drawn out

reach!

2011-10-31T16:25:00.000-07:00

It’s incredible how two weeks can shoot by, isn’t it?

I’ve been kept very busy by another swell in the demand for illustrations for school books.

I’ll do my best to stay regular but things could get sketchy (‘scuse the bad pun)

Anyway, enough ramble, here is a triptych from the last wave of work for school books.

This was stepping out of my comfort zone but it worked out pretty well, I really enjoyed the process of working in collage and look forward to doing more!

motivational poster

2011-10-13T00:55:00.000-07:00

Just...

...do it.

no nation like hibernation...

2011-10-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here’s a quickie for this week’s IF topic: “hibernate”.

Like all bears, even the Mega-Bears must hibernate.

swirly caramely yumminess

2011-10-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty silly one...

So why put it up, you ask? Well, It’s a vector illustration and while I don’t often work exclusively in vectors, it blows me away how versatile and subtle they’ve become; with feathering you can now do some crazy stuff!

+ it has crazy-cool wireframe view:

African princess

2011-09-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more illustrations I did using pencils and watercolours, with a little digital enhancing.

Once again for a Schuter & Shooter publication...

this week’s life drawing

2011-09-29T02:50:00.000-07:00

We had another excellent model this week, a guy with some 30 years experience... I don’t think I could stand still for so long, that must add up to... like, a lot!

That was the long pose, then the rest are charcoal gestural drawings, it’s been a loooong time since I used charcoal...

do you like chicken?

2011-09-27T02:39:00.000-07:00

...Chicken would looove a piece of you!

Inspired by Bill (the man) Sienkiewicz for this week’s subject on IF: ferocious

illustration breakdown

2011-09-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

And once again for Nasou, but this time for a very different age group, a book about school... To spice things up a little, I've included this step-by-step of the process:

starts off as a simple, black & white sketch

then, the actual pencil sketch with added details and final perspective

then we ink the sucker

and add some watercolours

then, time for some overall texturing and blotting out the last white ares

and after some digital lighting enhancements...

...it's done!

photo-washes

2011-09-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

Aloha!
There’s a brand new page on my site collecting some of my photowash experiments...

...and that’s just a taste of what you’ll find ;)

Steve Biko

2011-09-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

I reconnected with one of my very first clients recently, Nasou Via Afrika , and got to try out some different techniques… thanks guys!

This illustration is about Steve Biko, a martyred anti-apartheid activist of the 1970s, a man of brilliant thought and compassion.

"man, you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being” -Biko

mesmerising

2011-09-21T02:49:00.000-07:00

This one follows on directly from the previous post...

What is more lovely or more mesmerising than the female form?

-And check out some other mesmerising illustrations on this week's IF.

life drawing!

2011-09-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

Well, after quite a while, I've taken up life drawing again :)

I've missed it a lot, it helps me vent frustration and just have fun with what I love... no briefs... no clients... no work... just drawing!

These are quick studies of the drawing above, it's not something I often do but I couldn't which angle was nicest...

ruf stuff

2011-09-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

I noticed that I don't often post rough work and for that I appologise.
My favourite thing is seeing the building blocks of other people's illustrations, the magical bits...

So here we go, some heads!

...and weird head-aliens...unicycling head-aliens!

greedy little elephant

2011-09-16T16:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a look at another story I illustrated recently, once again for Shuter & Shooter, this one about a greedy little elephant desperate for some pumkiny goodness!

And again I tried something a little different by using pencils and light washes, turned out quite well... think I'll use it again :)

lil’ li-boons… (boundaries)

2011-09-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

Some boundaries should be respected….

Still… aren’t they cute :)

a South African story...

2011-09-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

There are so many great stories that unfold quietly and cross the paths of our daily lives, stories not written but lived and living still… people’s stories.

