Happy holidays or, to be secularly contrary... a very merry Newtonmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

         Twas the night before Newtonmas and all through the lab

         not a creature was stirring, not even the lab crab (...crustacean experiments?).

         The white coats were hung by the black board with care

         in hopes that old Isaac soon would be there.

         And then from outside peering in through the dark

         The bewigged face of jolly Isaark (...?!).

         He swung in through the window with haste and alacrity

         His motion directed by the force of gravity.

OK, OK... I won't do anymore. I'll just end by saying happy Newtonmas to all and to all a good-night!

By way of explanation, and not to repeat myself needlessly, here are my previous Newtonmas card blog posts

Newtonmas 2011
Newtonmas 2012
Newtonmas 2014


See you in the new year with a great deal more illustration work going to be posted in 2016. (That's a pre new year resolution!)

Ceci n'est pas un pope

On hearing the news that the pope was off this idea floated into my head and I had to do it... (apologies to Magritte... and any french speakers). Incidentally, with those red shoes, it seems to me that the Pope would make a cracking alternative to Dorothy in the Wizard Of Oz.... following the yellow brick road to the Emerald Vatican City... clicking his heels together saying "there's no place like Rome"... That's me dammed for eternity now I suppose...

fire and clouds... and back beside the seaside...

I've a big stack of low grade cardboard by my desk that just seems to love thick nib sharpie marker pen. For whatever reason my mind turned to cloud doodles today then, perhaps by way of elemental balance some flames also flared up. A quick bit of photoshop and nothing goes to waste on this blog. Next time I need to fill a sky or set something alight (in an illustration that is) I've some designs to choose from.

In fact I might well make use of my clouds sooner rather than later as I've started to tackle the seaside screen print scene I put to one side before christmas. I'm sure it was limiting myself to just a single colour print that caused me problems before. The design just wasn't feeling right. I've decided to whack a couple of colours in there, loosen up and see what happens. Here's a very rough in progress post for the present. Still planning the colour and composition. I don't know how obsessive I'm going to go with line and detail but I must admit that I'm quite liking the rough energy that this has so far. Don't over work things...!

a squirrel...a shed...some snow

It's snowy here in the UK and the neighbourhood squirrels are doing their best to deal with the situation. A few doodles while I stared out of my kitchen window and I thought I'd quickly work them up into something to mark the moment.

small tale no.4 - nearly hit a swan on my bike...

Cycling through the park today I nearly hit a swan on my bike (I was on my bike, not the swan). I'm not sure where she was headed...

small tale no.3 - the key to happiness

sometimes it's nice to draw something just to cheer yourself up a little... it can be easy to lose your key...

I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing with these small tales... just a quick bit of exercise each day. You can overwork an idea if you're not careful so it's useful to try and be short and sweet.

small tale no.2 - pillar box pest...

I posted a letter today... I've embellished the scene somewhat...

a bit of a troll...

I just snuck my November Troll onto A Little Bit Bunny blog before the deadline (seeing as I suggested troll for the creature of the month I thought I ought to...). Sneek peek here, just his bonce... Bit of an off the cuff, no preplanning troll was this guy. I'd bought the DVD of Troll Hunter all ready to watch the film again for inspiration but just not gotten round to. You must see it. A superb tongue in cheek horror film, refreshingly in a non hollywood, hauntingly beautiful Norwegian setting, that makes use of scandinavian troll myth in it's plot. I still want to do some troll illustrations which reference 'proper trolls' with their glorious names like Ringlefinch, Tosserlad and Mountain King. Till now a fiercely hungry chap under a bridge will do though (a scenario not unlike one in the film...) Watch it!

Staithes seaside screen print in progress...

This links back to a post a couple of months back now about a print design I've been working on (off and on while time allows...). I've posted my research sketches and where I got up to on the design so I can move onward and upward from it. I think part of the reason I wasn't happy to date is I've forced myself to try out the screen print design as a single colour only and I've been feeling frustrated that I cannot do some of the colour mixing tricks I love screen printing for. The design acquired a sort of woodblock print feel to it that I did like, although it's a slight departure from my usual approach. Looking on stuff with fresh eyes a few weeks on really helps. I'm not sure quite how I'll proceed but I still think there is an illustration in there. If picturesque is your bag I suggest checking my previous post (link above) for a photo or google Staithes to see just how overloaded with 'picturesqueness' the place is!

rude orangutan...

I've orange things on my mind at the moment it seems... The rude chap is a quick doodle loosely based on a photo from the grand Monkey Portraits by Jill Greenberg. Then I couldn't resist having a little play pushing things further...

another stab at the elephant's tusk

I don't know why I didn't do this before... couldn't let it alone, those earlier tusks just started to bother me!

pachyderms for cup o doodle blog...

It's been far too long since I last took Don Flores up on his invitation to join the glorious Cup O'Doodle blog and submitted a 'flamencoing' gorilla of sorts... Today I finally pulled my finger out and along with it out came 4 elephants too! I had to exercise artistic license on some of the tusk pacement... but that's half the fun isn't it...

Zombie Chimps!!!

Another month, another animal for A Little Bit Bunny Blog. Hooray, as the chosen creature is a chimpanzee I get to draw more primates, and, as Halloween is almost upon us once again (jeepers, already...!?) I thought I'd tick two boxes with one illustration. I don't know what you'd best call one these chaps; zompanbie, zompanbee, zhompanbee, zhompanbie, zhimpanbie, zhimpanbee, zompanzee... I could go on alllll day! As always, just sketches and a sneak peek of the final illustration here. Pop on over to ALBB for the final horror. Happy Halloween Folks!

