You look how I feel, mate.

A few quick turnaround character sketches.

A really enjoyable few hours and something I'd like to return to very soon, to further push the characters and make them a little more my own.

Bears (yet again)...

I appear to have a thing for bears at the moment. I shall not draw another until at least the year 2012, I promise.

Yes, a whole 7 weeks.

Bears (again)

I've been drawing bears again.

Big surly bears and little imps.

A mucky pup.

Splodge splodge.

Dragons Revisited

One of my very first books, back in 1996 (yeah, yeah I know!), was about the littlest dragon. I haven't drawn a dragon since and I find that a shame. So I've set that right.

The Littlest Dragon was a black line book, and I fancied breaking open the inks and dip pen.

So I re-read the book, stuck on some Oasis and Blur and turned back the clock.

 Here is the little chap sitting in his window in 1996, he'll be a big dragon now...

Mice, taking a stroll.

Gone Fishing

Here is an illustration of a bear fishing. I think it's lacking something.

I'll come back to it after I've delivered some roughs in a couple of weeks to see if he's going to catch anything, or if he'll need to re-think his strategy.

...and after that re-visit.

The Hairy Bear Bunch.

It's been a little while. So thought I'd post a few initial bear sketches.

I now have to continue until we have a character, stick him in a boat, and see if he can catch something for his (and my) lunch.

When I grow up, I want to be...

Monsters, Etc.

I have never before drawn monsters.

A gila monster, yes. Dragons, aliens, narwhals, a newfoundland dog and a baby, yes - but no actual monsters.

So I thought it was time.

They are spruced up for the Mon-scars, like Oscars but for... oh, nevermind.

From 0 to publish post in 30 minutes.

Now fully recovered following the extreme sport squirrel (he jumped 20 feet from a tree, narrowly missing my head - I may have mentioned it) I've decided to try a little loosening up exercise.

I've been agonising over every minute detail of my art recently, I'm not sure it's entirely healthy. I'm about embark on a toucan and a penguin illustration, so with the hope of avoiding another tortuous few days I decided to give myself 30 minutes to research, draw, colour and upload a toucan and penguin to my blog - and to approach the art in a new way. Publishing and sharing the results (no matter what) would, it was hoped, sharpen the senses.

I had to extend my deadline very slightly, as the penguins at Cincinatti Zoo made me giggle too much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW1jmatHBIc

I don't know if it was an entirely successful exercise but I've definitely taken something from it (apart from "make toucan beaks larger than this") - and I think it'll change the way I approach my next illustration. So that's nice.

More beards.

Yesterday I saw a woodpecker, nothing too uncommon about that, but I actually saw it wood pecking in a furious manner - a first. A shock of red hair, dressed in black and white, wild eyes and head banging - a proper punk woodpecker.

I found this quite exciting and was now keenly looking for birds. I spotted a bald eagle lolloping through the air, in Surrey! On closer inspection it was a crow awkwardly carrying a bread roll. An easy mistake that many have made before, and many will in the future.

I'm now an amateur twitcher. This morning I saw a swan doing the caterpillar. This Boogaloo Swan was actually having a bath before trying it on with a lady swan. She wasn't interested and flew off in the direction of Homebase.

Anyway, new work.

I'm still on beards and medieval activities. I'm drawing a line under this for a while now though and attempting to re-discover my looser self.

New work alert.

A new portfolio piece (I think it's finished...)

I think, next time, I might go with something less complex - a kitten with a ball of wool, a child eating a cornetto, that type of thing.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

15 years as an illustrator and this book made good all of the barren periods, the overnighters and lost weekends, the hard slogs. You welcome each commission and give them your all, but some just feel like a gift.

I researched like crazy, watched every youtube video and bought every book, I went through umpteen pencils, erasers and fingers. There are, perhaps, a few things within the book that I'd approach differently today, but here it is...