Port Out, Starboard Home

Brunel

2012-01-17T22:45:00.005Z

Small update... This was originally a character for a Tarot deck I've recently worked on (more of that some other day), although at the time it wasn't working for me. I came back to it the other day and tweaked it into something at least presentable. Er... Isabelle Kingdom Brunel, as a sort of portrait... ahem...

Comments!

2011-12-15T12:02:00.003Z

Apologies for not replying to comments. I've discovered a tab I'd ticked by accident and nothing was showing up! I'll have to go back through them all. So I'm sorry, I wasn't ignoring anyone! Thank you to Wiggz for pointing this out. Apparently the blog should have been sending me notifications and it wasn't!

'Real' Rosie

2011-11-17T14:41:00.003Z

A 'real' version of my cartoon character 'Rosie Poe'. I can remember when Goth 'chicks' were kick arse, and not doe-eyed and fluffy. The internet lies to you! They drink Special Brew, strong cider and think Jason Statham is a big girls blouse! ;o)

Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici

2011-11-12T11:59:00.001Z

Proper update next week, but I watched 'V for Vendetta' again the other night as it seemed appropriate for the time of year, and felt the need to adulterate Frank Shepard Fairey's 'Obama' poster. Probably been done before with 'V' but the urge was upon me. :)

Happy Samhain!

2011-10-30T23:26:00.000Z

Rowan, the witch who lives next door...

'Trilby' and 'Rosalind & Celia'.

2011-10-27T17:40:00.002+01:00

First personal images for a while...

Trilby O'Ferrall after George du Maurier's depiction of her in his own novel: 'Trilby', featuring the hypnotist Svengali. Also inspired by images of Dorothy Baird as Trilby. (Trilby gave her name to the hat!)

Du Maurier describes her very specifically, including the huge slippers(!), and drew her himself as he was a well known cartoonist of his time:

"It was the figure of a very tall and fully-developed young female,
clad in the gray overcoat of a French infantry soldier, continued
netherwards by a short striped petticoat, beneath which were visible
her bare white ankles and insteps, and slim, straight, rosy heels,
clean cut and smooth as the back of a razor; her toes lost themselves
in a huge pair of male slippers, which made her drag her feet as she
walked."

For those interested in the process, it's all painted in Photoshop CS2, with a few textures used partly for some of the grain on the wood and to 'distress' the coat a fraction.

And another personal piece, indulging my obsession with Elizabethan clothing: 'Tudorpunk'! An interpretation of Rosalind and Celia, from 'As You Like It', by William Shakespeare. (That's WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, not Edward de Vere). Also a close-up of their faces.

I did not then entreat to have her stay;
It was your pleasure, and your own remorse;
I was too young that time to value her,
But now I know her. If she be a traitor,
Why so am I: we still have slept together,
Rose at an instant, learn'd, play'd, eat together;
And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans,
Still we went coupled and inseparable.

Small Update

2011-08-04T11:35:00.003+01:00

Sorry the blog has been so quiet. I'm still finishing off a big deadline. So to keep it alive here's a reworked Ice Princess that I never really finished, an Austin Osman Spare pastiche that was really just a bit of a play and an image I did a bit ago but I don't think I posted here. And The Absinthe Fairy lineart which I think is only on my website. Thank you for continuing to pop in. :o)

Warrior Alice

2011-06-25T21:46:00.000+01:00

The current Character of the Week is 'Warrior Alice' (as in Alice in Wonderland), a la Tim Burton. Poor Alice, never has a literary character been subject to so much abuse, on all sorts of levels. One day someone might... just, you know... illustrate the books..! which have enough originality and imagination to inspire anyone surely, without repeatedly 're-inventing' the poor girl! Well, this is my adulteration! Following the brief, of course... Done really quickly as I should have been doing something else... shamelessly inspired by Mr Frazetta. Texture O/L on the rocks, other wise just my usual brushes in Photoshop CS2.

Black Widow

2011-05-21T17:11:00.005+01:00

This was another attempt at a superheroine from last year, Black Widow this time. The pose is a bit stiff, so not my favourite. There's some heavy duty 'pouting' going on here...

Yesterday's Lily: Jeffrey Catherine Jones 1944 - 2011

2011-05-19T15:44:00.013+01:00

There will probably be a lot of tributes to Jeffrey Catherine Jones, who died today, but artists have this knack of affecting each of us personally - it's what they do - so here's mine.

I first discovered Jeff Jones' (as he was then) work in Heavy Metal magazine in the 80's, 'I'm Age' was the one-page strip that leapt out at me. The simple but beautifully drawn line line work, strangely philosophical and full of metaphor but with a distinct humour appealed to me. The fact all the women were naked helped! His painted compositions and covers managed to turn shadow, hair and clothing into strange dreamlike shapes purely as a compositional element. His shadows were deep and mysterious, and his lighting never gratuitous. And he was the master of simple composition, where so little seemed to be happening but so much was being said, an achievement few artists manage. The women he painted were more allegorical and sensitively drawn than many of the female figures one was prone to seeing in 'fantasy', certainly in the 80's, and sometimes seemed androgynous and imbued with a degree of ambiguity that was refreshing.

I don't know much about Jeffrey Jones' life, why should I? The life of public figures, on even a small level, often gets too confused with what they achieve and what they create. But she wrote an autobiography for her website which can be found HERE. Suffice it to say, bravery takes on many forms, one of those ways is to be true to yourself, probably the hardest kind of all.

Jeffrey Catherine Jones spent a lifetime creating extraordinary art, and that's how I'll remember her. As Frank Frazetta said: "Jeffrey Jones is the greatest living painter."

My favourite 'I'm Age', followed by some scans from an old copy of 'Heavy Metal' I have containing an interview with Jeff Jones.

Bristol!

2011-05-07T15:10:00.004+01:00

Next weekend (14th - 15th May)I shall be at the Bristol International Comic and Small Press Expo. Really looking forward to it! Come along and say hello if you're in the area! It's pretty much my first Con., so be gentle! Will have some prints and a small amount of books for sale. I'll be the guy in er... black... sitting between a couple of chums Matt Dixon and Kev Crossley.

http://www.thefallenangel.co.uk/spexpo/bristol.htm

Elaine

2011-04-21T17:12:00.002+01:00

An older piece... I was digging around on my PC and found this, another from my 'girls with big swords phase' (what IS that all about then?!). I never really finished it as I got distracted when I got to the water.

