& another thing...

Hate to have variations go to waste... Here's my tryout for the birthday greeting in a cooler palette. Decisions decisions...

night all!

birthday bits & exciting things to come...

There doesn't seem to have been the time for blogging over the last few days, but I my pencil hasn't gathered too much moss. I've been scribbling some words for my Jabberwocky story idea, but until the words work I'll hold off on the pictures. I really want to try and do a unique job on this one... If I can get my minds eye for the story out onto the page I'll be happy. But the words need to be solid first! Meanwhile birthdays seem to be a theme.

Firstly a quick email birthday greeting for a friend... A nice opportunity for graphic tablet calligraphy. When I've scrawled reminders to myself of late on scraps of paper they've been increasingly elaborate word doodles. I'm a big fan of hand lettering but it can be a fine line between spontaneous and harmoniously balanced, and cack handed, unfocused and illegible. Fun to play though... sometimes I think my visuals are regressing back to primary school activities. Perhaps not a bad thing, children's artwork is so unselfconscious, vibrant and expressive.

The second pair of sketches are for a little boy's second birthday. His folks saw the painting I did for another lad's birthday (previously & previously) and wanted something along similar lines. Needless to say, little Owen like's his bulldozers and diggers! I'll keep the blog posted on developments.

I got a lift yesterday when Nate Padavick over at theydrawandcook let me know my "marmalade flapjacks" was one of several recipe images picked out by a food magazine to illustrate an article about the theydarwandcook site. Given the plethora of superb artwork on the site I'm delighted and flattered that they liked mine enough to pick it out from the crowd. I'd love to do another recipe, maybe with the same character...? I'll keep the blog posted on developments.

And finally, I hope the Bathroom Lion book I did illustrations and the cover for (details on rebel books site here, here & here) will soon hit the shops... very exciting! I'll keep the blog posted!!!

The Fearsome Beastie, part the second... finally

How can it be nearly a month since I last posted...?! Time to make amends right now! I was beavering away on this beastie character some weeks back now (previously, on matt's blog...) so I could put together a sample double page spread for the author of the story to pitch to some publishers. With my first attempts at the F.B.'s design I got a little caught up in my shorts. I've also got ideas for another 'monster' project on my drawing board (that's for another day... I hope...) and I was having trouble distinguishing the two characters in my own head. My first beastie designs were also not giving me the facial features I needed for the acting I wanted in the spread. Well, long story short (too late) I pretty much had all the nuts and bolts I needed in my preliminary beastie sketches (the doodle with the lampost had all I wanted for the beastie) so, with a monday deadline breathing down my neck (always focuses the mind) I cracked on this weekend to try and finish the spread. Ok, so I didn't quite make it but, in my defense, I did get the author a 97% finished spread to show then worked on the last 7% yesterday evening.

I really wanted to try and improve my drawing of children on this one. It's something I still find a challenge, to try and get distinct personalities instead of bland generic child 1, child 2... I'm still not sure about the blue skin children shown IN the night time shadows... I might have more of a children OF the night?! I did like the fact that giving them a nocturnal palette shifted attention to the two face beastie in the scene while picking out beastie colours for a limited palette in the children helped to balance the whole spread. Maybe I do need to give the beastie's evil side of the face the same blue treatment... but does that suggest some link with the children which I don't want to convay...?! Decisions decisions... On looking at things this morning the pool of lamp illumination on the floor does need adjusting as it seems to occupy a different plane to that of the dry brush cast shadows... so 99.9% done, 0.1% for tonight maybe. I could fiddle with the image forever (a bad habit of mine) but until there's any interest in the book what I have so far will have to do.

On a colour related note, if anyone reads this perhaps they'd be good enough to pipe up with a comment if they find the images way too dark on their screen...? They look fine on my iMac LCD monitor, print fine but look too 'X-Files' shadowy on another cathode ray monitor I sometimes use, despite my checking all the settings on hardware and software. I'm inclined to believe my iMac screen until told otherwise... Or maybe it's my tired eyes...

By the way all copyright on the text goes to the excellent Giles Paley-Philips

story text © Giles Paley Philips 2010

Filippo and Livingstone...

Wanted to get this posted, now I can go to bed!

the indifferent lion...and existential angst of sorts.

It's been difficult to find the time this week for my own work but finally here's a things in progress. The next fearsome beastie I'm exploring for inspiration and edification is the lion (or as Monty Python would put it..."number 3 the lion...the...lion...".

