Ian Viggars

Pressing Matters is a magazine about printing and printmakers. I started buying it when I introduced linocut printmaking into my practice, and noticed that they had a competition in every issue. There’s usually a colour theme and anyone can enter. I entered issue number 35’s Black and Blue competition, and my Beach Bins print was chosen to be included in that magazine’s showcase gallery, which I was thrilled about.

The magazine’s remit in their own words is - “we speak to artists about their creative processes and passion for print. Expect inky fingers, creative workspaces, sketchbooks and prints made using all kinds of techniques and mediums” - this is their website.

Here’s a link to the press release for issue 35 -
https://www.pressingmattersmag.com/s/Issue_35_Press-Pack_web.zip

And here’s a link to buy one of the original prints featured.

In Autumn 2024 I was approached by my long term collaborators The French Workwear Company to create an illustration based on old-school fashion drawings, that could be used to promote their markets and pop-ups.

The request was to have two figures, one male and one female, dressed in classic examples of vintage French workwear, plus to have one character holding the tote bag featuring the logo I’d previously designed for them. That, and a wire fox terrier too.

The end results is two A4 size illustrations, one with a simple brick wall background, and one without, but the idea also came up to create a square image with text explaining the various factors that make-up classic workwear.

The illustration style is the one I usually use for human figures, and is very similar to the animated music videos I’ve made.

I’m open to taking on more illustration commissions of this nature, so if you like what you see, please get in touch to discuss.

In 2024 a local musician and friend of mine asked me to work on a logo and general branding for a new 80s inspired music venture he was creating. Influenced by vaporware, synthwave, and more classic 1980s references, the friend continues to release music under the name, The Girl From Tomorrow.

On May the 7th 2016 I completed my first ever mural / street art commission. I was asked by Tjinder Singh of Cornershop and Ample Play records to replicate my original Fab Lolly and 99 Ice Cream painting design on a wall, with the record company 'phone' logo in the middle.

You can now see the finished piece at anytime at 256 Albion Road, Stoke Newington, London. This was a dream commission as not only is it a prominent position for a piece of my art but I've been a Cornershop fan since I was 16.

It was a hugely enjoyable experience and I'm open to creating more murals and street art for businesses. If you like what you see please get in touch using the contacts page.

In the winter of 2025 I took part in Friends of The Earth’s annual art exhibition, hosted at the Trinity Art Gallery in the Tunbridge Wells Theatre. The theme of the exhibition was Waste, and how we as a planet deal with climate change. I displayed my soy sauce fish giclee print and my canvas painting of two plastic water pistols. I sold two of the fish prints on the opening night.

Mama Moo’s was a fun but short-lived company set up by a friend, with the intention of creating a marketplace for recycled children’s clothes, to ultimately help reduce waste and consumption. I workshopped the chunky, colourful font logo with the owner, and produced a couple of extra illustrations for their website too, featuring a cartoon cow.

On Saturday the 17th of August 2024 I took part in the second ever Bottle Alley Art Market in Hastings / St Leonard's. Artists of all ages, abilities, experiences and disciplines were invited to apply with 110 showing, sharing and selling work to over 13k visitors, there to experience 500m of art and inspiration. I took a range of my prints, badges, and paintings, most of which are available via my online shop.

In 2022 I was asked to create a new logo for my local primary school’s annual fund-raising music festival called Rob Fest, organised by the PTA.

I was given the brief of 60s / 70s rock festival style, and created the logos you see here. The final picture shows some of my other rough ideas, and the logo even ended up being on a t-shirt, as worn here by me. Alongside the logo I also picked a general font to be used across all branding which included the pictured advertising banner.

In 2023 and 2024 I was asked re-do the logo in different colours, as they were keen to use it again.

The French Workwear Company invited myself and several other artists and illustrators to use vintage chore jackets as a canvas to create unique exciting pieces. The results are playful, wearable artwork. I myself have painted objects straight on to four jackets, using the placing of the pockets to frame them.

All jackets including mine are available to buy here.

From the website: - “This classic garment, which dates back from the 19th century, has always been favoured by creators such as Van Gogh, Niki de Saint Phalle or Bill Cunningham. Here it is revisited through different techniques from spraying to embroidery. We cannot wait for you to see amazing pieces by Jenni Allen, Becky Baur, Rana Begum, Stewart Easton, Paul Farrell , Sally Minns, Jayde Perkin and Ian Viggars. Wear it or frame it, it is your choice.”

I designed the logos and general branding for a company that buys and sells vintage french workwear clothes, based in London. 

My designs and illustrations were based around examples of authentic French workwear from the past.

I originally designed the branding in 2017, and the company has since gone on to use the logo on a range of tote bags, patches, t-shirts, sweaters, and lately, beanie hats.

Visit the site here - www.frenchworkwear.com

Stoke Newington based estate agents Location Location interviewed me for their monthly magazine about local creatives and businesses in the area. This came about as a result of my mural commission in Stoke Newington, an image they’d previously used in their promotional materials.

http://www.locationlocation.com/blog/meet-east-londonrs-fab-food-loving-pop-artist-614.htm

in 2019 I designed the logo and general branding for a new product coaching consultancy company called Rather Good.

Since the company has launched I’ve started to create illustrations for the regular blog posts and article that they publish. Those can be seen here on Medium. The first few images are displayed in this gallery.

At the end of 2018 I was hired to create a bespoke logo for a startup company called Perched. The brief included a desire for bold lines, bright and/or pastel colours, and the logo must be a parrot.

The results are the three vector files you see here. One has straight pastel colours, the next has more traditional parrot colours using gradients, and the final one shows the black and white outline.

Perched is an app which lets food professionals find trusted kitchens and venues - https://www.perched.at

This project is a proposal for a children’s book written by my good friend Stewart Turner. He created a story based on his own lovable-but-lazy rescue corgi called Sandy.

In the book Sandy is a bit lazy and unwilling to get involved with all of the usual canine activities - walks, playing fetch, that kind of thing. Then at night Sandy has a crazy secret life where she gets up to all sorts of things!

To help Stewart with his proposal I created five illustrations based on pages from the book. Four of them show Sandy in her lazy day-to-day life, the final one shows Sandy dancing at a secret party at night while a Doggie DJ spins the tunes.

If the book got published we’d use these illustrations but create new ones to illustrate all of the other pages. So if you’re a published and you’re interested in hearing more about Sandy the Lazy Corgi then please get in touch.

From the 30th of August up to the 12th of September I’ll be presenting an exhibition of paintings and prints at Stour Space in Hackney Wick.

The vague theme of the collection is ‘discontinued’ - so expect retro tech, vintage design, and discontinued foods top be featured, all in my colourful pop art style.

From the 5th of August to the 15th of September 2019, I’ll be displaying a series of new prints and paintings at The Haberdashery cafe at 170 Stoke Newington High Street, London.

The theme is summertime and features a trademark selection of ice creams, ice lollies, Walkman cassette platers, and roller-skates.

I designed the record label image for Seattle-based indie label Pacific Trash, based on a simple brief created by the label head. The image was completed using my usual mix of handmade paint and Posca pen drawing, but I used Photoshop a lot more to edit the end result.

Pacific Trash Records sadly ceased to exist as of 2017 but I still believe my designs created a pleasing and consistent style that suited the music and image they were trying to portray.