Halloween

I went to a really fun Halloween party this weekend which put me in the mood to do a Halloween themed illustration!

PS. I went to the party as Ash from the "Evil Dead". Why didn't I illustrate Ash? I really don't know!

Character Design Page

Hello! Despite a sprained ankle and the terrible weather I can't help but feel chipper today. That's right, I use words like chipper! Anyway, while I'm in such a good mood I thought I'd share a really great website called "Character Design Page."

"Character Design Page" shines the spotlight on some of the best character design talent in the business. Not only the big names like Stephen Silver but one's who you may never have heard of, especially if like me you're an outsider looking into that particular market. For me it's a great resource, not only for the inspiration it gives me but also for the insightful process videos they share. If you're an illustrator then you should really take a look. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

In the mood for MOOC's

Here's a commission for T.H.E. Fun to do and as always the guys at T.H.E are a joy to work with. It should be out to buy this week! Pick yourself up a copy.

LOUD NOISES!

Design up for sale!

My design "Police Line Up" is now up for sale at Pampling! I'll be picking a copy up myself just in case anyone happens to compliment me on my t-shirt so can say "I designed this!" Shameless I know!

Classic Wrestler Project - The British Bulldog

Classic wrestler number 5 was my personal favourite. The British Bulldog. I think I nailed the likeness on this one!

Classic Wrestler Project - Jake the Snake

Jake 'The Snake' Roberts. Wrestler number 4. This project seemed like a great idea at the time but getting the likenesses right is proving to be the most time consuming part of this venture. I think I've got close! What do you think?

Pampling Classic Winner

The lovely people at Pampling have selected my design "Police Line up" as their classic winner, which I'm well chuffed with. I have been reliably informed that it'll be on sale this month. I'll keep you updated!

Classic wrestlers project - Andre The Giant

Classic wrestler number 3! Andre the Giant.

You may have seen Andre in the classic movie "The Princess Bride" as Fezzik. If not why not. Stop what you're doing, get it and watch it!

PS. I got some great tips from Ctrl Paint for this doodle. Well worth a look.

The master at work!

If you don't know Stephen Silver's work then do yourself a favour and look him up. Quality artist!

Classic wrestlers project - The Undertaker

Next in my list of classic wrestlers is The Undertaker. He was one of my favourites as a kid and although I wasn’t aware of John Carpenter at the time the character would have fitted into one of his movies nicely. In fact the more I think about it the more he reminds me of Michael Myers. 

Timelapse watercolor pin up by Melissa Ballesteros Parada

You've got to check out this watercolour painting by Melissa Ballesteros. A sign of true skill is making something really difficult look easy which she does. I think you'll agree it's pretty inspiring stuff and makes me want to dust off the watercolour set!

Practical Lessons

Very recently I did a commission for TSL Education and here it is in printed form. I love to see the finished article mainly because I can show it to my friends and prove that what I do is an actual job. I suspect they think I sit around my house in my underwear, eating breakfast cereal straight from the box while watching daytime quiz shows. That I reserve for my retirement. Right now I’m very keen to get my work in as many publications as possible before it all goes digital! 

Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment!  

Moo printing services

A couple of weeks ago I posted an illustration which I was having printed into postcards. Well, they arrived about a week ago and the mail outs have all been sent. Why am I waffling on about this I hear you ask. I just wanted to give a shout out to Moo printing services for the awesome job they did. I've only used local printers who are in my opinion a little pricey. I'm sure there are valid reasons for this and I suspect the automated nature of online printing services has it's savings. Getting to the point I thought Moo were reasonably priced, and the user interface was clear and easy to understand. They had a user guide for preparing your design. How big it should be, where the cropping will occur, what file types to use, how to deal with fonts and colour settings. I also liked how you could customise the back of the card with a logo. There may be a load of other sites offering similar and even better services and if that’s the case leave a comment. I'm a creature of habit so I’ll be sticking with Moo. I was well chuffed!

It’s also worth mentioning they print many other things, only I can’t talk about them as I’ve never used any of these services. If you have please let me know what you thought.  

Recent work

Here a couple of things I've been working on recently. Firstly Host Management commissioned me to design five children's characters for their Funtastic Foods project. They wanted them to be stylistically similar to the characters they had used in the past but to improve on them which I think I did. They seemed happy with them!

I've also got to say  how great it was working with Eleanor Hughes on this. She was very clear on what she wanted, and really easy to work with which is why it's so sad that they've made her redundant. Hopefully she'll find something soon as she'd be an asset to anyone. 

Finally here's a little businessman mascot I've been working on. It was quite a lot of fun!

Classic wrestlers project - Hulk Hogan

It’s the late 80's, early 90’s and Hulkamania is at its zenith! That’s right; it’s when wrestling was awesome. I don’t know exactly when or how it happened but I stopped watching wrestling and now it just doesn't hold a torch to the memories of my childhood. Anyway, I wanted to do an art project on the side and what could be more fun than celebrating those over the top cartoon like characters from the WWF as is was known back then. Here’s my first. Hulk Hogan. I’ll be honest, I wasn't a fan of his but all my friends were.

He did have a catchy entrance theme though!

Satin Rules

A valuable lesson can be learnt from this. Always spell check! 

