Mr Toodle

I think, therefore I am confused

2012-01-24T14:08:00.003Z

I share some of the befuddlement of my creature for this month's A Little Bit Bunny, although if I were in the picture it might read something like:

"I think, therefore I am definitely possibly a bald ape"

It's that time again...

2011-12-14T19:39:00.006Z

The ALBBunny theme for December is Dachshund, not an especially seasonal animal, whoever picked it obviously wasn't really thinking things through (I've gotta sheepishly hold my hand up to that one). But it's produced a couple of lovely little illustrations already from Colleen and Jon, and now I've thrown mine into the fray. Pop over right now for a sniff, don't forget to click on the image if you want a closer look.

The picture above is from the shop window of Blackwell's, and was my first ideas for this months creature. In the UK, pigs in blankets (cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon) are commonly served during Christmas lunch, and this was going to be my attempt to bring the festive spirit to ALBBunny. In the end I went for a more Feb 14th theme, and saved the Christmas cheer for my own blog. HoHoHo, Merry Christmas!

Christmas Window

2011-12-10T18:48:00.007Z

Hi All, I spent a lovely day today with the folks from Brillustration drawing the Christmas Window at Blackwell's Bristol. Click on the links to see the full window in all it's Christmasy glory. If you're in Bristol over the next week or so, pop into the shop to see the other panels dotted around the ground floor.

How many faces can you squeeze on a squash?

2011-11-01T00:13:00.012Z

Probably more than seven, but that's all you're getting tonight folks.
Happy Halloween, enjoy the festivities.

Apologies for the slightly damaged condition of the pumpkin,
turns out they don't last that long once you've cut 'em up.
I had to photograph it quickly tonight
before it turned hopelessly into mush.

If found, please return to Mr Toodle

2011-10-27T18:45:00.004+01:00

Well, it's been a while since my last blog post, and since I missed last months a little bit bunny too, I thought I'd share what I would have put up, if I'd managed to find the time. This post is dedicated to Liz, Mr Toodle's Number 1 fan; Thanks for all the support. xx

New studio! Whoop! Whoop!

2011-07-11T23:25:00.006+01:00

The Toodle Saga has taken a new twist tonight as I've just finished moving into a new art studio, ably assisted by my good friend Carlton (thanks so much for all your help). Above is a pic of the space before anyone moved in, but it's a bit more cluttered now, as befits a work area. I'll be sharing the space with the talented and lovely Hannah Cumming, she's left of the plug socket, I'm right.

I was nervous leading up to the move, as it's a big step, both in time and money, and it means I now have to get (more) serious about my art. But now that my stuff is all in, I'm really excited, and can't wait to get stuck into more work, and different projects than I've been able to manage in the spare room at home. Here's to the future!!! Whoop! Whoop!

Mingo Mitch

2011-06-30T00:14:00.004+01:00

This is Mingo Mitch, and he's arrived now, at
the 11th hour to kick 'mingo tail-feather!

To see the full albbunny reveal, [click here]

Gupgups Design Comp: Update No 4

2011-06-21T12:46:00.006+01:00

Hi All, I've had confirmation back from the Designing GupGups Competition organisers that you can vote for more than one design. Here's a [link] to the competition album, but you'll need to be signed into facebook to be eligible to vote. Once you're on the album page, you need to click the "Like" button in the top right of the page, then hunt out my designs and click "Like" below them. Cheers, Mr Toodle.

Gupgups Design Comp: Update No 3

2011-06-20T22:29:00.004+01:00

Hey Everyone, it's now possible to vote in the Designing Gupgups Competition. It's a bit confusing as to whether you're allowed to vote for more than 1 submission or not. But I've asked for clarification from the organisers, and I'll post what they say as soon as I find out.

Cheers, Mr Toodle.

Gupgups Design Comp: Update No 2

2011-06-20T10:20:00.008+01:00

click on the image for a closer look

Hey All, here are my submissions for the Gupgups/Toys R Evil design competition. You'll have a chance to vote for your favourite via the Gupgups facebook page from 5pm today (UK time, GMT +1). I'll be posting all the necessary links later on tonight, and you've got 2 weeks to log your choice. Thanks for your support.

Cheers, Mr Toodle.

Gupgups Design Comp: Update No 1

2011-06-17T09:13:00.010+01:00

Hey all, I've been busy recently working on my entries for the Gupgups design competition being run over on the Toys R Evil blog. I've submitted all 6 of my allowance now, and what did I find when I visited the Toys R Evil today? Well I found a feature about my first two submissions; Mr Cop and Mr Robber. These are the only two that I designed as a pair, all my others are single pieces. If you want to see them you'll have to click on [this link].

Another of my designs was featured on the 11th June, as part of a collection of entries. To see the post [click here], but I'm not going to tell you which one it is, you'll have to guess or wait until 20th June when I'll post all of them here on my blog. Feel free to put your guesses in the comments of this post, I'd be interested to see how many get it right, and what submissions people think are similar to my style.

