Tuesday 17 April 2012

Daniel Craig Caricature


Caricaturing leading man type actors I find is very difficult. Daniel Craig, star of James Bond films like Casino Royale, has craggy features that would appear at first glance to be easy to caricature but in reality his features are so well balanced that an exaggeration in the wrong area can end up making him look like someone completely different.
Anyway, enough excuses - see my effort above

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Brad Pitt pencil sketch

I've always quite liked Brad Pitt's films - Twelve Monkeys,Se7en and Fight Club were excellent films but I suppose lately he has become a victim of his own success, a mega media icon so huge that any film he's involved in becomes about the size of his air conditioned trailer and how many times Angelina Jolie visited him on set rather than the film itself.
Here's a stylised sketch loosely based on his role in Fight Club.
Brad Pitt pencil drawing sketch

Sunday 1 April 2012

Why does weekend weather always suck?

As I was lying in bed the other day ruminating on why we just had five days of the hottest, sunniest weather I have ever seen in March then come the weekend and it is bloody freezing I thought "I know, I'll express myself throught art!"
I guarantee when we return to work on Monday the weather will pick up where it left off on Friday. The curse of the working man eh?


Monday 26 March 2012

Skull with sunglasses tshirt

And now ... the skull that wears sunglasses - Ray Ban sunglasses I might add.

Skull wearing Union Jack Sunglasses zazzle_shirt



Yes I am indeed Zombie Santa.

Skull drawings

skull drawing skeleton anatomy
There's something satisfying about drawing skulls. It's also a very useful exercise to draw the skull that will assist when drawing faces and portraits. Understanding the underlying structure is important when drawing any anatomy.
I used ink and brush mainly to execute this, with some pen to firm up the details in a couple of places.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Run Like You Jumped Bail Sports TShirt

Some times you need a bit of motivation to go running ...
Run Like You Jumped Bail

Saturday 17 March 2012

Customizable sport and fitness tshirt

The final inked design in a tshirt available from zazzle.com
Ladies Customizable Slogan Sport and Fitness shirt

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Running girl pencils inked

girl running or jogging drawing
I inked this in the traditional way, with a No.4 Daler and Rowney synthetic haired brush and scanned it in. I had noticed that there were some minor improvements that I could make. I made the lower front leg a bit longer, and the tilted the rear leg a couple of degrees to give a more dynamic look.

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Another running girl pencil sketch

I'm getting a bit obsessed with drawing the ideal profile or silouhette of a running girl ....
girl running jogging in profile
I think she's more jogging than running this time ...

Sunday 11 March 2012

Adding the Official Tweet button to Blogspot (Blogger)

The Tweet button is now a necessity if you want to connect with the social network. There is a post on jeffbullas.com that shows the relative merits of shares to Facebook versus Twitter shares.
So I wanted this button but a quick browse of Google I found an outdated button from tweetmeme who themselves recommend the Twitter button. To be absolutely honest I found it odd to generate the required text. Anyway this is what you need to do

1. Go to your dashboard and under Design click Edit HTML
2. Click the Expand Widget Templates
3. Search for <div class='post-header-line-1'/>
4. Under this insert the following code

<div style='float:right;padding:4px;'>
<a class='twitter-share-button' data-lang='en' expr:data-url='data:post.url' href='https://twitter.com/share'>Tweet</a>
<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script>
</div>

The most important part is the expr:data-url='data:post.url' especially the expr:data. I have noted some snippets leave this out and I don't know how they work as the xml processor engine won't produce a value without the expr: in front of the data-url. Also without data-url all you'll get is the main blog URL and you really want the specific URL of the post. Well, I think so anyway.

6. Save your template and view the blog. You should see the tweet button appear as if by magic.

There are other attributes that are listed on the Twitter Developer page that may be of some use but I haven't looked that closely at it.

I admit this is a quick hack and that the javascript is something but without it all I get is a "Tweet" link. I'm going to try other snippets that I find and see if it is absolutely necessary. Sorry I lost the page that I originally got the code from.

Saturday 10 March 2012

My design gets some heart

An new version of my sport tshirt design with the girl running from an extreme perspective angle. This time the background is a heart shape.


Friday 9 March 2012

Hulk smash puny doodle!