Red

2011-04-10T17:30:00.006+01:00

I've been unable to update my website for a while due to commercial work, but decided Sunday was 'my' day, so blasted through this thinking the on-line challenge it was for closed today. It turns out there's another week! Doh! Oh well... I might tweak it if I have time (the rim-lights are a bit half-arsed) but it's effectively done. Inspired by looking at the work of Scott Altmann, and a pic I did ages ago ( LINK ), a re-interpretation of 'Little Red Riding Hood'. I hope it's obvious she's meant to be pregnant! (Did a final edit).

Gorilla Artbook

2011-03-10T21:39:00.003Z

I was privileged to be able to submit some work to this collection by the members over at GORILLA ARTFARE!

Lots of delicious and fabulous art, independently produced!
Due out on April 14th!

Some interior pages HERE

Nicholas Courtney: 16 Dec 1929 – 22 Feb 2011

2011-02-24T00:22:00.008Z

I’ll never forget my father chuckling away the day Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge Stewart in Doctor Who raised his eyebrows and remarked ‘Not again!’ as Jon Pertwee metamorphosed into Tom Baker. It was that wonderful understatement that Courtney in his most famous role, was able to summon up, whether faced with Daleks, Cybermen, Giant Robots, Daemons, renegade Timelords, or just the fact he was convinced the Tardis’ dimensional quandary was all done with mirrors! I was quite small, but Dr Who was part of my week as much as any kid, until my mum stopped me watching it for a few episodes because 'Terror of the Autons' gave me nightmares!

In some ways The Brigadier was more important to me personally than the Doctor himself. Of course he had the same name as well! There weren't many 'Alastairs' at my school! Every adventure The Doctor had that involved The Brigadier made it seem more real. It was like having my father along on the adventure with me. You know those things that kids are witness to? Like UFOs or Monsters, or aliens or witches, and when you tell your parents you’ve seen them, they say: “Nice story. Now off to bed...” Well The Brigadier was like having a parent along that BELIEVED you! They SAW the baddies too and were prepared to fight them off as well!

Nicholas Courtney played this role to perfection. Dry, acerbic, humorous, prosaic and the perfect foil to Patrick Troughton, or Tom Baker, but most memorably for me Jon Pertwee. They were both part of what became ‘The Unit Family’, that also included the characters of Sergeant Benton, Captain Yates, Jo Grant and of course The Master (even though he was the baddie), played by the wonderful Roger Delgado.

We never got to see The Brigadier back in the new Doctor Who. He made an appearance in The Sarah Jane Adventures as the retired Sir Alistair Lethbridge Stewart, which was rather special, but the closest he ever got to the new series was a few brief mentions in the script.

Nicholas Courtney will be sorely missed by a host of fans, me included. My condolences to his family. I raise a glass to the memory of a man, by all accounts, of the kindest nature and warmth. And bizarrely someone I kind of thought would always be there...

A rather good tribute from The Guardian

Ms Marvel

2011-01-22T12:24:00.000Z

A second Marvel superheroine. I was trying a slightly different technique in Photoshop by using nothing but flat round brushes on her, and no brush textures. I wasn't very happy with the pose on this one, but enjoyed doing her face so thought I'd post it.

Rosie Poe

2011-01-01T14:58:00.007Z

Hello 2011! This is Rosie Poe... not sure her look is finally decided yet, but had to get it down whilst I was thinking about it.

Edit: I've decided to set up a separate blog for Miss Poe, so if inclined please join in here:

ROSIE POE

Christmas Emo!

2010-12-22T09:20:00.002Z

Happy holidays! :o) May you have a special time!

Harajuku Warrior

2010-12-05T22:15:00.000Z

A character design for the Character of the Week thingy...

She's not much of a warrior I suppose... pointy umbrellas aren't the best weapon in the world. But she can 'pout' you to death.

Calendar!

2010-12-04T11:28:00.003Z

Not Your Father's Pin-Up has produced a 2011 Calendar of which all the profits go to Pink Ribbon International to help with the fight against breast cancer. You can buy the calendar here:

CALENDAR

It's full of lots of delicious pin-up art by over 25 artists from all over the World.

Something old, something new...

2010-12-02T15:56:00.001Z

In May of 2011 I shall be attending the Bristol International Comic and Small Press Expo. Please come along and say 'how do' or wibble at me in a manner of your own choosing. Alternatively buy something. This shall be my first Con (almost), so I am a con virgin! There will be other people who are prone to drawing attending, eg: Matt Dixon, Kevin Crossley and Dr Geof all three I am acquainted with, almost intimately, so there will be safety in numbers. I shall provide more information closer the time, some of it even relevant.

Now... a big post of mixed stuff, old and less old... First, something dark and bizarre... An image I started ages ago when I was going through my 'girls with swords phase' (it's a phase - recognise the fact! Like eating peanut butter and Marmite on Digestive biscuits is 'a phase', or Worcester Sauce flavour Twiglets is 'a phase'). I decided to tweak it into shape with the idea of making it into a mock movie poster, but it ended up being more like a poster for a play; some sort of pseudo occult classical nonsense. Used a few over-laid textures to age and 'atmosphere' it up.

The last Character of the Week (ChoW), a re-design of 'Barbarella' or Mrs Jetson as someone pointed out generously.

An old Character of the week, John Carter of Mars, from the Edgar Rice Burroughs stories. This probably could do with more time on it, but trying to keep the Chow's quick was part of the idea. Aah, girls at the foot of an heroic chap... (what's that all about then?)... how timeless...

Based on a song by The March Violets, 'Dress for You'. It's ketchup, she's a messy eater. Bit of a play with a brush or two downloaded from CGHub and supplied by the generous Ditlev

Another old Character of the Week, 'The Magus', based not so loosely on Aleister Crowley, A bit of a mish-mash this image, but I kind of liked the face.

And some sketchy stuff. A sky pirate and a couple of cowboys from long ago!

A drawing done for an art exchange anniversary thingy on GorillaArtFare. We each were given another artist to do a version of one of their images I got the wonderful Karla Ortiz. I chose to slightly cartoonify one of hers, and made a right pigs ear of it!
Finally a real oldie, an instruction I did sheet for one of the old Halcyon model kits, this one of Judge Death sculpted by the excellent Colin Batty

A WICKED Hallowe'en!

2010-10-18T23:14:00.005+01:00

I felt Elphaba, The Wicked Witch of the West might be appropriate for Halloween! I did her 'pink', the fact she was green totally skipping past me, so added a green tint! Used a bit of pose ref, and a the usual Photoshop brushes. Have a good one, even if I'm being a bit premature!

Edit: Elphaba just got a Gold Award on CGHub! Thank you for that! :) I think the Witch of the South, Glinda, should be next, or maybe of the East and North seeing as those two don't get much 'airtime'!

Edit: Process gif HERE

Emma Frost and stuff...

