The Dripping Cactus

Helloooo!

2011-10-31T20:38:00.002Z

Hey all....has been a while! Been very, very busy since my last post....new publishing job, moving house, dealing with too many estate agents and far too many companies to either cancel or begin - very stressful.

But now I'm back online, I will hopefully be posting some new stuff very soon - as well as setting up new website and blog, so watch this space!

The Little Cactus Blog

2011-07-13T12:03:00.003+01:00

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that I have set up a new art blog for my nephew Ashley, which will showcase his drawings from his baby pictures, up to the most recent ones and then beyond!!

I think this will be a really interesting way to see how his work changes over the years from child to adult (if he want's to continue with it of course!).

Have a look if you get the chance and hope you enjoy!

www.thelittlecactus.blogspot.com

Slash Snippet

2011-06-23T20:29:00.003+01:00

Hey everybody, I'm now back from my holiday fun in Majorca and ready to get back into the swing of things. This is part of an image I finished just before I jetted off and is based around something to do with Slash from Guns and Roses, but that is all I'm going to say about that for the moment!

Now I'm back I will be attempting to get another blog (The Little Cactus) up and running very soon, once I have designed it to my liking of course. Once that is done, I will also be looking at updating the look of this blog and possibly something with the website.

So with these and all the other various projects I'm doing, it could be a very busy period for me so will be keeping the Pro Plus handy!

Right, better stop faffing and get back to it. Come back and visit again soon, and any comments are always welcome :-)

The Celebrity

2011-06-01T13:27:00.002+01:00

I was asked to do this piece for my namesake, musician Mark Hanna, who had written this lovely poem about his little boy Charley. I think it has turned out quite well, and is now framed and hanging on little Charleys bedroom wall.

I added a few personal things in the image too such as his soft toy dinosaur, but decided to add the Kanye West style shades for no other reason than they look super cool :-)

You can check out some of Marks music on this link here ----> http://www.myspace.com/markhannawriter

Enjoy

Sunshine

2011-05-10T14:51:00.002+01:00

Just a quick hello - hope everyone is enjoying all the early sunshine we are getting? I know I am...very good excuse for lots of ice cream eating, mmmmm! Holiday just around the corner too, so looking forward to a bit of sun, sea and sangria! :-)

I have been thinking of giving this blog a bit of a facelift, so hopefully get cracking with that sometime soon.

Also, keep an eye out for a new blog, The Little Cactus, coming soon. Not going to say too much now, but will be a fun one to check out and see the progression with.

Gotta go - think I hear the ice cream van outside, yum :-D

Doughnuts!!

2011-04-19T21:13:00.001+01:00

Just to let everyone know that Purple Panda's don't eat the usual boring Bamboo - they love to eat ring doughnuts! L.O.V.E ♡

Ashley's Picture

2011-04-11T14:20:00.003+01:00

Just wanted to show you all this brilliant Get Well picture my little nephew Ashley did for me yesterday. I had a minor accident to my arm and spent many, many hours waiting in A+E while the sun was shining bright outside, but this picture (and a Magnum ice cream) made things feel much better!

Luckily no damage to my drawing arm, so am going to crack on with some more work now while I rest and ice the other one.

That's all for the time being, be back soon :-D

Bawler's Little Bake Shop

2011-04-11T14:05:00.003+01:00

I have recently finished this design for local bakery Bawler's Little Bake Shop, who were looking for a logo design to fit in with the style of cakes being produced there. It was a fun project to work on and think it has turned out pretty well.

You should all definitely have a look at all the deliciously-looking cakes that are being made, yum!!

So, what are you waiting for? Go and have a peep>>>> Bawler's Little Bake Shop

Purple Panda

2011-04-10T21:56:00.005+01:00

Hi Cactus fans, wow - just noticed I've not been on here for a while! Well fear not, I am back.

While I have be gone, I have ventured into forests unknown and stumbled across a rare breed of Panda - the Purple Panda!

I have befriended this one and he goes by the name Tānshí (tan-shee). Not much is known about this rare Purple Panda, but hopefully over time we will discover more of it's habits and behaviour patterns.

Glad to be back blogging and hopefully won't disappear like that again for a while at least!

Snippet

2011-02-19T23:11:00.003Z

Here is part of a character I've just finished for an image I have been working on this week (on and off). I will hopefully be able to show the full images from this project at some point.

On a related note, I have put the Happier in Hats work to one side while I try and continue with this project, but will aim at uploading other drawings as they happen!

That's all for now! :-)

Roses are Red...

2011-02-14T10:53:00.003Z

Roses are red, violets are blue, here is a Valentines picture just for you!

Happy Valentines day everyone, enjoy.

Weekend Full of ♡'s

2011-02-09T16:15:00.002Z

I've been a bit slack with uploading images onto my blog recently, but I am working on lots of stuff at the mo, so will make sure I put some of those images on here soon.

In the meantime, here is a little image for all those celebrating Valentines this weekend, enjoy!

Will be back with new pics soon :-)

Hi

2011-01-26T19:51:00.002Z

Hello all, just thought I would pop on to say "Hi". Just finished an image for another project I'm working on, and although this little dog shows very little to the overall picture, I thought I would pop it on anyway!

