Pet Cat Portrait Painting

Here is a scan of a pet portrait I completed and sold in the run up to Christmas. It is acrylic paint on box stretch canvas measuring approximately 16 inches wide by 12 inches high and about two thirds of an inch deep (406mm x 305mm x 14mm), glossed and ready to hang or place in a frame.

To commission your own artwork, pet portrait, family portrait or anything else, please get in touch via the contact form here or over at artbylukebennett.com.

Obligatory Winter 2012 - 2013 Snow and Frost Photos

Once again, snowfall has hit Britain. Once again, the media has decided that we haven't quite noticed. Once again the country is divided between those who love it - embracing the natural shimmering beauty it provides and making the most of the white stuff while it lasts - and those who hate it, cursing its very existence, lamenting the good old days when they didn't have to drive carefully around bends or walk like a  windup 80s toy robot to avoid slipping.

And once again, I'm firmly in the Love It camp. Out of all the different types of weather, other than uninterrupted sun, snow is my favourite. It provides a nice change of pace, visually, physically and mentally, forcing you to mix up your regular daily routines and interrupting the usual monotony of rain and grey skies.

The only problem with this year's batch being that the skies have been mostly grey throughout the snow's presence too, which makes taking photographs more difficult. Seamless.

Without much sunlight getting through scenes are obviously much darker than they would be otherwise. The whiteness of the snow however tricks not just your eye, but also your camera into thinking there's more light than there is. The lack of sunlight eliminates any chance of light and shadow contrasts too.

As such, a few of the following have had some pretty heavy post-processing, at least compared to what I'd normally do.
I'm usually of the opinion that a good photograph shouldn't need much, if any, tinkering with. And if there is post-processing then it should be subtle and naturalistic.

On this occasion for some of the shots of Henley in Arden further down I've abandoned that methodology.

The photos above were taken in Dorridge Park back in December 2012 when the weather was just frosty rather than snowy. Straight out of camera.

Above - Berkswell in the frost.

Above - views from the big hill in Henley during the 2013 snowfall.

Above - some icicles in my garden.

All were taken with an ageing Powershot G3. Today is supposedly the last of the snowfall for the time being, with a big melt predicted for the weekend. Sigh. I'm looking forward to the media pointing out that there are floods in areas that tend to flood.

Animation Website RIP

Scroll down for animations! To zoom in, press Control and + (Windows) or Cmd and + (Mac).

Up until recently I owned the domain, carbonscale.com, on which I hosted a website that I designed and created after completing my degree in animation. It was intended to work as an online portfolio for my animation related output as I searched for employment within the industry.

Around about the same time I ended up needing more surgeries on my lungs and so those plans got pushed back and back. I kept the website though as I quite liked it and was pleased with its functionality for the most part (- the buttons and layout and look; yes. The blog section and how long it took to upload new content; not so much).

I was also secretly convinced that at any point I'd get offered big bucks by some multinational energy company for the domain name, given how everyone was bleating on about carbon footprints and insisting everyone keep track of how much they were contributing to the death of the planet back then.
It turned out no one knew what a Carbon Scale was, or had any intention of making one (whatever it was) and that no one really cared that much about the planet anyway...

So, after years of thinking "I should probably cancel my subscription... I'll do it first thing tomorrow!", then forgetting, I've finally got round to doing so. As such, carbonscale.com is no more (at the time of writing, in its initial guise as a Flash animation website anyway). Although wouldn't it be typical if someone finally invented a Carbon Scale (whatever that is) and suddenly the entire world decided that, actually, they did care, and that that particular domain was obviously the most sensible place to look for advice, and it created billions in advertising revenue and a paradigm shift in people's attitudes towards the environment, tssk. I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN. I mean, it hasn't, but it's blatantly going to, sigh.

I thought it would be a shame not to preserve the website online somehow, so in the interests of posterity I've managed to embed it below. There is some distortion due to the dimension constraints of this page.

The showreel that would normally have been embedded in the showreel section within the website is now embedded further down this post should anyone wish to give it a watch.

I've barely done any proper animation since university, but I'm certain I'll return to it one day and create some funnies, if only for my own amusement.
I think Burt the flatulent cat burglar with tourrettes definitely has legs. Even if they are broken.

*Be sure to refresh this page so as to see the little introductory animation*

Happy New Year 2013! - Here's a horse pencil sketch.

Happy New Year, followers of artbylukebennett.com. Wishing you all a healthy and happy 2013. I hope everyone who ordered a commission or fine art print as a Christmas present was pleased with their finished piece, and the gift receivers equally so. Thank you for your custom!

I hope to continue taking lots of commission throughout the next year, improving my skills and furthering my artistic endeavours.

Below is one of the pet portraits I completed in the run up to Christmas, a pet horse in pencil on paper, measuring approximately 9 x 9 inches.

Small, personalised gifts are always nice to receive I think, and by all accounts the recipient in this case was delighted with the sketch of her horse.