David Procter - Illustrator

www.David-Procter.co.uk David Procter is a British illustrator living in Hong Kong, where, armed with his trusty mapping pens and bottles of ink, he produces his darkly comic, and often surreal, illustrations for a broad range of clients from around the globe. Newspapers, magazines, clothing, books and pub signs, from the USA to Australia are all on his roster, as well as creating original artworks for exhibitions and private collectors worldwide.  Some Recent Clients include: The Boston Globe, Haymarket Publishing, The Salariya Book Group, The Co-Operative Group, Weldon Owen, G.E. (General Electric), The Times Higher Education Magazine, The Florida Times-Union, Diplomat Magazine, Contagious Magazine, Copeland Publishing, Ocean Media Group,  Cuckoo Design, Subatomic Records and Summersdale Publishing among a host of others. For illustration commissions please EMAIL David directly.

[davidprocterillustrator]

Beery Jetpack - finished poster for an event later this month at The Boathouse, Falmouth #keykeg #jetpack #astronaut #space #craftbeer #beer #falmouth #posterdesign • • • • • #illustration #illustrations #illustrator #illustrators #illustrationartists #illustrationart #illustratorsofinstagram #illustrationgram #drawing #drawings #penandink #ink #inkart #art #artist #artwork #artistsofinstagram #artstagram #davidprocter https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu3EqC5Afjr/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1jyoczbkj84i1

[davidprocterillustrator]

Beery Jetpack - finished illustration awaiting text #wip #keykeg #jetpack #astronaut #space #craftbeer #beer #posterdesign • • • • • #illustration #illustrations #illustrator #illustrators #illustrationartists #illustrationart #illustratorsofinstagram #illustrationgram #drawing #drawings #penandink #ink #inkart #art #artist #artwork #artistsofinstagram #artstagram #davidprocter https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu3EeqxAatX/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=xnk6iu0wjnp1

[davidprocterillustrator]

Beery Jetpack - work in progress for a space themed poster #wip #keykeg #jetpack #astronaut #posterdesign • • • • • #illustration #illustrations #illustrator #illustrators #illustrationartists #illustrationart #illustratorsofinstagram #illustrationgram #drawing #drawings #penandink #ink #inkart #art #artist #artwork #artistsofinstagram #artstagram #davidprocter https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu3ESYagLA-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=kyc588hm870

[davidprocterillustrator]

"The Mysterious Island: View from Reptile Promontory" for an upcoming Jules Verne exhibition in London with @hireanillo #julesverne #julesverneexpo #themysteriousisland #mysteriousisland #reptile #reptiles #volcano #hotairballoon • • • • • #illustration #illustrations #illustrator #illustrators #illustrationartists #illustrationart #illustratorsofinstagram #illustrationgram #drawing #drawings #penandink #ink #inkart #art #artist #artwork #artistsofinstagram #artstagram #davidprocter https://www.instagram.com/p/BuOAWPmAqXa/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1gygv3xqg7skl

[davidprocterillustrator]

Laying the ink down on "The Mysterious Island" for an upcoming Jules Verne exhibition in London with @hireanillo #julesverne #julesverneexpo #themysteriousisland #mysteriousisland #reptiles #volcano #hotairballoon • • • • • #illustration #illustrations #illustrator #illustrators #illustrationartists #illustrationart #illustratorsofinstagram #illustrationgram #drawing #drawings #penandink #ink #inkart #art #artist #artwork #artistsofinstagram #artstagram #davidprocter https://www.instagram.com/p/BuLeGV4grhU/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1trg602wy8h8x

[davidprocterillustrator]

The World Cup 2018 - The Boathouse

Drawing on classic propaganda posters for this years World Cup in Russia.

[davidprocterillustrator]

A Royal Knees-Up, The Boathouse

Poster for The Boathouse, Falmouth, for their Harry and Meghan, Royal Wedding party.

[davidprocterillustrator]

Rugby World Tour Tales - Blues and Twos for Barry’s Boots

Barry John: I remember feeling before the match that everything I had done before in rugby would count for nothing if we didn’t win. It was going to be the most important match I was ever to play in. I felt we were better than the All Blacks and that we should win – and in the process, we could revolutionise rugby thinking.

Gordon Brown: The ground was good. There wasn’t much wind, the pitch was firm and the sun was shining. The dressing room was basic and stark. I started getting ready when Barry suddenly let out a great yell: “I’ve left my boots in the hotel.”

Barry John: It didn’t help.

Gordon Brown: We all began to panic a bit because it had taken us half an hour to get to the ground, and with the increased traffic as the kick-off approached there was no way the boots could be picked up and brought back before the kick-off in forty- five minutes. Barry calmly went and found a police motorcyclist and sent him off to the hotel at top speed to pick up his boots.

As the kick-off drew nearer and nearer, Syd (John Dawes) was building his team talk to a climax and yet virtually the only thing on our minds was, ‘When will those bloody boots get here?’

