Messing Around with Paint

I bought a copy of ImagineFX magazine on Saturday. it had loads of tips on painting in Photoshop and Painter. A lot of the art is sci-fi and fantasy and its all done digitally. Anyway, I thought I'd give it a go and the results aren't too bad. Her lips look a bit stuck on. She's modeled on a black and white portrait of a ballerina (hence the haughtiness!). The texture is a polaroid I took out camping in the Lake District one Spring when I was at university. Maybe I'll try some more fantasy style art. I'm one of the nerdiest people I know, so I suppose its only natural for me to like pixies.

Ferret Friend

Now I've drawn a ferret to go with the badger. I'm enjoying this, messing around with my new watercolour technique on photoshop.

Freedom magazine

Here are some pages from an article I was in from Freedom magazine, which is published in Taiwan. Its about working in the design industry and where I live in the UK. In it I talk about working as an in-house greeting cards illustrator and my personal work I do when I'm not at work, which has been published! I also talk about Bedford and what I enjoy doing in my free time.

Badgers are great

I love badgers. Unfortunately since Thursday there's been a poor little deceased one on the main road to work. I've never seen a live badger (wah!), I see plenty of poor little squished ones though. Makes me a bit sad.

Also feeling a bit blue about other stuff in general. Mostly to do with my drawing abilities (or lack of). I always have my greatest ideas when I'm really tired and I'm drifting off to sleep. All sorts of colourful characters before my eyelids in excellent detail and vibrant poses, but I'm too tired to scribble in my sketchbook, since I have to get up for work at 6:30 every morning.

When I came home from work to do something creative all I could think of is this badger.

Valentines Day Card

That I made for Jack, the wolf man.

bunny toy

Just a hand sewn red bunny I made from some scrap bits of felt. I knitted his little scarf too. I'm planning on making a bogg girl like this too for a little chimp society project, but I thought I'd start with a bunny to practice some basics. I used to make a lot of toys like this, but don't have the time anymore. I think he's kind of cute.

Softer side

Working as an in-house cute illustrator for greeting cards means that the illustrations I produce have to keep up with trends. When I joined 2 years ago bears were getting tired, now bears are back (thanks to Forever Friends... grrr). Working digitally enables me to try a whole range of different media in Photoshop and Painter, but they operate differently. For example, colours don't interact and blend the same way when you layer then up, you end up faking it. Watercolour is fashionable at the moment in cutes and I've been playing with different brushes to get the look and fool people into thinking they're seeing a traditional painting.
This image was made digitally at home using the similar techniques and brushes I'm also using at work. Its good to see a bogg-girl in a softer style.

Cheerleader

I've finished outlining 10 different cheerleader designs. This evening I've had a go at adding colour and backgrounds to one of the characters. After my previous rant about folk wearing too many bright colours 1980s style, I don't know what I was I thinking here. I suppose I have a secret love affair with the fluorescent and I'm actually in denial. Next time I colour a cheerleader I'll calm the colour palette down. It is a tad bright.

I stumbled across a poll on an illustration site asking if the changing of the seasons affected my work. Here is proof that it doesn't! Anyway, I usually have to draw Christmas cards in August, so I can't let things like that take influence or santa would be wearing speedos.

6 Weird Things

Penny from Natural Attrill has recently tagged me to list 6 weird things about myself, and then "tag" another six to do the same.

Here are the instructions (which I've just copied from Penny's blog!):
"The Rules: Each player of this game starts with "6 weird things about you". Each person who gets tagged needs to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as clearly state this rule. After you state your 6 weird things, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you're tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog for information as to what it means."

So here we go!
1. I am totally deaf in my left ear. So if you try to converse with me on my left side, forget it, I can't hear you. So now you know why I sometimes switch sides as we're walking down the street or why I always have to sit in a particular seat in a bus, train, pub, resturant etc. It really bugs me if I have to rotate my head 180 degrees at a social gathering.

2. When I get worried or bored I chew the inside of my mouth. Its disgusting and I know its not good for me. I'm really trying to give up.

