Drabblecast illustration

Artwork for the Drabblecast episode 265 "Little Grace of the House of Death" by Eugie Foster. Eugie , a fan favourite on the Drabblecast, also wrote  episode 57 "The Tiger Fortune Princess" which I illustrated last year as part of the art reclamation project. "The Wish of the Demon Achtromagk" is a good place to start if you're not familiar with her work.

This story reminded me of the Dead Marshes sequence in the Lord of the Rings films, which may have been inspired by Tolkien's experiences at the Somme. I then looked at archive photos of the Somme and other battlefields, which needed dilution as the story is a dark fairy tale. So I slopped in a big helping of Edmund Dulac, one of the two most popular turn of the century children's book illustrators (The other is Arthur Rackham, known for his creepy trees)

The iridescent colour in the water is scanned in abalone shell.

Vert School illustrations

I'm redoing the Vet School illustration at the moment , in a more cartoony style. According to my sister a vet's working day includes a lot less zebras and a lot more cat spaying. The animals have been pretty fun to draw.

More life drawing

Bit of an off day

Life drawing 3

Life drawing 2 (Warning, contains penis)

A male model this time. My warm-up sketches were terrible but the drawings weren't bad.

New life drawing class-the point of warm-up sketching

 I've started a new life drawing class. The first drawing was a bit tight and self-conscious. I haven't done any life drawing for months

 A couple of quick sketch exercises. The top picture was drawn in 50 seconds, the bottom without taking the pencil off the paper. Spot where I cheated!

Second drawing, a bit freer and more expressive. The third drawing was rubbish though. Attending a life class full of 19 year old art students puts a bit of pressure on! I didn't do too badly considering how rusty I was.

Zoo sketches

A couple of sketches for a new edition of Vet School based on some sketches and photographs I took in Africa and Thailand (monkey not included)