Today, the 24th of March, is my birthday. I’m 42 years old. An important number for any Douglas Adams fans. For me it’s the age at which I’m hoping my third career begins. Roughly seven years working in and managing bars, 15 years as a designer, and now embarking on a quest to make a living as an illustrator.
My day started pretty well with some lovely presents, including some inspirational books, and a stuffed crow (I’ve called him Russell)…
Birthday haul
I’m currently on holiday, spending a couple of weeks in the Maldives, and enjoying the chance to get away from the day job for a while.
I can’t stop drawing just because I’m away though, in fact if I don’t draw for a few days, I get a bit cranky.
Here’s a little sketch that I did by the pool. The subject was suggested by my wife, and inspired by being surrounded by ocean.
As I’ve written before, I do love drawing spaceships. Here’s a whole double page spread from my Moleskine, full of little orange spaceships.
Drawn with Staedtler Pigment Liners and coloured with Copic Ciao Markers.
The Orange Fleet
The Street.
Continuing my doodles of odd little medieval/Tudor/olde/fantasy streets and buildings.
Drawn in pencil, inked with a Copic Multiliner and Staedtler Pigment Liners, coloured with Copic Markers. All in a Moleskine sketchbook. I do love Moleskins but I wish the paper was a little whiter.
Line work
Final Street
An illustration based on the Guinigi Tower in Lucca, Italy.
Drawn with a 0.03 Copic Multiliner and a 0.3 Staedtler Pigment Liner in an A5 Moleskine sketchbook.
The Tower
Details…
Post-It notes have to be my most used medium for doodling, often while I’m at my day job, waiting for my Mac to finish doing something. They’re great because they are so disposable. Sketching in a Moleskine, or on a fresh sheet of beautiful Bristol Board can sometimes be inhibiting. Scrawling ideas and shapes on a Post-It or a scrap of paper can be liberating.
Draw-it, Post-It.
It’s been a while since I drew a spaceship, so it was fun to create this little one-man flyer. I think it’ll get some colour in the next few days – probably orange.
One-man flyer.
Inspired by Linda Thompson‘s song “Nine Stone Rig”…
I’ve been drawing standing stones. Part neolithic, part Lord of the Rings.
Nine Stone Rig
The Stones
Finally finished and coloured an illustration that I started a few weeks ago. Vaguely inspired by the work of John Evelyn, Conrado Almada and Hayao Miyazaki, it’s one of those illustrations, that as I draw, takes on a little life of its own. I can’t help but wonder who lives there, what the lighthouse is for, what kind of ships need warning of rocks in the sky…?
I think there’s definitely a story to be told here. By somebody.
The Lighthouse in the Sky
Inspired by the lighthouse, I thought I’d add some more…
Village in the Clouds
One of the recurring themes of my droids has to be tentacles. I don’t know why but I do love drawing a nice set of tentacles (no sniggering at the back). I quite like drawing octopus and squid too, so it’s not just droids.
There’s definitely a weird hybrid of jellyfish and octopus going on in most of these, with hints of The Matrix and The Empire Strikes Back.
this northern boy 