I recently designed, illustrated and animated this little little piece for my fiend Alastair Ross at Codexx. Looking forward to working with him again soon.

After a couple of days in Manly, Charlotte and I joined up with Lucy and headed back to Eagle Rock Farms. The girls had been working there – looking after the owners’ 2 year old son and doing housework stuff. They only had 1 week to go, so I had planned to join them and see what the Australian countryside was like.

The farm is located in an area called Joadja. It’s pretty sparse out there, with the nearest town, Mittagong, a 20 minute drive away. So walking into town to do some shopping or to have a drink with the girls was a non-starter. So we set about making our own fun; a few nice long walks, seeing all the animals lots of tea and biscuits by the fires, card games, and lots of sketching for my next animation.

It’s the middle of winter in Australia at the moment it’s actually pretty cold out here, and the cold is made much more intense by the constant, strong winds. My job at the farm is to keep the fires stocked with plenty of wood. With 3 fires, that’s no easy task! It takes 12 wheelbarrow loads to stock the log stacks either side of the main fireplace, which takes about 45 minutes a couple of times per week. Big effort.

I really enjoyed the first 3 or 4 days at the farm, but in our last couple of days, a hurricane hit the Joadja region! It was pretty mental. Trees being ripped out of the ground, powerlines coming down, smoke blowing back down the chimneys and filling the house… the lot! It did make the end of our stay pretty challenging – there was a powercut, and as the water ran on an electric pump – no power, no water, no joy. But never mind. My hosts, Ric and Jen, were very kind to let me stay, so big thanks to them.

Next stop, Sydney.

Having arrived and met up with Charlotte and Lucy, we headed off to Manly Bay on the Sydney ferries. The sun had just risen, and the light was glowing on the water, looking like something out of a film. Charlotte had sorted out an awesome apartment overlooking the bay for 2 nights – what a star!

Manly is just a small town about 15 minutes on the ferry from Central Quay, Sydney. It has one really long, lovely beach that stretches for a kilometre or so – perfect for walking up and down, watching the surfers and, of course, perfect for sitting on benches and drinking tea. There’s a really relaxed vibe to the place, almost too relaxed. I don’t know when Manley Bay-ers go to work… They all seem to be out running, surfing, sipping coffee, or serving coffee (I suppose that is working) – it’s awesome.

My favourite thing about Manly though, was the great collection of little boutique cafes and bakeries. They all demonstrate a real attention to detail, something that just doesn’t seem to happen all that often in the lunch spots back in the UK. So here’s a little rundown on my favourite place:

Hemmingway’s

Hemmingway’s is a little place right on the seafront that serves drinks, sandwiches and hot food. Charlotte and I were there an hour or so before the dinner menu times, so whilst I’d been eyeing the ‘Nacho Dogs’, I had to opt instead for the Soy Chicken Sandwich. It was a sourdough baguette full of poached chicken, soy, lime, nam jim and asian salad… so good!

The room was long and thin and had one wall completely covered in full bookshelves. The menu was printed out on sheets of plain paper, then stapled into the pages of an old fashioned children’s encyclopaedia. It was a great touch, just like the table water being served in empty Hendrick’s Gin bottles.

Burdick’s Verdict: 8/10 – Loved every minute of it!

On Friday 24th June, I was loving my role as a middleweight designer at Realise, as I had done for the previous 3 and a quarter years. Today, I’m about to pull my trainers on and go for a run around some of the most striking Australian farming country I’ve ever seen (in fact, the only Australian farming country I’ve ever seen).

I’ve never really had a big adventure, so I don’t really know what to expect over the next 55 days… but I think that’s the point. By going with the flow, I hope I’ll have more time to keep my eyes open, more capacity to take things in, more conversations with interesting people…

Welcome to my Antipodean Adventure.

Firstly, Kanye West is a widely disliked character for his amazing arrogance, award ceremony spoiling and self-pitying tantrums.

Secondly, although disliked, he is one of the most progressive and art-savvy musicians in his genre.

Finally, he is my favourite, most played artist of 2011. His brand of catchy, pop-centric hip hop has become a standard feature in all of my recent playlists. His November 2010 release, My Dark and Twisted Fantasy, is one of my top 5 favourite hip hop albums. 13 tracks that range from the hard and grimy ‘Monster’ to the addictive, orchestral, glitchy ‘Runaway’. Kanye wrote and compiled a large portion of the album in Hawaii, whilst escaping the tide of criticism and backlash after the MTV Awards fiasco. He invited a number of musicians to collaborate on the album including Rihanna, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and as a delightful surprise, Bon Iver.

I think my love for this album was cemented when I first saw the epic art/music/couture video ‘Runaway‘ – a 35 minute short film featuring most of the songs from the album tied into a great little story. Essential viewing.

I’ve entered another sweeeet competition! This time I’ve designed an ironing board cover for Brabantia. I’ve always liked their products, but I haven’t ever appreciated how forward thinking they are with their marketing and design. The use of good design to create useful, desirable products is pretty clear, particularly in the new Colour Your Bin range.

I’m keen to get my hands on my own Brabantia swag, so you can help me by giving my design two thumbs up!

Help me out by voting for my design HERE

Or browse some of the Brabantia goodies HERE

Here’s a quick sketch I did as an entry for The Gorrilaz latest competition. The brief was to design a character that embodied 100% goodness. I think that this flight cap, goggle and bow tie wearing chap just about does that.

The winning design will be redrawn by Jamie Hewlett and will feature as a character in the Gorillaz’ world. I don’t enter competitions that often, but seeing the standard of the other entries, I felt that the bar was low enough to have a shot at it.

1. Awesome bike from Blitz Motorcycles – The Honda Tank.

2. Handmade, crafted denim from Imogene + Willie – Great video on the homepage too.

3. Some pretty rad photos from Scott Pommier.