Surprise Dad!

As my Dad doesn't read this blog it's safe to show you all these beer mats I designed as a surprise for his birthday party next week, this lovely ebay shop is printing them for me. I can't wait to scatter them about and surprise my dad! These were made in Adobe Illustrator. I aged the photo using this excellent tutorial you can find here, to achieve a 'real ale' sort of traditional look.

Not dead

Teacher training really scuppered my blogging for a while. Here I am once more, with a just-completed oil painting of a drinks can. I'm pleased with the top of the can and the ring pull, and the lettering isn't bad. Hopefully the time I have this month will let me get some more paintings done, and I can finally realise my goal to enter something into an exhibition.

Dear Mr Potter...

This is a piece I did based on an earlier lino print. It shows a Hogwarts owl with a special letter for Harry Potter. After a long period away from digital illustration I am enjoying a return, and I'm looking forward to developing my work further.

The Cat That Walked By Himself - re-do

Having abandoned digital illustration for a while, I was tidying up my files today and in the process I discovered how much I enjoyed doing it. I found this piece from my (still ongoing and stalled due to time constraints) A-Z in literature project. It's the C entry, The Cat That Walked By Himself by Rudyard Kipling. I re-did the woman as she was getting on my nerves, and made some tweaks with texture, colour and the position of the cat's head. You can see the original here.

Illustration Friday: The Sea

Studying a PGCE leaves little time for my own artwork which is sad, but now I have a little time off I have got back into the swing, with a watercolour piece for Illustration Friday. This week's theme: The Sea.

Inked up

A while back I wrote about a design I submitted for a fan art competition - a series of portraits of the original 80s transformers. Well, it didn't win, and some of the designs in there were just amazing. But I was still pleased with my effort. A few friends on Facebook expressed their desire to have the design on a T shirt so I duly obliged. Here is the finished result. I am going to put this in my Etsy shop at some point.

For those of you in the UK and curious, I used Total Clothing. There was a screen print charge of £20 and each subsequent T shirt cost £5, so pretty reasonable. Its made me want to do more designs in this style (I will add it to my growing pile of unfinished or not-yet-started projects), maybe a Tardis, as the new Doctor is now gracing our screens?

I also completed a comic, Two for Joy, though I am not quite happy with it yet. I have found this project really daunting - getting the pacing right for a little graphic story is hard, and I always think my artwork could be better. But at least I finished it!

And finally, remember this illustration I did of Dirk and Christopher?

They are characters from a book series called Dark Lord by Jamie Thomson, I just love them. I recently found out a third book has been released so I must get my hands on that. I can't get these characters out of my head. I think I should expand them some more!

Educational...

Currently I teach classes on perspective drawing at a college near me. The students need to learn how to use Illustrator and produce a final piece demonstrating grasp of the software, as well as understanding of perspective and how to apply it. This is a piece of artwork I produced to show them how useful the Effects - 3D - Rotate command when creating artwork. Two things I learned in advance whilst doing this: One - Plan in advance! This is an amazing tool but my how fiddly. I didnt think it lent itself well to tinkering. Two - colour in advance! It was a nightmare colouring the individual bits as once the effect is applied, the paths stay, invisible, in their original place. I had to keep switching the screen to view in Outlines just to get anything coloured. Anyway! I hope this will show them the possibilities of such a tool. Here's hoping!

Vote and help me (roll) out!

Hi all, I have entered a competition over at welovefine.com. To celebrate 30 years of Transformers, they are calling for fan art submissions, and the winner ends up on a T shirt. There is a voting system, please do visit and vote for my design if you have time!

I used a brush and ink to draw each transformer's head, then scanned them into Illustrator to tidy them up and make them all the same size. From top left: Megatron, Ratchet, Soundwave, Grimlock, Starscream, Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Arcee, Frenzy, Jazz, Thundercracker, Bumblebee.

This was a LOT of fun to do!

Please vote now! (voting closes 9th April, winner announced on the 22nd April) Thanks!

S is for Santiago

So, this is the next instalment for my literary alphabet, and in a break from tradition, its not G... its S. S for Santiago from The Old Man And The Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. Its not yet finished and though I like it, there are still tweaks and experiments I want to try. I still really hate my F entry, Fagin, so that will need re-visiting at some point.

I have been working on an ink and brush comic which I should be putting up soon, I have nothing but respect for comic strip writers, laying a story out on a page is hard work!

F is for Fagin ...

I haven't stopped my A-Z  Literary Project but Fagin has been giving me no end of trouble! I'm still not sure how I feel about this piece but here he is anyway, pocketing a trifle from his latest thieving spree, in the dark slums of London.

Holiday!

Going to France to relax and soak some rays! See you all when I get back :-)

Drink and Draw - July 2013

There have been Drink and Draw nights in Peterborough before now, in various locations. I first heard about the concept about a year ago, and thought it sounded brilliant. Arty people sketching round a table in a pub, with drinks. What's not to like?

