doodleblog

More skull and bones

2008-09-05T09:10:00.003+01:00

Here are some bony illustrations I knocked up for a blog entry on ossuaries over on Cabinet of Wonders.

slapdash skulls

2008-07-06T22:47:00.004+01:00

a very quick digital doodle using an older drawing

Perplexed Pan

2008-06-27T12:22:00.002+01:00

This came about after trying my hand at some automatic drawing, in an effort to try and loosen up my style and be more fluid with my pen.

Here's to Love

2008-06-27T12:13:00.003+01:00

This is another piece from last semester, an editorial illustration inspired by the short story by Anne Enright. It's part-collage, part-painting - for e.g. the hibiscus flowers were all painted by hand and then cut out (yes, it was a bit fiddly) as were the buildings, meant to reflect the settings described within the story.

Recycled images

2008-06-27T12:05:00.005+01:00

Here are some doodle pages from last semester's sketch book. One of the briefs was to come up with some images to be used on recycled packaging. Note my liberal use of cadmium yellow - my favourite colour of the moment - and birds lifted from Ernst Haeckel's Art Forms in Nature:

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit

2008-06-06T14:37:00.004+01:00

One of my neices has a new pet. A rabbit to be exact. 'Peter' is a white, lop-eared house-trained rabbit. She takes him for walks on a lead - much to the amusement of passers-by.

It's been a while...

2008-05-25T16:16:00.005+01:00

... since I blogged on here. That being said, I haven't been able to scan much of my work as I've been working on A3+ papers or canvasses. I do, however, have a new camera so will be able to take more photos of my work than before.

This is part of a recent piece for university. The brief was to design a colourful and contemporary CD cover for Luaka Bop, David Byrne's World Music/South American label. An acrylic wash with cheap (I mean, 99p felts!) felt-pen and black fine-liner.

More aliens

2008-01-17T15:54:00.000Z

Further to an earlier post, Out of the World, here are a few more 'aliens'.

First up, the Belo Horizonte cyclops. Originally a pen and ink sketch that was then digitally coloured and edited:

Secondly, the Cuidad Valley alien 'twins'. The final illustration can be seen on Greetings Earthlings!.

Pages from the sketchbook

2008-01-17T15:33:00.000Z

I'd been working on illustrating an excerpt from Paul Zindel's The Day It Rained Cockroaches for a university assignment. Below are some doodles from the sketchbook I submitted as part of my final work. While the final illustration (I created a doublepage spread that imitated a child's textbook or diary with various doodles and collage elements) couldn't be any more different from this early stage, I did use elements from it - namely the gorilla, the newspaper clipping and also the drawing of the man with monkey feet.

Above, a combination of marker pen background (I was in a fairly psychedelic-frame of mind), a digitally painted gorilla and a newspaper clipping courtesy of an online newspaper generator. All elements - including the alien and the clipping's headline - came from the excerpt.

This digitally-painted 'man with monkey feet' is - again - mentioned within the excerpt.

Ritta-Christina

2008-01-17T15:07:00.000Z

This drawing of Ritta-Christina's skeleton (conjoined twins, born in 1829) has been blogged over on Cabinet of Wonders. Below, the original that started off as a pen sketch before being digitally edited:

Sew-sew

2007-12-27T23:15:00.000Z

I had been trying my hand at embroidery and needlecrafts - this is part of a cloth that I have been practicing on. I've never been particularly accomplished at sewing, in fact, I would usually go out of my way to avoid sewing anything. Whether it be a sock or tear in my clothes but I have been enjoying myself with this and it doesn't look that bad...

The Eighth Wonder of the World

2007-12-27T17:07:00.000Z

pen and ink with digital editing

Say hello to Gef, the Eighth Wonder of the World...

I did have to go back to the drawing book a few times to get Gef's mischievous look right, along with his fine bushy tail (that earthly mongooses apparently lack). I also provided two digital paintings of Harry Price - the paranormal investigator, and of Voirrey Irving - the young girl who was at the centre of the Gef mystery - for Graylien's new website that provides a one-stop, fascinating analysis of The Dalby Spook.

Harry Price

Voirrey Irving

Also see: Categorising Gef (the talking mongoose) on Cabinet of Wonders.

Out of this world...

2007-09-17T12:42:00.000+01:00

This freaky fellow is the Bajada Grande Entity and you can currently find a description of the encounter with it over at the fantastic Greetings Earthlings. Fustar was very kind enough to accept my offer of contributing some artwork to his blog. I'm working on some more entries so I'll upload them as soon as they go 'live' at GE.

