The Sketchbook

Sketchbook is dead

2009-12-16T06:09:00.000-08:00

And it has been for quite a while, but for anyone who'd like to still see some of my work you can check it out here.

Sketchbook will stay about so I'll still have all my old work to view.

So...

2009-02-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty slack with this but it's for good reasons. I'm still doing my sketchbook well I intend to but I'm currently going through all of my UCAS stuff and having to get my portfolio finished and the sketchbook is finished enough for now.

I got a letter from Brighton asking for me to send a disk of my work back so I'm in a mad stress over which pieces to use.

Two shirt

2009-01-16T16:43:00.000-08:00

So I'm still stoked on my tshirt getting printed and I have been working so hard on my portfolio I haven't had time to draw anything new for today. Instead here is a different tshirt that my girlfriend made. Just one of my characters screenprinted on, modeled by my lovely girlfriend.

New Years resolution.

2009-01-15T16:38:00.001-08:00

So one of my New Years resolutions was to get a tshirt printed and sold this year and I'm happy to announce that my first ever tshirt is being sold in Native Skatestore. Here it is

Pretty stoked and if you want to buy it click here.

Bad dreams

2009-01-14T16:43:00.000-08:00

So I drew this as a plan for a illustration I posted yesterday. I quite liked the fat guy rather than the thin one in the final version but he didn't look scary enough.

Up to date.

2009-01-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

So I've not updated in a while. Now that is slack but I personally have not been slack, in fact I've been hammering it. Suddenly realised the other day my sketchbook is now a proper sketchbook, originally I was drawing in it just to have a book full of my favorite illustrations but now they've kind of changed into ideas where I repeat them and make them better and they constantly evolve.

Not all keen on this drawing. It was meant to be some crazy wood monster but it just ended up looking like a muppet on crack.

This is for something I've been planning for a while. Like a kind of piss take of "Hey Diddle Diddle".

So those are the only things in my sketchbook but I've re drawn loads of characters for my home made book I'm putting into my portfolio.

Black and White Illustrations

Crocodile Gary

Yeti

The Happy Little Bucket

Little Lizard

Clown

Cheerful Tree

Digital Illustrations

Experimenting with watercolour and pen

Smiling Shrub

Lonely Vulture

Manic Conifer

Not so keen on the watercolours but I thought I needed to put some diversity in there.

And finally I did another commision.

Also I'm now on Flickr so if any of those images don't seem to work check them out here.

New YARRRR

2009-01-03T15:44:00.000-08:00

So it's three days late but it's all good. I think 2009 should be a good year. I'm gonna try and get everything I plan done unlike last year where I had plans and never did them. First thing to do is get my portfolio started.

New Year tramp

2009-01-01T15:15:00.001-08:00

This should have been posted days ago as I drew it days ago but I've been ill and busy so it wasn't.

First post of the New year.

This is kind of the same style character as before but I lost certain things when drawing him, he's not squat enough for my liking.

Century

2008-12-27T18:08:00.000-08:00

This is my 100th post.

This is also probably the best thing I've drawn in ages. Really happy with it. It's kind of a new style but kind of the same as my old ones. I think it's worked really well. The hat was a mistake I feel but ah well.

Buffalion

2008-12-26T16:58:00.000-08:00

So Christmas has been and gone but I can say it's been a good one. I got some excellent gifts, my favorite being the Juxtapoz illustration book which has made me see some new styles which I'd never really seen before. I also got a set of Faber Castell Indian Ink pens with brush tips.

I tried them out for this character and a new style of shading. Kind of unsure if I hate it or like it. It was originally going to be a buffalo but has slowly evolved into a hybrid Buffalion.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T04:14:00.000-08:00

I've been slack on the updating so here's what i've done this week.

Everyone have a good Christmas and I'm gonna get off my arse and finish this sketchbook before the end of January when I'll announce some news.

Peace

Merry Commisions

2008-12-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

So Christmas is the time for giving and lots of people enjoy giving paintings apparently as I've had quite a few commisions over this period. Here are the latest four I finished. I'll get close ups tomorrow when it's light so the flash doesn't ruin them.

All in all I now have been able to buy my family presents and it's all good.

Poor update

2008-12-16T16:59:00.002-08:00

So I wasn't going to post these illustrations cos they're shit but I thought I might as well because it's a sketchbook and not everything in it will be as good as I'd like it.

This one is an owl, it looked better as I first sketched it but went downhill as I was adding ink to it with the most horrendous hang over ever.

When I was finishing this turtle I lost all abilities to draw hands but ah well. I'm sure they'll return.

Snowmandem

2008-12-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

So I've been slack, but it did snow and I did draw this in it. I'm unbelievably busy with college and it's a stress so I doubt I'll do that much sketchbook work until my brief is finished. However I'm going away for the weekend so I will get some done. There has been new work done in my moleskin but that shit is under wraps.

Uno line

2008-12-03T15:23:00.000-08:00

So this may look like I didn't put much effort in to these but actually I did. It is all one line. That's tech. I really want to get good at this as a mate of mine called Dom can draw full detailed characters like this and it's fresh as fuck.