The Hulk is one of my all time favourite comic characters. Wouldn't it be great to turn into a raging engine of destruction when you're angry and just smash everything that's annoying you? No? Well, maybe that's just me and my unresolved anger issues.
Drew this without any pencils, just straight to paper using a fine tipped pen - it's a doodle after all. Probably should have been concentrating on that training course I was in but somehow I doubt that logging a call in a web based help desk system is going to totally bamboozle me. It's not as if I've never heard of the f**king internet is it? Sorry, that's my anger speaking again.
hulk drawing

Running girl extreme perspective design

I "road tested" my drawing in front of a couple of friends and they pointed out what I suspected - the figure was wrong mainly around the angle of the foot and the thigh area. So I modified it and luckily didn't have to carry out any heavy structural alterations!



That'll teach me to publish before getting an opinion ...

Thursday 8 March 2012

Pencil portrait of Angelina Jolie


What is it about scrap paper that you can often produce your best work, yet when you sit down in front of a drawing board with "proper" paper and tools it all goes to hell? Anyway, someone's getting some free advertising today!
I'm quite pleased with this drawing of Angelina Jolie, I think it's recognisable.

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Running and Fitness TShirt

A little variation on the design. You can still customize it but you'll have to add your own text if you want ;-)
girl running exteme perspective drawing

Monday 5 March 2012

Customizable Fitness Tshirt

I inked the drawing from the previous post in the traditional way - brush, dip pen and hunched over back :-). When I scanned it in I felt the girl's outline was a bit rough and inconsistent in places so I cleaned it up a bit, imported into Inkscape and used the extremely useful Trace function to "smooth it out" before exporting back out and into PS.
* Edit : I have made a slight alteration - I hope improvement - on the design as I felt it had some issues around the perspective *



Saturday 3 March 2012

Running Girl Work in progress


I have decided for this design to go "oldschool" as they say. I used Photoshop to get the girl's figure right (it's great to resize and rotate parts of a sketch), printed it off then traced it onto card. Once the figure was traced I added the buildings which I had sketched out in the simplest terms in Photoshop. I've tried to use an extreme angle here to make the image as dynamic as possible.
Here are the almost completed pencils which I'm going to ink in the traditional style.

Friday 2 March 2012

Colin Farrell Caricature

Colin Farrell caricature
Here's my attempt at Irish actor Colin Farrell. For me he's one of those hit and miss type actors - probably been in more stinkers than hits but the films he's been good, like In Bruges, he's been very, very good and at least he has character.
Caricaturing is a skill that is hit and miss for me too unfortunately, it's about exaggerating a certain set of features that make a face unique but without going so far that it becomes unrecognisable. I'm not there yet.

Thursday 1 March 2012

Craic Dealer TShirts, Key Chains and Buttons

Some of my Craic Dealer range all gathered together ... for your "convenience" ;-)

I Love tshirts blog features Craic Dealer Tee

Mind Design Grafx has been kind enough to feature my tshirts again. Take a look at his really cool tshirts blog I Love TShirts

Wednesday 29 February 2012

The Engineer from the Authority

The Engineer from the Authority drawing comic art Sinclair Elliott
You may be wondering what's in my and improved header - it's The Engineer from The Authority published under DC Comics Wildstorm imprint. I remember browsing the graphic novel, making a snap decision to buy it having being utterly blown away, not only by Bryan Hitch's awesome art (ably inked by Paul Neary), but also the sheer scale of Warren Ellis' story.
I think Bryan Hitch was at the height of his abilities during this run. The last thing I saw him draw was his run on Marvel's Fantastic Four #554-#568 about 3 years ago and since then I haven't come across much by him except the odd cover but what I have seen doesn't seem to be quite as epic as this period of his work.
I was so totally inspired by his stuff that I started to try and bring some of his exacting style into my work, so here's my attempt at the Engineer.

Monday 27 February 2012

Craic Dealer bumper sticker now in colour

Now with lots more colour - Let's really celebrate those stereotypes

Sunday 26 February 2012

Girls Rock tshirt gone to France!

