AJAiken

Sketch Club: Fairytale

This week’s prompt was ‘fairytale’. I was inspired by the birth of my nephew and drew a scene from Thumbelina.

Sketch Club: Road Trip

Wild Child has recently started a weekly Sketch Club with a prompt. This week’s was ‘Road Trip’. I had a lot of fun doing research and creating this little image of a family on the Oregon Trail.

Gorilla Sketches

A colleague took a video of some gorillas while visiting his local zoo, and I asked if I could sketch from it. The interactions between the gorillas were fascinating to study.

Light

This character jumped out while I doodled today. I’m not sure who she is or what she’s holding, but she seems a bit worried about it.

The Brilliant World of Tom Gates

For the last six months I’ve been a storyboard artist on The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, working for Wild Child as part of an amazing team. The series is based on Liz Pichon’s bestselling Tom Gates books. The first episodes are now on Sky Kids in the UK, either as part of a Sky subscription or through Now TV. Watch the trailer below!

Jonah Music Video

Over the last few months I’ve been working on something really special – something a bit different from anything I’ve made before. Rachel Zylstra, a singer-songwriter based in Edinburgh, asked me to create a music video for one of the tracks on her new album On Faith.

You can watch the result below!

Wild Life Drawing – Wolf Pups

On Saturday I joined an online drawing class from Wild Life Drawing featuring five-week-old wolf-dog pups from Watermill Wolves. They were alternately incredibly active or completely asleep.

Lots of Liffeys

Liffey was the Irish Setter my family owned while I was growing up. She was a wonderful companion, if a little odd at times. I must have doodled these caricatures of her at some point last year, but I’d forgotten about them until now.

Life Drawing, 31st December

I made it along to some of the epic eight-hour life drawing marathon organised by Deryck Henley on New Year’s Eve. It was great to do some drawing from (digital) life – it had been a few months, and I was very rusty.

These poses were modelled by Anna and Mariano.

CTN Live – It All Began Five Years Ago

Five years ago I was in LA attending the CTN expo as part of an animation industry group from Scotland. Today, as part of CTN Live (sign up now if you haven’t already – it’s free!) we’re having a reunion to discuss the trip and where we are now.

It All Began 5 Years Ago: Scotland Animation Industry Reunion

The panel discussion is at 11am PST (7pm GMT) on Wednesday 18th November.

A recording may be available later – I’ll update this post with more information if so. View the schedule here to find out more!

Some of the group visiting the Disney Studio lot – pictures by Fraser MacLean

Wild Life Drawing – Wolves

Wild Life Drawing hosts live drawing sessions with animals in the UK. I sadly haven’t ever been able to go to any of their in-person classes, but I have now attended online!

Last week I joined in a Zoom drawing class featuring three wolf-dogs from Watermill Wolves. A lot of little mannerisms reminded me of my own dog, but I enjoyed studying and exaggerating the differences!

Life Drawing, 8th October

Last week, I attended a life drawing session where Safire and Andrew held beautiful poses. With three cameras to choose from, I enjoyed capturing the same pose from different angles.

Liquid Solid at DepicT!

Liquid Solid is now screening at DepicT! You can watch it in full here.

If you enjoy it please rate it out of five – your vote will count towards the DepicT! IMDbPro Audience Award.

Morna and Alistair

Morna and Alistair are from a story I’ve been working at over the last few months. As they both get older in it I’ve been trying to find characters that work at different ages. These quick doodles I did after work are the first ones I feel capture their characters.

Liquid Solid at Encounters

I’m thrilled to announce that my short animation Liquid Solid has been selected for Encounters Film Festival!

You can find out more about the film and the festival through the links above.

Life Drawing, 14th July

A couple of sketches of Naomi, from a session last month.

I’ve just started a new job with Wild Child on a children’s television series. Hopefully I’ll be able to show what I’m working on sometime next year!

Character Sketching – Pirate

John Mackey was completely in character at last week’s CTN Character Sketching session! It was great fun, and I came away with the desire to rewatch Pirates of the Caribbean …

Badger Prints For Sale

My badger sketches have proved popular, so I’ve had some lovely A4 prints made! You can purchase them using the buttons below.

A4 Signed Badger Print – UK only

Print on uncoated 350gsm card. Signed in pencil. Price includes postage within the UK.

£20.00

A4 Signed Badger Print – Worldwide

Print on uncoated 350gsm card. Signed in pencil. Price includes postage worldwide.

£25.00

Character Sketching – Housewife

Julie Wions modelled at this Character Sketching event a couple of weeks ago. I loved the interaction with the doll – I was reminded of my sister and my niece at times!