Sea horse

2008-12-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

My girlfriend was bored on the train so she kept saying different animals and things to draw. Never tried a Seahorse before, I finished it yesterday but it seemed to plain so I started the scales and it took a long time to finish them.

Slack

2008-12-01T15:43:00.001-08:00

I need to stop being slack. I have loads of half finished pages in my sketchbook. I'm gonna try and finish some tomorrow and slam them up.

Any way, another filler.

Did this a while back when I was obsessed with cockatiels. Don't think it's particularly great but ah well.

Squirrel

2008-11-27T12:20:00.001-08:00

Drew this on the train on the way back from London. In a huge rush so there'll be better banter later.

Apoligies

2008-11-25T15:19:00.000-08:00

So quick explanation, I have chilled and realised that my Dad's comments on the painting being alright kind of just made me realise it wasn't right and I just wanted someone to blame for my poor piece of work. Anyway because of this I have redone it and I am a lot happier with it and just happier in general. So happy I have three pictures for you today.

A lot happier with this. The colour work better, it is cleaner and the dark red works well with it.

So it's a friend's birthday and I drew them a picture. It is one which has never been on here and may possibly never be seen. Not because I don't like it but just because I'm keeping it secret in my little moleskin. In fact all of my moleskin work is secret. But anyway I decided that I wanted them to know the card was from me so made a smiley face out of it. Kind of like a real life character although I was thinking how rad it'd be to get some of those printed, they wouldn't be that hard to make. Maybe this is another thing I'll claim I'll do and never bother to actually do.

And finally I drew the snake from the last post on my wall because I felt like my poscas don't get used enough. Ignore the shit thing next to him, it was something that never got finished and I can't remember what was meant to be going on with it.

So that's it. I'm off to LCC to check out the Graphics department. Lots of drawing on the train...maybe.

Two things

2008-11-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

So I redid that stencil in four layers and I thought it looked alright but then I showed it to my father who said "It'll look alright when it's finished." So as always the angered child I decided to just pour paint on it and hope it would end up looking good. It didn't.
So pretty much the canvas now lies in two pieces in my garage as I destroyed it because it is shit and I cannot do anything else with it because of the fucking drips.

Second thing which I do like is a new illustration. Python, well an adder, or it might be a pyhton, dunno what they look like.

Stencil weekend

2008-11-23T10:59:00.000-08:00

So I kept getting really pissed off with different things in the stencil I did the other day and I ended up just redoing it because it was bugging me so much. I'm pretty happy with how it's came out. I'll probably stick with the multilayers, I don't think I can do justice to the whole two layer deal.

Stencil again

2008-11-21T10:34:00.000-08:00

So I repainted that stencil I posted last night. This is what annoys me with stencils, they always look better than the previous but you'll have done something wrong which is something really obvious which you forget.

I also don't like the drips on this one, i'm gonna do it as a portrait on a much smaller canvas. Maybe try and get a better white as the one I'm currently using looks like someone had a piss in the paint. Lips are now red which I think looks good.

Stencil session

2008-11-20T16:16:00.000-08:00

So I've been a slack man on the painting game but that's gonna change. Multi layers are out, black and white is in. Decided to try a new stencil. It's pretty scruffy because I did it very quickly to see how it worked painted. It's like my sketchbook work it's all just planning something better out. I'm gonna start the proper one tomorrow except it's gonna be rad and clean. Quite like the drips idea, that was originally only so that it didn't look weird just cutting off but I'm considering doing it on the canvas.

So I forgot to put this as I was sleepy but this stencil is yet again a wonderful photo taken by my dear friend Anna Victoria Best. I did a different stencil of my girlfriend using her photos and it came out very well.

Stresshead

2008-11-19T16:11:00.001-08:00

I need to get round to sorting out my workspace. I've got so much shit I need to do and I end up doing nothing because my desk is a fucking state. It's annoying that I only get motivated to clean it at night because I can't due to everyone else trying to sleep.

I love having a moleskin sketchbook. My girlfriend got me it for my birthday and it's so useful. I'm just drawing anything in it. My big sketchbook is work I want people to see while this is just anything I think of. I want to have by the end of the year a two or three big sketchbooks and loads of little moleskins full of things.

Munny

2008-11-19T14:34:00.000-08:00

So I bought a munny a while back and didn't do anything with it because i was kind of scared to put a mark on it. So I was talking to mate of mine about how I had it planned but didn't have the money to buy poscas and didn't really want to paint it and he disapeared off into our classroom then came back with a massive box of poscas he'd just bought. So here's my first munny. A lot of things I hate but I guess you live and learn.

Guess how old I am?

2008-11-18T15:01:00.000-08:00

So today was my birthday and I got lots of cool stuff. A new camera, a sticker maker, shirt, books, etc. I'd go ahead and say it's been my favorite birthday so far. Woke up and I didn't have many presents to open as the camera was expensive but everything I did get was well thought out and either exactly what I wanted or something that's hugely useful to me but I didn't think to ask for. Then I got to college and my girlfriend came in and turns out she's been conspiring to get me lots of stuff without telling me so I got another load of presents off her. Stoked.My mate Tom Whittle had the opening of his first solo show type thing "One Night Stand with a Thirsty Brush". Was pretty good, I was stoked.