2010-09-28T15:30:00.000+01:00

No post for ages, so apologies. Long term projects and a house move have swallowed much of my time, so hopefully things will be steadier for now...

Marvel's Emma Frost - A little Mr Hughes inspired on the approach to the cape, but the rest is me own (referencing her costume of course)!

A personal piece based on a photograph by John Wright of actress Emily Fitch. I wasn't after a likeness, it was mainly the outfit and the pose I liked so just wanted to do something inspired by it.

Another image based on the same sequence of photographs from John Wright. Less like the original.

This was a Character of the Week on ConceptArt.org I never finished it for the challenge. The topic was The Queen of Music. I did mine inspired by the eighties band Strawberry Switchblade...

A very quick old ChoW, but I've not put it anywhere, I think. The Endless' 'Death' goes Emo... (Heavily influenced by Joe Chiodo) When I did this I forgot to up-scale my resolution so the original is very small unfortunately.

Thanks you for visiting! :o)

The Necromancer

2010-07-05T18:20:00.005+01:00

I don't know what it is with Blogger but I have these intermittent periods when I can't see any images from any blog at all! Not just mine... any blog! The text shows up but not the pics...

Anyway, an inbetween jobs piece for 'Character of the Week' on Concept Art. A student Necromancer called Rosie! This was just for fun.

Io9 Article

2010-06-26T10:15:00.003+01:00

Wow! I've been featured on io9! A friend sent me a link and I feel enormously honoured! I think I need to get back into some good old fashioned horror pin-up! :) Thank you to them!

IO9 FEATURE

Hoorah!

Frank Frazetta, Peter O'Donnell and Loose Ends...

2010-04-12T21:28:00.040+01:00

Frank Frazetta 1928 - 2010

Gee, I'm bad at updating! Before I do, though, a word about Frank Frazetta, who passed on recently. As a kid I used to buy Conan books just for his covers alone. I was a bit more of a sci-fi geek than fantasy, but there was something about his work that struck a chord, as it did with many kids of my generation. There were few art collection books available then, unlike the way there is today, so I used to cycle the eleven miles to my nearest bookshop with a couple of quid in my pocket earned from shovelling cow/pig-crap at my weekend job on a farm. I would buy books by people like Ray Bradbury, Michael Moorcock, John Wyndham, Bob Shaw, Robert Sheckley etc, but after a friend at school showed me Frazetta's work when he was copying 'Death Dealer' for art class (in those powdery school paints you used to get) I fell in love with the easy use of colour and the bizarre landscapes he used to paint. Impossibly proportioned Rubenesque women and pumped up seemingly steroid enhanced men (a friend once described as looking like a condom full of walnuts). The funny thing is I didn't want to paint like him, or at least his subject matter, big muscular blokes didn't really appeal. I wanted to draw X-wing fighters, The Starship Enterprise, Batman, and bizarrely images of Joan of Arc as well! But I loved his work, and like so many things recently, I've realised his artwork on those 'Sphere' paperbacks decorated my imagination as much as the spaceships of Chris Foss or Tintin or Asterix. Here's to you Frank!
________________________________________

Peter O'Donnell 1920 - 2010And someone else who's death went almost unnoticed was Peter O'Donnell at 90, who created the wonderful Modesty Blaise in 1963. Modesty was a precursor of Emma Peel of The Avengers, and pretty iconic when it came to the depiction of strong women in comics. She was drawn by a number of artists but apparently every story, whether novel or comic strip was written by O'Donnell.

____________________________________________________

Some old and new sketches, and things that will probably never be finished...
Dragon's Egg 1:Kid Pirates:

Some spooky scarecrows. Quite old these, but I've not put them on the blog.

Dragon's Egg 2:
Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion:

Erica, Zombie Killer Rough:

A 'Character of the Week' I never finished, maybe I should as it's almost there...

A slightly bizarre rough of Isis for a Character of the Week:

A personal piece: The Vampire Queen!

And finally a pic from junior school... many years ago! A combination of Star Trek and the Thames TV logo... why!?

Teddy and Beast

2010-03-14T16:03:00.008Z

OK... so I said I'd update more often this year, what an idle promise that was! Sorry, but the muse has kind of been difficult to encourage recently. Sometimes it just isn't there... However here are two images from recent weeks. The first is an adaptation of a piece done to a brief. I spent a bit more time on it after the deadline and turned it into something else purely for me. The second is a bit (!) darker and is called 'Beast'. There is a bit of history to this image but that's another story, it's inspired by an old photograph of the mark of the beast!

Goodbye 2009

2009-12-31T14:15:00.005Z

OK, well the year is nearly over, and thank you to people for popping in and visiting my blog. I can’t say how much it has been appreciated. I’m going to try and keep it more updated in the coming months, and also try to include more works in progress and sketches. It's been a dramatic and emotional year for me and my partner, so I'm glad to see the back of 2009, but it ended with her being declared clear of cancer of the throat a few days before Christmas after months of chemo and radiotherapy, so I raise a glass tonight to a great Christmas present and to better times ahead.

Anyway... scribbles... This was where my head was at after looking at Kay Nielsen's work and Florence Harrison a lesser known illustrator from the golden age of British illustrators. A bit of an experiment really. I include the sketch as well.

Seasons Greetings!

2009-12-21T22:39:00.007Z

Happy Yule, Saturnalia, Hannukah, Christmas etc... Danielle has snow on her head. More personal stuff, with a bit of a nod to Mr Elvgren.

The Steampunk Harem & The Morrigan

2009-12-04T11:34:00.006Z

A quick update. Two characters of the week from Concept Art.org The first is 'The Steampunk Harem' and the second is 'The Morrigan'. The full version and a crop, which bizarrely I felt looked a bit better flipped... weird... I have a thing for stone circles...

Happy Hallowe'en

2009-10-27T22:07:00.005Z

A few days early, but a real rush job before other commitments. Vicky the Winter Witch started as a a personification of Winter for a Character of the Week on Concept Art, but I wasn't able to finish her for that. So with a couple more hours she's become a seasonal greeting! I think she must be Trish's sister from last year! Have good one whatever you do to celebrate! :)

Moonlight, you will say...

2009-10-23T11:56:00.003+01:00

I was cleaning up a hard-drive and found this, something I started about 4 years ago. I know... another spooky girl in a long black dress! :) I never finished it, but decided to do a bit of noodling on it to make it at least presentable. So here's a suitably haunted image for Hallowe'en, or Samhain.

Alice

2009-10-04T17:29:00.005+01:00

Er... Alice. The client said make her clothes shinier so I did...

