A winter woodland scene, gathered around the fire to escape the dark and the cold... As this is probably my last post of the year, I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Christmas!

This is a Christmas image, to be made into a card design.

Busker

I am really fascinated by buskers! Just hearing a variety of music (sometimes pretty good music) in the street for free, and often the buskers themselves look eccentric or different in some way. So many people walk past and try to ignore them, but every so often some passers-by are enthralled. And although musicians in the street are just ordinary people out to make a bit of extra money, to me there is something enigmatic or free-spirited about them. Also, I'm interested in life on the edge of the mainstream, and the element of risk and uncertainty there, as some people have noticed. This world is fascinating, beautiful and possibly dark and dangerous too.

Autumn

Inspired by all the changes at this time of year... falling leaves, migrant birds, happy people and beautiful views... I'm still unsure which scanner to get, this one gives a coloured and paler tint to everything which is not ideal, so I'm looking to get one that will reproduce my artwork reasonably accurately!

Life was hard for a while

For a while they struggled, but they helped each other and so it wasn't that bad...

Tube Escalators

I seem to spend too much time hurrying around on the Underground.... but one consolation is the characters you see there. They are fascinating and there are so many stories you catch just the briefest glimpse of... I've been meaning to do an Underground escalator image for ages!

A day out

This is one image for a collaborative project I'm working on... about a day out in the park and sightseeing and supposed to be a bit light hearted, for children. Still have to finalise it, but this is the basic idea for one page. The other pages are different designs, I may post more up here in due course.

Prepare for war!

The king addresses his followers, announcing the start of the war. For now there is blind allegiance (but not in every quarter), bringing unity and energy, but will it be strong enough to outlast the suffering that will happen...? Caution should be exercised before unleashing demons.... (part of a series of illustrations for a story!)

Illustration Friday - Idle

An idle day in the park, listening to buskers. Although many are relaxed, some individuals in the crowd are unhappy and there is a degree of tension and impatience even on a pleasant, sunny day. On the whole, though, it is a scene of contentment. I have re-scanned it and this image looks a bit brighter than the previous one. One day I will be able to afford a nice posh scanner...

Waiting for the bus on a Friday night

Having spent much of my life waiting for buses in various locations, especially in south London, I decided that something productive should come from all that apparently wasted time. I wanted to portray the characters that turn up after dark, and this is the result. I enjoyed this, but it took a while to complete. I took some of the earlier character ideas and put them into a situation of  mild hopelessness, waiting and waiting for a bus to show up.

The theme of "contagious" for Illustration Friday. They try to escape but the pestilence follows them and spreads. The problem lies with the way they live their lives. There are references to Pig Flu, Bird Flu, Foot and Mouth Disease, Blue Tongue, Bubonic Plague, Chicken Pox and the Common Cold, if you can find them... Fun plague quiz! :-)

Hierarchical Tale

This is a story of the downside of having a hierarchical order. The crowds flock to see poor creatures fight for their lives, while mobsters and local chiefs look on from their luxurious positions, profiting from the crowds watching the small mammals and birds goaded into fighting each other. By going to see this, the individuals in the crowd support the power of the chiefs and so perpetuate what goes on in the arena. Tales of heroism and ferocity emerge from these shows and the lucky creatures that do well can go on to become legends, respected by the crowd and talked about for years to come. The inspiration comes from the Illustration Friday topic, “hierarchy”. Although I have never personally witnessed these gatherings, I know they happen and I have heard first hand accounts of what goes on there.

existential crisis

The idea for this comes from the busy street. So many individuals rushing around and stressed out, often hostile, trying to get to their destinations. The individual and their wishes are swamped by the crowd which becomes a single unhappy entity. The idea is of wanting to escape but feeling trapped and hopeless but also seeing just how ridiculous our behaviour is, taking everything so seriously and missing the good things in life. Anger, stress and depression can be funny if you have perspective.

childhood map

This is an idea based on childhood stories, when any gaps in knowledge were filled with imaginary and often dangerous mythical creatures. Some of the things above were real or based on reality, others were imagined and were kept alive by other children talking about them as if they were real. I didn't know what glue sniffers were, but they sounded bad, so I imagined they were some kind of demonic creatures. And no one actually saw the witch because she was often on holiday. The world seemed so dangerous in those days, but it was also exciting and new, without the weary cynicism of adulthood.

moth geek

I did this a couple of months ago... the idea is a of geeky collector surrounded by his obsession (collecting moths) and totally lost in his own eccentric world. I like the idea that he is this old-fashioned person, like a Victorian collector, but using the technology of the modern geek. These kinds of people are actually quite interesting, but maybe saying that reveals my own geeky side!

the abyss

For the Camberwell discussion group ("Robot" was the theme) but also the idea of true stories (the Cheltenham award)... I kept thinking of those deep sea submarine things that film all the bizarre creatures that live in the depths and look as if someone has invented them... It gave me an excuse (not that I need much of one) to draw lots of dark lines and slightly gothic creatures! The acrylics give it a watery feel, I think. This was fun but I need to do so much more work... I feel like I am not producing enough and something (life) always gets in the way! 

People tend to think that ghosts are all sombre and miserable, but that's not the whole story. Plenty of ghosts like music and dancing and have more fun than when they were alive.

story

A page from the short story I did earlier this year... lots of obsessive, fine lines and darkness!!

Brighton wildlife

This is an illustration I did for a local free magazine to accompany an article I wrote about wildlife you can see in early spring around Brighton. They said they liked it, and if they publish it it'll be the first time any of my illustrations have been published in any magazine with a reasonable circulation, albeit not a very large distribution. Well, it's a start!

short story

I changed page 1 and replaced the last page, plus I added a page to the story. I think it works better now but I'm weary after all the drawing ! I think I'm happy with it, at least for the time being. I need to start something different and less intense to have a break from this way of thinking and drawing!