Athletic lizards

Okay maybe not lizards that run track or anything, but bear with me…

When I was working away last year I used to see these funky lizards on the wall below the studio window. They’d be sitting out in the scorching midday sun practically frying to the concrete. There were two distinct types, green lizards and the grey/black ones with orange heads. Some of them were a foot long and could move very quickly when bothered! My favourite thing they did was their ‘push up’ routine. When they saw another lizard, they’d immediately enter into a push up contest, bobbing quickly up and down until one clearly gave in due to lack of muscles 😉

He’s a sketch of the triumphant winner. I gave him the name Limmy as he was the most frequent wall visitor and also the one who was most likely to get squashed by a car, judging by his road safety choices. This has absolutely no linkage to why he’s called Limmy, he just felt like one.

The sketch was made in the brilliant (and FREE) Krita software. Support them with a donation if you like what you see, and don’t forget to feed back on your experiences or wish lists! I do love the brush selection but often wish the handling of masks was a little more straight forward. But maybe I’m just used to a different method 😀 Can’t complain for free eh?

Sepia life drawings

Time for another life drawing post! This outing onto the paper was great as I actually felt I captured more of what I was going for in each image. The model had brilliant figure and structure for drawing, with the outside orange street lighting casting an unusual fringe glow. I was using a slightly sepia paper already, so started sketching in a burnt umber/dark sepia charcoal stick pastel thing…I’m not exactly sure what it was! It definitely helped me loosen up though and focus on what I was drawing a bit better. I try out different styles when I’m doing it, mainly to have fun and experiment, but also sometimes it gives me these happy accidents 🙂

: Colour accents

: Constant movement sketches

: Long pencil study

: One angle of two

: Second angle of two

: Silhouette focus

: Hard lighting

Buzzing Bee Garden

Here’s a fun bit of watercolour sketchbook doodling that became the plan for a 2D animated multi-plane scene. I created an enhanced version for my new course one animating in Toon Boom Harmony, covering 3D space, 2D animation loops, cameras and special effects. I love English summertime and watching a bee hum through the rich garden scene is one of my favourite kind of moments 🙂 So I thought I’d have a go at re-creating something similar in the famed 2D animation software.

The watercolour was REALLY great fun to do…lots of just noodling about with shapes, composition and ideas from memories of my relatives’ gardens last summer. So here it is! I’ll post an update of the animated version when the course is underway at the end of February 😉

And a word on the Toon Boom Trainer courses. The first course for 2019: Animation in Toon Boom Harmony has completely sold out! I’m very happy to see every place filled and excited to train up all this potential bunch of Toon Boomers! There’s so much you can do in the software and it’s improving all the time. An awesome creative evolution is underway!

Black ink sketch with watercolour over the top. Some exaggerated colour choices 😀

Fabulous life drawing

Last week I attended my local life drawing class held by the good folks at Stretford Arts Collective. I hadn’t been for a while and was ready to skulk it out in the corner, hiding my drawings when Lisa (the lady who runs the class) announced something special. A new model with what can only be described as a fabulous array of outfits and some sassy poses to boot 😉

It definitely helped me get back into the flow of drawing again, although the real triumph was the array of work produced by the other attendees. So much colour and fun on the pages! Take a look below. I do love it when a life class wakes you up to just how interesting people can be when you study them for a bit. Can’t wait for the next class so I can crack out a bit more colour!

Birds of Mauritius

When we were over on Reunion Island there was time for a short trip to the Mauritius. It’s an AMAZING island with beautiful scenery, delicious food and very kind people. There was only one downside to our trip and it was that we were robbed on the way to the airport, losing all our possessions (including passports, camera, sketchbooks, phone, etc)…they just left our suitcase as they obviously couldn’t carry that! But even though it was a tricky few days following and not the cheapest trip after all the extra costs, we were so thankful for the people who helped us and made the experience more of an enlightenment than one massive downer.

I did this sketch when trying out the software Krita. It’s really decent and FREE! It was completed after the trip, so it’s probably a little flatter on the ‘life’ side of things (I always think an on location sketch has a bit more ‘oomph’ than something from a picture) but alas the sketchbook from that day was nicked! I hope the perps have had a good read of it and it’s inspired them to take up drawing themselves 😛 Maybe not hey.

A pair of Red-whiskered Bulbuls sitting on a fence

Wintery sunsets

Since I’ve arrived back in England the effect of winter is even more stark now. No more tropical steamy vegetation and blazing sun! But I do love the variation of the winter days. Sometimes it’s a grey cloud blanket, almost like the world doesn’t get out of bed for the day! Other times there’s a crispness to the air that makes you feel every minute of the precious sunshine.o

Here’s a sketch I made one winter morning looking towards some distant hills. I remember the colour of the sun being a kind of gold you only hear about in pirate stories! Last week we visited Anglesey in Wales and that was a different atmosphere all together.

