Illustration Friday - "Worry"

Worry as a singular term didn't feel right to me - worry has never been alone when visiting me, usually it comes with all it's little friends and sometimes brings its brothers, panic and frustration...



So here then, is my little box of worries, full of all those inner demons and evil things that sit on your shoulder telling you that you're no good and that everyone hates you.

This was roughly coloured in photoshop, (worked-up from a couple of sketchbook pages) I'm not sure if I'll take it to a finished piece. I was trying to work out some intricate carving for the sides of the box but worried that might be distracting from the demons!

Whilst working on this I've been thinking of Pandora's Box and a TV program made by the BBC in the eighties called 'A Box of Delights' (which starred the fabulous Patrick Troughton of Dr. Who fame).

Anyway, I won't trouble you with any more of my worries...

Ten Images For Ithaca

Another competition... details can be found here.

^ click to enlarge ^

Dream.

I've been fiddling around with this for a couple of weeks... got down to it properly and finalized my submission today.

I found this title very reminiscent of a GCSE exam title. (GCSE's, for anyone outside UK are qualifications taken around the age of 16)

This is my interpretation of the theme: dreams are like thought bubbles fading into a night sky of fantasies...
I think it works... I'm moderately happy with it but as with all creations, at some point you have to stop fiddling and let it go!

Illustration Friday - "Wide"

Tenuous, I know, but Triceratops are quite wide...

step six - rendered art
step one - rough shapes
step two - tightened up shapes
step three - sketched details
step four - tightened pencils
step five - line work

This was some work I did for a publisher who've just reneged on our deal and I'm no longer doing the "how to draw dinosaurs" book. I had been waiting for a final brief and thought I at least had this work as a bit of a safety-net when it eventually came in. It's a bit too complicated to go into but I've been badly let down...

There's a lesson to be learnt here... not sure what it is though!

Illustration Friday - "Electricity"

Post No. 50!!

This was for another part of the PODZ project.
There were a variety of robots I designed - this was supposed to be a security robot...

©Marketing and Promotional Services Ltd.

Watch out for the electric whip and taser stunner!

Here are a Maintenance Robot and a Med-droid...

©Marketing and Promotional Services Ltd.

These were rough pencil sketches that had to be tidied up in a hurry for a presentation.

Orphan Works Bill

What the hell is this Orphan Works Bill actually about?

I've read loads of stuff over the last couple of months and I just don't understand...

Is this a devious plot (albeit in America - for now) to make artists pay for the rights to their own works?
Or, is it an innocent attempt to unlock access to works where the original creator simply cannot be found?

This is a piece of proposed legislation that is before the house of congress in the US - RIGHT NOW! There are varying opinions throughout the internet about what it actually means... Rather than muddy the water any further, if you are an artist, writer, photographer, musician or any other individual who relies on copyright, you need to be aware that this thing is out there.
Simply search orphan/orphaned works act/bill via google and you'll get loads of hits... make sure you're looking for the 2008 version of this bill though!

The full orphan works bill is available to read on the library of congress website, it's written in hexadecimal law-speak and I don't have the foggiest what it really means...

Various visual arts 'bodies' are upset about this. The Illustrators' Partnership of America seems to be the most official site... but on the web, how official is official? This is an interesting video on youtube... but how reliable is it?

I'm not sure if this is something to get all worked up about but it does worry me. If you really know what's going on or understand this american legal stuff, please, enlighten me.

Illustration Friday - "Seed"

I've knocked this together very quickly as it was more about the idea than the illustration.

^click to enlarge^

This product will be available in all good drug-stores worldwide before you know it... mankind is one stupid idea away from total chaos!