James Reekie Illustration

FutureQuake 19: Yesterday Today

2011-11-28T17:11:00.001Z

Page 1 of "Yesterday Today", Written by Matt Gibbs, Art by James Reekie

FutureQuake 19, a regular anthology of 2000AD Future Shock-style stories from FutureQuakePress, is now available. It features a whole host of writers and artists, plus a story from Matt Gibbs and I called Yesterday Today. Go check it out!

Spirit of Hope - Wave Man

2011-09-11T14:18:00.003Z

Crop from "Wave Man" by Matt Gibbs, artwork created in Manga Studio and Photoshop

This post is grossly delayed and I should have put something up much sooner. Shortly after the devastating earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand earlier this year, my frequent collaborator and pal, Matt Gibbs, asked me if I wanted to illustrate a short story for the "Spirit of Hope" an anthology being put together to raise money for disaster victims. You can read the full tale of the anthology here, see a list of the wonderful artists involved here, and buy the book here.

Matt sent me over a quick outline and in four crazy days we produced the strip which you can read in it's entirety below. I hope you like it and do us a favour and get yourself a copy of the anthology. A fantastic book for a very worthy cause.

Have a great week!

Storyboard Examples

2011-08-07T15:52:00.003Z

Storyboard examples, drawn in Manga Studio.

Here are some storyboard examples that I recently produced for a pitch for a client. I won the work, then the client went bankrupt! Sign of our times I guess.

Have a great week

The Ballad of Frank Sartre

2011-07-18T08:14:00.004Z

Panel art from "The Ballad of Frank Sartre", Artwork produced in Manga Studio

For the best part of the last two years, in my downtime, evenings and weekends, I have been working on an original graphic novel, "The Ballad of Frank Sartre". On Friday we launched a website to publish the entire book, online for free, in 4 page instalments. Below is the blurb with a little more detail about the story.

THE BALLAD OF FRANK SARTRE - By James Peaty & James Reekie

"What have you done?"

Washed up club singer FRANK SARTRE is in the grip of depression. A depression fuelled by haunting, recurring dreams of a girl. A girl that holds the key to so many answers… yet seems forever out of reach.

As Frank fumbles around the surreal city of COSMOPOLIS, desperately trying to resurrect his career and find meaning, a mysterious killer is on the loose, terrifying the freaks and oddities that populate the metropolis. Intrepid reporter SAM PARADISE has smelt a connection, but can he join the dots between Frank and the killer before it's too late?

The Ballad of Frank Sartre is a original graphic novel, recommended for mature audiences, that will be published in it's entirety for free online every Friday on www.franksartre.com starting on Friday 15th July.

Please do go check the website out and have a great week!

New Sketches

2011-06-27T08:31:00.004Z

Sketchbook drawing, ink on paper

I finished a sketchbook recently which seems like as good a time as any to post up some of my recent sketches. As per usual, these are all drawn from magazine shoots or adverts using a various pens and brushes.

Have a great week!

Photoshoot sketches

2011-05-17T07:42:00.007Z

Photoshoot rough sketch, digital art created in Manga Studio

These sketches are for a pitch of photoshoot, unfortunately I can't reveal who for...! All these sketches had to do was to convey the feel and direction that the proposed shoot would take. It was great to work nice and loose and not have to worry too much about finish.

Photoshoot rough sketch, digital art created in Manga Studio

Photoshoot rough sketch, digital art created in Manga Studio

Photoshoot rough sketch, digital art created in Manga Studio

Photoshoot rough sketch, digital art created in Manga Studio

Photoshoot rough sketch, digital art created in Manga Studio

Have a great week!

Tug O'War

2011-05-09T08:57:00.003Z

"Tug O'War" for Marketing Magazine, lineart in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop

An image I produced for Marketing Magazine, illustrating the struggle between the marketing and retail departments.

Art direction was by Carl Golsby. Have a great week!

High Tea

2011-03-07T11:26:00.004Z

"Canton", Concept art for "High Tea", Line and colour in Manga Studio

In December 2010 I was hired by the guys at Preloaded to produce some character designs and miscellaneous art for a new flash game "High Tea" about the Opium Wars and tea trade between the British empire and China in the 19th century. The game is part of the High Society exhibition discussing the history of drug trading at the Welcome Collection in London.

My main task was to design the characters for the game based on historical figures. The art direction I received from Preloaded was to draw the characters a little more cartoony than my usual style and use cross hatching to give a flavour of the art from the period.

"Queen Victoria", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

"Smuggler", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

"King William IV", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

"Lin Zexu", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

Complete Character Sheet, line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

I also produced some concept images for splash screens and drawings of general objects to use throughout the game.

"Tea Clipper", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

"Misc Objects", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

Have a great week and be sure to try the game out!

Judge, Jury and Executioner

2011-02-28T10:52:00.006Z

Crop from "HMRC Dredd", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop

I was commissioned by Iain Winfield from Accountancy Age magazine to create the cover for this week's issue. The cover story is about HMRC (I will hugely paraphrase) throwing it's weight around.

Iain asked me to draw a fictitious "HMRC agent" dressed up like Judge Dredd in a parody of this classic poster (I think by Brian Bolland, but feel free to correct me) shown below with my photographic reference.

Reference for "HMRC Dredd"

Since the brief was very clear in terms of composition, I submitted my roughs with just a few variations in pose. I tried to suggest the Judge's uniform with the leather jacket, using a ID card as the badge and sunglasses instead of the helmet. Also I felt the gun was perhaps overtly aggressive so I delivered an option with the character being "tough" with the paperwork, which is my personal experience of HMRC.

Roughs for "HMRC Dredd". Manga Studio & Photoshop

The guys at the magazine decided that the "full on" version was the way forward so I pushed on to the final image.

"HMRC Dredd", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop

Have a great week!

The Outsider

2011-02-21T08:12:00.005Z

Crop from "The Outsider–2", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

Right at the beginning of this year I put aside a couple of days to enter The House of Illustration and the Folio Society's inaugural competition. The prize was a commission to illustrate a new edition of "The Outsider" by Albert Camus.

Wikipedia summarises the book thusly.

"The title character is Meursault, an Algerian ("a citizen of France domiciled in North Africa, a man of the Mediterranean, an homme du midi yet one who hardly partakes of the traditional Mediterranean culture") who seemingly irrationally kills an Arab man whom he recognises in French Algiers. The story is divided into Parts One and Two: Meursault's first-person narrative view before and after the murder, respectively."

For the entry to the competition you had to submit 3 final pieces and if successful, create art for 7 images. As I read the book over Christmas I thumbnailed out likely scenes in my sketchbook as I went. Sadly I can't show you these as I am in the middle of a house move and that sketchbook is at the bottom of a box somewhere!

With the images plotted out I dived straight into research.

Reference imagery for "The Outsider – 1"

When illustrating books, I don't want to draw all the details of the scenes as I feel, especially being a more "realistic" artist, that it's important not to take away from the reader's imagination. What I wanted to achieve was the isolation of the main character in each scene, but not sadness as the isolation is his choice. The other aim of the images was to translate the heat of Algiers through the illustrations.

