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.'

Early Bird

Due to tight deadlines, Christmas festivities and a bit of quality family time, I haven't been doodling as much as I'd like so I've nothing much to share except this little project. This film making hobby is something I'd like to spend more time doing in the future hopefully resulting in a project that I'm 100% happy with.

Right, back to clearing my desk to get my pencils sharpened ready for the New year.

Happy new year folks!

Little house on an alien prarie

The news is hardly a barrel of laughs these days and with Stephen Hawkins effectively stating we have to leave the planet or die i was even more encouraged to create somewhere alien, peaceful and calm.

When we begin exploring the galaxy in earnest i imagine that there will be a lot of similarities between that and the drive to colonize the old new world in the 1500's. Once brave and noble explorers have finished encouraging the locals to move along, families and businesses will begin settling in droves. Especially if the Earth population keeps on increasing the way it is doing.

In space, Jane will hear you scream

I've always enjoyed the graphic qualities of old sci-fi movie posters, specifically the patterns and textures that came from the now defunct printing techniques of the first half of the 20th century. I wanted to take some of these techniques and mix them up with a slice of 70's - 80's sci-fi and see what came out of the other end.

Space Jane is an old project i dusted off recently and finally got round to finishing. She's a character I've been playing around with for 2-3 years now and have finally done something solid with her.

I believe there's mileage in that thar character though so she may make another appearance before too long. I'm pretty pleased with it but will no doubt tweak and toy with it a few more times, but for now, here it is.

Bog Troll

Before I went away over summer i spent an afternoon backing up files, something i don't do nearly often enough. It always takes much longer than it should as i start reading through bits of random story ideas or looking at half finished images.

This time i read a few stories that I rather enjoyed. Usually I'm over critical of my own work and fall out of love with it within days of finishing... or before its even finished. So I was inspired by my own work to start illustrating stuff in my own rapidly diminishing free time.

This is the first draft of a character from one of these stories, and unusually I'm rather happy with him and I think this will be close to his final look. He's a rather unpleasant Troll. Who eats goats. And children.

Baby on the move

Wow, a busy summer of both work and play has meant that I've been pretty lax on any kind of communication. Its been fun, but with the weather taking a turn for the worse I'm going to put some effort into my sketchbook and try and get some personal projects finished off. That is if i can pull myself away from my Xbox long enough.

Despite having fun playing through some great games, it does consume several hours of my free time every week. i need to find some balance. Maybe down the back of the sofa?

I've been drawing my son since (his) day one, but he changes so quickly its hard to pin down something that's clearly him. Through most of their first year, to most other people, babies all look the same. I think hes now reached an age where he's settled into something that i can focus on, but in the meantime here's a piece i did for a friends baby's first birthday. Its always tricky doing caricatures, especially of a baby as its very easy to offend the parents, but if that was the case, they were polite enough to tell me it was great.