At the beginning of the year, I was invited to join a collective of African comic artists (l’Afrique Dessinée) and participate in putting a book together: "Thembi et Jetje, des tisseuses de l’arc en ciel”.
Each artist was assigned to illustrate a chapter of the story which spans two decades (10 chapters all in all), the book will be published in France by l’Harmattan later this month!

This is Thembi, a Ndebele woman...

And Jetje, an Afrikaans girl.

I loved working with the other guys and gals, some of which were friends that I hadn’t seen since Angouleme 2006!

And as a special treat, you can also take a peek at the cover by Adjim :)

mysteriousness

2011-09-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

Here’s an oldie that I tweaked to make more… mysterious!

New pages/tab

2011-09-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

A page has just been added for comics, look over there, at the top and to the right… see it?
If you’re on your mobile, then just click on the little downward arrow at top right…

I’ll be adding more of my short stories as I go, so keep checking :)

the rabbit and the wolf

2011-09-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to illustrate several stories for Shuter and Shooter, a publisher I hadn’t worked with before, how exciting :)

One of these stories was an African fable about a rabbit...

and a wolf…

the Gimp is dead, long live the Gimp!

2011-09-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

One of my dearest models died recently.
Gimli (aka the Gimp aka Gimme aka Gimpster) was a cat of great standing and sweet, sweet disposition. A lion’s mane enveloping the most delicate personality, a real sweet-heart...

Rest in peace buddy, I miss you.

disguised

2011-09-01T04:09:00.000-07:00

"what lion?”

Zitt’s story

2011-08-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different…

This is Zitt, an odd little crustacean character that I came up with months ago for the Velocity anthology, he was to feature in his very own 4page mini-comic of Moebius-inspired mayhem.

Regretably, this was right around the time I got ridiculously entrenched in other (paying) work, and so I had to pull out :(

I hope I’ll get to finish his story someday, I had a great steed worked out and it was gonna be infused with all sorts of funny South Africanisms like ‘bru’, ‘howzit’, ‘Obz’ and many more…

For now though, it’ll be committed to the depths of this blog’s archives… but for now: Enjoy!

Design 4 Development interview

2011-08-26T00:26:00.000-07:00

I’ve had the pleasure of working with D4D for a number of years now, doing things to uplift and better inform the community.

This strip about HIV antiretrovirals is one of the latest cartoons I’ve created for them, each one being more fun to create than the last!

Recently, I was featured on their blog; check it out here, you might even see something you haven’t seen before :)

going to school

2011-08-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

We’ve all been there. School.

How we got to it every morning though, that all depends…

and my personal favourite…

There’s a little story behind that one: when I was a kid I would visit overseas and when people found out I lived in Africa they were amazed and a barrage of questions would follow. I remember another kid asking me: “is it true that you ride elephants to school?”

So, like any 10 year old, I replied: “Of course! Sometimes even lions!!”

Looking back, I should’ve said: “lion-o-saurus”

big fish

2011-08-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

Did this one as a treat for myself for surviving the grueling last few months!

I just can’t figure out which fish I am…

beastly fun

2011-08-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

Recently, I found myself in the middle of a publishing maelstrom, the deadlines for next year’s school sylabus had everybody in a frenzy! With more work coming in than ever before, I had to get creative about stretching my styles without losing time…

These illustrations come from a couple of different stories for Cambridge University Press, do you see the subtle variation in style?

This next one featured a “funny” dog, that’s all the motivation I needed to cast my Una as the lead role :)
(Una is a basset, they’re pretty funny… but next time I’ll use Zoe [the pug] they’re even funnier)

I was walking the other day...

2011-08-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

It was a tuesday, I think, and I was walking through the forest at the foot of the mountain that sits in the heart of the city, I veered from the usual way and before I knew it I was very lost indeed!

When I could spot the rocky peaks again, I couldn’t recognise my mountain, it had become another mountain altogether!

Then, from my left, a rustling…

So I grabbed my sketchbook :)

website’s done!