Final Art for "The Outsider–1". Line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

Reference imagery for "The Outsider – 2"

Final Art for "The Outsider–2". Line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

Reference imagery for "The Outsider – 3"

Final Art for "The Outsider–3". Line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

Though the winner has not yet been announced, I have been informed that it wasn't me! I thoroughly enjoyed producing the art for these and I would probably have never read the wonderful book without the competition.

Have a great week!

Wired - Aliens!

2011-02-14T08:20:00.004Z

Crop from "Aliens" for Wired Magazine, Art Direction Alice Cho, line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop

Just as I was about to leave the house for bonfire night fireworks (yes, it was that long ago but I wasn't allowed to post until now) I was contacted by Alice Cho at Wired magazine. She commissioned me to illustrate four films, due to come out in 2011, that feature alien invasions. The films were World Invasion: Battle LA, The Thing, Paul and Cowboys & Aliens. The catch, aside from trying to fit all these films into one image, was that most of these movie's hadn't even released a publicity shot.

Reference for "Aliens"

I scavenged what reference imagery I could and produced three roughs, mainly playing off and thusly becoming a little homage to the overhead ship composition from the Cowboys & Aliens cover by (I think) Luciano Lima.

Initial roughs for "Aliens", drawn & coloured in Manga Studio

At this point the copy got cut down to only three movies (loosing the remake of The Thing) so I was asked to redraft version 3, adding in Paul from version 2 and a larger cowboy behind him to create the new rough below.

Final rough for "Aliens", drawn in Manga Studio

Final art for "Aliens", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

Have a great week!

Tablets and Product Photography Illustration

2011-01-31T08:02:00.007Z

Detail from "Tablets", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

I was hired by BBC Focus to illustrate an article reviewing the new batch of tablet PC's desperate to take the iPad's crown. Working with Steve Sayers, the Art Editor on Focus, the process of the job was a bit different for me as it involved illustrating around product photography.

Steve's idea, inspired by the poster for Cecil B DeMille's 1956 film "Ten commandments", was to produce a dramatic image of a guy on a mountain carrying all the tablets. As usual I then sourced my own reference for the drawing, including the obligatory dressing gown dressing up shots... (A quick google search failed to bring up the name of the illustrator who painted this poster. If anyone knows who it was, please let me know!)

Ten Commandments poster and reference images for the final drawing.

Steve then sent me over a rough layout for me to draw over, so they could work out where the tablets would be. After deciding that the figure couldn't hold the tablets in his hands as they would be to jumbled up, I decided to go for a more fantasy angle and have the tablets "appearing" out of the lightning. I scribbled up a rough over a stock photograph in Photoshop, which was then sent to the photographer so he could shoot the tablets at the right angles.

Rough layout, drawn in Photoshop over a draft pdf of the magazine spread.

With everything approved I waited for the shots to come back for the photographer and then completed my artwork.

Final art for "Tablet", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

A real collaborative effort and a really striking product review spread even if I do say so myself!

Have a great week!

Work In Progress

2011-01-10T10:36:00.004Z

Crop from a competition entry for "The Outsider", artwork in Manga Studio

I've started a "Work in Progress" blog on Tumblr. The address is www.jamesreekie.tumblr.com and the aim is to post a crop or section of whatever I'm working on that day. I've been posting similar images via twitter from time to time but I felt I should give the images a proper home. I'll hopefully be posting daily, but many of my projects are often taken on under the terms of pesky non disclosure agreements so I obviously it won't always be possible.

I'll put up a proper link on this blog later, if you want to make sure you don't miss any updates from me please do follow me on twitter, everything get's a link there.

Have a great week!

Sketchbooks 2010

2010-12-20T11:53:00.006Z

Sketchbook image, ink on paper

In this update, my last post for 2010, I thought it would be a good opportunity to show some of my sketchbook doodles for the year. I'm not a prolific doodler, I tend to draw with my mood more than out of habit these days, probably due to drawing all day for work.

These sketches come from magazines that my magazine designer better half has all over the house. Some are from adverts, some from fashion pages, and thusly much apologies to the copyright holders. These were just done for fun.

All ink on paper over blue pencil which was removed when I scanned them.

(Click image to enlarge)

Have a fantastic Christmas and New Year and here's to a prosperous and exciting 2011!

Winter

2010-12-13T10:15:00.004Z

"Winter", line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop

I needed something snowy and seasonal to add to the header on my site so in between projects I knocked up the the above image.

Have a great week!

The Truth About Dinosaurs

2010-12-06T07:53:00.005Z

Crop from Dino DPS, Line art in Manga Studio, Colour in Photoshop

I was commissioned by BBC Focus magazine to illustrate an article for the December issue on the changing nature of the "truth" about dinosaurs. As the article says, "These days barely a month goes by without a fossil find or new research challenging our assumptions about how dinosaurs lived."

For the opening double page spread the art editor suggested a drawing of the main hall of the Natural History Museum in London with the addition of a giant pair of pterodactyl wings on the large Diplodocus skeleton. Completely in love with this idea, and secretly hoping that one day a fossil is found that supports this, I was more than happy to oblige!

Dino DPS rough sketch, artwork in Manga Studio. Click to enlarge.

Dino DPS final art, line art and colour in Manga Studio with some colour overlays in Photoshop. Click to enlarge.

Accompanying the article I was also asked to create 4 half page illustrations. This image was to illustrate the idea that "until this year palaeontologists had no clear-cut evidence for the colour of dinosaurs. Illustrators made educated guesses, basing their pallets on what they know of colour in modern animals." I decided to show an adventurous illustrator painting "from life".

"True Colours" rough, artwork created in Manga Studio. Click to enlarge.

"True Colours" final art, line art and colour in Manga Studio with some colour overlays in Photoshop. Click to enlarge.

"Think dinosaurs and you’ll likely conjure images of vast creatures tramping through sweltering swamps or fetid forests. But palaeontologists working in Alaska and Antarctica have shown that dinosaurs survived in far colder conditions than previously thought, with some species able to thrive amidst snow and ice."

"Dinos on Ice" rough, artwork created in Manga Studio. Click to enlarge.

"Dinos on Ice" final art, line art and colour in Manga Studio with some colour overlays in Photoshop. Click to enlarge.

It also turns out that there's no such thing as a Bronotsaurus. The palaeontologist who discovered it, Othniel Charles Marsh, essentially mixed up the bones of another dinosaur, Apatosaurus ajax, which he also discovered, and thought he'd found a new species. Brontosaurus, being much more fun to pronounce has lived on in the public consciousness.

"Mistaken Identity" rough, artwork created in Manga Studio.
Click to enlarge.

"Mistaken Identity
" final art, line art and colour in Manga Studio.
Click to enlarge.

"They look like weapons, but many of the dinosaurs’ most impressive horns, plates and spikes may have been used more for display than destruction."

"Display not destruction" rough, artwork created in Manga Studio.
Click to enlarge.

"Display not destruction
" final art, line art and colour in Manga Studio.
Click to enlarge.

The magazine's in the shops now, so please do go pick up a copy to read the full story and all the other great features.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

IMD: Acheron hub

2010-11-29T08:12:00.002Z

"Acheron hub" splash page from "The Ionmonger's Daughter". Line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

Apologies for the lack of weekly posting but I have been very busy with work that, due to pesky non disclosure agreements, I can't show until they are published. In the meantime I thought I'd post another image from the new project I'm working on, "The Ionmonger's Daughter". This is a street scene from a spaceport/market/city called "Acheron hub".

