A Smattering of Stuff

Due to the recent hot weather work has become a sporadic affair (like Old Goat I have vegetables to nurture) so here is an update of various projects and happenings.

Richard Hammond (of Top Gear fame) has a book coming out, for which I designed the cover using a typographical approach. The background will be created by the designer – I’ve just used black here so the letters stand out. I did something similar for the Black Book of Secrets several years ago; I can’t show you that as my external hard drive is down. I had a look on Amazon, but the book has already been re-covered (such is the ephemeral nature of the book cover).

 

It’s ten years since The Spook’s Apprentice first strode out over the Witch-infested wilds of Lancashire, and this week I have been illustrating book 13. I think it might be my favourite. Poor Tom has quite a lot on his plate (a hearty dollop of horror with a side order of heartbreak). It’s set in autumn, which provides plenty of opportunity to use falling leaves as a motif; they also help to add movement and life to silhouette images.

 

Last week I got to hang out with Boston-based writer and fairy-tale academic Theodora Goss. I recommend her ‘The Thorn and The Blossom’, which is a beautifully designed and written book.

Pre-production work also continues on Tales of Fayt, the graphic novel written by Conrad Mason; here are some fairy character concepts…

 

And while we are in fairy-land, UK residents can see our very own Brian Froud and Elizabeth Jane Baldry on BBC’s Countryfile (I think it expires in Sunday so be quick) when the program came to town to explore matters both practical and metaphysical…

And lastly, I recently posted a brief article over at David Fickling Books concerning magical portals. Because of the imminent Widdershins exhibition it seemed appropriate. Unfortunately I completely failed to mention the exhibition in the post and thus missed an excellent advertising opportunity, but I shall have more news of the event next week.

Warlock the Hunter

This is a real Local Character: Jason of England‘s mighty hound, Warlock.

Warlock’s favourite activity is escaping in order to terrorise the local wildlife, but he can often be found in the local hardware store or just wandering about town like he owns the place.

Here’s how to make a picture of Warlock:

Step one: Have idea. Transfer idea from head to small scribble.

Step two: Remove subject to suitable environment for posing opportunities. In this case, the nearby and appropriately named Hound Tor.

Step three: Do a pencil draft, scan it in and fiddle about in Photoshop to get the layout right. On this occasion I made a colour rough – not something I usually do but I predicted I would get into a mess without some prior decision making.

Step four: Draw most of picture with pen and ink.

Step five: Apply watercolour and pencil until reasonably happy with result.

Of course, Psycho-killer Warlock has his soft side – here is photographic evidence…

 

No lambs were harmed during the making of this Blog entry.

Victorian Vagabonds

 

I’ve just been doing some chapter headings for the new Ben Kingdom book (cover above, plus some early roughs). Here are some of the previous ones, from Claws of Evil…

 

More events have been scheduled for the Widdershins exhibition in summer. Apparently you can come and have coffee and cake with me; it’s described as an Artists Talk, but a more accurate description would be ‘Artists sit in the corner in a slightly embarrassed manner as they are not used to this sort of thing but are happy to answer questions Talk’. I will bring large piles of original art, finished books and sketchbooks to rummage through – it will be quite informal but (hopefully) informative.

 

Badgers and Muppets

I re-painted the next scene in the Ballad of Old Goat and Heron.

When I’d finished, I sat back, looked at and had a conversation in my head that reminded me of Statler and Waldorf, the aged hecklers from the Muppet Show. It went something like this:

“Oh yes, that’s much better, the drawing of the Goat is a great improvement.

Solly Badger is fine too. But the original one was OK anyway.

Actually, I think I prefer the background of the original painting. It’s lighter and the colours are more varied.

The old one had more depth and a feeling of light through trees…

This new one is terrible. Do it again, properly this time!”

I am a muppet.

 

Widdershins Exhibition

More facts have emerged about the Dartmoor Mythic Arts exhibition this summer – visit the Green Hill Arts page for further information. Various activities will be occurring around the time of the event (puppet shows, storytelling, book signing, etc.), details of which shall be revealed soonish.

At first, it wasn’t clear whether Brian’s Green Man image would be available, so Rima, Virginia and I designed an alternative poster. It involved an extreme close up of one of Alan’s pictures that will feature in the exhibition: Faeries fans will recognise the detail is from one of the pieces in the classic 1977 Faeries book by Lee and Froud. Believe me, the book doesn’t do the painting justice, but you can decide for yourself as this and many other visual delights await you in Midsummer!

