New Year? and a foppish DI

Hi there, as you probably expect, the reason for this post is to show some new work. It's almost impossible to believe that I haven't updated since April, but that's the truth. So anyway here's the new stuff.
 

This first piece I did for the new year, but never quite finished it for a while. As you can probably guess, 2013 is the year of the snake. As with my 2012 artwork, I decided to keep a somewhat Japanese feel, but I also at the time on a whim decided to incorporate Art Deco elements in the clothing and bottle design. My sister thought the pattern on the kimono looked like stylised bamboo, which I'm okay with. I'm particularly happy with the design on the bottle, though there's probably way too much detail in the label, as you can't even make most of it out at 100%. Still it was fun to do, I just need to make sure in the future that I stop zooming in so close. I've included a detail shot of the bottle. Serpent's Kiss - Seductively deadly.

The second I have for you today is a present I drew for my mum. If there's two things she loves, it's her Tonkinese cat Bashir (As in Dr Julian Bashir) and murder mysteries. Enter DI Tonks! Being a cat I believe he would have a rather foppish dress sense and I also trying to incorporate fish into the design. The tail waistcoat was based on fish scales and the shirt is herringbone. Yes, that's a fez, just because, you know, fezes (what the hell is the plural of fez?) are cool. This was my first attempt at full background in watercolour, so I'm pretty happy.

Number three is my fifth work in my patented 'Quick Concept series,' This time combining a bird (vulture) with a sniper. The limited palette worked quite nicely I think.

Well that's it for now, I've got a few more pieces ready to upload but I'll do that next time
 Bye!

Venetian robots and goblins riding a dog, oh my!

Hi there everyone. Sorry again about the infrequency of my updating, I've really got to work on having something to post at the very least once a week, as right now I'm not even getting something out once a month.

Things have been rather busy though, I've finally found myself a job, but no, unfortunately it's not illustration or even design, but retail. It's something though! With some income at last I'll be able to save up some money for printing and gallery space next year. That way I can hopefully get my name out there and start getting some real work. It's true certainly for artists that you need to spend money to make money >.<

In-case you missed it, here's my piece from Illustrators Australia's annual 9X5 exhibition. It was a really interesting piece to work on as I haven't very often worked off a theme that hasn't come from my own head.

I actually sold my piece! My very first sale of art...ever! My wonderful and supportive parents bought it. Now they have the challenge of trying to work out where to put it in the house...one of the walls good for art is already covered in mine and my lovely sister's art.

So if you're interested in some background of it, I shall now provide...

Each year the 9X5 always have a theme, this year it was carnivale, so you can bet there were many artworks of masked characters based on the Venetian carnivale tradition. One of the most curious things I came to learn about the introduction of masks was that it was a way to remove the harsh class system imposed on the citizens of Venice. I loved the idea of hiding something completely different behind the mask.

Anyone who knows my art, will know that I love to mix old and new up in my illustrations. I enjoy taking something historic and trying to futurise (that's so not a word) it, or trying to make something of pure fantasy fit into a historic setting. This was of the latter, A robotic musician playing during the carnivale at the time of the renaissance. I chose a 3/4 back view to show both the illusion of real from the front, in which she (it's a female robot, machines can have genders!) is wearing a period dress, and behind to show the gears and other parts that make it work.

The reason she has a long neck was originally to fit in a speakers that were going to be attached to her shoulders. As this would end up blocking out some of the details I decided to instead have wires trailing over to a speaker somewhere out of view.

I really quite like the effect of graphite on wood, so I think I shall have to experiment with it in the future.

My second piece for you today is my fourth quick concept piece. A suggestion from my sister: To combine goblin and umbrella, I instantly got the idea of using a giant leaf as an umbrella, and just now got myself thinking of Totoro and the classic scene at the bus stop in the rain. Before I knew it, rather than having one goblin I ended up having 2 goblins riding a dog as a sort of trader. travelling the world selling whatever junk they happen to find that they think is worth something.

I've got some more quick concepts just around the corner and some quite detailed Xmas presents in the tunnel too, so look forward to uploads of all of those, eventually. I'm also doing another re-design of my blog banner and a new design for my logo and business card coming too.