So I don't really like this as I didn't think it out well enough and I kept trying to do more to it and thinking of things.

Wabbits

2008-11-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

So tshirt design for pretty focused. Ah well, might make a few of my own depending on people being into it or not.

So I got bored at college and wanted to make an old character better so pulled out the rabbit.

Buffalo head

2008-11-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

So this is the start of a character for something I've been planning a while. I've been trying to get it to look better but I thought I'll just put it down on paper and draw it and hopefully it'll evolve like my yeti.
This is kind of a plan for a t-shirt so that's why the pole and his tee are blank as they would have type on them if it got used. Who knows, I'll show you it as it evolves.

Lizard Evolution

2008-11-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

So I felt I'd kind of ignored these lizards for a while so I thought I'd try drawing them again. I want to evolve them a bit. My yeti just from drawing him repeatedly has came along a lot from the first time so I feel I should give more time to these. I'm trying to play with the eyes more as they are a bit to simple on their own.

Sasquatch

2008-11-12T09:08:00.000-08:00

So I stopped being slack today and finished this months Pancakes and brought my colour sketches home to photograph and show you all. This is concept for some illustrator work I'm going to do next week, actually I'll be honest it's concept work for some illustrator work I'm claiming I'll do but probably won't finish next week.

Excuses

2008-11-11T16:41:00.001-08:00

So I apoligise for the slackness, I do have a build up of work to post but I'm also doing loads of important stuff related to uni so that's taken priority. I'm gonna get some proper updates done tomorrow with my new drawings of my sasquatch in colour and different angles.

Shrubbish

2008-11-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

So i'm back on it and I think I've found my work pattern again. I keep starting new projects and some of them are finally coming to an end which is nice.

This is a character for my group of jungle monsters which I've started drawing. Again this looks like it'll drag out but I'm having fun.

This guy is kind of like a shrub creature, the one being done on the big sketch is getting a lot of detail added to him, this is kind of just the concept of him.

Flying Monkey

2008-11-08T08:24:00.001-08:00

I like doing mixed media but I dunno if this one worked very well.

Gonna have a blast at doing some other things like this, maybe without colour.

Stresshead

2008-11-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

So this was meant to be up last night but I had a power cut and have had no gas or electricty till this afternoon.

I'm going through a major crisis at the moment, I've got to the point on my course at college where I need to start making decisions which will affect me through out my life. I want to do illustration but I don't want to work freelance as I could easily end up making no money at all, I kind of want to go into Animation Illustration as I'll be able to do illustration but for a company doing the concept art for their animations. Thing is I think I could do this but what if I end up stuck working for some shit company who just do online cartoons and I don't want to just stop doing graphics. Ah, it's a hard knock life for us.

So anyway, this is a new character and I like him. I think I might make a menagerie of these creatures.

Mundane Clown Posse

2008-11-05T16:01:00.000-08:00

So this is another portfolio page. I dunno if I like it or not. The girl got cocked up with the colour of her face. Also the the ring master looks all faded due to the flash.

Portfolio

2008-11-04T15:53:00.000-08:00

So I have started working on my portfolio as I was reading about different courses I'm considering and my portfolio will be a lot stronger if I have my own work in it which shows my interest in the subject.

So because of this I'm doing some of my favorite characters in larger versions in colour.

I also have got a new desk which has meant I have a totally new work set up so should be hammering it for the next week or two.

Mandem

2008-11-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

So I quite like the style of this character but not the actual execution of it. I feel like it's got a lot of potential but it's failed to reach it. I'm gonna have a play around with this style for a bit.

Shoesys

2008-10-31T10:44:00.001-07:00

So this is the second set of shoes I designed. I prefer this one. The paint splatters are almost like a camo print.

Gonna submit it all on Monday so should have a link up next week for if you want to buy them.

Excuse the slackness

2008-10-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

So there has been a reason for my slackness other than me being on a constant downer, I've been snowed under with work but it's been worth it. We're doing a project with a company called Sneakart. Essentially you get some trainers and buy this Sneakskin stuff and put it on. It means you can have custom trainers for cheap. Anyway they have shit designs at the moment so have asked us to design some for them and since this is exactly the type of thing I'm into I've been hammering the work.

I came up with two sets of designs.

The lizards are stickers which will come separate so you can place them as you want. The background is a load of scribbles with a multiple gradient through them, I might put a few extra scribbles in before I submit it but I think this one works well.

I'll put the link up to buy them when they go on the site as I get the money from it and I'm skint.

Also I'm doing a skate competition this weekend so I'll definetely post tomorrow but Saturday and Sunday I might be busy with skating and partying.

Big five Oh

2008-10-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

So I've been slack recently and I admit but I've had a mad creative block and I've been feeling shit so I didn't feel like it.

