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...

Coming soon to an Amazon near you.

This morning I was walking the dog in a horrid squally rain, undeterred we still took our frisbee; and all was well with the world.

Except here I was, waterproofed from head to toe but only able to look forward. Rotate my head left or right and my view was of the inside of the hood of my waterproof jacket. Why, oh why, I thought, doesn't someone invent a hood for a jacket that rotates with the head (unless I'm doing it wrong?). It started to vex me; why don't hoods swivel?

I suppose that swivelling hood invention would be a hat though, wouldn't it?

It was 6.45am.

Anyway. Work has really flooded in overnight, so my good blogging intentions may have to go on hold for a while.

In the meantime. A sneak preview of books coming soon.

Introducing, Mirabelle...

Tillie...

and Roxie.