I’m enjoying playing with the new Adobe Illustrator on the iPad. I’m still only scratching the surface, but it’s really nice being able to do Illustrator-y sort of stuff away from the big computer desk (ie; in the garden, down the park, or on the sofa in front of the telly). The iPad version seems […]
I’ve been trying to sketch this tractor for the past two days, but people kept putting their tents up right next to it. I didn’t want to be the weird awkward guy standing there, staring at a tractor, right in front of the campers’ tent personal spaces. Finally, I got my chance this afternoon, while […]
I’ve been meaning to make a correction to the coffee image, but I ended up doing the whole alphabet instead. Mainly because I probably just need the practice. I’m thinking it might be nice to make a font out of this eventually – so I can type-finger-spell. (I’ve probably still managed to get some of […]
Recently we went on holiday to France. It was great! The highlight, for me, was Nantes, which seems to be a really quirky, fun little city. I loved following the green line and finding all the art installations and exhibitions that were going on. In fact, I almost want to run away and start my […]
In 7 weeks time, I shall be running in the London Marathon. Eek! With the snow interrupting my training regime this week, I decided to draw a picture instead, to try and motivate myself. I’ve also been re-reading Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic recently, which might explain the Death character popping up. (p.s. I’m […]
BBC See Hear were kind enough to let me to draw all over their stuff again. 🙂 Here is a poster I made for their See Hear Weekend in Bristol. (The itinerary looks amazing and I wish I could go. Especially the Aardman workshops!)
Having failed in my attempt to catch up on last month’s, “Inktober”, I shall now attempt to fail at, “30 Comics November”. Here’s my first attempt out of what might well turn out to be one. In other news, I’ve cut my Indian ink with a cheaper brand, and it seems have gone really runny.
Yay! I’ve done them all now. “Burn”, is possibly a bit not-so-good, and “Friend”, is maybe a bit cheesy and un-halloweeny, but I’ll live with it. I did two, “Surprises”, too. Surprise! So, now I need to catch-up with the Bestiary!
Here’s a partial catch-up on Inktober. I’ve just been informed that I’ve been doing Inktober all wrong, and I’m supposed to be following the Official Prompt List. Whoops! So here are Inktober numbers 2,3,4 and 5.
I’m coming a bit late to the party this year… but here is my first #Inktober drawing! Yay! Woo! I cycled past this scene on Lower Thames Street, near Tower Bridge, a few weeks ago, and it’s been stuck in my head ever since.
View Over the Great Courtyard at the British Museum, from the Members Room
Last night I ran around the British Museum in a blind panic trying to find something to draw before closing time. There’s too many amazing things to look at! I can’t make up my mind! So I went and had a beer in the members room to try and calm myself down for a bit, […]
I’m helping to illustrate Hana Videen’s new blog, Dēor-Hord: A Medieval and Modern Bestiary. Woohoo! I’m completely fascinated by any kind of history, so I’m really excited to be involved with Hana’s new blog. It’s about how medieval artists had to try and visualise exotic animals based on travellers’ (possibly exaggerated) descriptions, without having actually seen […]
“C”, is for, “Cat”, of course. And, “Castle”. And, “Cream”. And, “Cushion”. And, “Crown”. And, “Chain”. And, “Claws”. It’s hard to stop thinking of things that begin with a, “C”, now.
Witch! Or Wand? Or Worm?… So many potential Ws. This is a pertinently Halloween-themed sign-letter drawing. W is the most difficult letter of the alphabet to draw. It’s all those fingers sticking out all over the place. Here’s another witch, but I didn’t think she was characterful enough to make the final cut.
Not sure about this one…. I’ll sit on for a bit and see what I think in a few days time… I did try a more “anatomically correct” version of the octopus (below), but everyone in my family seem to prefer the octopus with the silly mouth. Boo to anatomically correct(er) octopuses!
If one tries to add alligator scales to human hands, they start to look like they belong to the Creature From the Black Lagoon (sans webby bits). Who knew this would happen?
Ok, I know I’m going to have to come back and re-do this one, in order to shave Sailor Bob’s Beard off. Also binoculars might be a bit over-ambitious. Maybe it really needs to be something else that begins with a B (a bee?). I’ll let it go for now though! Here is an earlier, […]
Cate and Ben are on the kitchen floor, drawing a giant map of everywhere they’ve ever been to, EVER. I managed to get this far before they ran off with all my inks. #inktober 27
Not sure about this one… I think it’s probably one of those classic cases of knowing when I should have stopped applying the blue ink. Oh well! Anyway, it’s a camera. #inktober 25
#inktober 15 By the swimming pool. Finally managed to get my Ada Lovelace reference in, two days late. I’m not sure how recognisable she is, but hey, it’s a Friday night and… well, I’m going to have a glass of wine.
I’m killing two birds with one stone here. Here’s #inktober no. 14! Which is also my response to this article in today’s Guardian. #mydaemon My personal daemon is a Remembering Dodo. He helps me to remember all the things that I normally forget when I leave the house every morning. Unfortunately he has a lot of […]
Another attempt at analogue animation. I’ve forgotten just how fast this sort of thing burns through pencils… Beginning to wonder if it might work out cheaper if I just invest in a big Cintiq and a TVPaint, or Harmony…. It is nice working on paper though.
Here are some wine label designs I made for a competition. I’m not expecting any winnings to be honest, but I’m glad I gave it a shot. Now I just need a large glass of wine. Here’s some of the working-out sketches.
It was a 4 hour flight from Gatwick to Heraklion. I managed to while away some of the time by practicing perspective from my seat. I didn’t get to draw that much in Crete, mainly because the children kept dragging me into the swimming pool. I think there might be a market for waterproof […]
Here’s an absolutely true story about what actually, really happened the other night. Rendered in actual, real colour inks! (black and white version below if colours are too painful to look at)
Recently I’ve finished work on a series of animations for a live theatre production called Bee Detective, which is produced by Tin Bath‘s Gemma Fairlee, and Sophie Woolley. Gemma directed, and Sophie wrote the script, and performs the main character. I’m really pleased with the work I did for Bee Detective. It was all bit […]
More stuff saved from my laptop drive. These are from the year 2002! I think these are still some of the best life drawings I’ve ever managed to do. I remember having a great time drawing them, and learnt a lot about anatomy.
Just found this blast-from-the-past on my laptop; a scan from one of my old sketchbooks. Here are Sally’s feet, as drawn in a park in Budapest, on a hot and sunny day.