Comments!

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

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)

'Trilby' and 'Rosalind & Celia'.

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

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

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

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

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!

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

Red

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

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

Ms Marvel

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

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