The Grufallo

My friend Mark Becket was good enough to share this little article with me. It revolves around the creation process of the children's book 'The Grufallo'. Well worth a read!

Grufallo Article

(I would love to see the original drawing of the mouse in lederhosen)

I Got a Ticket to Riiiide

In my unenployed state I have been playing a lot of board games. One in perticular game is Ticket to Ride.



The idea behind the game is to connect destinations by collecting coloured cards and placing track. It is pretty simple but strangely addictive and has all sorts of different tactics.



I was amazed to find out there is a huge community out there that make their own boards and post them online. A friend recently downloaded and printed an fan made England board which is really well made and fun to play. So I started to think 'I SHALL MAKE ONE!' but where? Where would be a good, interesting area to work with? Home! The North East of England, as a the birth place of the Locomotive and pasenger train, seemed just perfect.

So here is my version:



This is very much a WIP, once I have everything planned out properly I will begin to build a high quality version.

Aesop Comic 3

Wow, double wammy! Another comic. Ain't I so good to you all!

Aesop Comic 2

The second instalment of my moral fable comic:

Aesop Comic 1

I'm currently working on a comic book. This started as a instructional cartoon to send to Vicky while she is off at her new job in Scotland. It has since grown into something a bit more disgusting/educating.

A drawing a day (I will totally not keep this up)

On days that I have absolutely nothing else to do (which is most days) I am going to try and update with a drawing and try to discuss the thought behind it. So here is the first:

I wanted to do a little drawing of Robin Hood. This came from me sitting and playing a lot of Skyrim, where i'm running around (or should I say rolling around) being a sneaky, archer, theif character.

I quite like the little guard guy. He seems to be wearing a barrel,

DIAGRAM

Look! It is a diagram! This is how I plan on building the base for my standing images.



So once attached it should stand like this (here I have attached the supporting legs) only with more depth.

The diagram makes me laugh.

Building a box

So today and yesterday I've been working on building a box frame for my Saltburn based 3D image. For this I excessively used Caed Parker's help and really do owe him a pint.

We started by buying a standard A3 frame from the Internet, measured it out, chose an appropriately thin wood and then began to build, like real men!

Here you can see the results. Next stage is to paint the inside black and arrange the artwork within. This has really opened my eyes to how many option I have with this piece and can't wait to add a whole load of drawings.

Edit: I've painted it up and think it looks smashing!

It's pick up time

I have just recieved an email saying that my image is printed and is ready to collect. This is a very exciting time for me. Unfortunately, a friend of mine, who is driving me to the shop to collect it, has also put in an order, and so we are waiting for his work to be printed first before making the trip. So I'm waiting :(

This is the image I am printing btw:

The company I use is www.brighouseprints.com. They are great and a really friendly bunch.

The Pole

The Pole is a children's book I have been working on for the past few months. Co-wrote by me and my girlfriend Vicky, it centres around the small village of Staithes on the North East of England, and is a tale of friendship, acceptance, and anti-bullying.

The idea for this book came after a trip we took to the village and fell in love with it. Here you can see some of the photos I took of the scenery. The second image even includes the pole in which the book recieved it's name

So i started sketching away and played with some ideas. (These drawings are in one of the worst sketch books I have ever bought. Damn you The Works.)

And through playing on photoshop I was able to get to this style (which I really like).

Unfortunately though, I am still unsure about some of the characters in this image.

Very very cute!

I have just recieved this facebook message from a girl called Heather and it is possibly the cutest commision I have ever recieved...

Hi, my friend Andi recommended you to me because I'm looking for artists. Basically i'm gonna ask this girl out, and she loves art so i've been using the itnernet to find artists and asking them to do a little piece for me. I'm collecting them all up and putting them all together in a book for her. Andi showed me your website and I love your style, it's really cool and quirky, so I would really appreciate a contribution. Thanks

Really put a smile on my face.

Sticks and Stones

So i've been working on something, which isn't much of a surprise, as I have about seven billion unfinished projects on the go (and yet I'm still seen as lazy for having no 9-5 job, go figure).

The first project I want to discuss is a sort of commision. I have been in contact with an independant furniture company in Saltburn called Northern Lights Interiors. They have decided they would like to house and sell some of my work. "How strange!" I hear you cry "A furniture company want to sell really cool artwork like yours!". Well calm down. They seem to be quite trendy and quirky. I have also heard them refered to as 'The Chandelier Shop'.

At the same time as this I was wandering around a The Biscuit Factory (A gallery in Newcastle) and spotted a group of decoupage images. I was instantly reminded of both pop up books and old paper toy theatres; two things I absolutely adore.

So here I am, an interesting style of working, and a commision. Hazzah!

I had been advized by the photographer Caed Parker, who also has work in Northern Lights, to focus on local landmarks and the such as most buyers are tourists looking to take home a little piece of Saltburn.

I started drawing and proceeded to cut out the images:



and arranged them into a flattened image (I will be drawing more landmarks etc once I have a better feel for the layout)



The drawings will be held up using coffee stirrers like so:






I have also made a small scale maquete of how the frame will work. I hav bought an A3 frame, with the intent to build a box on the back, to house the layered drawings.

So watch this space as the frame should be arriving soon and I'm looking forward to getting it all together!