"Lions"

A friend of mine wrote a poem once, entitled "Lions". The poem went as follows:

"...
...
...
...... Lions!
...
...
... "

The pause and delivery were integral to the poem's success. Obviously it was better in real life than it is on paper, but to this day it remains the only poem I can recite off by heart. And that, I think, speaks volumes.

It was with this poem in mind acting as a vast well of unending inspiration, that I began my latest painting.

That last sentence is not true. I painted a lion cos I like lions and thought it would be a fun subject. I've only just remembered the "...Lions" incident as I write this.

The painting in its state above is probably about 95% complete. There are a few little bits and bobs I want to tidy up, but as always with painting this could go on indefinitely. The painting is acrylic on canvas, approximately 12 by 9 inches in size. I like the mixture of fine details with broader brush strokes and blocks of colour.

Not as good as it should be.

Hmm, I meant to post this weeks ago, if not months... It's the final scan of a painting of Lucy, my cat. As mentioned in a previous post, there were a few things that made this picture a bit of a chore to do and trickier than it needed to be.

The main problem being the squinty eyes; much more difficult to paint than wide open eyes. She doesn't look quite right as a result. I think it shows in the finished product as, in my opinion, it's not as good as the painting of Minnie. The likeness isn't as strong either, so I'm a little disappointed. Still, consider it a lesson learnt; when painting from a photograph, make sure you choose a good image.

How to spot a Jasper Xbox 360: The definitive guide.

Inspired by my holiday...

...I painted this caricature of my travel buddy. It's based on a camel ride we had when visiting the ruins of Petra in Jordan.

Israel and Jordan.

Without wishing to turn this into a bog standard Blog about my life, writing about things that no one really cares about, I recently went to Israel for a holiday and wedding which I'd been invited to. I'd a great time and took lots of pictures. I even popped over the border to Jordan whilst I was there, which was initially terrifying, having been told by a number of Israelis not to go. "You go there, you don't come back alive!" we were warned. That turned out to be untrue, thankfully. Silly shit stirring Israelites! Although the blood stains at the border did nothing to calm my nerves during the crossing, the Jordanian people on the whole were exremely friendly and welcoming.

Below are some of my favourite pictures from the trip. For more images be sure to follow this link to my Flickr account.

Still not finished.

Another work in progress snapshot. I did a couple of hours over the weekend on this painting, adding some background first, then adding some more detail to the face and improving the contrast in the process. The scan as always has changed the white balance, so it's not entirely representative of the actual painting. In fact, it's not even a scan as my goddamn printer is broken. I have nothing witty to say. Leave now.

Despite the new job, I've still managed to continue with a bit of painting and sketching in my free time.

The above is a work in progress attempt to paint my other cat, Lucy. It's early on, so lacking much detail or refinement. I'm finding her a lot harder to paint than Minnie however, I think mainly due to her having far fewer colours in her fur and markings. Also, the fact I've chosen to paint an image of her in which she's squinting, her eyes therefore not fully in view, is probably not helping. Eyes being a main focal point of a face, providing character and detail, etc.

Ho hum. Lesson learnt. Always have eyes.

Another copy of some existing concept art, again from Fable II. This time a big breasted woman, staple of the video game industry. THEY'RE BIGGER THAN HER HEAD! o_0

And a silly little Darth Vader doodle.

New Job...

Hello old friend. Once again I have neglected you. You should probably get used to it.


I started a new job a few months ago (hence lack of posts), doing CAD design. I now spend my days designing school classrooms, libraries, kitchens and offices, producing renders, quotes and sales packs for clients, and making life about as easy as it can be for ungrateful (and often incompetent) builders.

I sneakily sent myself a few renders of work I've done recently. Logic dictates that these are those renders:

Snap Happy Wins Two Awards!

Good news: Snap Happy, the game I worked on as a character designer/illustrator/animator for Mobile Pie, recently won two awards at the Media Innovation Awards.

Snap Happy not only scooped the Mobile Communications Award, but went on to win the overall MIA Award (winner of winners!) beating off the likes of ITV and the BBC!

"..the overall winner and winner of the 2008 MIA trophy was Snap Happy, based in Bristol for Mobile Pie in association with Hands On Mobile and Luke Bennett, for producing an original, fun and user friendly mobile application."



More information about Snap Happy can be found in the Sketch Book section of my website here.

Flickr.

I have recently taken the time to upload some of my favourite photos from the last couple of years to Flickr, where I have created a new set, ingeniously titled 'Favourites'. Unfortunately, as I don't currently have a Pro account I'm limited to 100Mb of photos a month, and seeing as I've triumphantly blown all of that in one go I will have to wait a few weeks before I can add any more.

Click here to go to the set on Flickr.

Check out a few of the shots below as an immediate appetiser.