Robot on the run

Over due post. Christmas is nearly here!

I haven't done much drawing over the past few months. The last time I posted was in the summer on my other blog 'Imaginarium of bugs'.

Using the ProCreate app on my tablet I was able to record the image below as I worked.

I have been playing around with inks again. 

Here is an explorer, and then some more bugs....

Train journey

So I have had lots of my photos from trips to the highlands over the past couple of years printed. I have started using them as reference for sketching. I spent New Years up near Garve in Wester Ross and enjoyed a spectacular train journey from Garve to Kyle of Lochalsh one day. I probably took 100+ photos from the train, there were so many rainbows, lochs and deer to enjoy. This sketch is taken from a section of the journey just outside of Plockton.

Creepy Wood

I drew these trees about a year ago and at the time I knew I wanted to layer them up but just didn't get round to it. It is nice to revisit an old sketchbook and digitise some of the drawings and have a play in photoshop.

New watercolours

My lovely sister bought me some watercolours for Christmas so I thought I would try them out on one of my favourite themes at the moment; bugs (insects)!

Here are some more images from the project I am working on; the story about a bear.

Summer school course - Children's picture book illustration

I went to a summer school course the other week at Edinburgh College of Art. The course was run by a great, enthusiastic illustrator Kasia Matyjasek. I came up with a story about an Alien who lives on a grey planet and one day goes in search of colour.

At the end of the week we had a mini exhibition along with the other courses that ran that week... having a glass of fizz and strawberries.....mmmm.....

Creating my character

Storyboarding

Book mockup

Mini exhibition of work in progress

Here are some images I have been working on for another project. A story about a bear......

These are for a project I am working on, a series of short stories set in a kind of victorian Edinburgh about a medical student. I have started looking at medical illustrations and have created a few sketches which I have then played around with in photoshop.

Ink Planet

I found some scraps of paper I had used for creating textures for another project and decided to create an image. This is a new planet, lifeless and unspoilt.

Imaginary Bookshops project

The past few months I have been studying another evening class at Edinburgh College of Art. This time I took a course in digital drawing. My project involved taking a webpage and coming up with concept artwork and a logo. The tumblr page I used was 'Imaginary Bookshops' (http://imaginarybookshops.tumblr.com) published by Claire Dean.

I had a play with the animation function in Photoshop to create a snow globe filled with books and tried to give the concept images a sense of movement, to compliment the falling books.

Stamp Bug

I have been collecting stamps at work from all over the world and have finally cut and stuck them down to use as backgrounds images.

Robot loss

I originally did just the one image of a robot looking out of a spaceship window looking sad and lost and then decided to draw a couple more images to give it a narrative. This is robot loss.

I have been playing around with charcoal and pen. I really like the hard lines of the pen mixed with the smudging of the charcoal to soften and add depth.

Illustration Friday - Travel

Illustration Friday

The bees seem to be enjoying my hanging baskets at the moment and it makes me happy to see them in a city centre. 

Surveillance - Illustration Friday

Being watched through a portrait! Kind of creepy.

A couple of old-ish sketches

I haven't posted anything for a while as I am currently working on a project; designing a website logo and creating some illustrations for the website. I will put up a link as soon as the website is launched.

In the meantime I thought I would put up a couple of old-ish sketches I did for Illustration Friday but just never finished in time to get them up.

This is an Illustration Friday project that I just didn't finish in time to upload, the theme was 'farewell'. I just couldn't decide if to put some ink on the sky or not. I think I prefer it as it is; quite simple.