Movember field report

A quick field sketch of a guy who walked past me in the bar earlier - rocking a quality mo, but he didn't seem to have quite settled into it yet and was looking slightly defensive.  Not that I am one to talk - I alas am prevented from growing a full on mo by a rare genetic condition that causes my moustache to grow ginger whilst the rest of my hair is dull brown...makes me look like an 80 a day roll-up smoker, and stops my other half from talking to me.

Brillustration do Waterstones in Bristol

If they ever remake 'The Usual Suspects' for CBeebies.....

This Saturday was a mad one, but in a very good way..near as dammit six hours of non stop scribbling in Waterstones window.  Only the six Brillustrators this time, and I think it would be fair to say there was a healthy degree of bricking it going on beforehand as the windows were bigger than usual (and there were more of them!).  

But my Brillustration chums stepped up to the plate in resounding fashion and I think it was one of our best efforts yet.  I've put some pictures of my contribution here...

..In the meantime I thoroughly recommend popping over to see more detailed pics of the whole thing on the Brillustration blog

Grade A Scoundrel Sean Julian steals my thunder with his amazing Beary Dieters pic.

Big thanks to all at Waterstones Bristol for bravely giving us free reign, and to the Brillustrators for being ace..especially the ones who (hem hem) whose photos of the day I've perloined..... MWOOHAHAAAH!

A Little Bit Bunny

A while back now I joined an ace blog called "A Little Bit Bunny": it's pretty simple ... each month a different animal is picked and the illustrators involved submit a picture to do with that animal. I have been meaning to add something to the site forever.... I think I got round to it before the road to hell was fully paved!  Here's one of 'em - for the other you'll need to Bunny it up!

Be there or be square!

If you're in the Bristol area this Saturday and fancy helping some top notch illustrators fill the walls with nice pictures, then please come on down!  Also, keep an eye on Brillustration's blog...ees nice.

A taste of the border..

As you may have figured I've been a tad busy of late.  I'll show y'all the results when I'm allowed to, but in the meantime here's a scribble that I did in the border of the page I'm working on.  Tomorrow, World of Noses!

Train Doodles

Greetings friends - long time no see with usual apologies and excuses.  All work and no play has done level best to make Sam a dull boy, but not quite there yet (hopefully!).  Anyhoo, some sketches from a train trip I took yesterday.  Had a go at the 'drawing people from a glimpse' thing that I recommended Keith (sorry about that mate!) with mixed results, and as you can see doodling and the odd pretentious scribble took over!

Then I got the chance to draw this chap, and it might be one of my favourite sketches to date.  Obviously I know nothing about this guy, but he seemed genuinely thrilled to be on a train, so I really enjoyed drawing him.  I think he rumbled me too, but was enjoying the view out the window so much that he wasn't bothered.

Filler!

This fell out of my drawer when I was looking for something else...by the looks of it I did it around Christmas time.  Whenever I'm working I always tend to lose one sheet of nice paper when the doodles take over, both of stuff i'm meant to be working on and other random brain rattles.

Can you work out which tentacle Ozzy has his morning snack in?

A sample piece I did a while back....

With Easter approaching...

I planned to design some cards for this Christmas just gone, but I have to admit I find this really hard to do. As time was against me I gave it up as a bad job -but I thought I'd put this sketch up as it shows how I tend to work - normally I work ideas up in pencil, try out a myriad poses and ideas all on top of each other, find the bit I like in the middle and then rub everything out around it. Doesn't quite work with pen sketches, but I like the effect.

Best pic I did last week..

This is my favourite 'speed drawing' that I did last week at the RWA. The idea of speed drawing is that you sit facing someone and you draw each other for 4 mins, then move on to someone else, then the time is reduced etc etc. This can be acutely embarrassing, but it's also fun. For this pic though I was sat in a circle with this kid and his family - he was actually drawing his mum, who in turn was drawing either me or her daughter. They were a nice family and the kid seemed properly into his drawing ( ie the one he was doing and in general) which was really nice to see.

A bit computery...

Eyop-

If any of you have returned to my blog after ANOTHER recent and fairly long period of absence then thankyou!! I have been pretty busy since Christmas with illustration projects, which I'll share as soon as I'm able. Though it's a bit slack, in busy periods I'm going to haul a bit of stuff from the archive (need to do it before my Mac dies too!) -so here's one; it's an ident for Rabbit Stew, an alas shortlived illustration collective..

Self portrait

Whilst trying to avoid the fact that I have a slight idea vacuum for a job I'm working on (see peripheral scribbles), thought I might have a go at a quick self portrait. Quickly realising it was going to be a 'moody' one, I took evasive action and turned it into a doodle instead - the result was a pleasing mix of The Chipmunks and an Empire of the Sun album cover....

Actually think about it, my portfolio's littered with self-portraits I've thought better of - here's one of my faves (though probably just cos I likes the colour!). Apologies, it's dead old...

On the buses part 4

Erm, a bloke chewing gum...
Really wanted to capture the weather systems being charted by his hair but don't think I quite pulled it off..

On the buses Part 3

A bit of nearly asleep bus doodling. As you maybe able to tell I was playing round with the idea of working on some typography. I can pretty much explain why everything is there except the ice cream ( I do like ice creams though - is that a good enough reason?)

On the buses Part 2

This was a guy in the coach next to mine waiting to leave Victoria Coach Station.

On the buses Part1

Went on a trip to Eastbourne recently, and spent a fair amount of time either on National Express buses or waiting for them. I did quite a few scribbles along the way, and as a cunning way of looking like I do a sketch a day, I thought I'd spread them out over a few days. Let me know if you get bored!

At Victoria.

Monster I up!!

Just seen a blog called monstersinrealplaces (somoene please show me how to do links!!) which is ace. As i haven't yet sorted any pics to go on it, I thought I'd bide time with a cover I did for a band I was in (further enquiries will be met with wall of silence!).

Sir Tiny Doodles

Feeling lazy again so here's another one found during my big clear out. These are some edge of page doodles I did whilst working on the Sir Tiny story for Storytrain. A visit to my old friend the 'Big Book of How to Draw Horses' swiftly followed.