IF: Surveillance

  

Surveillance.......who better than the World's Greatest Detective?

Illustration Friday: Swamp

What are the three hazards of the Fire Swamp?
Fire Spurts, Lightning Sand and the ROUS's.

Illustration Friday: Asleep

"Shhh! The Birds Are Sleeping...."

is the name of this week's pic.

Most of the time, I'm very anal and perfectionist about drawing. I always want everything to be just so and will spend hours labouring over every inch or pixel. And then almost always dislike the outcome, because of working so hard and ending up with something other than what I envisaged.

So, this week was an exercise in freedom and simplicity. I came up with a concept which I could draw without worrying with the usual (Is the perspective correct? Does that look like a hand? Does it need shadows? and so on and so on). I wanted something quick, clean and simple.

Well.... turns out, over four hours later, it wasn't as quick and simple as I'd wanted!
I got enormously involved with smoothing out lines, and redrawing shapes so they were a little bit nicer than before, even though I told myself there would be no re-drawing.

When you are a child, you draw something and you know what it is. If you watch a small child draw, they are often so decisive and know exactly which scribble needs to go where. Its a wonderful method. And, whilst I'm not attempting to emulate a child's drawing (because its not possible), I wanted to try and recapture some of that feeling. I took a cue from the way children focus on details rather than overall form or shape - so a bird will have a beak and wings, but might well not be bird-shaped, or have any other features.

I think its easy to see which ones I drew first, and which ones were the later creations, more free and loose.

Illustration Friday: Safari

Initially, I was dead keen on the idea of a balloon full of giraffes with cameras going over a city - which would allow for kooky perspective, plenty of little visual details to explore, and the chance to hang accessories around giraffe's necks at various heights . I knew from the off I'd struggle with that, though. Which isn't really a reason not to do it, but I decided to pour my effort into something which is more 'me'.
And so, this.
The tiger is from the olden days - an IF topic of 'Wilderness' - and I loved drawing it and was pleased with the result. So, I thought I'd revisit it and make a little triptych.

My main complaint is that the crocodile looks much more graphic/cartoony than the zebra or the tiger, due to the heavy dark outlining. I wanted to go for a contrast in texture - from scaly smooth, to short fur, to thick and hairy. I'm super-pleased with each piece individually, but I think old Mr Croc is just a bit too disparate in style.

Oh, and yes I'm aware you wouldn't see a tiger in the same place as the other two........

Illustration Friday: Beginner

Its interesting how often you see people making like harder for themselves, just through not relying on their own ability to overcome the task at hand. I'm definitely one of them.

A very labour-intensive offering for this weeks IF topic. There is a lot wrong with it - the pattern on his pantaloon-thingies, both his hands, his tiny tiny legs, and more besides.
That said, its not very far off from what I ahd in my head and I'm pleased because of that, and because its not a usual sort of drawing for me.

Illustration Friday: Bottled

This week, I thought I'd upload a photo of one of my paintings. Seeing as I love to paint bottles, this week's topic seemed the perfect reason to do so. I spent one and a half years painting bottles in college, then a further year painting bottles in art college, and ever since then all I've painted is bottles. Bottles are cool.

To upload the photo was a simple process involving my digital camera and then a ninety-minute long search for the correct USB cable. I keep all my USB cables, SCART and AV leads, adaptors and so on and so on in one big drawer. So I know exactly where to look whenever I need one, and then its just a question of sifting until I find what I need. Until today, when out-turning the entire contents of the drawer still didn't bring the correct cable to light. So I checked the drawer where I keep the camera.... but no cigar there either. So I bimbled about with increasing frustration checking drawers, and the bits under drawers, and the places down behind the backs of drawers. Eventually, in exasperation, I stormed up to the attic and whipped out my camera bag, and there it was nestled snugly against my Nikon. A digital SLR which, I might add, uses a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT connecting cable. So my question is: what on earth was the point? What was I thinking when I put the cable there?