2011-08-12T13:21:00.000-07:00

So, like, after a million years, I got around to making and actually finishing my official website (there were a few partially finished mutants on the way).
I recently discovered googlesites which lets me maintain things easily enough until the next evolutionary spurt…

Without further ado, let me present…. me!

going to the circus

2011-08-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

Ola strangers!
At least... I’m the stranger. It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything regular and for that I apologise. Bad form that is.
To fill you in quickly: I went on holiday and when I returned I hit the proverbial ground at a full sprint! Publishing kept me very busy and by the time things got ‘normal’ again I’d lost the habit of regularly posting stuff.
So enough with the hiding! And on with the show!

One of the things that kept me away was the 4th activity book featuring our friend: Toko, the apparently multi-talented gecko! This time around the theme was ‘the circus’ which invites all sorts of fun.

And these are some of the interior pages…

I really enjoy working on these and I’m delighted that I get to work on these activity books again and again, as a kid I’d always wondered about the people putting these things together :)

Remedy this!

2011-07-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

A while back we, my good pal and co-loon Maloney and I, created a spin off cartoon strip from our Opera Savannah greeting cards...
It dealt with the day-to-day rituals of a quirky meerkat family and some other beasties from the neighbouring veld.

Meet Albert. That reclusive uncle, the ever vigilant scientist, always ravenous for knowledge; you know the one, every family has one of those!

New pages/tab

2011-04-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

Is everyone having a good monday?
…how about you, Garfield?

…

Well that says it all!

Anyway, I digress. For your convenience (and mine) I've added a portfolio/gallery page which you might already have noticed at the top of the blog, on the nav bar… "Older kids", see it?

This one collects illustrations intended for an older audience than the "Children's illustrations" page.

now, carry on...

POW! POW!

2011-04-02T06:24:00.000-07:00

I'm finally riding the crest of the production wave, it's been rough getting there and there have been a few of those "Crap. I'm drowning!" moments along the way… but it's good.
Being busy is good.
Anyhoo, nothing I can divulge about my current jobs but here's a little something I've been putting together for a while now…

No, no, not just this panel. Rather, my webcomic, and this is what you can expect! Except not in colour, that's just crazy… All those guys out there doing their stuff in colour: kudos, good job! Me? Not so much…

So, stay tuned :)

my Town...

2011-03-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

Phew!
I've had a busy few weeks and there's not much to show for it… so, to tide you over, here are some sketches of my lovely Cape Town :)

This summer's hanging on with it's teeth but for all the tanners out there, I guess it's a good ~~thong~~… er… thing!

Me. I like some rain.
Else my basil wilts...

Warning

2011-03-08T02:02:00.000-08:00

Couple years back, I was tasked to adapt an anti-poaching poster for a kids publication…

beastly birthdays

2011-03-01T01:55:00.000-08:00

As the year gains momentum and time becomes more and more monopolised, it's great to find excuses to string a few stray minutes together to draw little things for the people I care about.

The girls posed for me recently as subjects for some birthday cards: Una (basset hound), Zoe (pug) and our little Peanut...

Layers

2011-02-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a peek at something I've been fiddling with recently, you may even recognize this guy from an earlier post, I thought it suited the 'Layer' theme of Illustration Friday this week:

A giant shark in a gorilla suit (layer 1) breaking atmosphere (layer 2)

Wait 'til you see where it goes from there….

tribute - Mike Wieringo

2011-02-11T05:09:00.000-08:00

Today, a little something different…

This handsome guy is Koj, of Tellos fame, created by the late Mike Wieringo.

reverse

2011-02-08T05:44:00.000-08:00

I most probably had the idea for these guys after reading Alan Moore's: Top 10 series, if you've read it you know what I'm talking about…

These will feature in a 4 page comic short which I'll unveil soon :)

alien prospector - "Dusty"

2011-01-21T05:36:00.000-08:00

Another day, another alien…

This slimy little guy is off to work. Out there on the farthest reaches of the final frontier, where things with bones dare not go!
What is he looking for, you ask?
Space Dust? maybe.

