Birthday.

I haven't drawn a picture since August. Last week was Rowan's birthday and I drew him a picture of Bacon and Furry-Bob having a tea party.
I am going to draw more once I have sorted out myself.



And here is Bacon sitting on Furry-Bob. She is very pretty.

Constructive criticism please?

I am going to soon be printing a whole load of Dawky books and was looking through it at areas that need improvement before I do this. I have kind of decided I don't like the colours and I really do not enjoy the texture.

As a result, I've opened up a fine problem for myself: I want to re-colour the whole thing using flats and an entirely new colour scheme.

I don't want to do it if it ends up looking worse than it already does so please, give me your comments and I will decide what to do. Thanks buddies!


This is the current first page, I dislike the texture and how it distracts from the linework, everything is very confused. I don't think I enjoy the blackness either, it's awfully black, it looks a bit like a bad mood.

This is the new version that I made, I'm unsure about the colour choice, I might like it but I can't decide, maybe the blue is a little hefty?
It looks softer which is nice but is this going the right way? I can't help thinking it might be a tad too bright?


Help me please? Thanks!

New Projects. (FINALLY!)

I've started a new blog, it's over there somewhere.
So now I have no guilt in posting things on this blog, I'll leave my old college posts on here, because I can't be bothered re-posting them over there, so I'll just make a fresh start here today.

I've got some projects in the pipeline, hopefully they'll begin to materialise in early September, I'm a bit reluctant to start personal work before I've done any acceptable amount of Summer work for college. Also, my room in York is no place for starting new projects, so they must wait for Manchester.

I'm going to try and keep these projects updated on here as best I can, as I'm very excited about them.

I refuse to say what they actually are until I have examples of them, sort of a top secret thing, but I'm hoping they'll be good enough to sell and simple enough to ultra-print. There's some hints right there.

Happy Un-Birthday, Jamie!

Last week was the birthday of Jamie, who happens to be one my most favourite friends.
I feel like the worst friend ever because I failed to wish him a 'happy birthday' on his birthday and for a good few days afterwards.
This is not because I forgot, it was on my mind ALL THE TIME! I felt so guilty and horrible for all of the days until I could give him my happy returns (I'm not sure if I've used 'happy returns' in the correct context, as I do not have a clue what it means.)
I decided I would post him a blog entry of a comic strip of the reasoning behind my inability to birthday him.
Happy Belated Birthday, Jamie! I <3 you!

Summer swallowed us whole.

Today I have started to pack up my life to move to a new house in a few weeks. I'm moving back to York for Summer next week and will be returning to drag my stuff down the road to Burton House at the end of June.

My packing didn't amount to much, I don't have any boxes, so it was essentially just rearranging. I listened to a lot of Sum 41 in the process.

A few hours ago a very nice cat came into our garden, we treated her with some tuna and milk and then had a very nice time with her hanging about the house. I think it was a 'her.'
I miss having cats around the house, it felt very complete while she was here. I think there is a strong chance that after next year I will move into a home where I am allowed pets and I will get a real old cat. Nice time.


I finished my work for the newsletter poster yesterday, I can't scan it properly on my scanner, because my scanner is a loser.
I tried to patch it together and emailed it to Jo, although I think this photo works better.
My idea is that the boy is feeling very happy that it is Summer, so happy that he could float. He also happens to be flying a kite, as are some other people. Because he is so happy, he feels very light, the kite lifts him and soars up into the sky with him, out of the sky and into the night, where all the stars can be seen because it is Summer and the nights are clear.
I did it with biros, which was interesting, I've never drawn with them before, I'm unsure why I made that decision, it took forever to finish, especially the sky.
I very much appreciate being considered as somebody who could make the poster, although I'm sure Chris will come up with something shiny and more fitting and colourful and whatnot, but I don't mind, I'm just happy that the boy's kite could take him on a trip and that I had something to do for the past few days.

Saturday.

Next (F9) Report (F2) Stop (F8)

On Friday I sent off my Macmillan entry, today Jamie delivered his. I would like it if we could win together. We are going to collect our work together in London. We will do extraordinary things. If we don't win, we are going to have the ultimate rumpus in the Macmillan offices.

These are my favourite pages from my entry:








I like drawing cats and I like cutting things out. I'm a little bit sad that it's over.

