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!

LOUD NOISES!

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.

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.

Illustration Friday - Hurry!

I've been a very lazy blogger of late so allow me to amend this by showing you my latest Illustration Friday piece. To those familiar with my work you'll notice a slight change from the norm. I'm trying a few things out as I felt I needed a revamp. I hope this pleases your eyeballs!

Experiment - Bed time reading

I'm currently trying to improve my drawing and production skills so expect many more of these. I'm not nessassarily going to be illustrating a vampire each week but I thought why not! I hope you like it.

Shy Guy

A quick doodle of a Shy Guy. When I was a kid I thought they looked cute, but now I think they look creepy. I don't want to imagine what they hide under their masks!

Illustration Friday - Round

My response to Illustration Friday's topic round. The greatest technological breakthrough since fire. THE WHEEL! This is my imagining of a stone age tech trade fair. I hope you like it!

Experiment - Vamp

I've done far too much Illustrator of late so I thought I'd take a little time out to Photoshop an illustration. I know Halloween's been and gone but I wanted to draw a vamp. I think with so much Twilightmania going on I wanted to pay homage to the good old fashioned vampire I remember growing up. Vampires with pointy teeth. Vampires who had no angst just a plain simple love of blood and theatricality! 

The blood splatter brushes come from www.brusheezy.com/brushes/1290-13-blood-and-splatter-brushes.

Illustration Friday - Vanity

This is my submission for the Illustration Friday topic vanity. I'd love some feed back on this as I'm thinking I need to change something about my work. If you have any thoughts on stylistic improvements I'd love to hear them!

IF - Stripes. Work in progress

Try as I might I didn't get around to finishing this weeks IF illustration on Stripes. You'll have to settle for a work in progress unfortunately. I hope you like it!

Experiments

I've been thinking about how to spruce up my illustrations and one avenue was a little photoshoping with textures and brushes. I made a few brushes from an ink splodge and some pastels by following a very helpful tutorial on Bittbox. The textures came from Feodora Umarov’s flickr photostream and the tutorial I followed was on Digital Photography School blog, which was very informative.

I also had a little bash at working in a different style just to stretch myself. I've needed to try something new as it helps me think outside the box. I went a little crazy with the textures but I'm trying to teach myself something a little new.

I know I'm a little late to be doodling Halloween illos but it's in keeping with the above image and it's how I dressed for a Halloween party over the weekend.

IF - Scary

My latest IF contribution on the topic scary. My friend has been waxing lyrical about his new 3D TV which is where the idea came from. I hope you like it!

IF-ferocious

Hello. I had a very busy weekend with the highlight being a £6.00 gig at Rescue Rooms which featured Yunioshi, and Swimming. Two great live acts and a really great night out. It was also my friends 33rd birthday and we went out into to town and watched him make tit of himself!

I went a little off topic there as this post it about the Illustration Friday submission for ferocious and not my weekend activities. It's unfinished and may remain this way depending on how busy I am. I was planning on adding an audience. It was going to be the usual ferocious lion but then I thought who's more ferocious the lion or the nut job with the bull whip and chair. You decide!

IF - Mesmerizing

Hello! I have had very indulgent weekend involving take out meals, pub lunchs and a restaurant. Infact I don't think I cooked once. It was worth the belly ache as I got to catch up with some of my old University pals, some of which I haven't seen for a good long time. This social and greedy weekend is the main reason that my Illustration Friday submission this week is a little sparse! Anyway I hope you like it. Mesmerizing.

Illustration Friday - Boundaries

Hello! Off the back of an anti social but relaxing weekend I feel quite refreshed and ready for work. So without further ado I give you my latest Illustration Friday contribution. The topic is boundaries. The river Styx was considered a boundary between the land of the living and the land of the dead. It was vitally important to make sure the recently deceased had correct change for the ferryman.

Art Jumble - Goth

Good afternoon to you. I have had a very manly weekend doing DIY! That may not be a big deal for most people but I do not do DIY so indulge me. I roofed a shed! Again, you're probably saying "So" but it's one of the first times I've rolled my sleeves up (Metaphorically as I was wearing a t-shirt and didn't need to do any sleeve rolling) and done physical work. It was actually quite good fun and I was rewarded with barbecue food. Nice.

This week I did a little work on the Art Jumble topic Goth. I was stuck between wanting to draw the fearsome Germanic tribe the Visigoths or the modern day melancholy morbid posers the goths, so I combined the two. Visi-goths as I call them. I'm not convinced that it's the most successful illustration but you have to fall on your face every now and then! It's the only way to improve.

Illustration Friday - Disguise

I thought I'd get back into working on the Illustration Friday topic every now and then. This weeks topic was disguise and it reminded me of one of my first commissions for Business Franchise way back when. It was of two kids trying to get into a cinema in disguise. The topic also reminded me of when I tried unsuccessfully to get tickets for Terminator 2. I was convinced that wearing a baseball cap backwards somehow made me look older.

Inigo Montoya

A quick Photoshop doodle of Inigo Montoya from the The Princess Bride. Ok, fine it looks more like Captain Hook but there are significant similarities between the two characters.

"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die". Class!

Franky

I had planned to do a weekly blog and the excuse I was going to use for missing last week was that work came in a I didn't have time. There are guys and girls out there in the art world with immense work loads who still manage to keep on top of their blogs. I just forgot. I admit it!

So a week late I wanted to talk about colour. I was never really bothered much about colour when I was a student which sounds like madness as I'm an illustrator. The drawing was the most important aspect for me. However, while reading a article on colour theory I was struck by how ignorant I was. As part of the new direction which I will mention in a moment I thought it would be a great opportunity to improve on some of the basics that all illustrators should have. I.e. An understanding of colour. The above image of Franky is a monochromatic colour scheme, which is differing tints, shades and tones of the same hue. I'm sure you already knew that but to my great shame I didn't.

I have one last thing to say regarding the for mentioned new direction that was talked about in my last post. I fell straight back into old habits and it's only after sketching out the above doodle that I thought "I'm really having fun" and that was followed by "I wish I was having this much fun updating my portfolio". I was yet again working on designs I thought other people would like rather than the stuff I like. Why can't I have this much fun producing portfolio pieces? Why indeed. I suppose old habits die hard as they say.

Doodle was inked and coloured in Photoshop.