Latest work

2007-09-13T01:17:00.001+01:00

I've mentioned before how much I hate my camera. I really do need to get around to buying a new one. The quality of the following pics is well... pants!

For this painting, I began with the lettering. The sentence just popped into my head fairly randomly. I was bored and just fooling around with the paint and didn't quite know what I wanted to do with it until I put the brush to the canvas. As it was, I didn't sketch anything out at first, hence the jumbled composition. Inspired by my love of all things circus and carnival, I've yet to finish it - the monkey and elephant need more work doing to it and I need to sort out the flag, too. Acrylic, A3 canvas.

This is acrylic/mixed media - it's a recycled-from-my-hoard-of-junk shallow wooden box that I jazzed up with some acrylic. I then rubbed 'Goldfinger' - which gives the same effect as gilding but is much more economic - around the happy skeleton. I edged the box with gold braid, the circular dots are small mirrors which I dotted around the skelly, along with some Victorian-style rose cutouts which I also used on the top of the box.

I'll be attacking the floral cutouts with some homemade varnish (PVA glue with some sooper sekrit addition to it) for an 'aged' effect. Approx. 30cm by 10cm.

Again, acrylic with a rubbed-in, gold 'sunburst' effect around the skull: A5 canvas.

Hearts and Spades

2007-09-12T00:21:00.000+01:00

I'm finally getting around to posting the final two Queens on here - Hearts and Spades. I completed them a few weeks ago and since then I have been working on some paintings. Two are complete (although I've got apply a varnish to one of them) and I'm still working on the larger of the three. I've also been turning my hand to embroidery while I was on holiday. It helped pass away the long journeys although I occasionally had to pull the needle from out of my nailbed - especially if we hit a pothole in the road - ouch! Hopefully, I shall be able post up some photos of the paintings and needlework tomorrow.

Queen of Clubs

2007-08-21T01:15:00.000+01:00

I finished this earlier this evening. As before, just a doodle while I watch or rather - listen to - TV. A frothy mix of Richard Dawkins, a Law & Order spin-off and Jackass - the movie.

I don't particularly start with any firm idea of what I'm going to draw - I just go with the flow... of the ink. Truth be told, I'm getting a bit bored of them but I guess I'll now have to do the other two.

Queen of Diamonds

2007-08-19T01:51:00.000+01:00

Following on from this post, another playing card-inspired doodle. I've spent most of the evening watching films on TV - Near Dark and The Devil Rides Out - and scratching this out in pen and ink.

Sketchbook round-up

2007-07-18T11:39:00.001+01:00

This is a pen sketch of a Parian ware bust of Dante Alighieri that currently resides next my armchair. I do the majority of my sketches or paintings in this chair. I usually have my handmade craft bag (I bought it at a fete, it's really a knit/crocheting bag but it's made out of quite funky purple retro material) at my feet - it's great in that I can keep and carry the majority of my sketchbooks, pens, pencils, brushes, cutting mat, watercolour pallette and all other sundries in it.

In front of my armchair is a small carved pedestal table that my uncle made back in the 60s. It's handy in that when I'm sat down it is lap height and I can comfortably rest my feet on the circular base.

I wasn't very successful with this scan (I am hopeless), as with the next image I've managed to cut off some of the page. My sketchbook is hardbound and not very flexible. This is just a page of random doodling while I'm watching (or rather listening to) TV. I've got a 'thing' about drawing fantastical birds at the moment.

Fine-liner and watercolour

This is a view of St Matthew's Church, Walsall from the top floor of the New Art Gallery. I was visiting the Cult Fiction exhibition and took a walk up onto the top floor to have a look around the Suzanne Treister/Hexen 2039 exhibit. I keep meaning to write the visit up.

Fine-liner and collage

Rome

2007-07-05T23:24:00.000+01:00

Some more images from my sketchbook, this time some cariacatures from the BBC2 prog, Rome. I've edited the layout from how they appear on the page just so I could scan them in.

Atia, Mark Antony and Veronius

You can discuss the programme over on Cabinet of Wonders.

Jimmy

2007-07-05T22:23:00.000+01:00

Another page from my sketchbook, Jimmy the Cat:

Four Queens

2007-06-22T15:48:00.000+01:00

A bit of a dodgy play on the Kings of Leon track, Four Kings, but here's a pen doodle.