The 20th June is significant as that's when you'll get your chance to vote on you favourite submissions over on facebook. So be sure to check in on Monday to see my other designs, and for links to the voting page.

Cheers, Mr Toodle.

White Elephant

2011-05-30T23:45:00.003+01:00

I did this a while ago as a present for a friend, but I lost confidence in the image and so didn't give it to them. This weeks Illustration Friday topic gave me an excuse to dust it off and give it a new audience.

Happy 1st Birthday Cavey!

2011-05-26T10:05:00.011+01:00

Happy Birthday Cavey!

Today is the 1st Birthday of Cavey!! And above is my Birthday Card to them, and here [link] is my Birthday card to them being appreciated by one of the people behind Cavey.

Apple Caveys. my favourite is the Toffee Apple.

In the unlikely event that you don't know who Cavey is let me explain: Cavey are very-cute, plush toys from the super talented Holly alias A little stranger. The name comes from the scientific name for guinea pigs; Cavia, and so guinea pigs are also known as cavy, hence Cavey! You see? Anyhoo, they've only been around for a year and already they've made a massive impact all over the world, which is mightily impressive as they're all made individually by Holly.

Tonight Holly is hosting a Birthday party for Cavey at Fleet River Bakery, Holborn, WC2A 3JF from 7pm - 10pm. So if you're in London tonight, head on over buy a Cavey or two, and mix with the likes of Chris Rose, Phil Corbett, Joe Napper, Jon Paul Kaiser, Lunabee, Lunartik, Peskimo, Sneaky Raccoon & Triclops all of whom have collaborated with Holly on limited edition (of 1!) Cavey's, which are available to bid for on Ebay right now* (plus Cavey's designed by Jon Burgerman, Jam Factory and Doctor A).

All the best for the future Holly!

* Unless you're reading this after 7.55pm-9.20pm on the 26th May, then you're too late. Sorry, you should've been paying attention.

and a delightful time was had by all

2011-05-20T16:18:00.005+01:00

A sneak peek of my a little bit bunny post for this month, to see the full image, you'll have to follow the link.

NEW BLOG! Now with added TOODLE!

2011-03-31T11:20:00.002+01:00

Hello, and welcome to my new look blog! I've re-jigged it so that it's more in keeping with my www.MrToodle.com website, that should hopefully be on your screens soon. Below is a sneek-peek of what might be in store for Toodle fans in the near future.

Aquabat

2011-03-13T19:38:00.006Z

It's that time again, that time of the month when a general amnesty is declared that allows all puns free reign. Of course it doesn't have to be that way, but when in doubt, a pun is always there to hold your hand. You can witness one fine example of Toodle punnery over on a little bit bunny, and right here, right now you can see not one, but TWO aquabats! Just click that link.

January's A LITTLE BIT BUNNY

2011-02-02T23:07:00.008Z

I was going to do this (Bipolar Bear), but instead I did this and this. I hope people get it.

a little bit waspy

2011-01-11T20:07:00.005Z

My first post of 2011 (Happy Nearly New Year!), and my first post on a little bit bunny since we made it public on Christmas Eve. This month's unfortunate creature is the bane of many a picnic and barbecue, the cantankerous wasp. I wanted to turn the 'concept' of the wasp on its head somehow. So my thought process looped and spiralled around the idea of drawing the wasp as a happy chappy. First on a scooter (a Vespa of course), then as a content Buddha. But in the end the spiky character of the wasp was too strong to ignore. That's when the I moved onto the idea of having a wasp being assaulted by little flying humans, a modest attempt at getting my own back on buzzy little picnic crashers. I was going to recreate Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe with wasps as the picnickers, but something about the lazy feeling of the painting, again went against the natural character of the wasp. You can see my finished piece here.

Apparently both Matt and Kev thought about using the cheeky little Vespa as a prop. I'm glad they decided against it, because as we all know, variety is the spice of life, and the three offerings to albb this month are all very different in flavour.

a little bit bunny

2010-12-24T01:01:00.004Z

Introducing
a little bit bunny

Witness the aberrations
Experience the monstrosities
Join in with the fun

Ticking away quietly on a secret blog since July 2010, the spectacle that is a little bit bunny is now public, and available for all to see right now, right this very minute...

what are you waiting for, go see.

For more information, check out Kev and Matt's blogs.

Seasons Greetings!

2010-12-15T16:07:00.013Z

Seasons Greetings Everyone!

Most of the postal recipients should have got their hand screenprinted version of this design in by now, so it's time to send the scanned in version out to all you lovely people on the interweb. It was screenprinted at a workshop held by the talented artist and generally nice guy Simon Tozer. Simon is one of the eight artists who work from the wonderful Snap Studio which is at the top of Christmas Steps, Bristol. They have a shop on the ground floor which you must visit if you're ever in the area.

The blog has been very quiet for a while now, but I haven't been slacking. I've been learning how to build a website, so I should have mine up and running in the not too distant future. I've also changed the direction of how I create my artwork, so you will be seeing a lot more pieces like this.