One of my Girls Rock tshirts has gone to France. So "Merci beaucoup" to the buyer - hope you are very happy with the garment :-)

Saturday 25 February 2012

Muppet Movie 2012

Initially I wasn't going to see the new Muppet Movie even though I have a Cineworld Unlimited card. But a friend convinced me and I have some personal issues which means I was looking for something to take my mind away from the "real world". I wasn't expecting much and I got a huge surprise - it was very funny indeed, laugh out loud and get strange looks funny. To be honest I personally never found Kermit or Miss Piggy particularly endearing when I used to watch the Muppets as a kid, but I loved Fozzy Bear, Animal and the dog who plays the piano (I forget his name and I won't be a slave to Google) so it was great to see them again
The humour is contemporary and and there's a bit of nostalgia thrown in for good measure. In fact, I doubt they were aiming the movie at kids at all. Parents will probably drag their kids, who won't be able to understand the lack of CGI, along to see it.
Stars Jason Segel and Amy Adams. Flight of the Conchords star Bret McKenzie provides some of the soundtrack

A definite 9 out of 10 for me

Don't watch any trailers as it's not a particularly long film - just go along a see it

I Love T-Shirts Blog

Someone has been kind enough to feature two of my tshirts on their blog. It's at I love tshirts

It's not just Irish tshirts - there are some other cool designs as well so it's worth a look.

Thursday 23 February 2012

Drawing of the Pharoah at Luxor Temple

luxor temple pharoah drawing
About 2 years ago, before the troubles in Egypt, I took a cruise down the Nile on a riverboat. If anyone wants to see a lot the temples and ancient architecture on both sides of the Nile and have a relaxing holiday I thoroughly recommend this type of holiday. All the excursions to the temples were prearranged, so it up early in the morning, do some sightseeing and then back to the boat for a filling lunch and some lazing out in the sun.
I tried to do some drawing and whilst I was at Luxor I drew one of the large pharoah statues that flank the entrance of the temple. This was done with a fine tipped pen straight onto paper without any pencils. I often like to work this way to challenge myself to get shapes down first time.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Review of zombie christmas card from Zazzle

photo of a zombie christmas card produced by zazzle
I do actually purchase my own products. Hey, if I don't buy my own stuff, how can I expect others to do the same? So, I was very pleased with the cards I received. They were well packed in a stiff backed envelope. The cards themselves were printed on glossy stock. The image was very sharp and the colours were well balanced. I suppose the only criticism was that you'll need to watch out for smudging when you write your greeting on the inside as it is glossy like the outside of the card.
Oh yes, and always bear in mind that Zazzle products are shipped from the States - I think there was a two/two-and-a-half week delivery time on these cards.






Order yours here ;-)

Tuesday 21 February 2012

I'm a Zazzle Pro Seller!

I have recently been admitted to the exalted ranks of the Zazzle Prosellers (basic)! Hurrah!
For those that don't know about this award that Zazzle offer take a look at this page, all the details about what you have to achieve to get the badge. My story is that I joined Zazzle a long time ago - 2004 to be exact - and created one, yes a grand total of one, design. Naturally I thought this was the apex of human artistic achievement and was disappointed when it didn't sell at once. So I left it and forgot about the world of print on demand and returned to drawing comics and fantasy art.



Literally years later I got an email from Zazzle saying "You recently sold 1 copy of your product, Bunny Boiler". I was so stunned that someone, somewhere had purchased one of my designs that I immediately embarked on a quest to reach pro seller status. Believe me, it's been quite tough spending time of designs convinced you've created something special and yet seeing that horrifying message when you filter the products you created by daily views and seeing 0 views. I hope that what I am selling is my own unique view and that others enjoy my designs enough to purchase them, and it still gives me a thrill when I get that email!
By the way here's the updated version of Bunny Boiler - the first thing I did after I got the sale notification

Monday 20 February 2012

Craic Dealer tshirt now on white

My Craic Dealer tshirt previously only available in a mono chrome design has now been released for white and light coloured shirts (listen to me - I'm practically talking about myself in the third person). The leprechaun in eye popping technicolour!




Craic Dealer keychain

I've released another Craic Dealer product into the wilds of the internet ... go free, find yourself noble keychain!

Sunday 19 February 2012

Ladies Customisable Sport TShirt

Well, now the ladies can get a chance to wear something that will tell them - "It's time to stop the gym feeding off my bank account like a parasite and put some good ol' fashioned wear and tear on their equipment!"
I'm pleased I got the woman's outline to look feminine but still athelic and powerful.

It works well as a spaghetti tshirt as well

My Craic Dealer TShirt design

I guess I shouldn't be gloating for the 30 day cooling off period has passed but I have sold one of my Craic Dealer tshirts. I just love that email from Zazzle, and it's ironic after I vented my annoyance on the change in their product display pages.