So anyway the reason I am feeling like it is a good friend of mine told me they liked my drawings and that they'd like one for their wall. She wanted a Sasquatch which I assume is a clever way of saying Abominable Snowman as that's what I drew.

He's friendly, shy and just a teeny bit slow. I imagine he'd have a deep slow Texan drawl but luckily be racially tolerant or he wouldn't be any good for a kids book.

Also you should all read The Abominable Charles Christopher as it's fantastic and one of my favorite online comics at the moment. The artwork is amazing and the storyline has yet to involve computer games so I love it.

Platypus

2008-10-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

So I was going to draw a made up ridiculous animal but then I remembered the platypus so I drew that, then decided to put nerd glasses and a skiing hat for some reason.

Kind of like it but I feel it could have been done better. Ah well, I'll try a better one tomorrow. One of my first drawings which I've drawn from the photo. I'm gonna do a tshirt design tomorrow or start putting it together. I think I'm gonna try and have a set of tshirts printed by Christmas...so I can give them as a cheap excuse of a gift.

HUG LYF

2008-10-25T16:21:00.000-07:00

So I missed yesterdays update and I think I'm going to have to accept that I won't be updating daily. I'll try my best but it's pretty hard to have enough work to update a blog at such a fast rate. I'll have a lot of stuff to show you next week when I go into college to do some work and I'm currently editing the new issue of Pancakes so I'll link you all to that when it's finished.

So the reason the posture is a bit off on this character is he originally was going to be flying as a weird version of Icarus but I changed my mind half way through and had him hold the HUG LYF flag high. I quite like him, I'm not sure how good the uneven eyes is but I might try it out with a few characters to see if it works or not.

HUG LYF is something my mate made up and I think it's great so it gets used occasionally in work we do. I'll put some of his work up as he's pretty sick and we've done a few collaborations over the last year which never really got shown to anyone.

Deery me.

2008-10-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

So I'm back and I'm more positive. Best I've felt since coming home.Went out, had a good night, saw some friends I hadn't in ages, danced, sang, drank, it's all good.

I'm not all that keen on this but I like the idea and it's given me an idea for something better, even though I'm not amazingly stoked on it I think it's been good because it's got my ideas flowing and I'm feeling good.

As you can tell I didn't scan this very well.

Excuse

2008-10-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

I'm missing todays update because I feel uncreative and that all of my work is just bland. Don't know what's going on but I feel so shit and drawing isn't cheering me up, I've just spent an hour drawing a set of cartoons then scribbled all over it because I hated them.

I'm stuck in a rut and it's shit. I can't think of things to do, I want characters that people go wow that's sick but it isn't happening. I progressed loads when I started the sketchbook and now I'm grinding to a halt. I need to do something which will get me on track.

I'll have some new drawings tomorrow even if they are morbid.

Peace.

Bossman birdy

2008-10-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

So I drew a bird but tried a new style. I quite like it, I'd like some opinions on it. What do you think? Yes? No? Maybe? Can I repeat the question?

Also if you would care to look over at a blog done by a friend of mine, Tom Kirkby, you will see he has written nice things.

Tom is a funny man and quite right in saying I'm angry although right now I'm chilled out. I think you should all check out his club night Creep on the 30th of October at DB Social in Newcastle. I will be there venting my anger.

Cop out

2008-10-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

I am on a massive downer as I had lots of fun in Manchester and now I'm back to the normality of my life. Manchester is such a good city for dancing, drinking and skating. I loved it and had an amazing time. Cheers to everyone who let me stay, put up with my mess and helped me out when I got in a state.

Anyway, I have done a drawing but my scanner is not working so I'll post it tomorrow. Instead I'm posting a stencil of my dear girlfriend. She's ill at the moment and sad so I thought this might cheer her up.

Hippodrome

2008-10-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

So it's Sunday, I should be back by now. I'll give you an update if this has been posted before I'm back. well to be fair if you're reading this I'm not back yet, or my girlfriend has put this up before I got back.

I'll give you some pictures of my sketchbook from when I went away, I should have a lot of new sketches as I have spent about 10 hours on coaches at this point.

So this is the hippo character, I had to have one. The Rhino will probably say something like "Gee, me and you sure do look a like" and then the hippo will quip "Except I spend a lot more time in the bath than you." then we'll share a laugh. This dialogue will continue till we learn that we all maybe different but at the same time we're all very similar.

God I'm good, I should be teaching your kids why not to play with fire and the negative aspects of sniffing glue.

Vegan, vegetarians and vultures

2008-10-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

So I've been really thinking about my childrens book I'm going to do. Obviously it's just a kind of test for myself to see if I can do it and if I enjoy it.

Well thinking along these lines I knew I needed to start thinking of more characters so now I give you my Vegetarian Vulture. Or something like that. He'll be the guy crying and the happy rhino will go "What's wrong?" and someone will go "Don't talk to him, he's a scavenger, he eats dead animals." and then he can go "That's the problem, I don't like meat, I've became a vegetarian and now everybodies laughing at me." and then the rhino will say something that makes us all realise that we shouldn't laugh at someone for being different.