I was stuck with nothing to do while I was visiting my mam. She regularly plays card games and/or dominoes with her fellow OAP friends so I nicked a deck of cards from her (she has got plenty more!).

Cowtoons and grafitti

2007-06-07T12:30:00.000+01:00

I've been on a bit of an extended hiatus when it comes to blogging. Mainly due to Uni and various family commitments. Well, I've finished Uni for the summer and managed to get everything in on time and hopefully I'll have some time in the next couple of days to get some scans made of my current doodlebook.

In the meantime, I did manage to scribble up a cartoon for the Cabinet of Wonders' blog for this entry:

I've also got to post the following (else I'll probably be duffed up if I don't)...

Last week I gave my two young nephews, Josh and James, a task while I took their younger siblings to the park. A blank A3 canvas with plenty of marker pens, fineliners and the brief to completely fill the canvas with whatever they wanted. They each had to come up with their own ideas and doodles for their half of the canvas and I'll be honest, I was amazed at what they came up with. They've both talented lads when it comes to art and I'm very proud of them.

I've promised to get some more canvasses for them and new pens (god knows what they did with them in the hour and half) but it kept them occupied for some time. So there's a tip: if you're at a loose end to keep a couple of usually boisterous boys occupied during the summer holidays, you now know what you can do. Get a blank canvas and some pens and leave them to it. You never know, you might find they'll become the next Banksy...

Pop!

2007-05-06T12:36:00.001+01:00

So, I finally dragged my ass down to the new Pop Art section (re: tiny room) at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and while the visit itself was horrendous* I was totally in awe at the artwork.

I have a new fave piece.

B.A.S.H by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi

* Trying to take a photo of a Blake screenprint, I almost had my foot broken by a gaggle of amazons, screeching and pratting about in the 60s and 70s costumes that you can try on. Then, while I was trying to take photos of the Warhol print, Jackie, a trio of emo tweenies - decided to heckle me until I gave them the death stare. They soon shut up.

Cherry Blossom

2007-04-21T10:18:00.000+01:00

When I was a kid, I would love Spring. Looking out for crocuses and daffodils, walking to the farm with my mam to buy eggs and looking out for cherry blossoms and looking up into the massive beech trees and becoming giddy at the size of them... my mam would call me her cherry blossom... awww.

Oh, how all that has changed. The farm is now a big business 'farm shop' buying in eggs instead of having laying hens, thankfully they got rid of the pigs* years ago but the cherry trees that we used to look at have all been cut down.

Anyway, the point to this post: when I was a kid, I would have given my eye teeth to have hay fever. No, seriously.

If you had hay fever you would be able to get out of P.E. and the dreaded cross-country. As I went to two schools which had rather large grounds, our cross-countries (which we had once a week) were the stuff of nightmares. So why is it as I've got older I now find I suffer when the first blossoms hit the trees? For the past few years it's been hell, excaberated by the fact there's three cherry trees outside my bedroom window and a hawthorn that doesn't seem to realise it's meant to flower in May.

Yesterday was particularly bad. I had to go out to meet my Uncle and everywhere I went, every garden I passed had a flowering cherry in it.

As much as I love looking at the blossom, I really curse the tree pollen. No amount of Max Factor foundation will disguise how pink my nose is at the moment.

* when I was at junior school, if the wind was blowing in the wrong direction we'd have to have an 'inside' break... the smell of the pig swill would be that overpowering, kids would be practically keeling over

W00t!

2007-04-19T00:54:00.000+01:00

I recently entered some artwork in a competition run by my uni and Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

It was to have a bookmark made of your art as well as your contact details which would then be included in the 'goody bags' that were handed out to visitors during the opening week of the new Pop art gallery at Wolves.

Twelve bookmarks were to be made and they were chosen from a range of first-year, second-year and third-year students (I believe there were only two first-years work chosen, myself and a fellow student on my course) and this is the piece that was chosen out of a total of six designs that I sent in.

I'm hoping to track my neice down over the weekend so I can get a photo of her holding the bookmark!

Redcap

2007-04-09T14:30:00.000+01:00

I wouldn't say I particularly look like a murderous, mischievous spirit although I guess some would beg to differ. A digital 'marker pen' effort with some editing on the shadows.