Red Bull Stratos... waitin' on the weather...

Like so many other folks I've been eagerly following developments over on the Red Bull Stratos site and Felix Baumgartner's awe inspiring attempt to break the world altitude record for a parachute jump from 120,000 feet, and in so doing also be the first person to break the sound barrier in free fall! I'd have loved to have been around in 1969 and stayed up for the Apollo moon landings, and, for me, this one small step into the void captures something of that giant leap for mankind. So I tuned in to watch yesterday's live feed of the mission. It was disappointing to have the things delayed because winds were too strong for his gigantic, yet incredibly delicate, helium balloon to take to the skies. Better safe than sorry though. Fingers crossed for a safe and successful attempt this sunday. To whet the appetite why not watch the equally awe inspiring current record holder, Joe Kittinger's 1960 free fall from 102,800 feet! Till then I thought I'd mark events in my own humble little way (the balloon isn't to the correct scale of course...).

iPad Hulk

I haven't used my ipad as much as I'd like for just kicking back and trying loose colour sketching. You cannot always get what you're after, even when using a stylus, but this finger painted hulk was great fun to do and has a certain something I'm pleased with. Also seems somehow appropriate, painting hulk with your fingers... Hulk no like puny pencils!

tigers...

I'm actually starting early on a little bit bunny animal post for once. Next months topic is tiger and I've decided to kill two birds (should that be cats...?) with one stone and try and get a screen print design out of the ALBB topic. Frustratingly, I'm still not quite set up to get screen printing. My local area has a hose pipe ban on... still... ..., and I'm thinking it wiser to wait until I can clean up my surely very messy screens properly out of doors, instead of in the bath (I wonder, do any screen printers out there who are reading this just use the bath to clean up their equipment in...?). Until I put squeegee to screen I need to start amassing some designs to choose between and I thought I'd revisit a favourite theme of mine and try and illustrate William Blake's Tiger poem again. I'm a ways from finishing but here's some tiger explorations for the blog to be getting on with. Grrrr

Scruffy lookin' Nerf herders...

When Nerf was picked as the animal of the month over on A Little Bit Bunny blog I couldn't resist taking a stab at Han & Chewie along the way. The gag (such as it is) doesn't quite make it in the end in my humble opinion. One for the Star Wars fans I guess, referencing a quote from Empire Strikes Back... you know what they say, if you have to explain the joke... All things aside I still enjoyed myself, geeking out drawing Millennium Falcons, Wookies and Nerf poo. Pop on over to ALBB if you fancy seeing the finished illustration.

"hoppy chocolate time !"

A whole month since a post... very tardy, but many things just seem to have got in the way.  By way of celebrating the time of year (and to climb back on the blog...) here's a bunny and some eggs. Hoppy holidays folks!

a local shop... for local people...

Like my llama panorama post I did these quick illustrations mainly as a landscape layout and colour exercise. I hadn't seen The League of Gentlemen since it was aired on TV so I treated myself to the boxset and have worked my way through at a rate of knots! Deliciously dark and twisted humour. Highly recommended. It never really occurred to me when I first watched it but part of the reason I think I like the show is it's locations are predominately up in The Peak District of Derbyshire, where I grew up. Now I live in the concrete jungle of Surrey I appreciate all the more the moors, and watching the show really does remind me of where I grew up (in the nicest possible way of course...). The League of Gentlemen really did make the locations as much of a character in the show as the people and thats shown nowhere better than the infamous "Local Shop" of Edward and Tubbs Tattsyrup. Given the subject matter and the fact that it was 'just' a TV comedy it's perhaps surprising just how beautiful some of the establishing shots are in the show. Brooding skies, the grand natural scenery and careful use of post production really give a great backdrop to the humour. If you have no idea what I'm on about here's a taster :-)

Silly old bears...

While I was doodling for my Sasquatch illustration I revisited some pages from my sketchbook for ideas on tree designs which I'd played around with for a screen print idea last year about bears doing their business in the woods. I'd still like to do something with this but, for now, I hate sketches to go to waste, and I was very happy with my bear designs, so here they are. With keeping a sketchbook, and with every different illustration you draw it's always good to know that, should a grizzly bear illustration brief come my way, I've at least filled the 'dreaded first empty sheet of paper' with ideas on how I might go about things.

Apropos of nothing, I finally got round to watching The Illusionist, Sylvain Chomet's (him of the wonderful Belleville Rendez-Vous) latest animated film. He based his screenplay on an unfilmed script by Jacques Tati and I must admit to never having seen any of Tati's films, although I understand many sing their praises. Maybe because of that the story left me a little luke warm in parts, perhaps because I wasn't as invested in the main Tati character as I could have been. Why mention the film then... because it's one of the most beautifully realised animated films I've ever seen! Story aside the production design and quality of animation are simply jaw dropping. I expected great things after seeing the equally staggering Belleville Rendez-Vous and I wasn't disappointed. For sheer quality of film making you have to go along way, in my opinion... for what it's worth, to equal The Iron Giant, Disney's 1961 101 Dalmations, Disney's Jungle Book, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Wrong Trousers, pretty much all of Pixar's output... I could go on...and on... The Illusionist has to be up there with the greats for revealing just what animated films are capable of delivering. I can say no more...see it for yourselves!