I aim to upload another Happier in Hats image soon - would like to before the weekend, but very busy with birthdays etc this week, so we will see!

Until then, enjoy the rest of the week :-)

Cooking Croc

2011-01-21T23:38:00.005Z

Hi again! After my trial magician in a hat image (which I will be changing at some point), and the questions about the style of the police worm, here is my first proper image for Happier in Hats. After helpful advice from many of my design friends, I have decided to stick with my beloved black lines, and will continue using background texture to contrast the flat colour of the characters.

Here is a very Happy crocodile doing what he loves best... cooking pancakes in his chefs hat!

That's all for now, but have got about 6 others ready to finish, so will post another one very soon.

Bye Bye :-)

Hmmm, Choices...

2011-01-14T00:15:00.004Z

Good evening / morning all... just thought I would post this before I head to bed. Before I continue with my Happier in Hats project I thought I'd get some opinions on what style looks best. I like using the black outlines, but would the characters turn out better with a more subtle outline or even with added texture....I'm not sure, so any thoughts are very welcome!
Right, better catch some zzzzz's before work in the morning, so goodnight people :-)

Happier in Hats

2011-01-11T17:43:00.006Z

Hi all, hope everyone is well? I've decided to start a new personal project to work on in between other stuff I'm doing, and it's called Happier in Hats. Now, who doesn't feel happier when you put on some sort of fancy dress costume involving a hat? If you say you don't - then you're lying!! ;-)

So, with that in mind, here starts the first image. There seems to be more and more magic shows back on tv over the last couple weeks (which I personally think is great!), so where better to start than with a magic themed image - Abracadabra, there you go!

I've already got the next six or so images roughly sketched out, so will aim at uploading one a week until it's run it's course.

I'm going to magic myself away in a cloud of smoke now and get on with some other work.... **POOOOOOFFFF**

...I'm back!

2011-01-04T22:04:00.003Z

I just assumed my previous post would be my last for the day, yet here I am again! So, after a productive day I have finished another image of this project I'm doing (again, no full image at this moment in time).

Good start to the year I think - so I'm going to go and raid the cupboards for a much needed treat... must still be lots of xmas chocolate here somewhere!

Happy New Year

2011-01-04T12:52:00.004Z

Happy New Year to all my Cactus fans, hope you celebrated in style! After a short break of over-indulging and general merriness, I have got back to the drawing board and completed my first image of 2011.

This is for a project I'm working on, so can't show you the whole finished image, but a little snippet will have to do for the time being! I based the character designs on a couple of my friends (not going to mention it to them though, just in case!!).

I have a lot planned for this year, so will be keeping myself busy, and hopefully will get a revamped website up and running for 2011 too.

That's all for now, bye :-)

Merry Xmas!!

2010-12-22T21:46:00.004Z

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Xmas before I forgot!! Have a great time, eat lots and relax as much as you can - 2011 is just around the corner, scary! :-S

And in case anyone was worried (haha - unlikely), I have finally been able to dig myself out of the snow to be part of civilization again...I wasn't missing that much after all - but long may it continue.

Anyway, thanks to anyone who has come and looked at my blog this year, hopefully the work will continue to improve in the year that follows.

So, until next year - Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year :-D

I'm Snowing a Bit Crazy!

2010-12-20T16:17:00.005Z

As you are all very aware of by now, it's snowing outside. And not just a little bit - it's snowing ALOT outside!! So much so, that I've been unable to leave my place for the last 3 days (and counting) - which is driving me a bit crazy to be honest! So, this poor little trapped snowman in the globe is pretty much how I'm feeling at the moment - so, "Snow, Snow - Go Away, Come Back Another Day!". Don't think that will work, but anything is worth a try :-)

Right, I will stop these ramblings of a mad man and go and get some more work done, but I will be popping another Xmas image on here in a few days - just in time to wish all you lovely people a Merry Xmas!

Until then - wrap up warm and drive safely!!

Early Xmas Present

2010-12-20T15:12:00.003Z

Hi everyone, hope all is well? I received an early Xmas present in the post the other day from The Beat Royale member Mark Hanna (yes, we have the same name - weird eh!). I produced some images earlier in the year for them (which you can read in this previous blog). I opened up the parcel and found a lovely framed cd inside - which was such a nice gift and a real surprise too... just got to find somewhere to hang it now!

Myself and (the other) Mark Hanna have become good friends this past year and are working on another collaboration at the moment - things just take time though, but will be well worth it in the end!

Snowball Fight!!

2010-12-07T00:20:00.002Z

In recognition of the early winter we are having in Britain, I have done my first snow based image of the year! Poor little Penguin... he never stood a chance against that big ol' Yeti :-S

I'm sure I will be doing some more snowy pictures as the big freeze here continues!

Wrap up warm everyone and go out and throw some snowballs :-D

Flying Cow

2010-12-03T20:25:00.003Z

Hi, just thought I would pop on an image I've been playing around with. Trying bits and bobs with colour at the moment. Not sure what sort of outcome I'm looking for, but I'm sure I'll know it when I see it!

