I'm on a roll...

...despite the fact that it is Sunday and I should be taking a break. Funnily enough I don't seem to be able to do any of my more pressing work, just doodling these odds and ends instead. But hey- its the weekend!

The perils of facial hair...

I wonder how they worked that one out? Did they just have a one-off charge or was it staggered according to bushiness and length? Another fascinating fact from Vicki...

Glove Thief

I was reading about this one year old cat in the U.S. that has brought home 9 pairs of gloves and five singles in the last seven weeks. His owners have created a little stall outside their front gate asking people to take back any gloves that they recognise and apologising for their wayward kitty's behaviour!

On another note, I've started experimenting with creating my own patterns and placing them in my images. It started with polka dots and now I've recreated the rose pattern on the pair of garden gloves in the image above. It seems to be working and in keeping with my use of flat, bold colours.

You Know You Want to Take a Peek

A classroom scene

Another image for the folks at Storlann. Their site is coming along nicely and I'm pretty happy with the designer's treatment of my work. He has animated bits of it and added sound effects! I'll publish a link once it is up and running. Talking of websites, I've just finished work on my brand spanking new site and will be launching it this evening. Feedback and constructive criticism gratefully received...

A musing moment

As you may or may not know by now, I have recently become responsible for a rather loud, utterly gorgeous siamese cat called Morrisey (AKA the Schnarf). His dinner of choice is Kitekat's Chicken with Gravy and this set me off thinking about how you'd actually pronouce the brand.

Also worthy of note- last week we found a congealed screw in his dish and I wrote a bitchy letter to those people at Masterfoods...

Images from Dae Ye Ken?

Work on my book, due to be published this year, is now in full swing. Thought I'd let everyone take a quick look at some of the images I've been working on today.

A sneak preview of a current project

These images are for the Storlann website I am currently involved with. They were coloured using Illustrator and are intended to entertain children and parents (quite a wide market!).

I love this photo!

From a studio session we did in May. We booked our whole family in for two hours and Adam took the photos. We're still waiting on the colour ones but here is one of my favourites.

And while I'm here...

Here is another. I'm using Adobe Illustrator for this project and I'm able to work my way around the palettes now. Seems quite a few clients are keen on Illustrator rather than Photoshop so the skills will come in handy.

Long Time No Write

Apologies for my no show. I've been a busy person. This is a good thing but a tiring one. I've also been off galavanting around the Alps on holiday.

The image above is part of a series I'm doing for a clients website. Once the site is up and running I'll post the link.

Monogamy

Sounds like the beginning of a rant or serious discussion but actually it is a series of images I'm working on for a wedding card. My cousin is finally marrying his long term girlfriend and I decided to look at monogamy in the animal kingdom.

And following the bird theme...

This week I have started working in earnest on my drawings for 'Dae Ye Ken?' (a book of Scottish words being published this year). This is a local Sea-Maw sitting on a local litter bin. I swear the seagulls up here are reaching giant proportions. The ones on my street show no fear and are quite environmentally friendly in that they clean up after the school kids!

And here is the Isle of May for anyone who is interested...

Linn sketching. The birds and fellow creatures on the island are not afraid of people and make great subjects.
A view out to sea...

A Puffin

Last year Linn and I went on a trip to the Isle of May to see the puffin breeding colony. The island is famous as a sanctuary for many wild birds- some of them endangered. We got there on a very small boat through a very violent sea and there was a general feeling of nausea throughout. The island itself was beautiful and even the sun decided to put in an appearance. The puffins were lovely little birds, looking extremely odd and ungainly in flight and having the most amazing colouring on their beaks. I hope that the current Bird Flu fears will not prevent others from visiting and seeing the good work being done by those responsible for protecting the island and its inhabitants.

Illustration Friday- 'Speed'

The jet propelled ThrustSSC reached a speed of 1,227 km/h on October 15th 1997. It was the first land vehicle to break the sound barrier and was built by a British team. Incredible huh?

It is cold, wet and windy in Edinburgh today so I'd recommend staying indoors. I went out to buy some butter and teabags and lost all feeling in my ears and my forehead. I also forgot to take my umbrella...

Illustration Friday- 'Monster'

Haven't had time to post on here this week, hence my Illustration Friday submission going up a week late! I've been doing research for my book of Scottish words, Dae Ye Ken? , all week and hopefully I can get started on the drawings soon and get it finished for August (when it should be published!!).

I didn't search for a difficult angle for this project as I felt like drawing some plain old monsters. I particularly like Bigfoot's lips...

Illustration Friday- 'Feet'

I've tried to do something a little different here and removed the black lines from my drawings. I think it actually works and I'm going to try and do this more often. Can't write much today as in a rush!

Your Planet Needs You

A link to the 'Your Planet Needs You' site was on the AOI Discussion board. It seems these guys have a mission to inform people about the state of the planet and make a difference. They are calling for creatives to come up with a selection of images highlighting various bits of text. Take a look at the brief here if you fancy a go...

The Da Vinci Code

I've been following the Dan Brown court case with some interest, as an illustrator the legal side to the ownership of ideas is crucial. As a maker of images I am inspired by everything around me, things I hear, see and read about. At what point could it be said that I have not been inspired by something but simply copied it? I find it confusing sometimes, for example today I drew the Mona Lisa. Obviously Leonardo Da Vinci has already drawn it but my version is about the painting and the court case and the novel, not just a copy of the image. Hmmm...