Also coming up soon is a collaborative blog that I've been working on in secret with Matt Dawson and Kev Levell. But you'll have to be patient to see the fantastic art that's already set up home there.

Ps. I plan to have a picture-book with these characters ready to buy in time for next Christmas, so keep your eyes peeled for that on the shop section of my new website.

Jojo in the Stars

2010-09-23T17:18:00.005+01:00

Here's my tribute to the beautifully made Jojo in the Stars (YouTube link & Wikipedia link) by the brilliant Studio AKA, who are the people behind a surprising amount of TV adverts and the odd short film. Jojo was released in 2003, and I finally managed to see the whole thing at the Encounters short film festival in Bristol a couple of years later.

It's the story of the angelic Jojo and someone who is only referred to as 'he', who falls in love with her. I was captivated by the look of the first stills and clips I saw, and although now in 2010, there's the odd detail that looks a little dated compared the work Studio AKA are producing now; it's still a stunningly beautiful film, so don't wait, click on the YouTube link and watch it now.

Daniel the Spaniel

2010-09-10T10:59:00.004+01:00

Well the blog's been a tad dormant for quite a while now as I've been working on other projects that I can't post anything about just yet. However I recently drew pet portrait for my friend Claire to give to her to partner on his Birthday, and I can now share this with blogland. So please take your hats off and give a warm welcome to...

Daniel the Spaniel

Monster 6

2010-07-22T15:18:00.009+01:00

Monster 4

2010-07-10T17:45:00.009+01:00

Monster 3

2010-07-09T19:28:00.008+01:00

Monster 2

2010-07-09T15:26:00.002+01:00

Summer Wallpaper or: Still can't sleep and it's 04:30...

2010-07-08T04:24:00.010+01:00

So I've revamped my mobile phone wallpaper, something I've been meaning to do for a while. The old one was too moody to look at every day, and it had started to feel a bit oppressive.

This new one has a brighter, more summery feel to it. It's essentially the same tree and background as the old one, but I've replaced the blossom with a canopy, ditched the moon and changed the colour and tone of the sky.

Ah, that's better.

Monster

2010-07-08T03:04:00.004+01:00

I drew this just now, because I can't sleep.

Dedicated to Gary and Deepa

Snail

2010-07-06T17:34:00.005+01:00

This image popped into my head years ago, and recently I plucked it from that old sketch book and re-drew it a few times with the intention of rendering it in acrylics (see this previous post), having been inspired by the super-talented Marq Spusta. I grew so frustated with those plastic paints though that I'm not sure I'll ever pick them up again. But this weeks Illustration Friday topic fit the idea so well, that I decided not to miss the boat, and post my favourite of the new sketches.

Fearless

2010-05-12T22:21:00.010+01:00

As soon as I saw this weeks Illustration Friday topic 'fearless', I thought of this anecdote:

A while ago my wife, whilst staying at her parent's house, witnessed their cat Isa, (Ee-sa) bring a mouse into the kitchen. But just as Isa was about to finish the poor thing off, it stood its ground and squared up to her, standing up on its hind legs and making itself as big as it could. This startled Isa enough for the mouse to leg it before she had a chance to think through her next move. That, was one plucky little mouse.

Follow your nose...

2010-05-03T15:29:00.017+01:00

A long while ago Matt nominated the most colourful of mammals, the mandrill, as the next in line for anatomical tampering, and here's my response to his challenge. I went through a few ideas for this one, and I was even planning at one stage to just draw a man with a drill (feel free to groan). But then the beetle like nature of the mandrill's nose took hold of my thought process, and the above image is the result.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Matt and Kev come up with for this already quite twisted creature, and for the next unlucky animal to be twisted by our fevered imaginations I'm going to the other end of the bizarre scale and I'm going to suggest the common pigeon.

I like paint

2010-04-30T16:10:00.009+01:00

Inspired by a conversation with Kev, a recent piece of art by Matt, a growing desire to get 'physical' again and having some spare time given to me by Mount Eyjafjallajökul; I decided to pick up a paint brush and have a go at some water colour. So I chose some old drawings from my sketchbook and gave them colour.

Now I haven't picked up a paint brush since I left art college, and this combined with the fact that I always felt more affinity to pencils, pens and mouse than I did to paints and paint brushes, meant I was quite pleased with myself when these two little chaps emerged from the white page.

I've since gone shopping and bought some acrylic paints to try some more ambitious pieces, and I'm going sign up to some water colour classes. Painting is FUN, I'm going to be doing a lot more of it future.

Three million giraffes...

2010-04-19T15:57:00.004+01:00

No, just three, but you'll have to follow the links to OneMillionGiraffes to see them.

Giraffe 1: Giraffe

Giraffe 2: Jigsawraffe

Giraffe 3: Giraffasaurus

They were produced as prep sketches for the last round of Twisty Creatures.

