Introduction
The Futile Vignette Company was formed in 2003.

The name came from the amount of 'unsuitable' commissioned work that I was producing which was subsequently rejected & replaced with something 'a little less challenging'.Some of this work was exhibited in New York in 2004 (see screenprints) & the company name stuck. I wish it was shorter & easier to spell.

Mick Marston - The Futile Vignette Company.

Roll over flowers for information.

Biography
Mick Marston was born in Yorkshire, England in 1965.

After years of dead end jobs and dreams of being either a rock star or a footballer he decided to embark on a course in Graphic Design. In 1992, Mick graduated from Leeds Polytechnic (now Leeds Metropolitan University) with a first class honours degree in Graphic Arts & Design and immediately began working in the University Printmaking department. Whilst studying part time for a Masters degree, he dipped his toe into the world of commercial illustration and to his continuing astonishment his work has appeared in quite large and prestigious advertising campaigns, many national and international magazines and newspapers, book covers, packaging and websites. Mick also exhibits his work in various galleries and public spaces throughout the UK and more recently in the USA.

In addition to his freelance illustration career, Mick also devotes half of his time to lecturing in the Graphic Arts at Leeds Metropolitan University and is a visiting lecturer at a variety of institutions around the UK.

Mick is also a regular contributor to prestigious events for the Association of Illustrators including 'Cross Pollination' and 'Illustration in the Digital Age' at the Royal College of Art.

Mick lives in Sheffield with a wife & 2 whippets.

Clients Include
Atlantic Records, Asda, Barclays, BBC, Bloomsbury, BT, Cadburys, Camelot, Caspian Publishing, Channel 5, Disney, EMAP, Express Newspapers, Financial Times, Guardian Newspapers, Haymarket Publications, Hodder & Stoughton, The Independent, John Brown Citrus Publishing, Liptons, Lucozade, McCann Ericson, Macy's, Merrydown, Microsoft, NCH, New Scientist, New York Times, Nickelodeon, Nintendo, Oddbins, Orange, Penguin Books, RNIB, The Science Museum, Sega, Shell, Sony, Times Education Supplement, Virgin, Vodafone, VW, Waitrose, Walker Books, Wannado, Wrigleys

Flat Black
Group exhibition in Sheffield in 2007.

The idea behind the piece for the 'Flat Black' exhibition was simply led by the title, therefore everything is flat or black & sometimes a combination of the two.

Fee Fi Foe Fum
The ‘FeeFiFoeFum’ publicity drive fulfilled my need to break away from the constraints of commissioned illustration where a ‘box’ has already been provided for your efforts (even though its an article about giraffes and you have a 50mm x 200mm landscape to work in) & the idea an illustrator brings is often dismissed by autocratic art directors or diluted by unimaginative clients.
Initially it was intended to be a giant sized newspaper (to fit the title – which is the Giants rhyme in the fairytale Jack & The Beanstalk) but due to financial & logistical constraints I decided to illustrate ‘FeeFiFoeFum’ by breaking the word up into its 4 syllables which provided 4 themes for the work;
Fee – money, price, cost etc
Fi (as in Hi-Fi) – sound, noise, music
Foe – enemies, predators, war etc
Fum – a difficult one so I cheated with ‘thumb’.
The package consists of 12 lithograph/screenprints & 5 lithograph header sheets, wrapped in a screenprinted newsprint poster. Finished size is 390mm x 297mm, edition of 200 individually numbered & stamped on recycled popset grey 100gsm stock.

This was featured in Form magazine July 2007.

Fee Fi Foe Fum prints are available from the CIA shop

Thundermutt
Design for Thunderdog Studios world famous Thundermutt toy.

As opposed to simply decorating it with nice shapes I decided to do mine about dog care, hence the link to dog worming tablet - D-Worm.

Has a 2 coloured mini screenprint inside head.

These are very rare (only 130).

The Futile Vignette
These prints were produced from the scraps of my increasingly rejected work (hence the title). They were exhibited in New York in 2004.

I have a few left for sale, email if you are interested.

Editions of 10 on 280gsm somerset newsprint grey paper with deckle edge
size – 750mm x 560mm £100 unframed

Merry Down
I won a D&AD yellow pencil for this Merrydown poster.
A great idea & art direction by CDD – based on an ambigram (thats one of those pictures which reads upside down & the right way up) & the play on words of Merry & Down (happy face with cider, sad face without cider).

Pickling Trojans
This was a poster with a CD Rom which had games/music/animations etc, beautifully designed by Patrick Walker of Dust.

Squealing Pigment
This is a 60 page book which i produced in 1999 which kick started my career as an illustrator.

It is a combination of screenprints & linocuts & was an edition of 50 (i have one left).

I was featured in Graphics International & acquired an agent in the same month, i was quite excited at the time.

Fine & Dandy Almanacs
Collaboration with the prodigiously talented Studio Dust – Patrick Walker & Alun Cocks..
For more Fine 'n' Dandy visit www.studio-dust.com