If Asleep, now with a dash of colour.

Couldn't resist adding a wee splash of colour to the previous post. I really like the contrast it gives between the pallid greys of the vampire and the glowing sandy beach. Amps up the gag a bit more. I've also posted some doodles I did after finishing the illustration friday picture. I guess I had vampires on the brain! They are based on the intensely spooky Nosferatu film from 1922. I don't know about you but, even now, Max Schreck's performance in that gives me the heebie jeebies.  I think the skippy frame rate and disjointed effects in silent films create a weird, unnerving feel even before you get onto the vampire subject matter. It really goes to show you don't need all the CGI Hollywood bells and whistles (or even dialogue) so long as the story and performances are top notch. And as for 3D movies... don't get me started!!! The Fast Show did a pretty fine take on Nosferatu too :-) Sleep tight... don't let the vampires bite!

Illustration Friday - "Asleep"

It's been far too long since I last did an Illustration Friday topic. This weeks is "asleep"... a great subject for a bit of whimsy. Like all night shift workers Vampires need to catch some shut eye during the day. I suspect this guy is more interested in the night life of the resort.

flamingo ... flamingoing ... flamingone

Pinch, punch first of the month as they say. Over on A.L.B.B is my take on this months creature "flamingo". Here's a sneaky peakette :-)

flamingo sketching.

This months A.L.B.B is Flamingo so I'm just trying to get my eye in with some quick sketches. They sure do have weird beaks!

Dodo screen print revisited

At the risk of repeating myself I'm taking a look at my dodo screen print design ready for another screen print class I'm taking in a couple of weeks time. For this session I've decided to keep things simpler if at all possible so I've limited the number of screens to two and I've also trapped my colours in critical areas of the illustration (face, feet...) so any misregistration should hopefully be less damaging to the final outcome. In fact I've purposefully misregistered elements in the feathers because I kinda like the colour effect it gives. I've spent long enough on it for one day though... time to unplug at look at it afresh tomorrow.

Lebowski and the mug...

I've had this illustration hanging around for a few weeks now but since it was for a printed mug surprise for a good friend's birthday, and since I then forgot all about it, it hasn't seen the light of day... I don't usually feel comfortable with caricatures but this is my answer to Kev Levell's superb birthday Lebowski caricature for me. For those fans of the most excellent Coen bros The Big Lebowski film no explanation is required I hope... for everyone else this should illustrate what I was getting at.

"Blue(s) Whale" over on A.L.B.B

No... ... a whole month has gone by ...? Surely not...?! Well here's this months teaser for my post over on a little bit bunny. I only have some very loose doodles as the process on this piece. Once I hit on my basic treatment for the blue whale and the general composition of things everything else came together on the screen. As usual different computer monitors variously show the posted image as OK to gloomy to unreadable. I have to trust my own imac... and my own tired peepers... Maybe my light blues are a tad too light and my darks are a tad to dark. I was referencing some Blue Note album sleeve images I'd seen. If cool, groovy, hip and stylish album artwork is your bag daddio you might want to check out a couple of sites: project 33 has some glorious retro graphics on show while LP Cover Lover has a comprehensive collection of all that is cool right through to the very odd! RIGHT, now to get cracking on things for THIS blog! TTFN... ...

Poop Poop !

A bit behind on posting but here's a sneak peak at my process and contribution to the a little bit bunny blog. The topic this month is toad so I naturally couldn't resist having a crack at one of my favourite characters from one of my very favourite books!

I'm really enjoying approaching illustrations from a screen printed mix of limited colours approach. I'm also drawing my stuff with just the 3 colour layers in photoshop. It can slow things down a little but it helps to make you think about your choices. It's a great way to free up my colour thinking a little and fly by the seat of my pants more. I think the best aspect is that a limited palette of (in this case 3) colours, either against white or overlayed over each other to give darker hues, really confines your choices on how to approach the illustration. Sometimes too much choice makes me dither and fiddle with things so having a tightly defined palette as a framework on which to build forces me to try and make something look balanced and exciting with fewer components. Make the best of what you have.

And yes, the close up detail I've shown here really does show that Mr. Toad's scarf is missing a bit. I was desperate to have him in silk scarf and flying goggles but I didn't want the scarf bisecting his body. Heck, I'm playing my artistic license card on this one. It's like that because it just is! Poop Poop to all :-)

glass half full...

Just a positive thought based on a little doodle. Also harks back to an old post of mine...

Dodo by night...

Truth be told I've probably been putting off posting images of my Dodo screen print from last weeks introductory workshop. I screwed up on my colour mixing for the background grey and the foreground greens (why did I end up going so dark for the grey and too light on the green... I'm still not sure...call it a moment of chroma madness...) and my registration of the screens was always a little off, no matter how I wrestled with it. Sill, in line with the positive attitude I'm determined to keep from here on in the day was all about learning and I really did get a great overview on things. I just love the screen printing process and hope to do more as soon as possible. I also cannot recommend enough the excellent folks at Snap studio in Bristol. If you get the chance to, you must stop by and buy. The print work they sell is absolutely fantastic! Many thanks in particular go to the hardworking and inspirational screenprinting wonder that is Emma Peacock who showed us all the ropes on the workshop.