shelley scraps

Jack in Progress

2012-02-03T16:02:00.001Z

I just finished inking in! And yes, it's from Jack and the Beanstalk as many people soon spotted. This is the scene where Jack ignores his mother's pleading and ascends the beanstalk for the third and last time. The brooding clouds and tossed leaves are to suggest the trouble that lies ahead. Can you spot something unusual about those clouds?

It looks quite flat at the moment, but the clouds, drawn in thinned ink, will blend into the watercolour washes, while sharper colours on the beanstalk will pull out. Often half the lines blend in when I lay on colour, it's a problem I always have with my watercolour paintings, but I try to turn this to my advantage and use drawing to anchor washes and provide some tonal range without relying entirely on paint.

All that remains now is to paint it, but that won't be for a while yet, as I tend to draw all the spreads of a book first before switching to colour, there are still a lot of spreads awaiting the ink pot and pen.

Work in Progress

2012-02-02T21:42:00.000Z

Can you guess which well known children's tale I'm illustrating at the moment?

It's one of the spreads from a new 44 page picture book for Japanese publisher Fukuinkan Shoten. The finished work will be in colour, at the moment I'm inking in the linework.

Fukuinkan can be described as quite a traditional publisher, being one of the oldest and most established houses in Japan. The requirements for this book are likewise in a traditional vein.

So have you guessed the story?

It's still unfinished, but here's the full drawing, half way through inking.

More 1980's Studio work

2012-01-17T12:13:00.000Z

Here are some more editorial illustrations from the beginning of my career in London in the mid-1980's, from music journals and listings magazines. A much harsher angle than my children's books of course, it was the post-punk era, we were all angry back then.
At that time most of my regular work was for the press, a lot of it in black and white, I've discovered literally piles of work from this era in my father's loft, it amazes me now how prolific I was then! Façade Studios was a time of great development for me. Much more than art college it was here, with a very talented and creative bunch of studio-mates, and with the harsher discipline of deadlines and desperate need to earn a living that technique, style and direction were honed. Fast ideas, fast deadlines, Good times. Though invariably under budgeted!

I forget what this was for!

City Limits magazine (showing the beginning of my fascination with Japan!)

City Limits magazine

City Limits again (I think)

New Musical Express letters page

Music press, not sure which one

Music Press again

Early Work - political cartoons

2012-01-15T18:33:00.000Z

Daughter and I spent part of the holiday season at my father's house. While rummaging around in his loft for my bits and pieces I was surprised and delighted to find piles and piles of my old artwork, some of it from school days in the 1970's, but also a great deal of my oldest professional work from my London studio in the 1980's. In those early days I shared a studio in Crouch End with illustrators Jane Ray and Willie Ryan, and graphic designers Chris Millett and Andy Royston. The collective, named Façade Studios, enabled me to work on a very wide range of material from press editorial to posters, as well as my main career of children's books. I haven't seen most of these pieces since I left for Japan in 1987.

Here's something very much of the period, though also timing nicely with the new movie on Margaret Thatcher. Some editorial cartoons, all from 1984/1985.

Lest we forget!

Ronald Ray-gun

Arthur Scargill's dream

The Sinking Pound (Norman Tebbit, Geoffrey Howe, Maggie Thatcher)

Christmas 1984

New Year 2012

2012-01-03T10:46:00.000Z

Best wishes for a prosperous and peaceful Year of the Dragon!

Seasons Greetings

2011-12-19T11:16:00.001Z

Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas, filled with dreams and festive cheer.

Giving Thanks, to turkeys?

2011-11-24T17:07:00.001Z

Alas! Calamity! Halloween deadlines held up my marathon of daily sketches and I've been having a rest from the blog for a while. I'll pick up the sketching thread again soon though. In the meantime here's another editorial illustration from the regular bimonthly series I draw for ANA's inflight magazine Wingspan. This will be in the next issue and focuses on the annual French Turkey Festival (Fete de la Dinde), held in the town of Licques in December.

I'm a vegetarian myself, the last time I ate turkey was so long ago I don't even remember what it tastes like, so my appreciation of the bird is purely for it's looks. Nevertheless I dedicate this post to all my lovely friends in the US celebrating Thanksgiving (another celebration I've never experienced!)

A Drawing a Day #48

2011-10-29T15:43:00.001+01:00

Something a little scary for Halloween!

A Drawing a Day #47

2011-10-27T22:14:00.001+01:00

Binary Stars.

A Drawing a Day #46

2011-10-26T14:41:00.001+01:00

A bit of feline fun.

A Drawing a Day #45

2011-10-25T11:53:00.001+01:00

Flower Girl.

A Drawing a Day #44

2011-10-24T12:07:00.000+01:00

Definitely not fuel efficient or eco-friendly.

A Drawing a Day #43

2011-10-22T10:00:00.000+01:00

Solitary sojourn.

A Drawing a Day #42

2011-10-21T12:03:00.001+01:00

Canine Corpulence

A Drawing a Day #41

2011-10-20T18:34:00.000+01:00

Which is the best way up, this way?

...or this way?

A Drawing a Day #40

2011-10-19T09:00:00.000+01:00

God of Confusion

A Drawing a Day #39

2011-10-18T11:24:00.000+01:00

sometimes the smallest of doodles...

A Drawing a Day #38

2011-10-17T11:21:00.002+01:00

Circumstances prevented me from posting sketches this last weekend, but here's something for today though!

A Drawing a Day #37

2011-10-14T11:09:00.001+01:00

Princess on a Scooter

A Drawing a Day #36

2011-10-13T11:00:00.000+01:00

Heroic Tree.

A Drawing a Day #35

2011-10-12T09:00:00.000+01:00

A spot of self-indulgency, though I suppose all these drawings are self-indulgent really! Anyway, it was something to dab at while watching TV. I first went to Japan because I was interested in Ukiyo-e, perhaps this indicates a little of that old fascination.

A Drawing a Day #34

2011-10-11T00:30:00.000+01:00

fowl family

A Drawing a Day #33

2011-10-10T09:00:00.000+01:00

Dragon town.

A Drawing a Day #32

2011-10-09T10:31:00.001+01:00

Something a little different in tone! I'm working on a couple of books at the moment, one of them a new edition of Jack and the Beanstalk for a Japanese publisher. The ogre in the final book will be altogether lighter in tone, more in the Fairy Tale tradition, but while pushing pen around paper I couldn't help scribbling this cheerful chappie just for fun.

A Drawing a Day #31

2011-10-08T09:00:00.000+01:00

Something simple for Saturday.