I'm in Ray Gun Zine #1

I entered my turtle comic into a competition that Ray Gun were running and I was one of the winners!  To enter the competition you have to create a short narrative around the theme of water and the winners would be chosen to be featured in Ray Gun's very first zine, so I entered my turtle comic. The water theme didn't have a massive part  in my comic but it obviously did the trick cos it made it into the zine!

You can see the full zine here

I think Your top's on Wrong...

Just a quick post, I was doing a bit of life drawing on the internet again and decided to make this one into a proper painting... sort of, anyway it gave me a chance to experiment with a different watercolour technique as well as help me improve my ability to draw faces and clothing... even if she is kinda not wearing any. anyway enjoy!

The Glutasaurus

I decided that I needed to try and paint something again, so this is what I came up with. The Glutasaurus, a dinosaur that wasn't killed off the the massive asteroid, instead they were just annoyed to death by little black flies.

this was just a bit of fun really, I wanted to try and paint in the same way as I colour using photoshop, I also used this painting as an opportunity to experiment with a different line colour. I'm quite happy with how this turned out, it was nice to be physically painting again, I think I need to do more of it,

I've also put a few progress shots on this post to, just to give you an idea of how I work. Enjoy!

Turtles Can't Fly

A few of days ago I had an idea for an old drawing I had done. This is that idea! I've never attempted to do a comic before, actually I've never attempted to do anything that involved sequence before, so I thought I would give it a go.

I think it turned out quite well, I didn't want to make it too complicated so i decided to stick to just pictures. I think the story is fairly easy to understand anyway so words weren't really necessary.

Eventually I'm gonna turn this into a mini printed version with a front cover, but for now this will have to do as I have a few others things I need to get done. I will definitely be doing more work like this so if you like it keep checking back!

Changing tune... Just A little

So recently Ive decided to try and focus a little more on child friendly and light-hearted artwork, rather that the more serious stuff Ive been doing. My thinking is that I want to try and get into the world of children's illustration and similar stuff, so I thought it would be a good idea - as well as good practice - for me to create a creative CV/flyer that I can use to advertise and promote myself to this audience. Ive done one previously but it was aimed at an older audience, so I just hijacked the info off that one and did a new picture for it. So here it is! not bad for a first attempt if I do say so myself. Hopefully it'll help take me places!

A Man and His Dog

Its been a little while since I've updated this blog, what with christmas and that, anyway I'm back now. This is something I've been working on for a few weeks, its a private commission someone asked me to do for them. The idea was to create them a picture to commemorate their dog Meg (the one on the lead). They came up with the idea of having her being taken to the vets because it was something they had to do a lot with this dog, and like all dogs this one never wanted to go to the vets so this is how the idea came about.

I found this to be quite challenging for me because its not something I'm used to doing, the mixture of realism and a cartoonish style definitely put me out of my comfort zone, however I think it turned out ok and the clients were very happy with it so i count this as a success!

Girl In The Woods

So this is the finished outline of the picture I mentioned in my last post, colouring this is turning out to be a bit of a pain cos I cant decide how I wanna do it, I will have it finished fairly soon though... I hope. 

The image itself is based on a random folk tale I came across on the internet, I was struggling to find inspiration so I decided to use old folks tales and fables as inspiration, anyway the one that I based this on was actually pretty naff, I just like the idea that it gave me, which I'll explain a bit more once I've completely finished it. 

Oh yeah and the folks tale is called something like the long lived ancestors if anybody wants to have a read. 

Internet Life Drawing

I decided a while back that I needed to do some studies of figures again, also I thought I'd challenge myself and see if I could create a picture based around a nude-ish female. This is something I havent really experimented with before, I thought it would be a good practice and help me to broaden my abilities.

These are just a few life studies I did from a website that works a bit like a life drawing class, which is pretty useful seeing as its kinda difficult to find decent classes down here. However I have recently been informed of potential life drawing sessions, so expect to see a few more real life figure drawings in the future!

Making money... box

Back in summer I spent a day at a ceramic shop, while I was there I painted these ornaments, the shark is a money box and the lobster is just a decoration, I think.

This was pretty fun to do, I've never tried to transfer my work onto something 3D before so it was definitely a challenge. I might have a go at this again sometime, be nice to make my own model and not just use a template too, so you never know you might see some more of these one day!