Have a great week!

The Ionmonger's Daughter

2010-11-08T08:06:00.003Z

Page art detail from "The Ionmonger's Daughter" written by Matt Gibbs. Line art in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

In between all the other things I'm involved in, I've been drawing some bits and pieces for a new graphic novel project, The Ionmonger's Daughter, written by the fantastic Matt Gibbs. More details to follow soon.

Have a great week!

Autumn

2010-10-12T11:55:00.002Z

"Autumn" created in Manga Studio

Since Autumn appears to have arrived in London I thought I'd post a recent image I created for a self promotional postcard that I sent out a few weeks ago.

Post Modern

2010-10-11T07:11:00.002Z

Panel art from "The Ballad of Frank Sartre", Manga Studio and Photoshop

Yep, a comic book character reading a comic book that we're about tell the story of within our comic book. It's all getting a bit... arty.

Have a great week!

Rome

2010-10-05T08:12:00.002Z

"Statue", ink on paper

"Rome, Northern Suburbs", ink on paper

"Colosseum Arch", ink on paper

I'm not much of a location sketcher but as an artist you can't really go to Rome and not do some drawing!

Have a great week!

Lights, Camera, Action

2010-09-27T10:04:00.002Z

Panel detail from "The Ballad of Frank Sartre", linework in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop

I'm busily preparing the sets, sewing costumes and casting extras. More news on this project soon.

Have a great week!

Eagle T Shirt Design

2010-09-20T08:19:00.002Z

"Eagle" Shirt design, Line art created in Manga Studio

This illustration is the centre piece for a T shirt design for a character to wear in a comic book that I'm working on. It'll probably only ever been seen about 2 cm square. I guess I got a bit carried away with it!

Have a great week!

Live Better

2010-09-13T09:05:00.002Z

"Live Better", artwork created in Manga Studio

This is illustration was commissioned by BBC Focus Magazine to accompany an article on improving your day to day life using simple scientific principles. As an extremely unscientific man I found this very helpful indeed. Check it out in the current issue.

Have a great week!

Images 34 Exhibition

2010-09-07T09:08:00.005Z

Image via the aoi

I have this piece in this year's AOI Images, the Best of British Contemporary Illustration, book and exhibition which opens to the public tomorrow (8th – 14th September). All the info can be found here. It's a great show and it's free so please go check it out! Oh, it also travels all over the UK over the coming months so you don't even need to come to London.

"The AOI's Images is the premier and longest running jury-selected illustration annual and touring exhibition in the UK. It provides the leading showcase for the huge variety of contemporary illustration commissioned in the UK today, published alongside selfinitiated

promotional artwork and up-and-coming new talent.

"On display are a selection of 220 artworks showcasing incredible talents of illustrators who have made a significant contribution to their industry over the last year"

Hotrod

2010-08-28T08:36:00.001Z

Hotrod, colour and line created in Manga Studio

Hotrod linework, created in Manga Studio

Have a great week!

Hiding Wood

2010-08-23T10:28:00.003Z

Hiding Wood, artwork created in Manga Studio

Hiding Wood, linework created in Manga Studio

I had a few days spare inbetween projects and created a few images for fun. Have a great week!

Back2Hell... Finished.

2010-08-16T09:05:00.003Z

Back2Hell page 98 lineart - Ink on Bristol board.

Yep, it's all over. Very excited by the prospect of working in colour again!

I'll be catching up on posting the last few months' Illustration work over the next few weeks so please stay tuned for that.

Have a great week!

Back2Hell Witch Burning

2010-07-26T08:53:00.003Z

Digital pencils from "Back2Hell", art created in Manga Studio.

Back2Hell continues. Have a great week!

Back2Hell Airship Shootout

2010-07-19T09:06:00.003Z

Back2Hell page art, ink on board

Back2Hell continues into the final stretch. Have a great week!

Back2 Hell: Church

2010-07-05T07:33:00.001Z

Back2Hell page art, digital pencils in Manga Studio

Back2Hell continues, have a great week!

Back2Hell Cryogenic Tanks

2010-06-28T07:28:00.000Z

Back2Hell page art, digital pencils in Manga Studio

Back2Hell continues. Have a great week!

Back2Hell Pulp

2010-06-21T07:04:00.001Z

Pencil page artwork from "Back2Hell" drawn in Manga Studio

Back2Hell continues. Have a great week!

Knee deep in Back2Hell

2010-06-14T07:23:00.004Z

Pencil page artwork from "Back2Hell" drawn in Manga Studio

I'm currently enjoyably bogged down in the middle of the comic book adaption of "Back2Hell". With a tight deadline on the project there's not much else going here at Reeko Towers but I'll try and put up a sketch every week to keep the blog going.

Hope it's sunny where you are and have a great week.

Yoga

2010-06-01T06:51:00.004Z

Crop from "Yoga", artwork in Manga Studio

I had the pleasure of receiving this private commission from a client and friend who wanted an illustration of his girlfriend for her birthday. She is a yoga instructor and he wanted an image of her in mid pose, perhaps on a beach or a fantasy location. I knocked up some roughs based on some holiday snaps he sent over and we settled on a fictional studio overlooking a sea view.

Roughs for "Yoga", artwork in Manga Studio

I drew the image straight into the computer using Manga Studio's "pencil" tool for a softer feel. I painted the beach in using a lot of white to keep the image nice and clean and then added the "Studio" tones over the top.

Progress of "Yoga", artwork in Manga Studio

"Yoga", artwork in Manga Studio

Thats it! Have a great week!

Klingon/Navi

2010-05-24T06:04:00.003Z

"Klingon/Navi" Lineart in Manga Studio, Colour in Photoshop

BBC Focus Magazine commissioned me to produce this illustration for an article on the man made languages from "Star Trek" and "Avatar". Apparently plenty of students of "Klingon" have made the switch to learning "Navi" the language of the inhabitants of Pandora.

The issue is out now, go check it out and have a great week!

Autumn Odyssey – Easyjet

2010-05-10T06:58:00.006Z

"Pisa Cherry Festival" EasyJet Traveller Magazine, artwork in Manga Studio

A month or so ago I received a commission from EasyJet Traveller Magazine to produce four illustrations for a feature. The concept behind the article was a young fashionable gastronomically inclined couple travelling to 4 European destinations to, well, eat I suppose!

The magazine supplied all the locations and reference shots, all I had to do was fit the young couple into each one.

"Berlin Tea Hall" EasyJet Traveller Magazine, artwork in Manga Studio

"Milan Cocktail Bar" EasyJet Traveller Magazine, artwork in Manga Studio

"Brussels Restaurant" EasyJet Traveller Magazine, artwork in Manga Studio

At the eleventh hour they changed their mind about the Brussels restaurant as the original one (above) they had selected wasn't "trendy" enough, so I knocked up a new version overnight to meet the deadline.

"Brussels Restaurant V2" EasyJet Traveller Magazine, artwork in Manga Studio

Have a great week!

Back2Hell and SciFi Art Now

2010-04-26T06:35:00.006Z

Thumbnails for "Back2Hell", House of Fear 2010

Those who follow me on twitter will know that I have been signed on to produce a comic book adaption of a film currently in production, "Back2Hell", written and directed by Richard Driscoll. The film is currently in production (at Richard's studio House of Fear) and I will have to work like a man possessed to get the book done by the film release date.