Hat from H&M ;)

The Owl and the Pussycat

2007-04-09T14:25:00.000+01:00

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

Edward Lear

Random

2007-04-09T01:05:00.000+01:00

Just some random stuff (old and new):

New BBK instalment - online now

2007-04-02T14:11:00.000+01:00

I'm worryingly still trying the finish The Heart's Fire Burns the Hottest but I only have six more illustrations to complete (that's the final two strips!).

I'm quite pleased with this instalment, as ever, it's been a challenge.

Journal

2007-04-02T13:55:00.000+01:00

Here are a few pages out of my Uni sketchbook/journal. It's basically a visual reference, artists that I'm researching for my Contextual Studies module as well as artists and movements that I have an interest in anyway and also bits and pieces of my own work.

It's a reflection on how I collect information and also how I present it (haphazard most of the time!) but I've tried to make it as visually interesting as possible. I splurged out on a set of new Staedtler fineliners and have been going mad on the pages as well as adding in my own caricatures and portraits of artists such as Keith Haring (2nd image down) and also the Aubrey Beardsley pen sketch that I previously blogged.

Aubrey Beardsley

2007-03-02T12:42:00.000Z

Here's a caricature of Aubrey Beardsley that I've done for one of my modules - we're currently looking at various artists and illustrators from the Victorian period through to Modernism and Post-Modernism. The bottom image is a sneaky peek at the latest flyer in the Belle, Book and Kandle series (which I'm still drawing!) but there should be a new 'interlude' instalment published on Cabinet of Wonders soon.

Baba Yaga

2007-02-24T11:47:00.000Z

I couldn't sleep last night (a combination of earache that was worse when I lay down and noisy neighbours banging and clattering about) so at around 3am, I came to the PC to doodle and take my mind off it.

When my silk screen prints have been completed at Uni, I'll be doing etchings and aquatints. I think I might use this for the etching component.

Edit: I've updated the image -

Squiddly diddly

2007-02-24T01:34:00.000Z

Inspired by recent news that a NZ fishing crew managed to land a colossal squid...

[...] Local news said the Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni was about 10m (33ft) long, and was the first adult colossal squid landed intact.

One expert said calamari rings made from it would be like tractor tyres [...]

Baldilocks

2007-02-18T16:07:00.001Z

Inspired by Britney Spears' new baldy, blank canvas look, here are some hair do's that I think could be worth her consideration for when her barnet finally grows back.

First up, the 'Perez':

The 'Marge':

The 'Pam Grier':

The 'Punksploitation' look:

Considering how much she loves Vegas, the '70s Elvis' look:

The 'George Romero':

Happy New Year!

2007-02-17T13:57:00.000Z

It is of course, the Year of the Pig in the Chinese calendar so here is a New year Piggy.

Coulrophobia

2007-02-15T11:48:00.002Z

Which is of course, a fear of clowns or is it? This interesting article asserts that there is no clinical term for clown phobia and some psychiatrists have never encountered any patients who have such a 'fear'. So is it just a social meme, are people saying they fear clowns just cos 'everybody else is doing it'? I dunno, I do know that I don't have any particular hate towards clowns in general. In fact, I quite like them in that I love circus paraphenalia and one of my all-time dreams is to visit a typical US Carnival and sideshow.

Anyhoo... some famous clowns from film and real life that I have created via the wonderful and fantastic medium of the d i g i t a l tablet... woo:

Capt. Spaulding from House of a 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. Great character and I met Sid Haig at a Memorabilia convention in Brum, a couple of years ago.

Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King's It... nowt much I can say to this other than I remember reading 'It' when I was still at junior school. The description of the first killing where a boy sticks his arm in the sewer grate to get his paper boat back has stuck with me forever *shudders*...

Although she's strictly not a clown in the sense that she wears garish and OTT make-up, dresses in outlandish clothing with ruffles and polka-dots and parades in front of gawping, curious people (oh, hold on) Kelly Osbourne makes it into my clown list (even though I do like her) for the simple fact that the photo that inspired this pic is one of the most hideous 'celeb' photos I've ever seen.

Amy Winehouse

2007-02-14T23:11:00.000Z

I had the old sketchbook out while I was watching the Brit Awards on TV. There were some good performances tonight and Amy Winehouse collected a gong. Russell Brand was hosting and I was struck by the similarities between his and Amy's hairdo.

This is just a quick digital paint I knocked up just a few moments ago:

Little Red Riding Hood

2007-02-09T11:37:00.000Z

Polly Jean

2007-02-07T09:41:00.000Z

Just to partner the Nick Cave image, here's an unfinished PJ Harvey illo.

