #illustration #digitalart

I bloody love symmetry. Here’s a gorilla piece I designed for a private commission. “QRP with your symmetrical art!”

Currently listening: open.spotify.com/track/7A2yhr...

Lovely stuff; takes me back

Love this!

that gpsr law is basically the death knell of creative small businesses selling outside the insular shores of the british isles - hope all who voted for brexit are happy with the shit show theyve brought and of course their blue fucking passports.

Little drone sketches… #Art #SciFi #Illustration

This! Not long now until the season finale too!

Daft spaceships #illustration #art

Adobe continually pack their software with AI gubbins but I still get 1 pixel gaps along the edge of the artboard when outputting images for web. Fix the basics!

Brexit keeps on giving

iPad doodle #illustration

Choose 20 albums that have stayed with you or influenced you. One album per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 1/20

Resolutely old-school style from Polish artist Lukasz Piwinski (aka Vaultcrawler). @vaultcrawler.bsky.social

iPad doodle #illustration

Digital doodle #illustration

Doodles: aircraft #illustration #doodles

@drawingskulls.bsky.social Hi! Are you based in Manchester?

✨ #arttrain ✨ QRP with your sketch vs final artwork!

Illustration for Alliance Manchester Business School’s magazine, on the theme of levelling up UK transport infrastructure #illustration #editorial

Please repost; Manc creatives show yourselves…

Hello Manchester creative types! Designers, artists, illustrators, agencies, creative directors, animators etc. If you’re based in Greater Manchester let me see you. I’m putting together a starter pack.

The Granary by Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects 📷 Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects #architecture #architect #london #photography #design #bluesky

@raremags.bsky.social Hi Rare Mags 👋🏻 Thought you might like these Stockport designs that I did. Loads of #Stockport references in there! 😀