Thinking about it, he's probably vegan as he lives on the savannah so he won't be catching no fish and it'd be cannibalism to eat an egg.

Hug Lyf

2008-10-15T15:05:00.001-07:00

So it's Saturday, what a fun day. I wonder if my girlfriend has remembered to update(Turns out she couldn't log in for some reason so now I'm doing this off my mates laptop). I hope I am having fun and I hope you are all enjoying a relaxing break from your normal work like I am.

So I had to get a 5 hour coach journey down here and I'll be honest, I hate coaches so I wonder how I dealt with that one. It had no breaks but a lot of stops. Sounds like it'll take the piss, I'm gonna try to sleep for most of it and if not get some drawing done. I brought a new sketchbook down with me to start "The Rarest Rhino", I wonder if I bothered. I wonder if I decided to use my pens or stuck with pencils. I was quite tempted with pencils they make a nice colour. I hope I make the right choice. I hope I don't get claustrophobic. I hope I'm not sick.

And that leads me right onto the subject of todays work. Another cockatiel but this one is being sick. I've developed a love of mixed media, it's fun and looks good. My next project is an illustration based one so I've bought a book from years ago about Orangutans so I think I'll get some good characters out of that. These cockatiels are going to be used on some t-shirts I'm designing for a company which my good friend Dom and I are starting up. It's gonna be a classic DIY type situation, we'll design the t-shirts, get some of that special paper and make them, potentially do a home screen printing job, I'll see. The best thing about them is they'll be custom order, we'll have the design but because we're not doing them in batches we can put them on anything. I think it'll be sick.

Also ignore the bullshit I've written next to this. It's annotations to justify why I have drawn a cockatiel vomiting because apparently "I found it funny" is not a legitimate reason.

The rarest rhino.

2008-10-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

I wonder how much fun I'm having in Manchester? I wonder how much money I've spent on useless items? I wonder if the weather is nice?

I'm writing this in the past now so I'm in Manchester at the moment...unless I missed the bus, or died. That's a bit scary and depressing that my way of haunting the world would be by writing a blog from beyond the dead.

Anyway this is the rhino from the other day with colour added to him. I really like this character and I'm going to have a go at doing a story with him. I'm really into the idea of doing childrens book illustrations. I'm not sure why really. I think it's because I went to the Baltic and saw Yoshitomo Nara's exhibition which was insane and found out they were a childrens book illustrator. I just love the way that they were able to keep their own style rather than having to conform to a certain norm which is seen in most adult books. I also would prefer to work in an industry where I'm illustrating stories about friendship and learning lessons about morals through the baking habits of a chicken than having to draw shit illustrations of a hooker infront of some crudely done skyline because that's what's in.

This should have been a lot earlier but it's been posted late. I'll try to make sure the rest of the updates are on time

Lift back to manny.

2008-10-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

So dear Sketchbook readers I was originally gonna tell you how I was going to miss a few days but I got my act together and found some work which I never got round to showing you. It's not from the actual sketchbook, well not all of it but I thought it's better to have something rather than nothing and me becoming slack due to it. So a big thankyou to my dearest girlfriend who is doing the updates while I'm away and if she isn't so lazy might end up doing a collaboration with me.

I have some big things happening in the next week or two so I should have something exciting to tell you and show you.

So this is from my customer profile for my current college project. I've shown the cockatiels before but I continued using them through my work and they just kind of got out of control. This page was aboutmy customer's food preferences. I really like the cockatiel character on this page as he's quite fat and sweet. I imagine he'd be swedish...well he would be if they had cockatiels there....do they?

Wock n woll

2008-10-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

So I did these the other day because we were skating at a dull spot and I wasn't feeling it. There's numerous things like these about Newcastle from when I've been bored or pissed with a sharpie on hand.

Rhite Whino

2008-10-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

So I think I might have decided what I want to do in the future. Currently I'm loving illustration but I don't want to just do illustration so I'm thinking graphics illustration or childrens book illustrations. I dunno, I'm gonna try and draw a little series of the same character in different situations.

So this is a rhino I came up with before, I like him, I imagine he'd chew his grass thoroughly before swallowing it and make sure he washed behind his ears everytime he went in the waterhole.

His body is lacking and I'm not sure whether he needs a tail or not.I do know that rhinoes have tails I'm just not sure if you would be able to see his.

Bear man

2008-10-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

So I decided to redo the bear but as I drew him he changed dramatically so he now doesn't really resemble the original one. I like him except for his left arm which is wack and his ears which also doesn't look very good. I like how he's changed and I might add more to him at a later date.

Bears

2008-10-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

So this is another day of blasts from the past with the family of bears. I haven't had time to do anything new as my parents just got back from there holiday and I've had to tidy the whole house all day and then go meet them at the airport and it's been a bit of a stress.

Hoowever here are some characters which have never made it properly to the new sketchbook and I'm not sure why.

I quite like them and would like to develop them so maybe I'll do them again next week.

Who is it?

