It's Christmas every day!

Here is a Christmas card design I did. The curly beard feels like a homage to the Nightmare before Christmas (only a bit less dark!)

Done (as usual) in Photoshop. I really need to try painter, or better yet get back to some traditional painting!

Christmas Pudding

Christmas is coming, albeit a long way off. So I thought I'd post up this Christmas card design I did. I like the idea of creating odd situations in my own little world:)

Everyone loves Christmas pudding, right?

Done in Photoshop.

And one more

Thought I would try zooming out a bit with this composition. I was going for a sense of protection with the cub under the mother's legs.

Photoshop.

More polar bear

Second in the polar bear series of card illustrations. Still trying to keep the overall feeling soft yet with an air of realism to it.

Done in photoshop.

Polar Bear mother and child

This is the first in a series of greeting card illustrations of polar bears. The theme is love and relationship. I tried to create a very soft, gentle image.

Not much else to say on this one apart from that I'm embracing the challenge of being very flexible in my style of illustration.

Done in photoshop.

Sunbathing

This is the first in a series of greetings card designs aimed at the female market. Bright colours and thin (but not too thin) women are the order of the day.

Done in photoshop

Happy Father's Day

Whoo! It's my very first Father's Day being a Dad! Here's a card design I was commissioned to do some months back for the quintessential Dad ;) - he likes morning coffee with his paper, then he's off fishing.....

...anyway, Happy Father's Day Dad!

Angel

This is the second angel I did. It took me quite a while to get the face to a stage I was satisfied with. Practise makes perfect!

Niblet designs

Some fun character designs for niblets. They are little bouncy creatures with curious telekenetic powers.

Angel

This is an angel I painted for a greetings card design. I worked digitally trying to emulate oil painting technique and textures.

Digital lets me work quicker but traditional painting lets me work better I think. Its also more fun!

Game Character Development

This is some development work I am doing for characters in a computer game. Im really loving learning about manga style.

Still Alive

Just thought I would say that blog is, in fact, still alive. I am just waiting to find out which of my commercial work I am allowed to post up here.

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.