Chicken-pug!

2011-01-15T13:05:00.000-08:00

Like Magritte said:
"This is not a pug dressed like a chicken…"

New Year!

2011-01-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

Welcome back (mostly to me, feels like I've been away, marooned on some far off, exotic planet)

To kick off 2011, here are some… illustrations? photos? …

I'm not really sure.

I did these to give as gifts to my family; made from photos I took in Mozambique, Zambia, Malasia and France - I combined these with ink and watercolour washes I've been collecting.

The idea came when I was doing experiments with trees, I find trees are great to explore techniques with, I'm curious to see what fruits these experiments will bear in the long term...

Action Gecko - take 3

2010-12-16T00:19:00.000-08:00

That's right, I recently completed the third activity book starring our little ambitious gecko :)

Angouleme '06

2010-12-13T02:18:00.000-08:00

Here's another snowy pic, I really am longing for some snow and knowing that there's lots of it up north is making me dotty… and speaking of dots, this quaint setting is the town of Angouleme where they hold the annual international comic festival of the same name.

Feels like a million years ago that I was there, and yes, there most definitely was snow! There's a little story: Myself and ten other Africans from the 4 corners of the continent were invited to Angouleme to exhibit our work, for a few of the guys it was the first time they had seen snow never mind been in it!

It was great, snowmen were built, snowballs thrown and there was even a case of us being snowed in for a night. All in all a terrific week of adventure, amazement and new friendships!

This was a sketch I did the first day as we waited in Paris for the train bound for Angouleme, having been in the African summer some 24 hours before we were all bundled up quite severly, only the tips of noses could be seen :)

Mecha-Zoo: Galago

2010-12-03T07:18:00.000-08:00

Silly me, I really thought that I'd posted this before… I would've waited a little longer before unveiling the new banner ;)

Galago is what we call a "bushbaby", it's a small primate closely related to Madagascar's lemurs. They only come out at night and are very common around South Africa but are rarely seen.

It's been one of the most popular MZ to date, must be those bedroom eyes...
O_o

gone walkies...

2010-11-30T00:05:00.000-08:00

Do you ever forget about things you've done?

I started this drawing ages ago and finally got around to finishing it this year and promptly forgot all about it!

The backdrop is based on a part of Newlands Forest I myself take my dogs to, never felt like there were any creepy beasties spying on me though :)

The boy's name is 'Usana' and I'll be posting some more stuff about him soon...

sneaky sneaky shark-zilla

2010-11-25T01:01:00.000-08:00

Couldn't resist using this one again…

I wish everything was this fun to draw :)

thinking of snow

2010-11-24T01:40:00.000-08:00

Yikes!

Can't believe it's been a week already, I guess it's official then - we've hit that crazy time of year again…

So, in the spirit of snow (which I miss a lot) here's a drawing derived from a postcard my mom sent me from the little town of Orcival.

burning

2010-11-16T03:51:00.000-08:00

Awright…

who left the stove on again?!

This week's Illustration Friday: burning

Mix media loosely inspired by Dave (the man) McKean

mecha-Zoo: roughs x2

2010-11-15T06:48:00.000-08:00

Some more...

Mecha-Zoo: roughs

2010-11-11T10:22:00.000-08:00

Have you been wondering what happened to the MZ posts? I've been a little distracted but to make up for the oversight I've collected all the finished MZ in their very tab (look at the top, just below the banner).

Then, for the next few days I'll be posting some old MZ concepts; for the first time ever, here the ones that didn't make the cut :p

More to come soon...

illustration friday

2010-11-08T04:20:00.000-08:00

The subject this week is "afterward"…

Oh dear, can you guess what happened?

rabbit's moon

2010-11-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

And on the subject of the moon… these are from a job I did for Nasou Via Afrika a while back, the story was about the myth of the rabbit and the moon.