Saturday 18 February 2012

Walking Dead creators locked in legal battle


I am an avid fan of the Walking Dead and eagerly await the new series on freeview ( I ain't paying for the boobtube other than that stinking tax our scumbag imposes on us for just owning a TV). Anyway - I have stumbled across the news that Tony Moore is suing Robert Kirkman. Apparently Tony Moore, the co-creator artist for the first six comics, signed away all of his rights for reasons that can be read in the preceding link. To be honest when Charlie Adlard picked up the art duties after, apparently, Tony Moore couldn't make the deadlines, the series got that gritty, dark edge it really needed. I am old enough to know that when money is involved all concepts of friendship and comradeship fly out the window and the bigger the payoff the faster those ideas hurtle over the horizon, however it's still a bit sad.
Just makes me think that all those pages where we blithely click the "I Accept" box as, wide eyed and full of hope for the future, we upload our art to the internet will probably come back to bite us in the posterior.

Friday 17 February 2012

Zazzle review system badly implemented

Zazzle, the online print-on-demand store, have decided to start displaying reviews on products. A good idea in principle but the execution has been so poor it's turned into a bit of a joke. Basically, under each product description there are up to 4 reviews with a star rating system. The only problem is that these reviews are not actually on the individual design on a product but on the underlying apparel or stationery.
In the case of a couple of the tshirts I have designed there are at the top two very poor reviews. These reviews have come from other tshirts completely unrelated to my design but yet these negative comments appear against my girls rock tshirt (you have to look very carefully to see it applies universally)
One of the comments is "The printing job was very VERY disappointing. It looks like it's been smudged or something (NOT like the graphic that was provided)". If another designer loaded up a poor quality image and the customer purchased that I have absolutely no control over it. It would be like buying a packet of peanuts from Tesco, reviewing it merely saying "Stale and overly saltly" then that comment appearing against a packet of chocolate chip cookies.
The comments themselves appear to be filtered in some way by product keywords but since Zazzle have not decided to inform advise anyone how the comments appear against products no one can give a clear answer.
Whilst I appreciate that the system of having reviews against products should improves sales, in the short term the effect, and possibly the effect of a couple of hundred designers filling the blogosphere and twitter world with "Zazzle review system sucks" or similar will be negative for small time designers like me.
Grrrrrr.

Thursday 16 February 2012

Training tshirt now in blue

I have now released this shirt with the design in blue. I will probably do one especially for black or dark colours even though I personally prefer to wear light tops when exercising - don't know why it just makes me feel less sweaty!

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Customisable Sports TShirt

My style of artwork has always been quite detailed and rendered. Tee shirt creation is a great diversion for me forcing me to strip back my style into the most basic shapes and concentrate upon placement and design to put across a message.
In this case the temptation, which I have avoided, would be to add detail to the running figure to emphasize his musclelature. Instead I have drawn the silouhette and reproduced it several times in different shades give the feeling of dynamic movement.
This tshirt can be customised so that you can add to it any slogan that you feel would inspire the wearer.

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Corruption at the 2012 London Olympics

I don't consider myself naive. I understand that we live in a world where money and power count for a lot. It's a world populated by humans and human nature will never change.
Howerver, what most sickens me is when our government can run up a 9 billion pound bill hosting a drug cheat ridden competition that most people have little more than a passing interest in and sell it back to us as "accessible to all" whilst in reality a privileged few will cherry pick the best parts of it.
The Dispatches : Olympic Tickets for Sale on Channel 4 last night made for depressing, if unfortunately predictable, watching. In one example major roads in London will be diverted and blocked to allow altheletes and officials to reach their venues "on time". I suppose that elite atheletes who have reached the top of their game frequently roll out of bed and straight on to the track. I'm sure I saw Justin Gatlin run the 2004 100m finals in his pyjamas because he'd had a late one the previous night.
The reality? The routes pass in front of some of the most expensive hotels in London to allow those who have bought premium packages to be taken, bascially at our expense, straight to the venues in air conditioned limousines. Anyone caught using these lanes for any other purpose, maybe like work or education God forbid, will be caught (doubtless by a CCTV system that can't identify murderers), fined 200 pounds and probably CS gassed in the face as potential terrorists for good measure.
Here's the synopsis and more - Olympic Lanes for Sale

Monday 13 February 2012

Girls Rock TShirt

Struggled with this one for a bit, mainly around the use of PS. I think it works well for digital painting but with line drawings I'm not so sure as I seem to be spending too much time adjusting lines with the eraser tool. The guitar geek in me had to get that Les Paul just right! I used inkscape to "vectorise" the finished drawing. After trying various fonts I just found Courier to make the best simple statement





And on a light coloured tshirt