One Million Giraffes

2010-04-16T13:21:00.006+01:00

Well not quite, one hundred is enough. I was going to fill a sheet of A4 until my wife gave that look which says "Really? Are you sure? There's the shelves to go up in the kitchen, and the bathroom mirror is still leaning up against the sink". And so I wisely stopped at her suggestion of 100.

Why draw even 100 giraffes though? Well it's for a website called OneMillionGiraffes. I'm not going to go into all the ins and outs, but I will suggest that you hop over to it now and see my 100 giraffes in amongst the ever growing herd. Be sure to help the count and post a few giraffes of your own.

I found out about this fun site from Qualia over on Kev's blog, and you can see Kev's giraffe here and here.

Spring Wallpaper

2010-04-07T12:25:00.003+01:00

I've recently acquired a shiny new touch screen mobile phone, and as it has an interesting deep red colouring to the case, I wanted to personalize it with a wallpaper that complemented that. I've always loved Japanese cherry blossom, in fact blossom of any kind gives my heart a lift after the bareness of winter; and as it's now spring it seemed natural to have a spring theme to my phone. My plan is to update it for each season, and my good friend Kev suggested I portray the same image through all four. I'll post each one on the blog as they go into service on my phone.

Deeply Dippy

2010-04-06T22:40:00.007+01:00

Illustration Friday 2nd April: dip

The Giraffe has a long neck

2010-04-04T13:47:00.004+01:00

Way back in December last year I suggested the giraffe as the next twisted creature. Matt responded in January with a superb Revolutionary Giraffe, and it's about time I chipped in with my effort. As we all know the giraffe is known for its long neck, and after sketching a few alternative ideas I settled on this one, where I removed the body all together. It's now down to Kev to finish the set before we start the next round: the mandrill.

Old sketches

2010-04-01T21:39:00.005+01:00

A casually selected sample of bits to mark the completion of another sketchbook. I don't think I'll be using a Moleskine again, even though they look good, and have some nice little touches like a place finder and a pocket at the back for loose items. They're just too small, and they don't scan well.

Some of these characters have stories behind them, so keep your eyes peeled for their re-appearance later on.

Expired

2010-03-22T12:08:00.004Z

Illustration Friday 19/3/2010: expired

A Blob Doodle a.k.a. A Blooble

2010-03-20T21:54:00.008Z

I've been filing all day, going through old magazines, newspaper cuttings, sketches and story ideas that were drawn and scrawlled on scraps of paper, one or two of the magazines were dated 2006! I've been cutting, tearing and in some cases scanning, for hours on end. But now it's finished, no more must my long suffering wife have to put up with being surrounded (slight exaggeration) by piles of paper and dog-eared periodicals.

During my rummaging, I came across this little doodle, done not that long ago, whilst wiling away a rainy day at my in-laws. A quality way to spend a lazy afternoon if you ask me.

The Morlocks are coming

2010-03-17T16:06:00.006Z

This weeks Illustration Friday topic is 'subterranian', and one of my first thoughs in relation to this was the Morlocks from H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. The sinister decendants of homo sapiens that feed on their distant evolutionary cousins the Eloi. This quick sketch was drawn on Photoshop and completed in about half an hour.

Well hey! I'm back!

2010-03-16T11:55:00.005Z

I've been gone a long time, but today my broadband has finally been connected. I can't quite believe how long it's taken TalkTalk to reconnect us after our move, and would be interested in hearing how other fellow artists and bloggers get back on-line quickly when moving house. My apologies to anyone who might have been stopping by to see my updates, I will endeavour to double the frequency of my postings from now on to make up for it. If you have been visiting my blog regularly, or even occasionally, thank you so much for sticking with it.

I'm going to re-launch my blog with something I did shortly after we moved. I'm pleased with how it turned out, I hope you like it too.

'The Hills Have Eyes'

IF 'clumsy'

2010-01-23T15:48:00.003Z

The quickest of quick sketches, with the tiniest of tiny photoshop tweeks and drawn with the bluntest of blunt pencils that I rescued from a box. All to say that I'm moving house and so my blog will be inactive for a couple of weeks.

Travel the universe in six minutes

2010-01-20T09:29:00.011Z

Check out this stunning film that I found on the Astronomy Picture of the Day webpage run by NASA. The film is of the known universe and is accurate to the best scientific research.

IF 'confined'

2010-01-14T22:15:00.007Z

I was going to say that if you're confined, you might as well make the best use of your time and read a book. That was until my wife pointed out that if you've got a book you can never be completely confined, as stories and knowledge can free your mind and maybe even release you from your confinement.

IF 'pioneer'

2009-12-29T17:30:00.006Z

I finished this piece a little while ago, but as it was created as a Christmas present for my nephew (requested by his Mum as he's only 14 months old), I didn't want to spoil the surprise by posting it on here too soon. Well Christmas is over for another year and all the presents have been unwrapped, so here it is for all you good people in blogland to see as well.

2009-12-24T22:02:00.003Z

SEASONS GREETINGS EVERYONE!