Ella Hellbound

2009-09-29T17:53:00.007+01:00

A couple of ChOWs from Concept Art.org, The Mesmer and Supercute. Ella Hellbound was just a piece for myself, and Mirror Mirror was done for the Chicks vs Guys Thunderdome also on Concept Art. The poem is by my better half, Rosie. It might be a bit difficult to read here...

Thank you again for stopping here! :o)

Various bits of Bumpf

2009-09-12T22:30:00.009+01:00

Bit of an update... A finished Character of the Week from ConceptArt.org (Elizabeth Bennet: Pride and Prejudice) and some roughs from various others. Just sketches, but some were never finished. I'd like to work up the Arabian one sometime, Morgiana from The 1001 Arabian Nights.

Lizzie Bennet

Morgiana
Rough for a CGSociety Challenge
Alice and the Cheshire Cat
Prom Queen Killer rough
The Endless: Death, Delirium and Desire
Icarus getting an idea!
Puss in boot...

High School Prom Killer

2009-08-18T08:09:00.004+01:00

Another 'Character of the Week' from Concept Art.org. Done between 'real' work things. Tiffany-May White with her sweet smile is the High School Prom Killer. Never happier than when she's stabbing someone! Rather gruesome, I know... but hey ho...

Death

2009-06-24T23:27:00.003+01:00

Pop pop... a sketch based on a Character of the Week thing... Thank goodness for texture overlays... or maybe not! Should work it up... bed, tired...

Absinthe and Zombie Killers

2009-06-14T14:14:00.004+01:00

I've not updated this blog in ages, so apologies. A job change for me and a serious illness in the family, which has taken over a large part of my life have slowed down my personal work. I've kind of hung around Concept Art, but that's been about it really. Anyway, without further ado, here's a picture of Erica the Zombie Killer (with a nod to Shaun of the Dead!) and the Absinthe Fairy.

Thanks! :)

Silhouette from Watchmen

2009-03-29T16:23:00.009+01:00

Well I've not been here for a while. Lots of things going on in my life which are making things very bizarre right now, but I decided to do something just for myself today, so here's a real quickie, Silhouette from WATCHMEN; the recent movie version of Alan Moores brilliant graphic novel. She made a real impression (!) during her brief appearance in the film. I thought I'd do a version of her with a 'nod' to Mr Elvgren.

Thank you to all who've popped in and commented most kindly.

In the movie Silhouette and her lover get a bit of a rough ride to say the least. An interesting perspective on this is here, and in the links within:

BRIGHT LIGHTS AFTER DARK

However she does get the best scene in the opening credits, and perhaps even the movie (gif by Sonnete):

Baba Yaga

2009-02-15T23:23:00.003Z

Finally got a new laptop after the last one went poo shaped on me, so I have internet at home at last and... I don't know whether it's me or the site but Concept Art is eluding me tonight. I can't seem to get on, so I'll post my Character of the Week here. Baba Yaga. As usual, Photoshop...

Cosgrove Hall

2009-01-31T16:30:00.008Z

The last few months for me have been a series of endings. Something I am progressively becoming tired of in so many ways, so adding another to the list was something I kind of viewed with trepidation. But last night, in a bitterly cold Manchester I strolled across to Albany Road in Chorlton cum Hardy to witness the end of an era. Cosgrove Hall Films (formerly productions), was closing its doors for the last time. A round robin email to previous employees had circulated and people had decided to gather to say, well... goodbye really. As I wandered into the front car park familiar silhouettes of people I had once worked with came into view, and with whom I had often lost touch as you do; as we all do and regret. Brian Cosgrove stood on the steps in front of the shuttered door where I had first entered in 1986, and said a few emotional words about how it was the people who make a company such as Cosgroves and their talent, now spread out across the world. A sentiment the 'money' people of the world would do well to remember as they turn all magic into corporate product; into washed out generic drivel.

I had started as a 'newcomer to grade inbetweener' animating on The Big Friendly Giant and went on to 'key' on productions like Count Duckula, Avenger Penguins, Victor and Hugo, various pilots and of course the last ever series of Dangermouse. I was made redundant in 1993 when the ITV franchises went up for sale, and Thames TV stopped paying us! But I stayed in the building as a freelancer with a small group of animators and called ourselves Keyteam. This lasted for a further seven years, but in 2000, as 2D animation work grew thinner on the ground, I upped sticks and went to work for a computer games company.

After Brian had said his words on the steps, we all wandered to The Lloyds pub in Chorlton, and what could have been a sad affair was actually rather different. Alcohol has that effect! Catching up with people is never really an ordeal, particularly when they are all so special.

Cosgrove Hall was a massive part of my life, and without them it's safe to say I wouldn't be doing what I do now. Brian Cosgrove, specifically, as he was more concerned with the 2D side of things, gave me my first break in the industry after being introduced to him by another Cossies employee Ben Turner. So to him and Mark Hall, I say thank you, and I hope that somehow Cosgrove Hall can continue, even if it's not in that old converted tea warehouse it was in for over thirty years.

Cosgrove Hall, I raise a glass to you!

Charles Darwin

2009-01-30T10:17:00.003Z

Happy birthday Charles!

OK... a few days early, but the 12th February is the 200th anniversary of his birth. On Sunday the 1st Feb, BBC 1 is showing a documentary about him presented by David Attenborough. Attenborough speaks on Darwins life and how he personally influenced him. Should be very interesting indeed!

Interview with David Attenborough HERE

Judith and Holofernes

2009-01-23T22:52:00.003Z

Well, I might as well update... I recently entered the latest CGSociety Challenge, which was 'Steampunk Myths and Legends'. I'm a bit of a Steampunk nut I suppose. Funny really. I was always into historical based Sci-Fi, HGWells, Jules Verne etc, and writers from the Fin de Siecle period. Wilde, MRJames, Rider Haggard, Bram Stoker and Conan Doyle and many late Victorian and Edwardian authors. Their work has long informed my imagination. And then a few years ago along came Steampunk; a name for things I was kind of into anyway. For the challenge I eventually settled on Judith and Holofernes. A bit Biblical for me, or should I say 'Catholic', but I'd always loved the story as it featured a strong woman with motives other than just 'doing it for the man'! And of course the paintings of Artemesia Gentileschi, Caravaggio and Klimt. Well I never finished the version I set out to, and edited it to get something produced for the end of the challenge. Personal things also edited my time...

Bettie Page

2009-01-06T21:19:00.002Z

Well, I might as well post some 'art' as well!

A recent Character of the Week on Concept Art was Betty Page after she passed away. This was my entry portraying her as Little Miss Muffet. It looks nothing like her, but was very much a Gil Elvgrenisation of her. Hope it works a bit!

Thank you!

2009-01-06T21:03:00.006Z

First off, than you so much to all the people who took time to post comments or contact me personally concerning my father. Your kindness was heartfelt and supportive, and much appreciated.