Barry was so unconcerned. Before every game, he would sit in the corner of the changing room with his eyes closed in apparent meditation, almost as if he was saying to himself, ‘The team talk is for the other lads. Now, what am I going to do today?’ During the whole tour, I can’t recall Syd referring even once to Barry during team talks.

So there we all were, having this team talk, and Barry was sitting there in his socks, apparently half asleep in the corner, when the door burst open and the policeman crashed in, frantically waving the boots.

“I’ve got them, Mr John!”

Barry took them and thanked him, then said, “You haven’t polished them!”

[davidprocterillustrator]

Rugby World Tour Tales - Texan Terry's Toronto TKO

It was 1984 and after three years of study Manchester University RFC were off on a tour to Canada, writes RW reader Jonathan Jeffery. It was our last hurrah!

To keep costs down we flew with KLM, from London to Toronto via Amsterdam. The journey would take the best part of a day, we would acclimatise for two days and our opening fixture was on day four.

‘Texan Terry’ was a club stalwart and captained the 4th XV. While there were better players, none could match his enthusiasm and love of the game.

In the departure lounge in Amsterdam, after an early start from London, people started nudging each other and soon the whole MURFC party was watching Terry.

He was in his tour number ones – blazer, collar and tie, grey flannels, black shoes – pacing up and down and thumping himself in the chest and on the head.

“What on earth are you doing Texan?” asked our skipper.

“I’m just warming up for our first game,” came the reply. Legend.

Terry created another memorable moment in one of the games in Canada too. This was pre-lifting when shortened lineouts were in fashion and we had a rather clever call. A call of “Two” saw two players enter the lineout  and a call of “Two man” saw us put three players in and the ‘spare’ man at the back often won uncontested ball! Cunning, huh?

Sadly, against a French-speaking Quebec side our clever use of language may have failed, but on our first call of “Two man”, Terry chirped up with “Deux hommes”. The ref said, “That is very sporting of you” – but needless to say, Terry won the lineout at the back on uncontested ball!

[davidprocterillustrator]

Rugby World Tour Tales - The Other Twickenham It was 1986, and our Cardiff based youth team had organised a special tour to Twickenham to see our team Wales take on England in the 5 nations.. My friend Simon and I were excited at the prospect of visiting Twickenham for the first time, and in playing a fixture against Twickenham youth in the morning of the match. Twickenham youth, whom we imagined were based at the stadium, we thought of as an illustrious fixture and marvelled at our fixture sec getting us such a prestigious game at the home of English rugby. I imagined ourselves trotting out on the hallowed turf, as a curtain raiser to the later international.. The reality, however, proved very different…

The big day duly arrived, and Simon and I turned up at 6am at one of the agreed pick up spots. And we waited and waited, until finally, a van came spluttering into sight. “ Where’s the minibus ? “ we asked. It seems that the club had left booking our minibus a little late, so unsurprisingly there was only a van left…so we climbed in and drove to meet up with the other boys. One of the two vans had a flat battery, and so our forwards had to push it to get it going… we all sat rather precariously in the back of the van on the floor. It was a long and uncomfortable journey. We were finally on the road to Twickenham, but in the heavy traffic heading down the M4 to London we found ourselves running late, so had to change in the van, which pulled up in Twickenham RFC where we emerged, fully changed, stiff legged and blinking, straight onto the pitch.

Twickenham RFC didn’t turn out to be the prestige team I was expecting and were actually a local club side. We played a quick 60 minute match – 30 mins each half, before changing hastily, having a quick lunch with our generous hosts, and climbing back into our van before driving over to the stadium.

My eyes opened as I experienced the sights and smells of the Twickenham car park for the first time. Our team manager then presented Simon and I with one stand ticket. “You will have to swap it for 2 terrace tickets,” he said as he rushed off to his seat in the stand. He left us two 16 year olds to wander around the car park trying to swap it, which we eventually did and squeezed into the old Twickenham terraces just before kick off – but at opposite ends of the ground from each other.We enjoyed the big match experience before somewhat miraculously finding our way back to our van. I seem to remember that on the way back, our van stopped somewhere for a few of the boys to nip out for a toilet break at the side of the van… and as they did so, the local police turned up – who fortunately smiled, asked if we had enjoyed the match, and wished us a safe journey home.

A fantastic trip to one on the great rugby occasions – and an introduction to the truest traditions of local rugby tours….

[davidprocterillustrator]

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Study for a film history book proposal

[davidprocterillustrator]

Rugby World Tour Tales - Little Cibi

In the amateur days at the Hong Kong Sevens, if anyone got injured you couldn’t just fly someone in as a back-up, but you could ask someone from another country, which had already been eliminated, to play for you, writes former Australia full-back Matt Burke.

This is exactly what happened with Fiji in the (1993) final. They had an injury in the semi and were down one player. The Fiji management made a beeline to where we were sitting and – looking directly at David Campese – asked if we could supply a player. Camp frowned and shook his head. At least they’d tried. I shot my hand up and offered my services, but they frowned and shook their heads. At least I tried. Their next option was Tim Horan or Jason Little.