It's interesting seems to be a common theme across several cultures, bunnies sure do get around ;)

cat magic

2010-10-25T05:04:00.000-07:00

Just keeping things updated, I recently posted this on watercolour wednesdays last week...

This month promises many great things on WW so keep checkin it out :)

wednesday night drawing

2010-10-22T06:48:00.000-07:00

This week, I was given the fantastic opportunity to sit in on a life drawing class, the same class I used to attend a while back.

These are a few of the evenings sketches, I really enjoy these occasions where I can draw for drawing and not deadlines or briefs :)

Thanks to the guys at D4D for the great gift!

fun in the sun

2010-10-20T06:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, been super busy and had some issues trying to sell my car...

Gotta love that paperwork :p

Anyway, in the spirits of cooler ways of getting around than cars, and camping next to the sun to tell the best campfire stories...

...you tell the scariest stories around the sun, everyone knows that!

Spooky

2010-10-15T23:51:00.000-07:00

This week on illustration friday the theme is 'spooky', so adapted an old image to look alittle more ominous and, dare I say it again: spookier!

Starting with an ink wash and watercolour sketch and adding various photographic details digitally...

Jerry pin-up

2010-09-28T16:57:00.001-07:00

I couldn't not do it (it's 3 in the morning and I'll use a double negative if I want to), the theme this week on illustration friday is 'old-fashioned'...

So I blew the dust off an old sketch and slapped some colour to it and presto! Instant Jerry pin-up and I don't have to tell you how old-fashioned he is...

One day I'll get around to telling his story but right now... bed.

leopard styles

2010-09-27T04:50:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, I was asked to do some sample illustrations for a children's book...

It's been a while now and I haven't heard from the editor so I think it's safe to show you these, enjoy :)

As usual, it's a mix of watercolour and digital layering.

the chameleon and the fly...

2010-09-23T03:42:00.000-07:00

This week's theme on illustration friday is "acrobat" and I'd been wanting to draw a chameleon again for some time.

So here's my take on that eternal struggle between chameleon and fly... but which is the more acrobatic?

I'll let you decide :)

First Time again!

2010-09-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

Following the success of our little story (see last post), we attracted the attention of a local production house interested in producing and directing a short-film.

Ian wrote a fantastic screenplay which built on to our quirky 4 page comic, imagining some even quirkier new scenes.

Unfortunately, the plans have fallen through since then...

...but I still have these awesome little production boards to show for it :)

The First Time...

2010-09-08T04:24:00.000-07:00

Today, a little something special:

In 2006, myself and Ian Malone collaborated on a short comic story for the Outline Project; a Cape Town exhibition that complimented the Comics Brew festival of that year.

The deal: a bunch of local artists and writers were invited to present a 4 page comic story of South African flavour entitled "The First Time".

Twelve finalists were then chosen to exhibit their stories as well as having them published an anthology...

Not only was our story selected but I was also asked to draw the poster/cover of The Outline Project!

Action Gecko - the sequel

2010-09-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

I was asked to illustrate the follow up to the 'Summer Fun' activity book I did last year, let's call it: Winter Fun! (actually it was called: My Holiday, but I like mine better)

A night-time variant of the cover and below are some of the pages from the book...

Winter here falls over June - August, which meant over the World Cup, so we couldn't stay away from using some soccer themes....
As with the first, I had tons of fun drawing and making up some of the games; the pages were wonderfully designed by the good people at 8 Ink Media, I think it all oozes fun!

faux covers

2010-09-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

In a moment of inspiration, I decided to produce a bunch of covers to shop around to get more cover work...

These are some of them:

Everything is made-up, from the authors' names to the publisher, so don't bother trying to find them ;)

Mecha-Zoo: Papio

2010-09-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

Doh! I seem to have missed an MZ update... my bad...
I recently posted a baboon from a children's book, well, here's the Mecha-Zoo equivalent: Papio!
This piece is another 'Version 2.0' canvass that I exhibited in '06, mix media.