I went to New York City at Christmas with my partner and we stayed at Hotel Chelsea, where my father's mother lived for so long. The building was stunning in a slightly old world way which I hope never changes. The art, atmosphere and the wonderful staff made us most welcome, and I will miss the place.

My partner in NYC. She's got all the ones of me!

Old Pictures

2008-11-30T21:06:00.011Z

Some more family images to do with my father. I've been discovering so many since he died. I know they won't really interest visitors to this blog, but I hope you get an inkling of a 'life' from them.

This is my grandfather Arthur with my dad about 1940ish. I love this picture because they look so happy together.

Arthur, my grandfather on his wedding day to Florrie about 1932.

My great grandfather on the Trinchera Ranch in Colorado.

Dad, the 'typical American kid' in California 1942.

Dad 1956. He's 22 here, pre-beard and glasses!

Arthur and my step grandmother Barbara, Arthur's second wife in India 1944, both smoking. They all did then! I like this one of Barbara. She looks 'very of the time'.

Dad is the one bottom left with the aviator sunglasses, with a bunch of mates in 1951.

Finally, my great uncle Malcolm Elwin to whom my father was very close, in his study. Malcolm smoked about 500 Capstan Full Strength a week. I distinctly remember the smell of his study: old books, tobacco and the smell of Eve's cooking from the kitchen.

Bryant Turner Fell 1934 - 2008

2008-11-23T15:55:00.006Z

On Friday, the 7th November 2008, at about 10.30 in the morning my father had a stroke. He was sitting in his armchair in the kitchen with the cat on his lap. My mother came home from shopping in the local village and found him. The first thing she said to him was: “That’s a funny position.”

I like to think that this is where Bryant Turner Fell died; in his armchair with the little cat that wandered in one day and adopted us, sitting purring on his lap. And maybe it is where he died, at least the element that described my father, the part of the brain that gave him character and personality; the part I knew. But to some extent, the truth is he died a lot later, in Bangor Hospital Gwynedd, Wales; Prysor ward, nine days after he was admitted. His body having endured a week of pain and loss of dignity from both the multiple sclerosis that had destroyed his later years, and the agonising twists and contortions that the massive stroke he'd had provided him with.

My parents live in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere in Anglesey in Wales. When my mother found my father she contacted the local doctor, and because of their isolation he called a helicopter to the farm to take him to Bangor hospital about 25 miles away. He vomited at some point and probably inhaled much of that, which gave him pneumonia.

My father was born in June 1934 in Oxford to a peripatetic American mother and staid upright British father. How the two of them ever got together in the first place is beyond me. The differences were extreme to say the least. But maybe that was the point. I didn’t know my grandfather, Arthur. We met a couple of times, and I found him reserved and very British. He had been a doctor. Florence Hayes Turner, or Florrie, my grandmother was a hippy before there were hippies. She worked as a talent scout for MGM studios; although exactly what she was doing in 1934 I don’t know. I have a great photo’ of her from the twenties sitting in a huge American roadster that I can’t identify. She was the daughter of a Colorado rancher, my great grandfather, and she and her sister Eve had grown up on the Trinchera Ranch, which at one point had covered a huge swathe of Colorado.

My dad moved to the US with his mother and sister Chantek not long after his birth and spent the war years in Colorado, Santa Barbara and San Diego and Malaya. He came back to England in 1946 aged 11, a typical American boy he would say. He arrived in Liverpool, and some waggish Liverpudlian told a naïve American kid to support Derby County football club, and my father was a firm follower of them all his life.

He went to St Edwards School in Oxford. When I say ‘went’, I mean his mother put him there to allow her to travel the world. During his schooldays he would spend holidays staying with his aunt Eve, Florrie’s sister, and her husband, the writer Malcolm Elwin in Devon. Malcolm was friends with Daniel Farson, the great nephew of Bram Stoker, and also the witer of Tarka the Otter Henry Williamson. From these people he learned to love books and reading, and I think some of his happiest times were here in the leafy lanes, and windswept sand dunes of North Devon. Malcolm had also been a friend of the poet Louis Wilkinson who had been in turn a good friend of Aleister Crowley. This had always excited me. More so when I learnt Louis had taught my father to swim.

Florrie was a fascinating woman. A teller of tales and extravagances she could keep you riveted for ages, if you allowed her to. As a child she always used to bring my sister and I presents from America. She lived in the Chelsea Hotel in New York City as a resident, where she hung around with Warhol and his ilk, until she moved to Edinburgh to be close to my Dad’s half brother by her second marriage; Malcolm LeMaistre. Malcolm had been in a band called the Incredible String Band in the ‘60’s and ‘70s and Florrie had always felt closer to the more rebellious son.

In the 1950’s my father did National Service like everyone else, and became Second Lieutenant B T Fell in the Duke of Wellington’s regiment after being at Sand Hurst, and all his life would look forward to the regiments magazine The Iron Duke dropping through the post box. He loved his military life, and made lifetime friends there, constantly telling us endless stories of what he got up to. He was stationed in Gibraltar, but never saw any ‘action’ despite almost going to Korea. (A broken arm prevented this). As a child I used to find his canvas army sleeping bag and sleep in it every night if I could, as I loved the smell of my father. It was only recently he told me he had never washed it!

It was in the late ‘50’s he got the first signs of the illness that was to destroy his later years when he first went almost blind in his right eye: Multiple Sclerosis. He met my mother in 1961 when she was a nurse working at the BBC, and he was working for Mann’s brewery in London. He had something in his eye, and she removed it. Their first date was to a cricket match! He was ever the romantic! Mum say’s she knew she was going to marry him almost from the first time they met. They did, six weeks later, and lived in a small flat in Barnes.

My dad became a teacher in the ‘60’s, and taught at Millfield Public School in Somerset where he became a housemaster. He lectured in all sorts of things, but sport was his obsession, and he ended up helping to pick the Olympic Pentathlon teams when he became secretary of the Modern Pentathlon Association. At weekends he would play rugby. My sister and I came along in the mid sixties. The house dad was in charge of was called Holmcroft, and it would alternate between girls and boys each year. My favourite years were the ones with girls. A little boy gets lots of attention from teenage girls, and I loved it! Debbie, my sister, of course preferred the years with boys! I remember one year, my sister and I standing in the street in our dressing gowns with severe mumps, waiting for the Queen to go past.