Will put more images up soon.

Bye for now.

The Sleepless Phoenix

2010-11-24T19:19:00.008Z

I received my copy of The Sleepless Phoenix: Survival Stories the other day, and was very impressed indeed. With a collection of comic book artists coming together to create work on the theme of Survival Stories, it has a various styles as you would imagine, which gives it a very unique feel.

I was asked to contribute an image that would appear in the final section of the book, and although I'm more of a Children's Illustrator than a Comic Book Artist, hopefully it doesn't look too out of place.

So, here are some photos of it, and this is the blog to follow the progress of this book and the next installment that seems to be in the works - www.thesleeplessphoenix.blogspot.com

Farewell Weekend Random Selector!

2010-11-24T18:51:00.004Z

Hi all. If anyone had popped on here to see the latest installment of my Weekend Random Selector, then I'm afraid you will be disappointed. I have decided to give it a break for the foreseeable future so I can concentrate fully on other projects I have on the go!

I was using it to get me blogging on a more regular basis, which served it purpose. But fear not, I will still be uploading various images that I'm working on, so come back regularly to see what's going on. :-D

Bear Hug

2010-11-17T19:33:00.005Z

I noticed recently that a lot of my work has started to become less 'powerful' than what I used to do...mostly with the outlines and colours. Not necessarily a bad thing, just slightly different to how I prefer to work. So I decided to do this image with thicker outlines and a stronger, but limited, colour palette and see what the outcome would look like.

Hopefully it looks ok - I like that it stands out and can catch someone's eye! ;-)

So, this is a Big, Squeezy Bear Hug for whoever wants or needs one.

Until next time...

Weekend Random Selector

2010-11-14T22:10:00.003Z

Hope everyone has had a great week and an enjoyable weekend. The words for this weeks Weekend Random Selector are:-

Dinosaur + Astronaut + Sandwich = Random Selection

I hope to be working on some new character designs this week as well as some other ideas I have been thinking about, so if any turn out successful then I will pop some stuff on here then!

Bye for now :-D

Weekend Random Selector

2010-11-06T23:09:00.003Z

Hi, hope everyone is having a good weekend. This weeks Weekend Random Selector is:-

Bee + Umbrella + Bowler Hat = Random Selection

Thought I would mix photo and illustration again for this weeks image, hope you like!

Right... super sleepy, so I'm outta here!!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Fat Chick

2010-11-03T22:45:00.003Z

Hi all....just a random image upload as a friend was getting scared of the clown one!

That's it really, so until the weekend - bye bye!!

Weekend Random Selector - Halloween Special

2010-10-29T18:56:00.002+01:00

Hi all. As it's Halloween this weekend it seemed only fitting to make this weekends Random Selector a Halloween themed one. I enjoyed working on this one and quite happy with how it turned out.

Zombie + Clown + Space Hopper = Random Selection!

That's all for this week and looking forward to a bit of Halloween fun this weekend myself. Hope you all have a Ghoulishly Great weekend too!!

The Party Is Here!!

2010-10-27T18:19:00.003+01:00

I was asked to do a design for a birthday invitation and this is what I have come up with. I started working on this yesterday afternoon and did final little touches today, hope it looks ok? I have left out the name, age and venue of this persons birthday event.

That's it for now, but will upload my Halloween themed piece on Friday. :-)

Weekend Random Selector

2010-10-24T21:01:00.004+01:00

This week when I was working on my Weekend Random Selector, I decided to mix it up and add a Halloween twist to it. Now, as you can tell from the image above, this isn't it!! As Halloween isn't until next weekend, that left me one week in advance, but also one image short for this week!

So this weeks one was a tad last minute to be honest!

Queen + Pants + Skates = Random Selection

The good news is that I'm really happy with how next weeks Halloween themed Random Selector has turned out - so make sure you pop over for a little peek then :-)

Thanks for looking and enjoy your week ahead!

Bye for now.

*Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental

Weekend Random Selector

2010-10-17T22:55:00.004+01:00

Hi, hope you have all had a nice weekend. This is my first official Weekend Random Selector - hope you like.

Parrot + Fireman + High Heels = Random Selection

I will be working on more stuff in the next couple of days, so will pop more work on here soon.

Thats all for now!

Midweek Random Selector

2010-10-13T22:40:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone! I've been finding myself drawing lots of crocs and chicks recently as you can see by the images below, and also a project on working on at the moment too. So to stop myself going too stir-crazy with them, I will be doing some random images that make no sense at all.

I haven't done images like this for a while since I stopped taking part in Illustration Friday (which I still think is a good idea), but I have devised my own way of generating a topic to draw from. Drum roll please..... It will be my Weekend Random Selector!!

I know what you're thinking...but no, I haven't built myself a big machine like the Lottery use to spit out topics for me!! Similar, but maybe a tad less technical. It will be picking 3 bits of paper, each with a word on and then using that as a starting point.

So here we are, the first image...a warm up I would say for the Weekend Random Selector.

Shark + Rocker +Toilet = Random Selection- hope you like.

Will have the official one up this weekend.

Bye for now. :-)

Hot Chick!

