Michael Weldon

These images are part of a larger and ongoing series of year specific illustrations of some of my favourite groups/artists.
When most people (if they can be bothered!) think of a band like the Stones or the Beatles or AC/DC or the Kinks or Neil Young they just have a vague and general mental image of what they look like.
They probably don’t think of a specific year or a specific look.
But to me (and my fellow train spotters) the Stones in ‘65 are a totally different visual image to the Stones in ’66 or ‘64. The hair, the clothes, the guitars, everything.
Hey, come back, this is really interesting!………………

I was thrilled to provide illustrations for Adam Gilchrist’s Champions of Cricket.
As a kid, I read every cricket book I could and was devoted to the game. I loved the art, the fantasy and the history. I’d like to think that this book would have appealed to the 11 year old me.
Adam Gilchrist is one of my favourite cricketers of all time, someone who played the game with honour and spirit.

Kevin Sheedy is a living legend of Aussie Rules Football. He has contributed to the good of the game in many ways over a period of more than 50 years.
This book collects the stories of some of the players who have won Sheedy’s admiration over the years.
In some cases it’s because they are great exponents of the skills of the game and in others it’s because their journeys to success have been brave and unusual ones.

This image was commissioned as a souvenir to be given to the attendees of the titular trip..
I’m guessing that they probably had a good time…

Movember Conversations is a series of online resources designed to give people some of the tools they might need in order to help friends who are dealing with a range of personal issues.
The illustrations I created for use on the site were intended to show that the issues being addressed can affect people across a broad spectrum.

Same Diff is a spot the difference puzzle book for kids.
Each of the puzzles features an icon or cliche of Aussie “culcha” and asks the reader to find the odd one out or the deliberate mistake etc…

One of my great ambitions as an illustrator has been to work for the magazine Mojo. I have been an avid reader since the early '90s. It's a publication which contains two things about which I'm endlessly passionate; music and illustration.

I finally realised my ambition when I was commissioned to create an illustration to go with the magazine's review of the album Heartworms by The Shins.

The Guardian newspaper has commissioned me to create images of several famous faces this year.
I must have drawn Elton at least five times over the years and he never ceases to be a very enjoyable subject!

Everyone knows that The New Yorker is the World's Greatest Magazine. And everyone knows that there isn't a magazine that supports illustration as much as The New Yorker.

I have been lucky enough to have contributed to the Nyer on well over one hundred occasions. I've created images of rock stars, composers, actors, writers, choreographers and sundry other worthy people.

Thrillingly for me, my images have been purchased on several occasions by the subjects themselves or by their nearest and dearest or simply by over-devoted fans! I still treasure a note from Joe Strummer thanking me for my image of him!!

I first contributed to Rolling Stone in 2000 when I was asked to create a full page illustration to accompany a review of the album Kid A by Radiohead. What a thrill!

Since then I've worked for RS on numerous other occasions creating portraits of various pop identities. My Henry Rollins image has featured in every issue for about 5 years!!

This is something else that for me is just fun, fun, fun. These images were created for the publisher Lonely Planet, for a section of their travel guides known as Illustrated Highlights. As you would imagine, these images offer the reader a visual reference of a particular tourist spot, with various points of interest labelled.

I could disappear into these illustrations for days, adding more and more detail. I'd be happy to do this kind of stuff 24/7!

Architectural publication Monument Magazine were preparing their summer edition and they asked me to create an image of an architect on his holidays. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink a substandard latte...

I am a fan of Australian Rules Football team the Western Bulldogs. Until 2016 they had only won one premiership (championship or title for you overseas folks) in their whole history, way back in 1954.

In 2016 they made their first appearance in a Grand Final since 1961, and this illustration of mine appeared in the souvenir Record (program, brochure, magazine for you overseas folks!)

It was an amazingly brilliant week. I got to see my team in the Grand Final. I had the Record with my illustration in my back pocket as I watched. And we won!

This is one of the most fun jobs I've ever had. I really enjoy creating these images which are somewhere between cartoon, caricature and portrait.

These images were for a piece about moustaches, but I'm guessing that you'd already figured that out...

I was commissioned by the agency Royals to create a series images depicting some of the guests that you dread turning up to your door at Christmas. The kind of people who can derail the whole day! These were used in an online campaign.

See if you can spot "PC Parents", "Social Media Maniac", Mr Cricket" and "The Re-gifter"!

Two Faces is the title of an exhibition I created in partnership with fellow artist Patrick Francis . The aim of the collection was to pay tribute to the people who make Footscray such a vibrant, interesting and special part of Melbourne. We selected a number of local residents and business people and we both created a portrait of each. The juxtaposition of our two styles helped to create a rounded impression of each subject, and highlight the fact that any person or place means different things to any individual. We were saying, "This is our Footscray, what's yours?".

Australian Financial Review Boss Magazine has been a great client to work with. Many of the images I've created for them have involved the process of taking complex and detailed information and making it understandable for the uninformed layman, like me!

As well as contributing any illustrations for the inside of the Big Issue, I've also created many cover illustrations.

These tend to be of a much more realistic nature than the ones inside the mag. I don't know why it ended up that way, so don't ask me!

I have contributed to The Big Issue since 1996. They were almost the first client I ever had  as a freelance illustrator. A very generous art director gave a chance to a very raw rookie. I still have that first piece in a cupboard somewhere, and man, is it embarrassing to look at now!

My contributions to The Big Ish have covered a plethora of subjects and styles, from the serious to the preposterous.