It's only a phase: September 2005

Illustration Friday - Fresh

The topic 'Fresh' this week reminded me of how my father always describes the weather - no matter how grim it is!

fresh weather illustration

'Fresh' always meant cold & windy to me; to him this wet 'n windy scene would just be 'Fresh', just blowing the cobwebs away, perfect for a stroll or a bike ride! ahh yes, many a holiday in the damp (but beautiful) Lake District where the rest of the family would be huddling & dragging feet just to get to the next English Pub, where dad would be 20 yards ahead going, "c'mon it's just round the next bend - just a bit of fresh weather thats all!"

tags: fresh, weather, illustration

dinky linky

I've been gathering bookmarks randomly now across several computers as I stumble across great sites, so it's about time I consolidated some of them! I've added a few to the sidebar, so have a fresh explore there. Cream of the crop has to be Uli Meyer's blog & his Studio's website which has some extremely slick animation, as you'd expect!

Some I've been sitting on a while, some are from more recent entries over at Drawn!. Also check out the talents of illustrator Kirsten Ulve, her stylised caricatures are fab. Stan Makowski has some mad & slightly twisted cartoons too! If you can understand French then BenGrr is worth a visit & has lots to browse.

Illustration Friday - Roots

Although I'm sure there will be lots of trees etc. knocking about for this weeks Illustration Friday I couldn't resist getting this image down - it popped into my head as soon as I saw the topic, so I thought sometimes it's best just to stick with that first concept rather than thinking too hard.

I find as I spend time in a certain place, be it studying or working, I slowly develop some kind of closeness to the place & it means I'm comfortable, almost homely, when I go back. All these places I've spent long enough at to have put some roots down in & feel some affinity with. Obviously my childhood home, & London where I live now. But also where I went to school in Oakham, & where I worked for a time in Leeds. My time at University also gave me many fond memories up in Durham & also UCSB in California.

I believe my roots have stopped growing as fast as they did over the last 10 years; now they are just growing deeper rather than wider!
tags: illustration, roots, sketch

Collaborative Toons

Been reasonably busy over the past few weeks with some artwork as part of an on-going collaborative venture called C-Works to create a load of cartoons, with the hope of eventually building a portfolio of decent work.

You can see some of the finished ones by clicking below. They're being added to all the time & the style is somewhat different to what I am used to doing, so it's a great challenge & is hopefully going someway to improve my sketching.