I have also signed on to produce the prequel and sequel to "Back2Hell", so I better get used to noir horror lighting, blood splats, extreme violence and femme fatales!

SciFi Art Now

In more good news I've had this image accepted for SciFi Art Now, an art book featuring a wide range of SciFi art from established and new artists from across the globe edited by John Freeman.

The book is due for a October release both here in the UK and in the US and you can pre-order it here.

Any who, I got a film to adapt and better get my skates on!

Have a great week!

Nature's Most Wanted Assassins

2010-04-19T06:29:00.005Z

Crop from "Most Wanted" illustration for BBC Focus magazine. Linework in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

Robbie Bennie, Deputy Art Editor on BBC Focus Magazine commissioned me to produce an image for a short article on "Nature's Assassins", insects and fungus that "take out" destructive pests. Robbie gave me the concept of turning the insects and fungus into comic book style super villains in a police line up based on the famous "Usual Suspects" poster.

Rough sketch for "Most Wanted", linework in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

Diving in with both feet I drew up a rough based on the poster, using the same poses but designing costumes over the top. Left to right the deadly assassins are; A ladybird (Targets Aphids) , Hoverfly (Aphids and leafhoppers), Rust fungus (the rubber vine weed), Lacewing (Too many to mention) and another kind of fungus not named in the copy I was sent!

Aside from the difficulties of designing costumes based on a white mould, I was having a blast! After the ok I moved onto the final linework and colour.

Final linework, Manga Studio.

Final artwork for "Most Wanted", linework in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

The article is in the May issue of Focus which I think is out now. Have a great week!

Lunchtime Sketching

2010-04-12T14:00:00.003Z

Sketchbook image, A6 ink and watercolour on paper

In my lunch breaks I've been doing little ink and watercolour sketches, sort of to get my hands dirty again after all the hours at my iMac, mainly because they're loads of fun! I publish them on my twitpic account, but when I get a few more of them I'm sure I'll put together a little gallery.

I'm also going to be adding a shop to this site to sell prints and some originals. If anyone has a particular image they'd like to see as a print drop me a line and I'll make sure it goes into the store.

Have a great week!

Infinity

2010-03-22T18:01:00.007Z

Crop from "Infinity– LHC" illustration for April issue of BBC Focus

Robbie Bennie, Deputy Art Editor on BBC Focus, commissioned me to illustrate a feature based around the concept of "Infinity". As per usual, it's always so much fun working with the guys at Focus and I had a blast drawing mad scientists, planets and apes! Sadly, not all in the same image...

Robbie sent me the draft spreads for the feature. For the illustrations he'd created very rough photomontages that I then worked from to create the final illustrations. For me, the advantage of this way of working is I know where all the text will be and can compose the images accordingly.

The first image was based on the German mathematician George Cantor who discovered "Absolute Infinity... This number is so vast that it is literally indescribable: indeed, its definition is based on the idea that any attempt to describe it always describes something smaller. Not surprisingly, Cantor’s discoveries sparked huge controversy, and he found himself attacked by fellow mathematicians – and even some theologians, who accused him of encroaching on the concept of God. The criticism plunged Cantor into depression and led to frequent spells in asylums."

Rough sketch and linework created in Manga Studio

Final artwork, linework coloured in Photoshop.

"How infinity can turn a chimp into a genius – Imagine sitting Bubbles the chimp in front of a standard computer keyboard, which has around 100 keys. How long would it take for Bubbles to bash out the famous phrase “To be or not to be”? Assuming he hits the keys at random, there’s just a 1 in 100 chance of getting the first letter right, 1 in 100 of the second and so on. Even typing at the rate of a keystroke per second, getting just this bit of Hamlet right would typically take Bubbles far longer than the age of the Universe."

Rough sketch and linework created in Manga Studio

Final artwork, linework coloured in Photoshop.

"The Multiverse – Do we live in an infinite universe – or universes? The basic argument comes in various guises, but they all start by assuming that our Universe is just finite in extent, so that somewhere out there lies the edge of space itself. But an edge only makes sense if it marks the boundary with something else, and as the Universe includes everything by definition, the ‘something’ must also be part of the Universe."

Rough sketch and linework created in Manga Studio

Final artwork, linework coloured in Photoshop.

Rough sketch and linework created in Manga Studio

Final artwork, linework coloured in Photoshop.

Get a copy to read the rest of the article and have a great week!

Jungle Stampede

2010-03-15T10:12:00.005Z

Jungle Stampede, lineart in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop

In between other projects I've been creating some concept art pinups to boost my portfolio in that direction. I've done some concept work in the past and really enjoyed it, so I would welcome the chance to do more work in the field. If you are interested on hiring me on a project (of any kind), I'm always keen to fit you in so please get in touch through the site.

Jungle Stampede, lineart in Manga Studio

Have a great week!

Ling Magazine "Lisbon"

2010-03-08T07:54:00.008Z

"Lisbon" illustration for "Ling" Magazine. Artwork created in Manga Studio.

The above illustration is for Ling Magazine, the in-flight magazine of Vueling. They have a one page feature in every issue offering 10 ideas for things to do in one of their destination cities written by a local. This one is for Lisbon.

I can't post any process images because I went straight into the final artwork, working on each element and balancing the colour and line style as I went. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed producing something much more colourful and playful than the darker stuff I've been doing lately.

Have a great week!

The Silent Planet Cover

2010-02-07T12:29:00.004Z

Pitch cover for "The Silent Planet" By Paul J. Salamoff. Lineart in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop.

First things first, I am now back in the UK for the time being and in the process of flat hunting in London. All very exciting but moving and trying to keep a full time work schedule is pretty challenging. I've become very accustomed to the nomadic lifestyle over the last 6 months and am well versed in grabbing a few hours work whenever I can and wherever I am.

The image above is a cover for a pitch of "The Silent Planet" by Paul J. Salamoff, (you can see some page art here) which is being pitched next week so everyone please keep fingers crossed for that. It's an excellent script and I really hope the project will get the green light. More news on that when I get it.

Have a great week!

Colouring in Manga Studio

2010-01-27T15:19:00.009Z

Crop from "Sea wreck", line art and colour in Manga Studio

On the first day I scanned in a drawing into a computer, I coloured it in Photoshop. I didn't even own a computer at the time and I was in a workshop on my art foundation course. As my education and then career continued and I experimented with animation and computer created artwork I learnt many other applications and created artwork in various different ways. However, whenever it came to colouring up my drawings I always went straight for the old faithful, Adobe Photoshop.

Early last year it became clear that I would spend some time leading a nomadic lifestyle. I realised that a scanner was not going to be travelling with me and so I had to find an alternative to drawing "for real". I tested out a few applications and found Manga Studio. I haven't looked back since. I love working digitally, I love the line quality, the quick resizing and alterations in the drawing stage, being free of piles and piles of paper and scanning and, most importantly, the blessed "undo" button.

Of course Photoshop has all these tools too, but I just liked the way Manga Studio was set up and how the tools reacted to the way I draw. The pencil and pen tools specifically just felt great from the off. To me, Photoshop is a bit clinical and just doesn't feel right for drawing.