3. I eat ALL burgers and hot sandwiches with a knife and fork. No exceptions.

4. I am a grade 6 trumpeter.

5. I will judge you on how you wear your hair and clothes. I can't help it, there must be something wrong with me. I consider it a type of discrimination, so honestly I'm not proud. If I meet you for the first time and you are victim to wearing something like elecro-punk fluorescent colours, mirrored aviator sunglasses, asymmetrical messed up hair with expensive highlights that took you 12 hours to straighten/ back comb, leg warmers, 2 belts, skinny jeans, etc etc, do you like The Towers of London and The Horrors? OH NO! Then too late, I have already considered you to be a total pillock. (Oh, apart from Vince Noir and Russell Brand.)

I'm 27 years old and I shouldn't care how the youngsters dress these days. But for some reason it does and it really offends me!

6. I love blankets. If I'm at home, I'll have one around me. I've tried a poncho, but its not the same. Snuggling under a blanket is the best.

Here are the six who I've tagged. I don't know many people who blog very regularly, so I do hope they don't mind so much!
Jeff Woodall
Jamie Brindle
Garreth F Hirons
The Midnight Orchestra
David's Drawings
Kristian Purcell 

Red Work

Last week before the mac disaster (which thankfully seems to be resolved now) I completed some embroidery designs. They have been worked on in a style called redwork which is an outline stitch. I think the characters look really striking like this and I'm pleased with how the whole set have turned out. Pretty cute, but not too corny! All 9 characters can be seen at Bunnycup Embroidery. I was just really pleased with the results and wanted to share it!

Dead Mac!

Yup, that's right. My mac is dead. Its currently being revived by magical computer wizards who know all about that type of technical mumbo jumbo. Here are some embroidery designs that I did recently before disaster struck. Stupid computers. I hope he gets well soon though.

Buzz

Buzzy bees flying around a bouquet of posies. Don't fret though, they are friendly bees and they're only interested in gathering pollen to make tasty honey for honey monsters like me. They won't sting the cute little girl. Its only nasty wasps that do that. Boy, I hate wasps, they're pretty horrible.

Girl in snow

And now she has a pretty wintry scene too. I also added some textures to her face and hat but its hard to tell on the picture as the resolution knocks out the detail.

Work In progress

Here is a work in progress of a little festive picture I've been doing. It needs a nice wintry background next, with pretty snowflakes too!
Last night the xmas tree went up along with the home-made decorations. Next is the repetitive task of wrapping up all those pressies.

Merry Christmas!

Hello out there! Merry Christmas and I hope y'all have a very wonderful new year. I haven't been updating my blog like I should, but it has been a very busy time for me recently. Lots of work to do and Christmassy things to organise. Anyways, I'll make it a resolution to try and update this blog more regularly in 2007!

Christmas Card Blunder

I thought it'd be a good idea to make my own Christmas cards this year and half way through this attempt I knew it wasn't going to work... However I read somewhere that you should always finish your projects, so I preserved and I still don't like it. Ha! I should have stuck with a comfortably safe snowman or 'Lil Baybeee Jeeesus (Aw bless!).

Amateurillustrator.com Article

Ingmar Zahorsky, one of the three administrators over at amateurillustrator, has used a screenshot of my website for an article about building a website and establishing an identity online. Its a good overview for beginners and can be viewed over at
www.amateurillustrator.com/articles/.

Black and Orange

This is my entry for the Black and Orange collaboration gallery for Halloween. Seven of us are going to a secluded English country cottage this weekend for birthday fun and Halloween antics. I hope it doesn't get too spooky.

Ghost girl and Cat monster

Halloween is approaching and the theme for Illustration Friday is ghost, so here is my effort. I don't understand my cat obsession at the moment. I keep putting them in my drawings. "Hmmm, what does it need.... Heck, it needs a cat!" I've even got Cat girl in this issue of Creaturemag too and you really must take a look because its a pretty nice website with loads of nice quirky artwork (much better than mine), photography and little puppets n toys to coo at.

I'm Really Stupid

Listen to your teacher. They always used to go on and on about checking your work. Its actually sound advice. I didn't realise until just right now that the contact email address on my website was one letter out... How dumb am I? All that spam about discount watches and viagra that I've missed out on. I'm totally kicking myself. What if somebody out there actually liked my work and wanted to tell me? How many opportunities have been missed? I'll never know now dammit!
Anyways here are some roughs for a logo. It's for my chum whose new music adventure is called Brainwig.
Bloody email....