In 1974 we left Somerset and moved to Cheshire. My father had got a job teaching remedial studies at Tarporley and would run Summer Schools for children with dyslexia. Mother returned to her first career of nursing at Chester. We lived down a small country lane near a large mansion called Bulkeley Hall and enjoyed a rural life with the nearest and only shop over five miles away. I remember my sister and I squirting the foxhunters with water pistols from our bedroom windows as they passed down the lane. Dad tried to save money on petrol during the fuel crises of the 1970’s by buying a moped and travelling the 10 miles to work on its wobbly wheels. He came off it a number of times! Mum hated it.

Another move took our family to Kettering in Northamptonshire, a move my father later regretted, and it was here my mother’s kidney disease, which had killed her mother and one of her sisters, developed further and she had a kidney transplant. Here also, the multiple sclerosis of my fathers started to make its presence felt. After a second move across Kettering, my father took early retirement in 1985 and he and my mother moved to North Wales where they would stay. There was some disagreement as to the location from my sister and myself. With mum’s kidney problems and my father’s M.S., the last place they should have chosen to live was an old farmhouse in the middle of no-where in an unfamiliar place, thirty miles from a hospital. But they wanted it, or at least my father did. He had some romantic notion about it being a retreat; a place to escape the world, as his aunt Eve and uncle Malcolm had done years before. My sister and I had long since moved away, and had started our own lives in other places, so we couldn’t be there all the time. Ultimately, as my father started to deteriorate, my mother became his full time carer, and despite her own illnesses, which were many, she stayed his constant companion and love until Friday, the 7th November 2008.

This is his history, however paraphrased. But the man was much more. As a younger man he had been energetic and sporty. He loved cricket and rugby, and developed a deep affection for American sports such as Football and baseball. His team were the Green Bay Packers, and that is as far as my knowledge of this game goes. Humanised chess he would call it. The multiple sclerosis put the lid on any kind of taking part in such things, pretty much after the mid eighties. He became a dedicated armchair sportsman, and enjoyed the massive tv screen in his last months a good friend gave him.

Dad was a thinker, a reader and a deep sentimentalist. He would deny the latter, but you had only to look at his record collection to see how true this was. When he discovered CD’s he started collecting all his favourite music all over again, and I would wince as his old 78’s were confined to history. The music was important to him, not how he heard it, and CD’s sounded so much better than scratchy old shellac. Jazz was his love, particularly artists like Mugsy Spanier, and old traditional jazz. He also enjoyed sixties music, and movie soundtracks. How I will ever listen to the Gettysburg theme, or Morningtown Ride by The Seekers again is a sentimental bridge I will struggle to cross.

He had thousands of books. Literally thousands. I grew up with their familiar spines and book jackets painting the walls of my youth. Many American authors like Theodore Dreiser, Jack London, Sinclair Lewis. But also books of poetry, and biographies, particularly of other writers. Malcolm Elwin’s biographies of Byron spring to mind. He loved G A Henty, Rider Haggard, H G Wells, Somerset Maugham and Walter Scott. He loved the history of the American Civil War because an ancestor who also bore the unusual name Bryant had lost an arm at Gettysburg. In fact it seems Bryant was a name that occurred frequently in his family. One of his favourite movies was Gettysburg.

According to my mother, many of his happiest times were spent in the armchair permanently rooted in the corner of the big kitchen in the house in Anglesey. Next to the chair was his zimmer and the telephone for any emergency. But to me, every time I would come home, the chair represented a prison. A ball and chain my father could never get away from, and was permanently tied to. Coincidence plays stupid games with you when emotional trauma finds you in life. But next to dad’s chair, top of the little pile of books from the library he would work his way through in the following week, was a novel called ‘The Empty Chair’. God may not play dice, but I really believe he works as a comedian in his spare time. The thing is, I don’t find him very funny.

Characters...

2008-11-04T17:04:00.005Z

Seeing as I'm at home today with a dodgy boiler, brrrr... Some Characters of the Week.

First an intergalactic smuggler that was a bit Tank Girl inspired. Secondly an unfinished illustration of Dr Watson and Holmes on Dartmoor. Thirdly a very bizarre ChOW, which was an Aztec child sacrifice. Sometimes the Character's of the Week can be quite, er... challenging!

Steampunk!

2008-11-04T15:06:00.003Z

Here's a pic of my partner in full Steampunk gear all made by herself as it should be. I was very proud of her. She based it on Serran the Hunter an image you can see further down the blog.
And another one:

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-29T09:32:00.019Z

Poor Trish! She was hoping to go out with her chums on their broomsticks, but she's been left to do the JEdgaring. Perhaps if someone plugs her in she can get a ride on the vacuum cleaner...

Unashamedly inspired by Gil Elvgren, but Trish is certainly not an Elvgren girl!

Happy Halloween!

Steampunk Goggles

2008-10-14T21:51:00.005+01:00

I've been off work with a really nasty cold and cough, so rather than wibble away the hours watching Jeremy Kyle (as if!), I started fiddling with some steampunk goggles I'd roughly assembled last year when on holiday. With a few odds and ends from around the house I've made them a bit more elaborate: a broken watch, towel rail holders, a keyring telescope and some other bits, make it look almost presentable! They aren't to be worn but attached to a top hat. I'll locate some brass screws and continue with it when I get out of the house, but here's a work in progress in the form of some attrocious photographs.

Sherlock Holmes

2008-10-10T12:39:00.005+01:00

This is still a work in progress (as usual), although it's nearly there. Sherlock Holmes, a personal interpretation, from a Concept Art 'character of the week'. I'm trying to catch that intenstity that Holmes has. There's still something not quite right about the eyes, and of course I've still got to do the hands and chair etc.

The Clockwork Heart

2008-09-30T22:22:00.004+01:00

Yet(!) another unfinished Character of the Week! I enjoyed doing the sketch anyhow, so here it is. Based on a little tale by CA member yoitisi, about a boys father with a clockwork heart. The rough and the beginnings of 'clean up'.

Sherry update!

2008-09-24T22:28:00.002+01:00

I was supposed to be doing something else this evening and it was going pear shaped; avocado with nasty black spots on it! So I tweaked Sherherezade instead with bit more success... I hope. Close up...

Spaceship Crash Site

2008-09-23T21:38:00.004+01:00

The Environment of the Week on Concept Art is a Spaceship Crashsite. Ages a go I did a doodle for another idea, and the CA challenge has inspired me to work it up a bit more. A sort of Steampunk Spaceship Crashsite. I can't submit it, as the work must be wholly original, in that it's done for that week, but I want to have fun with it anyway! :) The first is the original sketch, and the second how I'm going to approach it (essentially turn the spaceship upside down!)