Troy

2010-08-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

This is Troy. He's an awesome little frenchie that oozes personality.... ...and mischief!

New Tab

2010-08-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi all, I've added a new tab up top 'Children's illustrations', check it out, there's some new stuff :)

sweaty baboon

2010-08-27T04:40:00.000-07:00

Here's another little peek at a project I mentioned a while back...

My good friend and writer Ian Malone wrote a children's book script that I've been illustrating when the time-gobblins are willing.

For the style I wanted to try something really new and fresh, I stuck to my watercolours but threw away the tight outlines I usually use. I then use a digital 'cut-out' method to create the shapes and add a little shading for depth.

I'll keep you posted as I progress :)

Zen trees

2010-08-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

More delays on the site... grr...

When I'm frustrated I like to draw trees, it hard to do wrong by a tree and the lines are so peacful.

I especially like to experiment and try new things, I forget where the idea came from but it's a fairly simple technique of superimposing photos and watercolours.

illustration friday - atmosphere

2010-08-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

This is a recent comission of Table Mountain, I also thought it fit the 'atmosphere' topic on illustration friday this week.
It's a mix of watercolours, inks and digital collage...

Savannah 2116 AD

2010-08-19T15:25:00.000-07:00

And speaking of covers....

Here's another one I did for Tafelberg a few years back, I used the same model from the Moon Bride kid's story I posted not long ago, remember her?

This is actually my first credited book cover and I kinda threw everything at it (at the time) but looking back, it still holds up well.

I also created the typography of the 'Savannah', there's a special place in my heart for typographical design...

Avos and the Waratah!

2010-08-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

Part of the reason I've been so scarce (since the beginning of the year about) has been because of this book: "The Mystery of the SS Waratah and the avocado tree"

It's been recently released so I can now talk about it ;)

Written by M J Honikman and published by Tafelberg, I'm not gonna get into too many details but the story's based around the disappearance of a steamship around the coast of South Africa 101 years ago... and an avocado tree!

It can safely be said... I can now draw avos... day or night...

I reverted to a simple line style keeping the characters mostly flat against more detail intensive backgrounds and environments. Unexpectedly, I was also asked to set the book, this turned out to be great from a flexibility point of view and it's always nice to see something from start to finish design-wise.

There are also 'flashbacks' which are done in the ink-wash technique I so enjoy, I'm glad I got to use it :)

If you want to find out more about the Waratah, here's the ISBN: 978-0-624-04817-6

the moon bride

2010-08-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

Shoo hey, crazy days.
I've been hard at work putting my site together and it's aaalmost done... how exciting! I'll keep you all updated.
Anyway, without further excuses, here're some goodies from way back....

These illustrations for Nasou Via Afrika are one of the first jobs I undertook as freelance illustrator. I wanted to play with photo-montage techniques and managed to convince a friend to pose as the Moon, the rest is layered and layered on top.
This is probably the first time I used photos in my work, I've become a lot more subtle these days :)

(I can't help shake the feeling that I've just missed the opportunity to post a scary drawing)

Tyger tiger

2010-07-30T01:10:00.000-07:00

Went through a phase of Op Art, that is: the art of optical illusion. It spun out of surrealism but the idea's been around for ages.

This pic was inspired by Magritte… remember the pipe?

Equal Treatment

2010-07-20T04:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some sketches of a few cartoons I did for Equal Treatment, a magazine about HIV issues.

As you may or may not know, HIV/Aids is a huge problem in South Africa, I was only too happy to have the opportunity to contribute to Aids awareness.

Design 4 Development, the studio that handles the magazine, has blogged the final cartoons so check 'em out!

faces

2010-07-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

These are some doodles done as gifts for friends of mine many years ago. The first two were drawn on brown wrapping paper and the light effect of the last one is bleach on ink wash.

