The Royal Ascot Ladies

So I've started working at big festivals and events to pay my rent now I'm living in the big smoke. Its not the best pay and can be a bit torturous but its good hours and theres always premier people watching opportunities.

However long hours working at bars for the upper class means time away from the drawing board and therefore I've set the task of illustrating a memorable event and person from each shift. It wasn't exactly upper class this week though. (Except for the queen. She was kinda up there.)

Colour soon!

Courtney Pine

I recently got commissioned to create a poster for the jazz musician Courtney Pine. I'm not really that down with my jazz but this guys a pretty big deal and super nice to work to. 

I spent what felt like a year colouring that sax and then the venue chose to go with my admittedly cooler but less fun first typographic poster attempt. Which I totally get. But I still like the sax. Definitely a combination of visuals I want to play more with. Especially that celestial cartography stuff.

Yeah, listening back to this I can definitely tell why they picked the other poster... 

We Can Be Heroes

It's time for a super depressing but optimistic superhero comic! 

yeah.

Its kinda about tackling depression and alcoholism in a loved one and totally sucking at it. Or in this case solving everything with tea. Cos that'd be great. 

Click to ENLARGE.

X

Swimventures!

I recently got back into swimming having been plagued for a good few years by silly body image insecurities and all the stuff that does no one any good. 

Still, getting in is always a bit of an event. I swear I don't know how people can look so good whilst I'm trying not to drown or blind anyone else. But now I've got over it all I'm kinda enjoying the swimming part too much to care.

Its super lovely and everyone should go! You get to smell like chlorine for what I'm assuming is the rest of all time. Totally worth it. 

20/04/14

This easter weekend instead of being a normal person and spending all day everyday relaxing I've been sweating over getting a new comic done. So heres a sneak!

I'm sure I'll like it more when I stop seeing solely in yellow and blue but I'm quite proud. I'll upload the whole thing as soon as I can.  

The comic explores the rather difficult subject of depression but definitely from a hopeful standpoint. Its a story and substance over style kind of affair. 

In other news....

I managed to get to the beach this week and I've scavenged a real cool bunch of stuff!

LOADS OF DRIFTWOOD! Which is exciting since we don't really get a lot of flotsam like that in the bay. Naturally I crawled around the shoreline in my wetsuit like a toddler on holiday (literally, I looked a state) but I'm going to make THINGS!!!  and hopefully make some munny while I'm at it. Cos that'd be nice.

See it pays to keep all your accumulated craft junk. (I keep saying)

I also had a brilliant low tide sunny costal adventure with the dog!

And as ever my best friend responded by helping out and eating half of the driftwood and depositing it around the house.

<3

Nothing Gold Can Stay.

!CLICK FOR NICE RESOLUTION!

Nature's first green is gold, 

Her hardest hue to hold. 

Her early leafs a flower; 

But only so an hour. 

Then leaf subsides to leaf. 

So Eden sank to grief, 

So dawn goes down to day. 

Nothing gold can stay.

Colour

I've recently re-fallen head over heals for colouring pencils. 
I rediscovered the pack I had to buy at new blood to make temporary business cards and recently had a colouring in powered tea party. It was the bees knees.

The chickpea soup is AMAZING!

We've also had a bunch of birthdays around here so I've been busy scribbling horses and buddhas and whatnot. I feel like it looks like I don't care if I don't make them myself!

I'm trying to figure out how to get a better finish on some and then I can start working them into my bigger illustrations. Exciting!

Bag of Kale.

How to make kale 'chips' and also have a workout.

I've caught the kale hysteria that appears to be sweeping all the food blogs and magazines I read. 

And I gotta admit. Kale is the fucking balls. 

This however is the only way I can get my mum to eat it and the the best part of the recipe is the fairly primitive bag shake to oil the leaves. Recently my favourite songs to do this too are Shakira's 'Hips don't lie' and Beyonce's 'Flawless'. But Outkast kinda beats them all.

I was hoping to have a bit more type on there but it just cluttered up and the illustration couldn't be 'read' properly. 

This is the next bag shaking move I'm working on...