Scheherazade

2008-09-23T21:26:00.002+01:00

Scheherazade! I love Arabian Nights stuff, and collect copies of the books, having editions going back to about 1840, my favourite being Edmund Dulac's and Andrew Lang's editions. A recent Character of the Week on Concept Art was to interpret her. My small brain decided she should be like a 1940's film star, al la Hedy (not Hedley!) Lamaar. So with inspiration from Robert McGinnis this is what I produced. It's not actually finished yet, so I'll ost the final soon.

ImagineFX Cover

2008-09-23T21:17:00.004+01:00

I was asked to do a cover for ImagineFX, a great privilege. The concept was a tongue in cheek poster with a bit of a Barbarella vibe. I did a couple of roughs, which included a monster on the back cover, as it was to be a fold around cover. The monster I was NOT happy with at all. I finished it at 4AM and this is a sober lesson to me never to do that again. The one I've put up here is without the said beastie, and I think is better for it. If you really want to see the tentacled thingy, then buy ImagineFX! :)

An Oldie!

2008-08-07T13:22:00.002+01:00

Thought I'd put up another oldie as I'm coming back to this one as well. The Ice Princess; yet another ChOW on Concept Art.

Harley Quinn

2008-08-05T23:46:00.010+01:00

Back from the New Forest, family things, and lots of driving! So here's a bunch o'sketches for a ChOW. The latest Character of the Week on Concept Art was 'Dark Knight' Villains. Design one of Batman's nemesisisisis to fit in with the new 'Nolan Universe'. So I did Harley Quinn, who's great anyway. These are my sketches and the final, which still needs work as I had no bleedin' time to get it done!

Serran the Dragon Slayer

2008-07-23T18:26:00.003+01:00

A real oldie, originally done for a character of the week challenge on Concept Art. I'm kind of reworking it a bit at the moment. I like Serran. She lost both her hands in a dragon attack, and now has sworn eternal vengeance on all their ilk... in a pith helmet!

Bubble!

2008-07-18T23:34:00.006+01:00

Her name is Bubble because of the puffball dress. Worked up from a doodle.

Turkey shoot!

2008-07-17T12:46:00.003+01:00

I do draw blokes sometimes... girls are just more fun!

I'm 'avin' a fag!

2008-07-16T17:38:00.003+01:00

I know, fag means something different in the States... 5 mins, Photoshop. Got to do more stuff like this. Proper drawingboard time... should forget PS for a while.

And another one...

Smaug and the Nephilim

2008-07-14T23:05:00.004+01:00

If I update I should stick a sketch in at least. Here's a rough of Smaug for the Character of the Week on Concept Art. Unlikely to finish it as I'm very busy so here's the doodle:

Went to see Fields of the Nephilim in London on Saturday. First time I've seen them since about 1994. I used to follow them everywhere in the late '80's and love 'em! For all his gloomy sepulchral singing Carl McCoy is a cheerful chappie, and was filming everyone as they went into Shepherds Bush Empire. They played Sunday too, but I had to get back home. Sigh... Great gig!

This is an old pic and the line-up has changed but they are a fun bunch! I used to dress like this... er, still do some times!

Beastly Child

2008-07-09T07:57:00.001+01:00

The Upsetting tale of Little Michelle will shortly be complete, at least the written version.

Robot Piercings

2008-07-04T13:02:00.004+01:00

Developed from a doodle, she's a robot who's just had her nipples pierced! The doodle didn't look like one of the usual girls I draw, so I went with it.

George Carlin RIP

2008-06-28T11:00:00.001+01:00

Edit: According to a comment on this post this isn't George Carlin. I thought about removing it, but essentially I subscribe to many of the sentiments in it, so I'll leave it here.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/carlin.htm

A MESSAGE BY GEORGE CARLIN:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares?

George Carlin

Memento

2008-06-26T18:01:00.002+01:00

She's called Memento Mori. Another doodle...

Thunderdome Scrappers

2008-06-25T23:20:00.005+01:00

Whilst I'm in a posting mood, and Concept Art and CGSociety are out for me right now (dunno what's going on but I can't seem to access any graphics site tonight), here are a couple of my Thunderdome pieces for the recent Concept Art challenge, that I ended up scrapping for various reasons, but will still finish off anyway. The first is kind of a nod to Norman Rockwell, and the second just plain weird... I don't know what was going on in my head when I started this one... The theme was Outbreak.

Up Up and Away

2008-06-25T09:49:00.003+01:00

I've been drawing girls in flying gear for so long it's about time I started to refine a character I think. This is Valerie... a very quick lunchtime doodle.

Catchup

2008-06-18T08:02:00.004+01:00

Blogs are weird things. You kind of fire off into the darkness and hope you hit something. I have really no idea if anyone ever looks at the thing apart from unreliable view counters. But still I forge onward, posting the odd thing here and there...

I've not been very active recently. I took a week off work to catch up with some personal things, and coincidentally my father became very ill and has spent the last two weeks in hospital. He has multiple sclerosis and some rather bad internal bleeding complicated this and set it back quite abruptly. As a result his mobility is badly affected. It's quite soul destroying to watch a man who was once incredibly active take minutes to cross a room just to go to the toilet. He has actually had it for over 40 years, and went blind in one eye in the '60's, but it was only identified as MS in the last 20 years, since when he has slowly deteriorated. My mother has been his carer for sometime now, and has adapted the house to take this into account. His mind is still pretty sorted though, and he is as obstinate and grumpy as ever! I don't normally post this kind of personal information. Frankly it's not really anyone's concern, but if I have a chance to bring the obcene and debilitating illness of Multiple Sclerosis to the attention of people then I will.

UK Multiple Sclerosis Society

Wikipedia entry for MS

MS can affect people in so many ways. Like I say, my father has had it for many years and its progress has been slow, but it can also do what it does in the space of a year. Unpredictable and obcene.

Some 'art' soon!

Trashy Pulp

2008-06-04T22:38:00.005+01:00

This is an old image I thought might make an interesting pulp cover. She was originally for one of the Character of the Weeks on ConceptArt.org, and she was called Petra Hepburn.
Still listening to Swans a lot, and an old band I discovered years ago, Pain Teens.

Also, went to see Chemical Wedding the other day. Very bizarre! This was a movie with Simon Callow as a university professor who is for all intents is re-incarnated as Aleister Crowley. It's produced by Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, and although he obviously has an affection for his subject, it's essentially a metal bands impression of the man: all the salaciousness and none of the subtlety. Callow is great, and the film held my interest; noticing all the in joke references to Crowley's life is fun (names like Victor, Leah and Haddo himself) but I'm still waiting for a less OTT film about the Great Beast!

Today I am mostly listening to...

2008-05-25T23:54:00.004+01:00

...Jarboe and Swans. Sitting at home with Photoshop in front of me I've had both these on loop from MySpace. Jarboe's voice is haunting and wonderful. And I love Swans cover of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division, one of my 'Desert Island' records. Anyway... must draw more, but here's a pic of Jarboe...