My sketching was a bit rusty at first for this one so as a warm up I tried 'sketching' with a scalpel straight into scrap paper without any underdrawing. Happily that got me the rough lion collage that I then touched up in photoshop. Perhaps I'm being overcritical of myself at the moment but so much of what I do has the background as a graphic afterthought to compliment the foreground subject. Pattern, colour and stylistic approach are all well and good but for this lion I want a bit more of a story for the beastie...and now I'm building things up too much for what should just be a quick bit of something. I've been thinking (too much...?!) of late about what I want to achieve with my work above the obvious of, hopefully, supporting myself full time at some future date. Time to just crack on with things Matt... visuals, humour (quirky odd is best) and story!

the colourful gorilla (and other tales...)

Sounded a bit like a book title (maybe / might be it is one / will be one..?)... I'm waffling at an early stage. Here's the second fearsome beastie for the smorgasbord. Just playing about still to rethink things and freshen up. I went way more colourful on this than I would usually do and also played around with how I use scanned in texture. Although I fiddled perhaps a little too much I'm very happy with how the texture went and fairly content that I managed to wrestle the colours into something, if not serene, then at least distinctive. I wasn't planning on the speech bubble at the end but the gorilla made me do it!

an ornamental alligator (try saying that 3 times really fast...)

So, hello... how are you...? I've been trying to loosen up and get a little playful to shake myself out of my creative funk. With an eye to productivity and goals I also wanted whatever I dabbled with to hopefully be applicable to the Fearsome beastie book spread...which should be a simple matter, sorry Giles (the author).

So here's an alligator.... my plan being a smorgasbord (I love that word, don't you...) of a few fearsome beasts that take my fancy which I can pick and mix from to inspire the final beastie. I know, I know, friends have said what I have already is OK but, for whatever reason, and it's probably me being my own worst enemy with this, the FB design I have so far just doesn't allow me to stage the action how I want it and, less concrete a point, just isn't quite what I'm after.

Perhaps it's all about that nebulous search for a distinctive creative approach that makes me stand out in the illustration crowd (and boy it's crowded) while also flicking my creative switches... Still I'm enjoying the change of scene and exploring colour and pattern must be a good thing.

Talking of the 'illustration crowd' I had chance to meet a fine group of talented and friendly illustrator folk last weekend. We all crawled away from our screens and desks, out into the real world... If any of you read this it was great to see all your work, shoot the breeze and pick your brains. Many thanks again to Cass for sorting it all out. It'd be grand to do it again sometime...

Hermit the Frog.

A silly bit of nonsense sketched straight onto the computer just so I can feel like I've done something creative today. Truth be told I've been a little creatively out of sorts the last few days. I've been pushing and pulling the fearsome beastie spread this way and that but I really need to stand back and get some perspective on things. I feel like I've got two left hands (which is OK but I'm right handed...). I'll post just as soon as I get my 'illustrator trousers' back from the dry cleaners.

The Fearsome Beastie - part the first

A busy week or so but I've finally been able to knuckle down to some proper work on "The Fearsome Beastie" project I mentioned. Early days but I'm pretty happy with the character design so far. It remains to be seen if it will be suitable once I start fitting it into the story proper and what tweeks I'll have to make. The broad strokes of the tale are the Fearsome B comes into town on a dark and snowy night and proceeds to panic the local kiddiwinks. It gets it's just deserts in the end of course. The text calls for sharp claws, multiple tails and fangs. The author was also keen for scales and hair. I couldn't resist the multiple eyes after using them on an earlier character. I'm hoping they will prove useful in the spread I'm going to draw up where the FB has to sit and sob, all the while biding it's time till the kiddies get close... the two faced, four eyed swine! I must admit the multiple tails proved awkward at first. I wouldn't have chosen that feature myself but, as is often the case, I'm glad to have been pushed somewhere different. Still plenty to do...

a whole load of woodpeckers

One post a week is too few. I hope to be starting work on a story book spread about a "Fearsome Beastie" with the author of 'Bathrrom Lion' which we will then pitch to whoever will look at it. As soon as I have any sketches dear blog...!

Here's a woodpecker painting I worked on over the weekend as an alternative to a birthday card for my dad. A greater spotted woodpecker has been hanging round my folk's garden so I thought why not. I don't know if I'm on a downer about my work of late but even after two versions I still haven't quite got the feel I was looking for. So many, many woodpeckers...what's the collective noun...? A 'splinter' of woodpeckers...a "rat-a-tat-tat"...a "percussion'...? Answers if you please... The more stylised top painting is my final version. I was vaguely aiming for a Charlie Harper feel (not that I could ever come close to his characterful abstractions. He really knew his birds and animals), but I feel mine lacks a spark. It is a woodpecker though so I guess it fits the bill OK. It was a chance to experiment with acrylics though, something I've not done in years. I was pleasantly surprised at how nicely they behaved in comparison to gouache. Like all my recent paintings I'm still frustrated by the colour matching though. My digital roughs seem to undergo a change for good and bad when I move into paint. Hopefully it will come with time. Onward. A fearsome beastie asap...!