Keef

This image was inspired by some photos of a friend of mine, who currently goes by the pseudonym of SP076 (I'm pretty sure this was his cell number at some point), and his accomplices creating some street art. I thought there was a great contradiction between the flowers in the long grass and the concrete walls that were serving as canvasses. The painting he's working on is in this drawing is actually a photo of his piece. I hope he doesn't sue me.

The pose was derived from an exaggerated version of the stance fine artists adopt when clutching a palette in one hand and expressively slapping paint onto a canvas. I also drew on the movements of  chefs in a kitchen when they get passionately animated and toss ingredients into a lively mix while working on new recipe.  I mean, I know that's not how it really works, I've been in kitchens and from my experience most chefs spend their time grumbling and swearing at waitresses.

Shanta... hic!

Well its that time of year again where an ancient pagan ritual results in collective days off and an excuse for over indulgence. During this festive period I shall continue sneaking down to my bat-cave, whittling my quill into a sharp point and topping up the ink wells in preparation for a new year of doodling.

I hope everybody makes the most of their Christmas break by fattening up for winter, getting intoxicated, watching plenty of movies and catching up on those backed up games. Hold up... I just described 2012...Here's to 2013!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

DISCLAIMER
You may have noticed a lack of reference to the end of the world. That's because this myth is based on the scribblings of people from over a thousand years ago, and should be taken as nothing more than a silly story.

Steel

I'm managing to slowly indoctrinate my son into geek culture starting with the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons form the 30s/40s. Despite the questionable racial stereotypes (see the episode 'Japotage'), a product of wartime propaganda, they're still fantastic productions that clearly influenced the equally brilliant 'Batman: The Animated Series'.

Referencing those via the retro Superman logo I bashed this quick sketch out in an hour or so.

The exaggerated proportions intended to contrast with the almost bland body form of these cartoons, that have since been refined over the decades into the sculpted form we're all so familiar with.

The loose cummerbund garment was just an idea to add the dash of colour that I felt was missing from his midriff in the pant-less redesign from the upcoming film, that I desperately want to be brilliant.

Horned Beast

Dinosaurs have become increasingly popular in our house, courtesy of my 2 year old son. I remember being interested in them but not really knowing any of the details that I've recently been reading up on (in an ongoing attempt to be able to impart wisdom). For example: Chronologically the T-Rex lived closer to humans than it did to the Stegosaurus. Crazy, right?

As theres greater room for creativity in fiction I rarely feel the desire to depict real animals, though these extinct mega fauna undeniably served as inspiration for this quick sketch. Pleased with his stance I felt I should add some colours and texture to really bring this alien dinosaur to life.

Last Exit To Nowhere

OK, I swear I'll get back to drawing soon. For real. I've got a few lovely things in the works and I'll have them finished off very soon, but before I do here's another tiny film that I've put together for a 30 second film competition.

Trying to pace a 30 second story in which you can only realistically fit 3-4 lines of dialogue and very little exposition is a little bit tricky but also kind of fun. I often watch Samurai Jack and marvel at how they could fit tension, a cohesive plot and often epic action sequences into only a few minutes. Outstanding work. So this was definitely a learning curve, as is messing around with sound. And accents. Ahem. Forgive me.

Trick or Treat

Well, Early Bird secured best comedy award at Film the House 2012. Hardly the Oscars, but not too shabby for a first try. Very surprised, flattered and pleased with that result and congrats to the other winners and especially to overall winner Patrick Ryder for his short Cerberus.

Well despite my best attempts, life has thwarted my goal of delivering the final cut of my next short 'Dead or Alive' in time for All Hallow's Eve. However, I couldn't let it pass without unleashing a sample of what's to come. A treat if you will. Guffaw.

Watch this space for more info on this reckless venture.


Happy Halloween!

Blast from the past

Well, what a fun week. Firstly, Mr Jeremy 'Boba Fett' Bulloch dropped me a note to express his amusement at my recent F3-7T picture, which is rather excellent in its self.

Secondly, I've just been informed that my short film Early Bird has been selected as a finalist of the 2012 Film the House competition, and all without a public vote to rig!

'Industry experts have announced the finalists of the national Film the House competition today. From over 1,000 hours of film entered into the competition, just 18 films have been short-listed for the final.' 

Seeing as this film almost never got finished and that I submitted it on a whim then I can genuinely say I'm totally amazed at the reception its received. It'll no doubt be a fun, if slightly surreal evening at the awards ceremony, and if you hear nothing else about it, its because I drank too much and got disqualified. Or there was better competition. Or both.

I'm pretty sure you've all seen it, but for any noobs out there who've missed it here it is. In the mean time, I need to stop life getting in the way so I can finish off my next effort.

And for anybody who just comes here for pictures, I've had a busy couple of weeks. But here's some quick doodles from my sketch book to keep you going :-)

F3-7T

I've harked on about my undying love of all things Star Wars in past posts, so I'll keep this short.

