Swine Flu! / sorry for poor blogging

The world isn't as big as it sometimes seems, not when you're a flu virus anyway! Use those hankies folks!

I see it's been a week since my last post, and I've been very tardy in replying to comments. This might be the case for a week or two as I'm busy working on a competition entry and I'm determined to give it my all! Apologies to those who have left a comment and haven't received one in kind as I usually try to do. I'll post more on the competition when I have chance! Thanks as always for stopping by :)

The optimist's glass / IF "impossibility"

Whatho! I'm back after a few days away and what better way to get things rolling again than with an illustration friday (ok very nearly missed this weeks, but better late than never...). Truth be told this little graphic popped into my head last week but I think the "half full" side of things just about fills the IF bill ... The Optimist's Glass has a nice ring to it don't you think...? Perhaps the title of a nove/...? I've really been on a hand lettering typo vibe of late, maybe my next post will actually have people in it! :)

Happy Hols...IF "talisman"

I was looking at doing an Easter Island moai to mark the upcoming break anyway, and I was glad to see the dictionary definition of talisman as an object thought to possess magical properties. I'm sure the Polynesians on Rapa Nui felt the moai were talismanic... and that's good enough for me! I was on a bit of a roll after the "home sweet home" post and wanted to play around with a similar text treatment and use of watercolour texture. A lot of fun to do and both these posts came together nice a quick which is always a plus. Have a happy few days off whatever your beliefs (or lack of...:)

Home sweet home.

My good friends Kev and Vicky have upped sticks and found new digs. Good luck you krazy kids, see you soon!

IF "poise" - ongoing pachyderms...

Still exploring treatments for the story characters. This illustration uses the elephant cut outs and charcoal line overlay (with modifications) from the earlier post. With these cut outs as a guide I used watercolour on some really nice cotton rag paper I'd forgotten that I had. Expensive paper for an off the cuff experiment but I've had the paper for ages, too scared to waste it before now (the reason I'll never feel at ease using moleskins as sketch books...). It really is an interesting paper to paint on as the coarse open grain bleeds the paint in unexpected ways while the heavy weight allows for fairly controlled washes on unstretched sheets. After compositing the various elements in photoshop I chopped up the body further to give me more points of articulation for posing in the illustration. I'm really enjoying the balance (no pun intended) of dynamism against quirkiness which this unplanned pose approach gives.

Who turned out the lights...?!

OK so I'm a little early with the post but don't forget to flick off that light switch from 8:30 tonight for an hour! Learn more at earthhour

Elephant for the story

This is very much in progress but the story idea I'm knocking about has an elephant... and what with having Eric Carle on my mind of late I'm in a collage mood, so I thought I'd try an 'assembled bits' character treatment. I quite like the 'elephant kit' of loose bits for its graphic quality. On a related note have a look at the front and back pairs of an elephants legs, don't you think of two guys in a pantomime phant suit...? Maybe it's just me.

Happy Birthday Hungry Caterpillar!

Many happy returns (just in time...) to the Hungry Caterpillar (or may I call you "The Very"...) who is forty today. I had to mark the occasion. This is a favourite of mine and one of the earliest books and pieces of illustration I can remember from my childhood (many people must also share this memory) and I'm sure it partly responsible for what I'm doing now... so thank you Mr. Carle, may your scissors never blunt, and to the VHC may you never be completely sated.

Possibly a bit tenuous a link to illustration friday's 'subtract' topic (?)... but the caterpillar did subtract a lot of little bits out of all of those foods... hope you enjoy the tribute

Apologies to anyone who has been kind enough to keep popping by the blog but found it at a standstill. I've been really busy over the last few weeks on many other things but the blog should be back on track from here on in... ta muchly for your patience :)

character possibly in a new story...

I hate it when the blog posting slips. What with being away for a few days then having to do DIY my blog has been an itch I haven't scratched! But I have been wanting to get down to a new story and have been churning ideas over for the past few days. At it's present stage there is an octopus in the story somewhere. If you've seen my website and looked back through the blog you will note I have a thing about octopeeses (along with apes, monkeys, polar bears etc etc etc...). I really want to get one into a story somehow. Every time I see my blog banner the silhouette pus stares out at me demanding to be used. That silhouette came from a digital 'loosening up' doodle which I've dug out of the archive and started to play around with... if only so I post something and start to get ideas out of my head. More as it occurs folks, thanks as always for stopping by :)

Happy wokcake day.

Just got this posted before the day is out. Did you squirt lemon juice in your eye then...? For the first pancake day in ages I made pancakes... well non stick wok cakes as my non stick pan is now a stick pan !