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...