Camel Spider Train

2009-12-20T21:11:00.011Z

A little while ago I drew a salamander as part of the great creature feature of this blog that is the twisted creatures game. I've been holding off from posting another disturbed animal in order to give the other two participants of the game, Kev and Matt, a chance to get in first. In the traditions of the game this would mean they would've been entitled to pick the next unlucky victim. But frankly I got bored of waiting (sorry guys, I know you're both busy) and decided to post what I had.

My first take on the subject was the guy at the bottom of this post, but after a while I felt I wanted to be a little more adventurous, and so left him unfinished (not quite undone, but close enough I feel, to qualify for this week Illustration Friday topic). I had thought about doing a desert scene when working on my camel, but didn't think the idea had much originality. But the same scene with camel spiders hopefully brings something surprising to the subject.

As for the next animal to become a victim of artistic harassment, hmm, how about the majestic (most of the time) giraffe?

IF 'Hatch'

2009-12-11T17:57:00.004Z

The day the Luminescent Planetary Lava Being hatched, was a good day for the continuation of its species. Though not such a good day for the rest of us.

IF 'Crunchy'

2009-12-11T11:40:00.004Z

Father Yeti battle barged through the blizzard,
mission minded to deliver gladly, presents to all the little children.
The snow crunchy, crunchy under his brrr, bare feet...

A perfect opportunity to say

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

to all the lovely people who've been visiting my blog and left comments over the last few months. I hope you all have a wonderful winter break/holiday/vacation, and that the New Year brings you all the good things that you no doubt deserve.

Tom and Bert and William

2009-12-09T12:21:00.003Z

One of my favourite scenes from The Hobbit. The trolls are brilliant comedy characters, and I'd love to know why Tolkien decided to call them Tom, Bert and William. These unassuming trolls were minding there own business, having had a hard few days work eating villagers and sheep, when Bilbo tries to steal their purses. Before you know it, Bilbo's (not too clever) dwarf companions are in a spot of bother, leaving Gandalf to conjure up one of his cheap tricks to save the day.

William Huggins is definitely my favourite of the three, he's a troll with a heart, who has been led astray by Bert. At one point he wants to let Bilbo free, but Bert intervenes. Foolish Bert.

The Hobbit is stylistically so different from The Lord of the Rings, I can't imagine how they going to keep any continuity with the three LOTR films, and the two Hobbit films. I can't wait to see what Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh make of it though.

If anyone reading this knows why J. R. R. Tolkien chose those names for the three trolls, please leave a comment, you'll make me very happy.

Good luck with your new adventure Sis!

2009-11-30T10:16:00.003Z

Jack and Olivia were entangled in an exciting adventure.

One of my sisters has recently set up as a professional childminder, and she asked me to come up with some characters for her promotional leaflets. The image needed to be reproducible at differing scales, so it had to be bold without too much detail. I also wanted to create a feeling of the characters having fun, but also learning at the same time. The pith helmets fit the bill perfectly conveying dressing-up, excitement and exploration. My sister liked these two straight away, and I'm currently working on the typography for the leaflet.

The Coronation Parade

2009-11-26T21:40:00.003Z

Let The Wild Rumpus Start!

There have been times during this project when I became frustrated with it, but now that it's finished I can afford to relax a little and take stock of what I've learned. Overall I've enjoyed myself, and I'm pleased that I did things the way I did. The cut-out technique can, at times, be a tad time consuming, though that's probably because I put more detail in than I needed to. Carol's hair took a bit too long, and if I were to do this again, he probably wouldn't have as many spikes. Having said that, I am very pleased with how he turned out. Perhaps the biggest surprise to me is how much I like Max. Monsters are usually my favourite characters in any piece of mine, but I'm really pleased with this podgy little guy.

Carol Prep Sketch #2

2009-11-24T11:12:00.002Z

I haven't been able to figure out exactly why Carol (as he's been dubbed in the film) is my favourite wild thing. I wouldn't say I'm alone either, judging by the tributes on Terrible Yellow Eyes and on many illustrators personal blogs. He doesn't have a particularly prominent role in the story, except possibly in the coronation of Max, and Judith and KW feature as many times. It could be his stripes or hair, but I think it's most likely to be his wide, open face and friendly (if toothy) smile. Whatever the reason, I've enjoyed sketching him the most, and I'm really pleased with finished character too, which will be on this blog in the next few days. Just as soon as I've finished KW.

A quicky from the sketchbook

2009-11-19T12:46:00.002Z

To stop the blog going stale, I thought I would share some of my sketchbook work every so often; I hope you like todays offering.

Jealous, Greedy Thing

2009-11-14T21:37:00.003Z

Way back at the end of July I posted a Maurice Sendak tribute as part of the on-going back and forth that is the Twisted Creatures game, played by me and two brilliant illustrator friends of mine, Matt Dawson and Kev Levell. I had some positive feedback on the character, which encouraged me to submit it to the fantastic Terrible Yellow Eyes website. Not long after, I had an email back from Cory Godbey, the 'curator' of the site who is also a very talented artist in his own right. Unfortunately Cory felt that the image wasn't the right fit for TYE. I wasn't too disappointed, as it wasn't an entirely unexpected response, but you've got to try these things haven't you?

