Avengers Assemble!

The other day I went to the cinema to watch The Avengers movie, which has been retitled Avengers Assemble here in the UK, presumably so as not to be confused with the British tv show from the 1960s also called The Avengers.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the movie, and decided to do this drawing based around the title change...

Happy Birthday Mel!

Today is my friend Mel's birthday. Like me, she loves the Legend Of Zelda games, so I drew her as Link – the hero of the series – getting a magical birthday cake!

À vos marques, prêts, partez!

My friend Lenny took part in the Paris marathon last Sunday, raising money for the Anthony Nolan charity. Her sister sent me a message to ask if I could draw a picture of Lenny that she could get printed onto a t-shirt and as a banner, and take along to support her. So I drew this picture of Lenny running past a couple of Parisian landmarks...

Here are a couple of photos (courtesy of Anita Ghosal via Facebook) of my drawing on the banner and t-shirt...

Well done Lenny!

"A penguin, a penguin, my Kingdom for a penguin!"

The other night I was chatting to my friend online and she was talking about all the final coursework essays on Shakespeare she had to mark, which slowly digressed into me lamenting the fact that Othello doesn't actually feature a talking parrot like in the Walt Disney version of Aladdin, and then contemplating how much better Shakespeare's plays would have been if he'd included a penguin... It was late!

Anyway, all of which led me to draw a couple of comic strips based around Shakespeare and featuring a penguin. I don't profess to be a Shakespeare buff, but I did read Hamlet when I was studying English Literature for A-level...

Happy Birthday Shirlene!

Today is my friend Shirlene's birthday. Here's a drawing I did for her, based on one of her modelling photos (with my addition of the Minnie Mouse ears from another photo)...

The Hole Opportunity: Additional character designs

I recently designed and illustrated a book cover for James Minter's first novel The Hole Opportunity.

James is currently working on the next novel in the series, and also putting together a YouTube video to promote his current book. As part of this, he commissioned me to draw a couple of additional characters not included on the book cover...

Colin Griggs' wife Izzy...

And Major Woods in his casual attire...

The Hole Opportunity is currently available to buy through Amazon as both a physical book and an E-book version.

Happy Easter!

Damien Hirst & The Emperor's New Clothes

Yesterday afternoon I went to Tate Modern with my friend to see the Damien Hirst retrospective exhibition that opened this week, part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Now I'll admit straight away that I'm fairly unimpressed with Hirst's work. But I'm also slightly intrigued by the manner in which his work is regarded among the general public. Indeed, while my friend was thinking out loud whether she wanted to see the exhibition, a woman standing in front of us turned round and exclaimed: "Oh you must! He's the BEST British artist! He has a shark in a tank!". It's hard to argue with such a rousing endorsement...

So we went to see the exhibition. And there was indeed a shark in a tank! And a sheep in a tank. And a cow cut in half in a tank. And a baby cow cut in half in a tank. There are probably 4 or 5 different ideas in there – dead creatures in tanks, spots, butterflies and things in cabinets... – and these are then slightly revised and repeated throughout. It's about death. Or it's about love. But is it art? Whatever it is, it is at least thought-provoking and creates debate. Me and my friend had a long discussion about the exhibition afterwards. And maybe that is what art should do? But I still don't understand this need to parade Hirst around with such acclaim.

Hirst's work reminds me of the story of The Emperor's New Clothes, where the Emperor is told that a stupid person is unable to see the clothes that the tailor creates for him. And so as not to look stupid, the Emporer parades naked around the city to avoid admitting that he can't see the non-existent clothes.

We are told that Hirst is a great British artist, and so we hold him up as such, for fear of looking ignorant if we question the hype...

The exhibition Damien Hirst is on at Tate Modern until the 9 September.

Everyone else was talking about it...I just wanted to be popular!

I love it when The Internet goes bat-shit crazy about something, and Samantha Brick's "article" for the Daily Mail yesterday entitled 'There are downsides to looking this pretty': Why women hate me for being beautiful' ticked all the boxes.

While a lot of other people have said a lot of things in response to this article, I was struck by two things: Firstly, her surname is Brick, which is possibly one of the most unattractive surnames you could have, regardless of how you might look. And secondly, I have an overwhelming urge to go and watch Zoolander...

Yayoi Kusama

Yesterday I went along to the Tate Modern with some friends to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibition. A Japanese artist and writer, Kusama's work encompasses painting, sculpture, drawing and collage as well as large-scale intallations, and explores colour, repetition and patterns.

I really enjoyed the exhibition and afterwards drew a quick sketch of Kusama...

The exhibition continues at Tate Modern until the 5 June.

April Fools!