Same Thing Every Year

Another pencil in sketchbook piece.

Not sure what the thing is on his head is - possibly a leech, or a hat with teeth.

Terrible scan though. Will have to try it again...

Submitted for Illustration Friday topic: Perennial.

The Smallest Gesture

The feel of lead dragging across good paper. Love it.

Another sketch that began with no real direction while sitting around.  The location of the ears was helped along by my 3yo who found the pencil and sketch pad while i was out one evening, and drew one of them in. I had been thinking about placing them low, but i guess he helped finalise the decision....

Submitted for Illustration Friday topic Gesture.

Cock Fight

It is what it is. Two giant cocks battling it out to the death, in a desert dust bowl. Two cocks enter. One cock leaves. This is the way it has to be....

The title, based on that weird bird blood sport, was the obvious inspiration for this painting, but as i was sketching it out in the sketch book, i decided that i wanted to work on painting monumental scale, in a kinda fantasy art wankery way.

Last year sometime i saw some of the artwork done for that abysmal film Clash of The Titans. It was the Cracken emerging from the water,  and while the film was crap, this image was awesome, and the sense of scale of the beast was wonderful, and i kept in in mind while working on this.

The other thing i was looking to study was getting  movement in dust and atmosphere a little more, as the cocks would be rising up and thumping down and twisting like two snakes fighting, kicking up debris, and dust.

It Is Not A Toy.

Taken as far as i can in the small sketchbook i have, the next step is possibly trying to colour it up some how.Kinda like it like this though....

Submitted for Illustration Friday topic: Toy.

It Is Not A Toy. (work in progress - 2)

Got a bit more time at it last night while watching telly.

It Is Not A Toy. (work in progress)

Good Lord! Is it late March already? I haven't put up anything since before Christmas.... after a very dark and long winter, filled with flu after flu being passed on between the 2 kids, the missus and myself (we all nearly drowned on the amount of snot pooling in the house), it would appear all is clear, the sun is back, and the finger has been pulled out.

So to ensure people that I haven't died, I thought i'd put up a sketch i'm working on, more of a doodle really. It began yesterday when the Girl was asleep (finally) and i had a hankering for drawing, but couldn't leave her alone in case she fell off the couch.

This is not digital, by the way.

It's been quite some time since i used pencil for anything other than scratching out ideas for complete works - really rough sketches - so i took the time here to feel the lead on the surface of the page, and just see where it took me. I'm still not sure where it is taking me, other than i know i probably should have started this in a larger notebook... the spiral bind is going to stop me being able to finish the top of the head, and  the chin may loose out too. ~sigh~
Let's call this a work in progress; I'll put up more as it progresses....

Waiting

A piece that was put on the back burner some time ago, as it all seemed too daunting a task for me - an actual landscape scene (of sorts).

Mostly i draw characters or cartoons that may or not be in some sort of environment, but with this one i was actually aiming to paint the environment, with the figure being a secondary consideration. It started with the mushroom on the tree, and the rain lead to the mushroom providing shelter, hence the figure.

Other opportunities of study for me in this work were the concept that objects in the distance are somewhat hazy, ill-defined and much paler than the middle ground, and the foreground objects darker and slightly out of focus too - all these aspects helping to achieve a more convincing 3D space; and using a somewhat limited palette of colour. I've used many colours now, and also have a history with black and white, so it was a fun challenge trying to limit the number or colours used.

I'm reasonably happy with this study, and somewhat relieved to have it finished...

Here's a still's animation of the process. Not great quality, but maybe next time.

Nymph In Milk Bath. In The Snow (Normal Lindsay Made Me Do It)

I was looking to try out some more Water Colour brushes, and as i've never really tried to draw a female face i set out to do so. It seems i was unable to pull very far away from the cartoony faces i normally do, but managed to get closer to a 'pretty' face - though i'm not completely happy with it.

The ears turned up along with the hair as i began to be reminded Normal Lindsay's nymphs and playful nudes. If you don't know what I'm on about, look it up.

I needed to put her in some sort of context, and as i wasn't really in the mood for f*ck-arseing around concentrating on clothes, i just worked down the body til she appeared to be partially submerged. And i wanted to draw some boobs. Lets call it an exercise in painting buoyancy....

Creature

A blend of maybe elephant, tortoise and insect. If I thought I wouldn't ruin it by continuing, I'd paint in the small fire it's supposed to be standing beside, that is warming the girl who was lost on the coast where it lives.

Maybe I'll revisit it later....

The Runner

Quick sketch of a beer bellied man in a large hat running nude though a post apocalyptic wasteland.

I can't really explain this one, other that i was doing a study of shadows on the man, and clothes got in the way; and also doing a study of background-as-pale-blur.

I've plans to revisit this at some point, but I'm not sure why....

Swamp Man

Quick sketch of a swamp dwelling man. Wanted a feeling of wisdom and patience, with a twinkle in the eye.

The swamp scenes from Ten Canoes got me thinking about how one might live in such an area. Clearly, you'd need stilt legs.

I've plans ot revisit this at some stage...

The Girl On The Hill

Quick sketch of a girl in a hill, with a fantasy vibe. Wanted a curious expression, and a posture of contained anticipation.

Like she's wondering whether to hurt someone or not, but in a nice way.

I've plans to revisit this at some stage....

New Irish Folklore

As an outsider coming to live in Ireland, i had many misconceptions about what it would be like here. There is a lot of folk lore here, and i have always had an interest in myths and the like, for almost any culture, since before i could read - looking at picture of the Greek and roman legends, hearing stories of Australian Aboriginal dreamtime, as well as the Irish and English tales.

Now, i don't expect to see any leprechauns or banshees, but i was expecting rolling green hills, plenty of stone walls, dread-locked sheep, and wrinkly old men tipping hats. What i wasn't expecting was piles of rubbish on the roadside, colonies numbers of caravans parks on roundabouts or median strips, tracksuits tucked into socks without a tongue anywhere near a cheek, and pyjamas. Pyjamas everywhere....