The odd caption of #1 is a private joke (something to do with squirrel-phobia) but the face belongs to none other than Mr. Picasso from a photo by Irving Penn

Mecha-Zoo: Aethiopicus

2010-07-01T07:20:00.000-07:00

Continuing with Mecha-Zoo 2.0, always a classic - the warthog!

It's also probably what Pumba would look like as the Terminator :)

sketchbook circa '03

2010-06-30T15:01:00.000-07:00

Long ago, I worked in an office, had co-workers, lunch hour, loo breaks and so on. Most days at lunch-time I would go over the road to Bingo's Takeaways, a charmingly authentic little spot from which you could observe the local wildlife.

...ya gots me!

2010-06-29T00:50:00.000-07:00

Not sure what inspired this one, just wanted to draw blood I suppose...

Or maybe it's all that Jae Lee stuff I've always enjoyed ;)

Now THAT guy can draw! And watching him evolve from his early late-eighties work has been brilliant, check him out.

...wanna bet?

2010-06-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

One of my first jobs, when I started my freelance career, was to design and illustrate a comic for NRGP. It was aimed at school kids all over South Africa to create awareness of the dangers of gambling.

Myself and my partner, writer Ian Malone, were given incredible leeway to get the best possible product. So we ran with it.... and ran.... and ran. Far.

This is where I discovered how much potential ink washed backgrounds have against 'regular' outlined elements - especially characters.

Mecha-Zoo: Jubatus

2010-06-02T07:22:00.000-07:00

Somewhat belated but always fast, this month's Mecha-Zoo: Jubatus, continuing the MZ version 2.0 which was exhibited in Cape Town 2006.

It may look a bit like a leopard but it is in fact the cheetah of the series, the Big 5 were version 1.0 in 2005 ;)

JC-X50 breakdown

2010-05-31T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Thought I could as well include the wip of the last post.here's how it all happened, punctuated along the way by cups of coffee!

o_O

Seen my new car?

2010-05-21T01:57:00.000-07:00

It's a joke I've been telling my friends before unveiling this drawing, which is one of those "right first time" cases, one can never have too many of those :)

So anyway, joke's on me, my car was stolen the other day and now all I have left for transport is this drawing.... cool as it may be... and fast as it may look...

The irony is not lost on me,

but still...

...

I miss my car :(

Northern Light bear

2010-05-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

Shoo, it's been cold and wet this last week, and worst of all... no snow! Which isn't weird or anything but still, it would be nice :)

Anyway, I thought this drawing would be appropriate, it's a little something I did for my girlfriend not long ago.

It's the usual ink wash and that groovy glow effect is from bleach applied to the dry wash which effectively erases the ink.

Mecha-Zoo: Crocuta

2010-05-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Aha! After some technical difficulties, here's this month's belated MZ!

CROCUTA

A great name that I think well sums up the nature of hyenas, crocuta-crunch-crunch...

This guy is the first of the second series of MZ, exhibited in Cape Town in 2006.

snowy blues whale and a bunch of talking-heads

2010-04-26T02:54:00.000-07:00

Like the title implies, here are a few random illustrations from a recent project.
Published by Cambridge Uni Press, this is one of the endeavours that has kept me quiet lately.
When it comes to illustrating school books, I like to vary the drawings as much as possible and keep a little room for experimentation.These are some of the prelim sketches, can you spot the differences?
This one was dropped altogether...

Mecha-Zoo: Cincerus

2010-04-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

I liked the idea of starting each new month with a Mech-Zoo, though it means I've got enough reserves for only 6 months :)

The buffalo is the last member of the Big 5 that I did for my 2005 expo, from next month it'll be MZ version 2.0 which were exhibited in Cape Town in 2006.
This guy also featured in the Prius campaign last year (cont. from my first post ever)

See him? All teeny tiny in the corner, there?

le big BOOM!

2010-03-26T02:51:00.000-07:00

It's one of those common themes... what more can I say?