2010-10-02T18:08:00.003+01:00

Hello again Cactus fans... hope you are all keeping well. Just thought i'd post this random image for your amusement. I haven't mixed illustration and photography for quite a while now, but have always enjoyed the process when doing it, so will most likely be doing plenty more of this in the near future. Hopefully you like the end result?

Think that's about it for the time being - will have a new image on here soon!

Bye for now :-)

Baby Croc

2010-09-07T16:29:00.003+01:00

Hello all. Since my last crocodile themed image I did, I have been sorting out all my sketchbooks and came across another crocodile one I've been meaning to work on for a while, so thought i'd follow on from Survival Stories with this one!

I've gone for a slightly different look with this one, hopefully looks ok... comments always welcome.

Still got another half of the day remaining, so back to the drawing board with me!

Survival Stories

2010-08-31T19:38:00.003+01:00

Hello all, finally managed time to blog again - what a busy summer! Just a quick update here, and more images to follow soon.

I have produced the above illustration for a new comic anthology, called Survival Stories, and is being produced to raise money for the Comic Book Alliance—an organization that fights for the rights of comic creators everywhere.

The book is 192 pages long, black and white, and features all-new content. Creators include Martin Conaghan (Burke & Hare), Ben Bates (Sonic the Hedgehog), Jim Boswell (KiCk!), Peter Forbes (Oz: Fall of the Scarecrow King), and more. It will be released in October, 2010. www.kickstarter.com/projects/910305588/the-sleepless-phoenix-comics-anthology

The original image is in colour, but as the book will be printed in black and white, the 2nd image is how it will look when printed. You will be able to pick up the book online (to order now, follow the link above) and also at various conventions, so keep your eyes peeled!

Thats enough for now, more soon :-)

Balloon Bear

2010-06-29T19:56:00.007+01:00

Right....I'm techically late with this blog post (according to my half-year resolution of blogging every week), but what's a few days between friends!! And I have also been a bit traumatised with the way the England team played during their short Wold Cup campaign - so I think I deserve to be let off this once!

This one I took from a random sketch I had done recently - which wasn't originally a bear, but turned that way when doing the final image. May re-do at some point with 'proper' bear hands, will see how I feel.

Anyway, better pop off, but hope to have more work on here soon - including more sneak peek images too. Bye for now!

Sneak Peek 3

2010-06-19T00:10:00.003+01:00

Hi, here is another quick sneak peek at something i'm working on. Hopefully will be able to reveal more as things progress. I'm having a nice weekend off, but will post more next week....enjoy the sunshine!!

ENGLAND!!!

2010-06-11T23:09:00.003+01:00

Just a quick post to mark the start of the Fifa World Cup 2010! Im hoping for a brilliant 4 weeks of football, and fingers crossed England go far - starting with USA tomorrow...can we dream that they will be lifting the trophy high in the sky once it's all said and done?

Hope you all enjoy some great games too! :-)

New Character

2010-06-04T11:47:00.002+01:00

This is a new character i've been working on and plan to use in a series of images. It's still in the early stage of ideas and development, but plan to have more images up soon!

Have a nice weekend ♥

The Beat Royale

2010-06-02T18:28:00.005+01:00

I got commissioned to produce a cd cover for the band The Beat Royale for their single Heartbreaker featuring Kezi Silverstone on vocals, which will be released this summer.

I did a few different designs for them and they have chosen one of the graphic style images for the cd cover - and i will upload a photo of the final thing once it's all been finally printed etc.

In the meantime, here is one of the other images i did (my personal fave), which i thought would give the cd a slightly different look from the norm... let me know what you think.

Thats all for now :-)

Sneak Peek 2!

2010-06-02T18:23:00.004+01:00

The first upload to my new half-year resolution is a sneak peek at one of the images to a project i'm working on at the mo. Lots more to be completed before i can start showing the full images, so will keep uploading them in this form as things progresses.

Sneak peek 3 on its way. Bye for now!

Half-Year Resolution!

2010-06-02T17:41:00.002+01:00

Ok, yes i admit it... i've been rubbish at blogging so far this year, which is why i'm going to make a half-year resolution right now!

"I will henceforth upload some form of image every week, regardless of time restrictions or amount of ice cream in my freezer that needs eating."

I have an idea for a little series of images that i will aim to upload as well as sneak peaks at other projects i'm working on, so hopefully will be using this blog a lot more frequently from now on!

Hope you like what you see and come back to check up on how my half-year resolution goes....wish me luck!! :-)

Kids with Crayons!

2010-03-13T23:30:00.008Z

Last week I went to visit a local primary school to help with the after school Create Club. I took some of my work to show them what sort of stuff I do, then we cracked on with lots of drawing and colouring fun!! I've previously written essays on children's drawings and find the images, composition and ideas they produce to be really interesting and inspiring. It was great to be able to sit back and observe while they created funny, yet sometimes weird and disturbing pictures!! We decided to have more of an 'unstructured' drawing time, so there was no specific theme or aim, just for them to create freely and do as many images as they could, then we would collect them all together to see what we had. It was a fun couple of hours and hopefully I will be able to fit in another visit soon, maybe with a specific theme for them to design to.

