All In Gesture – Hercules

For this session I chose to draw digitally, just to shake things up. I like getting away from the screen every once in a while, but sometimes it’s hard to adjust to real media given I spend almost all my time drawing onto my Cintiq. Ralph was a fantastic model! I loved the variety ofContinue reading “All In Gesture – Hercules”

Creating the Title Page for Kinsey’s Sword

Here’s a look at some of the process I went through drawing the title page for Kinsey’s Sword. As it was the first spread I painted for the book I was still trying to capture the style of the illustrations. Initially I’d thought I’d add a lot more detail and move further away from theContinue reading “Creating the Title Page for Kinsey’s Sword”

Practice, practice, practice

Last year I came across this tweet, which challenged me to start thinking differently about how I draw through the week. Most of the time I only draw whatever I feel like, or what I’m working on. Life drawing has been the only regular study I’ve done since school. I pick things up here andContinue reading “Practice, practice, practice”

Wedding Invite

Last year I had the pleasure of designing the wedding invite for friends of mine. I’m really pleased with how it turned out, so I thought I’d share a little bit of the process of making it. To start with I was given the theme of succulents and hexagons. It was fun trying out differentContinue reading “Wedding Invite”

Inktober 2018 #19 & #20 – Trennte & Jeffrey

A double update! Both characters are from The Princess of Nowhere, the first novel I ever finished writing. Trennte is the manservant of Prince Jespar, and is the prince’s friend and mentor. Jeffrey is a tie. For some reason I cut Jeffrey out of the later drafts, something I regret as he was one ofContinue reading “Inktober 2018 #19 & #20 – Trennte & Jeffrey”

Action Gestures

I meant to post these last weekend, but forgot. I drew them last month, using the Bodies in Motion site, beginning with 30 second poses and gradually giving myself more time. The site is excellent for capturing poses that a model would never be able to hold.

Inktober 2018 #10 – Bree

Bree (or Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah, to give his full name) is the titular horse of The Horse and His Boy. Shasta is the boy. I had wondered about drawing Aravis and Hwin, the other main characters, but there are so many other characters I want to draw I initially decided against it. Now I’m two weeks throughContinue reading “Inktober 2018 #10 – Bree”

Inktober 2018 #09 – Shasta

Shasta is the main character in The Horse and His Boy, my favourite of C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia books. I would love to see it on screen as I think this story has so much scope – adventure, horses, battles, an escape across a desert. Now Netflix will be developing new films andContinue reading “Inktober 2018 #09 – Shasta”

Inktober 2018 #08 – Dragon

At the end of a bitter battle with a dragon, a knight searched its layer and discovered its egg among the treasures. Feeling its warmth he found himself unwilling to kill an innocent, unknowing creature. Instead the knight wrapped it carefully in his cloak and cradled it on his saddle as he rode all theContinue reading “Inktober 2018 #08 – Dragon”

Inktober 2018 #06 – Harry

These next characters come from Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword, a fantasy novel I adore. As it’s set in the desert land of Damar I took inspiration from The Prince of Egypt for design. Harry (full name Angharad) is the heroine, and I show her here near the beginning of the story when she hasContinue reading “Inktober 2018 #06 – Harry”

Inktober 2018 #04 – Anne

Persuasion is one of my favourite Jane Austen novels (I find it hard to choose between it and Pride and Prejudice) so I thought I’d draw Anne Elliot for day four. I wanted to draw her in a style similar to some of the cartoons of that time – lots of lines and hatching.

Inktober 2018 #01 – Elsa

Inktober is an annual drawing challenge which I’ve taken part in before, but this year I’ve decided to do it a little differently. As the name suggests the drawings are supposed to be in ink, but this year I’m going to cheat and draw digitally. My aim with this challenge is to develop my characterContinue reading “Inktober 2018 #01 – Elsa”

Sketches at the Museum

I was in Edinburgh yesterday for an animation event, so I spent some time drawing in the museum on Chambers Street. I sketched a sperm whale skull and a haughty-looking llama as well as some of the visitors. The sketches are pen on paper, but the tone was added digitally.