Charcoal on paper
approx 250x250mm
2018
Private Commission
Big Trouble in Little China
First post for a while. I've been working on a commission from my partner to create artwork based on one of our favourite films Big Trouble in Little China. It's taken me a while to decide what the finished work will be like. So far I've started several ideas but not finished anything yet.
I started off sketching a few scenes below. Finally I decided to try a smallish linocut of one of my favourite scenes to see how my sketchy style would translate. I still haven't finished mapping out linocut but will hopefully get cutting soon. If it works well I'll take it to a bigger scale try adding some colour.
An example above of me starting a not finishing a painting. I've blocked in a bit more colour than this in acrylic and had planned to add some layers in oil, but in the end I decided I'd like there to be more of a hint of what this was supposed to be. I thought it would be fun to just make it look like a nice picture without it being obviously from the film, kind of like an inside joke. But one of the reasons this is my favourite scene is because Kurt Russell is so funny in it, so I tried to get his expression in.
The drawing above was a quick sketch that I didn't think would work, but I quite like the energy of it. It's got a bit more dimension to it as well with the foreground + bit of perspective with the angle of the walls. I've started sketching onto lino (below) to see what that would look like. It's going to take a while getting all the sketchy lines in but I'm intruiged to see what it will look like. Part of me thinks I'm just procrastinating and should just get on with a painting instead, but why not.
Beginning of More Bird Skulls
Sneak peek at new commission sketches:
Woodpecker Work in Progress
A couple of images from what I'm working on, I've actually abandoned this for now, and am working on a straight-forward pencil drawing as I'm starting to get confused about where this one's going. Also, I tried to work from 2 reference photos which ended up being tricky. Still, I'll come back to this soon hopefully once I can see it with fresh eyes. Also I will soon upload some pics of my studio space, which I share with fellow artist/illustrator Thom Durham.
Woodpecker skeleton mixed media
Working on a piece inspired by great spotted woodpeckers, which I saw a lot of on a trip to the highlands. I have been working on a commission in charcoal and wanted to play around with different textures, so the plan is to use a mixture of oil pastel and charcoal. I realise this may be tricky but I want a challenge and also I want to create something with a bit of contrast. I have been going back to anatomy and bones, even though I was first inspired by the markings on their feathers.
The final piece will be involve the more anatomical side drawn in oil pastel, and charcoal around the shape of the bird. I got my hands on some black grey and white oil sennelier pastels so I'll be having a crack at it tonight.
More kitchen sink lithography
First try at home after recent etching workshop by Fiona Maher.
So far, a very unpredictable medium! I will just put everything up, including the really bad ones so that you can see how much the results vary.
First of all, this was Deebs's amazing print (definitely the best of the lot):
So far, a very unpredictable medium! I will just put everything up, including the really bad ones so that you can see how much the results vary.
First of all, this was Deebs's amazing print (definitely the best of the lot):
And here are mine. Some turned out alright, others problematic. The type of paper made a big difference to the outcome, and I think the with more experience I'll be able to fix some of the other issues as well.
Still Sold Out Cover Picture (progress)
Following on from the Still Sold Out logo, I was asked to come up with an image for the facebook page's cover photo. This was to be in a similar colour scheme and portray to tragedy theatre mask i some way. Here's a progression of some ideas, I'm still to discuss progress with the client.
This led me to use an online images editor (pixlr.com/editor) which seemed great for simple mock-ups. Plus it's free and you don't have to download anything so it's good if you don't have a lot of disc space.
I then played about with the levels and such, I think one of the next three options is close to what I'll do for the final work.
I'd love to have the resources right now to make a lino print version of this, I think the bold lines could work really well.
Also, check out www.facebook.com/stillsoldout if you need a laugh.
Scratch That Etch! Workshop
These are the two prints I made at Pop-up Scotland's Scratch That Etch! workshop run by local artist Fiona Maher. We were using inexpensive materials you could find in most supermarkets, such as coca-cola and tin foil, to replicate the process of lithography. This was a fun two hour course and I'll definitely be trying it at home.
First print:
Second print:
First print:
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