So, after producing my line art in Manga Studio I would export the image and jump straight into Photoshop. To be honest, I'd never tried out the colour tools and completely glossed over them when learning the program.

A weeks or so ago I was asked via email, "Why don't you colour in Manga Studio?". Good question I thought. I used the excuse to upgrade to the Expert version of the software (my goodness, it's so much better! So many more tools! If you're using Debut version, seriously consider switching!) and knocked up an image to play with.

Test image. Drawn in Manga Studio, colour test in Manga Studio then Coloured using the airbrush tool in Photoshop

After penciling and inking as usual I used the Magic Marker tool to colour the image. I found it quick and easy, isolating large areas and using the pen tool to add in some detail. I then went back to the original line art and coloured as I would have done in Photoshop using gradients and the airbrush.

Initial conclusions are... well, it's a different look, more of a classic hard edge colour comic book style. I felt this was perhaps a bad test as the extreme light suited the airbrushing. I tried to get a similar effect using the blur and pencil tool but... it didn't really work!

I pushed on to the first in a series of concept images I'm doing for a new project. I drew up the ink line as usual and dropped a dark slate colour over the image. I worked back into the colour using the pen tool and I must admit I am really pleased with the way this one turned out.

"Sea Wreck" Artwork produced in Manga Studio

In this case the hard edge really suits the image, picking out all the sea ripples and the textures on the wrecks. As with all tools, digital or otherwise, you are always learning new things about them and ways to use them. In the future I'm definitely going to play with the colour in Manga Studio more and am not going to default to Photoshop for all my colour artwork. Having said that, stick an airbrush tool in Manga Studio and Robert's your mother's brother...!

Steampunk Fun

2010-01-11T06:21:00.007Z

If it's not too late, welcome one and all to 2010, I hope you all had a wonderful festive period. For my first post of the new decade I delved into my shiny brand new "Illustration 2010" folder to find... this image and this only!

This image was a bit of fun I knocked up at the end of last year. Amongst many of the plans and schemes I have for the year ahead is some pin up concept work and this is the equivalent of me flexing my muscles in preparation.

When creating an image like this I browse through reference imagery thinking about the story, who are the characters, why would they be in the scene and what's happened before or after the snapshot in time. Without thinking the story through I can't make pose or costume decisions or anything really! This is a good starting place but I can't wait to crack on with more ambitious work! Oh and I also have to make apologetic nods to the fantastic artists who heavily inspired this, Ashley Wood & Mathieu Lauffray.

Digital pencils, Manga Studio

Digital pencils and inks, Manga Studio

Final image, colour in Photoshop

The Silent Planet

2009-12-14T07:09:00.009Z

Here's a couple of final artwork spreads from the pitch pages of "The Silent Planet".

Title spread from "The Silent Planet"

Interior art, "The Silent Planet"

The Silent Planet

2009-12-07T09:03:00.006Z

Work in progress ink linework from "The Silent Planet"
by Paul J. Salamoff

Over the last couple of weeks in between other things I've been working up some pitches pages of a new graphic novel project, "The Silent Planet" by Paul J. Salamoff, the writer of the Vincent Price issue I completed recently. It's a science fiction story about the crew of a spaceship sent to find a group of scientists on a remote planet.

It's all still very early days with the project but I'll post some more stuff from the pitch pages once they are finished.

Get Me Out Of Here

2009-11-30T06:42:00.006Z

Full page feature illustration crop.

Earlier this month, Steve Sayers, Art Editor on BBC focus and fast becoming my client of the year asked me to produce some illustrations for a feature in the December issue, "I'm an IG Nobel Prize Winner – Get Me Out Of Here!".

The feature asks 6 winners (see more about the prize here) how they would escape being marooned on a desert island. I won't go into too much detail about how they do it, the enterprising amongst them utilising their own creations as much as possible, but if you are keen it is a very interesting article and I suggest you pick up a copy!

As far as my drawings were concerned, Steve had sent me little stickmen roughs placed on the page layout to show how he wanted to illustrate the solutions the inventors had come up with. I simply worked these up into digital colour roughs using Manga Studio for the line work and Photoshop for the colour. Steve asked me to base the style on a "shoes" illustration from my portfolio and I think the simple line and colour gives the drawings a real "Boy's Own" feel, suiting the article to a "t".

Sketch of "Clocky" solution, Gauri Nanda turns an alarm clock into a makeshift solar powered boat to paddle for help on bamboo oars.

Upon approval I then worked up the finals, drawing the ink line digitally in Manga Studio and colouring up selected areas in Photoshop. These sparely coloured finals actually take a long time as you find yourself doing a lot of adding and deleting sections until you find the right balance.

Final "Clocky" solution.

Final "Coconut bombs" solution, Dr Elena Bodnar uses a bra to fire coconut shells filled with gunpowder to attract passing ships.

"Stink" solution, Charles Spence uses a plastic bag filled with vanilla to attract ships by smell.

"Big smoke" solution, after constructing a huge "S.O.S." sign Troy Hurtubise builds a giant fire pit to attract a rescue.

"Coin tube solution", my personal favourite, Len Fisher uses loose change to create an electric current to signal passing ships.

The full page title illustration based on the "I'm a Celebrity" TV show logo.

Images 34

2009-11-23T05:53:00.008Z

AOI Images 34 call for entries artwork by Frazer Hudson

Every year since I was as a student (so, 5 times then) I've entered images for The Association of Illustrators best of british illustration annual publication and show "Images". As per usual this year I checked the list of selected entries and grinned a sly smile to myself as I saw my name was absent. "Maybe next year" I thought.

So, it was to my confusion and brewing excitement that I received an email last week asking me why I hadn't confirmed my page and stumped up the cash for Images 34. A frenzy of emailing back and forth to the organisers followed and after a lot of "we posted things", "I moved house", "Oh, it seems we missed you off the list", turns out my astronaut image below has been selected for the "books" category.

"Today Was Not A Good Day" image selected for Images 34

To put it mildly, I'm completely thrilled. Having a image selected has been one of my major goals both professionally and personally since I first found out about Images in college. Also Ralph Steadman, the reason I got into illustration as a lazy talented kid who was always getting balled out his tutors for not doing his homework and chatting up girls in art class, is in this years book. Me and Ralph. Together in one volume. I can't get my head around that one. Imagine if we're on opposite pages...

So, there's a show, awards ceremony and the all important book which all happens next summer. I'm sure I'll post more information but your best bet to find out more is to check the AOI Images site.

Have a great week.

Vincent Price Presents "The Effigy"

2009-11-09T06:15:00.008Z

So, the other project to come out of my initial round of pitch page promotion was a one shot on the "Vincent Price Presents" series for Bluewater Productions. The issue I've now completed for them is "The Effigy", written by Paul J. Salamoff, and is a classic slice of American small town horror. Scarecrows, cornfields, bullying... all the good stuff!

Inspiration and reference

One of the major discoveries I've had since starting this comic book journey is something I suspected, but perhaps I should have known. Producing lots of images on one page is just like producing one image. The process is exactly the same. Reference, sketch, final artwork. The only difference is you have to do 10 images across a spread over a couple days. As soon as you make any less effort with a panel than you would for any single image then the art suffers.

