Normal Service will resume - Promise :)

Okay, its been sparse of late but I have good reason. I recently moved back to the UK from Australia. On they way I did a month in China. Now Im getting back into things at home in the UK, and now its xmas and to top it off I l have lots of freelance stuff to do so time has been of a premium of late. I'll add some crumby biro quickies I did in china shortly and hopefully over xmas I'll get back into something that resembles a routine.

Whoa! Has it just got dark in here?

I'm not entirely sure why but I fancied doing something rather macabre. Yeah, im rather disturbed too.

To be honest i'm reading 'Legend' by David Gemmill at the minute and there are constant references to crows feasting on the dead in battle so voila...

Inevitably......A 'Roo

Ozzy Tree Frog

The Kookaburra

Yeah I know not exactly the coolest or interesting of creatures but trust me, these guys are bloody noisy early (very early) in the morning so I thought I'd do a picture of one. That and the fact that im slightly high on flu medicine so I wasnt in the mood for anything too taxing. I'll make it up tomorrow with a tree frog or something.

The Living Dinosaur - Cassowary

Australia is renowned for its unique wildlife. The animal that grabbed me the most is the Cassowary. Looking at this creature its not such a leap to imagine Dinosaurs having feathers. It looks like something straight out of Jurassic Park. Its related to the Ostrich, Emu and the Kiwi and found in the rainforests of northern queensland. This are aggressive and can attack people, seriously, how cool and terrifying is that!

Anyway I was inspired by its colours and the creat on its head, which, incidentlly they use to cut through the forests at high speed with their heads down.

This pic took about 1 and half hours in Photoshop using all manner of brushes to obtain the texture.

Li'l Gods - 'Grown-up' Hermes

Back on the Saddle

Its been a few days since my last sketches, i've been party-ing hard wahoo!! So now I'm back with these, not my strongest but I'm glad I have the motivation to do them after the mini break. Im feeling a little 'story-boarded' out to be honest, so I may give these a break until I have a sequence to work through. Some colour studies and perhaps the designs of the adult gods in the next fews days or so.

The last days of my 'Youth'

So, my final week of my 'Twenties' and I must say people around me are making a bigger issue about it than me. And by a big deal I mean lots of people sucking their teeth saying "oohh thirty ehh?" and the timeless "all down hill from here". Now this is particularly cruel as anyone who knows me knows that I, on occasions have dispostion that would make Eeyore look happy-go-lucky so any misplaced comment could send me to a spiral of ennui and self despair. Having said this even I cant help to feel like I’ve accomplished that which is expected of me by the time of the big 30, lets face it I've been stressing non-stop for the last 15 I'd be well annoyed if I hadn’t :)

Education - Check! Got a decent degree. And in true twenty something fashion I'm doing a job that isn’t related to the course I studied for three years

Stable Relationship - well I am married if that counts :) I was lucky enough to marry my childhood sweetheart that I met at the tender age of 16 so yeah, a big Check!

Job - Well my perspective of this changes like the weather but I must admit I'm doing a job that is respectably paid and a lot of people would like to do and the big plus is I don’t have to wear a suit everyday. For those who are curious I'm 3d artist for computer games and the odd bit of freelance work now and again. One of the lessons I have learnt is that a job is a job really, there are always drawbacks but as long as you work to live all is well. Check!

Travel - I'm pretty sorted on this front, I've been to Paris Barcelona Amsterdam Bruges Luxembourg Venice (Got engaged there) Cyprus (Got married there) Corfu Greek Islands Athens Tunisia Cambodia Bangkok Koh Samui Chang Rai Laos Burma Egypt Australia United States – various, for a little while when I was 7 Turkey

I’m currently working out in Australia, I've been here 10 months, whilst I've been here I've climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Swam in the Barrier Reef amongst other things. We are leaving Australia in a few weeks (yay!) and en route back to the UK my wife and I are touring China. We start at Beijing and work our way down to Hong Kong stopping by the great wall, the terracotta army and shanghai and dodging bird flu. This little escapade lasts 20 days. So BIG check there.

