Thursday 22 April 2010

3 stages of invention...



Here's a little insight into how my drawings tend to develop.. from the initial sketch (posted earlier) I work up a vector layout in Illustrator. This then allows me to play about with the colours. I generally have a 'vision' of how I want the colours to sit on an image, but Illustrator's flexibility allows me to experiment 'on the go' as it were.. You can see how the colours have changed slightly from the middle image to the framed image. I'll put together the soldiers colleagues from the sketch when I get a minute, but in the meantime I've placed him in a composite environment to give him a sense of belonging... he's so lonely on his own!!

Tuesday 20 April 2010

The blue monster returns...


Here's another 'blue monster' picture (and an alternative framing version of it) I put together earlier.

doodle time...

Saw the new 'Clash of the Titans' a few weeks back.. enjoyed it too!.. here's a doodle in homage to those old sword and sandals epics I used to watch as a kid.. and a big shout out to Ray Harryhaussen for simultaneously filling me with awe and scaring the shit out of me all at once..

Monday 19 April 2010

War of Words.. NERVOUS


Not too bad a word as it turns out.. I had quite a few ideas bouncing around the old shell last week.. I might have gone with the safe option, but it was a spur of the moment idea I had whilst looking through Shane Glines excellent 'S Curves' book.. I did a sketch of the layout in about 3 minutes.. and that's how it stayed. Refined the shapes in Illustrator, but kept it nice and simple with flat colouring!

Dave went for more cartoon characters.. this time, perhaps the 2 characters who epitomize the word best of all!!.. Shaggy and Scoobert Doo... Great stuff!

This week... SANCTUARY

Friday 16 April 2010

you cant stop the rock!!

Guitar Hero mk01

The Siren...


Been marveling at how 'Shane Glines' and 'Ragnar' use negative space in their illustration work.. felt like having a little go myself... here's the result!

Quoth the raven...

Don't be NERVOUS....

The word of the week entries are coming!... here's a sneak peek at my entry for NERVOUS!

it's coming.... very VERY slowly!

Beware of ' Monsieur Cravat' the Meatasaurus Monster Snail... he will (eventually) eat you alive when you stop for a rest... unless you've got a bag of Salt & Vinegar crisps.. in which case, he's bolloxed!

a chop off the old block...

Here's a drawing by 9 year old Rachel of a scary cycloptic zombie blob monster (with a Harry Potter scar).. She's working on making a fabric version of this in School.. her teacher says "it's very imaginative"... I say "It ROCKS Rachel!"

Thursday 15 April 2010

You wouldn't like him when he's angry...

.... there goes another pair of pants!

Tuesday 13 April 2010

BEWARE... Monster!


Here's a piece I put together this afternoon.. not for anything specific, I'm just enjoying drawing monsters at the minute!

There and back again..

Back when I was but a mere speck of darkness in all the light, I bought a copy of 'The Hobbit' through book club in school.. I already loved the animated version of 'The Lord of the Rings', and was a flag waving, HEAVY METAL listening, Dungeons and Dragons playing fatty.. (and I'm still proud if it!) 

Anyways.. the cover of the Hobbit was what drew me to the book.. an illustrated piece of Smaug (the Dragon) curled up on a bed of golden treasure.. it really helped to inform my imagination of how the story 'looked' as I read it.. So finally... after what seems like a million years... here's my (Children's Book?) interpretation of the cover..

Flippin' heck.. that was a long post!

Monday 12 April 2010

War of Words.. EGG 02


As promised.. here is Dave's entry for the word 'EGG'.. and wicked it is too! The backdrop reminds me of Ben Templesmith's artwork for 30 Days of Night.. I've added a close up for my entry, just to refresh your memory.. or in case you are too lazy to scroll down the page a bit. See how thoughtful I am?

This weeks word... NERVOUS... flipping heck Dave!!

Thursday 8 April 2010

War of Words.. EGG

Hi All.. Well, I'm going to be away for the weekend from tomorrow, so I'm posting my entry for this week's word today and I'll post Dave's entry on monday when I get back.

Had a few ideas for this one, went through many doodles of little egg eating monsters before getting to this fellow though (and very frustrating at times it was too!) still.. I'm happy with the turn out.. It's been fun creating little characters of late and not recreating well known ones.. kinda nice to get back to basics!

Have a great weekend!

Tuesday 6 April 2010

more than a feeling...

Sorry for the BOSTON reference in the title.. but here's a quick pic that just about sums up how I'm feeling about my work at the moment... Oh dear, oh dear!

War of Words.. ADVENTURER.. Dave


Dave's entry for last week's word was worth the wait.. 2 of the characters from the classic Adventure game 'TALISMAN'... ah.. many a youthful hour was passed playing this game and listening to some serious 'rock' tunage!... I miss those days!

As an aside.. I didn't make issue 3 of AMMO magazine.. I'd like to say that I wasn't disappointed.. but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't anything other than gutted..

Feels like another kick in the teeth regarding the work I produce.. I'm giving serious thought to giving 'drawing' up at the moment.. but maybe I'm just feeling sorry for myself?

Thursday 1 April 2010

Adventurer pt 3


Just to prove that I have been working on other ideas (for a change) here's a sketch I did for Tomb Raider.. so there!

Adventurer pt 2

Here's a close up of our titular hero.. just because I can!

War of Words.. ADVENTURER pt1

Meh.. thought I might as well post mine now (seeing as I'm on here!) This is my entry for Word of the Week.. it's a companion piece to 'Whistle'.. To give it the official title it's "Baby Blue's Big Adventure".

I was sorely tempted to produce a Tomb Raider entry for the word, but felt that this would give me a bit more of a challenge. Glad I went for it really.. it's nice to do something different once in a while, and it was nice to return to this little fantasy land.

Happy Birthday Dave!


Just like to wish my buddy Dave.. a Happy Birthday! (sorry it's late Dave.. trouble with getting the image right!)

As it's the chocolate eating weekend of the universe the postings for the word of the week will be running a little late.. I might post mine in a bit, but Dave's will follow on Tuesday. Next weeks word has already been chosen... In honor of the season.. EGG!