Here are a few of the paintings I did on my break for the Web and Mini Comix Thing. I was hoping to get another 20 done but I think it may be more like 7 or 8! I'll be starting my colouring book this week; the crayons have been ordered so I can't wait to make a start on them. They will also come with a few stickers too!
I'm back from my fantastically productive week back in Swindon and I have so much to do, it's making my head spin! This next couple of weeks is going to be a frenzy of painting, sticker-making, printing, colouring, website fiddling and character design. I can't wait to get stuck in when I get back from work later (Bleh! Work!) and I have a massive backlog of drawings to scan and colour. Phew! Good job I enjoy this illustration lark! :P
The awesome LizzLunney has come up with a fantastic idea for the Web and Mini Comix Thing - a sticker hunting extravaganza! With a special blank passport, people can collect stickers from participating exhibitors to fill their booklets with! I think it's a really fun idea and I can't wait to make my stickers. If you're going, details about how to get your passport are here. I think it makes the day a whole lot more fun and adds some extra interactiveness to the con. Also, stickers are cool and I for one want to fill my passport to the brim! (The above image is the cover design for the passport by Lizz; check out her stuff - it's brilliant!)
I've just finished my first batch of Milk Town paintings that will be up for sale at the Web and Mini Comix Thing at the end of this month. Had a blast painting these and I'm hoping to get another 20 done before the con; any that aren't sold will go up for sale in my up-coming Milk Town Gift Shop. They'll be sold at a special price for the con so if you can drop by and say hi all the better!
Well, I'm back in Swindon for a week and I'm already being more productive than I hoped! I'm really enjoying making my Milk Town website and I'm painting lots of pics for the Web and Mini Comix Thing in March. I completed 8 5x5 cavases today and hope to have at least 18 by the end of the week. I can't seem to stop working at the moment, which is great; I don't think I've enjoyed myself this much in ages. By the time I get back there's going to be tons to colour so look forward to a hefy helping of bloggings! Also looking forward to seeing The Crazies tomorrow; maybe I'll draw a film review! :P
After ages of thinking about it, I actually got off of my bum-bum and made a start on my Milk Town website! It's still very much in the construction stages but there's enough there at the moment to get a good idea of what's what. I've spent the last couple of days manically drawing stuff for it which has been awesome; I don't think I've been this addicted and excited to draw anything in ages! I will be celebrating the launch of the site with a Milk Town giveaway, so keep an eye out to win some stickers and other goodies!
Some Milk Town character designs that will also double as stickers and pictures for Citizen Profiles. I'm hoping to get a Milk Town website up and running soon too. Over the next couple of weeks I will also be running another giveaway which will have a whole plethora of stickers up for grabs so keep an eye out!
Along with this one, these are part of a series of lo-fi (ei. printed myself and stuck on paper) greetings cards I'll be making for various cons this year. Hopefully, if they have enough interest I'll sell some sets on my website. Feedback would be appreciated!
It's my boyfriend JP's birthday tomorrow and here's my home-made present for him; a painting of Lt. Jim Dangle from Reno 911! If you haven't seen it, it's a fantastic comedy show about a bunch of inept cops from Reno, Nevada. Jim Dangle is possibly the funniest character in it, mainly because of his penchant for wearing very short shorts!
I'm currently working on a billion stickers which will be made into sets and sold at the Web and Mini Comix Thing in March. These are just a few of many designs that will be popping up over the next few weeks! I'll also be making Milk Town citizen packs, but more on those later! :P
Here are three little canvases I've been commissioned to paint. I included photos as there are bits painted on the sides and I think they look much better in person! I love making these as they stand out as "objects" and are also free-standing. I think I'll make more for the Web and Mini Comics Thing!
Like most kids, I grew up with a plethora of cartoons. In fact, most of my childhood memories are of certain cartoons and video games although my mum says me and my brother used to play outside a fair bit too. My brain has obvious filtered out the important stuff! I can say without a shadow of a doubt that my artwork would not be what it is today without my imagination having been saturated with the animation I grew up with. Even at the time when watching a lot of cartoons, I was very aware of what was good and what was crap (Does anyone else remember an absolutely TERRIBLE cartoon called The Stone Protectors? I want to know I'm not alone on this one!).
Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the animation that had a major impact on my life and artwork. Hope you enjoy!