There are other less tangible or more personal ambitions I been lucky enough to realize. I, for a while had the Italian Sports car I drooled over whilst I was at University, Okay it was only Fiat Coupe but a bloody fast one. I also have my baby. Lottie, the boxer dog. As a kid I always wanted a red and white boxer and now I have her, unfortunately I also have her air fare costs to and from Oz too!!! :) She’s worth it, just... I think.

Last and certainly not least I have my fantastic family, who have the power to frustrate and delight me in equal measures, but as I've found out in Oz, life is not the same with out 'em. Oh yeah, I also own a house, and in the UK these days that is no mean feat! :) That was more by luck than judgment.

So, where now? Well to be honest I just want to get back to the UK and enjoy my friends and family and for once, live in the moment. Smell the roses, y'know all those clichés. One day I'd like to have my own business or have a film/TV series commissioned based on one of my ideas but I'm not going to bust my hump on that just yet. Ahhh and then there is the greatest journey, that of fatherhood. Hopefully my wife and I will be lucky enough to bring a life into the world at some point in the not too distant future.

I've shown the 20's the big can 'o' whup ass So I say bring on the 30's, lets see what you got?

Li'l Gods - Back on Track

Li'l Gods - Just The One Today

Li'l Gods - More Scenes

Li'l Gods - More Compositions

Li'l Gods - Scene Sketches

Here are more ideas in sketch form, in response to my pal Dan's advice i'm leaving these in this form as they convey the idea, and at this stage that's what its all about, the idea.

Li'l Gods - Prelim Sketch

After a stint of visual constipation here is a value sketch of the Gryphon scalding Apollo. I'll probably address a few issues when I work it up but it works on a 'storyboard' type level. Also diggin a new sketch colour and style. This is what gawping at Tarzan and Jungle book art does for ya!

Li'l Gods - Mount Olympus Concept

This is a sketch of my vision of Mount Olympus. Obviously sat on a floating mountain. I used the blue mosque from Istanbul as my inspiration I felt it was more grand than a standard Acropolis style structure. There is plenty of realisation left to do with this but I thought it would be good to just dump my thoughts down on paper so when I do something more finished its not completely on the fly.

Li'l Gods - Titan Ideas

Here is a method i've picked up. This allows me to create more random interesting shapes and allow 'accidents' to happen. I quite like the ideas on this page. I rekon I'll use this method more as its great fun, give it a whirl!

Li'l Gods - Melina

Well, this is quickly turning into the 'lil gods' blog but have no fear this is not the case. So let me contradict myself straight away and present Melina (name supject to change) She is the precious daughter of the wise centaur Chiron, who we'll get into a little at a later date. I'm a little unsure about this design, I think it maybe due to the fact im getting 'comfy' with this style. One thing you can be sure of is that i'll realise what it is I dont like as soon as it appears on the blog...helpful!

So next up more environments and some more interesting villains to try and stretch myself a little.

Please feel free to comment on anything on the blog, anyone can, you dont have to be signed up to blogger.

Li'l Gods - Village Concept

Here is a peasant village concept. Im trying to think about the world the characters live in as well as the characters themselves. Expect a few more of these I reckon, though they are a little time consuming but the results aren't bad at all.

Li'l Gods - Gryphon

Lil Gods - Cyclops

New member of the Li'l Gods family. The friendly if seemingly wierd cyclops

Fairy Sketch

It Seems no portfolio/sketchbook is complete without some kind of fairy type scrawl so who am I to buck the trend. This is just a loose sketch to get me drawing again as I've been in a funk lately(first time since I started this blog in fact) and taking my drawing way TOO seriously, to the point that it wasnt fun anymore. When its not fun I dont do it, or at least do it well. So this is back to basics

Done, and done...

As you can see, the final cover/poster is done. I'm pretty happy with it though, I cant help that familaer sense of anticlimax. Hey-ho on to the next thing, though look out for more Lil gods related stuff in the future.

Apollo

Aphrodite

Athena

Hermes

One down, three more to go...

Take Two...