Eastlake Unlocked!

It's finally out there!

A while ago I posted a sneak peek at a commission I was working on, well here it is! It's a little zine/booklet designed to promote and guide people at the Plymouth city museum exhibition about sir Charles Eastlake, I was commissioned by a group of students called the young explainers to produce the cover illustrations. I'm very happy with how it turned out and most people seem to think it looks like him so I'd say it does it job!

This was a nice brief for me because it gave me the ability to push my skills of portraiture, this is one of my weaker abilities so any chance I get to improve it is great. I also really enjoyed working in a Victorian influenced style, it's something I will definitely be revisiting!

Oh and if anyone is around in Plymouth I would check the museum out, it's pretty good, and this zine free so go grab one!

Artwork For Sale

So ive joined society6 and theres a promo running already! good timing I’d say, just click this link to get free shipping on all artworks! good for 6 days.

seems a bit odd to be promoting myself like this but if any of you out there have ever wanted some of my work now is the time to get it, oh and I'm open to suggestions as to what to put up on the store cos its pretty new to me and I'm not sure what people like. :) 

http://society6.com/Alex_Art?promo=effd7e

Climbing Mountains

Its been a while since I've posted anything on here, so this is what I've been doing with myself for most of the time. This was a commission for a primary school, they wanted me to produce posters to visualise the progression the school kids made in each subject. So I decided to use mountains cos I thought that its a little bit more engaging and interesting compared with the usual target board or medals that were used before. The idea is that the kids each have a flag, which they colour themselves and put their name on, and this flag moves up the mountain along the footsteps to reach each flag-post, which represents each level of progression, the little climbers are just there to make it look better and help the pupils to visual it better. 

This brief was quite enjoyable, it was nice to do something a bit more light hearted after the revelation stuff, it was also nice to have complete control over what I produced. Overall the school was very happy with the final artwork, which means I must be doing something right!  Oh yeah and I now know how to make an invoice, things are starting to feel very professional!  

A Look At Things To Come

Here are 2 Images to give you an idea of what I've been working on lately, these segments are from a commission I've been working on for the museum in Plymouth, I dont want to give too much away just yet because I want the work to be seen in its final state, so enjoy these until its out in the real world! 

I'm also working on a few other things at the moment so stay tuned! 

Another Mural

Its been a little while since I posted anything, things have been pretty busy for me lately and I'll be able to show you what I've been upto fairly soonish. anyway here are a few pictures of the mural I've recently finished, this one was a solo project so it was pretty challenging getting it done on time, I managed it though and here is the outcome. I'm quite pleased with how it came out and the school who I painted for seemed pretty happy with it so I count this as a success!

For the rest of the gallery click here

Plympton Library Mural Done!

Ages ago I posted a rough sketch idea for a mural I was doing with a few other illustrators, well its finally been finished! its fair to say that this wasn't the most straight forward of briefs because of a few planning issues, however it was still a very enjoyable project to work on, painting at this scale is always pretty fun. 

The mural was based around children's literature and each of us designed characters based on a book of our choice, I chose to do Long John Silver from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. 

I'll be going back to Plympton Library to get some more detailed photos of the finished mural in a few weeks, so for now enjoy the mural.

The Revelation is Done

Conquest is done! All four Revelation illustrations are done! I'm pretty pleased with how they have turned out, apart from a few differences I've got them exactly how I wanted them to look. As for Conquest, this one didn't take me half as long as the other three, which is good because I need to get them printed out pretty sharpish, anyway here is conquest and here is all four of the Illustrations side by side, gives you an idea of how I want them to be displayed.  

War Finished

Here is the finished version of War, pretty happy with how this one has come out, I tried to keep the colours a bit more vibrant compared to the other two, I still think that it fits quite well with the rest of the images.

hopefully I'll get the final one finished soon and get them all up together.

Conquest outline done!

Here it is, the final image of my revelation series, such a relief to have all the outlines finished, now I've just gotta add colour to this one and War, I'm hoping it wont take me too long. also drawing this amount of buildings is tiring, glad I wont be doing anymore for a while.

Anyway, enjoy this for now, the finished ones will be up pretty soon.