Merry Christmas!

Thanks so much for all the support, following and kind words you guys have given me this year! I hope you all have an absolutely fantasticalabious Christmas, and an even better New Year! Catch you in 2011!

Sketches!

In the fashion of how things have been going, I thought I'd continue to upload a few more sketches, hot off the sketchbook! Well...actually, the weird antlered creature is my current version of a yeti character I'm trying to come up with for a suitably wintery themed illustration! BING BONG CHRISTMAS! I wanted him to look extremely different from other yeti incarnations...hopefully he's heading that way...

The other designs are from a graphic novel idea I have been pushing over the last few months, I have PAGES of these designs, and intend to put up more as the days go by! Until then, please, be merry in this very merry of seasons!

I Love Handmade blog

Firstly, the awesome people over at the 'I Love Handmade' blog have done a little feature on one of my pieces and on my Etsy shop, so...basically, a massive thank you to them!

http://ilovehandmadeblog.blogspot.com/

And secondly, I seriously do intend to get some finished artwork up here asap...I know it's been a while...it's mostly because I'm not entirely sure what I'm allowed to show just yet, and I certainly don't want to go around making vicious enemies this close to Christmas. BUT, fear not, my comrades, for I have some roughs and stuff and things.

These thumbs are the first roughs of an illustration I've just completed for The Spoils trading card game, which was a ridiculous amount of fun to do. And the top two images are a few character designs for the Starfish Charity poster I did last month (which has also found it's natural knack at sailing and has crossed the pond over to the States! HUZZAH, HUZZAH, what ho! But what are you doing still reading this?! IT'S MINCE PIE TIME. OH.

STUPID LINKS!!

AAARGHH! These links!!! They'll be my un-doing!

http://www.thespoils.com

Maybe this will work?

Link problems and Arcane Tinmen

Hey hey! Recently I have been working with Arcane Tinmen and their playing card game 'The Spoils', which has been absolutely awesome. I'm still in love with children's books and that way of working, and wouldn't trade it for the word, but to be able to draw warriors, monsters and heads being chopped off basically makes the days feel like I'm just drawing scenes from some epic film...with a touch of humour thrown in for good measure. It certainly makes the long days go by quickly, and this is defininately helped by the great guys at Arcane Tinmen. 'm going to post a like to the site here...although I've noticed recently that my links never actually link, you seem to have to copy the URL into the address bar...does anyone know why this might be? Ahhh...computers. Life would be simpler if you could chop their heads off as well.

http://www.thespoils.com/spoils/view.php?pg=home

Oooo...I think this link may work...
I've just finished my first card illustration, which I will put up on this blog asap. In the meantime, here is a little card I did for someone I know, in watercolour, but I cheekily scanned it before hand.

Creative Boom (and my fox)

OoooOOOOooo...the kind people at Creative Boom have given me a little showcase on their site, which is very cool indeed. Thanks a lot guys! I do have some work to put up on this blog soon, please watch this space!

http://www.creativeboom.co.uk/london/lookbook/london-illustrator-jamie-littler/

The Forgotten Comic.

Here's a few Lobo concept pieces to get you in a winter-y mood (juuuust incase the weather isn't doing that for you already...), I hope you like 'em! So many wolf drawings in my studio. So, so many.

In other, possibly even more exciting news, whilst my parents were rummaging through their garage, they found loads of my old drawings and school books. I can't believe they found this gem of a comic I did YEARS ago (or so he says...), we're talking, 7 years old or something? I'm guessing. I can't remember. Unfortunately it only lasted one page, which is a shame, as it clearly had legs. It was when I was reading the Asterix comics for the first times, and probably though, 'Holy Smokes! I can copy that!' So here he is: 'Babic the Viking'. Why do a comic based on Gauls when Vikings are ripe for the picking?! Ah, the epic historical drama that will never be...

The funny thing is, I still totally love Vikings and all those dark age loverlies, and my sketchbooks are full of them...

http://jamielittler.blogspot.com/2010/06/oh-dearslacking.html

Starfish Charity Poster

This is a poster I did for the Starfish Greathearts Foundation Charity christmas appeal, and I must say, it was a real pleasure to work on.

I really enjoyed doing it, and the people I worked with in the charity (Hester, Alice, and Sara...for getting me the job) were all amazing, and, lets face it; totally awesome. So, thank you very much, one and all!

It's for a really good cause (aren't charity's always?), so if you feel that way inclined, please head on over to their website and check it out!

http://www.starfishcharity.org

Etsy Shop

Hot damn! As promised, and only ages later, I have finally started up my Etsy Shop!
Look, it's over here! Wheeeeee!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/jamielittler

There aren't many items for sale on the shop just yet, but I will be working over the next few weeks to change that. It's a bit of an experiment, I haven't done this before, some I'm just dipping my toe in, testing the waters, and we'll see where we go from there. But hopefully, this is a step in the right direction for people who would like prints of my artwork, and whatever other crazy schemes and items I end up creating for masses of wealth and glory.

