Prints cont.

I have a confession to make... one of the ideas on the previous post, 'Rigortortoise', was actually Jakki's idea. A long time ago i used to do a regular single panel "cartoon" for the Independent Newspaper's Sunday's Review section, titled 'Parallel Universe'. It was a fantastic job, i could basically come up with what ever i liked and i produced about 220 of them before time was called on it, during a redesign. The spot shrunk in size and was given to John Callahan, which was frustrating, but i liked Callahan's dark humour, so it was kind of OK with me ( He sadly passed away last year, i'm sure he would have made a good joke of that). I had taken my turn after David Shrigley and Peter Blevgad before (or so i believe) which in itself felt like quite an honour. Anyway, back to my point, ocassionally i'd be a bit stuck for an idea and Jakki came up with 'Rigortortoise', she knows how my mind works!... perfect. I can't find the original piece, so i've put another of my favourites from the series and you can see more on my website (which i promise i will sort out this year). They were all drawn with a 2B pencil on sugar paper, with water colours and white gouache for a bit of punch and sparkle.

Prints?

Here are a few sketches for prints, promo etc, I'm not quite sure yet. some are old drawings, scribbles etc that i figure i haven't made work hard enough for me! I'm just sketching them out to get a feel and try colours. They're mostly tiny little drawings, 2cm x 3cm that i've scanned and enlarged, i quite like the chunky line, so my next phase will only involve redrawing with a bit more clarity, still small. I blasted through them with an aim of 50 images which i achieved in just over 2 days (well, 3 days, but i've had proper work to fit in!). I like this working method, just being quite direct and simple. Less is more!

Musical Interlude

An old favourite music clip. Makes me want to be on that little bridge in the sunshine! A little February pick me up. I should stick more little bits of music up here. Mix it up a little bit. I used to buy so much music... until i bought the house and had the kids! Who has spare money anymore?? I still try and keep up with what's out there though.

Bohemia Voice Cover

Here's a little cover illustration i did for the local mag/guide the Bohemia Village Voice. Bohemia is the name of the area in St Leonards where i live... it's not quite as Bohemian as it sounds though! The final print quality was a bit lacking, but here's a corrected version!

Bit Late...

I meant to post this 'Wish' on Monday, but i forgot.

Doctor Scott's Magic Hiccup Cure

Just thought i'd shove this in to break up the usual illustration/pottery mix. I had hiccups the other day and yes, too many beers was the cause. I couldn't stop, then i remembered the 'Money Cure'. I said to Jakki "just give me some money"( i know, it's weird that way round)  She had no idea what i was on about. Then i explained that you offer to give the person some cash if they can hiccup again. "whaaat?? oh that's insane!" she said, or something like that. Anyway she went and rustled up 80p, put it down and made the offer.... I couldn't produce another hiccup. It worked again.... and man, i wanted that 80p!!

New Images

I'm just starting to mess about with a new series of images, which stem from this image i made a while back. I'm going to take a selection and work them up as individual pieces... i'm just not sure of the final look i'm after?? Part of me would really like to be disciplined and keep it to two colours, but when ever i start with things like that, i just end up 'colouring' them all in! The previous drawing was titled 'Dead Ends', but I'm changing that to the rather cheerful "How Will I Die Today?". Yep, I've always fancied playing God, so now i get to draw a character and answer their question, with the usual trivial/tragic mix. Maybe i'll get somewhere with it? Maybe i already have and i should just stick with the single print image? I've played around with the colour of this character a bit more than normal to try and help me move away from people being pink or brown!... i know, not much of a drastic move!!