All Roads Lead to Gravesend

Well, maybe not for everyone, but certainly for me. I am in fact leaving Nottingham in 4 months time, heading southwards to live in Gravesend. It has been 13 years since I was living that close to my parents and friends there, but of course I leave behind friends in Nottingham.

Well, Not many images this time round. I have actually been incredibly busy designing characters and illustrating a series of children s books, due out next year. I obviously cannot show you anything yet, but when they have been published, I will post a few images here. It has been a very rewarding experience and I have found myself in the very unusual position of illustrating the covers of books that have yet to be written, in order to inspire the authors. The complete reverse of my normal approach.

Anyway, I do have some images that havnt made it onto the blog so far. This was a present for a friend (well she owns the flat I shall be moving into so I guess they must have liked it!).

This was also another present for one of my old school friends:

Finally, heres a character and Logo I designed for Gordian Knot Games, actually run by my friend pictured above. I will be working with him on future projects so stay tuned...

Actually, my Client originally just wanted me to design the logo, but I suggested It would be cool to have a rope-based character to advertise the company. Fortunately the client went along with the idea, and Gordon was born. It took a few attempts to prevent him being too strange or thuggish, but I think I got away with it!

Clowns, Toy Crocodiles and Supers, Oh My

I guess I must have been pretty busy with freelance work this year - I havnt been on here for a long time, which isnt particularly inspiring. Here is what I have been up to in the meanwhile:

These illustrations are for PULP, another self published roleplaying game - one of four I will be doing in the year to come. I have been enjoying more of a painted style recently with my colour work, so this gives me an opportunity to develope that style a little.

Meanwhile, I have also been working on the layouts for a childrens book - you saw the characters last blog. Things have been moving on and I am almost ready to commence with the colour work. Here is a small taster of things to come - they are just roughs, but hopefully give a good indication of where things are going:

Here are some British superhero characters I have also been playing around with:

Golden Eagle is a gadgeteer, with various appropriate themed items. John Bull is a kind of super strong Captain America. Albion is a young guy with the power to manipulate Leylines, giving him strength, flight and healing. And here are a few rough characters that need a little more work:

Thats Nimue, Welsh Dragon, Green Knight and Flintlock. So more than enough to be getting on with for now

One Year to Go, for the Big Four O

Another hectic week, and a rather extended birthday weekend, which will probably extend to the next weekend. Good times and far too much cake. Ok there is probably room for more cake.

So since I am currently teaching character design, I thought i would share some character designs of my own, since I am currently working on a childrens book:

Meet Harvey:

This was my first real stab at Harvey, a toy crocodile.

I imagined him as rather dumpy (he loves cakes), and friendly. Then I tweaked and altered the head a little, because I wasnt happy with it:

But actually the client preferred the original. Some times you get it straight away! I think the first design is cuter, so I explored him a little:

So then on to Eeak-Squeak, a toy mouse this time. I think I had Mickey or Danger Mouse on the brain when I drew him here:

Which the client noticed. So I went back to an early idea, and this seemed to capture more of what the client was hoping for:

Sometimes the client doesnt know what they want until they see what they definitely dont want, so its always worth experimenting with different approaches if they dont have a definite image or direction in mind.

This is also a character of sorts, I did for a friends birthday. He is a Larper (Live action roleplayer) who is planning to play a dwarf next. So I envisioned him in full garb, complete with rubber sword, nerf-crossbow pistol and stripy pants. Apparently he liked the idea so much, he is getting a pair...

No Rest for the Wicked

Things have gone a little crazy, workwise, especially now my yearly teaching stint has begun. Disney is also keen to throw book after book at me, so there isnt a lot of time to rest at the moment. Unfortunately, that means the roleplaying projects I have been working on in my spare time, have had to take a back seat until things quiet down. Still, I have managed to cobble together some things I have been working on over the past few months:

This is Sorcerer Bob, a character I have been working on, based on Magic: the Gathering card game. There are half a dozen other characters, so eventually I shall post them here. I have a soft spot for Bob, who is a Ming the Merciless wannabe, but happens to be short, fat and not remotely intimidating. This is a design for a gaming mat.

These are a couple of interior illustrations for the Levercastle book I have been working on. I am going for a sketchbook theme, as if captured from strolling around the imaginary locations of the book.

This is Albion, a British Superhero I was toying around with earlier in the year. A work in progress.

And this final sketch is for a friends role-playing character. What with everything else this year, I havent got round to finishing her off just yet...

Where did that half of the year go?

Ok, so its been a long while since me last post, but it has been kind of manic. For one thing, I made the move back to freelancing, and there have been plenty of things to occupy my mind. As I am currently working on Levercastle, heres the cover:

I have also been working on Spiderman for some Disney Books. Heres a colour sample I worked on:

Actually, Disney want a more painted feel, so I here is a cover for a horror anthology I finished recently, with a departure from my normal style:

No Dice All the Way!

Merry Christmas to you all!

I Just thought I would send you a small present - 3 more finished illustrations for you, now Random Encounters has finally been completed. It has been a long slog for all the team - what started as a simple adventure supplement grew somewhat. I even managed to pen my own adventure "Empire Finest" along the way, which proved a little challenging! Personally, I really am proud of this one. Artistically speaking, this is close to approaching what I want No dice to be (I am my worst critic!) and sets me up nicely for Levercastle our next project. I assure you, that is going to be special, both in Leo`s fantastic setting, and the illustrations. Till then, I wish you all a great Xmas and best wished for 2010, the official Year of the Puck!

For Hosts Eyes Only....

Ok, so right now, I am furiously finishing off the illustrations for Random Encounters, I thought I would show you my favourite three so far. A warning though - these illustrations may well spoil your enjoyment of the adventurers, so if you are planning to play, rather than host, dont scroll down. You have been warned....