The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show was a real favourite of mine; the voices were spot on, the animation was simple and the music by Vince Guaraldi is still genius. This clip from the Easter Special of Snoopy having a manic dance with some non-existent rabbits never fails to make me laugh.
Back when MTV was MTV Europe in the early '90's, they had a series of animation called Oddities which I watched obsessively. These were so different to anything I'd ever seen; I was just getting into anime about this time thanks to the Sci-Fi Channel but MTV's Oddities were mind-blowing. Aeon Flux still remains one of the oddest and visually stunning "adult" cartoons I've ever seen.
Also featured in MTV's Oddities was The Maxx, based on Sam keith's amazing and weird comic of the same name. Again, I'd never seen anything like The Maxx and it remains one of my favourites.
I don't know what it was about The Raccoons but I was pretty much obsessed with Burt raccoon when I was younger. I even sent a picture of him into Hart Beat in the hopes of being featured in The Gallery. Needless to say, my picture didn't make it.
To this day, I still think the concept for BraveStarr is genius. The '80's and '90's were full of toy-vehicle cartoons like this but I still this this one of the better ones!
Still one of my favourite cartoons. Along with Mum-Ra and Skeletor, Venger remains one of the all-time greatest animation villains!
When I was younger, Ulysses 31 had a major impact on me. I was terrified by this cartoon and I still find it very creepy and atmospheric to this day. And setting the Odyssey in space shouldn't work but it does. I highly recommend the episode "The Seat of Forgetfulness".
These are just a few pieces of animation I'd site as influences. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Samurai Jack, The Powerpuff Girls, SpongebobSquarepants, She-Ra, Galaxy High, Galaxy Rangers, Visionaries, The Tick, Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, The Head, Daria, Beavis and Butthead - my list goes on! The fact that these are all being released on DVD makes me weep for the future of my artwork. Mostlybecause I'll spend all my drawing time watching these again.
I'm not sure if I've actually posted this here before, but this is one of my favourite pics from the last couple of years, mostly because of the story behind it. These were all of the dogs sent into low Earth orbit by the Russian Space Program in the late 1950's. I've taken artistic liberties with their looks of course! I've always been fascinated by the space dogs; Laika of course is the most famous, actually being sent to into space but dying before she returned to Earth. At least 4 of the other dogs died due to technical failures (their capsules blowing up, etc). I'm planning on eventually drawing a book about the space dogs, or at least based on them. For now, this is my tribute to them. Read more about them here!
This last week or so has been slightly bewildering, but in a good way. I've been contacted by two American companies (one small, one slightly larger) in possibly producing some character-based t-shirts and other products. The fact that they both found my gallery on Deviant Art within the space of a few weeks makes me very thankful I post my work on there! I've had a lot of very unlikely commissions through DA; it's one of those sites that rewards you the more you put into it. It also makes me realise that while I'm comparing my work with other illustrators and designers and feeling like my work is no good, something is standing out enough for people to get in touch. Just hope I can keep up the momentum of the last month!
And we end on Z! Hopefully this Z wasn't totally obvious! I had a great time doing this project and am quite pleased I managed to complete it in about a month, between other things. There are quite a few I'm not happy with but these can always be changed further down the line. For the most part, I hope people have found this project somewhat amusing! :D
I'm back from my fantastically productive week back in Swindon and I have so much to do, it's making my head spin! This next couple of weeks is going to be a frenzy of painting, sticker-making, printing, colouring, website fiddling and character design. I can't wait to get stuck in when I get back from work later (Bleh! Work!) and I have a massive backlog of drawings to scan and colour. Phew! Good job I enjoy this illustration lark! :P
Another Lo-fi card design; hope people don't get the wrong end of the stick and think this is a "with sympathy" card - I'm not that tasteless!
Along with this one, these are part of a series of lo-fi (ei. printed myself and stuck on paper) greetings cards I'll be making for various cons this year. Hopefully, if they have enough interest I'll sell some sets on my website. Feedback would be appreciated!
I'm currently working on a billion stickers which will be made into sets and sold at the Web and Mini Comix Thing in March. These are just a few of many designs that will be popping up over the next few weeks! I'll also be making Milk Town citizen packs, but more on those later! :P
Here are three little canvases I've been commissioned to paint. I included photos as there are bits painted on the sides and I think they look much better in person! I love making these as they stand out as "objects" and are also free-standing. I think I'll make more for the Web and Mini Comics Thing!
Milk Town