Undeterred, I've set about on another, more complete Where The Wild Things Are tribute which I've enjoyed doing a great deal. I've been trying the cut-out method of illustration used most famously by the great Eric Carle, but also by two of my favourite contemporary illustrators, my friend Matt (see his TYE submission here) and the fab Gorillustrator a.k.a Lee Cosgrove. I first gave this technique a go when creating my blog header, in an effort to move away from my tendency to depend too much on line. I was so pleased with the results I wanted to try it again right away.

I plan to recreate pages 5 and 6 of the wild rumpus (pages 27 and 28 of the story), and the chap above is a sneaky peek of that scene. I wanted to reinterpret the characters in my own way, but at the same time keep their essential character. All the wild things are manifestations of Max's most basic, wild emotions, at least that's how they're being treated as in the film (due out in the UK on 11th December, I can't wait!), and I see this guy as being either Jealousy or Greed.

Which leads me on to this weeks Illustration Friday topic; as all the wild things represent only one aspect of Max's psyche, they are all, by definition, unbalanced.

IF 'Blur'

2009-11-11T15:06:00.001Z

A quick submission for this weeks
Illustration Friday topic: blur.

IF 'Fast'

2009-10-29T15:45:00.003Z

fig 1 (detail)

Since the 17th century, at least 717 species of animals and 87 species of plants have become extinct. If the extinctions caused by humans before the 1600s are included, the number of extinct species rises to 2,000. Today, more than 17,000 plant and animal species risk the same fate (IUCN Red List).

"When palaeontologists measure past extinctions, they might look at the probability of extinctions per million years. We're measuring the loss of species per century. When you extrapolate the rate of loss we're now seeing per century or per decade to millions of years, then you realise that species are going at a much faster rate than in the past" (Jim Hanken, Chairman of the Steering Committee for Encyclopedia of Life).

fig 1.

Fig 1. describes biodiversity since the dawn of life some 545 million years ago. The red arrows indicate the 5 major extinction events that have occurred in that time, the 5th being the one that put paid to the dinosaurs. Many conservationists consider the times we are living in, to be a mass extinction event comparable with the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

A closer look

2009-10-26T13:33:00.001Z

Some of you may have noticed my sparkling new avatar,
here's a peek at the image from a closer perspective.

Salamander Regeneration

2009-10-20T17:39:00.011+01:00

Welcome to you if you've come to this blog from typing 'Salamander Regeneration' into a search engine.

My stat counter tells me that this is one of my most popular posts, and I was hoping that, you wouldn't mind popping a wee comment down, just telling me why you're interested regeneration. Cheers.

Salamanders are amongst only a few 'higher order creatures' that are able to regenerate lost limbs. They can regrow tails, legs and eyes too (I'm not 100% sure about the eye thing, but I found that in various places on the web, so I'm going with it). Because of this amazing ability, the study of salamander regeneration is at the leading edge of research into human limb regeneration. All well and good, but I'm still left with the question: how does a leg know it's not a tail, or a tail know it's not a head?

I've snuck in first with my entry to this round of Creature Twisting, as Matt and Kev are both busy on other projects. Because I'm the first, I get to nominate the next creature. I choose the sun scorpion a.k.a the camel spider* as the next animal to be genetically abused. Vicious little beasts they are, one of natures true monsters, as the above link to YouTube will show you.

*Not suitable for small children.

The Loch Ness Camel

2009-10-17T19:56:00.001+01:00

Kev and Matt finished their camels months ago, but for personal reasons I've not been able to get down to work on mine. Because I've been away from my blog for so long, I wanted to go the whole hog with my contribution. All in all, I'm pretty chuffed with how this fellow turned out. I really feel for him, because as you no doubt know, camels are desert animals and this poor chap must be frozen.

Below are some of my preparatory
sketches, hope you like them.

The original spark. I decided to
lose the hat; a wee bit obvious.

An alternative idea: "Shh! I think she heard you"

Goodbye Dad

2009-10-06T20:24:00.001+01:00

Goodbye Dad, I'll always miss you.

Wild Hyena Thing

2009-07-30T22:52:00.004+01:00

My submission to the big game game this time around doubles up as a tribute to the brilliant Maurice Sendak, and his Where The Wild Things Are. I had a lot of fun drawing in Maurice's style (or there abouts), and what you see comes straight from my sketchbook. Only a little Photoshop tweaking went on; mainly the de-saturation of the Moleskine's yellow tint in the background and the addition of a few bits of colour on relevant parts of his anatomy.

I've been spending sometime recently gathering together my favourite artists for inspiration, and I think Mr Sendack is definitely up there as a contender for Number One. For more tributes to the big Mr S. go to Terrible Yellow Eyes, a collection of superb artwork inspired by the much loved book.

