ghost blog

Ellie's picture

2011-12-21T23:54:00.004Z

I was commissioned to create a picture for my cousin's daughter who is now 4 years old! Hope she likes it. She wanted lots of pink creatures, butterflies and giraffes. You can also find her name (Elen), a trumpet, a Giant Anteater, a Mole, a Bullfinch, a Roseate Spoonbill, a Whitethroat, a Robin, a Long-eared Owl, a Fox with a top hat (of course) and two Badgers, amongst other things...

Christmas card and Creative Tuesdays

2011-11-27T21:21:00.005Z

A design for a Christmas card, with local landmarks as a backdrop. Poor, neglected Ghost Blog :-)

I just added this to the Twelve days of Christmas theme for Creative Tuesdays:
http://creativetuesdays.blogspot.com/

2011-09-05T17:16:00.002+01:00

Part of a new project I'm doing about wildlife in London. A bit of an experiment with a different pen (not the fineline pens I usually use) for a change and no watercolour... I quite like the results so far, the very simple image created.

Sketchbook Ghosts

2011-09-01T17:46:00.002+01:00

This is an old ghost image from my sketchbook which may be used for some flyers advertising a Halloween film night locally. No pay, but it's nice that something hidden away in a dusty old sketchbook is being seen by people!

Happy Birthday Luke!

2011-08-12T16:44:00.000+01:00

I made this image for Luke, my cousin's son who is 6 on Sunday. According to his mum, I needed to include some dangerous animals and also some that he'd seen around... so this is the result. His name is hidden somewhere in the picture too. I hope he likes it!

Cat goes to another world

2011-07-09T18:44:00.000+01:00

Trying out 9B pencil, for fun... I quite like the smoothness of the line, the way different pressures can create different types of line, texture etc. It seems good for creating ambiguity, darkness and the sense of movement. Not sure about the smudginess but maybe that's part of the charm. I think I'll try a few more illustrations with this pencil.

My first book illustrations!

2011-05-14T14:23:00.005+01:00

Dodo

It's 5th from the left, the light blue cover - Was Beethoven a Birdwatcher? by David Turner

Crow by the roadside

Great Bustard displaying

Great Crested Grebes dancing

This is the David Turner book Was Beethoven a Birdwatcher? (Summersdale Publishing) that I did a series of black and white bird illustrations for in the winter. I took a photo of this copy in Waterstone's, Greenwich town centre, today. My first ever published book illustrations!

summer wedding

2011-05-07T23:11:00.000+01:00

This is an image for a Badger wedding in June! The drawing was used for the invitations and took a while, so were a bit late being sent out. The image progressed, as you can see, from a basic outline through to tentative colours and then the finished coloured image, with lots of creatures in the picture from the UK and Taiwan. The animals each represent people or experiences. The Badgers represent the same people as the two Hares under the tree.

More Summersdale book images

2010-12-30T20:55:00.000Z

Kiwi

Northern Bald Ibis

Royal Albatross

These are 3 more black and white illustrations I did for the Summersdale book "Was Beethoven a Birdwatcher" by David Turner, due out in spring 2011.

Pirate doodle

2010-12-27T16:17:00.001Z

(No reason for this whatsoever, just something that occurred to me as I was trying to think of something far more profound and creative to draw.)

Happy Birthday!

2010-12-22T23:18:00.001Z

A Hedgehog, Flamingo and Puffin birthday card for my fiancee! Mail is best delivered in person :-)

Apple day

2010-12-13T21:09:00.002Z

A while ago just for fun I did this design for some Wild Apple Design stickers, and this is the result they just printed and sent through!
The top photo is exactly how the envelope looked when I got the pack of stickers through the post... some lovely Post Office person had thought it looked like cash or something similar and torn open the envelope to have a quick look, only to find an angry moustachioed apple glaring back. So blatant, but it did look quite amusing! And I'm sure most Post Office people would never do such a thing, it must just have been a bad apple... ok sorry...

Book illustration for Summersdale Publishing

2010-11-30T16:22:00.007Z

This is an image from a series I am working on for Summersdale Publishing, for a book entitled "Was Beethoven a Birdwatcher?", written by David Turner. I have been commissioned to create a series of black-and-white bird illustrations for this book due out in spring 2011. This is a South American bird called a Hoatzin.

Bye Bye Rong!

2010-11-29T18:39:00.006Z

Rong's card

The card is a farewell card for the lovely Rong Sun (http://rong-sun.blogspot.com/ and http://www.iamrong.com/), a talented Chinese illustrator who has just gone back to Qingdao. We will miss you and wish you all the very best for the future!

Owls of Britain

2010-11-24T21:07:00.002Z

I did this today because I felt like it, just trying out different styles and it's always fun to draw owls :-)

Halloween Mushrooms sketch

2010-11-18T16:52:00.005Z

This is a pen sketch of some weird mushrooms I found around Halloween. Quite fun to draw them in black and white!

Proverb - a cat may look at a king

2010-09-15T23:25:00.003+01:00

Practically the first proverb I thought of... any excuse to draw kings and cats :-)

2010-07-11T23:58:00.008+01:00

This is my book (but not my nail polish) for the Camberwell College of Arts Illustration MA fInal degree show. This is on soon at Peckham Road, London SE5, open 14th to 17th July for general viewing (from 10am til 8pm weekdays and 11 am til 4pm on Saturday 17th). http://twitter.com/illoMA2010; www.maillustration2010.wordepress.com. If you want to come along and see lots of exciting work, please do. I'll be there on Thursday and Friday afternoons. Glad to finish, but I'll miss it too...

Lonely Rabbit

2010-06-06T00:48:00.004+01:00

Not a new image, I did this ages ago, but I haven't had a chance to do anything recently so it'll have to do for now, and it kind of sums up everything right now!

