A bit of a Mix

Today I've decided to mix up what I do on this blog a bit. I'm going to post more work done from my imagination, mainly because I think the blog will be a bit boring if it's all line drawing for weeks on end.

This first picture (painted in Art Rage 2) I did a while back. It's based on a better sketch I've done which I should post later for comparison.


This one was the beginnings of an idea I had for a children's book but quickly realised ray guns probably aren't a sensible thing to show as things to be played with. The ray gun was going to have positive effects on people and things. I don't really like the drawing of the ray gun itself, it's too red and obvious, but I do like the buttercups and it was fun to paint them.


A sketch from Yesterday of a bit of Kings Parade.

A woman on a bench again from yesterday. The annoying thing about people is they keep moving when you try to draw them. I have about 5 sketches I couldn't finish because the subject moved around. Next time I go out I'll bring some electrical tape.


A flower. Drawn a few days ago. I don't really like this drawing which is why I didn't put it up before, but now I feel that not putting up is cheating somehow.


Another monster made in art Rage 2. this time I was looking at getting a good mix of colours. I have no colour theory knowledge at all so I'm not sure what I could do to make this better.

At the advise of Paschal (a lead animator at IdeaWorks3D) I'm going to do some eye studies soon so I can build up confidence and competence at doing portraits.

Concept Cats

Today I broke from the program a bit to draw up some concept sketches for a story I have in mind. The first drawings are me struggling to find a style and direction for a cat character. The ones below seemed to be heading towards Satoshi Kitamura san's work (although obviously no where near as good) so I stopped - and drew a tentacle monster at the bottom of the page.


This is another approach I quite like at the moment as it doesn't remind me of anyone else's style, at least not strongly.

The story requires the cat to eat the Sun. I'm not sure how to do this at the moment, so the cat may turn into a monster at some point.

People in the Park

More sketching in Jesus Green. The first is a young mum, her kids were playing nearby but were moving too much to draw.

A couple sitting talking on the grass.


Charcoal is great to draw with. The same drawings done with an HB pencil would look much worse. I've also noticed that, as far as I can see, one key to drawing is to keep the level of detail consistent. If the detail is focused in any area it greatly unbalances the picture. I found the same thing to be true in games design.

Quick Sketches

Today I went to Boarders and bought Martin Salisbury's book 'Illustrating Children's Books' after reading a load of it again and sketching some art from it. Below are sketches from the wonderful book 'Beegu', a bad sketch of a student book called "Fantastic Fire Fluff Monster" and a sketch of a sketch.


Then I went to the park and drew a terrible picture of Erica.


And a better picture of Jon.


Then we went to a pub and all tried drawing the condiment rack in 3 minutes.

That's all for today.

Last of the old

This was done on the 13th August 06. Again a self portrait.

I only look that unhappy because I still don't like my drawings. Hopefully this will change over the next year.

More practice

You can barely see these, I might clean them up and post them again later. This top one is a picture of a potted cactus.

Below is the first drawing I've ever done of a building. This is a view from Kings Parade in Cambridge.
Another self portrait. I really need to find a more interesting model.


A collection of charcoal sketches of people in cambridge.

Another self portrait. The book says this is good practice, I'd honestly prefer to draw someone else.


That brings me to 10.08.06

In the Beginning

I began reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain on the 27th of July 06 and started doing the excercises. I started with trying a self portrait.


Awful. And then followed the book, producing these:

This first one is the classic 2faces/candle holder image, and on the same page a drawing of my left hand.

This one is a copy of Pablo Picasso's 'Portrait of Igor Stravinsky' which I drew upside-down so that I focused on relationships of lines rather than see the object as it is and allow my brain to do shortcuts.

This a chair in my kitchen. I've never drawn a chair before because it never seemed very interesting. Using the book though I was able to see the chair as a collection of shapes and negative spaces which made it quite interesting to draw - if not interesting to look at.

A copy of John singer Sargent's 'Mme. Pierre Gautreau'.


That's most of the sketches from starting to read the book until 02.08.06

The First Art Rage Paintings

Here is the first Art Rage 2 painting. Really just a wash test and playing with colour a bit.
This next one is a copy of a picture I found on the internet. I was inspired to try painting a building after finding Chris Applehans website and looking at his city study. Although all of his work is wonderful.

I should mention that the MA is being run by Martin Salisbury and I heartily recommend his book if you are interested in children's book illustration. It's a good read, well laid out and obviously beautifully illustrated.

My inspiration to do this course has come mainly from Shaun Tan whose incredible books hooked me in, and also Alice Apple, an incredible friend who encouraged me to try something new. Thanks to both of you (whatever the outcome)

Beginning a Masters in Children's Book Illustration

In September I will begin an MA in Children's Book Illustration at the ARU in Cambrige.
I'm 31, I can only draw to novice ability and the course is probably going to ruin me financially.

Why am I doing this? Well I've worked in the games industry as a designer for more than 8 years now and like many veterans before me, I'm a bit fed up with most of the nonsense that happens in the industry so I thought I'd try something completely different while I still can. I should point out that I quite like the company I'm currently working for (Ideaworks3D) and a few of the other companies I've worked for, but I'm bored with doing ports, conversions, and by the numbers original ideas. I'm also fed up with the long hours, no social life and being surrounded by men all day, smart and interesting as they are. I still love games, but I think it'll take the Nintendo Wii to give it another breath of fresh air. When that happens, An MA in Children's Book Illustration should come in very handy. I'm hoping to do some part-time work with Ideaworks3D to keep me in tea and buscuits and also because they are starting to do games I find interesting, we'll see if I can juggle both.

So this blog is to chart my progress or otherwise over a year of learning to draw - and, with any luck, eventually draw well.

Once I have my scanner sorted out I'll scan in my early attempts to draw. I'm starting pretty much from scratch and have just finished reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. I've also bought Art Rage 2 to get my head around painting technique without it costing me a fortune in brushes,paints,canvas...