Christmas Card 2010

May I present my 2010 Christmas Card in all it's glory. Now I just need to get it to the printers...

Award info

Follow the link for some information on the Moonbeam Award that the book I illustrated, Attention Girls, won gold for this year.

It's point number 31 down the lower end of the page.

Christmas is just around the corner...

The ink drawing for my 2010 Christmas Card design. It shows our new house in the snow globe.

Frankenstein

I've been a bit obsessed with Frankenstein since Hallowe'en. As a kid I always loved gothic monsters in grave yards etc, but my fave was Dracula. I think as I'm getting older my tastes are changing. Maturing.

When I read the full unabridged Dracula novel by Bram Stoker a few years ago (after only ever reading my beloved Ladybird Horror Classic edition as a kid) I was struck by how revolted I was by Dracula the character. However, I felt quite the opposite to the titular character's creature when I read the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley not too long after it.

My usual tradition is to watch James Whale's Universal classics at Hallowe'en but this year I went in a different direction and watched Hammer's Frankenstein movies. One after the other.

They were crappy, saved only by Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, but got me into the mood to not only re-read the source novel, but to do my own image and version of the 'Monster'.

I doodled on a phone bill envelope which turned into the above pen drawing. It's not finished yet. It will be full colour with Mont Blanc (hence being covered in frost and ice) and Frankenstein himself in the distance and in book cover format.

My take on the creature is closer to Shelly's description and devoid of the usual scars and stitches.

I interpreted the vaguely described process in the novel to be that, although 'materials' from corpses were used in the creation of the creature, it was more 'grown' than stitched together like a rag doll. The parts would be decomposed and useless anyway. I imagined bones and tissue being brought together, assembled in a basic frame in which living organs could be grafted and then the surrounding skin and muscle grown at a cellular level. Almost like a plant crossed with a skin graft.

But I could shake the image of Karloff's amazing face. I used it as inspiration, but not exact. Anyway.

Keep your eyes peeled for the final image on here some time soon.

Pen Drawing

Oops.

I've neglected this wee blog a bit lately. Been very busy with work and the big move to my new house in the hills.

Thought I'd stick some ink drawings on here. This first one is a for a colour image I did where I knocked together my own slant on the Spider-Man villain, Venom. I'm more a fan of the classic villains but visually this one has... potential.

He's normally depicted as a rubber-type clad wrestler of sorts. I wanted to show him as a bubbling, seething, oozing, slopping, globby mass of evil oily drippy crap. Like a huge wall of oil in a basic human form. A cross between The Blob and Batman villain, Clayface, I suppose, mixed up with a crude oil slick.

This here is the pen lines of the character. Done with a Rotring (drawing) fountain pen on Bristol board.

That reminds me... I need to do this year's Christmas card!

Screen Grab of the day!

Working on a job for OUP. Just loved this pink with the burly construction guy here. Had to grab it and show.

I haven't posted much here lately. I shall rectify this soon. Been so busy that I haven't had much free time to doodle.

Keep your eyes on the site.

C

Sketchbook Doodles.

Something I doodled in my sketchbook a little while ago. I could fill a whole blog with just these kinds of things. I get random ideas all the time and most don't even get jotted down. This is why I need to have a sketch book / pad stapled to my hand and a pencil permanently behind my ear.

I've been really getting into 1950's / 60's B-Movies lately. Well. I say B-Movies. Just naff retro Sci-Fi and monster movies to be honest. So this is my idea of how I would redesign naff TV Sci-Fi Lost In Space. Or is it Adam Atom. I don't know. Why expand existing things when you can do your own? I'd change the kid though. Make him more... Hanna Barbera, for lack of a better phrase.

Advocate Banner

Funny thing on the advocate page. This banner shows some of the award winning artists represented by the agency, myself amongst them. I'm second from the left.

Scott Pilgrim

I saw the new Edgar Wright movie adaption of Scot Pilgrim Vs The World last week and I was blown away. What a brilliant vibrant and refreshing film. I'd never read Brian Lee O'Malley's original book series but I think I may have to now.

After seeing the film and reigniting my own fascination with the earlier console games (I liked my Super Nintendo but I was more of an out doors kid) from my childhood in the late 80's and early 90's I had to do an image based upon the story. Above is a snippet of that image which I'm doing in between the time consuming 'day job'.

Carl

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.