Oh, and don't worry - the faces in the pictures have been altered, kids don't actually look like this in the south!! :-P

All Hail the Cactus King of Cardboard City

2010-03-13T23:02:00.007Z

Ok, I'm finally back online after a very busy (and at times) stressful few months! I have now moved into my new pad, so lots of time has been spent packing and moving all my belongings, only to create my own 'Cardboard City' in every room! Once I track down my art supplies I will hope to have more stuff created and uploaded on here asap. :-)

WINNER!!

2010-01-21T22:26:00.002Z

I just had to post the fact that I am a winner!! I don't think of myself as a very lucky person or someone who often wins competitions (not ever won a penny on the lottery.....should start entering I guess!), but today - at the start of 2010 (which I plan to be the best year ever), I have won the Super Happy Fun Giveaway!

Now, for people who don't know what this is, well....it was a competition set the other day by illustrator Jess Bradley, and all you had to do was leave a comment on her Squid Bits blog...and I won, go me!! Look at all the great stuff I won ->->->-> Prizes :-)

Thanks again Jess, you rock!!

Sneak Peek!

2010-01-17T22:53:00.002Z

Happy Belated New Year!!! I hope to make this a great year work-wise, with plenty of things planned (some already started, others in the pipeline). I am working on some images at the mo but don't want to reveal anything until things are more sorted, so here is a sneak peak at one of them at the moment! Hope to bring some more sneaky peeks as things progress!

Hope everyone has a great 2010 :-D

be Bulb Agency

2009-11-12T22:10:00.003Z

I have got some images appearing on the website of a new design agency be Bulb. The website is looking great and who knows what will come from it - watch this space!

e-Creative 2009

2009-09-17T23:15:00.004+01:00

My work has been selected for e-Creative London 2009 directory by art-s-talker (www.art-s-talker.com) This all came about from my work being exhibited at the New Designers Show in London. You can read more about it in the information below as well as on The London Design Festival website here

It's all kicking off in a couple days time now, 19th September - 27th september, so will be keeping my fingers crossed for some good feedback!

Berlin Stampede - Line up!

2009-08-28T01:59:00.005+01:00

I think this will be my final 'proper' piece for the Berlin Stampede. I will do some more stickers from this and then get everything printed to take to the girls on sunday - then off to Berlin on monday for them!! :-D

You can check out their progress here - berlinstampede.blogspot.com/

Berlin Stampede - Stickers

2009-08-26T20:14:00.005+01:00

I decided I would produce some stickers for Berlin Stampede girls to take with them which allows them to just whack them around where they like! So I've used some of the characters already created for this. Hopefully will look ok once they are printed onto the sticker paper - fingers crossed!

Berlin Stampede

2009-08-26T14:43:00.001+01:00

Another piece for the Berlin Stampede thats coming up.

Uni's Web Site

2009-08-24T20:17:00.002+01:00

Stumbled across this on the slide show of my university's updated web page http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/nwsad/. Nice to see it there, but can't believe how bright it is - wow!!

Anyway, need to stop faffing with websites and do more work.

Will update soon.

Animals Take Over Berlin (aka - Berlin Stampede)

2009-08-24T19:56:00.002+01:00

This is my first piece for the newly named 'Berlin Stampede' project. I plan to do some single images of animals, while also experimenting with the look for some of them and will see how they come out!!

Animals Take Over Berlin!

2009-08-14T20:38:00.010+01:00

Just a quick update on what I'm doing at the moment! I've just started sketching ideas for a collaborative type project, which involves a collection of artists producing images based around the theme 'Animals'. These different styles will then be taken to Berlin on the 31st August (by these three lovely ladies: Cat, Lou and Megan http://www.flickr.com/groups/1194208@N23/) to be placed all around different areas of Berlin and photographed to be turned into a book.

So, got just over a week to get things done, but should hopefully have some fun pieces out of it.

Will upload the images as they get done.

New Designers Show '09

2009-07-20T22:02:00.006+01:00

Arrived back from The New Designers exhibition in London and pretty tired!! Was a busy time there, but really worth it.
I arrived on monday and settled into my cheap hotel room until tuesday lunchtime when our work was getting driven down and being put up.

Wednesday was a long day. Had to be in from 9am as the judges were going around all the work and possibly needing to talk to the exhibitors. Then the awards were getting announced from 2pm onwards. So there was lots of waiting around until the show was open to the V.I.P guests and the press at 6.30pm (and the free drinks were finally given out!). This went on until 9pm and was a busy but fun time. It was really good getting feedback off people who hadn't seen your work before and just generally helping them with any work they wanted to look at (whether that was your own or not).

There were plenty of publishers, agents, card companies etc looking around, and felt good when they talked about your work and collected your promotional material.

Thursday was just as busy, and had some of the guests from wednesday night return for a second look - which could be a good sign i guess! We had some mad busy times when there needed to be 4 of us on the stand as the demand to look at our work was that big (could have done with 1 or 2 extra pairs of hands too!).

I also had some important publishers show an interest in my work - but won't say who in case it jinx's it, but need to send samples to one, another said they would be in contact (we will see), and I emailed the other last night, so fingers crossed.