Until next time. ^_^
 

Devonshire Tea in the Void

Hi there people who like art! Let's face it, you aren't here for my charming conversational-style writing. It's the artwork you want. Well today you're in luck, as I have for you not just the image you see before you, but also some new pages out of my sketch book. Not to mention some re-scans of a couple of other pages, that originally looked quite horrible.

So about the Gentleman Spacer. It was a piece for a friend's birthday. Quite simply I wanted to combine two things he loves, that being steam-punk and science-fiction. I immediately started wondering what a wealthy gentleman would look like if he wanted to go EVA while on a deep space cruise. I just couldn't resist the cybernetic arm, I also tried to incorporate the top hat into the helmet in some way, but just wasn't coming up with anything that looked too great. I thought the eyes in particular came out really well. I knew I wanted to incorporate some kind of crest in the chest plate, but I really wanted to steer clear of clichés like roses or lions, and instead opted for something no gentleman can be without, tea

So now the sketchbook pages...

 So that's it from me for now, in the next week I should have another piece to upload, just waited for my friend to receive it first. I'm sorry about the lack of updates, but I've been trying to find a job and haven't been having too much luck. Until next time...

Quick Concept Number Three

Hello there. As the title suggests here is Quick Concept number three. I'm thinking I really should come up with  a better name for this series: I think it'd be great to turn it into a little book. But enough of my secret plans for illustration domination.

So as you might have guessed, this concept was to cross Roman legion style armour with a current technology EVA spacesuit. Now the Romans can expand their empire into the stars. Veni Vidi Vici. 

 I developed an interesting logo on the helmet, but it ended up being so small that I only got a rough shape in there. It was of the mythological founders of Rome, 'Romulus and Remus'. In the story they were rescued by a she-wolf, So I chose to use the 'Capitoline wolf' for a logo, looking over two planets. This is a reference to one of Star Trek's more well known races, the Romulans. Their capital planets are called Romulus and Remus

Though I said in my last post that I try not to put so much detail into these works, there has been a steady rise in the amounts of detail from the first one to the third. Oh well, the important thing is that I'm getting quicker and better. I'm proud of the metal in particular, unlike some other drawings I've been doing this one really looks like shiny metal. I also didn't spend nearly as long agonising over colours like I usually do: This is probably because I've been getting colour palettes from photos rather than trying to blindly work out what colours would work well.

So that's it from me, see you next time.

Quick Concept Number Two

Hello all,

I've a new work for all to see, my second piece in my quick concept series. As I've said in my last post about this series, it's basically a way for me to try and develop a concept quickly without worrying too much about narrative...not that I don't think of it at all. I also do these very small (A6) to ensure I don't go to town on the detailing.

So my challenge this time was to come up with a character design using the words seahorse and spellbook: The words were provided by my sister, I think it's always good to have other people pitch you ideas, as they think of things you won't. So I first thought of a witch riding a seahorse, this seemed kind of obvious and much too involved for such a small image. So I started thinking of a diving suit, one that resembles the bone structure of the seahorse, with the snout acting as the rebreather. Hey presto we've got a sea witch. The challenge was trying to come up with a way for a spellbook to be usable underwater. I originally thought of some kind of tablet or PDA, but after considering a bit longer...seaweed with waterproof ink. Now to start my next one, but you'll just have to wait and see what it is.

Thanks for reading

Watercolour practice

Hi there,

Just as I promised, here's some work I've been doing in watercolours. It had been a while since I last used them, so I thought I'd do some quick practice pieces.

The concept for this piece started with a desire to draw a girl wearing seifuku. Playing around with some shapes in the background, it started to remind me of a shrine erected after a war. So I decided the girl could be part of an naval honour guard to keep watch over the navy's archives. I decided to give her a trident as a pole-arm. It is great weapon for guards and the connections it has with Poseidon, Greek god of the sea.

Inspired by my friend Levene's 'Animal in a day' artworks I decided to try doing concept art without a background and much less concern on a narrative. Instead, just picking a couple of words and trying to put them into one character design. I often try to put too much thought into an artwork, so this a great way to practice coming up with a concept quickly.