Now I am continuing my new project. I realise the reasons I am finding it a bit tricky to relate to the story is because it is about drunken people in a nightclub. I have never been drunk and I have never been to a nightclub. (Willow does NOT count.)
It is for these reasons that the story is proving particularly difficult to illustrate.
However, I've found a way into it and I think it might all be okay, if the postman hurries up and I obtain some black tape.
Tomorrow paint will maybe be put onto cardboard and then my work will begin. Yes.

In other news, my bicycle fixing skills suck and it just makes me very angry. Unfortunately I cannot cycle to college because I cannot mend my brakes. Tomorrow I will wheel it down to the cycle shop and get a pro to take a look. I think I might need new brake cables and maybe even new pads, if they can't be re-aligned. Ultimate pain.

When we are cats.

It's taken a total of 6 days to do this, how the hell did I manage that?


I haven't made the front cover and I'm not hugely worried about making one. They wanted four double page spreads or three and a front cover, I've done 12 double page spreads. Plus, I have a cat left over for the title page, so I'll do that too.
So it's not like I haven't done enough work. I'm also rubbish at text layouts and typography so I'd probably be shooting myself in the foot if I tried. But I might.

Although for now I want to start the new project, have a life away from my desk, go outside of my bedroom and for once I actually crave human contact. Though that's sure to end after contact with said humans. Also kind of wishing I'd brought my Xbox home but hey...

Tonight if you're awake at all...

I'm getting so close to finishing this book it actually makes me want to work later, but seeing where that got me last night, I won't.

Today I took a half day break from picture making and went to Whitby with my sister and her dogs, which was much fun. Whitby is a cold place, I didn't enjoy the cold so much, the wind hurt my ears. This was outweighed by the fact that Dexter came with us, none of my dogs actively fetch balls, so I had lots of fun on the beach playing football with him. He also happens to have an incredible beard and particularly fine knee pads. This is he:


After Whitby, we went to Goathland and drove around the moors, in search of the Roman road, which we couldn't find last time we looked for it, and couldn't find again today. We were accosted by quite a few sheep, one of which ran in front of the car at quite a speed.

The moors are very green, which is a surefire sign that Summer is on it's way, this also made me happy today.

When I got home I re-attempted the factory and I succeeded. This is the revised version:

This picture doesn't make it look all that great, but I'm pleased with it, it's taken hours to do and I've also got half way through another factory scene. This means that I only have to make one and a half more pages, plus a front cover. I really don't want to jinx myself but I have a feeling I'll finish it tomorrow.

The only negative that seems to be coming from this book, aside from the crippled hand I've gained from scalpelling, is that now I can't sleep. Ever. I spend from 9am to around midnight listening to music and then when it comes to sleeping I can still hear it, last night I spent 2 hours trying to stop hearing it. Unfortunately I can't concentrate without it, so either way I lose.

Death by Double Page Spread...

I just reached Doom Point. Capitalised because I've now mapped it as the low point of my life.

Doom Point is the collective three double pages spreads of this book that involve me recreating a factory from what are essentially silhouettes of paper of a very limited palette.

I left them until last because I knew that if I did them first I'd never do any other pages. Now I regret even writing the factory into the story, it's so complicated to make.
It seems that whatever I do to it, it either looks bad or incredibly boring. It's also a mega pain that I've got to make it three times.

I've decided to call it a day today, I've done quite a lot, making the extra stuff last night really helped. Maybe overnight I'll have an epiphany and tomorrow I'll make a beautiful factory. Or possibly not.

This is my first attempt at the factory, which I'm now using as a rough guide and a "how not to do it" sheet.


As of today, it's looking less likely that I'll finish it by Friday, hopefully by Monday the whole thing including front covers and things will be finished. Then I can start the new project. Or maybe even leave my room...

EDIT: I've just looked at the image on the screen and I am now convinced the woman at Paperchase has mailed me the wrong coloured papers. Looking at them in real life, I'm certain she has...FML!

I'm also thinking I should invert the colours. (This is me making notes to myself so that I'll remember for tomorrow. Ignore, if you please.)

I am the queen of cats.

Today I have worked for 13 hours solid, only stopping for meals. Although, I'm not as much further on with this book as I predicted. One of the spreads took me 5 hours, not happy.

However, instead of finishing another page, I decided to put together the rest of my cats and other cat accessories, such as nets, boats and bikes, which should hopefully massively reduce the amount of time the next pages take me. Although, these ones involve a lot of cheery bakewells and for some reason they take forever to make, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

My desk currently looks like a paper bomb hit it, I keep meaning to tidy up after myself but then what's the point if I'm going to do it all again the next day?