The rest of the weekend ended up being more quiet than expected. There were steady parts where we would get people over but it seemed like the industry people had all arrived in the first 3 days, but I did see the comedian/author/presenter Danny Wallace walk through the doors as I was heading to lunch (gonna read his 'yes man' book on my holiday!), so that was cool.

Saturday was another quiet day on the stand but I was busy during the day as I attended the AOI talk that was given by Derek Brazell and recent graduate Kate Slater. This was another good talk (went to last years one too), so was able to take away plenty of good advice. Also had my cousin and her fiance visit which was nice to see them, and also my mate who lives in London came near the end of the day, so was good catching up with him afterwards over a couple of pints too.

I had to catch the train early on sunday morning, so missed how that day went, but apparently that was another quiet day so didn't miss too much.

Overall it was a really great being there, and checking out all the work from other universities was pretty interesting too (for many different reason that I won't go into here!).

My next step is to head to spain in the early hours of thursday to recharge my batteries for a week, then come back refreshed and ready to start some new projects and start getting my work and name out there - and just keep living the dream!!

Will be back in a weeks time, so until then - adios :-D

Promotional Material

2009-07-11T21:18:00.003+01:00

I collected my business cards and postcards yesterday from the printers, all ready to take to London when I travel down on monday. Hopefully will get lots of interest during my time at the show and get some good feedback on my work too!

Keep your fingers crossed for me, will give an update with any news and pictures when I return.

Temporary 'Studio'

2009-07-11T21:10:00.004+01:00

Now that I have finished my Degree in North Wales, I have headed back down South until I have decided where I should settle for good (Barbados fingers crossed!!) :-D

In the meantime, I have set myself up with a little working space and look forward to getting cracking on some new work soon.

Glyndwr Final Show

2009-07-11T21:02:00.003+01:00

After a very busy end to my course, I am now back updating my blog!!

With all the stress and sleepless nights getting everything prepared for my assessments, it was on to getting the final show ready!! In short - everything went off without any problems and with great work all round, everyone who attended seemed to like what they saw.

Our show would stay up for a few weeks and will then get transported down to London on 14th July to set up for The New Designers Show (Part 2) from 16th - 19th July. If you can make it, then it really is worth going to see all the new, talented graduates this year!

Cheltenham - True Stories (aka Jealous Giraffes)

2009-05-10T19:29:00.003+01:00

These are 4 images I have just finished to put forward to the Cheltenham Illustration competition this year (with the final 3 columns together being the image I sent) . The theme was True Stories, and have based mine on a something I read about the largest cactus in the world being the size of 3 or 4 giraffes, and thought about how those giraffes would feel being compared to this huge cactus!! Really enjoyed working on this project, just a shame there wasn't enough time to work on more images....ah well, might come back to it at some point.....on to the next project now!!

Macmillan Book Prize ' 09

2009-05-10T18:29:00.006+01:00

This is a project I was working on for this years Macmillan Book Prize. It is called Robbie, Rabbit and the Rainbow - and believe it or not - features a boy called Robbie, his soft toy Rabbit and, well, a Rainbow!! The style of this book had many variations during the time I worked on it, as certain things just were not working. It has possibly ended up a bit more mixed-media than I first thought, but overall I am happy with the images produced! :-D

DoodlePlanet - 2/4/09

2009-04-11T20:23:00.004+01:00

Another DoodlePlanet event took place in Chester last week and was jam packed with a wide variety of doodle-mad artists! I ended up doing this random, unfinished piece, of an octopus blowing bubbles which happens to have certain things trapped in them. Was lots of fun attending this again - and look forward to the next one in a few weeks time!

DoodlePlanet - 5/3/09

2009-03-10T16:52:00.004Z

This was my second time attending DoodlePlanet, which takes place Telfords Warehouse in Chester every month and allows talents of all kinds to come and draw on sheets of card on the walls, tables etc.
I finally arrived there an hour later than planned, due to traffic jams and my own dying car battery!! But was totally worth it as I had a wicked time just random doodling along to the funky tunes that were being played. Had no idea what to draw - which is why it looks like it does......maybe I will try to have a better idea before I go to the next one! :-D

Doodle

2009-02-22T20:55:00.004Z

Hi, have been a bit hectic since Xmas so no time to post any new work - but hopefully will be more active in uploading work from now on!

Worked on this doodle quickly last night to send off for possible inclusion in Doodlezine - which will feature various illustrators doodles, so look forward to seeing that! This was fun and very random and plan on doing some more (with extra images next time), and then put the practicing to the test at the next DoodlePlanet event on 5th March in Chester - bring on the Doodles!! :-D

Oriel Art Exhibition

2008-12-14T00:00:00.007Z

My 'Chocolate Monster' piece was accepted to be part of the Oriel Art Exhibition in Wrexham, which was open to all types of art work and to professional, amateur and students. The exhibition looks great and has lots of variety of work which I'm really happy to be part of. It went up last weekend and is on until 10th January 2009, so go and have a good look if you can and see the work from lots of talented people!! :-D

1st Award

2008-11-25T20:21:00.008Z

"Arte y Pico" Award"Arte y Pico" is a phrase that roughly translates as,"The Maximum, The Peak!"

