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 :-)