Mark Reihill kindly visited St Mary’s this week to speak to the children in St Mary’s about his job as an artist and professional illustrator.
It was amazing to see Mark’s diverse range of art work and learn about the wide range of clients he has worked with across the world!
The children were so engaged and interested in Mark’s work and there were some brilliant questions from the children too!
Giving children the chance to meet people from the world of work and hearing about their life journeys is so important and Mark has helped the children to understand the relevance of the subjects they are studying and to make links between what they do in school and the exciting world of the future, where they might be the next graphic designer or artist!
Mark’s visit has certainly inspired the children and helped to raise the profile of the creative arts!
We would like to extend a huge word of thanks to Mark for designing the Buddy Bench Mural for St Mary’s. The mural has greatly enhanced our outdoor playground and has highlighted the importance of friendship and being a good friend.
Mark is best known for his work with ‘the world’s best bar’, the Dead Rabbit, Grocery & Grog, NYC, illustrating everything from prints and T-shirts to their award winning cocktail menus.
He is the artist on several comic books including the award-winning series ‘Off Girl’ and WWII thriller ‘Ratline’.
Mark has worked with Adidas, Jameson, PokerStars, Usborne Publishing and is the (longest running) cover artist for Starburst Magazine with over 70 covers in the cannon.
He has also worked with Eco-Schools to create a comic book to promote energy efficiency and awareness of the environment.
Mark was also commissioned by the DOE to redesign their Road Safety mascot, Skooter who features in our road safety calendars in school! A competition was set in primary schools to design a side-kick for the new and improved, Skooter. The winning entry was ‘Hattie’ the hedgehog - Mark took the winning sketch and illustrated Hattie in the new style - the dynamic duo have been present in the Road Safety calendars ever since.
For years Mark has worked on the Jacob’s and McVitie’s Christmas tins. The children enjoyed finding out about this amazing project and how each tin has its own narrative and how every year Mark got to tell a little more of the story.
Mark explained that ..”the deadline for this artwork was a little weird!”
Due to the high volume of tins and distribution, he had to complete the artwork in July! He told the children it was a strange feeling drawing cold, festive scenes while wearing shorts in the Summer!
Mark has also collaborated with Adidas on a campaign celebrating some of their rugby players. The series was a mixture of illustrations and short animated videos. One of Mark’s favourite pieces was for Ma’a Nonu, a professional rugby union player from New Zealand. He was celebrating his 100th cap with the All Blacks, so he and Adidas teamed-up to design a bespoke boot. This boot was only produced for Ma’a, which he wore during his monumental game.
Mark was also one of the 50 artists handpicked by CBS to feature in a year-long art exhibition celebrating Star Trek’s 50th anniversary!
We hope you enjoy viewing some of Mark’s fabulous pieces of artwork including our buddy bench mural!