:p

The Lost Forest

2010-03-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit scarce lately, having just finished illustrating a children's book for Tafelberg Press, as well as setting it in two languages!
Anyway, so I'm done with that and a few other projects, now I'll be a little more regular :)

I'll blog those soon enough but today I thought I'd do this one...
A few years back a friend of mine wrote a story that struck me, I promised him I'd illustrate it and promptly moved to another province.
By the time I'd drawn these we'd completely lost touch, he had in turn moved away too, so these will remain unpublished until we re-connect.
Oh well...

Mecha-Zoo: Bicornis

2010-03-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd kick off this new month with, yes, another Mecha-zoo. The rhino is the second last Big 5 MZ that I first exhibited in 2005.

wednesday night drawing - last one

2010-02-23T03:50:00.000-08:00

So, been so tied up I haven't even posted these suckers up.These will be the last life-drawings I do until I can wiggle some free time.
This model is the same guy from before, he's always fun to draw!

Another ship?!

2010-02-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

I know I've already posted ships but this is an unused piece from a current project that I wanted to use somewhere... so there it is!

:)

Bushman strip

2010-02-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

Here's an old one...Ages ago I decided I would try to draw a comic without having a set story in mind (I believe Moebius did some of his stories like this), as a 'drawer' I find words abstract and confusing. So off I went drawing one page after another in a stream-of-thought kinda way.

I got to page 12... Moebius I'm not :(

but on the plus side, I found out I have an affinity for drawing Bushmen :)
(and wrinkly people in general)

Horsey ink

2010-02-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

I did this one a while back based on one of the statues standing outside the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, it's Quink on Oriental paper, the two weren't intended to work together but I quite like what happened...

Ah, those happy accidents :)

In the Zen...

2010-02-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

Y'know, I'm not prone to self-portraits. Ever since college, I think it was beaten out of me, all those wasted hours.... now I just go to the bathroom mirror.

Rants aside, I had the urge one day, the urge to.... draw myself?!
Indeed, this is what I dream of, one day technology will have caught up with me and I'll have all those extra arms!

...and monkey feet :)

rain man

2010-01-29T02:00:00.000-08:00

Well obviously it isn't Dustin Hoffman... still, it got you to look ;)
This is an old drawing, done when I was still working at Atomic-VFX, originally intended for the Spoon movie it fell through the cracks of production (3 years long) but here it is again for the first time.

randomness tuesday...

2010-01-19T12:04:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure what to blog so I drew from a pot and this is what happened...
Gotta dig those space-otters, or as I like to call them: asterotteroids!
I love the flow of an otter's movements and it's playfull disposition, my girlfriend drew the fish for me one day so I drew this one for her :)

welcome back!

2010-01-15T01:59:00.000-08:00

Wow, two weeks have already flown by!!
I'm still swamped by last year's work so I'm pulling something from the archives...This doodle of me and Nadene on one of our walks around the mountain was modestly inspired by Larcenet. All that's missing is our 2 dogs.
Last year was a bit lacking in walks, to be honest, I hope this year we'll redouble our efforts to explore!

Happy New Year one and all :)

Mecha-Zoo: Pardus

2009-12-30T09:23:00.000-08:00

Merry-Mecha!
Drawn with ball-point pen, ink wash and enhanced with photographic elements,
I was on holiday when I drew this guy, guess that's why he looks so lazy :)

Speaking of holidays, I wish you all safe and outstanding New Years!

Mecha-Zoo: Loxodonta

2009-12-18T09:10:00.000-08:00

More Mecha-Zoo!
This one's still one of my favourites, it all just came together and worked. The vaccum attachment was suggested by a friend :)

This is also one of the few that I sketched out using pencil and not ball-point, I then added ink washes and photographic elements in the same way as the others....

Mecha-Zoo: Leo

2009-12-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

Another Mecha-Zoo beastie, Leo was part of MZ version 1.0 exhibited in 2005.
With the exception of the angler fish, version 1.0 was all about the Big 5...
Drawn in ball-point pen, ink wash and photography, all the bits are then comped digitally and voila!