I think the changing seasons is one of the things I enjoy most from an artist and observers point of view. The planet is so alive you guys! 😀 Even when it’s raining…

British Summer

It’s been a LOVELY British summer this year (and we’re not even finished yet!) Lots of sunshine, blue skies and the occasional downpour to ward off the hosepipe bans. One of my main aims with drawing a scene is to try and capture it so that I can look later and feel like I’m there again. Some artists do this so well and evoke a feeling of the weather and atmosphere like it was a snapshot in time. No such luck for me! But I paint quick watercolours like the ones below. The positive side of this is that I sketch more than I would if everything took much longer. Plus, I use it as a memory-jogging tool, and it seems to work! Here are a few pictures from my sketchbook during the summer months (and fingers crossed for another great British summer next year!)

Hot, sweaty Chester. It was spitting with rain at one point and felt like a warm shower, very strange! Here’s the vegetation across the river as my sketchbook page began to get a little damp.

I do love a bit of Mexican food! My mum and I went whilst down in London. Here’s a super speedy sketch I made whilst waiting for hers to arrive. Note the big old Mezcal bottle now used for drinking water in the background!

One of my favourite watercolour sketches I’ve done, just because it was super fast and really nailed the colours of the day. It’s got that early summer feel with a little burnt out grass in the foreground, showing how hot it was! And some bonus sketches from a clothes shop, made whilst waiting for Josie to try on clothes 🙂

Sketches from New Zealand

Sketches from New Zealand? But you live in England! So, why?

Well, I spent the end of 2017 and early 2018 in Australia and New Zealand, travelling around with my girlfriend. She was touring a theatre show and as I could continue my animation work with just my laptop and an internet connection, I took the office on the road for a short while! It was great fun and allowed me to meet her family on the New Zealand side, down in Christchurch.

Christchurch

We spent a week there over Christmas, enjoying their summer whilst everyone was shivering back home (sorry, but the gloating rights are still being exercised!) We stayed with her brother and his girlfriend, who live in a traditional workers cottage on the edge of town. It’s even got a tin roof! It was pretty special. I learnt a lot about the town and how it’s still recovering after the massive earthquakes that destroyed most of the buildings and infrastructure back in 2011. It’s still got these containers which acted as pop up shops until new ones were built. They were due to be de-commissioned just after we left, the extent of the re-build project being so huge.

Kaikoura

We also travelled to Kaikoura for a few days, which was actually pretty stormy and a bit chilly! I wasn’t prepared for it at all. The bay was beautiful though and we saw the seals flopping about on the pebbles and near the benches. They had zero interest in humans!

I love to sketch when I’m travelling, although I sometimes struggle to get myself to actually do it! Carving out the time can be tricky when there’s often a limited amount during a vacation, but if I do I always find the images bring back so many memories of the trip. It’s worth it in the long run! I still remember the chilly feeling waking up in Kaikoura, almost like we’d camped as the house was a rambling self build with bits added on and varied materials throughout. Very cool! Seeing the tops of the mountains across the bay tipped with cloud can make you feel very small indeed, especially after the rain storm the evening before. The plants were still looking perky though (and so exotic!)

Jumping out of planes

Look at my funky hat I had to wear, very professional 😉

For Christmas my girlfriend, Josie bought me a skydive. I’d always wanted to get that close to flying but when I actually was presented with the gift I was instantly bricking it! When we were going up in the little plane, I was very calm (like I’d accepted my fate) but this did me favours as it allowed me to enjoy the free fall and parachute much more. Zipping through the damp clouds then seeing the patchwork of Canterbury appear before you was unbelievable. I would definitely go again! So massive thanks to Josie for it 😀

Anyway, I hope you like my short selection of New Zealand sketches. I wish I could do a tour and JUST draw. One of my aims is to make a book collecting all my sketches that I love. I’ll have to see if I can carve out some time for that!

Bath Spa town sketching

I was recently in the lovely town of Bath Spa. A GREAT place with lots of beautiful buildings and surrounded by big, bushy trees this time of year! Here’s a sketch from Kings Mead Square whilst having a coffee break in the sun. Fun fact: the famed waters of Bath Spa taste like eggs. NICE.

The cafes around this little area are buzzing nowadays! The whole of the U.K is constantly hopped up on coffee 🙂

Nuremberg Zoo

This weekend just gone I took advantage of those cheap European flights we have over here and hopped across to Nuremberg. My friend and I did the ‘find the cheapest deals online and book it’ kind of thing, without any specific reason to go. I think this made it more fun actually! Just wandering around and working things out, rather than the standard super researching that goes on with most Internet booked trips.

We ended up going to Nuremberg’s Tiergarten Zoo, which is set is a massive, sprawling park and includes a beer garden!

It was a sunny day, so we did a bit of sketching, had a pretzel, a beer and an ice cream. #DasKugel Top day out!

Nuremberg zoo sketches along with some German chaps at the tram stop