Printing

2007-02-07T09:35:00.000Z

One of this semester's modules deals with silk screen printing and also etching and aquatints.

This is a piece I created for the silk screen printing. So far so good, I printed 12 copies in light grey, next week I will be going over these with a darker ink - blanking out where I want to keep the lighter shade of smoke. Red and black will come later...

Maneki Neko

2007-02-02T11:46:00.000Z

A Maneki Neko or 'lucky cat'.

Monster!

2007-02-02T11:36:00.000Z

The inimitable Boris Karloff in his monster makeup from James Whale's 'Frankenstein'.

Hagiophobia

2007-01-22T15:47:00.000Z

This is a composite piccie for one of my modules where we dealt with Photoshop. I had my first evaluation feedback session today and I feel I scored quite a good mark for this module. We were given a brief to incorporate some of the previous Photoshop work we'd done on Identity (using photos of ourselves) into a piece about phobias. I may have blogged this before but I chose at random, Hagiophobia, and this is the final illustration.

My first roughs avoided Judeo-Christian imagery, I thought it may have been a bit cliche or predictible but I was nudged back towards looking at Christian art.

My thoughts around this illustration were that one aspect of religion that is seemingly scary, is stigmata and also the Virgin Marys that weep blood etc..

I used photos of myself, artwork from a Google search on Virgin Mary (we were all told to use Google Image search!!) and then digitally painted in the stigmata wounds and used photoshop to blend everything else in. You may notice I went a bit OTT with the lens flare.

Hopgoblin

2007-01-12T19:10:00.000Z

a Hopkinsville Goblin, created for this blog entry on Damn Data

The Menace of the Phantom

2007-01-12T18:59:00.000Z

The latest webcomic in the Belle, Book and Kandle series is now up and running. The Menace of the Phantom, which is the sequel to Red Work. Thankfully I've just finished the last panels.

To celebrate, here's a quick 'pencil' sketch of Belle:

kimono

2007-01-10T01:23:00.000Z

Orangetastic

2007-01-10T01:15:00.000Z

I've been working on this image for a few days now. I 'painted' the back and then traced then cut'n'pasted out swirls from a black background on my antique photo editor. I created the patterns with the eraser. It's all 'hand-rendered' - if you can call it that - even though it's been drawn digitally.

I've still got some more to do on it, I might post the result when I'm done.

falling stars

2007-01-03T23:31:00.000Z

A meteorite doodle.

November

2007-01-03T14:49:00.000Z

Friday doodling

2006-12-29T22:44:00.000Z

A friendly tortoise and some Victorian children... I'm meant to be finishing off a comparitive assignment for Uni. As you can see I've been doodling while I should have been writing...

The White Witch

2006-12-29T01:37:00.000Z

I finally got around to watching the first instalment of the Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) the other day. I have to say that as a child I was a big, BIG fan of the Chronicles of Narnia. To the point I would play for hours inside my wardrobe in the vain hope of somehow being transported to Narnia.

This is just a quick doodle of Jadis, The White Witch, turning a fox into stone.

goldfish

2006-12-22T23:06:00.000Z

Doodle inspired by a ginger jar/pot/vase I've got stuck on top of one of my cabinets... it's a pond scene, lots of boggle-eyed goldfish/koi carp, lilies and insects.

A panto dame

2006-12-22T15:59:00.000Z

I went to a pantomime last night. I wish I'd been able to take photos of the set and costumes but like in most places now, cameras and videos were banned.

Anyway, here's the panto dame, 'Nurse Gertie' and one of the dwarfs, 'Smiler' (it was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs).

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-21T00:10:00.000Z

to get in the festive spirit, here's a snowman and his parasitic twin

(just don't ask, don't ask...)

doodlehead

2006-12-16T00:30:00.000Z

I have no idea why I doodle heads when I'm bored. Just one of those things I guess.

Re-jigged

2006-12-16T00:25:00.000Z

I had to re-jig this illo and start from scratch again:

this time it works a little bit better.

Little Red and Big Green

2006-12-04T20:17:00.000Z

This is a sketch I did for one of the other sentences from my latest children's book assignment. Little Red tells Big Green off for pushing in the queue for an ice-cream. Out of the four choices, this and the 'Ellie on the roof' story were the ones that I particularly liked and attempted to sketch out.

The Fabulous Butcher Boys

2006-12-04T20:10:00.000Z

The latest story is up and running over on the Cabinet of Wonders!

