Tag Archives: digital

Sketchbook 2019-2022

I’ve added a new Sketchbook pdf to my Gumroad page. It’s got 54 pages of life drawing, gestures, and animal sketches in a large square format – higher quality than on this blog! For £1 you can own your own copy. Buy it here.

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!

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.

Costumed Drawing – Maiden

Last week I was finally able to catch the free costumed drawing session CTN is running before it vanished from YouTube! As it’s a recording I was able to skip back and forward a bit as I pleased, so though poses were between two and seven minutes I spent less time on some and moreContinue reading “Costumed Drawing – Maiden”

Life Drawing, 12th May

Vilidian modelled at this week’s life drawing session. Unfortunately I’d run out of paper (more is on the way) but I drew in Photoshop instead. I tried to resist using ‘Undo’ but didn’t always succeed … It was nice having some close-up poses near to the camera.

Thatched Cottage Studies

At the moment I’m gathering reference for a personal project, and I’m learning a lot! The way medieval houses were constructed depended so much on where they were built – stone or wood? Heather or straw for the thatch? There are the well-constructed houses, some of which are still standing today, and then the onesContinue reading “Thatched Cottage Studies”

Animal Gestures

Some recent sketches. I love how much is shown by the way the rabbit stretches warily across screen, and the relaxed compared to the alert tail of the squirrels. Body language shares so much story. I’d really like to draw more ‘story’ poses for human characters.

‘Klaus’ Clean Up, Part II

Part I A brief note about some of the terms I use: keys, breakdowns, and inbetweens are names for different drawings in animation. Keys are ‘extreme’ poses that tell the story. Breakdowns show how (slowly, angrily, passionately) the character moves from one key to the next. Inbetweens are ‘in between’ all the others, usually halfwayContinue reading “‘Klaus’ Clean Up, Part II”

‘Klaus’ Clean Up, Part I

Last year I worked as a clean up artist on the Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning Klaus. SellOut Animation, based in Edinburgh, worked on scenes outsourced from the main studio, SPA, in Madrid. From May until August I joined the team, cleaning up a variety of shots and characters from throughout the film. It was a steepContinue reading “‘Klaus’ Clean Up, Part I”

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”