I wanted to take Artoo's cocky little frame and bestow it with some of the razor sharp coolness usually reserved for Mr B. Fett. I don't know if its because its getting late or I've been working on it for too long, but theres something about this mash up that already feels comfortably familiar.

May I present F3-7T.

JUDGEMENT DAY

While its been several years since i picked up a copy of any of 2000AD's titles I cant deny that they were a staple part of my cultural diet throughout my teens and a stack of well thumbed issues still reside under my desk (Its been said that I'm something of a hoarder), too loved to throw away.

Its often said that the best characters can be identified from nothing more than a silhouette. While this maybe true, its possible to create a character that is identifiable through far less than that, Judge Dredd being a fine example.

Taking this into account I wanted to try and convey the strength, brutality and utter lack of humanity Dredd possesses with as little info (and time) as possible. That said and done, I think I could have gone far more minimalist and still delivered.

Lets hope Hollywood manages the same. This time.

Steps, Leaps and Bounds

Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on another world and thereby performing one of the greatest feats in all of human history.

Awesome.

I created this picture by way of doffing my cap.

Well played NASA, well played indeed.

Svensk vol. I

I've always been a bit of a fan of a good road trip. Which is lucky as I've just driven across the entirety of Denmark, up into Sweden and back.

I always find it fascinating watching the landscape change, and Sweden was no exception. The southern part seemed to consist of hundreds of miles farm land with colossal white wind turbines contrasting with the slate blue sky. Along with the iconic red farms dotting the golden cornfields it created some striking scenery.

I've never really understood peoples hostility towards these structures as I think they can look quite majestic, and the scenery that inspired this image only compounded that belief.

At the very least they're certainly more appealing than the alternative.

Day 401

I have a real love for the loose and minimalist concept art that is produced for a lot of films and games, yet the ability to just go to work on a virtual canvas with no pre-drawn elements is something that i've always found daunting.

Inspired by some of the art on the website CGHub, specifically Ian McQue and David Hong's work, I thought it was about time to give it a try. David Hong was kind enough to give me a few pointers that were enough to get started and quickly produce this piece. I still had to force myself to stop adding detail but its certainly a lot looser than a most my previous work.

A lot of what i like about science fiction is how it mirrors our understanding of the world several hundred years ago when there were still literal voyages of discovery to be made, and frontiers to cross, and new worlds to discover. To this end, I envisioned a shipwreck that would leave any survivors far more alone and helpless than a meager desert island.

MeoOow

As a long time fan of Batman I've been eagerly awaiting the finale to Nolan's trilogy since the credits rolled on the Dark Knight, a film I see as dangerously close to being perfect.

I was doodling away in my sketchbook when I saw a TV spot for the Dark Knight Rises. Banging out a quick sketch, I realised I could make something of it so I began working it up in Photoshop and although the lines are not altogether perfect I got carried away and finished it off with what I had. Fortunately I was able to generate a strong style through the texture and hues that distracts from its minor imperfections.

Despite having been inspired by Anne Hathaway's Catwoman, its really hard for me not to lean towards the style that was developed for the Animated Batman series as it was (and continues to be) such a huge influence on me.

Anyway, all that's left to do now is be overly excited. Roll on Friday.

Nananananananananananananananananananananananana BATMAN!

Me Tarzan, you Jane.

Its been a busy few weeks, especially having dedicated a lot of time to a new personal project that I'll bring up at a (not too much) later date.

Despite that, I've managed to finish off an image that was started over Easter, inspired by the old black and white Tarzan movies I used to watch as a kid. I wanted to generate an almost naive feeling of adventure and heroism that was delivered in a time when diving into a pool without looking for rocks was fine, as the worst that could possibly happen to the hero was a split lip and a their hair ruffled, albeit momentarily.

The only things it lacks are a heard of 36fps elephants stampeding through a village, and Weissmuller's iconic yodel.

Final whistle

This is a bit of a departure for me in terms of style, inspiration and subject matter. The only time I ever pay attention to 'that football' (or Soccer if you're yet to learn English ;-) is during the Euro and World Cup. However I can't deny that the sport generates some powerful imagery and there's something magical about the thunderous chant as passionate fans invest so much emotion in their desire for that hopeful outcome.

Experimenting with some new brushes I’ve tried to encapsulate some of that emotion in this image of a lone England player. I intended the image to be somewhat ambiguous, regarding his motives for the pose but hindsight I think the result leaning more towards elation rather than despair.

I'm working on some more in this series as when i was sketching out characters I developed a handful of poses that I don't want to waste. Any suggestions on teams?

In the meantime, 'Allez les bleus!' or 'Eng-er-land!'... whoever.

BRIAN BLESSED!

