Recently.

Recent work. I like his happy face.

Sneaky.

The other night I went drinking with friends and whilst collecting my bedding from the car I noticed a little black and white cat on the corner of the street, watching me. I just had to draw him. I want to redraw this but quite like it as starting point.

Laika.

I completely forgot to post this! This picture has been painted up for a while now. I know it's not perfect, but I do like her sweet/cheeky face. This is an illustration of Laika the space dog...I am currently working on a story about Laika in space. This isn't necessarily an illustration that will appear in my book/dummy book but the image was stuck in my head.

Character Sheet...

...in progress. Got more to add to the sheet (it won't be cluttered once properly organised). Feeling quite happy with it at the moment. I'm really enjoying showing Lionel's character. He hates getting wet, he loves fruit and running about and playing. More to come of each character from my book!

Lovely Stuff.

I recently did an art swap (of sorts) with the talented Miss Ladybird Likes aka Zoe Bateman. I drew her beautiful pup in exchange for one of her fantastic necklaces! I love love love my camera necklace and wore it straight away! She also sent along an adorable cherry brooch and (very kindly) a 10% discount code! and she packages everything so beautifully! She really made my day! I hope she loves her Pup illustration as much as I loved this package of goodies! I shall post a picture of the illustration once it has been recieved!

Ride Like the Wind.

This is my entry for the Ooh Deer Tee Party Competition.

I love books.

I love books. I love buying books...old or new. It doesn't matter. I love the feel, the look and the smell. Here are some I aquired recently:

I want my Hat Back by Jon Klassen and No by Marta Altes are two of my recent favourites. I want my Hat Back is so funny! I love it! My boyfriend even found it funny too (and usually he's not a big fan of children's books). No is just adorable and also very funny. I love dogs so this won me over straight away.

Here are two books I bought from a charity shop. The line work and colour in Mr Big is excellent and Raymond Briggs' When the Wing Blows is amusing and quite sad. The colours inspired/and still inspires my Lionel work.

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes is really fantastic and Laura Carlin's work makes it even better!!!

This is one of my favourite spreads by Wolf Erlbruch. I love the use of mixed media. Adorable characters.

I won things!

At easter I guessed the easter egg and won! I won the easter egg and a copy of Wrap Magazine which is really beautiful. I can't wait to use the innards to wrap a present...though i'll only use it for special people.

Also, a while ago I guessed the characters that Becka Moorillustrated and I won the illustration and some other amazing goodies: the little mirror that I really wanted and some uber cute kitty cat magnets!(Yes I know the illustration is upside down...i'm a silly goose).

Waffle.

Images of a little dummy book I made with neat spreads.

I have been busy with my job and busy with worrying and procrastinating.
To get my book published would be a dream come true...I think the thought scares me a little bit too...I also keep worrying about my page layouts and whatnot...I think once i've figured it out I can get my dummy book made and sent off!

I think i'm starting to learn that it's ok to redraw stuff and try new things...though I have been procrastinating...most annoying...but I put this down to feeling uninspired as of late and in a bit of a creative rut...going to get plenty of drawing done on my two days off and i'm planning on making a Lionel teddy.

Samsung

I was recently commisioned (alongside another 99 up and coming artists) by Samsung GALAXY Love Note to create an image/or use an already created image of love: be that of love for your friends, family, partner, pet etc. I chose to use my image of the bear and fox having a hot drink together! My image can be chosen by anyone to create a postcard and send it for free to their loved one! So if you fancy using my image(or anyone else's) or just having a nosey, have a looksee here on the Samsung Galaxy LoveNote website!

We're going to the Zoo, zoo, zoo...

...How about you,you,you? I got that song stuck in my head every time we discussed going to the zoo!

Here are some of my favourite photos from Chester Zoo. I love animals!!!

The Gathering...

I have two days off work...

First day off: ate A LOT and painted this double page spread for my Lionel story.
Hoping to do a few more spreads tomorrow. I'm almost at an idea/personal project...feeling inspired by B Movie songs and zombies...and Ryan Gosling.

I recently watched Drive, which was awesome. I now have the need to watch every film with Ryan Gosling in! and a lovely friend of mine pointed out that he's in a band called Dead Man's Bones -he is a very talented fellow indeed! This is one of my favourites: Name In Stone.

Lionel in Colour.

I finally started painting some spreads for my Lionel story. Here are two of them, both have been edited slightly...may have to ask the public which they think looks best as i'm rather indecisive!







I'm feeling really good about this project, now that it's getting somewhere. My lovely friend is giving me tips on how to improve and i'm keeping at it. Hoping to get it printed a few times when done; either by myself or a proper printers. Then i'm going to send it off to some publishers... really nervous but excited. Hope they like Lionel as much as I (and the public) do!

Lionel felt terrible.

This is Lionel at his saddest, most vulnerable moment...and I LOVE him!
I am so proud of myself for creating this character. I'll probably hate him in a week/day/hour/5 minutes! But i'm enjoying every second of loving him! So excited to get my other characters and spreads done!

Smaug.

Yesterday I decided to draw and paint Smaug (from the Hobbit). I'm rather pleased with this, though it's a bit dark and even though i've tried to edit it, it just stays dark! So i'm going to give it another go. I may even try and attempt a front cover for the Hobbit. I can't wait for the film to come out! I remember going to see Lord of the Rings at the cinema! Good times! Still working on my Lionel story...more to come soon!

Lovely Things...

a)

b)

c)

a) This week I was very lucky to get a wonderful package in the post from the lovely Zoe from Ladybird Likes. The package contained a lovely hand written card, a pretty flowery mirror, the most adorable strawberry and bee tape measure and a wonderful mixtape CD! She best be looking out for what i'm going to send her!:)

b) I got home from work to see that my lovely boyfriend had bought me some rainbow drawers and some roses!!! I've already filled my drawers with art supplies, envelopes, inks, stapler and games and books! and the roses and eucalyptus smell gorgeous!

c) We munched on raspberry cupcakes after James made some home made meatloaf.

Just One Of Those Days.

Lionel looking sad...i've decided he needs to look a bit messier: hair and such...he needs some bogies aswell...

Lionel discovering he's not well. His mouth needs to be wider...I painted this first and then added the linework...I like how the colour isn't perfectly in the lines.

This is my entry for a talenthouse competition to illustrate one of Stoffel De Roover's smoke photographs. You can support and vote for me here! Thankyou!

I am a Lion.

Today I drew on my face so I looked a bit like a lion. It kept me in a cheery mood and I also turned my boyfriend into a lion. I also made another dummy book and i'm playing about with wording and layout.

Lionel Dummy Book.

Last night I decided that it was time to stop dilly-dallying and make a dummy book! So I did! I put my headphones on and listened to 80's inspiration rock music and got it done. Here are a few of my favourite spreads. It still needs a lot of working but i'm feeling more confident in it now.