Wolf People: Stamp

Here is the stamp in action on the CD sleeve. I'm quite pleased with the results too! I'm also working on some nice splattery effects in painter. You can see my latest efforts here.

Startastory

Here is my submission for Startastory's "Layer by Layer". Its a collaborative web site where everyone chips in to make little cool narratives and pictures. In Layer By Layer each page is illustrated and written by someone different, and each image in the story is drawn on the layer above the previous one, so you'll have to go to the Startastory website to see my picture in context! And I encourage everyone to have a go because its jolly good fun.

And if you click here, you can see my submission for yourshout, another project from startastory.

Illustration Friday: Dance

I drew her about a month ago when I first started developing my bogg-style girlies. I like her wild green hair and the dreamy look on her face.

Wolf People

This is my first stamp design that will go on the cover for the new Wolf People release. Isn't that exciting? They are a great psychedelic garage band based in London and bedfordshire. Its available to buy at the Liverpool based Sea records

I'm quite fond of Jojo. He's the 1920s Russian wolf man circus freak who I based the design on. Thank you Jojo. You look like a wookie, but you're so sweet.

Jack's birthday

Is today! Here is the card I made for him. As it's coincidently our portraits I thought I could sneak it in the illustration Friday submission too. Crafty work huh?

Mazestock

Mazestock isn't a festival really. Its Jack's birthday party! We're all looking forward to camping out with a bonfire and barbecue and a lot of booze amongst a proper hedge maze! The weather looks good for the weekend and we have chums from the capital coming over to see what a field looks like (as they've probably forgotten).

The Hoo Hill maze is in sleepy Shefford in Bedfordshire and we all love it!!

Off work sick

...Because my right hand is in Pain City. I'm writing with my left hand whilst my other is bandaged up to my elbow. I've got to rest it until nursey can take a look at it. I think I've messed up a tendon in my hand from working too long without a break. Stupid tablet... I can't even hold a pencil without a shooting pain going up my right arm. I'm so bored and there's so much I wanted to work on over the weekend too. I tried doing some sudoku puzzles to pass the time, but the numbers look weird like a toddler's scribble because my inferior left hand is totally rubbish and now countdown is on and Des will probably bore me into a little sleepy.

Bank Holiday Antics

Here's a piccie I've finally got round to finishing. I like fuzzy critters. Today is Bank Holiday Monday, so no work for me. We went for coffee and cake at one of Bedford's family-run Italian cafes (hmm yum) and then walked to the marina to fly our kite which has been gathering dust and spiders since November. It was excellent kite weather. Then a quick walk around the marina with a outdoor pint at the finish. Got drenched in the rain, but it was worth the effort. Feeling quite drained now though. Jack is cooking up chick pea curry for dinner then we'll polish off the wine in the fridge. Ah... Today is a good day

Cake

Here's one I didn't make earlier. It's fresh today.

Mucking About

Alex Noriega is a genius. When I stumbled across his blog his work made my jaw drop. Its quirky and brightly coloured with lots of crazy business happening all over the page. Type of thing you can look at for ages and get lost in. Check it out here.
With another birthday looming, and Mr. Noriega's work floating around inside my eyelids, I thought I'd try out some of his techniques digitally using Painter. The results aren't that great but I reckon with some tweaking they could look rather nice as a lovely new afro for a Bogg girl.

Lovepics

Contest entry for Lovepics postcard competition. Well... I love picnics, so it seems like a good idea to me.

Present for Kathy

This is a hand-made envelope I've sewn for Kathy who is my boyfriend's grandmother. She's taking us out for some posh nosh tomorrow, so I thought it'd be nice to make her something so she knew I appreciated the thought. Because she's blind I tried to make it as tactile as possible. Its made of felt and ribbon and buttons and glitter and sequins and little bead bits The idea has gone a bit pear-shaped because I wanted to put a Braille message inside it for her, but when I got the transcript back from L-Mail I couldn't believe how huge the letter was! I had only written one paragraph! I can't fold it up and force the paper inside the envelope in case it becomes unreadable, so I'll have to think of something else to put inside it! The Braille looks so amazing though. I can't believe all those dots form legible sentences. They look so delicate on the page and it really impresses me.

Aeris Presley

Here's a logo I've done for Aeris Presley. In the next few days he'll have a little site through channel4.com/music and Steve Lamac has played his demo on BBC radio 6. His music sounds like Graham Coxon, but with more punk and humour. I suspect this is due to Aeris being 10 years younger than greying old Coxy. But its good stuff! And look! I didn't draw a fluffy rabbit this time!

(Apologies for any Illustration Friday folk, I submitted the wrong link so you'll have to scroll down a tad to see my doodle)

Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday... Angels and Devils being the topic. Little miss Blondie did have blue eyes but it made her look too cold. And that kid has a licorice lollipop. Man, that stuff tastes evil.

Daughter Of Rambo

This is doodle I've created for a great website called son of rambo. Not sure if they'll like it though! Its 80s inspired at least, but as I was a little girl back then. It was more about care bears and gummi bears rather than Big Arnie and Sly Stallone with big guns and explosions. Actually I think the 80s sucked and the current trend with 80s influenced electronic music and fashion makes me wanna scream with frustration. At least next decade will be the nineties revival... Which leads me to believe it'll be an actual 1960/70s revival. Hmmmm.... But at least I'll be able to find myself a decent pair of bellbottoms as I wore out my beloved ones in the late 90s and so I'm actually waiting for the next decade in anticipation so I can repair my long lost wardrobe.

Nice news

Good news! I may have got myself a fab new comission! It would be to illustrate a children's book for committee members at the NSPCC! This is very exciting as this will give me a great platform to showcase my work... the committe list is full of great people! I just can't wait to get a more detailed brief so I can get stuck in! I'm feeling pretty darn lucky at the moment. The picture book idea will give me an opportunity to develop a style of drawing I feel more comfortable with. You can see more of this feldgling style if you click on the Moji link. Its kind of like myspace for character designers and its quite a social too.

Also, I've been asked to design a record cover for an upcoming psychedelic blues band called the Wolf People. They also want a stamp design too. I believe there will be 500 7inch records pressed and there are already pre-orders!

Finally, I've been dabbling in online collaborative projects. I like having a sneaky peek at what the world is up to since I never went to study art at university. And hopefully it will get me noticed! I've submitted to Illustration Friday, Start a Story and once I buy some stamps, the envelope collective.

Too Darn Cute

I am a digital artist. I'm pretty chuffed that I can say that.

I can pay the rent as a greeting cards illustrator, that's quite something too I'd say, but its not cool. In fact, you'll find me at the other end of the spectrum with the grandmothers and the tacky American giftshop owners who'd think one of my cute and fluffy characters would look nice on a tea-towel or an apron or a badly knitted sweater. Compared to some of the tat I've seen, my creations have a certain quality to 'em though...

I draw innocent little critters... Harmless, fluffy and friendly with sugar on top. I like to call them sunshine vermin. The best thing is children especially like my pictures a lot and I can sell a lot of birthday bunny cards and safe and snugly woodland creatures. Bunnies that like lemonade and ice cream, sunflowers and picnics, exchanging Christmas presents and generally cheering people up. Bah! I wanna puke! I like computer games, preferably with some psychos or zombies in. And I kill my houseplants on purpose.

Trouble is I can't draw dark. I was bought up on Nintendo, so EVERYTHING is cute, even if I try to fight it.

As I battle to deviate from cute, I'll post my attempts up here for scrutiny. Perhaps I should except my fate as the fluffy cute queen. Who knows.