Cartoon concept art

Here's some concept art I did for a fantastic Cartoon series in development at Studio Cheese. This was used in a brochure/presentation pack to help sell the idea. Monsters, Aliens, Evil geniuses... how difficult can it be to sell that?

Hot Pot Royale

A recent storyboarding exercise, trying to get a cross-cutting gag down in under 15 panels.

Back to Brandenburg

Here's another illustration for Graham Thomas' Hats of to Brandenburg. This one's for the back of the novel. The parchment is blank to accommodate the book's blurb, not because I couldn't be bothered to finish it.
HOTB publisher TheNeverPress now have a facebook page too.

Misery Bear: My part in his exploitation

Miserablist internet sensation, Misery Bear, got in touch earlier this year asking me to help him 'colour in some drawings' for his new book - Misery Bear's Guide to Love & Heartbreak. After laughing in his despondent face for several minutes I finally took pity on him, and agreed to help, after all who knows what mess he would have made with a pen... the guy has no hands. So I churned out some second rate scribbles in a couple of minutes, just to keep him happy... well as happy as he's ever likely to get.

You can see the depressing results of this collaboration when the tome is published by Hodder & Stoughton on October 13th, 2011. If you've got nothing better to do with your time or money you could pre-order your copy at amazon or waterstones. Go on... do your bit to keep the bear in booze.

You can find more info and enjoy some teddy related schadenfreude here
Join everyone in filling the drunk bum with false hope on facebook
Or you can follow the fluffy loser on twitter.

Chuck Randomness

Here's a colour warm up sketch I did of Charlton Heston as Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar in the 1961 epic El Cid.
What I was actually working on at the time had nothing to do with El Cid, but there you go...

Hats off to Brandenburg - A guided tour of the cover.

A closer look at the characters and events featured on the cover to Graham Thomas' Hats off to Brandenburg. Kicking off above with the main man (men?) Benjamin Ananas/Count Abraham von Brandenburg. The would be saviour of the Roxy Playhouse, he must delve deep into his tragic past to create a character who can restore the fortunes of the ailing theatre.

Archie Enfield - Benjamin's closest friend and the Roxy's resident lothario.

Desiree - The beautiful Perugian ballerina who discovers another talent in the field of swordplay, all in the service of the Roxy.

Gertie - The one time urchin, now ever ready with his butterfly net should wire walker Anya take a fall from the rafters.

Kemble - Disease ridden maniac, and recurring villain of the piece. This is what happens when bad actors turn really bad.

The Coach Duel - One of the novel's set piece action scenes, breathtaking feats of daring do on the cobbled streets of ye olde London town.

Find out more at www.theroxyplayhouse.com

Army of Bears

As a follow up to yesterday's post here are some of the sketches I did for my initial Armoured Bear illustration a couple of years ago. These were done very quickly as I remember, I was just trying to work out how the whole armoured plating thing would work on a polar bear. I was looking at a lot of books on armour worn by horses in battle, but looking at it now it seems more influenced by the gear worn by the Uruk-Hai and Attack Trolls from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films.

I've just realised its Halloween and I should probably have posted something with more of an appropriate theme. Well there's always next year, and anyway an armoured bear would scare the hell out of me if it came trick-or-treating. I'll post something scarey soon. Probably on Christmas Eve.

Happy Halloween

Armoured Bear

This is a recent reworking of an illustration I did a couple of years ago. The first attempt can still be seen on my website. Its based on characters from Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights novel (The Golden Compass - US). I was reminded of it recently with the current hype surrounding the forthcoming film version. I saw the film poster in our local cinema featuring Lyra and Iorek Byrnison the armoured bear. I have to say I still sort of prefer my design for the armour (even if you might mistake my bear for a large angry badger) but I suppose we'll have to wait for the film's release in December to judge what it looks like in action.

Space Mural

Some photos here of the mural we finished off last week in our local hospital's Accident and Emergency wing. There was a very small window of opportunity for us to get in there and do the work as its an area of the hospital that is in high demand and there was already refurbishment work being caried out.
The 3m x 3m ceiling area to be painted was specifically designated as a child's treatment cubicle and staff wanted something bright on the ceiling to help distract 5 to 10 year olds from whatever unpleasantness they may be undergoing. With this in mind I looked at a lot of the design techniques used by animators and cartoonists in the 50s - people like Mary Blair, Tom Oreb and even Saul Bass. A great Source of inspiration was Amid Amidi's book 'Cartoon Modern : Style and Design in Fifties Animation'. I thought the strong graphic style and bright colours of the period would lend themselves to quick application with stencils. It worked too, though It would have been impossible without the help of designer extraordinaire Carrie Edwards, sharing the work at the top of that scaffholding.
So despite working in a completely alien style and having to deal with real paint and all its associated messiness, I was fairly pleased with the end result. I only hope the poor kids who have to sit underneath it don't feel like its adding to their woes. I also have to thank Steve and Cat Tait for bringing the project to my attention in the first place - Cheers.