Up On the Roof II

2006-12-04T19:53:00.000Z

I've added the text. Whether it is successful or not (whether the lecturer likes it that is) is something I'll have to wait and see!

what it says on the tin...

2006-12-04T19:50:00.000Z

Just a doodle, tis pink and a skull... couldn't really think of anything to draw. Ho hum...

Up On the Roof

2006-12-03T22:15:00.000Z

I created this for my Illustration Practice class - we were given a few sentences taken from children's books and told to come up with an illustration to go with them. In this picture, 'Ellie' is being carried off her grandfather's roof by the wind.

Santa Muerto

2006-11-09T12:52:00.000Z

Another assignment illustration - unfinished obvs. - our brief is to come up with an illustration after we had chosen at random from a pile of papers, a phobia. I picked out by chance Hagiophobia - a fear of saints and holy things! Here's Saint Death although I've got another idea which I'll be drafting up shortly.

Kafkaesque

2006-11-09T12:28:00.000Z

I've yet to ink these (I'll be printing them off and doing it by hand) but these and the last post, 'Street Scene' are four narrative illustrations inspired by the Franz Kafka short-story, 'The Passenger'. I'll have to talk about them during a crit session next Tuesday, oh the horror...

All done digitally and I should just add the travel card ID numbers are NOT real (any would-be travelcard scammers...)

Street Scene

2006-11-07T06:59:00.000Z

Saint Cobain

2006-11-05T22:21:00.000Z

'Saint' Kurt Cobain, created for this blog entry on Damn Data.

I took a random B&W photo and digitally inked it to create the pseudo-religious effect. I then had a play with the various filters in my very old and clunky photo editor.

Pumpkin!

2006-10-20T18:05:00.000+01:00

This started off as a doodle earlier today at Uni. I digitally 'inked' it and added a soft glow via Picasa.

Seeing as I have been working on a Mac earlier today, coming home to work on it on my PC (without Photoshop) was a bit of an anti-climax. My brother has given me his old PC on which I'll be able to upload Photoshop and Corel Painter and have it solely for drawing. At the moment, it's just getting my bro' to bring it over for me which could mean it will be next year before that happens.

West Country girl with a big, fat cat

2006-10-19T20:06:00.000+01:00

Life drawing

2006-10-17T23:33:00.000+01:00

Today was my last life drawing session within the studio - next week we are being sent off outside to draw. I only have an A4 scanner so this sketch has unfortunately lost its legs and I have to say, my initial sketch was very much out of proportion in the leg area as is this sketch on the right arm - the model had changed pose slightly so I had to redo certain areas and then ran out of time during the session to complete the arm :(

Day of the Dead doodling

2006-10-13T22:57:00.000+01:00

These are some just Dia de los Muertos doodles that I created for a friend. Of course there is also this painting that I previously blogged about which I still haven't completed.

evil bunny

2006-10-06T12:36:00.000+01:00

Just another doodle. I'm getting into the Hallowe'en spirit early.

EDIT: here's another one, similar theme.

Life drawing

2006-10-05T20:37:00.000+01:00

Okay, this is a page out of my sketchbook from my first Lifedrawing class - from a week last Tuesday. I didn't get the whole body within the page but I'm still fairly pleased with it considering how long it's been since I drew anything like this.

wolfman

2006-10-05T19:48:00.000+01:00

It could just be a side-effect of the 'flu medicine I'm currently necking, but my dreams recently have been a bit psychadelic and a bit whacko. I do take a lot of inspiration from my weirder dreams such as purple baboons but last night it was posing, Venice Beach-type musclemen werewolves.

Quick-ass doodle on the graphic tablet.

teasers

2006-10-05T17:55:00.000+01:00

These are just a couple of teasers from two pieces of upcoming work. I'll be posting up links when they're finally published.

Both created on graphics tablet, slight edit via Picasa

Q's adventures in HE

2006-09-27T09:16:00.000+01:00

(That's Higher Education if you were wondering)

A couple of weeks ago, I attended an open evening at my local Uni. I had gone hoping to sign up for two evening courses that were being run. At the end of the courses I would attain 15 credits as they were actually degree modules that you could 'pick and choose' from. The courses I had hoped to attend were Lifedrawing and Digital Image Manipulation (Photoshop).

Unfortunately, they were cancelled due to a low response but...

I ended up going back again last week and somehow managed to be signed up for a BA Hons in Illustration which I'll be studying part time.

