Altering the horse...

I seem to always end up a bit obsessed with turning things into patterns lately. And its happened again here. What d'you think?

Horse.

My oldest friend rides horses. (I'm about to turn 24. I've known her for 20 years. So i can use 'oldest friend' properly...) It was her birthday recently. So i drew her this. I might improve it. Not sure it's reached its full potential as yet.

Muppets. That is all.

Drive

Last night i went to see 'Drive'. I can honestly say it's the most beautiful film i've seen this year. And there have been so many good movies. This one however just made me sit and watch in awe. It's borderline perfect. Every frame of film could be a photograph. A seriously special film. To top all of its cinematic beauty though, is one killer soundtrack that just propels the film forward. Epic in its understated electro wonderfulness. And even better, a College track featuring Electric Youth made it into the movie. This track. It's sublime. And yes, i have ordered the soundtrack, an import from the states...

Walked the dogs, saw a heron. As you do.

At least I think it's a heron. Really long time since I saw one.
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The Little Mermaid

I did rework this adding colour on the mac, but now i've decided to return to my original drawing and 'ink it up' so to speak. I'll keep you posted as i go along.

A Bird on a Branch

I also did an illustration based on Anderson's Nightingale. From the story i decided it probably wasn't a nightingale as we see one, but in fact a chinese nightingale, which is a 'nickname' for a bird in Asia that for now completely escapes me... I'm bound to remember at some completely ridiculous moment later on. Anyway, i coloured it on the mac, which is new for me, i'm usually all about the inks. But being creative, it's all about personal growth isn't it? In my case, getting over the fear of software suites...

The Emperor That Got Naked...

To say he was gullible is an understatement. Hans Christian Anderson story based illustration. It's not my favourite, but looking back at it now, i want to improve it, and develop it further, so here it is in its current form.

Savage Beauty

Recently bought the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty catalogue, and for ages i've wanted to try my hand at some fashion illustration. And what's more challenging than a McQueen dress made of clam shells from Norfolk i ask you? Yeah, exactly. Bit of a challenge, but i've enjoyed myself quite a bit, so this could be a pursuit i keep up. After all, i've finished university now, i need to figure out what i actually want to do with this degree i've (hopefully) acquired.

For Laney...

Who believe me, is rarely this ethereal in everyday life. In fact, i'd say she's the distinct opposite of floaty, more of a tropical storm. Hurricanes could happily bear her name. (She's going to love me for that...)

Muriel's (Maggie's) Wedding

Going through old negatives i've gradually (really slowly when i can be bothered) to scan and make all digital, i came across some photos of my aunts wedding that i never got around to printing. They're not great. The lighting's shocking. But, the people are more interesting, and a lot has changed since then. Falling outs, death, grief, arguments, polite exchanges. It's a while back. And although i'm proud to say the event could have rivalled an episode of Shameless, it's actual quite a good memory now looking back, drunkards, world war vets, spilled champagne. And i never noticed how interesting my family could be in film either.

And also...

I'd like to say recently, but, in the past 9 months, i've had so much on work wise, and i'm still going, but i'm really into relief printing. Don't know if anyone's seen this yet. But i love lino. And mostly naked folks. So of course they become what i think is some pretty good pattern making. It's for a book cover series at the mo, but you know, i love my prints (woohoo for confidence in own work) and i'm looking at things to use them further.

I like drew some swans or whatever...

I now work...

...from my old bedroom in Leeds. With the company of a dog.
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The Wild Swans, A Swan Prince.

Done with pen and ink. Firstly with pen. Gel ones from muji. Not really a fan of fine liners and drawing pens, they're a little too precise. Then scanned and reprinted on cartridge, something my printer is a little temperamental about, but this way the ink doesn't run. So then inked and coloured, and rescanned for tweaking. And that, in a nutshell, is my process for the moment for most drawings.

Also...

At the hospital (lgi) in leeds yesterday post horrific afternoon, in that new jubilee bit, I found a rather serene roof garden. Downfall being you can't smoke on hospital grounds. Lovely view none the less...
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Drawing up ideas.

My new work station seems to be train carriage tables. Bit bumpy but I'm getting used to it. In all a bad week but I won't bore you with the details. I'll just blog what I've recorded so far with my rather handy phone camera...
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Pretty lights where a monster killed stuff...

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