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:

Inorikaze - Prayer Wind

My talented friend Nobuko Miyazaki is a New York based flautist, shinobue (Japanese bamboo flute) player and composer. Her latest project is an album of her own compositions recorded with a variety of professional musicians and collaborators, including the Manhattan Symphonie Orchestra, entitled - Inorikaze - Prayer Wind.

You can hear a sample of her music and find out the stories behind each composition on her website here: http://www.nobuflute.com/ 

Nobuko asked me to design a CD cover for this album. She wanted an image of a young girl playing a flute. The girl represents herself and was inspired by a photo she took of a girl she came across in Japan whilst doing voluntary aid work there following the earthquake in 2013.

The music is represented by ribbons of colour, swirling into the sky:

An early title design with brushwork type:

The final artwork:

To buy the album click here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/inorikaze-prayer-wind-ep/id961365698
http://cdbaby.com/cd/nobukomiyazaki2

A portion of sales go to children's charities.

Nobuko worked tirelessly to put this album together and I am very proud to be a small part of her continuing success.

Jamie Oliver title sequence for Channel 4

Recently screened on Channel 4 was the 2nd series of the food programme 'Jamie and Jimmy', featuring well known chef Jamie Oliver. I was asked to contribute to the title sequence by designing name plaques that pop up revealing the celebrities taking part in the cookery show. The theme I was given was British fairground so I looked at lots of lovely, old, hand-painted signs.  I couldn't use actual fonts because of copyright so I created my own as well as hand drawn elements:

Here's a still to show how they featured in the final animation:

It is a very minor element of a lovely animated title sequence created at Picasso Pictures, directed by Jens and Anna which you can view here.

Matte painting

Recently I have been working as a matte painter/background artist for an animated commercial campaign made at Picasso Pictures for the directing duo Jens and Anna. The campaign included various 30sec commercials as well as online web films with information about new healthcare initiatives in Kentucky, USA. I began working on the campaign last summer (2013) when I was asked to create high resolution images from details in the commercial that could be used for the accompanying print campaign. This year I was asked to do backgrounds that were used in the actual commercial. My images were then projected onto the 3D elements of the scenes with 2D character animation added from Flash.

I was given wireframes of the scenes from the CG animators which I then painted in Photoshop according to the project style. Below you can see an example of a wireframe and then the finished background:

The images are created at a size that allows for camera moves within the shots. For example, the image below is wider than the TV ratio because the camera move goes from left to right within the image. I also had to draw more information on layers so there was enough imagery as the camera moves around revealing different parts of the picture.

I was also given matte references for the 3D objects to help isolate areas for colouring:

Additional shadow layers were added by the CG programme (Maya) into footage that was then composited together and colour graded for the final output. Here is the finished commercial:

Here is a time lapse video of a background I made for the most recent commercial:

The Science of Splats

I have been working on an illustrated character for a long time, trying to envisage his macro world (he is very small). His name is Marvin and here is a glimpse of him:

I wanted some paint splat textures to use as background elements. This coincided with an episode of creative funk. It turns out that what I needed to do to regain my illustration mojo was to throw some paint around:

These splats were made flicking paint from a paintbrush about 1 inch wide. They are useful but despite me scanning them at 1200dpi I still wasn't getting a big enough splat for my requirements.

I then tried pouring some paint from a height:

This is better though the paint has a bit too much water in it. Good splat spread (also on my shoes, and the road, but at least I went outside right?).

I love working digitally but also adding real textures and ink lines to my work. It always give the resulting images more freshness, character and life. Marvin is made up of crisp vector lines, ink lines, finger prints and smudges.

It was all great fun and brought up memories of my art school floor which was multi-coloured with paint splats. The only trouble is it makes me want to get big pots of paint, a step ladder and a large bare floor with white walls and just go for it!

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.

Wedding Invitation

Recently some friends asked me to design their wedding invitation. They had seen some examples they liked, so had quite a specific idea in mind. It was to be fully illustrated - they requested cartoon versions of themselves outside the venue with hand rendered type for the information. Here is the printed result:

It is a double sided A5 card:

The Order of Service is designed along the same theme.

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!

Sport hangover and DoeDeMee update

London goes back to work with a bit of a sport hangover.

A glorious summer of sport has left us elated here in London and wondering if it really happened?! So much to celebrate. Yesterday I went to the athletes' parade in town as the last hoorah of the games. Yet again Games Makers were out in force, encouraging endless mexican waves. I think they, like the rest of us, don't want this vibrant and happy feeling to end. So it's spontaneous mexican waves and foam finger high fives on the work commute from now on. Here is an illustration of a Games Maker going back to work but full of happy memories. Yes - it really did happen, hooray! 

My Moby Dick cover design (see earlier blog entry) is featured in an exhibition currently in Antwerp City Hall. The exhibition called - DoeDeMee ('join in' in Dutch) features all 100 designs from a list of 100 greatest books of all time. The original concept for the project is to create artwork inspired by these books and use the results to promote literacy around the world. The exhibition was launched on International Literacy Day 2012 (8th Sept) and is on until the 16th of Sept. 

Click here for exhibition information.

 As part of the promotion my image was one of a selection from the show to be featured in the national newspaper de Standaard:

All the posters in the show are available to buy here.  A percentage of the proceeds go to charities that promote reading. This venture is endorsed by UNESCO who run the International Literacy Day amongst many other global science and cultural initiatives.

The DoeDeMee team behind the exhibition are hoping to launch the show in other cities including London so watch this space for more news.  More information can be found on facebook here.