Christmas Card 2015

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! 

I hope you all had a fantastic time, here's to 2016!

Beyonce

Just a quick warm up exercise looking at trying to capture the resemblance of a celebrity without going into extreme caricaturing.

Billy

I took one of the designs from my high school kids and played around with a different kind of painting to give it  some quick colour. I've named him Billy, right here he's looking pretty pleased with himself, he probably just did awesome at track practice.

Snowy Owl

Over the last few days i've played around with a different kind of reference. I saw a really cute sculpture while out in Canada and took a photo for future reference. I've been trying to bring to life the little white owl (photo) as a new little character. If I have more time for these exercises in the future there are a few other animals on the sculpture I'd love to use as a design basis too.

High School Kids

I find children of all ages notoriously difficult to draw. Here I took on the task of designing four different kids of around 16 years old with only the titles of 'bully', 'smart', 'shy' and 'athletic' as a starting point. It took more iterations than I care to remember but I've finally got to a point where I'm happy with these guys.

Diner Gals

I love the 50's era of real retro American diners. I designed these three waitresses with very different temperaments while researching the theme... And now I want a large frosty milkshake in a metal cup.

Crowned Crane

A stern but wise grey, crowned crane. She's not one to be messed with.I used to draw animals all the time but lately I've found myself immersed with human designs, must get back into the animal kingdom soon!

Engagement Illustration

It seems i'm getting to that age in life where everyone around me is getting engaged and married. Wedding season is upon us for another year and I couldn't be happier for a bunch of my friends who are saying the big 'I do'! With all the blossoming or soon to be marital bliss, I find myself doing more wedding work - engagement presents, save the dates and invitations are becoming a more common occurrence in my work life and I love it. Being part of someone's big day, in whatever way, is always a big privilege.

This piece was done for a friend of mine back in Spain. She approached me to illustrate characters of her Sister and new fiancé celebrating their engagement. Above is the resulting illustration and the lovely bride-to-be with the framed print and gift. She was so happy with it I was later asked to adapt it to be used as save-the-dates :)

Ready Freddie!

This was an experiment in pushing the element of caricature in my designs. I have a big admiration for those artists who can really nail a caricature so you know exactly who they are as soon as you look at their artwork. I used my favourite singer ever, the great Freddie Mercury for this one.

A Tale as Old as Time

Weddings and their accompanying artwork have been increasingly prevalent over the last year or so and I'm really enjoying it! Whether it be a Save the Date, Invitation or a gift there really is a lot of joy in being involved in helping to celebrate a couple's big(gest!) day.

This piece was done back at the end of Summer 2014 as a gift for a very close friend of mine and her lovely, now husband. 'Beauty and the Beast' has always been Sonia's favourite film and the title song was even part of their first dance medley. The couple are lovely, the wedding was amazing and it was a privilege to be a part of their day as a bridesmaid.

Handy Andy

Experimenting with styles; a quick character design based off some of the work Daniel Arriaga did for 'Wreck it Ralph'. I'm calling her Handy Andy :)

Rootin' Tootin'

I've been working hard - I promise! ... Just not so much as the blog updating. Over the next few weeks i'm going to right that and be posting some catch up stuff that i've done over the last few months.

February Life Sketches

A selection of life sketches from the last month. I'm trying my best to get many more of these done in general and get some select ones online once a month. Watch this space!

January Sketch Dailies

12th January

14th January

So far 2015 has started off very busy - in a good way! I'm working hard on paid work and also simultaneously taking courses in character design. If I get any down time I will definitely get back to Sketch Dailies as I love the concept, the community around it and tackling topics I wouldn't usually consider. For now, here are the couple I completed during January.

... How is it nearly the end of February already?! 

2014 - A Year of Two Halves

I've been going back and forth to this since the end of last year but i'm going to stop stewing and call it 'finished'. This was a really personal piece for me and for a while I was debating not putting it online but it's good to share, so here it is.

2014 was literally a year of two halves for me. For the first half of 2014 I was living in the South of Spain, where I had moved to back in August of 2013, and working for a mobile gaming company in Gibraltar. At the beginning of July the job I had took me back to London where I was reunited with my much missed other half, family and friends.

I couldn't begin to try and sum up the experiences and adventures I had last year. Each place has it good and bad points. I had a wonderful experience living and working abroad but I was so happy to come back to the big city. In this piece i've picked a small selection of a whole bunch of highlights I was lucky enough to experience throughout the year; the left half representing my time abroad (Jan- June) and the right half representing my time back in London (July - December) 

Click the link below to read the details of each panel.