It has been suggested that behaviour like this is directly linked to the fact that I'm a man.

Happy Bloggin' Christmas, Everyone!!!

After waking it up from hibernation, I thought I'd perk up my snoozing blog with a fab festive post!!
To everyone who has looked at, read, commented on, followed, or wept in sheer wonderment in front of my humble blog, I extend the warmest wishes and wish every single one of you a very Happy Christmas and all the best for the year ahead. And to everone else, I wish the same.
Due to a lengthy project at work which involved putting in very very long days, and then coming back to work after five weeks and having to get a handle on everything I'd missed etc, and what with it being a particularly busy time of year..... I sadly must admit I've neglected my blog and my drawing. I have a few aborted attempts at drawings tucked away in my CPU, but this is the first thing I've actually spent any time on or finished in a goodly while. It feels good.

Once again, Merry Christmas one and all, and a Happy New Year. Let's keep our pens and pencils (and keyboards!) busy throughout 2011.

Big love,
Ben
x

Illustration Friday: Acrobat

A nice splodgy illo for this theme. I was going to do a bat on a tightrope, but stumbled across an awesome photograph on Google and felt the need recreate it in part. Though this drawing has a very different feel to it.
Check out the photograph here: http://www.danielforsbakk.com/index.php?showimage=99
its well worth a gander.

Illustration Friday: Satellite

This week, pixel art continues to exert its powers over me. Much better than last week's effort, and much more fun as well.
He is usually naked, but for the purposes of this portrait He kindly agreed to wear an ancient loincloth.

The name of this piece is:
"What I did on my Summer Vacation"

Illustration Friday: Paisley

More pixel art this week, though of a slightly lower standard. I hated the topic with a fiery passion, but then decided I should nut up and force myself to be creative with it.
I played around a bit.
It is very very difficult to produce a paisley pattern in an isometric stylie, I swiftly found.
Played around a bit more, eventually got excited about the idea of tonnes of tiny pixelmen manning a massive paisley-shaped tank. I still love the idea.
But I ended up with a wierd building.
C'est la vie!

Illustration Friday: Trail

This week, a little slice of pixel art for you all.
From the theme, I knew it had to be a snail. I love snails, but found it hard to come up with an idea or a way to draw one that I was happy with.
Until pixel art came to save the day, arriving simultaneously with the idea of racing snails.

Illustration Friday: Muddy

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!

Illustration Friday: Wilderness

I've been face-to-face with a tiger. Yes, it was in a zoo but all that separated us was half a foot and some chicken wire. I could have reached out and touched him. (But i didn't!)

It was genuinely awe-inspiring. And, looking into that face and listening to the thud of its paws against the ground and taking in the smell of him, it seemed clear to me - the tiger does not live in the wilderness, wherever it goes, it takes the wilderness with it.

Illustration friday: Crunchy

Now available in Genuine Meat Flavour!

I spent much longer on this than i usually do for IF drawings. Hours and hours and hours. And I'm not sure why, because the idea didn't even really excite me originally. Still, if it makes a monster happy........

Illustration Friday: Entangled

Evie knew it was going to be one of those days as soon as she realised she'd lost her hairbrush.

Illustration Friday: 'Magnify'

'It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.'
- Sherlock Holmes.

Illustration Friday: 'Hierarchy'

This is my image for IF's topic 'Hierarchy'.

Illustration Friday: Impossibility

What may seem easy to us, may seem impossible to others.

Illustration Friday: 'Balloon'

This is my image for IF's topic 'Balloon'. I originally like the idea of a fat little imp on top of a balloon, attacking it, but the image has slowly evolved into a large-scale attack by some sort of cat-demon monster.....thing.

Illustration Friday: 'Opinion'

What to say? I had a lot of trouble coming up with an image for this topic - but when the idea finally found me, I liked it.
A little inspiration came from the legendary Raymond Brigg's equally legendary Fungus the Bogeyman.