I hope I haven't reached my "Maximum" or my "Peak" just yet, but my thanks go to Yoon See for thinking my work deserves this award!

Here are 'the rules' for The ARTE y PICO Award:
1. Show the award.
2. The name of the person who gave it to you and a link back to their blog.
3. Pick 5 blogs you think deserve this award for: creativity, design, interesting material and their contribution/participation to the blog community.
4. List the author's name and link to their blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you've selected.Link back to the original Arte y Pico BLOG, so all will know the origin of the award.

AWARDS GO TO THE FOLLOWING BLOGS:

1. Mary Harris at createdbythestar.blogspot.com for her dedication to her work and continual improvements with her lovely designs.

2. Megan Hindley at stedhead-megan.blogspot.com for her utterly unique style and crazy images!

3. Alex Willmore at elxkidd.deviantart.com for his awesome character designs and overall talent.

4. Lauren Sharp at diddydumdiddydoo.deviantart.com for her great artists skills in whatever style she chooses to use!

5. Terri C at painteddaisies.blogspot.com for her lovely paintings, and of course being the leader of the greatest cactus related group in the world....Cactus Monday!!

Keep up the good work guys, will be looking at your work again very soon!

Chocolate Shop Exhibition

2008-11-17T17:30:00.011Z

Chocolate Milk Comes From Brown Cows
There's A Thin Person Inside Of Me Screaming To Get Out, But I Keep Her Sedated With Chocolate
Be An Angel, Share Your Chocolate
If There Is Melted Chocolate On Your Hands You're Eating It Too Slowly
Chocolate In Any Language Spells Love

I have been very busy over the last month working on images to submit for a new chocolate shop that has opened in the town of Wrexham, who have had the idea of using some extra wall space in the shop as a chance for artists to exhibit their work. I was very happy to be given the first opportunity to display my work, so fingers crossed people like it too! If anyone wants to view it first hand (and pick up some of the lovely chocolates on sale there too, yum yum!!) it is on at the Really Nice Chocolate shop www.reallynicechocolate.co.uk until january time. Prints of the images can also be purchased there too as poster size or postcards.

Xmas Card Ideas

2008-11-17T17:15:00.006Z

These are some images I came up with for xmas card ideas. They still need some tweaking but I think some will end up as a set, and the Penguin Bee card will be transfered into a xmas book as well as an interactive online book using Flash.

Illustration Friday- Strings

2008-10-16T22:43:00.002+01:00

This weeks Illustration Friday word is Strings, and the Elf here is using them in a Mission Impossible style to either put the star safely on to the Xmas tree or steal it......you can decide!!!

I am working on various Xmas card designs at the moment and this is a version of one I have done. I will try and have the better finished images up here soon. Right, better get crackin' with the other ones now- have a nice weekend.

Illustration Friday- Sugary

2008-10-10T00:57:00.005+01:00

For this weeks Illustration Friday word- Sugary, features cactus's in my studio space enjoying lovely sugary ice creams, and as we all know.....cactus's LOVE ice cream, mmmmmmm :-D

I cheated a little bit for this weeks image. I did a version of this for my first image on the new group I joined- Cactus Monday, and for the rest of the week have been mega busy sorting out uni stuff, so tweaked the original image to fit this weeks word. Will hope to do better for this weeks word. Enjoy the weekend!!

Illustration Friday- Packed

2008-10-01T20:51:00.002+01:00

Packed and ready for the beach.....but which way is it!!?

This is for my cousin Becky who has recently moved to Australia and is enjoying lots of sunshine down under, in the land of the kangaroo!!

enjoy

Googly Eyed Cactus

2008-09-26T16:28:00.003+01:00

For one of the presents I received for my birthday last week was this cactus plant (now with extra Googles!!) from my brilliant little nephew Ashley. It will be taking pride of place on my desk at uni once I return back next week!! :-D

Illustration Friday- Clique

2008-09-26T01:59:00.007+01:00

Very busy this week, but just about managed to get this weeks word 'Clique' finished........that pesky Wolf had better watch its back with this Clique around!!!

Start back at uni for my final year on tuesday, so will be busier than usual really soon. Will attempt to keep the weekly word going- actually quite enjoying it. Wish me luck though!! :-S

Illustration Friday- Island

2008-09-15T00:31:00.006+01:00

This weeks word is Island, and I had six sketches done for a series of 'things to do when you are stuck on a desert Island'. I created two of these this afternoon, then realized how busy the next week is, so have left it at that.

Was looking through one of my J. Otto Seibold books earlier and this inspired me to try using the gradient tool in Illustrator (as i've never tried it before). Was a bit fiddly to start with but think it has turned out ok, will think about using it again! Enjoy, and have a great week :-D

#1. Do some "light reading"

#2. Enjoy some music

Illustration Friday- Clutter

2008-09-11T17:59:00.002+01:00

For this weeks Illustration Friday word - Clutter - I decide to do an image of the cactus part of my mind, where there is all sorts of Cluttered mess piling up and driving me mad!! Left it quite late again this week, but will attempt to be more swift from now on. Have a good weekend!

