Cloud and rain - the order of today

This is my visual representation of todays weather and the flowers at the allotment...or an excuse to draw cloud and rain...you decide!

Idea for a textile print...

Mmmm... wouldn't this make a nice printed material, I would love to make a dress out of this material. Need to find a fabric printers...?

Poppy sketches

Went up the allotment today, there are so many poppy's in bloom already and I think we all know how much I like a poppy, they are so good to draw.
So here's my two sketches I did this afternoon, using the new brush drawing pen I bought the other day.

And here are two colour variations using colours picked from the photo's of the plants in bloom at the moment.



And finally these are a selection of my fav colours of the moment, I am loving my oranges and bright pinks, by the way none of these had their colour manipulated in any way, just how they came out on the camera.

People skills...questionable?

I was recently asked, when showing my portfolio, the question that puts the fear into many an illustrator of all things nature/environmental based... Do you draw people? to which I replied "Yeah sure" - when really the sensible voice inside my head saying "No! of course I don't draw people" was actually being choked in a head lock by the voice in my head that cannot walk away from a challenge and laughs in the face of adversity.

So over the past couple of weeks I have been practicing on a nearly daily basis my people drawing skills. Now there has always been a reason for me not really being over keen on drawing people and that was possibly born out of an embarrassment when I got it wrong,. And by wrong I mean the person not really looking like the person they are supposed to and when it does look like them the person don't like it because they think they look ugly... not my fault!

Whether I like it or not, as an illustrator, I need to be able to draw people, and not just be able to draw them but draw them with confidence and my own stamp of Skulliness to boot. And never one to walk away from a challenge the re-education of people skills has begun.

Anyway, after a few gamy hands, a club foot and a couple of wonky eyes, I am starting to get to the point of liking my people drawings, enough to post a blog anyhoo.



So watch this space for more special (needs) drawings...

Bird box flat pack

I scanned in the bird boxes I have been working on and put them together like a flat pack design. The bottom one is not quite finished as I need to do the roof for it and add some tree fungus too.

Italian Greyhound show dogs

I have been doing a little bit of sorting and tidying today, and came across an old sketchbook with these two biro drawings of two Italian greyhound show dogs. probably a few years old but I still quite like them...

Bird box drawing

What a great day I am having today, just sat and watched the star wars trilogy whilst working on my new drawing project, some decorated bird boxes for my show at the Illustration gallery in June (more details to follow). And now, while I am waiting for the wax to dry I am watching Aliens, total sci-fi fest!

Colures magazine

I had done some work for a new magazine just out in borders a few weeks ago now, called Colures. I supplied the illustration for the sub-section pages and an illustration for an article on the pitfalls of the contraceptive injection... The magazine is available in borders bookshop...

Another late night

I had done this illustration (on the right hand side) for another late night magazine quite a while ago but only just received my copy last week.

Flower sketches

Flower sketches drawn at the allotment on Saturday in between rain storms...

Hardcore Session Clothing

I do a bit of work for a French clothing label hardcore session and this is the current season of womens fashion with my artwork designs.

Rose drawing

I found a photo I took last year of some roses in a neighbours front garden and I thought I would do a little drawing of it...

Black tulips on the allotment

The black tulip is really quite a lovely flower so I chose to draw it this morning as my daily quick sketch...

1st of the screen prints

This is the first of a small run of limited edition screen prints, ten in all. These will be sold at £40 each and there will be four in the series.

Tulips from the allotment

It seems strange but at this point in the year the majority of the flowers I have seen in bloom are all the shades of purple. From lilac to violet to lavender, all coming into bloom and its wonderful. I might make my next big project all based on inspiration at the allotment...

The mother of all birds....

Large bird made up entirely of smaller birds....