With the event of Find me Keep Me in Peterborough this May, I met loads of people in the arts community, and the idea for a drink and draw was tossed about then. People seemed keen. I was keen. So when the dust had settled in my new home, I decided to take tentative steps towards organising it.

I've never organised anything before. Well, not strictly true, but I had never organised anything completely on my own, where I stood what felt like a very real chance of no one turning up. 

Firstly I put out feelers on the Creative Peterborough Facebook page. After just 24 hours I had some encouraging 'likes' and the offer of a pub to host it. Following a Friday night drink there with a friend and a chat with the landlord, Ian, I had myself a venue. Nice. Now for getting people to come.

I shouted out on Facebook and a couple of other sites, and Ian also did his bit of promoting. But in typical fashion, I felt I'd left it a bit late to spread the word, and when Wednesday night came, I sat down in the pub, heart pounding, and waited.

If only one or two people turn up, then that's fine, I told myself as I sat there, still beetroot red from the bike ride. Better than nothing. Slow grow, etc. Besides, it's your own fault for being so shoddy with promotion. Then the first person turned up!

In the end, 11 people came. Some left early and others came later on. I had advertised it as a laid back, do-your-own-thing kind of night, but I'd also made up miniature projects on little slips of paper, which people could pick up if they wanted. These turned out to be well received - one obvious danger is that Drink and Draw can easily become Drink and Talk, with very little drawing being done, but people said the mini projects were good procrastination-busters, and I tried to cater for the doodler as well as the more experienced artist -  we had both types last night, which was so lovely.

Ruth from Metal came along and interviewed me about the night for the website with a camcorder. I squirmed my way through a little explanation about what Drink and Draw is about, smiling fixedly and making far too many hand gestures. I met some great people and really enjoyed chatting and drawing, getting to know people and seeing different styles (or 'visual languages', as my old lecturer used to insist). Cycled home with a huge smile on my face and already looking forward to the next one - after the success of last night, hopefully it can become a monthly thing. 

Peterborough Drink and Draw, every first Wednesday, The Palmerston Arms, Oundle Rd, Pboro. Facebook page coming soon. :-) 

Moar stuff?!?

I have finally got round to listing new products in my NOTHS shop - my weeks-in-the-making Colouring Book for Grown Ups, a new sympathy card, a congratulations on passing your driving test card, and some lovely black and white illustrated postcards.

I have been delayed somewhat in my entry for F in the literary alphabet I am doing, but here is a preliminary sketch. Can you guess which character it is?

E is for Esther...

Esther Greenwood, sinking into bleak depression in New York, in Sylvia Plath's the Bell Jar.

D is for Dark Lord...

...Trapped in the body of a teenage boy and sent to our world, having to endure indignities such as school, homework and detention. He befriends his complete opposite: a sweet, innocent boy named Christopher who tries to help him regain his terrifying form and return home. I’m a couple of decades out of the target reading age for this book but it didn’t stop me enjoying it. I think what I loved best is how much the two main characters seem to truly care about each other (deep deep down) and rely on each other. Like Harry Potter, this book appears at first glance to be about magic and fantasy, but to me it was equally about friendship. Dark Lord: The Teenage Years by Jamie Thomson

 

C is for Cat

This week’s illustration is of The Cat That Walked By Himself, by Rudyard Kipling. So far this project has made me look around and read new material, or re-read old books I used to love. You’d think that not having a TV would leave me more time to read, but actually I seem to spend a lot of time up in my studio doing art! Which is still great.

I absolutely love cats and it’s surprising they don’t find their way into more of my illustrations. Now that I have a garden I’ve been enjoying the birds visiting, so when I see a cat, my feelings are mixed. But I’ll always be a cat girl...

B is for Bilbo

As part of my A-Z literary alphabet, here is poor Bilbo, running away from Smaug's deadly flames!

A is for Anne

Myself and my good friend and awesome illustrator buddy Carlydraws are currently doing a literary alphabet, with each letter connected to something in literature. My first letter is dedicated to Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I think my alphabet will be largely character based, but we will wait and see.

Harry Potter and the Graphic Design Awe

I went to the Warner Brothers studio tour yesterday with some friends from university. As a big HP fan, I walked in with a huge smile on my face which stayed on all day, and was even still there this morning when I woke up. 

I was with friends from my university days, who all studied Illustration or Graphic design with me, and one of the highlights for us was the display of all the design used in the film. I was so glad they included this. 

These displays show copies of the Quibbler magazine, the Daily Prophet, Quidditch World Cup programmes, train tickets, letters... it is amazing when you consider these things were only on screen for a second at a time. 

I bought myself a copy of The Quibbler in the shop at the end of the tour, I was really pleased you can buy this. I also bought a book which includes fun pull-outs, such as Umbridge’s decrees, Honeydukes packaging and a mini marauder’s map. If you’re not into Harry Potter, sorry if that just made no sense!

New studio!

Here’s my new workspace, the stuff of my dreams now made reality. Big thanks to Karen for coming over and sitting on the carpet keeping me company whilst I built the tables, and helping me make the big inspiration collage over the desk!