Sometimes my favourite drawings are the quick ones done without any pressure (and often little thought). Here’s a birthday card for my young niece that I scrawled out in about 2 minutes at the weekend.
Jumping Bunny birthday card
I’ve been working on some updates for the Tempo Lush website, like the new blog header above.
One fun but incredibly tricky element of tweaking the site was making a new favicon. For those who don’t know, and trust me – I didn’t until I really had to, a Favicon is the tiny icon that appears next to the web address in many internet browsers (certainly in Safari and Firefox). The trick is to get an image into a 16 pixel squared space. It’s kind of like the graphic design equivalent of writing your name on a grain of rice.
For my favicon I depicted my character Lucy the Octopus listening to some kick ass tunes on her favourite over sized headphones. For those of you reading this on a browser that displays favicons you can see the 16 pixel version in the address bar now, but here’s a larger version to see Lucy in all her pixelated glory!
Lucy the Octopus Favicon
I had a fun filled weekend visiting two exciting illustration / comic events, cultured kind of guy that I am.
Friday evening found me hitting the library, which was not as studious as it sounds. The inside of the British Library was almost unrecognisable as for one night only it was transferred into Illuminate! A celebration of Illustration. With music provided by Mr. Scruff, there was excellent and eclectic company as work of Quentin Blake hung next to the drawings of Jamie Hewlett and a host of other amazing artists.
It was good to see many of my buds from the London comic scene rubbing shoulders, including the very talented Karen Rubins who I’m currently working on a short but exciting comic project with. It was great to see her work displayed in such a fantastic venue.
Ink drawing from Tales by Ghost Light by Karen Rubins
My photo doesn’t do her line work justice so best to check out Karen’s online portfolio here!
Death Do Us Part: Comic Sculpture by Karrie Fransman
Likewise, the picture above taken on my iPhone fails to capture how cool Karrie Fransman’s work is. As well as displaying her comic art, Karrie ran one of the many workshops that was taking place on the night. In her case this was a popular 3D Narrative Life Drawing workshop which included Karrie dressing up as a horse for the benefit of the surrounding artists who all grabbed the chance to draw live Medieval characters. Here’s my own efforts…
3D Narrative Life Drawing Sketches
On Sunday I headed to a rare event that appealed to my 4 year old son as much as me. Illustrators Sarah McIntyre and Ed Vere not only gave readings of their fantastic children’s books Morris the Mankiest Monster and Bedtime for Monsters, but had a nail-biting monster drawing showdown too! You can see more on the event on Sarah’s own blog here.
Ed Vere and Sarah McIntyre drawing in books at Monsterville
Sarah McIntyre and fan with "Vern & Lettuce" and Ed Vere's "The Getaway"
It was brilliant for me and my son to meet and chat with these illustration greats! It’s only a shame that the event was marking the final weekend of Monsterville after 6 months at the Children’s Story Centre in Stratford. The planned Comics / Superheroes event there looks like it should be good too though!
After I unveiled my David Lynch themed comic, a couple of friends were surprised at the art-style. Not my usual more cartoony work. Please note I do not use “cartoony” as a negative adjective as some people do.
I’m definitely being influenced by taking some Portrait & Life classes over the last half a year or so. First time I’ve done Life drawing since Art College, where frankly I never really appreciated it.
It’s great to sit, observe and just draw or paint, not worrying about story, character or context. The techniques learnt have crept into my comic and illustration work.
Ink wash Portrait 16.1.12
Hmmm… maybe the eyes on the face below do look cartoony, but as I say, that’s not a negative in itself so I don’t care!
Ink wash Portrait Face 16.1.12
Ink wash Portrait 13.12.11
I’ll post some more pics from my Portrait & Life sessions soon!
A few weeks ago I was asked to do a short comic for the excellent online magazine, Electric Sheep. I had a pretty busy January planned but had to make time for this when I discovered what the project would be about. Femmes Fatales in David Lynch’s movies and TV shows: that’s pretty hard for an old David Lynch fan to turn down!
So I cranked up the Angelo Badalamenti soundtracks to get me in the mood and dived into the strange, funny, scary world once more.
I’m even watching Twin Peaks from the beginning again and loving it!
Click here to read Falling on the Electric Sheep Magazine site.
David Lynch Femmes Fatales
I’m very pleased to reveal the excellent new Rosie and Jacinda website. For those of you not familiar with the comic I created with Manga artist / Fashion Illustrator supremo Zarina Liew, Rosie and Jacinda is a teenage romantic comedy with a hint of fairytale. It tells the story of school outcast Jacinda struggling to handle her first friend in many years… the effervescent new girl, Rosie!
Check out rosieandjacinda.com for interviews with Rosie, Jacinda, Daniella, Benjamin, Kyle and Aaron plus much more…
I’ve been working on a short comic project for Electric Sheep Magazine. Should be online in a couple of weeks or so but here’s a tiny teaser image. Serious Cookie Points for anyone who recognises the TV show character from this preparatory sketch!
Preparatory drawing for upcoming comic project...
First blog in ages! Going to be posting loads more now that I’ve tidied up this page.
Here are a couple of pictures I’ve been working on for a recent design project. Nice to post some things up after being locked away drawing for many weeks!
People resting outside cabin over looking lakes and under Scandanavian Skies
Folk exploring Northern Europe
…and for the final book in the series!
This was created using the Scott Pilgrim Avatar Creator. Everyone who’s anyone is doing it!
Announcing the title and logo for the upcoming Cobalt Cafe / Tempo Lush co-production…