Illustration Friday- Memories

2008-09-04T00:22:00.004+01:00

This weeks Illustration Friday word was Memories, and as I don't have a very good memory myself, I had a peek through an old photo album for inspiration and decided to base my images on my long-time friendship with a well known character......Morph!! I used to carry him everywhere with me, so we have shared lots of memories together.

I had no plans to do any more than one image (like usual), but the idea kept on growing and I ended up working on 5 different images. This ended up being 4 when it came to the final drawing stage, and then had to cut one of the illustrations as it didn't fit in as well as the 3 I have used (will dig it out for a future I.F word im sure!!). I enjoyed working on these images, and I hope you enjoy looking at them. Click on pictures below to view them separately. :-D

Illustration Friday- Routine

2008-08-27T14:15:00.003+01:00

For this weeks image, we have some Chinese pandas giving you a special Routine to mark the end of the Beijing Olympics. Hope you all managed to see some of the games while they were on and enjoyed what you saw. Off to do some dissertation work now, have a good week!!

Illustration Friday- Detach

2008-08-22T00:05:00.004+01:00

Mr Lego decided to do his 'head-detaching' trick to help liven up the party!!

Running a bit late on this weeks image, but just about got there! Trying to lay down the foundations to my dissertation writing has taken up most of my week, but glad I managed to get this done today. Decided to start the colouring process again during the middle of my first attempt as it wasn't standing out as much as I wanted, so in turn missed dinner, so will head off for a mid-night snack now to keep my rumbling belly happy!! Hope it was worth it....enjoy :-D

illustration Friday- Sail

2008-08-14T00:26:00.002+01:00

For this weeks Illustration Friday word- Sail, I decided to continue from last weeks image. Once the bunny was magically pulled from the hat, he thought he was going to be eaten, so he quickly stole the magic hat and stick and created a sail from the coloured hankies and paddled away as fast as he could.....Phew!!! Also tried some texture this week to see how it looks....unsure what I think yet, hmmmm. :-P

Illustration Friday- Poof

2008-08-07T22:46:00.003+01:00

This is Poof the magic dragon (Puffs brother), practicing some mind blowing magic tricks....ABRACADABRA!!!

Illustration Friday- Canned

2008-07-28T16:15:00.004+01:00

Once when me and my sister were a lot younger, she decided to do the Can-Can all around the house. Without knowing she was doing this, i walked into her path and got kicked right in the nether regions (accidently so she says!!). Luckily no lasting damage was done, but this is now called getting "Can-Canned"......Ouch!! :-S

Illustration Friday- Enough

2008-07-24T02:09:00.002+01:00

This weeks word was Enough. I feel you can never have enough ice cream.....even if you live in a world made from the lovely stuff!! Right, i'm off to have a big bowl of toffee covered ice cream.....but will one bowl be enough???? :-S

Illustration Friday- Sour

2008-07-09T00:32:00.002+01:00

This weeks Illustration Friday word was Sour, and there is certainly some 'sour grapes' in this fruit bowl.

Illustration Friday- Fierce

2008-07-03T23:41:00.005+01:00

Fierce is this weeks word for Illustration Friday. I have recently seen the new Incredible Hulk movie at the cinema, and found this as my inspiration for this weeks piece, which is my cactus character "Hulking up"......Cactus Smash!!!!

Illustration Friday- Hoard

2008-06-26T19:01:00.009+01:00

This is my first piece for Illustration Friday, which is a site that gives you a new word every friday to illustrate from. This weeks word was Hoard. My image represents a childs birthday, where they get given a Hoard of presents (usually expensive ones too) and they find its more fun playing in the cardboard box that the present came in!!

Macmillan Book Prize

2008-06-03T18:36:00.005+01:00

The last major work I did before the end of the second year was to write and illustrate a book for the Macmillan Book Prize. I wrote my story around something I remember my little nephew constantly doing, which was always asking for milkshake!! This was a tough project. We didn't have to write our own story, but I thought it might make things more interesting if I did. But I didn't expect it to take as long as it would to get the story finalised, which then took a huge chunk out of my time I needed to illustrate the story. But after putting in the extra hours, I managed to finish the images the way I liked. It wasn't at a standard to enter the competition, but I may re-do parts of it for next years competition, or write a brand new story, will have to see nearer the time.

Flying Project

2008-06-03T14:30:00.016+01:00

This project started as a summer brief before the second year started, where we were given the word 'flying', and just had to brainstorm, research, and draw anything connected to that word. When we then started the year, it was a case of choosing an image/ character from our sketches to then create a story from. I had some drawings of a squirrel getting flown away by some balloons and decided to work from that. We also had to incorporate 3D elements into the work, which I did, using photos, metal, and making my own soft toy version of the character to use in the images. This ended up being a long project which I kept coming back to now and again while working on other projects.

Happy Families

2008-06-02T21:44:00.010+01:00

This was a quick project we were given, which was to re-create the old fashioned Happy Families playing cards. After various ideas I came up with a sumo family to base 4 cards on. The under achieving dad, his talented son, the awkward teenage daughter, and the famous, Grand champion granddad.