I've Almost Forgotten What You Did Last Summer

Most phone conversations I have will have at some point the phrase 'not much to report really' in them, but actually looking back I reckon I've done quite a lot this year dammit!  And then I've realised that being as it's been a bit of a whirl (and when it hasn't I've enjoyed the break from my computer..), I haven't really told you guys about any of it.

So in small bursts I'm going to tell you where I've been.  There will be MONKS!

TINY DOGS! (larger when I've found the right file!!).....

 MEERKATS (in case you're not sick of them already!!)....

AND A PR PHOTO MASTERCLASS...

I'll bet you can't wait...

Sam's latest offering gets luke warm response from forest animals...

Woo! Woo!  That's right, I've been back to Story Corner again - the latest episode of Driver Dan's Story Train to include scribbles by me aired last night on CBeebies.  I never tire of having my name read out in Dan's chocolatey tones...Dan's a lion by the way.  You can see more shots from it by clicking on my portfolio on the right (dammit I'm organised).  Looking forward to early next year, as the Driver'll be reading a story wot I have wrote too! 
PS for pedants I know that cats and goats aren't technically forest animals...they are however in a forest in this picture, so I'm having it.

Halloween Big Draw

Well, sort of..it was a bit early - we did it on the 29th.  I had a great time, as I think did everyone.  Had a go at doing big pictures (with a paintbrush and everything..very Rolf Harris) and it was kinda addictive.  Once again properly put in my place by the superior imaginitive power of kids though...

Thanks to Foyles, everyone that came and of course the Brillustration lot (check more pictures on their blog by the way!)http://brillustrationbristol.blogspot.com/2011/10/brillustration-at-foyles-bookstore.html

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.

More gorillys

Hello again folks.  Slightly slim pickins today; partly as I really had to do these sketches in a stolen moment before going to pick up my kids from school, but also as Salome was doing the sensible thing and  keeping out of the limelight a bit...looked out for all the time I think by her other son Komale (apologies if I'm getting any details wrong here!).  I did quite literally hide in a bush to draw these; they are pictures of them resting under a little shelter.  I appreciate that the first sketch is just shapes that may mean nothing to anyone but me, but I quite like it.

Also struggling a little to get the feel of these pictures right with just a pen. Their expressions tend to be really subtle, and quite hard to pick out of a face which is so black , so I think I might get adventurous and get some watercolours on the go for the next ones.  

Well I wasn't expecting that..

What a day!  I have been working on and off on a small mural at Bristol Zoo - I went in today to start on the final stretch.  It was mentioned it'd be nice if it could have a tapir on it..so of I went with me sketchbook to scribble some down....

Got carried away with sketching, and wound up sketching the gorillas.  There was just one sat out in the sun on their own, almost as if they were biding their time waiting for something to happen...

 There was a bit of excitement with keepers and staff running round in a very purposeful 'can't tell you why' kinda way, so I hung around for a bit.  Glad I did, because i got a chance to see  this gorilla (Salome?) step out into the sun clutching her literally just born baby.  In celebration I did a terrible sketch - doesn't quite capture it but it was an amazing moment!

Field notes..

A little page from my field sketchbook.  Recently had to do some research (scribbling) at Durham Cathedral.  There are some some lovely Norman illustrations in the cloisters there chronicling the life and times of St Cuthbert (the cathedral was built to house his shrine).  Reading up on it, it seems his sainthood is pretty much down to the devout way he lived his life, and exemplary services to Christianity.  You've got to have a couple of miracles though...here's one that tickled me.  I tried to copy the expression as accurately as possible.

I can thoroughly recommend a trip to Durham by the way, it's a beautiful place.

Alas NO WORLD OF NOSES...

Cancelled due to lack of interest (it was just a page of me drawing the same nose over and over again - ah the sad world of the half arsed perfectionist!).  But replaced with something far nicer.  My daughter did this the other day, and there is nothing about it I don't like.  It is a goblin dressed as a fairy by the way, and before any of you think of ripping that gorgeous idea off, I am way ahead of you!  I have started with the nose...

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.

Another of my favourite things...

