Looks Like Rain

Last Sunday (1st September 2013) I sold a painting at a Silent Auction for the charity Give 4 Beth. I can't find the website for the charity but the organisation of the event was excellent with high attendance.

The painting was A1 size, framed, begun in emulsion and finished in oils.

A1 seemed a very sensible size for the painting. I'd thought I could just pop down a local charity shop and pick up a suitable frame for only a few coins. None of my local charity shops had any. In the end I had to make the frame too, with a wood router, from lengths of 2 by 2 timber.

The title was "Looks Like Rain" (consider your own interpretations of art/title).

It sold for £160, which was a good price considering the level of finish, expenditure on materials and time to complete. I'm very pleased. Not only did I commit to start and finish the piece but someone thought enough of it to buy it on the night.

As an artist, one is rarely completely happy with one's work. Someone once said we never finish work it's simply wrenched away from us. I wasn't very happy with the painting but the older I get the more I appreciate the need to let go the individual piece and focus on the development of skill over time. I did my level best in the time available, and did something for charity that let me keep working too.

Here's the photos:

The Lion's Mane

Just got back from my annual holiday in Helford, Cornwall. Had an amazing time. Snorkelling, rowing, walking, exploring the coast in a kayak, just lying on a beach- really made the most of the time off.

Stayed in a thatched hut- a converted Apple store (the fruit, not the computer retailer). 

Saw plenty of squirrels and birds in the garden (even a falcon) and a massive fireworks display over the river.

Swimming across the river at it's widest point proved too much of a challenge, this time, but on the attempt I approached a beautiful old wooden sail boat with a pale blue hull and tried swimming down the anchor rope. It just disappeared down in to the green depths. There were some great underwater sun beams.

At this point it began to seem sort of like a recurring dream I had as a child. In this nightmare I'd swim out to sea at night and dive a little way down. Suddenly, in the darkness far below me, one vast squid-like eye would open and I'd race, lungs bursting, for the surface.

I came back up the anchor rope feeling something akin to vertigo. The water was so clear it was almost like flying over an undefined depth of sunlit green fog.

Eventually, I got about halfway across the Helford then tested how hard it might be to turn back. It was much harder to make progress the other way. About three times as hard. Figuring the current against me I headed back in, exhausted and feeling quite unadventurous.

Getting stung by a Lion's Mane jelly fish further in to shore soon changed that. I've often thought about jelly fish when swimming at sea but never seen a live one. Many years ago, there was a host of them on the beach in my home town, all dead. I was stung by a tiny one, only 5 inches across, though they can grow up to 7 feet.

It's no worse than a bee sting and, oddly, it really made my day! :)

The lions Mane jelly fish features in a great Sherlock Holmes tale- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Lion%27s_Mane

There's also a lovely model of one in the Smithsonian- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Jellyfish_and_shark_-_Sant_Hall_-_Smithsonian.JPG

Iron Dragon Illustration

The Key to a Successful Career in Art

 

This is The Key to a Successful Career in Art. 
Many professional artists have written guides to breaking in to the industry.
In interviews they're often asked what the secret is.
Bobby Chui wrote the Perfect Bait, Donata Giancola said in one interview recently it's simply "Keep your ass in that chair" but as far as I know this is the first time an artist has ever shown the actual Key to a Successful Career in Art.

I made it when I was a student, it allowed me and a friend to stow away in a cupboard while the Studios were locked up at night and sneak out in the evenings to work late. I first got an impression of the original in modelling clay. Then I hammered flat a piece of Aluminium rod and carefully, just by eye, filed the blade to replicate the impression. It gave access to the Materials cupboards and allowed us to work late in to the night when we needed to finish projects that required more than just oils and canvases.
All went well until the Police turned up one night and turned on the lights in the photography dark room we were working in, ruining the Developing process.
Someone outside had seen the torches we used to find our way to the darkroom though small gaps in the curtains along our route. We were let off with "Informal Cautions".

And that's the secret- the key to a career in Art is you've just got to love it so much you'll do whatever it takes to keep at it. Essentially it really is that simple.
If you want more practical tips and techniques, stay tuned. I intend to post more on this blog and back at www.runninghead.com as soon as possible.

George Bernard Shaw wrote:
"The true artist will let his wife starve, his children go barefoot, his mother drudge for his living at seventy, sooner than work at anything but his art."
Which is theatrical nonsense, but if you, or anyone you know is looking for more worthwhile, inspiring and entertaining careers advice about Art then check out this Neil Gaiman speech and remember- it may all have been done before, but not by you.

Creature

Lepus Temperamentalus

First draft of a new creature design, to demonstrate the powerful "Symmetry" functionality in Sketchbook Pro 6.
Fingerpainted on my iPod touch and cleaned up in Photoshop.
It's just a rough so be prepared to see it again after it mutates in to something more accurate.

Steel T-Rex

At Christmas, after 3 hours and much swearing, finally constructed this little fella...

I love Super Macro!

The grass is a towel on a radiator.

Raspberry Pi

Mmmm..... Pi :)
Guess what I got for Christmas!

My Raspberry Pi cooling on a window sill.

Jessica Name Illustration

Name plate illustration, for a child, recently completed.

Bored of seeing the same image on my blog but haven't got round to posting the holiday images yet so here's an evil zombie astronaut sketch to mix things up...

Sketch Book Pro 1st test

Sketch Book Pro 1st test- 40 mins total on an iPod Touch with one finger (no stylus required).