This is my upcoming promo piece, which I'll be using to convince potential clients that I'm awesome. I just need to get the postcards printed and I think I'll be using Moo printing services for this. They're really reasonably priced and do a really nice job. I'll get some photos of the printed postcards when they arrive. I love getting my work printed out. It's so exciting opening the packaging and taking that first look. 

Grades and gradients

A new illustration for TSL Education. These guys are great to work with!

New work

Here's a recent editorial illustration for the T.H.E.

Toys

Ok children of the 80's name those toys!

The Robbins Report

A commission for an article celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Robbins report.

Neanderthal man

We haven't evolved that much!

The Wolverine

I’m currently revamping my portfolio and one the main inspirations is movies. Upcoming movies in this case. The Wolverine is one such movie. Here’s hoping it makes up for X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Global academy vs Proust

A new illustration for the upcoming Times Higher Education regarding certain factions of the French higher education and their reluctance to have none french language courses.

Chris Oatley

If you are looking for illustration inspiration and resources I highly recommend visiting Chris Oatley's website. Sign up for the newsletter and receive some of his custom brushes which I used in my last piece. It's also worth listening to the podcast if art and animation are your thing.

Man of Steel

I thought I’d do some illustrations in relation to movies which I’m very excited about. He’s the first. Man of Steel. It looks epic!

Playtime of the undead

The lighter side of the undead. 

Textures

I recently came across this site called Lost and Taken which is all about free textures for use in personal and commercial work. I realize there are plenty of sites like this but this is the best I've seen. I recommend you take a look for yourselves.

Available at Redbubble.

"The Original Riddler" is now up for sale at my Redbubble shop. 

Happy birthday

What with the Dr being on our TV's for 50 years I thought he deserved some sort of celebration. Slice of cake anyone?

Bucket and Spade

An illustration for this weeks Times Higher Education. It makes perfect sense once you've read the article!

Work in progress

Sneak peak at a Dr Who illustration I'm working on! Me thinks it will be my next promo piece.

3D

An illustration about the 3D movies of 2012. Out of all the one's featured here I'd have to say Wreck it Ralph was my favorite. What was yours?

Speeding

I always thought he was going to fast! You'd never catch Mario tearing around like that. A fun parody for all you gamers of the early 90's.

Dr Who

I'm a big fan of the current incarnation of the Dr so I thought I'd do a little practice piece to celebrate the arrival of the new season.

Anger Management up for sale!

My Anger Management tee is up for sale at Pampling for the next 48hrs. Pop over and pick yourself up a copy. I love the colours they've gone with!

Rat race maze

An illustration for the Times Higher Education.

H.M.N.T Hideously Mutated Ninja Turtles

What did you think was going to happen to a bunch of turtles exposed to radioactive ooze?!

Behance

I've just opened a new Behance page. Please pop over and appreciate my projects. 

Pampling's new Xpresstee 48h

If you are not familiar with Pampling then do yourself a favour and check out their website. It has some of the best t-shirt designs going! For some time they have followed a similar business model to that of t-shirt giant Threadless but they have now broadened they horizons by offering limited time only deals. Thus the Xpresstee 48h was born, and I am excited to tell you that one of my own designs is going to be featured next week! An exact date has not been set but I will inform you once I know. Stay tuned!

Ironman Competition

I got this idea while getting excited about the third installment of the Ironman franchise! It's currently not submitted anywhere but I'll update you as soon as it is.

Pranked

I was inspired after seeing Wreck-It Ralph. Bad guys have a tough time! Great movie by the way.

It's up for voting at Pampling.

Police line up

"It was that one officer. I'd recognize him anywhere!"

Sting

If you're not old enough to know who Sting is please don't show off about it here. I am old enough and don't want to be reminded! 

All Design Catalog

I was sorting through some old designs when I came upon my "Smarter than the average bear" design. I thought to myself 'Isn't it a bummer that I can't buy this anymore' and as if the gods of t-shirt design were listening to me I get an email from Woot informing me of there "All Design Catalog" which features my tee! If you missed out on buying my design go do so now. In fact get your friends and family to buy one as well!

How about a game of riddles

This is a new tee design based on a little indie movie you may have heard about called the Hobbit. I thought I'd do a little mash up version because they could probably do with the publicity. I'm still unsure as to whether this is the finished version. Some small amendments may be made. I haven't submitted this to any comps and it is not up for sale. If either of these status's change I will make it known. You stay classy!

Mario

Here's a little practice illustration of one of my childhood favourites. I loved these games. I have as you've probably noticed totally coped out on the background. Lazy I know but you'll have to find it in your hearts to forgive me!

Drawn, inked and coloured in Photoshop.

Toddlers Rampage up for voting.

Toddlers Rampage is up for voting a Jinx.com. I hope you'll be lovely supportive people and head over to vote! I already have two designs printed by Jinx, but it'd be awesome to get a third. 

Pi, a life of - Mock up

I thought it'd be fun to add a mock up of the design just so you can see what it might look like. Also, two posts in one day. Crazy!

Close up of the design.

Pi, a life of.

I've been a little slow to start this year but that all changes now with my first t-shirt offering "Pi, a life of", which I hope needs no explanation! It's currently not available to buy but as soon as it is I will post an update to let you know.

Mock up of the design.