It's time for pancakes!

Hooray - it's Pancake Day!
Here are the ingredients you need to make pancakes:

Place the flour into a bowl with a pinch of salt. Make a well in the centre. Then:

Melt the butter gently on the stove or in the microwave and add a spoonful to the mixture.

Heat a saucepan and add some butter or oil to grease.  Pour in some mixture and quickly spread it around the pan surface to make a round pancake shape. Once it has begun cooking it should become loose in the pan and reading for flipping:

Garnish with classic lemon and sugar or anything you like:

Cucumber & Chilli Pepper tango

I was recently commissioned to draw a cucumber dancing with a chilli pepper. Helpfully I have drawn dancing vegetables before! The client requested various details and features that referenced the people these characters represent. Hopefully they will appreciate the sentiment though it is hard for me to know as I am not part of the private joke going on here! 

Here is the final result:

Some early sketches of various poses:

Here is an older drawing I did on a similar theme. 

The Dance of the Condiments:

The love story of Betty and Barry Bourbon

I created these biscuit characters whilst developing a series of greetings card ideas. I liked the confetti 'Just Married' bourbon biscuits and decided to discover how they met. So here is the love story of Betty and Barry Bourbon:

See more comic sketches on my website here

Greetings Cards

I have been working on some greetings card designs for a while now. I find it a good way of developing illustration ideas into themes. When I first moved into my studio space a year ago I thought I'd start with a small project to develop some characters and little ideas I had into suitable card images. I often make my illustration work into stories so it was good to do a project which was less ambitious than a story book project but with different and specific challenges of it's own.

I decided to dip my toe into the online shop world and am selling some of my printed efforts on Etsy. My shop is here:

I have made a Christmas collection with gingerbread character designs:

and a Birthday collection based on characters from my Monsters work:

I am curious to see which designs are popular and what online traffic I can attract to my shop and website.

Baking calamities & triumphs

Sometimes sitting with my sketchbook it can feel as though my brain is somewhat distracted:

So with that in mind I began drawing biscuits and other baking items sprang into view:

Inspired by the popular TV show The Great British Bake Off,  I came across these unfortunate casualties of bad baking:

Let's hope for plenty of successful baking in the new series (though perhaps that is not as entertaining as the calamities).

Lions and Dragons dancing

During the two weeks of Chinese New Year (until the lantern festival at the end) there are plenty of opportunities to catch a Lion and Dragon dance in Hong Kong. At any time of day you may be out and about and the sound of crashing cymbals and beating drums will travel through the air as a nearby troupe burst into action. The Lion has two performers inside and leaps and prowls at the crowds that eagerly await the spectacle. Businesses will offer the Lion something - often a lettuce or foodstuff hanging at the door. The Lion, it's roars represented by the loud bashing of cymbals and drums, scares away the bad luck from the previous year. Mandarins are thrown to the crowd to represent gold and good fortune.

A Dragon often accompanies the Lion to offer good luck in the coming year. The Dragon is carried high on sticks by lots of performers, their number depending on its' length. It weaves around and looks spectacular!

Year of the Snake

I have just been in Hong Kong absorbing the wonderful sights, sounds, smells and peculiarities of Chinese culture. Everyday was a sensory overload. Since my return I have begun digesting into illustrations the noise, bustle, skyscrapers, temples, food and hectic pace of life lived in a haze of red and gold.

The Lunar Chinese New Year was celebrated while I was in Hong Kong so lots of dragon and lion dances occurred to the sound of clashing cymbals, scaring away the bad luck to herald good luck in its' stead.

 

It was great to be in a city full of activity and familiar things but one that felt very different to London. A trip to Kowloon Park amidst tower blocks and busy roads and you can find a tranquil pond inhabited by flamingos.

Peace and joy

Greetings from frosty London!
Recently I have been working on some Christmas designs to mail out to friends and family as a festive e-card. It is the first year I haven't made a physical card and that fact does sadden me a little. It is a small, delightful pleasure to receive letters and cards in the post and I hope it doesn't die out entirely as a practice. I am between homes at the moment and doing some stints of travel. This is all very exciting but with all my papers and materials boxed up I resorted to some digital creativity instead. I shall endeavour to make an extra effort next Christmas to get back to making some home made cards. Until then here are some digital messages of goodwill. I created two images, unable to decide which one I prefer. Perhaps the first. You can decide for yourself!
Wishing you all a happy holiday of peace and joy. And gingerbread.

 

 

Stopgap Dance Pack

Recently I have been working on some illustrations for a resource pack for the dance company - Stopgap.  Stopgap is the UK’s leading integrated company for dancers with and without disabilities. The resource pack is for dance teachers to aid them in including dancers with physical disabilities into their classes.  Here are some examples of the work I produced to accompany and support the text. I am still working on the cover and also doing all the layout too!

So if anyone would like to get involved in dance - whether you are able bodied or not - check out Stopgap's website - http://www.stopgap.uk.com and see some clips: http://www.youtube.com/user/StopGAPDance and be inspired! It is amazing what people can do!

Olympic legacy and meatballs

I've been working for a while on some animation projects and then the 2012 Olympics came along so my mind has been a little diverted from illustrating for a few months.

The Olympics were a great time to be in London. I think I am still in a post Olympic funk. So in trying to get back to reality, this is a picture of how happy and obsessed I was when the Olympics were on - Looking at the world through an Olympic Haze;

I've been going back into my picture book projects and here is an element I have made for possible inclusion in a spread.  Anyone for meatballs?

Fun in the park

Here are some sketches of little people I encountered in the local park the other day.

Mermaid & Dragon

Another image for Essex Council from the series - The Giants are Coming! 

This image will be used as a flyer (with additional information overlaid) by libraries, to promote workshops for children featuring mermaids and dragons.