Happy Birthday Coni!

It's my friend Coni's birthday tomorrow - April Fool's Day! - and she went out for drinks on Saturday night to celebrate. Coni is a really good cook and is often posting photos of her cooking, but one thing she likes to cook with that I really dislike is nattō!

I drew a card for her birthday with a picture of Coni and one of her recent dishes, poached egg with nattō on toast!

Happy Birthday Alyana!

It was my friend Alyana's birthday the other week. Here's a card I drew for her...

Holy Birthday Batman!

2014 is the 75th Anniversary of Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics #27, but more specifically March 30, 1937 is the date of publication of Detective Comics #27 as listed by the Library of Congress Copyright Office's Catalog of Copyright Entries for Periodicals. Which makes today Batman's 75th birthday!

To celebrate, I decided to do a quick sketch of the grim and gritty Batman from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns...



It was fun to play around with a brush pen and work in a looser style than I normally use.

--UPDATED 01/04/14--

After I posted my drawing on Twitter and @JSZorg tweeted me saying "draw Carrie now! #THEDARKSHINNRETUNRS", I decided that the female Robin from The Dark Knight Returns, Carrie Kelley would work well in contrast to the bulky form of Batman, so added her in to the image...

Happy Mother's Day Mum!

Today is Mother's Day in the UK and here's a card I made for my mum...

Late Nite Sketch: The Grand Budapest Hotel

I went to watch Wes Anderson's new film The Grand Budapest Hotel this evening and really enjoyed it. So much so, that when I got home I was still thinking about the film and decided to do a quick sketch before I go to sleep...

Happy Birthday Meg!

Yesterday was my friend Meg's birthday. Here's the card I drew for her, based on a photo from her Facebook page...

Adventures In Comics 4: The Orb

Marine Studios are based in Margate, Kent and responsible for Adventures In Comics an annual competition to produce a 2-page comic on a given theme, with a publication of the top 50 entries, and an exhibition of all the entries. This year's theme was "The Orb" and – just shy of the 7 March deadline – I produced the following comic...



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As an added behind-the-scenes bonus, here are my rough pencils for the pages...

The End Of The World Art Show

I was asked by the band Emperor Yes to take part in an art show they were putting on to coincide with the release of their new single The End Of The World. All of the work in the show was based on the band's song.

Here's my piece for the show...



I actually took a while to come up with an idea for what to do. I had a few different ideas that didn't quite work out and then last week I was working in my part-time job at the National Gallery, in Room 44, looking at George Seurat's Bathers at Asnières, when I suddenly had an epiphany! Looking at that painting, the composition just formed in my mind for my piece for the show. After struggling with what to do for a while, it was amazing that the idea could just come together in an instant!



Afterwards, I hurriedly scribbled down a (very!) rough sketch of my idea, and then later drew up the final piece, pretty much exactly as I'd imagined it!



The End Of The World Art Show will be on at Lo and Behold gallery, 2B Swanfield St, London E2 7DS until the 9 March.

Congratulations Karen & Hannah

My friends Karen and Hannah got married on Valentine's Day. Here's a card I made for them...

Happy Birthday Chrys!

It was my friend Chrys' birthday the other week, and here's a card I made for her...