Steven Appleby

Steven Appleby is a cartoonist, illustrator and artist living in Britain. He is a dual citizen of the UK and Canada. His humour is usually observational or absurd.

The Challenge

Working with Steven isn’t a challenge at all. He’s interesting, eclectic, unpredictably energetic and generous in his creating and thinking to point of being new species (Homo Pinxit?). We hooked up because Steven created the wonderful Secret Thoughts of Cats (etc) series at the time with Bloomsbury (for whom he also created a great parody of their Diana logotype). What about the work? Well, the idea was to create a series of designs based on the Secret Thoughts Series (Men, Women, Cats, Babies). Seems simple enough?

About Steven: Steven Appleby is one of this country’s leading cartoonists. He has published so many books that he is working on building a house out of books when he gets some spare time. His work currently appears regularly in the Guardian (who publish his Loomus Cartoon every week which everyone should read), The Times, the Sunday Telegraph, Junior and the Oldie. He lives in south London. See more at his website Steven Appleby (designed by Joe Davis) or read his newspaper ‘The Bubble of Truth’. Steven is represented by Conville Walsh if you want to commission him for something.

Project Overview & Solutions

If a man loves the labour of his trade, apart from any question of success or fame, the gods have called him - Robert Louis Stevenson

One of the problems (if it can be described as such) is the prolific nature of Steven’s work. There’s just so much to choose from. There are many ideas and approaches discussed which can all exist in infinite universes. Tony and Steven are still talking which must be a good sign and there are interesting collaborations underway as this is typed.

Secret Thoughts – 2003
The first project with Steven was taken from the Secret Thoughts book series with Bloomsbury:

This were easily adaptable to the proportions of a mug series. The main problem for retailers was the occasionally dark thoughts which occur. The Cats were the most popular out the four.

2010-12
Steven’s work was also printed to order on a short series of 12 canvases based on his Calendar.

Steven and Tony Davis also worked together on a series of designs for a Hay Festival launch in 2012. Notebooks, Bookbags, and Deckchairs all featured unique commissioned designs. A favourite was the Instant Data Storage Notebook. This was digitally printed onto a photographic cloth giving a worn look. Sleeping Dogs Lying was also developed and completely sold out.

Website: StevenAppleby.com
Distribution: Originally select UK Retail
Availability: None of the mug designs are in production now but Steven may still have some. Even if he doesn’t you could always buy some of his drawn or painted work or even three of his books.

Contact us if you have any comments about the work.