Woo hoo I hear you say. Well, yeah I am over the moon if I'm honest. I'm the oldest person on the course by about 10-8 years, I feel decrepit if the truth be known and so far the group dynamic is how can I say? Well, I've seen more spark in a dead battery but it's the first week and I'm guessing the majority of students are either shy or homesick. I missed the induction week where everybody got to know each other and I'm sure it will get better once we 'know' or at least remember each other's names.

I'm really pleased I got onto the Illustration course as this is something I would like to expand on. My first three modules are research in art & design, visual communication (working in Photoshop) and yesterday, Lifedrawing.

I was pleased with what I produced yesterday. I am rusty as a rusty bucket of rusty nails when it comes to drawing models. The last Lifedrawing class I took was 12 years ago at 16. While I was a bit hesitant in my first couple of sketches, I feel I soon got more confident in my lines.

I needed to retrain as I can't go back to the type of jobs I'd previously worked in due to personal reasons. I spent 10 years working in the care and voluntary sector as well as caring for my late father who had a terminal illness. I'd had enough and it was making me ill. It made me ill.

Some people can cope with it and make a career out of it but I think a combination of holding three jobs down while looking after my dad managed to burn any last remaining desire to work in that sector. Plus, it's the kind of work where you're never appreciated. You go in with so many hopes and ambitions to try and help people or change the system only to be knocked down by beaurocracy and petty Jobsworths.

Concentrating on my art in the past year has been a cathartic process in a way. As I explained in my very first post on this blog, I hadn't picked up a pen or pencil in a good many years. Not having the time or energy to do so. I know my dad would have been so pleased with me, he was very enthusiastic about my artwork and my family all seem to be behind me 100% which is great.

I'm also working on losing my inhibitions when it comes to showing others my artwork. Posting here and also on the Belle, Book and Kandle webcomic has helped. I've never been confident with showing people my drawings, basically I had hang-ups with what I produce. I never feel it is good enough or I get embarrassed by peoples' reactions. I feel I'm getting over that hurdle and I'm happy with what I'm producing. I know I have a long way to go yet and there's always room for improvement but I'm getting there.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I'll still be posting up bits and bobs on this blog. It's been a good way of documenting my artwork in an amateur fashion as I haven't got my physical profile of work together as of yet. That is something I desperately need to do along with a hundred other things!

The Ghoul of Paris

2006-09-20T13:51:00.000+01:00

Next up in the Belle, Book and Kandle webcomic is an encounter with the famous 'Ghoul of Paris'! The above flyer is of course a Toulouse Lautrec parody.

I've been quite pleased with how this strip has turned out, I've noticed myself that I'm starting to loosen up my drawing style. I shall post a link to the comic when it goes live.

EDIT: and here is the link to the webcomic, The Ghoul of Paris. It will be updated every other day.

shop 'til you drop

2006-08-23T23:37:00.000+01:00

You can now buy all manner of goodies at spreadshirt.net designed by yours truly. There'll be new stuff added asap.

Ganesh

2006-08-23T11:55:00.000+01:00

I created this for a blog entry over on Damn Data detailing the news reports that Hindu statues are 'drinking' milk in temples across India. The base image was an oil painting (unfinished) that I scanned and then went to work on digitally. I just hope the sanskrit makes sense and does say 'Ganesh' as it is meant to.

Emo kid

2006-08-11T17:49:00.000+01:00

This is one of my ubiquitous nieces and she also has the unfortunate pleasure of being my god-daughter too... poor kid.

hot stuff

2006-07-22T02:00:00.000+01:00

Well, no. It isn't really but these are a result of the hot weather.

It's too hot to sleep, I'm not used to tarmac-melting weather so I've been sat here trying to practice figure drawing.

stinky sasquatch

2006-07-17T00:21:00.000+01:00

The girl with a curl

2006-07-15T01:18:00.000+01:00

Some redhead action...

Pin up

2006-07-12T01:21:00.000+01:00

I'm not that happy with this, the shading could be so much better. I'll have to have another crack at it tomorrow. I was inspired by this site and this drawing in particular.

graphic tablet

EDIT -

here's the updated version (I'm still unsure of it though!!)

fresh batch

2006-07-11T15:39:00.000+01:00

of some more doodles:

ectoplasmic

2006-07-08T01:09:00.000+01:00

with colour but unfinished (obvs)

edit: finished!

Belle in Sepia

2006-07-07T20:26:00.000+01:00

I've just tweaked the last image in Picasa to give it a sepia-tone effect. I quite like it like this.