2008-10-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

So this is more of a concept thing than a proper page. I'm gonna do a mixed media canvas and I wanted to see what a lizard character would like in this kind of perspective. Hopefully it's going to look sick when I get it finished.

After this sketchbook I'm going to change it to updating with a different art related thing everyday.

Alcafrol

2008-10-10T07:51:00.001-07:00

So there was no post last night because I went to the pub and planned to finish the drawing when I got home but sadly I worked out how to steal drinks so I got back at about 1 and was horribly drunk and the idea of holding a pen was beyond me. I'll have it up in a little bit.

Cockatiel brah,

2008-10-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

To I didn't do anything in the original sketchbook but I've been stoked on my mixed media ting so I'll post a few of these for a while. Or maybe I'll just post this one, I don't know.

So I was bored doing this sketchbook and felt it was a bit dull so I thought to jazz it up I'd go to a charity shop get some old books and cut and paste. Just grabbed the first four I could find for £1 and came out with a book on Photography from 1946, a book on Gerbil care, a book with words which had been changed to put the word cat in along with a poor illustration (Catifornia) and a book on Cockatiels. Some how I've ended up using the cockatiels and my project now has loads of these characters in.

These are the first two I did and probably my favorites. Ignore the text it's just annotations to justify why I'm using cockatiels in a project based around Street wear.

Also if anyone knows where I can get the letraset paper I've used hear. Transparent with green dots all over it, I believe it to be made from acetate.

Anyone who can find me a site where I can buy it I'll send a pretty picture to.

Why so sketchbook?

2008-10-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

So this week hasn't been all that great for proper sketchbook work. I think it's because of college work and having to put more creativity into it because of the brief. Like normally there's a set thing to do to get the grade like Research a topic, develop your version of their final product then produce it digitally. Now don't get me wrong I try to be as creative as I possibly can and put as much illustration in my work as possible but it's still a set amount of creativity while this project they've given us a sketchbook and said "In two weeks time you have to design an all over print for a shoe but for now you need to fill a sketchbook with work based around the client you want to do it for." This is the best thing ever. It's mixed media so I'm doing stuff I normally don't get a proper chance to do and it's working really well and getting new ideas flowing for other side projects. But it does mean I don't spend as much time on the sketchbook as I would like because I'm putting all of my energy into the other one. I think I'll put things from that up as well as the original sketchbook because the work in their is getting me stoked and I think other people would enjoy seeing it.

So anyway this character is another lizard but more of an attack on every moron who is doing a stencil of Heath Ledger's joker. Maybe in 30 years when noone can remember it so well it might work better, but seriously, it's almost as lame as wearing those VOTE FOR PEDRO t shirts.

Hey puto

2008-10-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

I drew this far too small so at some point in the future it will be dfawn again and done with a better colour way. I always do this. draw something and think that's alright then don't think about the actual colours on it. I mean It'd be very easy tp just search Mexican Bandit on Google images but then again I don't have the benefit of hindsight. Ah well, live and learn.

But where is it's you know what?

2008-10-05T16:52:00.001-07:00

So this isn't a page from the sketchbook I've been posting on here but it is from a college related sketchbook and I am rather happy with it so I thought I'd post it and in a few weeks when I post something else you can see what started the idea.

Whitey

2008-10-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

So there wasn't gonna be a post tonight but I decided that I needed to keep going daily just so I don't become slack.

This is one of the new lizards I've been doing as stickers. Might get some A4 paper so I can print them and have more consistency to them.

Late nights in winter

2008-10-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

So this is late being posted as I was planning on going out for a few drinks tehnc oming back to work but ended up going to a mates house and having a very bizarre night of break dancing and playing with swords and guns. This sounds like one of my elaborate lies to humiliate someone who believes me but it's true. We were there just watching tv having a few drinks when I got confused which cupboard had the drinks in it and opened one which had an old school sword and shotgun in it. Needless to say there are now numerous photos of me attempting to shoot and stab people.

Anyway this is more of a concept than an actual idea. I'm going to do a big version of it on a wall with my girlfriend who iss also an artist. She does more traditional styled work so she's going to do the tree and I'm going to put some character round it. Might do a second one with one of my trees mixed with her illustrations.

Ahoy

2008-10-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

So with great scanning comes great composition.

I'm gonna need to make sure my illustrations are in the middle from now on or the scanning is gonna make some of them look shit.

This is Captain Plughole and his galleon.

Lion about.

2008-10-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

So this is that lion who was a bit of a dick then ended up with a thron in his foot and had to come crawling back.

Also better quality with the ol' scanner so no more relying on photos. I have started a new set of stickers which are out and about in Newcastle so if you're from here you may seem them.

Bear man

2008-09-30T14:58:00.001-07:00

I tried to combine two different styles I've been drawing recently, but I dunno if I'm feeling it.

Wolf girl

2008-09-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

So blogger is being fantastic and slow today which is making it even more of a stress than usual to use.

All in all I have done a few drawings in this style recently and have found them very enjoyable.

Morbid Monster

2008-09-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

So I really need to start remembering to take these photos when the light is alright as they always blur slightly when I have to do it with my lamp on. Ah well. Here is a lizard hanging itself.