I attended a film festival at the Quad in Derby at the weekend where i was lucky enough to see Paddy Considine's seminar, do some networking and see the legendary BRIAN BLESSED in conversation (his name should never be printed in lower case). Conversation turned out to be a misleading term as the interviewer was barely able to sneak in two questions as BRIAN BLESSED erupted a continuous stream of dialogue for almost two hours. Turned up to 11. It was fantastic.

His enthusiasm for all things, but most importantly 'SPAAACE!', was infectious, and after meeting him briefly after the show I felt compelled to put pen to paper and try and recreate his enormous personality. As the man is more or less a living caricature this wasn't too tricky.

The Mighty Chewbacca

Whatever you think of Star Wars, theres no denying that the multitude of cartoons, comics, books, toys, video games and movies that followed the original films have become a cultural phenomenon. Personally, some of my earliest memories involve some of the spaceships and aliens from this saga and the iconic creations have seeped deep into my consciousness from a very early age, no doubt feeding my imagination and thereby nudging me down the paths I took in my life.

Alien worlds, races and spaceships in their hundreds, political factions, cultural movements, languages, religious ideologies, and a detailed history to match our own, were all developed by the thousands of individuals who have expanded and built on the Star Wars mythology.

So regardless of who shot first, continuity errors and cretinous frog-rabbits, this unfathomably rich, incredibly detailed and ultimately endless wealth of creativity is why I LOVE Star Wars.

So on this may the fourth, 'May the force be with you, always.'

[Cue X-Wing flyby and teddy bear party]

Seamen love a Breeze

Next up, another poster from the fictional Rig City. Existing only in my head I had an idea a while back to try and explore this place through the posters that adorn the walls as well as providing an image that worked as a one off piece.

My main concern with these images is just how far to go with the grime and grot so as to enhance the concept yet not make the image unpleasant to look at.

After studying a couple of books of old posters, some of the text they used is now so dated that i could I afford to have a lot of fun coming up with slogans and quotes to put on my own, without them (initially at least) appearing to be amusing.

Watcher

Having a teacher in the house means that all schedules are thrown to the dogs when the holidays arrive. Though this time the break has been quite welcome. Despite spending time with my family I've still managed to sneak down to my batcave in the dead of night (well... late evening at least) to create this image.

I regularly devise expansive and elaborate stories that rarely escape my mind, so in an attempt to combat this i try and illustrate key moments from them. This is the beginning of one of these tales where in a time of swords and stone the descendant of a great warrior witnesses something magical and finds himself somehow connected to it.

Touching on the perceived power that religion commands and delivers, there's a good chance I'll knock out some more moments from this story as it touches on a number of themes that have fascinated me for years. Or i might drop it as i cook up something else that saps all my attention.

Here be dragons!

Its taken me a while to sneak this in amongst my work, but I late last night I finally finished it off. (I wonder if this is connected to me ending my time in Skyrim?)

I wanted to do a sea-monster that delivered something other than a plesiosaur or the old legendary sea serpents. Playing with scale is a reliable way of delivering something that is both familiar yet fresh, so taking elements from frogs, turtles and Siamese fighting fish and then scaling them up (a lot) resulted in something i was really happy with.

The swimmers hopefully bring a friendly quality to the creature as they're not fleeing for their lives.















I've also included the original pencil sketch below as the line work was lost a little when adjusting he contrast for the sub-marine feel.

Sketchbook medley

I initially started this blog in order to show off my sketchbook doodlings rather than put out shiny polished pieces, but that seems to have been forgotten. As its been a busy start to 2012 I've not been on to that many polished images (at least, not that im allowed to show you. (Yet.)) So i thought I'd compile a few bits from my sketchbook into one easy to view page.

I've always enjoyed looking at art that was never intended for public viewing as it often feels more natural and intimate than the finished versions, and you rarely get to see the initial sketches that precede finished ideas.

Driven

A rush job today. A friend of mine messaged me this morning regarding his idea for a 3D model of Ryan Goslings character in the sublime film (and the best of 2011 in my opinion) Drive. Rather than trying to describe how Mr Gosling should look, i knocked up this quick character sketch detailing how i saw the figure. It's a bit rough and ready as it only took about 20 minutes from pencil to post and i have no doubt that Andy's image will be yet another immaculate presentation shaming my own work into disgrace. Anyway, see the film. Its pure class.

Alp! Alp!

Back to the scribbling after a healthy Christmas break. Its nice to be back in my Bat-cave, pencil in hand and photoshop chugging away in front of me. This image is taken from a story I wrote a while back, the same one featuring the bemoobed troll I posted in October. Its not fully illustrated yet, but every time i get a spare evening (from my xbox) I do a little more.

'She imagined the excitement of war as she played,

the trees became giants who feared her new blade

and as ogres and goblins replaced her dads cattle

Hild' roared like a beast charging into the battle.'