I do sometimes find myself wondering how much more effort I would put in and how much more work I'd get finished if I did all my projects in York. In Manchester I hardly ever work for longer than 5 hours and this usually takes place in college, with lots of stops in between. Once this week is through, I estimate I will have worked on this project for a total of about 80 hours, which is ridiculous.

Macmillan, Macmillan, Macmillan....

Once again, I've neglected my blog, but for good reason. A quick update is what this post will become.

My Macmillan work is multiplying at an alarming rate. It's my first official day of the Easter break and I have been hard at work all day.

I've made 3.2 double page spreads in one day, I think I've got this new problem called Scalpel Hand, which causes the sufferer to be uncomfortable around pressure points of the scalpelling hand and unable to stretch out the hand for up to 2 minutes after cutting something out. This could cause problems tomorrow if the pain doesn't go away overnight.

Now that I've started, as predicted, I don't want to stop and there is a strong chance I could have the whole book finished in time to enter it. I'm very scared of the three factory images, how the hell do I do those?!

I also have a little problem in that I haven't got enough paper and the Paperchase in York doesn't stock paper. So there is a chance I'll have to make a mission to Manchester. Unless a phone call to the Manchester store tomorrow morning can result in a mail order. Hmm.

Photo-cutout-photo-illustration.

My current project involves much photography, I am quite liking it.

This picture is one of my final ones for the first half of the project, my favourite one of the 8 I made.

The process I am using is still influenced by Andre da Loba and the 3D work I did for my last project, as well as some new people.


This is the work of Robert Longo, who I have started looking into recently.
Originally I was mainly interested in the contorted figures he produces but then I saw this image and it tied in with the 3D theme again.

Having looked at Longo, I began cutting out the figure and photographing it. After this, I realised I like looking at how the cut out section of the image falls and started trying to capture the movement in a photograph.

I think my interest in blurry and distorted images of movement stems from a preference of seeing an image in motion.
Still life is still life and there is nothing wrong with that, but if the subject of an image is moving or the photographer feels a movement within him/herself evoked by a subject then I think the image should demonstrate that movement.
I believe this is why I like blurred photographs, as they have more feeling in them, and this the reason for my interest in dropping the figure in my image for this brief.

Charles Peterson is a good example of what I'm trying to describe in the above paragraph, which was very hard to explain. Peterson photographed many bands during the 80s and 90s and his photographs are very real and they contain a metaphorical kinetic energy which allows the viewer to experience the moment shown in the photo for what it was, rather than as a perfectly focused, crisp shot which would not hold the same sentiment.
These are some of Peterson's photographs:







Having looked at the work of these artists, I'm now looking at Picasso for the millionth time and other people who I've yet to discover. For the second half of the project, I am expanding the falling figure images and also will be experimenting with making paper models from photographs. I think.

Mothers' Day.

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY, MA!

Dantheooon.

It was my brother's birthday on Tuesday and I made him this card, the stuff coming out of the hoover is poo and the stuff coming out of my mouth is copious amounts of sick.

It went down very well, apparently even my grandma liked it.



My brother made a second blog post yesterday, which is a cause for celebration as his first one was in May last year. It's one of the things that makes me really happy to read, partly because it's incredibly funny, partly because I can hear him saying it when I read it and partly because it entertains me for a while, he posts essays. Mostly I like it because it's a treat, like going to Flamingo Land when you're 9, it's a rare occasion, but it makes for a fun time.

Pyjama Crisis.

This is for my friend, Jamie.

Dear Jamie, I said I would leave paper cats on my blog for you, here they are, I don't think they quite beat some of your ugly cats, but I bet your ugly cats can't drive a boat?

In other news, I gave one of my cats a piece of chicken yesterday and she dunked it in some milk before eating it. I enjoyed that.

This is for you.


Much love.

Monster.

Saturday.

My house currently contains zero apples. -Sad face

Hello.
I'm having trouble, after spending most of last term doing unconventional project work in groups and stuff, I've forgotten how to work.

Where to start? I'm going to start drawing some cats and stuff I think. I might even bust out the paints, tomorrow I will get a sketchbook and some new brushes and stuff. Yeah.

This is for you, it's a lighthouse in Scarborough, I photographed it last year.