To Hell They Belonged

2008-05-24T17:13:00.007+01:00

Oh dear... here's another Pulp C0ver. This was a bit of an experiment to see if I could do this in a day. It took a bit longer as I spent a while trying to find particular fonts, and the original sketch was a bit older, but most of the painting took a day. Not quite sure of the girl on the left's pose...

A Pocketful of Death

2008-05-20T13:22:00.002+01:00

I was just playing around with an old image for another project and decided to adapt it into another mock pulp cover. It sort of works... Quite on oldie really...

A couple of recent bits...

2008-05-10T22:38:00.005+01:00

I love Pulp covers, so here's another one in my intermittent series... Got a couple more in the works... The other image is the pic that was accepted for Spectrum! It's Lucy Westenra from Dracula, at least my take on her! Post beheading! How pleasant... ;)

I Done a Book

2008-05-07T21:35:00.004+01:00

Last year I was asked to author a book for Ilex Press and Harper Collins in their series. Including Fantasy Art Now. Mine was to be Erotic Fantasy Art Now. I didn't have the time to do it alone so I asked my good friend Jonny Duddle, Duddlebug to co-author it with me. We had three months to produce a book which should have taken over a year, and in the end I think we did pretty damn well. We gave the publishers a list of artists we'd like in and they either said yay or nay. In the end we worked with some of our favourite artists, and made plenty of contacts, all who agreed to submit art, mainly new, some specifically for the book, and some older pieces.

Thanks to Henning Ludvigsen and Natascha Roeoesli for the name drop, but mainly thanks to all the contributers for making this a fabulous and perhaps too tasteful a book! ;)

If you fancy a copy it's available from Amazon UK and US:

AMAZON US

AMAZON UK

Last Man Standing

2008-04-23T20:41:00.000+01:00

This was my final submission for the LMS on Concept Art. Not the one I started with, which I as good as finished, but felt unsure about at the last minute. I finished this one off in a couple of days although had started it at the beginning of the competition. ( I seem to be drawing girls on beds a lot right now! :) )I'll post the first version, a different picture when I tweak it some more. There is a third, but I have no idea if I'll finish it. There were two other fabulous images in my match from Kirtz and Sept13. Sadly Shelly Wan was unable to submit, but I would love to have seen what she would have come up with. Oh well...

Headless Chicken!

2008-04-16T21:03:00.000+01:00

...for I am running around like one! Recently I was asked to produce a cover for Frank Forte's Asylum Press. I'd worked briefly with Frank before when he saw an image of mine he liked called 'Lil'Devil'. Three Vampire girls, or at least one and her two 'converts'! The middle one is loosely based on my partner, the left is fictional, and the girl on the right is inspired by Kato, who kindly agreed to let me use her likeness. The style is slightly out of the norm for me, as these days I prefer to work looser. But it was fun to do, despite clashing with my Last Man Standing piece for Concept Art.

On another note, recently saw 'El Orfanato', The Orphanage produced by Guillermo del Toro. Great movie. Del Toro is fast becoming one of my favourite directors.

Dorian Gray

2008-04-03T22:33:00.001+01:00

With my Last Man Standing pic starting to go pear shaped for the Concept Art contest, I'm going to work up a sketch of Dorian Gray, from Oscar Wilde's story. Like my Oscar image I'm going to make him/her androgenous and paint it in the style of Henrique Medina's paintings of Hurt Hatfield as Dorian from the 1945 movie. I can't find much reference for either of the two he painted for the movie. There is plenty of Ivan Albright's corrupt Dorian (who I think looks like Father Jack from 'Father Ted'), but very little of the younger one. Apparently there were two, one which was later bought for Hurd Hatfield, a completely uncorrupted version, and another known as the 'sneer', where Dorian's expression is turning as it begins to show the evil. I guess a good examination of the movie is in order! One thing I love about the film is the fact the whole thing is in black and white, except for the paintings which are in colour!

Taurus Bar

2008-04-01T20:50:00.000+01:00

Well, my wife and I put the piccys up in Taurus Bar. Here are a couple of images from the morning. Only got a few 'photos as guests were arriving and I had to disappear off. Thanks to Ian, the manager, for wanting me back. Should be able to return sometime and make a better record, as there are more I didn't photograph.

The Guardian/Independent listings got in touch so there's a chance I'll be in their magazines this weekend. Which would be nice! :)

Quiet Day

2008-03-24T17:11:00.000Z

Some days you mean to get a lot done, and then find yourself blobbing in front of the TV. Today was one of those. A bag of Twiglets, The Longest Day followed by The Princess Diaries! Anyhow, here's a reverse gender portrait of Oscar Wilde as a woman, for a 'Character of the Week' on Concept Art.org.

Dave Stevens

2008-03-19T22:32:00.000Z

On March the 10th Dave Stevens died of Lukaemia, at the ridiculously young age of 52. A massive fan of his work, particularly 'The Rocketeer', and his wonderful playful pin-ups, his passing is a sad loss. Thoughts and condolences to his family and friends.

Spectrum!

2008-03-11T18:11:00.000Z

Woke up to a great bit of news this morning in that I've got something in Spectrum! Woohoo! Don't know what yet, but I guess I'll find out soon. Made my day to be honest! Chuffed is only half of it!

An Exhibition!

2008-03-09T22:54:00.000Z

Sat and watched 'Hairspray' with the missus tonight, the original. Not seen it before, and really enjoyed it. Not had much time to do other things, such as paint this weekend, but hopefully I can find time to get on with my new Last Man Standing piece this week. However I've got an exhibition coming up in Manchester UK throughout April. I had one there this time last year and it worked out pretty well. I'm never really sure my stuff is the kind of 'art' that people want on a wall, but I've sold a couple. :) Click the image for a big one!

Dead LMS and a couple more.

2008-03-08T01:25:00.000Z

Well I might as well add a couple more whilst I'm awake and eating pistachios.

One of my earlier 'Underneath it All' compositions. I'll finish it, maybe. But I go a bit lost whilst working it up...

Another image I produced for a project I did with another artist, my good friend Jonny Duddle, Duddlebug. More details of that later. Didn't turn out quite as I expected, but there were bits I liked...

That's Shalott

2008-03-07T23:43:00.000Z

A picture wot I done to start off my blog. Seen on Concept Art.org, but now seen here too!

Well I'm through to the next round of LMS on CA.org. Quite how I dunno, but there you have it. The next round'll be fun. I'm up against some very fine artists including Shelly Wan, an illustrator I vastly respect. I also have a comic book cover to do for a US based publisher, which is nice!