If you have a strong process as an illustrator I've found you don't tend to panic... or a least you panic less! You simply drop into your system and knuckle down. All the art for this book was 100% digital, sketched and inked in Manga Studio, coloured in Photoshop using a graphics tablet.

I always produce tonal roughs (thanks "classical" Illustration degree) as it really helps with composition and with the colour stage.

Panel Process

Final Spreads

Hopefully no spoilers there! The pages are currently being lettered and I'll let you know when the book's coming out.

Pitch Pages

2009-10-07T10:44:00.010Z

So, like a teenage cat burgler, I want to break into comic books and graphic novels.

Well, I don't want to break into a store and steal them, so that unfunny metaphor really stinks, I just want people to pay me to draw them. My illustration work is heavily influenced by comics and graphic novels and I've drawn a few small strips but I've always shied away from trying actual page art as, well, firstly it's really hard and secondly... everyone wants to draw comics so I figured no one would give me a break.

The move to Athens has freed up my week a bit and, taking deep breaths, I sat down and thumbnailed out a pitch script.

I couldn't have dialogue but I would've have put any in as I wanted to concentrate on telling a simple story with pictures. I knew I had to show pacing, mood, action... and in 6 pages I didn't want to trouble myself with concluding anything. I just wanted it to feel like part of a larger story.

I've posted all the pages I sent to around 40 or so publishers below. All drawn in Manga Studio, coloured in Phototshop.

Within a couple of hours I had some responses! When I had finished dancing around the room I started emailing back and... well. There's a couple of projects on the horizon, contracts pending, and when everything's final I'll post all the exciting details here!

Stay tuned. Good things are coming.

Patrick Moore

2009-09-28T11:31:00.009Z

About a month or so ago Steve Sayers, the Art Editor on BBC focus Magazine asked me to produce a full page Illustration introducing a feature on a crash course in astronomy from UK TV legend Patrick Moore. I had done a feature for Focus a month or so earlier and there's no better compliment than being commissioned again so quickly.

The initial verbal brief Steve gave me was "Patrick Moore as a Mekon" which had me grinning like an idiot with the thought of spending time researching Dan Dare, one of my Sci Fi heroes. I dived straight in, gathering inspiration maniacally.

A few of the reference images I gathered.

Steve had supplied me with a rough page layout to draw over and, with a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do, I sketched up a rough straight over the top in Manga Studio using the pencil tool. He had also requested that I do the monster movie type treatment, which I was more than happy to do.

I bought the sketch into Photoshop and quickly splashed some colours over the top, adding in some background options, the one here being spaceships and colliding planets.

The roughs came back with the comments (paraphrased), "Wow! Loose the spaceships and green head colour. He looks like Frankenstein."

I opened the first rough in Manga Studio and inked back over the first sketch. I went for a heavier, pulp style of linework, pushing up the shadows to reflect the Eagle Comics/Pulp magazine/Monster Movie style I was going for.

I flipped the pose of the arms and sorted out the dodgy binoculars from the rough. I also decided to draw in all the mountains under the type. Now, strictly speaking this was unnecessary, but as the rough Steve supplied contained placeholder text I wanted to help the designer out (having done layout myself) and produce a completed image. This allows the text box to be set to whatever size is needed. Also, it felt better to be working on a full image, rather than with a huge lump of dead space in the centre of the illustration.

I exported the image into Photoshop and began to airbush. I always slap a gradient over the whole image, much like a watercolour wash and then add definition with a transparent toning layer on top. I also add little additional areas of colour blending down. I like to work with as minimal a palette as I can get away with and this technique allows me to keep everything together.

Colour with the ink layer down to 30% underneath.

For the type I tried a bunch of different options, setting in Illustrator, adjusting existing typefaces, tracing and overlaying... In the end I just sketched it out by hand (in Manga Studio again, using a dip pen tool), using movie poster references for style.

Type artwork. This was then coloured corrected and tweaked in Photoshop.

Final image. Published in the October issue of BBC Focus.

Athens

2009-09-10T15:31:00.007Z

So, if you know me in the "real world" or have been following my twitter, you'll know I have moved to Athens, Greece. For how long it will be depends on how it works out. Service is now resumed and will be exactly as before, except I will be sitting in front of computer in Athens rather than London. Oh, and it's hot here. But it has rained too. To be honest I'm a bit confused about the whole thing.

(Pssssst. I've started a little journal about my experiences emigrating here. Don't tell anyone though, yeah?)

25/9/09 UPDATE: I've deleted it. I wasn't keeping up with it. Greatest plans of mice and men and all that.

Food Glorious Food

2009-08-18T10:52:00.002Z

I was asked by the agency to create some food imagery for some potential projects. It's been years since I've concentrated on drawing a sheet of real stuff. Probably since my foundation tutor asked me to work up a whole sketchbook of drawings from life. It's been a fun challenge, but I am a little concerned I've gone a bit "dark" with the drawings... Oh well. Might have another go later in the week.

Jumpers for Goalposts

2009-08-14T14:32:00.002Z

Moving into different subject matter as requested by the agency. I should be posting quite a few different things over the next week or so... depending on moving home busyness.

Watching the rain

2009-08-13T14:53:00.001Z

Kind of appropriate in the middle of an English "summer". A replacement spread for the book... maybe!

Office Stress

2009-08-12T08:26:00.004Z

So, I screwed up with my book.

I got very confused with the online service and whether or not I should include blanks on the inside front and back of the cover.

Whatever I did, I was wrong. All the text printed one page out so all all my rectos and versos were up the swanny. A disaster! Luckily for me it turned out to be a happy one.

I had designed the book with large double spread images separated by black spreads with the text. Seeing the left hand portion of the image first created a great lead in to the image and improved the context of each image vastly. I have therefore decided to redesign the book with this in mind, adding some extra artwork on those pages.

I also decided to change a couple of spreads that weren't working. Below is one of the new images.

Onwards and upwards!

Look Magazine and Kleenex

2009-08-11T07:40:00.005Z

One of my images was featured in this Look magazine advertorial about creating a drawing to go on a Kleenex box. It was out at some point in July.

What Happens When

2009-08-04T10:22:00.014Z

I was contacted by Steve Sayers, Art Editor on BBC Focus Magazine, to produce 15 Illustrations for a feature on "What Happens When...", answering questions about what the body is doing when itching or blushing etc. This project was very enjoyable and I even got to sneak in a vaguely-Heath-Robinson-inspired creation along the way too! Should be out now in the August issue.

Above image: "Blushing"

"Cramp"

"Farting"

"Itching"

"Cracking Knuckles"

"Heartburn"

"Seeing Stars"

"Sensitive Teeth"

"Twitchy Eyelid"

The End

2009-07-27T08:46:00.003Z

Final spread for the book. Going to finalise the layout and organise a proof print.

In the Doghouse

2009-07-23T13:50:00.002Z

Sleeping

2009-07-22T14:52:00.002Z

Bit of an experiment for a book page using a "leaves" overlay effect. If you squint, she looks a wee bit like Cheetra.

Colour Process

2009-07-21T09:56:00.008Z

I thought I'd give you a little insight into the colour process that I've been using lately. I guess in general it's quite traditional, but interesting to me nonetheless. I was taught to paint "properly" during my degree and I'd recommend all students to learn traditional skills, even if like me, you work 100% digitally. All my work is created using the old school processes of reference gathering, tonal studies, etc, I just use a computer to speed it all up. And the computer has the blessed "undo" feature. Anyone who paints in ink and watercolour for real, I doff my cap.