This one from my wall.  I love the effects you can get with screenprinting but do get put off by the expense and the chemicals.  One technique I do really like is just using paper stencils on the screen -bye bye expense and chemicals for starters, plus it makes me think about picture-making in a way I never normally do. I was talking to a guy recently who does printing just this way on a table at home.  Hmmmmm.

Under the bridge...or the homework my dog ate...

So this is the stuff I left in the car...and after all that really only one sketch actually.  I likes it though.

A bit of background - my favourite place in the whole world at the moment I've decided is just under the swing bridge/by the lock gates in Cumberland Basin.  I cross the lockgates every day I go to work, and often as not that will be the most interesting part of that day.  Both the gates and the bridge are mechanical wonders (the bridge when it swings above your head seems hyper-real), there's the Suspension Bridge in the background, the Bond buildings and then there's the nature side of things - the water, the river banks, the effect the weather has on the place.  It's always different whenever I go there and I love it.

One of my favourite things is when they fill the lock with water to allow boats to pass.  The water goes crazy in a way very hard to describe and, as it turns out, to draw- but I had a go..

Today the plug seemed to have been pulled out..

Funnily enough I was a little late for work...

Meerkats

Eyop!  Sorry I've been a while away - I've been feverishly drawing (can't tell you)s for my a story I wrote about (shouldn't say) for another episode of Driver Dan's Story Train.  I am dead excited as this the first story I've written to have been published, aired or more or read by a cartoon lion.  Watch this space!
I meant to post some groovy location sketches from my travels around Bristol (erm, walk to work) today, but I realised I've left my sketchbook in my car which the lovely Mel has now driven to work.  So to fill the time here're a couple of pics that I did recently to illustrate whimsical facts for the new meerkat enclosure at Bristol Zoo  (if you want to see the rest you'll either have to visit or wait till I leave my sketchbook in the car again).

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.

Ready...steady...

Over on Keith's blog a while back he asked for suggestions for new projects/approaches and I suggested speed drawing...for example drawing people on the platform whilst your train stops at a station.  He duly rose to the challenge, whilst I realise I really haven't put my money where my mouth is.  There was also some debate further down the line (no pun..) about the nature of drawing, and what your scribbles mean to the scribbler and the viewer and why.  Here's (by my reckoning) a 15 second drawing done whilst my friend was paying for and returning from the bar with her coffee.  I'm really pleased with this because with the minimum information I can now call to mind the guy's pose, what he was doing even perhaps his mood.  I've got no idea if this is just because I did it though...may mean bugger all to anyone else!

Sketch

Sorry to have been away a while again folks - I am currently frantically scribbling for a job (usual rules apply and I can't show you any of it!).  In the meantime here's a study sketch I did the other day that I quite like. Karisma pencils on Chartwell Lab Book paper possibly more satisfying than drawing on bananaskin with a biro. Watercolour pretty satisfying too...you can see the moment I realised these things fairly early on in this (fairly battered now) sketchbook....

A little bitta fun..

I recently contributed to a game of online consequences that was started by Frances Cony on the South West Illustrators blog...it was a bit of a rush job but i quite like it.... hopefully it'll take off!

Kizoa slideshow: Consequences 1 - Slideshow

Mel's Stuff again!

Hey all, just to say Mel's finally got a Folksy site where you can buy goodies with her lovely designs on.  Annoyingly she's made her first couple of sales within minutes of it going live (no mums or close friends were prewarned neither) so she will likely be unbearable when she gets back from work!  Do check it out - her stuff is ace -abd  if you like it there'll be more where that came from soon...  Now tell your friends!

Fame at last!!

Anyone wondering how to cut a dash on the beach this summer should check this link.  It's all about the hat.

Half an hour in the pub..

Okay so I lied..more black and white stuff.  Found myself in the glorious situation of having half an hour with absolutely nothing to do before picking my kids up from school, so I plonked myself in the nearest bar, ordered the least fancy kind of tea on the board and sat and sketched.  There were lots of people either reading or having discussions over bits of paper, pads, magazines etc, so I decided to make paper the theme of the day...

Alas paper can only hold the attention for so long....