I've started life drawing once or twice a week. It's fun to balance accuracy and expression, and have dedicated time to learn how to draw as well as study anatomy. Getting down likenesses of the models was always a strong point for me, but I think now that it's been a while I'm more 50/50 with it, but genuinely seem to learn something useful with every drawing. All these are 5-15 minute poses. I'll post some more up soon!

Busybusybusy

In the midst of moving house and doing a few comic projects, but here's an Akira piece in the meantime:

Here's the bigger, not-quite-wallpaper-size

When I first read Akira I thought it was good, but pretty overrated. Otomblr's helped me understand how amazing Otomo really is, though.

Starwatcher

Apple Pie was the first Moebius art-meme, and now Brandon Graham's started it all again with Starwatcher [I totally think that me and andy suggested this pic whilst in vancouver with Brandon, but it might have been this one I was thinking of :>]. Spent way too much time on this one, and ended up making it more of a study than anything else. Also, next time I do anything like this, I'll just use a ruler. It's such a fucking hassle without one! This was also a really fun chance to ink something more finished by hand. GO!

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Sketchesssss

Me and Josh Bone met up at a tea shop the other day to work on comiccssss, and ended up doing a 2-page challenge. We each picked three random words and had under two hours to think of something. My words were circle, running and fan. It's hilariously bad, and all an excuse to mess around with semi-functional panel layouts, but I'll have to do more. I used to do this sort of thing last year with Andy Porter, so I should keep it up!

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Here's a little sketch from the V&A museum in London, and below that is a drawing from above the docks in Falmouth. They're on A6 and A4 paper respectively.

You guys know Rebecca Sugar's work, right? Just checking. She's incredible.

HAMPSHIRE FOLK TALES

Here's a couple sneak peeks at a book I've illustrated called (you guessed it) Hampshire Folk Tales, a book of folklore, myths and urban legends about the English county and it's crazy history. It was actually written by my uncle (a storyteller by trade), and is an amazing read- a lot of these books can be quite drily written, but my uncle has tried to make it as lively and organic as possible. He has a couple of amazing lines on storytelling as a whole, explaining how evolutionary stories can be, and how every different change and personal take on a narrative can create an even bigger story of it's own.

Through some misunderstanding on my part I left myself little time to do these illustrations, and while some may be a bit sparse, I had a load of fun on the book and knocked out a few good results. It's being published through History Press in November, and I'll give you details on buying it closer to the launch date!

KING OF PAINT

[full size]

Here's a sketch I made for a graff store in Bristol called King of Paint. They have an exclusive sketchbook that they get people to sketch in. I can't wait to see what's new in there next time. Here's their website, and here's their blog.

It's been a while since I've drawn anything at A3 size. It was pretty fun!

Random starred Google Reader post of the day:

http://fuckyeahladywriters.tumblr.com/post/3363943543/in-between-freezing-and-melting-in-between-love

RIP Eagles Initiative...

So. Comics.

I've mentioned this one before, and here it is in all it's uh, 6-page glory. This was pretty fun to do, and I learnt a whole load from the experience. It may be a little confusing (it's the classic, 'too much story, too little time or understanding of what the audience will understand' routine), but I hope you enjoy it. Originally made for a competition called the Eagles Initiative with the chance to get feedback from a bunch of professionals and have your work published in an anthology, unfortunately the whole competition fell through. Looks like it's just you and me, comics!

If you look at something like this, you'll see something that my comic doesn't do- Stokoe adds just a couple extra panels which if you strictly thought it through may not be necessary, but they make the whole thing much clearer.

Random starred Google Reader post:

http://beautifuldecay.com/2011/06/07/chie-aoki-human-growth/

In absence of work I'm allowed to show (although I might show a bit soon anyway), here's some life drawing and painting from the past little while. Throughout uni, my life drawing was a lot more structured than sessions I went to before, and so while I've undoubtedly learnt more, I think I've also developed a habit of overthinking obervational drawing, and forgetting to just relax and enjoy myself. Both in my observational drawing and any other work, my goal from here on out is to balance pushing technique and knowledge whilst just... enjoying what I naturally do!

Painting has never come naturally to me, so when I practice observational painting I'm usually slow. Even so, I learn something every time! Gestural sketches (like in the last photo) are really fun to learn natural posture and weight balance, as well as simplifying shape. I still hang on to these when I can, since they can give you a little perspective when you're overthinking anatomic proportions in place of gesture and action.

To me, the absolute master of life drawing is the esteemed Francis Vallejo. He consistently balances line and form, knowledge and expression in every piece. From his warmup sketches to his more polished renderings... he knows his shit. Also check out Jaime Jones (another young genius, and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet), whose life drawing reflects his more painterly nature.

Now, on with things!

INSPIRATION #1

After being shouted out by a couple of loverly fellas, I thought I'd follow the trend and post some artists that float my boat!

Amélie Fléchais

ssoja's art inspires me pretty much every time I see it. As someone who can't paint for shit, I always love her watercolours, and how she balances pattern with solid shapes, 2-d with 3-d rendering. Even her simple work as an amazing atmosphere to it.

Christophe Marchetti

A lot of this guy's newer work reminds me of Taiyo Matsumoto's Takemitsu Zamurai and Sunny stuff. I haven't actually read any of Marchetti's comics yet, but I'm really curious to see how he tells stories.

Maciej Kuciara

I still don't fully know how to pronounce his name.

Adijin

His websites down atm, so here's his deviantart.
Something I found on a pixiv hunt a while ago:

Quick blast from the past: No matter what people think of Dragonball Z, Dragonball is still an amazing comic. I think it was the first comic after primary school age (post Beano and Spider-man) that really kickstarted my current love for the medium. While everyone loves the Akira bike, this one always has a spot in my heart as my dream vehicle :)

Till next time!

More character designs! A man's been cursed to be trapped within a puppet like body, to be a ward for a town abandoned through war. All the residents had left on floating city-ships to closely follow the war, and the man has been left alone for years. The book gives him the chance to slowly reveal his personality to a sudden guest to the town, whose earlier designs can be seen here.

The mask on his back shows the man himself, like some kind of death mask.

So I've finally finished university! It feels pretty good...