Stepping out

2006-07-07T13:02:00.000+01:00

Just another random sketch of the Belle, Book and Kandle characters.

I'll post up the finished article once completed.

EDIT: and here it is

Godzilla the cat

2006-07-07T11:17:00.000+01:00

Years (and I do mean years) ago I had a cat. A lovely red tabby called Godzilla. He was great, I was too embarrassed to shout 'Godzilla!' from the back step so I taught him to answer to a whistle.

Anywaaay, I used to draw comic strips for my neices based around the exploits of Godzilla (apparently their mother still has the cartoons, I must ask her to find them out next time I'm there).

I can't remember all of them but the few that I do:

Godzilla meets the Pirates (drawn on 'parchment' - coffee-stained and then singed - to look like an old treasure map including wax seal), Godzilla meets the Spice Gulls (yes, Sporty Gull, Scary Gull etc..), Godzilla in Wonderland

He would also appear in their birthday or christmas cards but unfortunately he ran away and that was the end of the Godzilla strips. I couldn't bring myself to draw them again. I loved that cat.

I'd just moved and my mother let him out the house after only six days even though I had expressly warned her not to. Me - "Eeeeeh... where's me bloody cat??", Mother - "Oh he's outside, he'll come back he'll be okay".

This is the first time I've drawn the character since Godzilla buggered off into the great, wide unknown.

Ninja!!

2006-07-07T11:11:00.000+01:00

I knocked this up last night for this thread over on Cabinet of Wonders.

Toy Dog

2006-07-03T20:43:00.000+01:00

Paint and pen via the graphic tablet

MOOOO!

2006-07-03T16:08:00.000+01:00

You can keep an eye out for the Were-Cow here and remember... stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors...

paws for thought

2006-06-30T03:02:00.000+01:00

They sail’d to the Western Sea, they did,—
To a land all cover’d with trees:
And they bought an owl, and a useful cart,
And a pound of rice, and a cranberry-tart,
And a hive of silvery bees;
And they bought a pig, and some green jackdaws,
And a lovely monkey with lollipop paws,
And forty bottles of ring-bo-ree,
And no end of Stilton cheese:

Edward Lear

Cosmic girl

2006-06-29T00:28:00.000+01:00

Do you remember the time I knew a Girl From Mars?
I don't know if you knew
that.
Oh we'd stay up late playing cards,
Henri Winterman Cigars.
Though she never told me her name,
I still love you, Girl From Mars.

squid vicious

2006-06-27T23:38:00.000+01:00

What is it? I dunno... s'just another doodle!

Image created on the graphic tablet

Nuke'm High

2006-06-27T12:22:00.000+01:00

One thing that overshadowed my childhood was an absolute and abject fear of a nuclear attack happening to the UK. Having watched 'Threads' as a very small child and also having read 'The Third World War' and its description of all the major and minor towns in the Midlands being devasted by a nuclear attack by the then USSR, plagued my imagination. I even used to have nightmares on the subject.

Image created on the graphic tablet.

'scarlet lady'

2006-06-26T23:04:00.000+01:00

I've been a bit distracted, a bit despondent today. I knocked this up out of a doodle. I know it's flat and could do with a bit more depth but I was just messing about on the graphic tablet.

New sketches

2006-06-26T11:19:00.000+01:00

I've been away for a week and haven't had chance to do any drawings or even any doodles until last night. I'd been itching to draw but I hadn't taken my sketch book with me, fool that I am.

Mummy.

Just a doodle.

I'd had the chorus to Jangling Jack constantly going through my head while I've been away.

All done on the graphic tablet.

some doodlings for the webcomic

2006-06-06T17:55:00.000+01:00

Ghoulish

2006-05-24T02:29:00.000+01:00

Thanks to the digital tablet I've been able to tidy up the original ghoul sketch pic.

Mental block

2006-05-22T00:27:00.000+01:00

I've got a spiffy digital tablet yet I can't think of anything to draw apart from friggin' zombies or skulls...

going digital

2006-05-21T03:11:00.000+01:00

My very first digital painting that came about after a case of serious artist's block - too many things to play with, not enough imagination when it came to drawing!

As I had been watching Land of the Dead this afternoon, I could only come up with a zombie. A very green zombie at that.

Oh well, tomorrow's another day and hopefully I'll be able to come up with something a bit better!!!

Thanks to Emps for the digital tablet. You little star you!!