More Inking Practice

A couple of recent inky illustrations.

Steam punk jetpack badger.  This was a character I came up with a good while back, unfortunately the first illustration didn't work out as I had hoped, so as an exercise I though another attempt was in order.

I have been trying to ink more work lately and push my self past the pencil sketching stage, hoping to include paint in this also.

Here is a quick sketch of Yoda too, just for fun.

More Painting Practice

I have been trying to brush up on my painting of late.  To that end I signed up for a couple of art classes courtesy of the local councils adult education program.

The first was an oil painting class which resulted in a few still lives, this was the one I spent the most time on.  A bit rough and unfinished but I was quite pleased with it, especially as I haven't used oils since my college days.

The other class was a weekend one using acrylics and this was the result.

Still a long road ahead of me to get my painting skills near to where I want them to be, but progress is being made (I think?)

Four Horsemen

As so often happens with my work this started out as an exercise to practice using pen and ink with a focus on drawing faces.  The idea kind of took off on its own and these illustrations are the final result.

Based upon the biblical four horsemen of the apocalypse. I have tried to interpret each one in my own way while also experimenting a little with the kind of line and shading used.

Death

 Famine

 War

 Pestilence

30 Day Challenge Highlights

Its been a criminally long time since I updated the blog so on this quiet Thursday morning I will attempt to get back on track.

First things first, here are a few of my entries for the Galway Pub Scrawl 30 day illustration challenge.  This is a month long challenge where a drawing subject is selected for each day of July and everyone who wishes too can produce an illustration based on that days topic.  It is very enjoyable to see how different artists interpret the ideas and trying to do a picture a day is tough but rewarding.

Day 1: Portrait of a friend

 Day 10: Fetish

Day 11: Scenery Landscape

 Day 22: Autumn

 Day 24: Steampunk Shakespeare

 Day 31: Anything you like

These were some of my favorite pictures and if you would like to see the rest and check out other artists illustrations head on over too.

Galway Pub Scrawl

Pixel Gord

I am currently having a go at the Galway Pub Scrawls 31 day illustration challenge.  The mighty Donal Fallon and co. organise this every July.  A topic is picked for every day of the month and anyone who wants to can then do a picture based upon that idea.

I have been attempting to do a picture every day and today's subject is "trapped in video games".  The perfect excuse to do a little pixel art animation, so here is a little me marching happily along.

I will be posting a more complete rundown of my efforts soon, in the meantime check out the challenge so far at: Galway Pub Scrawl

Odd Animals

A while ago I started a small project to illustrate a series of unusual animals, one for each letter of the alphabet.  I took it as far as a thumbnail sketch of each one, then I hit a bit of a stumbling block when I couldn't decide what sort of style to illustrate them in.  As with many of my ideas it went on the proverbial back burner (its a very big back burner!).

Recently I was moaning to my ever patient wife about what style to do them in when she gave me some damn good advice,  "do them in your own style".  As I have been trying to improve my painting of late I decided to try using acrylic on them and not overthinking what the end result would look like.  Here are the first couple, along with an initial octopus test piece.  Its a fairly big undertaking so I cant say how quickly I will get through them but I will attempt to do all 26.

Aye-aye

Blowfish

Octopus

Self Portrait

Its been a good long time since I attempted a self portrait and even longer since I tried painting one.  As I continue in my quest to become a better artist I am painfully aware that a lack of skill with paint is something I need to address.  Recently I have been doing small paint studies and still lives to try and introduce myself to the medium with the intention of being able to paint (among other things) a half decent face.  This is not that face.

However it is a start, I am very often guilty of procrastinating by practicing and never actually attempting the thing I am working towards.  In an attempt to break this bad habit I painted this piece.  Some things about it I like, some things not so much.

Vintage Video Game Inspired Logo's

As I mentioned in a previous post I was working on some logo designs for my Redbubble page.

Its a bit of a departure from my usual stuff but I do enjoy design work from time to time.  The logo's are inspired by a few of my favorite video games and some of the innocuous objects found in game, that take on an importance beyond their humble intentions.  I used these objects as the basis for 5 logo designs for fictional companies whose names also reflected the in game purpose of the items.

I doubt I will end up putting these on my Redbubble page as I do not know if they would be considered copyright infringement.  A picture I produced last year based on pacman (as a big yellow piranha) was removed from the site, at the request of the pacman copyright owners.  I do like to do work based on the games, films and books I enjoy and I try to do my own take on these things, but I would rather not risk it.  That aside here are the final designs.

Robot Monster Girl

This is a recent sketch I did.  I am working on some logo designs at the moment for my Redbubble page and I wanted to take a break and do something less design orientated, this was the result.

Stromtrooper Helmet

I recently had lunch at a restaurant called 'Wings' in Edinburgh.  Its a great place my wife discovered, they serve Chicken wings (Surprise!) with a bewildering choice of sauces.  I can heartily recommend them, the food was excellent and the walls are decorated with comic book art, star wars memorabilia and all manner of sweet posters and prints.

While we were there Ruth mentioned they had posted on their facebook page about starting a star wars storm trooper helmet wall, inviting artists to draw one for them.  I loved the idea of it, so much so I started working on it the next day.  It is now finished, whether I summon up the courage/confidence to give them my attempt is another thing all together.

Druss the Legend

Over on the old talk art podcast, my good drawing buddy Jay Penn posted the first picture we ever challenged each other to draw.  These challenges were a motivational exercise for both of us, we would take it in turns to choose a subject to draw and set a deadline.  Little did we know they would lead us to becoming good friends and be the start of regular drawing sessions, although we rarely set each other actual challenges now, we still catch up to draw (and record podcasts) on a regular basis.

The very first challenge we set each other was to draw the character of Druss the Legend from the books by David Gemmell.  This was a nerve wracking exercise, I had not looked at the picture in years and its only now I see that I dated it 2008.  So the pressure was on, had I improved much in almost 7 years?

Below are the two pictures.  I am pleased to see some improvement, of course there is a long way to go still.  All talk of challenges and progress aside, I like the end result and its kind of fun to see the changes I have made this time around.

Druss the Legend 2008

Druss the Legend 2015

Ink Work Inspired by...

Here are a couple of works done over Christmas and new year.  The first is a picture based on the film Troll Hunter.  This was done as part of the 'Gord and Jay Talk Art' podcast,  we set a small challenge to do a winter/Christmas movie themed piece.  The choices were 'Muppet Christmas Carol' or 'Troll Hunter'.

The second picture is an illustration of the book Jekyll and Hyde.  This is a personal piece that I wanted to do as I love the book.

Sketch book

Here are a couple of sketchbook pieces that I thought would be blogworthy.

Pixel Art

Sometime back my brother and I decided to try our hand at making an indie game.  He is a talented programmer and would handle the coding, while I was responsible for the artwork.  After a lot of trial and error we decided to create the game in a retro pixel art style.  This was mostly down to what sort of art assets two people could realistically produce to make a game in their spare time.  It was also something we were both very interested in and enjoyed doing when we were younger.

I had not tried producing pixel art or animating in a long time and this project has re-ignited a love of both for me.  The game is ticking along in the background and we have both decided to put more time into it this year and make some significant progress, I may post the odd bit of related work on the blog.

Recently the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh opened the Game Masters exhibition, a retrospective on some of the most influential video games and their creators.  Its an excellent exhibit and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys games.  Inspired by this I produced a couple of pixel art pieces, one of the museum itself and one of Dolly the sheep (one of the most popular exhibits at the museum).