Penning the Heron

I managed to find a bit of time to continue the renovations on ‘Old Goat and Heron’.

These three were unusual in that I was quite happy with them as they were, but they needed to be linked stylistically with the newer pics. I decided to use the existing paintings and work over them with pen. I’d painted everything on very smooth watercolour board, which means I can take the paint off reasonably easily with a little water on a brush followed by careful dabbing. That way I can fix mistakes and tighten up the picture where needed.

Summer arrived, and high above

A flying Heron came,

returning to her favourite spot.

(Every year she did the same.)

Down through the trees she swooped

to perch upon a mossy rock,

whereupon she got a shock!

The Heron exclaimed, ‘When I was little this river was deep. Now it’s a trickle!’

In a flap the Heron went, up the river with grim intent,

to find out why (if she could)

the water wasn’t flowing quite like it should.

For vegetable’s sake the river had been harnessed…

but Heron’s hatchling home was tarnished!

Normally I draw in pen and ink, then apply the watercolour and pencils afterwards. This opposite approach was interesting as I could work back into the watercolour and pick out some of the random textures – particularly good for mossy boulders.

Further Goat Maintenance

Page 2 of the continuing renovation of my Old Goat and the Heron project. The plan is to make the pictures more presentable and link them into the pen and ink style of the Local Characters series. On this occasion, I managed to tidy the image up (Goat is much better), but I kind of prefer the colours in the original below. I like the warmer feel.

 

Musical Interlude Part 3

I was trying to improve the main theme of the previous Musical Interlude - some attempts sounded too Spanish, some too Scottish, some too twiddly, etc. I thought the Scottish version had some potential for development, and it was a chance to do some work with Anne (who happens to be Scottish). Fellow Nosey Crow Jenny Dooley kindly wrote us some lyrics, so I took the off-cut and grew this piece of music.

If you are not keen on Clannad-y, reverb-soaked Celtic wistfulness, then you should avoid this; otherwise, have a cup of tea, lie back and think of lochs and mountains.

Now, back to painting!

Colouring In Practice

I’ve been trying out some techniques for the forthcoming comic book project.

Due to time constraints, I’m looking for a style that will be efficient, but give the work a certain amount of character. It would be nice to do everything in watercolour (like The Old Goat at the top of the page) but it would mean every page would take a week to do. I still haven’t ruled out a traditional approach just yet; it depends on what deadlines I’m confronted with.

This is what I have so far:

The first stage is a rather scribbly pencil layout – I scan that in and place a sheet of paper over my monitor and trace out a more civilised line which I then ink with Faber Castell artist’s pens.

Once that’s in the computer, I drop in a texture to break the harsh blacks up (it’s scrunched up crepe paper). It has a slightly sepia tone, which in my strange mind means the drawing looks like it was done in squid ink and thus suits the subject matter (read Conrad’s The Demon’s Watch to get a feel of the world I’m inhabiting). The colour is applied in Painter, using a watercolour brush which gives the speckled look. I felt that using flat colour (more common in comic book colouring) didn’t give me the rough look I was after.  Lastly, I take the work into Photoshop and add some dabs of digital paint here and there, mostly using a kind of broken pastel brush.

So that’s how things are progressing – the next step is to do a test episode (once it’s written) and refine things. It’s important to find a look everyone’s happy with and stick to it, as there’ll be no changing it mid-story.

P.S. I’m guest blogging today over at David Fickling books – visit there to see my first ever comic work!

Pictures at an Exhibition

Yesterday we had a rummage through the pile of ‘Local Characters’ in order to select a few for an exhibition in Summer. It will be called Widdershins, and takes place in Green Hill Arts Centre in nearby Moretonhampstead. There you will be able to view visual delights created by the impressive likes of Alan Lee, Paul Kidby, Brian and Wendy Froud, Rima Staines, Virginia Lee, Terri Windling, Hazel Brown and Neil Wilkinson-Cave.

How come I’m included in this venerable line-up of artistic excellence? It’s because we all live (with the exception of Paul) on Dartmoor and are primarily working in Mythic Arts. I imagine all the artists would admit the area has a profound impact on what they do. Even if they didn’t admit it, it’s true. Certainly for me, anyway.

In folklore, to run Widdershins around a sacred place would transport you to Elfland. This will be a slightly less energetic way of achieving the same result. And you can combine the visit with an excellent meal at The Horse nearby.

More details soon…