Snow painting #2

This is my second study on the snow theme. This time I decided to try a pinkish light at sunset.

Digital painting, Pshop

Snow, Trees and Light

Environment study done for computer game.

I'm working out how to best depict snow and how it looks under a variety of lighting conditions.

I am also finding it interesting to notice how snow settles on different surfaces.

Digital painting done in PS CS2

Maiden Flight of the Silver Turtle

This is my first illustration using my new digital tablet. Digital painting isn't quite how I imagined. In some ways its more tricky because you dont get the sense of feel that you do with traditional painting, on the other hand, being able to undo and fiddle with layers means you can make mistakes and try things out without sacrificing the picture.

I'm off to practice :)

PS Done in Photoshop CS2

Silver Turtle continued

This is the development work for the silver turtle emblem to go on the aeroplane. I wanted to create a humorous character reminiscent of plane emblems from the WW2 era. For the final illustration I was imagining the logo was emblazoned on the welded and bolted stell side panels of the aeroplane body.

The painting is oil on panel. The drawings are pencil on vellum and tracing paper.

Silver Turtle Concept Sketches

These are development sketches for a story I am illustrating. Basically, its about a plane built by an inventor and his adventurous children. I enjoy playing around, looking through old aeroplane books, and generally just inventing whatever comes to my mind - now the question is 'Would it really fly?'

These sketches were done with pencil and marker on tracing paper.

Restaurant logo character

Some very early development sketches for a logo character I am doing for my friend's restaurant in Shanghai. At the moment we are just trying to find the right 'look'.

The character is based upon a woman from traditional chinese opera.

Flower study

It was a sunny summer's day and as I looked out the kitchen window I noticed the beautiful way the sunlight caught the golden yellow flowers on the Senecio shrub in my back garden. So I quickly grabbed my oil paints and easel, ran outside, and set about doing this study.

14 x 18", oil on canvas board.

Sky Sketch

A quick sketch of the sky from my studio window.

Oil on canvas board. 12x10in

First Edition of Spelling Magic is printed

The very first edition of Spelling Magic hits the shelves. For those that are wondering - I fully illustrated and designed the layout of this book. http://www.spellingmagic.co.uk

Pink rose in my back garden

The roses have come out in my back garden and so I spent some time sketching them in watercolours and acrylics.

The shape of a rose is both beautiful and tricky to convey with paint, which makes it a rewarding and sometime frustrating painting experience :)

Watercolour and acrylic bodycolour on 300g/m artistico rough paper, 23 x 30.5cm

Portrait of a Chinese Lady

This is a portrait I painted of my wife's sister. She is Chinese. The painting is quite large - 60x70cm, oil on canvas. I was looking to practice my tonal values with this piece and to capture her expression. It was a challenge but I feel the result is a progression from previous portraits I have done.

Sky

Thought I'd have a go at some manga style artwork. I just went straight into it with very little drawing and an idea in my head of what i wanted to do with it. I think she looks pretty and have named her 'Sky'.

I am quite pleased with the result :)

Oil on canvas board 36x46cm

Vlad and Lev confront the Great Bear

Illustration for a Russian fairytale where Vlad and Lev first confront the Great Bear and provoke him into charging the Tsar's palace.

I love immersing myself in the story and drawing the pictures that I see in my imagination. In this instance, I put myself in the place of the man meeting the great bear until I could almost hear the crunch of the snow and feel the freshness of the forest air. That is why I love illustration - it's a way of bringing my imagination to life and sharing it with others.

Prismapencil and graphite on vellum 30x40cm

Roald Dahl and the Rocketship Rabbit

Children's book illustration about the wild imagination of Roald Dahl. Yellow suits him!

I'm quite excited because the Spelling Magic book is about to go to print. Its been a long time coming and hopefully it will sell well and provide me the opportunity to work on other exciting projects.
We are printing it in China and that is proving to be a challenge in itself!

Oil on board 40x30cm

Spelling Magic World Tour Bus

Children's book illustration for Spelling Magic.

I was going for a bright and colourful illustration here full of interesting details and little bit of humour dotted around.

Funny how that bus balances so well!

Oil on board 40x30cm

Giant Under the Snow reworked

I reworked the Giant Under the Snow drawing on vellum paper using graphite and prismapencil.

Hopefully I can go on to develop this illustration into a colour painting.

Watercolour study

Watercolour study of man sleeping. Watercolour on paper, 28 x18cm

The Giant under the Snow

This is a preparation drawing for an illustration for a book titled 'The Giant Under the Snow.'

It's one of the first drawings I've done using prismapencils, which I bought on recommendation (despite them being very hard to find in UK!).

Prismapencil, graphite, and blue pencil on paper, 420x297mm.

Chrysanthemums

Painted when I was particularly inspired by the light catching some blooms.

Watercolour on textured paper. 33.5x42cm

Not quite Tarzan

Vignette illustration from Spelling Magic. I was trying for a clumsy Tarzan type - this illustration had to sit opposite one with gorillas in the jungle so it seemed a complementary choice of scenario.

Oil on board 30x40 cm

A sunny day at the beach

I painted this little picture on a sunny day on summer. Whenever I look at it I am reminded of a Famous Five adventure, perhaps because of the explorers on the beach.

Watercolour on rough paper 21x29cm

Watercolour sketch

Watercolour sketch (done some time ago!)

At the palace

Oil on board 60x40cm

A curious situation comedy....

This painting illustrates a rhyme about a girl who ate oranges, and a boy who ate too many eggs.

Oil on board 30 x 40 cm

A page from my sketchbook

Figure study

Pencil on paper. 21 x 30 cm

Gone yachting

Another illustration from Spelling Magic.

Oil on canvas 40x60cm

The mice in the cracked egg

This illustration was done to illustrate a rhyme about mice living in a cracked egg. I got my hands sticky investigating exactly what a cracked egg with yoke spilling out looks like and did a lot of pencil studies before feeling I had got it just right.

As always Bertie the Rabbit makes an appearance - this time as either a chicken-thief, or a chicken-rescuer!

Oil on board, 60x40cm

Bertie

This is a vignette illustration from the Spelling Magic series. I painted this oil on board. I wanted a pure white background so that it would just sit on the whiteness of the page, however, I found that no matter how much white paint I put on I still had to go into photoshop and cut it out to get the background to be pure white. A labour of love.

Oil on board, 30x50cm

Happy New Year!

See the former things have taken place,
and new things I declare.
Before they spring into being
I announce them to you.
Isaiah 42:9

I'm looking back on all the good things God has done for me in 2007 and also looking forward to the new things He will do in 2008. For me it's a time of seeking God to find out what He wants for me in 2008 so that I can line myself up directly with His will and do and be all that He desires.

Here is another Spelling Magic illustration for good measure. Crocodile dinner!

Cornish Giant

I did this vignette illustration some time ago. It goes alongside a Cornish myth about a woman who married a giant, who then, accidentally, dropped a boulder on her. Lovely:S.

Figure drawing is one of my favourite things so I quite enjoyed doing this one and coming up with the little pose of the indignant wife.

Pen and ink with watercolour on illustration board. 20x30cm