New Website / I've Moved!

Hey, just popped back to this blog to say I have my new website up and running at thedrippingcactus.com and I will be blogging now from my new home at thedrippingcactus.tumblr.com Hope to see you there Over and out!

Helloooo!

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

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

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

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...

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



Happy Valentines day everyone, enjoy.

Weekend Full of ♡'s

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

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

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...

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

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!

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

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!!

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!

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

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!!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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!!!

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

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

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 :-)