A sample of the preliminary ideas and sketches

Said The Shark - True Love

2009-07-29T22:38:00.000+01:00

Check out this cute and cool little music video for Said The Shark by John Kenn. John is a newly discovered addition to my Top 10 illustrators, and his animation skills are pretty darn good too.

IF 'Idle'

2009-07-28T12:44:00.001+01:00

I've been playing around with patterns, textures and colours recently, and this weeks Illustration Friday topic fit quite well with the gently drifting curves and swirls currently populating my sketchbook.

The original of this has crisp edges and clean lines, I don't know why it hasn't come out that way on the blog. Maybe someone who knows more about these things could give me a clue. The image is 18x14 cm and 150 dpi.

Goodbye Old Sketchbook, Hello New!

2009-07-21T13:20:00.000+01:00

I've just finished my old sketchbook, and to celebrate the starting of a new one, I've compiled a few quirky little items together on one page. Starting a new sketchbook is always an exciting moment, I always hope that every sketch between those pristine covers will be a perfect work of art. Of course it never is, and nor should it be, as that innocent little hope of mine can, if I let it, stifle my creativity. Sketchbooks should be messy and rough, most of the work inside has to be unfinished, because it's all about what I'm working towards.

I pick...

2009-07-20T18:26:00.001+01:00

Oh, almost forgot. Haven't seen Matt and Kev's donkeys yet, which means I get to pick the next animal. Hmm, let's see, I pick the wily hyena, one of my favourite creatures. They've got so much personality and always seem to get the bad guy roles, which gives them a default place on my list. Did you know they're more closely related to cat than dogs? Well they are; Sir David Attenborough told me.

Mr Donkey

2009-07-20T17:48:00.000+01:00

Kev nominated the humble donkey as the next victim of our imaginations. We can never truly know what another animal is thinking, but it's tempting to think that A. A. Milne had got donkeys sussed when he wrote Eeyore. Their body language by human standards is definitely downbeat. I've been practicing using Matt's old A5 Wacom tablet, and think that I'm starting to get a feel for it. I hope you like my latest effort.

Kev Lev's Webfolio

2009-07-15T21:34:00.000+01:00

Ace friend and superb artist Kevin Levell, has re-launched his website with a spic-and-span new look; and he's finally included a sketch page. If you haven't seen his work before, or even if you paid it a visit yesterday, check him out at www.kevlev.co.uk. He's even surprised and honoured me by giving me a link to this blog and description of my work.

Twobill Toucan

2009-07-08T22:00:00.000+01:00

May I present to you, my first entirely digital drawing. Created from start to finish on screen using a Wacom tablet. Of course I've still got a lot to learn, and my hand is a little shaky compared to when I use pencil and paper, but I'm still quite pleased with myself.

This feathered freak is my latest twisted creature as part of the ongoing creative tennis match between Kev, Matt and I. The next animal in the firing line is the humble donkey, as suggested by Kev.

Praying Mantenna

2009-07-04T17:23:00.000+01:00

Kev and Matt have had their mantids posted for a while now, so it's about time I pulled my finger out and got mine finished. My mantis was inspired partly by watching the real things while in Southern France working as a shepherd. When they're in long grass, they wait until the wind blows, then run like hell. It occurred to me that when stationary the colour of the mantis hides it from predators and it stays perfectly still. But when it moves its cover is broken. If it waits for the wind though, it can use the movement of the grass to hide its progress. In a sense it's trying to be grass (very Zen), to fool its enemies. This big fella is trying to be an aerial so that he can nab himself an unsuspecting pigeon.

The next animal to be messed with (in a purely artist way, no funny business) is the poor toucan, nominated by Matt. Kev has finished his already, and Matt's is on it's way soon apparently, so I need to find more fingers to pull out.

IF 'Worn'

2009-07-02T01:22:00.000+01:00

Worn

Totoro Forest Project

2009-06-25T10:19:00.001+01:00

I've just rediscovered a website that I found ages ago but forgot to bookmark. It's a similar endeavour to the Terrible Yellow Eyes project started by Cory Godbey in that it's a collection of works by many different artists, all bringing their individual style to the same theme. Terrible Yellow Eyes is all about Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are, and the Totoro Forest Project is artwork influenced by the My Neighbour Totoro film by Hayao Miyazaki. I love looking through collections like these, and seeing the broad spectrum of interpretations. It's great when an artist surprises you with how they see a character or scene. Below is a Totoro of mine from my sketchbook...

IF 'Drifting'

2009-06-24T02:48:00.000+01:00

My submission to this weeks Illustration Friday is really just an excuse to practice using the Wacom tablet lent to me by Matt. I thought I'd take to it like a duck to water, but haven't found it that easy to begin with. I'm starting to find my way though, and until I get there I offer you a scene of Voyager drifting past Jupiter on its way to interstellar space.