The Foxes' Dance

2010-04-14T19:53:00.012+01:00

Of course the foxes and cats are invited, but other living creatures rarely get the chance to witness such an event (although they happen often, those who take part are shy and wait until they know they won't be seen by the likes of you and me).
This didn't end up quite how I'd originally planned it, it kind of took on a life of its own, but that is sometimes the way and sometimes it is better like that. I think I needed to create this one, because it was as if the elements therein had been waiting to be unleashed. The original idea, however, still remains in my mind waiting to be exorcised...

2010-04-14T10:47:00.005+01:00

Finally, I have ordered a scanner! After talking about getting one for about a year... :D
Update 18th April: I have a lovely scanner now...

2010-04-05T16:38:00.008+01:00

They need some kind of dip. So, hummous is brought to them. But not everyone likes hummous...
An Illustration Friday topic to get me back into some kind of illustration routine, nothing too serious :-)

2010-03-27T09:49:00.007Z

Hi, first of all apologies for neglecting Ghost Blog and not replying for a while, I've been a bit busy recently! I hope you'll understand and if you follow my posts here you'll probably realise by now that days and weeks can go by sometimes before I tend to my blog... I hope to be back posting stuff soon!

Secondly, if anyone's in London, I'm showing some images upstairs in the Greenwich Picturehouse cafe/bar from 1st April (yes, it had to be April Fool's Day) until the 30th April. If you feel like it, please feel free to come along and have a look. :-)

2010-03-12T20:34:00.011Z

School going home time isn't the preferred time of day for some...A quick sketch for no real reason! Btw I really will get a scanner soon, but for now it's these photos I'm afraid...

2010-03-09T22:37:00.013Z

The little rodents were brave to risk everything for a couple of bottles of wine. They knew that if they were caught, there would be no mercy.

Profile picture

2010-03-07T20:59:00.005Z

For the collaborative children's book project, had fun drawing this. I am one of the characters... This is an initial draft, before all the tidying up. I think I'm starting to prefer the un-tidied versions of things.

For my Valentine... :-)

2010-02-17T16:49:00.008Z

Nightmares

2010-01-27T16:33:00.007Z

The idea of nightmares, you know, the ones where you're not sure you're asleep or not... and your eyes start playing tricks on you. It's surprising how your mind turns shapes into threatening things: a coat hanging up becomes a dark figure, objects appear to move... If you are having a nightmare and you realise this, occasionally you can control the dream and enjoy it. You just have to hope you are really dreaming!

2010-01-27T16:27:00.003Z

A rainy day... just trying out ideas for creating the impression of rain and the feeling of creatures going about their daily business... drawn from the comfort of a nice cafe!

2009-12-28T19:27:00.009Z

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!

2009-11-29T20:24:00.007Z

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

Busker

2009-11-24T18:06:00.006Z

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

2009-11-06T16:02:00.005Z

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

2009-11-03T19:41:00.005Z

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

Tube Escalators

2009-10-29T18:00:00.003Z

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

2009-09-14T16:45:00.005+01:00

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!

2009-08-21T19:36:00.005+01:00

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

2009-07-29T19:31:00.007+01:00

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

2009-06-13T19:00:00.006+01:00

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.

Magazine Illustration

2009-06-13T16:48:00.005+01:00

An image based on how the different age groups of Herring Gulls vary in appearance, for this month's Brighton magazine article.

2009-05-19T19:02:00.008+01:00

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

2009-05-07T14:08:00.001+01:00

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

2009-05-01T19:21:00.004+01:00

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

2009-05-01T19:19:00.003+01:00

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

2009-05-01T19:08:00.002+01:00

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

2009-04-17T15:52:00.011+01:00

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!

2009-04-04T17:27:00.006+01:00

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.

2009-03-24T23:12:00.003Z

Some pine trees I drew a while back, from my old sketchbook. I loved the bark patterns and the gnarled shape of the trees and being underneath them was very relaxing!

story

2009-03-22T23:34:00.006Z

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

Magazine illustration

2009-03-16T22:31:00.005Z

This is my latest illustration for my regular article in the local free magazine, about wildlife you can see in April near Brighton.

Brighton wildlife

2009-02-17T20:28:00.004Z

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!

2009-02-12T23:38:00.002Z

I'm gonna get me a scanner and then this blog'll look better, I hope! It might also encourage me to do more finished work instead of hiding away scrawling endless sketchbook nonsense.

short story

2009-02-01T20:43:00.002Z

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!

2008-12-21T17:54:00.002Z

This is the story more or less finished apart from some tidying up... I tried out some new ideas and just let my instincts guide me and this is the result! I hope it looks good, personally speaking I'm satisfied with it, its the first time I've attempted something in this way, I've learned lots and hope to be able to do more of these short stories for the MA course. I got a bit carried away with this one but I can have a break now!

2008-12-15T10:51:00.001Z

This is a recent one, it is a composite of drawings in my visual diary put together on one page. This was done for an exhibition among MA students at Camberwell called "Drawing a Lecture." The idea was to exhibit work done while attending the Wednesday morning lectures, to see what people were actually focussing on when they should have been paying attention to the speakers! Well, you can't blame people for doodling when the lectures started so early and were not always that relevant... I got very used to drawing people's hairstyles. Without these lectures, my journal would still be half empty.

2008-12-15T10:50:00.005Z

I sketched this flamingo skull in a Brighton museum. There's something weird about sitting in a museum for ages surrounded by skeletons and animal skins, and the smell of decay... Still, this is an amazing structure and good fun to draw even though at the time there were loads of kids on school holidays making it harder to concentrate! It's good practise, getting used to drawing while other people are around. Previously, I found it hard to do that, but I'm learning to be less self-conscious and just lose myself in my work. I love drawing skulls and skeletons!