Gizmo

Watched Gremlins the other night and was inspired to do this. Merry Christmas!

Munkey Christmas!

It's been a while...

Haven't left a post in a while for various reasons. One being I now have a part-time day job, I work in a game shop. This has it's good and bad points. And hopefully with christmas around the corner I can afford some nice presents. I have also gotten a Jack Russel puppy called Lilah and she tends to take up a lot of my time. When she's sleeping is normally when I do some work.

I have been working on more illustrations for the poetry book and only have a few more to do. Take a look at some of them (they may not make much sense without the poems).Man I Never Met

Kiss Teachers

Calorie BombCircular Dreams and Final Mornings

Reluctant Suicide by Andy Wood

Lingering on some dark road, or bend,
While I wait, with uncertainty.
I know not where, or indeed when,
But I know my death, it beckons me.

On the sands, of this cold shore,
I am alone, nowhere to hide.
This journey, never taken before,
To end my life, a reluctant suicide

This is an illustration I produced for the above poem. Andy is the guy who's poems I'll be illustrating and he's putting a book together. I'm on a bit of a high right now as I sent him this illustration and expected him to want to change some things or to out right dislike it. The response I got was totally unexpected. One of the things he said was: 'You have captured the poem in a way that makes me shiver.' He was incredibly pleased with it and told me not to change a single thing saying it was perfect!

I struggle with the word perfect as it is far from it. But I have to tell myself that although I may not be 100% happy with it (I rarely am) he is happy with it and that is what matters.

A guy and his girl

Do you remember seeing the first sketch of this portrait a few posts back? Well, tis finally finished! The eyes on the guy were the hardest part to get right, especially the right eye. And now for another car portrait.

Update

As you know the wall mural is now done and dusted, I'm just waiting to go back round and take some photos. Over the next month (hopefully) I will be updating my website by adding an extra section to my Illustrations gallery which will include all the photos I take. The project was enjoyable and at times very frustrating. It was certainly an experience!

As for current and upcoming projects I am still getting portrait commissions I have a queue of people wanting one done which is great. I have also been asked to create some illustrations for a poetry book! This is rather exciting and will probably teach me a thing or two about poetry. I'll be posting up sketches when I get a chance to work on some.

Cool Croc

I don't throw anything away, especially old drawings. I have a drawer full of 'wonderful' drawings like this. Cool Croc is a character I came up with when I was around 7 years old so this means this comic is probably about 16 years old!
You see he's cool because he wears shades and a backwards cap. Take note people! Enjoy!

Wall Mural progress: Day 12

I'm quite pleased with how my giraffe turned out. And guess what?! I'm finished! I'm heading back there once the room is finished to take some proper photos so you'll get to see it finished properly.

Wall Mural progress: Day 11

Updated lion, he is now happily sitting on a rock watching the cubs.

Another tree, this time in the corner of the room. A giraffe will be on the other side of the tree.

Mr. Sleeping Leopard.

Wall Mural progress: Day 10

The adult Lion will be lying on a big rock when I get a chance to paint it in. He's watching the cubs play.

Wall Mural progress: Day 9

Added a tree, a parrot and a spray of water to the wall with the watering hole.

May not seem like I've done much but I have been sketching out other animals on the remaining walls.

Wall Mural progress: Day 8

Finished watering hole. Added the ripples.

The elephants! Mama elephant will eventually have water spraying from her trunk.

A finished Toucan just chilling out.

Wall Mural progress: Day 7

A very bright Flamingo. The water isn't finished yet.

Mr Hippo and an unfinished toucan on his back.

Heeeeeeey!

Been a sketching. See, I can draw things wearing pants besides monkeys.

Wall Mural progress: Day 6

The monkeys have a friend. Tis Mr. Gorilla.

Wall Mural progress: Day 5

First monkey has a friend! I also added a vine around the tree. At the bottom of the tree is where the gorilla will sit.

The other monkey.

Wall Mural progress: Day 4

Finally finished the tree trunk and did some rocks at the bottom.

A monkey! Will be doing another one tomorrow.

Baby elephant

I was asked to do a baby elephant for the wall mural so here it is with the mother elephant.

Wall Mural progress: Day 3

A half finished tree. I couldn't finish the trunk as I didn't have a darker brown and I think I need to add more to leaves but you get the idea.

The monkeys will be hanging from this.

Some Clouds.

Wall Mural progress: Day 2

Some shots of the different walls. I painted bushes all the way round. Done with some cheap sponges too!

Portrait commission progress

Portrait commission I started last night. I'm pleased with how the girl looks (she was easy to draw!) but the guy needs sorting out. But you get the idea anyway.

Wall Mural progress: Day 1

Not much to see so far. Been painting the 'grass' around the room. First time using a roller too and breaking one!

Meet my new friend.

Tis a Munkey cut out I made.

Doubts, rain and stall talk

So recently I've been rather up and down emotion wise. Before the weekend I found myself in a little situation which I won't say anymore about. I will say that everything is sorted and it's time to move on. Which brings me to Saturday and my first time on a stall. Maybe I should explain a little first. From the email I received the organisation seemed really professional stating that these 'fun days' they were having would be a great way to promote your business. So I paid for a stall and began preparing stuff to sell (see earlier posts). When I got there it looked more like car boot sale! I really believe I was the only other business there and everyone else who had a stall was from the organisation. They were selling second hand toys and books. I quickly realised that my very reasonable prices for original work were way too expensive compared to what they were selling.

I decided to stick around and hope that people would at the very least pick up my business cards. I wasn't told it was outside and so I didn't bring any sort of cover. And that's when the rain started. Some of my work was ruined and with my table still wet I decided I couldn't put anything out again so it was time leave. I really am gutted it turned out so bad and for the amount I paid for a so called 'stall' too. Just so I don't feel so bad I'm deciding to chalk it up to experience.

So where does this leave me? A question I've asked myself way too often since then. This coupled with the situation I mentioned earlier leaves me with a lot of doubt about my work. Being an Illustrator (professionally) is something I've been wanting my whole life. I really thought I was getting somewhere too. With the wonders of the Internet more people have been interested in my work and I have had a lot more feedback.

I really was just going to give up on the idea of ever having a stall or really selling anything. But while at Tynemouth market I saw how it can be a really great way to promote my work without the internet. It also turns out it is a lot cheaper than what I paid for the farce that was Saturday. I have a few ideas in the pipeline already so It's definitely something I'm not giving up on just yet. More about those ideas at a later date as I've rambled enough.

If you managed to stick around to the end of this post here's an illustration to say thanks.


Tis of my niece and nephew. Although Joe is actually older than this now as it's an old drawing.

Stall goodies!

Goodies I shall be selling on the stall on Saturday.

Make your own greetings cards!

Make your own greeting cards! Comes with 5 different coloured cards, 5 white envelopes and all the stickers you see here!

Exercise books

Some exercise books I made recently. These will be put in packs along with other stationery items.
Two of the books are just plain paper and the other two are lined.

RAWR!

Some pencil toppers I've just made out of modelling clay! Left to right, J.R, Reg and Merle. Really fun to make but very fiddly. These will be included in some stationery packs I'm putting together.

Colouring Book!

Colouring Book I've just made. Makes a handy tent for my handmade Munkey plush. Out of 34 photos, this was the best one. I do not have a steady hand :/

A Lion, a tiger no bears! Oh my!

Without lines

Wanted to see what the animals looked like without an outline as that's how they'll probably be on the walls. They'll probably end up a bit different to this plan anyway as I'm assuming the room has a window and a door so I need to allow for those!