If there is an illustration on this blog or my website which you would like to buy, but isn't on the shop (that's quite a lot...yeah, pretty much everything I've ever illustrated isn't on there...I know...), please do get in touch and I shall do my best to get one printed just for you! SSSHHHHAAWWIING.

Oh, and there are still loads of products on the Soupa store which I'm selling that aren't on my Etsy, plus the work of a helluva lot of other talented artists, so it's still a very good idea to check over there now and again. You know. If you feel like it.

http://www.soupa.bigcartel.com/

Ta for now, you lovely people!

Forgotten Designs

These are some un-used designs for a graphic novel idea I had last year. Looking back on them, there are so many things I'd change. So many. Sigh. It's kind of scary (in the best possible way) how much, and yet subtley, you improve, even in just a year. Elements of the character shapes, right down to their hair, I would completely change now. But hey, I think (and hope...I'll let you guys be the judge...) that there are some fun things going on in there which I like.

I'm still quite fond of the story idea, but, quite simply, I came up with a better one and put this into the dark, dank depths of my hard drive. It is forbidden to go there.

Sketches, Stuff and a tad Nonsense...

Yeeeeesh, these days feel like they're literally flying by! How are you, you lovely people?! I am tired, stressed, working hard, and still having the time of my life doing this wonderful job. I thought I'd upload a couple of my sketchbook pages, all of them for various things (or just for fun) and all of them work (or don't) to varying degrees. I should probably try and make a habit of uploading sketchbook pages, I know I love looking at the sketchbooks of artists I like, sometimes even more than the finished pieces (just because it's great to see the workings out of images, the immediacy of the line work and the ideas just flowing onto the page...wwwwwoooo, look at me getting all geared up into University annotation mode...), it's just that my sketchbooks can often be an absolute mess and mixture of the good, the bad and the plain un-comprehendable...

BUT YES.
I was thinking of setting up a shop on my website, as I have recently had quite a few requests for prints and such, and really need a nice, easy place to offer such things on my site. I may even try and sort out badges and cool things which bring a bit of sunshine to a cold, winters morning. I'll try and get something like that sorted...a to the s...to the, um, a...right over to the...p.

Ro-but.

A little poster for you. It was inspired by the classic 'mecha and girl' anime that we all know and love, which is a bit of a departure for me...I tend to draw robots that are big and clunky and look like they are about to die of rust. Not that this robot isn't big and clunky. And I suspect that he suffers from the occasional rust. But you know. As for the girl...sometimes, it's just nice to draw a girl. You know how it is. You know.

Commission

A little commissioned piece I did last week. Aahh...halcyon days. Autumn afternoons. Luverly chillout music. Birds and bicycles. But enough about my walk home. I had a lot of fun doing this illustration, and it was a nice little break from my 'work' work. AND HOW.

In other news, I fixed the problems on my site, I know some of you were experiencing them, those damn gremlins. It's Flash's fault, I tells ya! Flash and I, we get on like...well...like...a shark and a prawn. A drunken prawn, at that. Still working hard on Lobo and an idea for some illustrated fiction, I will do my best to keep you posted!

Bad Machinery Guest Strip

Last week is was very happy to do a guest comic strip for the awesome 'Bad Machinery' web comic by John Allison. I've been a fan of this comic, and his previous 'Scary Go Round', for years, so it was a real privelage to add my pen strokes tosomething I'm such a big fan of.

If you haven't seen or read the webcomic, hop to it!

http://www.scarygoround.com/index.php

Trust me, you won't regret it. In other news, I totally nearly grew a beard the other day.

Black and White Ideas...

An illustration for an illustrated fiction idea I have. Just trying to get back into doing black and white illustrations...

Some More Early Concept Stuff...

Here's another picture of Lobo with his siblings. Still just trying to get the look right, again, this is quite an early piece, but it was a big leap for me in the direction I wanted to take the look of the book. On a side note, there is a massive, fat patridge sitting on a fence outside. He looks incredibly bored, but I could be wrong, he could just be really studying that one spot on the ground.

Site Update and Twitter

It was YOU!!!

Wahey, I've updated my site, which I would be hugely happy for you to visit. Why not even bring some friends, there's plenty of room for all...

www.jamielittler.co.uk

I have also joined the ever ellusive twitter, which will act as another blog/thought process/groovy batchelor pad (oh dear) as well as this one, but probably with more frequent musings and inane babble. Feel free to follow! Now if I could just figure out how it all works...

http://twitter.com/jamieillustrate

Thanks!