SketchBook Pro rocks.

SketchBook Pro doodle

DIY photos

Some photos of recent work on the house, before and after style.

First, the original fireplace, shortly after we moved in.

Room shell gutted.

Above, new fireplace.
Below, photos of some boxing in I did in what will be Holly's Library.

Photos of the original room door, stripped and repaired- if a job's worth doing it's worth doing Baroque :)

Leela sheltering in the woodshed.

Digital Art Equipment

Tablets are great and Cintiques are very handy, but there are downsides to both.
If you learn to draw on a tablet, then switch to a more cumbersome and expensive Cintique, you'll find it hard to switch back.
You'll be stuck with the Cintique. You can swap from one to the other of course but, for a digital artist, this can take weeks of adjustment.
Weeks that, if your creative work is your source of income, you just won't have.

If you're not used to drawing with a tablet and you'd rather not spend weeks getting used to it, then getting a Cintique makes sense as you can just draw on the screen and get comfortable using it very quickly.
Of course, your drawing hand can get in the way sometimes, obscuring what you're drawing, just like in life.
Not a problem with a tablet.
With a tablet you are less cramped in the way you work, though carpal tunnel syndrome can occur with long term use of either instrument.
My advice (having tried both) is to get a tablet, or if you do really have to get a Cintique, get the anglepoise bracket to go with it and change your drawing position regularly to avoid health issues.

Whether you’re considering freelancing, hotdesking or just feel like setting up shop in a pub or café for a while, here’s some recent developments that may be of interest.
They’re not all available today but they’re a lot closer to release than hoverboards (which will only become available in 2015).

The Sensu Brush
https://www.sensubrush.com/
The Blue Tiger Project
http://tenonedesign.com/bluetiger
The iPen
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ipen/ipen-the-first-active-stylus-for-ipad
The Inkling
http://www.wacom.eu/index2.asp?lang=en&pid=9226&gm=1

This just in (I mean I should have added it when I wrote this post in the first place!).
The Leap, from leapmotion.com:
The Leap

Also of interest- Muji (the Japanese goods chain) do a few interesting pens now.
1. Pen and biro in one (twist to switch between the two).
2. Erasable blue drawing pen (0.5 nib).
3. A 0.38 drawing gel pen for just £1.

Comicon 2012

Comicon 2012
Never been to one of these before. It's a real education. So much visual information everywhere you could easily spend the whole day and not see it all.

Some people indulge in what's known as Cosplay, though I think the above might more properly be called Fancy Dress.
Definitely one of the best costumes there.

Steampunk dude, made all his own gear. Some of the tiny machinery thingys were beautifully crafted.

Holly and a Dalek.

Got talking to these guys for a while.
Gradually it dawned on me that they're actually kind of famous.
Weird feeling.

Matt Dixons prices.
Quite reasonable so he must be getting a good deal on production off someone.

A Michael Keaton sized Batman.

Personal Projects

I'm adding a few images of my various personal projects to my professional blogfolio. I may reconsider this so check it out now before I change my mind if you're interested.
Subjects include ceramics, photography, cakes, poetry, lighting and sculpture.
My blogfolio

Snooty Girl Illustration Remake

Taking an old illustration and improving it with my current skills and tastes.

From left: Old (scanned pencil and digital colour), new (digital, black lineart), new (pale lineart), new (coloured lineart).

Perspective Drawing

Here's my comment on yesterdays post by James Gurney.

He's recommending several old books that are timeless, trusted classics for learning art.

James helped me find Earnest Norling's "Perspective Drawing". I'd been given it as a child and I'd forgotten both Title and Author. Since buying an old copy online I've found it just as comprehensive and useful as I'd remembered. As you progress through the book the charmingly vintage American illustration style walks you gently through everything you need to know in a very efficient manner. An infant would find the early pages understandable and a professional might find the final pages challenging. It really is a book that can serve you well for a lifetime in art.

View the original post at Gurney Journey.

Influence Map

Here's my Influence Map:



An Influence Map is a sort of chart of your artistic influences, the larger the image, the greater their influence on you.
Only those you've actually copied, studied and learned a lot from should be included.
No friends and colleagues included as I wouldn't wish to embarrass anyone by including them (or leaving one out!).

Download the template file from the creator's DeviantArt page at http://fav.me/d2vx881 and create your own.

Trick Cyclist

For all the other cyclists called Tom out there, and for anyone else who enjoys sleek, cool fun Flash playthings, here's the latest from Vector Park. http://www.vectorpark.com/thomas/seasons.html

I'm engaged

Dear Reader,I've just come back from an amazing trip to Wells, Somerset with my long suffering partner, Holly.
More about that later.
More importantly, on the way back we stopped off at Brent Knoll and, to cut a romantic story short, we got engaged.
Wells is beautiful so I'll post a load of photos here soon but in the meantime here's a few examples.

First, the cathedral itself.


Close up on the facade.
This is a water map machine, under construction in the grounds of the Bishop's Palace.
Here's Holly, re-enacting the fountain hoody scene from Hot Fuzz, which was filmed in Wells.
This is a section of a wall I worked on.
You can see where it goes wobbly thanks to the effects of rough scrumpy on my mate Clem.
This is the entrance to Tor Hill Wood, just outside the town, where I worked long ago.
So long ago that the many seedlings I planted are now small trees and I'd forgotten I'd done this until we stumbled across it.
It's the entrance to the woods.

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