Contemporary Picture Book

The current project i am working on is a children's book based upon the tale by Jack Zipes, Nino and Nina. The tale is very similar to that of the well known tale of Hansel and Gretel. I have adapted the story into my own tale loosely based on the text. I have created two worlds, reality and imagination,  one will be painted and the in colour pencil. I have decided to depict two double page spreads. Here is some progress so far.

The finals for a tale based on Nino and Nina

My Studio

On top of being in the great new studio at uni, I am also lucky enough to have my own studio at home which I am in whenever I'm not at uni. Here are some picture that i took of it so you can see where I work, it would be a second bedroom but i convinced the other half that it would be better as a studio.

Crown Brand Advert

For this advertising piece i decided to use a new technique of using collage and gouache. Gouache is my favourite media to use as the lovely tones of colour that you can create. I started experimenting by painting of different types of paper and the piece really did just go from there. I have took images for each storage of this piece so that you can see how it was created. 

Serco Prize

I have finished my a1 painting for the Serco Prize 2014, it took me quite a while to paint but i feel that it was worth it and i would not have done it any other way if i did it again.

Serco prize 2013

I have been quite quiet recently as I have been very busy working away on my entry for the serco prize. It will be the biggest piece I have ever painted in gouache, it is taking me quite a long time but I am happy with how it is going so far. The stories that I chose to represent was the Tower ofLondon menagerie  as it meant I could add in many fun elements. Here are some progress photos so far. 

An audience for a fashion show...

With this project i really wanted to stay away from the stereotypical response of a runway and as i specialise in children's illustration i wanted to have fun with it. Whilst doing some research I found some garden fashion shows which i really liked the look off and thought how would children respond to this, and this is what I have done in my image. The piece that I have chosen to do would be page from a picture book. I have also included some of my initial sketches below for this piece. 

Rough plan

After lots of sketches here is a plan for my final piece, I think only I'm going to be able to understand these scribbles but it should give a general idea of the piece.

Secro prize

This year as part of my uni course we are entering the serco prize which is based on london stories :) I didn't know that much about London but as I did my research I started with one of the main buildings that I knew about and looked into stories surrounding it. I found out about the tower managerie which is great as I love an excuse to draw animals and create stories.
The tower managerie had many of the first animals of their kind in England and many of them had interesting stories as to to how they got there such as gifts etc. I decided to create many narratives in one image and as it is the secro prize based on london transport I decided to use this transport to get to london and I'm going to incorporate many landmarks of london into the image And make it decorative. The piece had to be 20x30 inches and I have never worked that big so let the challenge begin....
Here are some initial sketches and very rough ideas.

                                             

Almost there

As im coming to the end of my project i decided to have fun and try a different technique with gouache as i included details on top of a block colour which i found really effective and would defiantly use again. 

For all of these images I used a limited colour palette which i tend to use in most of my work as I find it looks much more effective. I chose this scene for courageous as i thought it was quite ironic him being brave when at the end of the day all is he doing is jumping in to jelly.

The idea for this portrait came about while i was gardening the other day and i tend to do gardening in the clothes i'm wearing at the time which always get dirty but i still haven't learnt my lesson, anyway as my very first time planting in my new garden I chose to grow carrots for no other reason that that is pretty much all that grows this time of year. The moment that i chose the word confident to place in the image it imediatly made me think that the person in the image knew she had the biggest carrot.

I must be brave

As it is becoming later on in the year and we are almost entering october, (where has this year gone?) i have decided to use a very restricted colour palette which no matter how i looked at it reminded me of halloween and looking at my list of words doughty meaning brave seemed appropriate. She may appear brave but with all that garlic around her neck how brave is she really. I would love to use this colour palette again as even though it was quite tricky to start with i have grown to love it.

 Mendacious meaning lying - your parents must of told you when you were young that if you ever ate the seeds of a fruit such as a melon or an apple then a tree would grow in your belly.

This image was inspired by how cold it has suddenly become in lincoln especially after having the heatwave back home on the isle of wight. I have used a warming colour palette to contrast with the meaning of the image. Also if you were wrapped up with all the scarves that the girl has you would be very toasty.

I was eaten my dinner the other day and im not too old for spaghetti letters, in my opinion no one is, and you clearly have to spell out words. In the sketching stage of this image it was quite different but as it developed i felt that actual spaghetti worked much better visually. As the spaghetti had to be orange it meant that the other main colour i chose was blue to create the biggest contrast. 

As i was reading the list of words the words la di da i initially found different until i realised that as i read it i was making a funny voice and face so i thought what context i was saying it in and this image of a spoilt princess came into my head. I used the rich colours to show her wealth.

Where did that go?

Ever wonder where the letters that just disappear go? well heres the solution the all knowing postman, he eats your letters and then knows all the information, i enjoyed painting the boxes.

I went for a walk the other day down the canal, and when I got home there was a bug in my pocket, which go me thinking what other stowaways were in there and what where they running from. The squirrel is offering the girl an acorn for safe passage. 

This word i found quite difficult as i didn't want to do the obvious,  so i took a cute young girl and made her rumbustious by adding an indian theme with small touches. She is being such a pain climbing the trees that the birds are evacuating,

Im beginning to see a recurring thing in my work, its that even though these portraits are individual pieces i always see a story and a whole narrative to go with them and a back story, its as if i get to know them , i have always done this in all my work but i think doing a blog has really made me realise that i get to know my characters, i think this is what makes me love illustration.

What to do when someones talking to much..

Have you ever been at that party, when someones just wont stop talking, well here is my solution.

I came up with the design at a party i recently went to but for some reason it made me think of christmas as there is always some distant relative that you have to put up with for the holidays.

Portraits

More additions to my portraits. 

Yes i know the titles getting a bit tedious already!! i promise a better title next time.

Did somebody say ROARRRRRRR! I enjoyed playing around with techniques and a limited colour palette.

 I decided to try a mixed media piece for leonine and have collaged some paper into the design but this is very subtle, id love to try this technique again but id defiantly go further with the collage as i think i held back because it was my first try.