Debut Children's Book Concept Art

Well, here we go. I've been given the all clear to start showing some concept art for my debut children's book by Little Tiger Press (http://www.littletigerpress.com), the publishers who shall be publishing my little idea. I've been working on this for a long, long time, just trying to get the look just right, I want this to be a really cool book, and as good as I can make it at my current ability. I've done LOADS of experimentation and concept work, the pile of paper and sketchbook stuff I have for this project even surprised me when I brought it all together for a meeting last week. So I'll just show a few (don't want to give too much away right now...), until I get further on with the book. I'm having an amazing time doing this book, although it's a HUGE departure from what I usually do...using watercolour and pencils as the main medium being the obvious difference, but also not being allowed to draw monsters or other scary things I tend to like to draw. Aaaaanywho, incase you were wondering; the book is about a wolf cub. I hope you like them, and I'll post a few more as time goes by.

Your pal,

Jamie

Blazing Hybrids vs. the Poster.

Jumping trampolines, Batman! Another Noir poster!! That's right kids, and there's more where that came from. This is quite simple for me, and involves a rabbit/elk/caribou creature which is not of my design, but that of the band Miike Snow, but the brief was to use their logo, and I'm quite happy with the way it looks. On a side note, I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World last night, and have become a little obsessed with it.

Alphabet's Heaven Digipak Cover

Front and Back Cover
Inside Cover

CD Design

This is a comission I have completed recently for an EP cover for a musician called Alphabet's Heaven (I bet you couldn't tell, all that name being everywhere you look on this post...). It was a lot of fun to do, and I'm pretty happy with the results. The EP music itself revolves around a bird called 'Jay' and a journey he embarks on, and the characters he meets along the way. Whilst the characters did appeal to me, I thought I'd try and keep the illustration simple and 'designery' (I made up a word), so I focused more on Jay himself and the beginning of his journey. I'll let the music do the talking.

The inside cover and disc does have more information on it, but not wanting to be some kind of crazed, information sharing lunatic, I took the information off for this post.

I hope you like it!

A coupla NOIR posters.

Here's two new poster for NOIR. The brief was very much 'surreal', so I tried to make the illustration quite bizarre and mysterious. I like to think of the figure as some kind of tree spirit or something, but really, 'he's whatever you want him to be...'

The two nights were related to each other, so the different posters needed to have the same theme and feel about them to really get this message across, hence the similarity between the two pieces. NOIR have been really cool, giving me quite a lot of regular work, which is always appreciated, and due to the quick turn-around nature of the briefs, allow me to change the subject matter of each poster quite dramatically, which always makes for an interesting brief!

I like birds, I do.

Spot the difference.
Watercolour and ink sketches of cheeky little blue jays. A friend described them as 'jolly with a big belly that's all ruffley', which, in my opinion, is the best description of my work so far!

Awkward Ideas

I actually have quite a lot to show you lovely, loyal readers, but this will have to do to start it all off. This is a squirrel idea that I've had ever since my student days (I'm making it sound like I'm a wise old sage, whereas, infact, those halcyon student days were only two years ago...) which I just can't seem to let go, even though I've never found quite the right medium to fit it into. Children's books - the story is too mature...Older fiction - the older kids don't particularily like animal characters (except for the classics like Redwall et al)...so in my mind and sketchbooks this idea shall remain...for now. What can I say, I'm just a sucker for those tribal red squirrels and grey squirrels with swords.

I'll upload more stuff soon, and as always, thanks for looking!

Leaves...

... a vital ingredient.

'Noir' Poster

This was probably the most intense deadline I've ever had...3 hours! It was literally a few sketchs, a chosen design and straight to it...no messing or experimenting, just down to the nitty gritty. The nitty gritty being my Photoshop crashing 3 times on me, losing the entire illustration, screaming at my computer, realising I had 2 hours left, and getting used to another computer very quickly. I'm glad I did it though, more than anything just to prove to myself that I can! I really enjoyed the Film Noir feel to it, and whilst there are a few things I would have done differently had I the time (lighting coming through a window for added, nutritious noir-y-ness), and considering the problems, I'm actually quite happy with it.

Playing with Crocodiles.

This isn't my children's book, but it's kind of how my children's book is looking, I'm really trying to go for a subtle mix of pencil, watercolour and digital painting. This was a bit of fun I had on a small bit of down time, and it was very fun to do.

There is a story behind it, but what that is, I'm not entirely sure...

Badger's and Uzi's

Another gig poster. This isn't all I'm doing, honest! Although they have been coming in thick and fast recently. The brief was to draw a badger with some uzi's. The customer is always right...

Right, I'm off to keep experimenting with my children's book, I could already fill a whole book with wolf drawings the amount of my character that I've drawn...

Your Tribe, Our Tribe.

SHAZAM.

No Time for Heroes DJ Night

Here's another poster for No Time for Heroes.
I was rather happy with this one, if I'm absolutely honest...I was trying to go for a messy/hand-drawn/written feel, which is hopefully there...