How To Draw A Dinosaur

From the comic section of last Fridays Guardian.

Print Gocco

This is my first proper attempt at using the Gocco printer I bought last year. I had to use three different screens to get the colour separations I required. As I bought the cheaper PG5 machine I struggled a little with registration, as it doesn't have a proper system to line up the paper like the more expensive PG11. However I found this didn't bother me, and like the fact that the prints aren't perfect (the one above probably lined up the best out of all of them). I want to do a series of prints - most likely in hand made book form - inspired by old photos found in charity shops and flee markets - anonymous people. The first one I have done though is from an old Daugerotype that belongs to my Aunt, we can't be sure exactly who she is, most likely Sarah Collumbell my great great great Grandmother. The first Daugerotype studio opened in Derby in July 1843.

Boats

Happy New year! An update at last. I've been working on some kids books and therefore haven't had a lot I could post recently. I thought I'd group these three images together as they are all based around the same boat shape. The first one was an editorial job for Credit Magazine and the other two are lino cuts from an Owl and Pussy Cat illustration I did a couple of years ago. I'm going to be doing some more print making this year, and I've had time over Christmas to work on a new image which I hope to print in at least four colours.

The Guardian

A rather poor scan of an illustration I did for The Guardian a couple of weeks back.

Printing

I started a printing evening course with aim of getting to grips with screen printing. However when I started the course I found they only had a very basic set up, and the printing available would be more along the lines of lino, wood cut, dry point etc. I've really enjoyed getting back to basics, feeling that I can just experiment and not worry about the out come. The print above was done with different coloured blocks of lino. I've also bought myself a Gocco
printer but haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

Accidental Heroes

An illustration for Credit magazine. It had to be done super quick and they wanted a crowd scene.. so I tried to capture the atmosphere of a crowd rather than draw one.

Picture Book Idea

This is for a picture book idea I am working on, I won't say too much because I'm still trying to straighten it all out in my head and get it down on paper. It is do with the past being ever- present, but seen through the eyes of a young boy. Imagining the day to day things that have happened in the familiar places he inhabits.

The Guardian

From last Saturdays Guardian

Morris

Above is the latest cover for my mailout book, I try and do a different cover for each batch I send out. (So art directors can collect them all! ) This was inspired by Morris Dancing often the subject of much ridicule, but I think in the right context there is a strange other worldliness to the ancient dances and costumes. I wanted to try and get that feeling across in this illustration. The hobbie horse/unicorn in the picture was inspired by Westminster Morris' dancer. The picture below was taken of him the weekend before last at the Day Of Dance in Trafalgar Square. CLICK HERE to see the horse on some film I took of morris men at the same event this year and in 2005.

Frankenstein for The Independent

After a few months of being very busy things have got a little quieter, so I have some time to do things like update my blog. The above image is one I did for Susie Feay's column in The Independent a couple of weeks ago, it was printed in black and white so I thought I'd post it in colour here. I've been doing a lot of kids work and I'm hoping I'll have some time to do some personal stuff now, experiment a bit.

Childrens Graves

A small panel from an on going personal project/comic about the search for my roots. Caroline Sherwin was my Grandfathers cousin. On news year eve 1929 she wrote down the family history on one sheet of paper, this was my starting point, so she crops up a lot (or will). Some of what she wrote down was correct and some of it wasn't. This particular bit is about the grave of the little children, which I found at Christmas when visiting my boyfriends sister in Derby. I want it to be as much about the present as the past. It is taking a long time to do, I think I need to be a little bit less precious about every image and concentrate more on the story as a whole.

A Space To Talk

This was for an article in Computer Active magazine about keeping children and teenagers safe on social networking sites like Myspace.

The Wurstminster Dog Show

This was my entry to the Wurstminster Dog Show run by the Wurst Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Artists were invited to reserve a dog breed on a first come, first served basis. I was a bit slow on the uptake and ended up with the Welsh Terrier. I don't know a lot about dogs, and even less about the Welsh Terrier, so I had to do a bit of research to find out about his characteristics.

Reinventing The Wheel

I haven't posted on here for ages mainly because I don't have a whole lot to show. I've been working on two large projects, which has meant that most of my days are full and I haven't had much time for personal work, or the type of stuff I like to stick up on here. Above is an editorial job I did recently based around the idea of reinventing the wheel.

The Independent

This was for the Jenny Colgan column in last Mondays Independent. The piece was about living in Holland. After if was printed Jenny emailed me and asked to buy a copy of it, which was really nice. I'm busy with two children's projects for Cambridge University Press at the moment, my website is badly in need of an update, but it may be a while before I find time to do it. In the mean time as usual I'll post anything of interest up here.

Boxers

Some boxers for Cover Magazine, I already have some boxers on my main portfolio site so I thought I'd post these here.

Wicker Man

I'm a really big fan of both the (original) film and the soundtrack of the Wicker Man, so it was really great when Plan B magazine asked me to do an illustration for them on this subject. The sound track is one of the reasons why I'm so much into old english folk music at the moment.. beautiful, ancient, scary. It was good to draw all the people as well, looking forward to seeing it in print.

Strong Man

Like most illustrators I send out postcards to prospective clients, but to try stand out in the slush pile I also make up little four page booklets. Every six months or so I change the cover. This is my most recent effort. I decided to go for something simple as previous covers have been quite busy. I've stuck with the green background though, as I recently bought a load of light cyan ink cartridges that this colour just chomps through on the printer.

Fairground

Every year Carters Steam Fair comes to Clisshold Park, and every year we go and take photo's of the rides, play on the slot machines, and go on the dodgems. I have quite a collection of photos now and wanted to do some images inspired by them. Initially this had a lot of type in it, but after a lot of playing about I settled for a more simple image.

Beer Mats

Tea and Coffee beer mats for self promotion.