Cheeky Extra

2008-09-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

So I did a drawing off my old flatmate a couple of days ago. I sent him it and he was pretty stoked so instead of finishing my college work I drew a new better version. This is only the beginning of this idea, I've got a big plan for this drawing but I'll tell you more when it's not 3.10 am.

Clowning around

2008-09-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

So finally drew a clown with a colourway that actually looked alright. I've always managed to cock it up with the trousers or just completely shit colours. So altogether I'm happy with this one...maybe the head is a little too big.

Thirdish through

2008-09-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

So about a third of the way through and I'm still going strong, I'll be honest I really didn't see think I'd still be updating this regularly.

This one is a guy from my local Petrol Station who seriously is like a monkey in a suit. Steve I believe he is called. I may mock him but in all honesty he is very quick when it comes to finding my chewing gum.

Dem Bonez

2008-09-25T10:10:00.001-07:00

I have a slight problem of judgement, I wish I'd left this guy in black and white but ah well, I'll draw him again at a later date in black and white.

I'm also appalling with anatomy so I had to feel my ribs as I drew him to see how many we have. It's 8 right?

Weak blud

2008-09-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

Not so keen on this. It's a troll like the last post but in the Troll Airforce, just trying to do something a bit different y'know.

Troll-tastic (I never can think of something to write in these)

2008-09-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to do something completely different to what I normally draw so I made a new character. I think it's a troll or something, I'll do another in colour tomorrow. I quite like it except the feet are wack because there wasn't enough room for them.

Bish

2008-09-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

So before I started Sketchbook I lived for a while in a flat with one of my best friends, Bish, he was always reading zombie books, watching zombie films and reading a book called "The Zombie Survival Guide". He once tried to attack me when I was drunk looking for food because he'd been reading it too much and thought I was a zombie. That is a totally true story and there are many others. Anyway, since I think he may be the funniest man on the earth I decided to draw him as a zombie.

"Just so you know, when there is a zombie attack, I'm going to kick you in the shins so you fall over and I escape!"

Page 25

2008-09-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

Dear man from the bank,
Thankyou for being so unhelpful on Saturday. If I had known money did not go into my account that day I would not have asked you. I am sorry to have taken up your time and hope this drawing of how I perceive you will make up for it.

Lizards ahoy

2008-09-21T04:36:00.000-07:00

So this one hasn't really been changed from the original except the colour being added in. This is because I was trying out a shading technique using only one colour pen. It worked quite well although I'll have to work on doing it with less bleeding but you can't really see the shading in the photo which is a bit of a bummer.

Blossoming trees

2008-09-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

So I did another tree today. Decided I should do a female tree and the only tree I could think of that fit the idea was a Blossom tree. Not sure how well this really went but here it is.

Also I got myself some new paints to start doing more stencils but as my printer was fucked I decided to use them to do a vinyl with one of my characters on it.

Yeah, think I might do a couple of these. If anyone were to want one or one with a different character on I'll do one for £5 plus shipping.

Clown again

2008-09-18T19:42:00.001-07:00

So the photos don't really do these drawings justive with colour but ah well.

Here's a coloured clown.

Trees, trees, trees

2008-09-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

Bit late at night to be posting but I was out so here it is. Decided that if my previous tree can come alive so can any so here is my conifer tree as I believe it is know.

Poll-ish

2008-09-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

So it'd be super sweet if you could all do the poll on the bottom right. I've been asked to see if more artists read this than non artists for some example a friend needs in an essay.

Colouring tree.

2008-09-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

So recently I've been drawing things and they've gone wrong so a few pages are now missing from the Sketchbook, I hate taking them out but I would rather have a sketchbook where the majority of pages I turn to it and I'm happy with it.

So I got some markers last night and decided to re-draw some of my characters but in colour. The reason I didn't just colour in the originals is because I'd quite like the book to develop as I do and when I draw something again I usually add something. In this case new feet.

Faces in Places

2008-09-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

So decided I'll probably keep this sketchbook for my characters and just do my more realistic illustration on the side so I can put it in my portfolio.

These are from a project that never got off the ground called "Faces in Places". I bombed a couple out and about but never really bothered with them properly. The idea was that I would put them up where ever I was and potentially get them done as vinyl stickers so I could hit up places easier and I wouldn't have to take pens out with me all the time. Never happened sadly.

"But I don't know how to make fire!"

2008-09-15T12:40:00.001-07:00

Since this sketchbook is partly for my portfolio I'll be showing unis in the not so distant future I can't just keep doing characters I find easy to do because it shows no diversity and I need to show I can draw more.

However as I don't enjoy doing proper drawings with charcoal shading because I've never found it useful I'm just going to continue in the fineliner genre.

This one is my interpretation of King Louie from Disney's Jungle Book. I say that as he wasn't a character in the actual book and Disney just put him in for the craic.

Also I have some Tria Twin tip markers so I may start adding colour to some of my illustrations as the sketchbook develops.

