Illustration Friday: acrobat

The Freshest Kids:

(silver marker pen on black paper, A4)

acrobat

noun.

1. One who is skilled in feats of balance and agility in gymnastics.

I think b-boys fit that description quite well.

I just wanted to keep it simple and create movement. The silver pen doesn't look too impressive when it's scanned, but it is nice and shiny :)

Illustration Friday: proverb

A bird in the hand...

(Watercolour pens and ink on paper, A5-ish)

 ...makes a terrible mess.

Well, that's my experience anyway.

Ice-cream robot

Sometimes you find ideas in the weirdest places. I believe this particular one was from a Captcha:

(Inktense on watercolour paper, A5)

Second attempt with Inktense, I'm getting the hang of them but I still end up treating them as either pencils or watercolour. My palette is limited though, as I just have a 12 piece set (fanx, Kinga Bee :-*) Maybe I should get more?

And to show you how crap I am at doodling a possible future idea, here's the scrap of paper with my 5 second sketch in ball-point pen:

XD

I remember...

While I wait for a) inspiration for a new drawing/painting, or b) motivation to finish my current painting, I thought I would post this really old picture that I found:

(felt pens and pencil, A4)

Note the date on the picture. I drew this 24 years ago with a little help (read: a lot of help) from my dad. If I remember correctly this was completely spontaneous and I just drew anything that I could think of. I really don't doodle enough now but when I was younger I was a total fiend with a bunch of pens and paper. I would sometimes zone out and draw, even if it was utter crap and I ended up binning it. This picture actually means quite a lot to me though, partly because it's the only thing I drew when I was a little kid that I still have, and partly because it was one of the first things my dad and I did together when he first came to London.

I think I might make doodle posts a regular thing. All I have to do is 're-learn' how to doodle :S

Illustration Friday: atmosphere

Don't they know it's the end of the world?

 (acrylic and pen on paper, A4-ish)

This came out a bit different than what I was imagining in my head, but I'm happy with it. I also forgot how quickly acrylic paint dries (I've been on an oil paint trip again, results to be posted soon, maybe) so it's a bit scruffier than I was expecting, but I suppose it lends the painting some character :)

Deep breaths now...

Illustration Friday: star gazing

2nd post today, I'm on a roll. (edit: now with slightly less crummy photography!)

Hey the stars are out tonight:

(pastel and pen on black paper, A3)

You look up at the stars, I look back at you...

I couldn't scan this in my A4 scanner without it looking like a bad cut-and-paste job, so a photo has to do (scanning pastel is messy too)

Enjoy :)

Beats, Rhymes and Life

I'm in the middle of doing another painting (I know, right?!) but in the meantime here's a custom Mini Munny that I did a while ago:

Painted with acrylic. The flagpole is a wooden dowel. The flag is white denim - it was stiff enough to hold the flag shape without needing constant wind :) - and coloured with Sharpie markers and white paint.

This little fella, standing proud at 11cm (4 1/4" in The Queen Measurements™) initially had an acrylic lily painted on his head. It was going to be a gift for a friend but I decided not to finish it, and instead repainted him as something completely different. Much simpler but different nonetheless. I decided on making him into the red and green figure found on many of A Tribe Called Quest's albums:

I think I was going through an ATCQ phase at the time and I listened to all of their albums from start to finish. My Munny is based on the cover artwork of Beats, Rhymes and Life. This cover is also my favourite as it's done in a graffiti style and I'm partial to a bit of graff:

So yeah, that's that. My painting will be posted when it's done, that or it will be put in the bin if it turns into a disaster.