Educational Bar

A few images I have just finished for OUP.

I'm really pleased with the colours on these. It's nice to have the time to put a bit of effort into a job every once in a while.

This is the usual thing the educational companies ask for. "A girl doing this, a boy doing that, and man etc etc". I really like being able to add something to a boring class book. A little colour and some style if I can.

It's not as interesting as narrative but usually pays better.

Axe Cop re-jigged as a British P.C. with a huge friggin' wood-chopper. Wanted this to look like an exploitation film type poster.

Wild Apple

An image for the good people at Wild Apple Design who I've worked with a lot this year, for use on some stickies they are producing soon as a bit of self promotion.

I took the company name and ran with it. I always thought kids in over sized halloween costumes looked funny so did that as my theme.

Many Ways to Learn

This is the cover to the book I've just finished for Magination Press.

It's a second eddition of a previously illustrated book, which feels odd, but I'd never seen the original anyway.

I really enjoyed working on this book so much. I had some fun ideas and the good people at Magination let me run with them, bless um.

Becky Shaw, the editor I worked with on this and my previous book, left the company before I finished the book, but I'd like to wish her the best of luck in her new job.

You can read more about the book here and you can pre-order it here.

Carl

Screen Shot!

I was doing a bit of an experiment in colouring on a new image but pretty soon in I just knew it wasn't me. It wasn't going perfectly but with a bit of work it would have come out okay.

But the process and eventual outcome was not something I feel comfortable doing myself. The way I colour is something I've developed over the years and I quite like it. That's not to say experimentation is bad. I just know this one isn't for me.

When I finish this image I'll put it up here but I thought I'd like to post this never to be version as it stands for a later comparison.

Carl

Mr Fox

Just thought I'd add another animal image here.

I did this last October as a doodle on a train journey coming back from some school events for Tamarind in London.

I'd never done an 'anthropomorphic' animal character before. I had just bought a copy of Roald Dahl's 'The Fantastic Mr Fox' from Waterstones in Picadilly and thought about my own take on the character and how I'd do such a thing in my style.

And this is the result.

C

I don't get asked to draw animals all that much. Not that I mind. I love drawing people. Characters. But it's nice to do something every so often. And I relish the chance to draw other creatures when it comes along.

This image was done for the good people over at Magination Press for the book I'm just finishing off for them.

Later

Carl

An Ode to the Orange

For those orange oddities that dwell in the doorspace of Boots and Debenhams and prefer their fake tan to look as if it was created by Ronseal to blend with the complection of a carrot craving Umpa Lumpa.

This is a variation on this image I submitted to my deviantArt account. I saw a girl in Llanddudno a few weeks ago who smeared this slop on her arms so haphazardly that it looked as if she was caked in mud.

Ceri told me with horror in her face that it was probably the desired effect. I wanted to give the girl a flannel and tell her to get a wash.

Hello.

Here is that image I was drawing the goat for in the last post.

It's for a new book from Magination Press. The whole image except for that goat was drawn in pencil, inked over with PITT pens and then coloured in PS7.

This may be one of the last big images I colour in the old Photoshop. I'm moving colouring on to my new iMac which runs Snow Leopard and thus PS7 is too old to be supported and I need to emigrate to one of the CS versions.

Damn.

I'm not 100% sold on this image. I'm unsure if it's too 'busy'. I like simplicity in my work. Hard lines. Bold shapes. Bold colour. As much as I love and respect cross hatch, I don't feel such texture fit with my colour work.

But there is also a lot of colour here. Lots of different colours and shades and tones. Maybe everything is getting too complicated and I need to pare it back a bit. Go a bit more 'pop art' / 'screen print' in my approach.

Saying that. If this is what the client wants then this is what they shall receive.

Let me know what you think.

Best

Carl

Screen shot of the day!

How funky is a pink outlined goat? If only I could keep him pink...

Friday Oddity 002

I love Getty Images.

It's a fantastic reference tool for demanding deadlines and stuff I would never be able to get out and sketch first hand.

Editor- "Draw a giant deep sea squid"

Me- "Err... Okay..."

I love looking at the beautiful images on there when I'm feeling down. Type in 'beautiful seaside sunrise' and there goes the blues.

Getty is also one of the biggest inspirations to me for my work, after the movie Falling Down, which is ACE! But every now and then, while searching for something random for work, Getty throws out some complete oddities.

Check out these two. You search for astronaut or phonebox and you may get these.

Cheers

Carl

Dan Dare

I thought I'd add this image I did a little while ago of Dan Dare, the seminal British post war sction hero who appeared in the Eagle, finally settling his score with arch nemesis, The Mekon.

I love doing this kind of action retro sci-fi stuff. So much fun to come up with ideas.

The Mekon's suit was inspired by some of Frank Quitely's stuff and a little kinda Greek / Roman dictator look.

The ray gun was based on a 1950's toy.

Below is Frank Hampson's original. Brilliant!