Dip pen+ink+photoshop+wacom pen=this

This is one of the first pictures I've done using a dip pen and ink. I'm quite happy with it. Also features a new way for me to draw shoes. hmmm? Yes.

Learn Japanese - Numbers=Suuji

Angel found in space

The above picture was taken by the hubble telescope. Originally believed by scientists to merely be a billowing 90 trillion kilometres high (9.5 light years) tower of cold gas and dust rising from a stellar nursery called the Eagle Nebula. However Scientist Rick Bishop took the image and filtered it through a computer simultaneously with a page of the Bible. Revealing the startling image below (please click to see a bigger version):


Originally scientists thought it could even be a picture of God himself, it turns out its actually a giant space angel. The area of bright light on the angels shoulder is currently thought to be the entrance to heaven itself, which is contained in the body of the angel. Scientist Rick Bishop has named the angel Rick Bishop the Space Angel.

Of course I'm being silly, but I really like the hubble's holiday pictures from space, and this one in particular. So I decided to mess about with it. I'm feeling good about this picture.

Here is another swish picture from the Eagle Nebula, everyones favourite Nebula:

Ichi=one=1

Today I started to play around with how to show nmbers in my series of pictures illustrating Japanese words. The image below is a early go at ichi, number one:and below is ni, number two:

I was going to add another character until I had a wee crowd. I wasn't really happy with this approach, it didnt feel like the most interesting way for me to go, or the most challenging. After an afternoon of playing around a finally settled on another picture of a whale (my new favourite thing to draw). With each image another fish, or maybe sea creature will be added. I will try and show the whale in different positions in each one to give the series abit of range, it will be hard though while keeping the image this cramped, I don't want to zoom out too much or the inside of the whales tummy and its contents will be too small. Im happy with this picture, and am hopeful that the number series will come out okay.

Playing with photoshop

Here is alittle quick bit of playing in Photoshop. Its ok but looks a little bit like felt tip pens on the hair, which is not what I really want. I like the nose.

Meet Mister Scribbles

Here is mister scribbles. I don't know why I'm putting him up. but I am .

A Super Christmas picture book: a sneaky peak

Here is a sneaky peak at a story book I'm working on. This image is just a quick experiment looking at what the pictures will look like. The story is based on a story that appeared in Super Christmas 2007. In that version the look and feel was dictated by the fact it was drawn fully in black and white. I want to use colour and more varied compositions this time. i think it might be worth using some line work with the colour. Below are some pictures from the original, the second has been coloured on photoshop for use as a portfolio piece.

Japanese Lesson 11- Days of the week

I've not done a new learn Japanese picture for a while so I thought I oughta. Here are the first drafts of the days of the week starting with Monday, ending on sunday. Im going to add more pictures to each day to capture better the sense of days passing, rather than just a load of stuff happening. Im still trying to illustrate the words without writing the English, in this case its been tricky.

All kings fear the Whale King

Here is a picture Ive submitted for the new book by the very nice Daydream Network. I had to produce it especially as I don't have many pictures in landscape. Also it required a bleed area, an area that goes beyond the part of the image that will be on the page, that is cut off after printing. If the image didn't continue into this area, when printed you risk having a blank part on the page, if the image doesn't line up perfectly. So you need some image in this area but nothing that will be missed. Its been a good bit of practice, and its something I will keep in mind when making future work. Below is what the image looks like with the bleed area taken away.

Flintham: the font

As Ive put alot of old work up today I felt I should put some thing new up. This is something I've done this week after wanting to for a long time, it's a computer font using my handwriting! It will help me when doing work on the computer to write stuff quickly and consistantly. Im still fine tuning it here and there, but its as good as finished. I have named it "Flintham". Here is some tests Ive done in photoshop.