This image is from the book I'm working on. Nearly done now! Couple more to go.

After Finishing the "ink" drawing in Manga Studio I drop a gradient layer straight across the image to create initial depth, tone and light. This layer is the final layer from the image, beefed up so you can see it clearer. As you can see I do alter some shapes as I go to get the colours right, generally after the next step.

I then start adding colour in specific sections and digitally airbrush the tone on. Some areas get a "hard" treatment with the tone and colour, some soft depending on the light or the object or how I'm feeling, really!

I knew I wanted to play with pattern in this image, so I loosely worked up a flower design, again painted digitally in Photoshop. The check shirt was also done in this way, draw straight in the application using brush effects.

The final image. This is the longest section of the colouring process where I add things, delete them, delete existing things and generally mess around with different colours, hues and levels until I'm happy (these examples all come from the final file, the values were all quite different initially).

The other thing I do is to shrink the image down to a thumbnail size in the view settings (a bit like walking back from the canvas to see full picture) so I can see how the tone works across the image.

And I ask the wife to tell me what she thinks. And then I stress about it. And then I stop.

Hollow

2009-07-14T08:39:00.002Z

A slightly cheep shot, but I was doing this anyway as part of my on-going experiment with portraits and caricature, and after all, what else is the internet for other than taking pot shots at celebrities?!

In the Park

2009-07-10T15:31:00.006Z

Final artwork

Linework

Cover Concept

2009-07-09T12:26:00.003Z

This is a concept for the cover of my picture book. Imagine a line down the centre with the back cover on the left and the front on the right. I was playing with some hand drawn type but it wasn't really working. Going to look at some typefaces now and see what works. I might well change the whole thing if I can't get the type to work with the image.

The Beginning

2009-07-08T13:52:00.003Z

I've spent the last couple of hours putting in a street view through the window of this image. Finished it, looked at it, played with the hues, the levels and you know what?

Keep It Simple Stupid. Less is more.

Select layer... delete. Aaah! Much better!

Shaky Start

2009-07-07T10:48:00.003Z

A shaky start to your first day on the job.

Remember your first job? Mine was in a Fish 'n' Chip shop (how English!) as a "chipper and peeler" and lasted the sum total of about 8 hours as I never went back! Oh, and in case you're wondering, it wasn't chipping and peeling by hand, I had to carry the potatoes from one machine to the next in big buckets. By the end of the day my uniform was like concrete from all the starch! On the plus side I did get to have all the Fish and chips that I could eat! And we wonder why there's an obesity problem in this country...

IST "Untitled" by Interpol

2009-07-01T07:24:00.003Z

Here's my entry for this month, illustrating "Untitled" by Interpol. Check out the other entries and join in the general banter here.

Say Hello to my... Little... Friend

2009-06-24T10:25:00.003Z

Lost In Space

2009-06-22T10:41:00.003Z

Desert Session

2009-06-19T08:30:00.001Z

Flying or Falling?

2009-06-18T12:45:00.002Z

Robot In Bed 02

2009-06-17T09:29:00.003Z

Look familiar? I've reworked this old image to fit a book project I'm working on. All the long and thin images I've been posting are part of it but I've still got plenty more to do. Stay tuned!

Graveyards

2009-06-16T09:32:00.001Z

If you hang out in graveyards, you deserve everything you get!

Lemonade Illustration Agency

2009-06-15T12:00:00.003Z

I've recently signed with Lemonade Illustration Agency. I've been waiting until my work is on their site to post the news. There's nothing you won't have seen here, but please go have a look anyway!

Here's to a fruitful relationship for both of us!

Alone on the Tube

2009-06-12T13:46:00.009Z

Puppet Master

2009-06-11T13:03:00.003Z

Another foray into the world of caricature. Can you guess who it is yet?!

Man Overboard

2009-06-09T15:42:00.000Z

A Tale of Two Backgrounds

2009-06-08T13:01:00.007Z

Here's the inital thumbnail. I had a clear idea of where I was going with this image. What hadn't really crossed my mind was the background. I pushed on, developing the drawing and inking it.

Pleased with the resulting line drawing I jumped into Photoshop and begain to play with colour options. At first I went too bright, then messed around with colour options, initially thinking that a brightly coloured background would make things exciting and dynamic.

In practice, it didn't work. I tried three or four... ok, twelve options, and nothing was working. I loved my linework, but was nervous about leaving the drawing so open. I created another option with a cavernous background that looked a little James Bond-y and a little too... comic book-y. I like the comic book link in my illustration but not so it's pigeon-holed... Hmmm. Not really what I was going for...

After a long battle, I've settled for 2 finals! Hopefully in posting them I can get on with other things and not think about them again for a while. If you have an opinion on which one you like more, let me know!

Illustrated Song Titles

2009-06-01T16:59:00.000Z

IST day, usual banter and a new player... Join the fun here.

Secret Dining

2009-05-29T11:03:00.003Z

Gangsters, spies and thieves.

This image is mainly an experiment with line and colour. I think I went a bit off the plot a little bit and got involved with details and other bits and bobs and the image has come out a little muddled. The advantages of drawing digitally have become a hindrance here. I kept messing around, adding bits and cutting other parts out. Bah! I've been looking at it for far too long now!

I think I'll have another go and do a version that's truer to my thumbnail sketches if I get the time.

Enjoy the weekend... IST day on Monday!

Southbank Jogging - New Version

2009-05-26T16:46:00.003Z

Posted it, looked at it, not totally happy, closed the browser and went on with my day. Looked at it later on in the pub on my phone, decided it was too dark and needed some colour tweaks.

Hmmm, I'm still not sure which version I prefer. That's the trouble of doing work for yourself rather than a client!

Southbank Jogging

2009-05-25T11:31:00.003Z

I recently did a stint working for UBM on London's Southbank. Everyday I would take my life into my hands and wonder down to the river to enjoy the view, a cappuccino and sketch. I say take my life into my hands as the hundreds of office workers who jog in their lunch break take absolutely no prisoners as they tear down the Thames pathway desperately trying to work up a sweat.

I don't mean to sound scathing as I am a runner myself but, seriously people, run in the park or on the road. Pavements are for pedestrians and if you are running, you ain't no pedestrian, aight?

Thumbnail and linework below.

Contagious

2009-05-18T09:50:00.004Z

Better watch out for those disease spreading vermin...

Always Knock

2009-05-08T13:47:00.004Z

Always knock. For real. It can really harm your career... and your eyes.

I'm still playing with Manga Studio. As per usual, I started with a thumbnail. I knew light was going to be important in this image and so I produced a sketch exploring the tone.

After digitally inking I coloured the image as per usual in Photoshop. I'm still playing with how to get the colouring right. I really like the energy of the sketch that I think I've lost in the final image. Hmmm. More experiments to follow methinks.

Celebrity Theatre

2009-04-28T15:41:00.005Z

Process

Inspired by the Dave Gibbons Watchmen tutorial I decided to try out the application Manga Studio. My standard working practice is to draw in pencil or ink and colour in Photoshop. I have, however, become bored with scanning and retouching and decided to have a play and see if I can work entirely digitally.

