Doing It For the Kids!

Got asked to do the School May Fair poster for my boys' school (it's about time i did something!). Thought i'd share my initial direct scribbles, then me tarting it up with the help of photoshop to give them a better idea of the actual poster.... and then my final offering (don't tell me there are typos!). I'm interested in this one as there was something in that middle rendering that i really liked. It was a bit too scruffy for the job it was for (and i didn't want all those parents thinking they could do better!!... they probably still will!) but i liked that directness and energy. I can't really explain, but it's the never ending quest in this line of work, to try and keep that energy, whilst still having a certain degree of finish and coherence. I guess it's the same in most creative endeavours, certainly with pots. You want that direct, fresh energy, but you don't want scruffy sloppiness.... maybe you do? Anyway, think i might draw directly with a fibre tip pen a bit more, stop me getting too fussy (not something i'm accused of often! ; )

I was happy with the colour scheme i used for this. I'm trying to simplify and limit my palette. I like the challenge of having to make a few colours work across a range of things... i do still find myself wanting to colour things their 'real' colours though!

Where We Spent Easter

Took a short break in this splendid Yurt, not too far from home, but far enough. A bit chilly in April, but the wood burning stove inside sure helped! Blogger Mark came along with his family too and helped with all the practical stuff ; )

The Mountain Man

A very nice little film about that mountain that I love, Salvation Mountain... and the man that built it, Leonard.


The Man Behind The Mountain - An Intimate Look at American Folk Artist Leonard Knight from Don't Sleep Productions on Vimeo.

HOME...Decisions...Decisions

Took a couple of moments to colour up a couple of this new series I'm thinking about. I mentioned it in my Road Atlas post, it's titled 'HOME'. I have about 15 decent ones ready to draw up, but i need to deal with 'proper' work first. I have a books worth of artwork to finish for next Friday, about 50 black & white (with tone). They're going well though.
Anyway, i had a fairly fixed idea of how these HOME images would look, bit of texture and richness, with different fragments of scanned papers for the words to sit on... maybe the decorative border.
Then i fiddled, took the colour out, added it back in limitedly and then reintroduced a couple of strong colours. I liked how they went... i do realise that it's back to those flat blocks of colour that i often use!... but then there must be a good reason for that, something about it sits well with me.
To be honest i like them both equally and it's not much more work to do the set in both ways, but i thought i'd see if anyone else had an opinion? I doubt it, the voices out there have evaporated these days! Please feel free to offer any thoughts on any of these posts, i know that trying to post comments can have it's problems. I try and leave comments on friends blogs, but that seems to be a problem if it's from my phone. Anyway, that's about it... just a couple of thoughts about what's going on in the background with me.

Recent Commission - The Silly Book Of Side Splitting Stuff by Andy Seed

Here's a fun little job i worked on recently, The Silly Book of Side Splitting Stuff, by Andy Seed for Bloomsbury. I do like rattling through long lists of odd things and getting in the flow.... a man riding a pike, a biscuit playing the guitar, singing goat, a penguin jail break. There were about 40 in total. Special thanks to Claire at Bloomsbury, she's a total joy to work with.

Some of the coloured artwork for the cover.

Black and white line drawings on the inside

...Just realised that I illustrated another of Andy's books some years ago, How To Spot A Hadrosaur In A Bus Queue. How did i not make a connection before now?

Blue Ox - Doers Not Sitters

Blue Ox Millorks and Eric Hollenbeck. I just liked it and had it sitting there waiting, so thought i'd share. (I guess i'm a sitter... who does a little!). I like Eric and his words.


The Ox from Ben Proudfoot on Vimeo.

Wish List - A Labour Of Lurve

Griff, has just posted this video of some of the working process for our Wish List animation. Some of you may find it interesting ( I understand that won't be many though!). I find it fascinating... and also feel a little guilty at the amount of work Griff had to do to make a my 10 minutes of drawing work! He's a gifted chap is our Griff and I'd love to be working on more stuff with him, he really knows how to get the best out of my efforts. We have projects drifting around between us, but nothing concrete.


WISH LIST from Griff on Vimeo.

Possibilities...

Well, I can already see riches. You know, this road atlas idea has legs. The Dumfries page is rich territory. Already I have Britain's highest village, Wanlockhead. There's also the small fact of Robert Burns' hometown. The birthplace of John Paul Jones, sailor, founder of the U.S. Navy and American Revolutionary War hero. I think the one that might work best for me though is Gretna Green, home of runaway marriages. Perfect.  Here are a couple of initial scribbles. I'm going to work through half a dozen more pages/places like this, before I make decisions and finalise anything. I want to see if any themes open up to me as I think around my ideas, see if I can find a thread. A work in progress. WIP. tbc.

... But Is It Art?

Love Birds.

             Him: "She is always in my heart."          Her: "I love him this much."

First Up - Dumfries

The first page randomly picked from the road atlas is Dumfries, now i just need to go exploring! It looks fairly promising, should be some good history... definitely a character or two. If you know of anything feel free to chime in.