Alice, Roughly

Five days in to the new year and things are crazy! But in a great way, so far this seems to be the most exciting year creatively for me. I can't believe the projects I'm doing. Above is a detail of an illustration I did for the excellent UK publication Steampunk Magazine. What a thrill to get to do this piece and it has to do with Alice in Wonderland which is brilliant.

Just found this site on Imaginary Realism and am scouring it for inspiration. Amazing stuff.

Quiet Snowy Day

Three Days In, So Far So Good

I'm cautiously peering out from my studio for my shadow and things look pretty good so far. I am working hard on stuff and battling the urge to follow every little path that presents itself and spreading myself impossibly thin as I have the last few years. I've started work on my first commission of the year; an Alice in Wonderland based illustration in pen and ink. And I'm working on the piece above, a pencil drawing for my portfolio. I love working on a detailed pencil drawing like this, it literally feels like discovering a world and a story. I'll post it when I'm finished.

Looking Back And Forward

I'm thinking and planning and fretting right now exactly like I did a year ago. I remember last years worries so vividly; a new son and too much work.

Career wise the last 2 years have been rocky and full of ups and downs.This past year in particular; I had a son, the economy looked very grim and we had a big move halfway across the country.Being who I am its the failures Iremember clearest. The thing that tripped me up most was panic.I took on too much, worked really hard, missed out on valuable family time and it didn't feel worth it. So the lesson to me is don't take on too much and choose the things you really want to do, not what I feel I should do.

Next year looks incredibly promising.

I have some really exciting work lined up and a plan. I plan to keep the big projects to a minimum. Two, maybe three projects over the year and find an art rep to handle my commercial work. I'll figure out how to make a living at this yet. This year, I hope!

Happy New Years Creatures!!

A Very Good Twenty Ten To You All

To quote oner of may favorite authors

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself," Neil Gaiman

Have a happy new year and very best wishes for the coming year.

Henry Playing With Train

A quick sketch in pen and photoshop of Henry playing with a model train. I did this about five minutes ago.

Pencils And Magic

Forgive me for "thinking out loud" on my blog but I find I do my best thinking here. I'm going over my plans for the year. I do this every year and every year my plans fall through because of projects falling through, family illnesses, having kids...Anyway, ever hopeful I've made plans this year as well. This year I'd love to build up my portfolio of pencil drawings. Some of my favorite of my own work are pencil drawings and I'd really like it to be a more significant part of my portfolio. I don't do a lot because I get intimidated by the lengthy, difficult process. But it's also a process I enjoy. I'm hoping too that these pieces might help me make some money while I work on the Flying Boat comic, enabling me to eat and wear clothes.

Art To Pay For Illustration

I'm currently amassing pictures to sell to help finance my comic book work. Which is odd and backwards but everyone's got funny twists in their careers. Above is a teeny ink and watercolour on handmade paper. It's about five inches by three and a half. I'm thinking of ding a bunch of these and selling them. They are so much fun to do. I love monsters. Also, I've started a series of pencil drawings to sell. These will be mid sized detailed pieces. Work I love doing. Has anyone tried this? Any advice, thoughts?

Archives

Trying to get back on track with work. I've taken the last two days pretty slow and have been distracted by a bunch of new ideas for art and related projects and researching artists and reading etc. Which is what happens when I can't be at my drawing board. I've felt very compelled to start using pencil again so I may start that the coming year.

Above is an old watercolour. I'm not sure how old, between five and ten years old. I think it holds up well.