Turn on the red nose

2008-09-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

So this is probably my last Circus related character for now, it's a childhood favorite, the Circus Hooker. She hung round the back and had a kid with all the clowns and clung to the Circus like a human STI.
Quite like it except the shoes look shit as I've never really spent much time drawing heels.

Also any work people wanted has been packaged and will be sent tomorrow or the day after.

Weight lifting.

2008-09-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

So this is the third clown character, I quite like except for my poor attempt at drawing a dumbell as I believe they are known. I've got one more clown to draw and then a few characters then I'm going to spend a while doing a big A2 page of them in full colour.

The little dog laughed to see such fun

2008-09-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

So I don't really like this and feel it's a bit weak but my girlfriend however does like it so maybe it isn't so bad. It's a little puppy, I did him originally just as an outline but I thought he'd look better filled in but then I lost his arms in the process.

Nursery bars

2008-09-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon,
The little dog laughed to see such sport,
And the dish was paid for sex with the spoon.

Kind of wish i'd done this the other way round with a fat nerdy dish and a skinny crack whore spoon. Might do it again another day.

Might do the whole rhyme with different drawings for each character.

Buckets of joy

2008-09-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

So blogger has unblocked me so it's all good and I don't have to get other people to post for me.
So this is my latest thing, didn't come out quite as good as I'd of liked but ah well. So yeah if you can't tell it is a speaking bucket with a sponge next to it.

Clown Tings?

2008-09-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

So this is the second clown i've drawn. Decided I would quite like to get a selection of them so I could do a whole circus group at some point. Bit annoyed with this one because I started it originally and it looked shit because i'd use to thick a pen and I had to cut the page out of the sketchbook so now there's only going to be 199 pages of illustrated joy.

Also my IP has been banned from Blogger, not sure why so I can only post through my girlfriend or at college so it is possible

Armored Dillo

2008-09-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

This is an armadilo or something along those which I thought up when I was bored a few nights back. I quite like it, I was going to add a tail but i had a feeling it'd look really shit so left it off.

Currently having to get my girlfriend to post this for me as my internet is refusing to let blogger work on my computer. I have also hurt my back from crap posture and I'm now getting it taped up.

Eye eye

2008-09-07T15:55:00.000-07:00

This was originally a character I did for an opticians except it was less acurate and had two thumbs up however it was lame so I redid it and made it look like a creature out of one of the Doom games where the blood was really pixelated and it was make a RoYR noise when it died.

Toilets n tings

2008-09-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

So I took acid one day and I saw this and decided to draw it. I didn't really, infact the only reason this is a toilet is because a mate of mine mentioned if I added a top bit it would look like one.

Bunny

2008-09-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

So this is probably the second oldest character I still use, from the first year of drawing this style I pretty much just dropped everything I drew. He's changed quite a bit since when I drew him in an advert for Durex. Sadly I was told that the idea probably wouldn't be a good idea to use.

Also 'Rjd2 - The Third Hand' is an amazing album.

Pumpkin

2008-09-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

I think this is probably my favorite character i've ever done. I wish i'd remembered about the curves of the pumpkins head but none the less I'm pretty happy with it. All of the legs are made up of separate straws. There's some close ups of them but it's a bit blurry.

So in college the other day I'd drawn a new character and left it on the desk while I was doing my work and my tutor came over and asked if he could have it and one of my mate's drawings so I'm quite curious to see what he's gonna use them for. I'll post it when he shows me.

Cop out

2008-09-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

So not wasn't too keen on todays or the drawing I had for tomorrow so thought i'd do them together so as not to con you with cheap goods.

This top one might be a bouncer or a man on drugs in a suit. Maybe both.

This one I doodled out on some paper in college and let me tell you it looked like something sent from above on a piece of scrap paper but then I redrew it and it looks pretty dump which is why it's being given as a doubler rather than just one shit post.

Comments enabled

2008-09-03T00:02:00.000-07:00

So the comments were cocked up because I hadn't clicked the right thing so now anyone you should be able to use them.

Clown ting.

2008-09-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

So just posting todays blog has been a pisstake for some reason every image came out sideways even though they were all saved properly. Anyway this started out as a plastercine model in class when I was bored in an art history lecture which I then drew. Slowly it's evolved to this stage, kind of feel like something's missing from it.

The little walrus is just a kind of added extra as I foolishly drew him only on half of the page and realised it was a waste of nice paper.

Zoomed in versions.

Talking tree

2008-09-01T10:56:00.001-07:00

Another new page, I'm not really sure where this idea came from but essentially it's a hungry tree. I'm quite glad trees aren't really like this.

Just started second year of college so i'll probably be putting lots of stuff up suddenly and then having it spread out for a while as today i've drawn lots of new pretty things but depending on the course I may end up being quite busy at some points.

The start...

2008-08-31T05:05:00.001-07:00

So here are the first two pages of the sketchbook.

This one is just the drawing I did on the wall, not too keen on the hands but ah well.

This one is a group of the little lizards i draw. Quite happy with it, i've added in a few details to them as I felt they were missing something previously.