I've tried to bring out the eyes and drop the eyebrows back and fluffed up the 'tache a little

Nomadic Alien Tribesman - Speedpaint

Just to confuse everyone, even myself, of my style here is a speed paint of an alien nomadic tribesman. Why, you ask? why not I say. This took about 2 and a bit hours. I think this is what comes of browsing too much conceptart.org and CG talk speedpaint threads.

L'il Gods Preliminary Sketches

Here are some preliminary sketches for the Li'l Gods - I'm gonna give myself a few days distance from them then begin to give them their treatment. Once i've done that i'll post my old versions for a laugh :)

Money for old rope

So what happens when you run out of new ideas and fresh inspiration? you revisit an old project and revamp it. 'Li'l Gods' will just be a vehicle for me to do sketches, paintings and storyboard type compositions. They'll be no narrative yet but i'll be sure to explain the premise once I post the designs up. Though bear in mind that if inspiration strikes i'll be digressing from this until i run dry again:) In the meantime enjoy my new logo.

More Atlantis Action

I had so much fun doing the first I thought I'd do another... I dont really have any plans for these, they were just an excuse for creating mood and atmosphere, plus I'm trying strengthen my 'design language' i.e. making cool details on the fly.

Unda' Tha' Sea..

Here is a lil' Atlantis action, inspired by near death experience at the Barrier Reef. This took about 3 hours, I'm very satisfied with it but I do have a sore hand now :)

Another Bit of Bully...

SO, as promised here is the Minotaur in a style inspired by 'cheeks'. I quite like it, actually I like it alot. The one problem is that dispite appearences it actually is time consuming and it is pretty tough getting the lines fluid especially on a Wacom.

Minotaur

About an hour and a bits work - I'm very happy with it considering. I did this to explore the style which I'll use for my next mini project. Expect to see another one in a difference style very soon

Gordan's Alive!

So he's finished..I could go on, but I wont. Bit o f a mixed bag this one, from a painting standpoint I like it though I'm not keen on the sketch or the palette. What I will take from this is the confidence to not rely on my line work so much. Decent effort I rekon. Just gonna go back to PS and fix a hoof or two :)

Goat Riding Dwarf (work in progress)

Here is the preliminary sketch of my new piece I'm working on. I'm trying not to rely on black outline, so I sketched in colour. My intention is then to paint it up and use darker tones to 'edge' and 'outline' the image if needed. I do this with my environment paints so I'm not sure why its hard when I draw a character...habit I guess.

No.... its not Disneyland...

Here is another attempt at a senic speed paint with a kinda medievil/fastasy vibe. Not bad, it didnt take too long either. Im not especially happy with the castle type structure, it has too much of a Disneyland vibe, I may revisit when I know what i'll do with it as im trying to lay off the idle tinkering and work more decisively.

Here be Dragons..

I nearly forgot to add this. This a development sheet I did before I did the 'Dragon Morning' image. It was just so I didnt have to design the thing on the fly whilst dealing with a more complex composition. Just so as you know this, along with all images here a) if you click on 'em you get nice bigger versions and b) they are all copyright to me.

I dream of....well you get the idea

This was excercise in 'speed' the idea being to be able to produce something in one sitting rather than labouring on a piece. Not my finest hour but it has its merits nontheless, i.e. palette and the gesture of the genie.

' Dragon Morning'

This is a pic that was inspired by the book 'Eragon' there is a scene where Eragon waked up to find his 'puppy' dragon playing in his room. This was the most ambitious pic i've did to date. It was a bit of a headache at times but I think it paid off

Now this Blog is up to date i'll be posting WIP's (work in progress) pieces as well as final work. Hopefully this will prove to be a visual guide of my journey as frustrating as it will be at times.

Iorek & Lyra

This is a pic that was inspired by the 'His Dark Materials' Books. This was my first foray into painting a whole scene with characters etc... Plus I wanted to experiment with a cooler colour palette.

Apollo Brooding.

This is one of my faves that i've done recently, I feel like it's pretty complete. I like the composition and the colour and paint style.

Polar Bears from Seaworld :: Nelson and Hudson