Dino-FAIL! Happy Birthday Mel!

So, despite the fact that I had it written in my diary and on both my calenders (yes, I have two calenders. One upstairs, and one downstairs!) that her birthday was today, "apparently" it was my friend Mel's birthday yesterday (and I guess she would know best).

Anyway, mysterious date discrepancies aside, I did manage to draw her a birthday picture...



Maybe that's why the dinosaurs really became extinct – because they weren't able to reach the cake!

Illustration Dust's Monthly Challenge (April): Frankenstein

So I've recently become a part of Illustration Dust, a blog site where illustrators can upload their work to share with others. I haven't got around to uploading much work yet (I'm currently spending quite a bit of time working on my website), but I did get a chance to produce a new illustration for their Monthly Challenge. Similar to Illustration Friday except running monthly rather than weekly, each month a new topic is selected for you to upload a related image.

The theme for April is Frankenstein, so I decided to draw a thoroughly modern monster...

Illustration Friday: Ahead

This week's Illustration Friday topic is Ahead.

So I decided to draw a head...



Thank you and good night!

Paul Shinn covers Uncanny X-men #141

Hooray! My work is featured on the Covered website today! The site, run by Robert Goodin, features the work of a variety of artists reworking existing comic book covers in their own style.

I produced a version of John Bryne's cover to Uncanny X-men #141, taking the grim and gritty original from the '80s (left) and applying elements of Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch for a slightly more humorous twist...

Mum's Gone To Iceland...

I'm being very topical today!

As well as the General Election, the news has been all about the erupting volcano in Iceland, which has grounded all flights into and out of the UK and most of Europe, due to fears that the volcanic ash clouds could cause problems with the jet engines on the planes.

If you're stuck overseas and unable to fly back home, or planning a trip overseas, it is a rather stressful time, not knowing when you'll be able to fly. I hope it will all get sorted out very soon!

BUT...when I read about the eruption of an volcano in Iceland, I immediately thought of this...

There now follows a party political broadcast...

Okay, so I'm not generally into politics. In my opinion most politicians will just promise you everything you ever wanted, until they get elected, when they'll turn around and say they didn't really mean it. However, there's an Election coming up, and everywhere you look there's a politician promising that if you vote for them, then they'll give everybody superpowers and bring back the dinosaurs (and who doesn't want that, eh?). So I ended up drawing an illustration of David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, and Gordon Brown, leader of the Labour Party and our current Prime Minister...



Cameron has been ridiculed over the obviously retouched images used on the Conservative's poster campaign, and seems desperate to appeal to every possible demographic ("Look kids, I'm not wearing a tie!"). But to me, he seems like a mindless robot, saying everything that he's been programmed to say in order to get more votes. I bet he doesn't even have a shadow!

Gordon Brown appears very similar to his namesake Charlie Brown. In fact, reading Wikipedia's profile of the fictional Charlie Brown, who "fails in almost everything he does... is ultimately dominated by his insecurities... and often taken advantage of by his peers", it could easily be discussing Brown's recent period as Prime Minister.

And so as not to be accused of political bias, I should also mention the Liberal Democrat's leader Nick Clegg. Is it just me, or does Nick Clegg look a lot like the slightly younger brother of Peter Jones from Dragon's Den...?

Illustration Friday: Detective

It's been a while since I've done any drawing – what with going to Barcelona and working on my website – but I wanted to get back to it, and this week's Illustration Friday topic seemed a good starting point. This week's theme is detective, which makes me think of two things: Sherlock Holmes and Batman! So I decided to draw Holmes taking a break from all his detectiving (is that a word? If not, it should be!), and sitting back and reading a copy of Detective Comics #27, featuring the first appearance of Batman... Elementary, my dear Watson!

Happy Birthday Ammo!

It was my friend Ammo's birthday this weekend. Last year for her 30th birthday, I drew her a card with 30 armadillos (because her name is Ammo Dhillon, which sounds a bit like "Armadillo" if you say it fast...), so this year as she's one year older, I added one more...

Happy Easter!

Easter is a strange holiday. Obviously it's origins are quite religious, celebrating the idea of Jesus' death and subsequent resurrection. I've never really understood what chocolate eggs had to do with all this. Maybe Jesus really loved chocolate...and eggs...



Happy Easter to you all!

An Orchestra in Barcelona

Last week I went on holiday to Barcelona. It was the first time I'd been and I really enjoyed going around the city and seeing the sites. Despite taking my sketchbook along with me in my suitcase, I was too busy going around and seeing as much as possible in the time I was there to stop and draw. However, I'd really like to go back again and take some time to do some drawing...

That's not to say I didn't do any drawing while I was away. I was staying with my friend who lives in Barcelona, and one evening they invited me along to a classical music recital. I have to admit to not really knowing much about classical music, but I really enjoyed watching the individual members of the orchestra all playing their part. While the music was playing, I found myself scribbling on my programme with a blue biro, capturing some of the musicians. It was a very nice atmosphere to draw in, with the sound of the classical music playing.

Anyway, here's a scan of my defaced programme...