My first official publication happened during my second year at University in 2010. I felt so much happiness the day I saw it on my clients website)
My best friend works at The Helping Hand Trust which is a Charity Organisation in Gibraltar who's main aims are marine conservation and dolphin research, plus they also supervise and look after the Monkeys that live there. (http://www.helpinghand.gi/)
Every year they have an artist who volunteers to design Christmas greeting cards for them, which they later print out and send over to all their acquaintances, colleagues, etc. across Gibraltar. I volunteered to create the designs for them and Eric Shaw, the founder of the organisation, was happy to give me that opportunity.
I ended up designing cards for them for the two following years too, each design with a background story to it based on true events and adventures of the monkeys, which my best friend would tell me about.
December 2010:
The events of the above illutration happened in Gibraltar in the summer when a bunch of monkeys would sit early morning on the hill waiting for the people to leave their homes to go to work, and once they'd be gone the monkeys would sneak in to their gardens and swim in their pools.
I drew the owners of the place about to leave, the monkey on the roof wishing them goodbye (although initially I had the sign saying 'coast clear'), and the rest of the macaques hiding and waiting with their 'marine equipment'.
December 2012:
About the above illustration: In Gib, the taxi drivers tend to not only take people to their destinations but also act as tourist guides, taking them up the hill and showing the macaques. They (drivers) also occasionally feed the monkeys so that they come closer to the car (which is not allowed and is very bad for the macaques as they can get all sorts of health issues later, starting from diabetes to teeth aches and allergies). The taxi drivers believe that they are the ones in control, however that is not quite so.
The way it works in the monkeys mind is each monkey owns his own taxi driver, so if I'm the monkey and my driver Bob decided to give a banana to another monkey, I am going to get very angry and will not let that happen. Bob is only allowed to feed ME because I OWE him, he is my personal treat provider. So each monkey picks his own Bob.
So in the greeting card we have a special offer at the local Italian: take your taxi driver out for christmas supper!
December 2012:
Honestly... I think I just came up with this one because I found it funny... I doubt that they actually go to people's homes putting trash down their chimneys) They're just being Santa's little helpers in this one))