Bob Dwyer got out of his seat and said, “Come on boys, help out.”

The pair looked at each other and Jas spoke first. “I’ve already had two beers. How many have you had Tim?”

“Well, I’ve had three. You’re up then big boy,” Tim said gleefully.

So, off Jas went to play off the bench against Western Samoa. The moment got even better when the Fijian captain invited Jason to do the traditional war cry in response to the Western Samoan boys.

You can imagine we strongly encouraged the newly anointed Fijian representative to join in. It has to be one of the classic sights on HK Sevens history, seeing Jason Little trying to perform the Fijian war dance. Never has Hong Kong seen a white man dance so badly.

[davidprocterillustrator]

Rugby World Tour Tales - Guess the Weight Life was very different when the late, great Cliff Morgan made his Wales debut against Ireland in 1951, as this tale from his autobiography demonstrates. It relates to his bus journey from Trebanog to Cardiff Arms Park to play in the match (which finished 3-3). "Luckily for me the bus used to stop outside the house and toot in the morning to hurry me up. It was full this morning, being an international day, and all around they were talking about my first cap without recognising me. One conversation was unbelievable. One man asked, "How the 'ell will he cope with them big fellows, McCarthy, McKay and O'Brien? 'E's only a titch – too bloody small. I know 'im well, see 'im regular. Bet you 'e's not more than ten stone." "Don't talk daft, he's more than that, mun. Saw 'im at a do last week, got big shoulders. I reckon 'e's 11 stone if 'e's an ounce." And so the argument on my poundage continued. Suddenly the more aggressive of the two turned to me for an opinion. "You're standing there saying nothing. What do you think Morgan weighs?" "Twelve stone," I offered with confidence. "Bloody rubbish!" "I'll tell you he is," I said. He turned to his captive audience. "Would you credit it?" he asked. "It's always the same. Them who knows bugger all about it do always argue."

[davidprocterillustrator]

Christmas Junk With our move to Hong Kong this year this seemed the appropriate Christmas card to draw up.  

As always, delayed upload ‘til after Christmas so people can see the real thing before seeing it online.

[davidprocterillustrator]

Rugby World Tour Tales - Passport Predicament

With a few unsuccessful rugby tours in recent years, retired second-row Jon Axon took on the responsibility of getting things back on track for Withycombe RFC at the end of the 2015-16 season, writes RW reader Joe Parkin.

A trip over to Belgium for the Flanders Open Tens tournament was arranged and we set off from the club by coach at 6am with the usual tour rules put in place and ready for the first court session to take place on board the ferry to France.

Drinks were consumed at a vast rate of knots and by the time we were aboard the ferry one player was stumbling around with his backpack open. One of his team-mates decided to inform him of this – but not before taking his passport.

The passport was subsequently handed over to the ‘judges’ ready for the next court session, where a heavy fine was sure to be incurred.

Once we arrived in France we transferred to a bus but half-an-hour down the road we realised we were oneplayer light. That player just so happened to be the one who had been stumbling around the ferry decks earlier… and we still had his passport.

It transpired that he had taken the ferry back to the UK and cancelled his passport, fearing he had lost it and panicking because his honeymoon was in two weeks’ time. On top of that, he had to pay £500 to get a taxi back from Dover.

[davidprocterillustrator]

Rugby World Tour Tales - Toga Time

At Bognor RFC we have a lovely character and because he is always challenging the status quo his nickname, unfairly, is Desperate, writes club president Phil Mead.

Desperate is a very charitable character and when he got engaged, he organised a stag weekend in Jersey, with a lots of fun-packed activities and a game of rugby to raise money for charity.

There were specific rules to be adhered to. Each tour member had to grow a full beard, those who couldn’t and perhaps whose profession didn’t allow had to put £50 in the charity fund.  The second most important rule was that breakfast must never be missed and if that happened, another fine of £50 was enforced.

As president, I had my own bedroom in the hotel.  One night I was continually woken by tour members bringing others’ clothes into my bed chamber. When I arose in the morning my room looked like a jumble sale. This meant some people might have to miss breakfast as they had NO clothes. How wrong was I: 12 of our tour party arrived for breakfast wearing bed sheets.

Lots of fun centred around the rugby match where people were fined if they passed to, or received a pass from Desperate. And the tour concluded in our favourite local pub, where the beards had to be shaved off.  On removal most tourists made a significant donation to the tour charity fund.

As the alcohol-fuelled evening progressed people were donating by having their heads shaved.  One very adamant member, with a magnificent head of hair said, “No, definitely no,” then he said pointing to his healthy locks, “This would cost you £500.00.”  Within minutes a whip round the pub raised £500.00 and our friend was bald!

[davidprocterillustrator]

'The Keeper of Accounts' from 'Sweet and Sour Notes' - Asa Plinch

With the end of the tax year fast approaching the keeper of accounts is busy at it. Another illustration from Plinch's latest book.