Three Toed Sloth

2009-06-24T00:40:00.000+01:00

A sneak peek at the David Attenborough tribute I'm working on, the finished illo will have all of the creatures that feature in his A Point of View series for Radio 4. The idea for project came from my good friend Matt Dawson and he's posted a couple of beautifully illustrated animals over on his blog.

The background for my sloth was hastily put together for this post. I won't decide what kind of setting the creatures will inhabit until I know what they all are. No doubt some of them will end up out of their comfort zone.

He's Come To Save The Day

2009-06-23T10:32:00.000+01:00

Yet again Drawn.ca have pointed the way, leading me to this excellent animation by JibJab titled He's Barack Obama. I've seen a few of their animations before, but this is definitely the best yet.

Unfolding Stories.

2009-06-17T00:40:00.000+01:00

A good friend of mine, Matt Dawson, commented on my last posting and suggested I take a look at a the video of Lille by Lisa Hannigan. And so I did, and found that it's a gorgeous little song with a perfectly suited video that follows similar themes to those I had in mind when I created this weeks I llustration Friday entry. Another one of Lisa's that you might like is I Don't Know, which is just as whimsical and lovely.

IF 'Unfold'

2009-06-15T02:51:00.001+01:00

My last Illustration Friday entry got a fair amount of positive feedback (thanks to all who commented), so I thought I'd try a similar style again. This time around the subject is more ambitious, but I tried to be quick and not fuss over it too much. The word unfold can be applied to the image in lots of ways, some obvious, others not so. I'll leave to the viewer to interpret it in their own way.

The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9

2009-06-13T20:48:00.000+01:00

Drawn! have come up trumps again. They've found a lovely animation called The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9, over on Cartoon Brew TV. Watch it, that's all I've got to say on the matter.

IF 'Craving'

2009-06-10T22:18:00.001+01:00

Just a quicky for this weeks Illustration Friday topic: Craving. I used vector graphics over the top of the original sketch. I had intended to give the image some nice textures and subtle shading, but it seemed to work as it is, so I stopped clicking and posted it.

Elepuss/Octophant

2009-05-28T12:58:00.000+01:00

Another twisted creature to follow on from the those posted previously, this time the creature to be twisted was an elephant, which I spliced with an octopuss thus creating the worlds first mammal/cephalopod cross. It 'cracked' open its cage though, and escaped. Now it lives behind the toilet.

IF 'contagious'

2009-05-21T19:16:00.000+01:00

Just a quick self portrait inspired by this weeks Illustration Friday topic 'contagious'. Believe it or not this does happen from time to time. I usually take the day off work.

Freddie and the Fairy Competition

2009-05-19T18:18:00.000+01:00

Here's how I interpreted some of the characters in the Julia Donaldson story Freddie and the Fairy, which was the text for the Waterstones' Picture This illustration competition.

I'm not particularly happy with how they turned out, although I feel a bit more statisfied with the animals than I am with the people. I felt I was forcing myself into a style that didn't suit me and I chose not to enter the competition; but I've learned a lot from the experience.

Reach

2009-05-14T12:32:00.000+01:00

I've just watched a superb little animation by a fella called Luke Randall titled Reach. I found it on Drawn which is one of my daily stops on the interweb. Reach is part of the Cannes Short Film Corner, you can see all the films and vote by clicking here.

IF 'Parade'

2009-05-13T12:40:00.001+01:00

I've been busy working on a competition entry recently, but I wanted to get my Illustration Friday entry in too. These blob characters fit the bill well enough; they're easy and quick but still fun to do.

"Hierarchy"

2009-05-06T13:52:00.001+01:00

My first Illustration Friday submission.

Twisted Creatures

2009-05-04T17:48:00.002+01:00

Inspired by Michel Gagne’s Insanely Twisted Rabbits, these two chaps were created in 2006 as part of a creative game with some friends. The object of the game was that each month one of us would pick an animal and we’d each come up with our own twisted version of that animal. The game fizzled out quite quickly due to all our work pressures, which is a shame as we all enjoyed the challenge. I did get these two finished pieces out of it though.

Chill

2009-04-29T22:15:00.000+01:00

For the last few days I've been helping my lovely wife with the artistic side of one of her University projects. It's felt good to be involved in a creative endeavour again. It'll sound weird to anyone who still does it everyday, but I've found myself becoming nostalgic for all those looming deadlines; and the last minute panic as things go wrong and previously unseen design faults become apparent. I miss those things nearly as much as I miss using my imagination for a living.

To keep us calm and entertained while we work, we've been listening to chill*, which I strongly recommend if you like Morcheeba, Nightmares On Wax, Zero 7, Gotan Project and other such musical outfits. There are no deeejays and no adverts to listen to, just plenty of refreshing sounds to smooth the edges off your day.

*Sorry, link the link is no use to Mac users, but chill is on DAB Digital Radio.

Where's Willy

2009-04-28T21:18:00.000+01:00

Hello World! Here's my first blog posting. After sketching the inititial idea for this on paper, I created the image entirely on a vector graphics program. I wanted the clean finish that the original Wally has, which vectors lend themselves to.