I thumbnailed my idea out as usual.

I then jumped straight into the application and, after finding sufficient reference, sketched out the figures using a pencil tool. I then made a new layer and inked away.

For colour, I exported the image and worked in Photoshop as normal.

I think it's a great application, very easy to use and I love the "ink" line quality. I didn’t time the process, but I suspect it was faster than normal. However, I think the finish is pretty classic comic book-y which is obviously what the application is designed for but not completely what I'm after in my illustration. Also, working exclusively with the wacom tablet has done nothing for my RSI.

I think I'll have another play or two. It's definitely a useful tool to have in the arsenal next time that style is required.

A Fleeting Glance at Portobello Market

2009-04-13T15:05:00.004Z

The Portobello Antiques Market is a strange place. The street is full to bursting with people, yet fails to feel vibrant. I prefer to make my approach by slinking up the back streets to sit and drink a cold one outside the pubs further up Portobello Road towards Ladbroke Grove, watching the mix of people, old money, new money and no money congregating in the streets.

Antiques leave me cold. Always have done. In the V&A for instance I tend to take a greater interest in the people wandering around rather than the assorted thousand year old nick nacks “collected” by Knights of the British Empire from around the globe. I like painting and drawing, buildings, machines and musical instruments. The ceremonial vase of whoever might make a nice footrest, assuming of course that you cover it with a cushion first.

I guess it’s no surprise that when I wander the street passing the antique shops filled with coins, medals, mirrors and other gold shiny detritus, squeezing down the hill, one hand on the wallet, one hand braced for balance against suddenly stopping Italians and Chinese tourist groups that I’m just looking for the nearest bar.

Come join me! We’d better be quick, the sun is shining, but this is England. It might be our last chance.

Oh, and bring your scarf. Sun doesn’t mean warmth in this country either.

Richmond Way – Border Town

2009-04-07T09:55:00.008Z

Welcome to frontier country folks! I heard tell of gold in these mountains!

This is our house, in the middle of our street. A strip of stained tarmac lancing south from Shepherd’s Bush Green in sort-of-wild west London. With a heavy dosage of irony the hopeful residents of this confused village have renamed it Chez Boo. Mais oui! C’est bon, silver plate! The culture clashes have only just begun.

The large green building in the centre of the image is The Duke of Wellington public house, a fairly sketchy establishment, rising like a cavalry fort manned by plaster stained builders, staggering drunks and Pit Bulls, defending the area from gentrification. To the left sits Kensington and Chelsea, Holland Park nannies, bankers and Bentleys. To the right, the chicken shops, Polish deli’s and mosques of the Goldhawk road. To the guests of the Kensington Hilton just over the bridge who have turned the wrong way looking for Notting Hill Gate and Hyde Park, this pub is your first sight of The West. Tread carefully now.

The street is a battleground. Television studios, a five star hotel and spa sit alongside council flats and butchered town houses bursting with studio flats and languages. The tenants spill out onto the street, drinking and arguing, gossiping and chatting, mostly speaking the broken English of Commerce and Getting By.

Richmond Way is always changing and busy, a throughway turned dead end, cut off by the road bridge leading east to the West End and west out to Acton and further to Heathrow. Every week you see new backpackers arrive, mainly Australian or South African. The border town feel is increased by the temporary nature of their lifestyles. Swapping Ikea furniture and old big backed TV’s, they sub let and share with the freedom of The Big City Adventure. We once had a group come straight into our flat with a key. “Erin said it was ok!” said the lead girl with a big, excited grin, as if our time was done and it was their turn to live in the flat.

We kicked them out and changed the lock. I like my frontier flat. It changes every day.

Talisman

2009-04-06T11:17:00.005Z

When out on the town out to meet the ladies, having your mates with you can be both talismanic and a hindrance...

Thumbnail sketch and a glimpse at my photoshop layers below. The highlighted one says "Extra shadow due to laziness". Well, at least I know it!

Traffic In The Sky

2009-04-01T08:26:00.002Z

Hello, been a while. Like everyone who hasn't been credit crunched, I've been busy.

Found time to do an Illustrated song title though, check out the artwork and banter here.

Legendary Dog

2009-03-15T15:49:00.005Z

Other legendary dogs? My personal favourite, for general amazing British TV naff-ness will always be K-9.

Slippery Bankers

2009-03-02T15:27:00.004Z

Oh, those bankers! Try as they might, they ain't gonna catch 'em!

...and it's IST day! Check out the fun and games over on Illustrated Song Titles.

Kitchen Into Dining Room

2009-02-23T13:49:00.003Z

I stayed with some friends over the weekend. I woke up early Sunday morning and padded round the house with my sketchbook, nursing the itch to draw. This is the view into their dining room from the kitchen. Lovely!

You've got to be in it to win it

2009-02-13T11:09:00.014Z

The first email of 2009 was from my good friend Tom Gaul (illustrator, designer at Redesign) asking me if I was free to work on a comic book for Enfield council. "A comic strip you say? Tell me more..."

The strip supports the "You've got to be in it to win it" campaign to get kids to stay in school. I believe it goes into schools as part of a teaching pack or similar (when I actually get the real thing I'm sure it'll make perfect sense!). We developed the two main characters based on the guidelines from the council and style direction from Tom, "Sean" and "Samera".

The script for the strip that came through from the council was written in more of a film or stage script style than a comic book format. It was mainly dialogue and "boys in playground, Sean says" stuff. That was fine, but it meant that I had to do several roughs to really nail down what was going on and add some bits of dialogue to make things flow a little bit better.

I thumbnailed the 4 pages out, figuring out the panels I would need to get everything in. The final pages are actually pretty close to these inital roughs, bar the cover, which would need a bit more thought as the artwork would be used on posters and adverts for the campaign.

I then pushed on to more detailed roughs to send through to Tom to show him what on earth I was planning on doing.

As I had chopped things around a little to make them fit in, we decided that I should go ahead and produce a full pencil rough for the council to approve, complete with all the dialogue. It was quite time consuming but given the script "looseness" it became very helpful in the long run.

On approval, I then inked the pages. Generally prefering pencil for my illustrations, I would have liked to keep things more textural, but we decided to go with the more "generic" style established in my concepts.

I must admit, I hadn't quite estimated just how long the colouring was going to take. It's pretty simple colouring and toning but for some reason it seemed to take a long time to get right. It was also at this stage that the council asked me to rename "Samera" to "Hannah".

Next up, lettering and playing with the cover. In the end, Tom set the type on the cover over my artwork, the shield design was also his.

Below is the full comic book, if you want to read, click on a page to enlarge. To give you a flavour, I leave with a quote from the supporting material;

"Don’t be a fool – Go to school!"

Time to Make a Call?

2009-02-13T11:02:00.005Z

...just in time for Valentines?

Do or Don't I? - Sketch

2009-02-11T16:43:00.004Z

Flying Dresses

2009-02-10T14:47:00.004Z

I create most of my images in bits. I find it much easier to create exactly what I imagined and I can resize, retouch and redo to my heart's content.

This is part of a new image I'm working on and I thought it was interesting and etheral and worthy of a post of it's own.

Washing Up

2009-02-09T14:13:00.003Z

Busily expanding the repertoire... Sketched in my folks' kitchen over the weekend and messed with in Photoshop. Original bellow.