Make it Lucky for Some!

Good evening!

My goodness, how time flies! Welcome to 2013, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the festive season and even if you don't celebrate, I hope you had a nice relaxing break. First and foremost I wanted to thank you for your continued support of my little company; I'm so lucky that it has grown in the way it has over the last few years and the support of followers, likers and continued readership has really made a difference to that success. So a huge cheers to you all!

 It was my intention to bring you that step by step today, but it was bought to my attention this morning that the last issue of Making magazine has been on sale for so long that another has hit the shelves this morning! So without further ado, I bring you both sets of images!

 Those of you who read my Twitter ramblings may remember something about some Sellotape... well here it is! It was quite fun to watch it becoming more realistic as I worked into it and as ever I loved working on these sets of images. If you fancy looking at everything I've done so far (except those for the unpublished issue!) you can find them on my Facebook page.

More soon!
TTFN
xx

Another Alice!

Good morning!

I hope you're all having a lovely December so far! It's very nippy here (by British standards) and I keep finding myself working so long at studio desk that it has become necessary to bring out the giant crochet blanket I keep for such emergencies as 2am chills! It is so beautiful outside though.
 You may remember me mentioning recently that I had another image featuring in The Dolls's House Magazine. Well, the issue is on sale today, all over the UK. I found myself working on another image of Alice, albeit this time featuring Lewis Carroll too! I was asked to draw a little portrait to accompany an article about the author, so I decided to inject a little comedy into the mix and give him a 'thinking' face whilst writing 'Wonderland. Hopefully it will raise a smile for you and the readers!
 If you're a fan of all things miniature, you can also find The Dolls' House Magazine on the Crafts Institute website, on Twitter and Facebook.

The next portrait is coming along nicely, so I should be able to bring you a behind the scenes peek very soon. So until next time, enjoy the festive season! And to those of you that don't celebrate, I hope you have a great month, too. 

TTFN

xx

Mini Me for Making!

Good evening!

I'm very pleased to be able to tell you that I now have my very own profile section on the fabulous Making magazine's website! It's a real honour to be one of their resident illustrators; I still get a thrill when the fresh issue hits my studio desk and I see my work in print! So if you'd like to have a little read, you can do so by clicking here! There's also a profile for my friend, the talented illustrator Emma Cowley. Here's a little screenshot to coax you over!

I'll be back very soon with some behind the scenes images of a new project!

 TTFN xx

Murder Margaret Wrote (Part 3!)

Good evening!

I am pleased to be able to tell you that the finale of the Dolls House magazine's murder mystery is now on shelves! I really enjoyed doing this piece as I got to draw a character (my favourite thing to do). There's also another little joke in the image. Can you spot it below?

I loved working on these! I was also thrilled with the following project I worked on, which will appear in next month's issue. Keep an eye on the blog for an update (or pop into your local shop and purchase a whole issue! It's a lovely little magazine for enthusiasts!)

 I have also recently completed another character for Gnaeus Julius comics. This time I was asked to design a villain, and I just couldn't wait to get cracking! Her name is Catatonia, and we will have to wait and see what mischief she gets up to in future issues! Very exciting.

Speaking of exciting, Stuart of Gnaeus Julius also interpreted the Sweetie character for her debut in issue 14 of the Manchester Nova comics and I just love how she looks in his style. Here is his version; look at this fabulous whip action shot! 

Right, back to work! It looks so busy on the way up to Christmas, but I hope to be able to bring you all the latest updates very soon (some of which I am just so excited to talk about!). I am starting a great big portrait soon so I am looking forward to bringing you some 'work in progress' shots! 

TTFN

xx

Murder Margaret Wrote (Part 2)!

Good evening!

Issue 174 of The Dolls' House magazine has been on the shelves for a little while now, and it features the second instalment of the murder mystery I mentioned a couple of posts ago!
The second part required the highlighting of more details from the text, so I opted for a poisoned needle, bottle of evil poison and an LAPD badge (which, if you have a look in the magazine itself, was very detailed). It was necessary for me to look very closely at the detail on an LAPD crest and I realised quickly that I had previously had no idea how much detail it contained. I recommend looking one up if you have a moment, they're very interesting!
 I'm thrilled to say that not only is there another part of the story to appear here soon but I have another commission to work on for the following issue! Very exciting. I adore editorial commissions in general, and this one is slightly different because I haven't had a sneaky peek at the article it accompanies yet! So watch out for more news in a month or so.

TTFN

xx

Start to Finish...

Good evening!

The Cox & Kings 'Inspiring India' bloggers challenge concluded last night with a wonderful evening at the Royal Geographical Society. There was an engaging talk from Sir Mark Tully, beautiful authentic music and lots of lovely food floating about! And of course, lots of artwork on display and open to votes! I hear that the event was also mentioned in the Telegraph newspaper on the 6th, so if anyone has a copy I would love to see! I began work on my piece with a strong design in mind, even down to the colour palette I wanted to use. I started by sketching out the main character (I rarely work without characters it seems!) of an Elephant in pencil. This was followed by some Peacock feathers...

Everything was then painted with acrylic and scanned in! The background was painted separately with a large brush to get the sweep of colour that I was hoping for, as I wanted to keep as much of the original paint texture as possible.

I also drew my own Indian inspired henna patterns which were converted to a beautiful brick red colour and applied very lightly to the background layer to add another point of interest. I'm not sure whether they are prominent enough, but I really liked them anyway! I also added a subtle image of the beautiiful Taj Mahal; it was kept consciously simple because I did not want it to steal focus.

And at the end, I finished up with this!

In between offering escorted tours and luxury holidays, the fabulous Cox & Kings had compiled a great little leaflet so that the guests could cast their votes on the night-

It was wonderful to see all of the fabulous artwork on display, and had been curated wonderfully in order to emphasise the diversity of imagery. So a huge congratulations to Cox & Kings for putting this on, and a big thanks for asking me to be involved. Here is my piece on the easel (photograph courtesy of Che Kumar)

And finally, I am proud as punch to be able to show you the winning image, again produced by my hugely talented friend, Che of cheism.com!

Isn't it gorgeous?! Well done, Che! Well, I have bombarded you with plenty of images for one day, so do check back soon for the next set of the Dolls' House Magazine's murder mystery images!

TTFN
xx

Murder Margaret Wrote!

Good evening!

I have just finished illustrating a 3 part murder mystery for The Dolls House Magazine, written by Margaret Grace (aka Camille Minichino). I really enjoy doing these editorial pieces in watercolour, mixing in a little digital colour wherever I feel it would enhance the image. Apologies for the dreadful photographs, but here's a look at the centrefold!

The first part received a little mention over on Camille's side project, http://theladykillers.typepad.com/, and you can see the individual post by clicking here. Part 2 appears in the most recent issue, which went on sale nationwide today!
 I'm currently still working away in the studio on the Cox and Kings 'Inspiring India' project! I'll have some sneaky peeks for you shortly. Cox & Kings (who are organising the event) specialise in escorted tours and luxury holidays. The bloggers challenge exhibition will take place at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) on the 10th October and will host a lecture on 'The Mind of India' by Sir Mark Tully. If you fancy attending you can purchase tickets for this event by clicking here! Check back soon for images from part 2 of 'Murder in Miniature' and sketches from the 'Inspiring India' image!

TTFN xx