Inktober 2017- Day 1- Amended Illustrations

Well, you get two for the price of one on my first day of Inktober as I spent the day trying to amend some illustrations for a live project, hence why the character heads are censored. The client wanted some tweaks here and there, so I am waiting to see if one of the designs is to their liking. Hopefully, throughout the month, I will be producing a lot more illustrations for the live project. 

OxGrowArts Workshop Pieces- 22nd June 2017

After hesitating until the last minute, I decided to go to this Painting and Drawing Workshop organised by OxGrowArts, situated at Hogacre Common Eco Park in Oxford. Here are the drawings I made there, sit intact in my sketchbook before they are removed and framed for their exhibition at the end of July next month.

My first piece was probably my most successful piece from that workshop, calling it Flower Study. Basically, this is a still-life study of some flowers that feature some buds flowering more than others do. I just love how I went on a journey with my brush pen, getting lost in the detail of all those negative spaces and shapes this flower was making. I am not an expert in flowers, but it gave a pink/purple flower when the bud was in bloom. I was advised to try out adding some colour. Therefore, I did...

... In addition, this happened! I loved the shape this 'vegetable' was making with its leaves. I wanted to get the shapes that the leaves were forming. However, acrylic paint was not behaving the way I wanted to do. Therefore, I ended up with just these abstract blobs on the page, and that is what they will ever be now before I ruin it even further. I called this piece "How Not to Paint Vegetables."

 

 After the acrylic omnishambles, I had time to do a quick study with my tried-and-tested brush pen, just called "Log." Therefore, I tried to sketch out this log near their pond. Not as convincing as my flower study, but I like the marks I made to frame the negative shapes that the leaves and log were forming. Not a complete disaster in my book, but something I should have spent more time establishing the objects in that space.

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Trigger Word- Let - 4th July 2017

Overall Image of Trigger Word Model

Closeup of figures saying goodbye to each other.

Closeup of figures in speech bubble

Yes, I am still doing trigger words, and here is the latest web-friendly model for you to check out. The word was 'let', when meant to allow. So I used it in the context that I let my friend go back home with their parent. Based on a recent event, I think I manage to create this model rather quickly. The fact that I modelled three of these characters three times was something I did not expect to do. However, I felt the body language in the first scene would not have been clear without the speech bubble emphasising what has happened in the final scene (see close-up of those figures as I felt I did not arrange the figures well for the shot of the overall composition.) 

The Blinddraw Challenge Drawings

Remeber that Blinddraw Challenge I did at the start of the month? Probably not, but I finally got around to scanning those drawings I did during that challenge. The first three were my initial attempts whilst I try to frame myself and my sketchbook in the confines of my bedroom. The bottom one was the one used for the video, whilst the others were sped up as an extra treat for anyone that wanted to see them.

Andy Does The Blinddraw Challenge

I decided to take part in The Blinddraw Challenge (https://www.generosity.com/emergencies-fundraising/the-blindraw-challenge). I'll admit I have never done a drawing video before, so it was rather fun looking back at the footage of myself drawing (blindfolded, for this challenge!).

Comic Display at Red Room Exhibition March 27th 2017

Comic Pages on Display

Comics Display in Context with Other Images

For those that are not a Facebook friend of mine, I can reveal that for the past two years I have been helping a writer via PeoplePerHour to help bring their script to live in comic form. Three of these comics have made it on display recently at the Red Room Exhibition, over at the Royal College of Art last Monday. For work commitments, I could not make it to the exhibition, but thanks to the writer, I managed to retrieve the displayed work for you to admire. 

Whilst this has not been the first time my work has been on displayed, I am glad that they have taken a good place amongst the rest of the artwork, which looks very visually striking even when taken from a Smartphone. As for the comics themselves, I am surprised at how good the line of action is on the top page, featuring two characters interacting in three panels. I do not know if it is the choice of colours or how I have drawn them (although that bottom panel had been tinkered to get the final desired effect), but I was pleasantly surprised at how striking that very page is. Whilst the other two feature conversations, they seem cluttered from a distance. Therefore, people would have been able to read the pages for themselves closely. 

Overall, I am always glad to see my work getting exposure in any way possible, and as I am still working on this project still, I will look forward to finalising the product, with the writer, at some point this year. 

The Wheatsheaf Gig (The Phat Cardinals; Holy Moments; Freddy le Cragg)- 18th March 2017

The Phat Cardinals

And on drums is... Bojack Horseman?

Holy Moments

My fabvourite shot of the night, comprising of all three musicians of Holy Moments

Freddy Le Cragg

One of my city-centric friends organises local gigs. So it seemed fitting, that his birthday including a few gigs to mark the occasion.

This was a good down-to-earth experience, with Freddy Le Cragg's opening set displaying all the things I love about acoustic performers. Anyone that goes up there with his or her voice and guitar and does that is always worth seeing in my opinion. He even tackled a great cover as well as his own original songs. If Newton Faulkner has Spongebob Squarepants, he does it for The Fresh Prince of Bel Air!

The final act was Holy Moments, whose blend of skater rock and indie punk has a resonance of Blink-182 and Something Corporate about them. This was another memorable set, if this floats your boat.

However, the tour-de-force of The Phat Cardinals was just the icing on the cake. Think The Stranglers and Mclusky go into a fancy dress shop to emulate Slipknot, but making do with whatever are there instead just sums up the punk-metal madness of the group's repertoire. They made me smile for all the right reasons, as I am a sucker for this kind of music, and any act that goes into a dodgy raffle must be doing something right. Go check them out whenever you can if you want something big, loud, and downright bombastic.