CONGRATULATIONS Phil & Tam!

My good friend Phil is tying the knot this coming weekend. Here's a scan of my congrats card (they don't really have hands like that :) See you Saturday folks!

astronaut dental floss

After sleeping on things I couldn't resist adding the lost astronaut to yesterdays IF. Is that 'enough' or too much now...? Perhaps he will get sucked up like spaghetti...?

IF "enough" or "the moon who'd had quite enough"

I've been watching the truly excellent "From the earth to the moon" mini series for the past week and it looks as though it has played some part in my interpretation of this weeks illustration friday topic. You could also say it's a "full moon"... Houston we really do have a problem!

PS. Many many thanks for all the kind comments on the Bleriot fog post (and, it goes without saying, all the other generously given comments for this blog...you know who you are people, ta one and all, it's very much appreciated!). I'm really glad Monsieur Bleriot struck a chord with so many people and it has spurred me on...He may get to England after all!

Bleriot fog

It occurred to me that I could kill two birds with one stone... submit something foggier (not froggier) for this weeks IF while also continuing with my ongoing Louis Bleriot channel crossing project previously on mattdawsonblog. I liked the idea of using a photo I took of the wing from the actual Bleriot XI that crossed the English channel for texture on the illustrated plane (see boring photo). Nobody else would notice, but I know it's there :) When Bleriot made his historic flight he did in fact get lost in fog/cloud and ended up following ships to find blighty, hence the foggy scribbles obscuring his view.

IF "fRoggy"

You say potato I say potarto, you say foggy I mumble froggy...What's a letter R between friends...?

I'd like to thank...& might I recommend

My humble thanks and best wishes go out to Krisztina Maros over at sketchpause blog for nominating me as one of her 7 for the "Brillante Weblog Premio-2008". Check out her warm and wonderful watercolours without delay! You took 2 of my 7 choices Krisztina, I'm honoured to be included in such a list! Many, many thanks to you!

The rules of accepting are as follows:
1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

Well here goes. The list of my much frequented blogs is very long and I hate to risk offending anyone by not giving them a much deserved mention. Get on with it you say.... here's 7 who will hopefully amuse, and inspire you, they do for me. In no particular order:
Kevin Levell, Lee Cosgrove, The Muk Blog, Louise Bagnall, Patrick Gannon, Zara Picken, grain edit

Add them to your bookmarks ASAP

Web karma, isn't it a wonderful thing folks! Give it time and every blog will get it's 5 minutes :)

IF"sour"

This weeks Illustration Friday was a good excuse for just playing around with shapes, colours and texture. No very deep interpretation or wordplay I'm afraid, just having fun and working up a few ideas as quickly as possible. The sallow chap with the puckered pus was my first thought and I'm satisfied with him as an interpretation for the topic. I don't know if a theme is establishing itself with these but if you take the 'baby' and the 'worry' from previous IF posts and mix them up a bit you pretty much get this 'sour'...hhmmmm... can a worried baby be sour sometimes...?

Zimbabwe vote 2

Here's another attempt at the topic, getting quicker, this was 30 odd minutes during my lunch break. I didn't have access to a Wacom but I'm content enough with the rough and ready results. These are by no means finished pieces. I just want to practice and, I hope, get my eye in.

Zimbabwe elections

I've wanted to try and develop some editorial style illustrations for my portfolio, the kind of thing you might expect to find in newspapers and magazines. Any illustrations that I do need to be quick to try and hone my short deadline reactions! This one was around the hour after fiddling... I want quicker! I'm not especially political in my habits but who can fail to be aware of the sham that is Mugabe and the Zimbabwe elections. So this post is nothing if not topical.