Church Cartoon

Here is the latest cartoon I have done this week for my Church Men's Group. (click on the cartoon to see it full size)

Click here to see it in context on the Church website!

Our curate is leading and organizing the monthly get together and they are a big success.

Next month the Men's Group is visiting the grounds of West Ham Football Club with a tour given by the Clubs Pastoral Vicar.

The cartoon above is loosely based on the curate but not an exact caricature of him!

The idea of the Men's Group is to have fun and laughs while making new friends and spending an evening together. This week saw us visit a local Chinese restaurant in Southend on Sea and the food was excellent. Even better is that the restaurant is opposite the railway station, so you can jump off the train and walk straight into the restaurant! We had a great evening there!

Magician

Working both weddings and corporate events I often get to meet lots of magicians. Some become friends and are a pleasure to work with as it is almost like a team or double act, ...if you will!

One such magician who has become a friend is Mark Lemezma. Mark is a fantastic close up magician and is always a big success where ever he performs.

I have had the pleasure of working with Mark a number of times. I can also highly recommend him to anyone who is looking for a magician for their event.

Here is his website to check out www.weddingmagician.com

Mark has a short movie clip of him working which is very cool!

I hope to work with Mark again soon!

The Fox

My Mother in Law lives on her own and this year she has had a visitor to her garden, the Fox!

This animal returns each day to the same spot in her garden. The Fox lays just a few feet from her conservatory windows and she can sit there and watch the Fox as it sleeps. It is like a pet and great company for her.

I took these pictures yesterday in the garden. The Fox let me get very close, within six feet and did not seem to mind me and my Nikon clicking away. I took 106 photo's in total!

A loud noise from somewhere in the area, stirred the Fox and it decided to move on.

It has become quite the talking point for us now and really feels like it is a family pet!

Jobs with colour

Steve Jobs with colour added...

Men?

This is a typical scene in many households. Falling asleep in the chair is something men do with great skill. I should know as my wife tells me I am an expert at this past time!

Fathers day is approaching and surely this is the one day we should be allowed to sleep in the chair?

Steve Jobs

Here is a quick sketch of the Apple man himself, Steve Jobs.

Apple

6 Months ago I was preparing to make the purchase of my iMac. At the time I was really excited about getting a Mac at long last.

As some of you know, readers of this blog, I have had a lot of problems and issues with both the iMac & the Apple store.

The iPhone is another Apple product that I was looking forward to getting my hands on, it would sync perfectly with the iMac.

But after all the problems I am left doubting Apple and feel that I will hang on to my hard earned cash.

My current mobile phone contract end in December this year. I could move my number form T-Mobile, my current supplier, to a new iPhone. But as I say, I think I will wait another year. Apple seem to be working on new additions to the iPhone and during the coming months we should hear more about the 3G capabilities and other funky stuff.

I have used a friends iPhone and it is very cool. So I am not saying that they are no good, just that my experience has been a negative one of Apple and its products that I doubt if the iPhone would live up to the expectations Apple builds with it's advertising campaigns.

It looks like I will renew my T-Mobile contract and hope to get a new free phone when I do so in December.

Hard luck Apple but then again, do you really care?

Where Am I...?

As I zoom around the south east of England, drawing at so many weddings, I thought today I would share with you some information about the venue's.

Weddings can be held in hotels, pubs, country houses and estates and sometimes, even in castles!

Well today I shall be drawing and entertaining at a wedding in Eastbourne on the south coast of England. It is a very popular holiday resort.

The wedding is taking place at The Langham Hotel - click here for their website

Sadly the weather has changed and today it is cooler and with rain. Not the best for a wedding or for such a loverly location on the coast, but never mind.

I will have about a two hour drive and will be using my Sat Nav to help me get there. I am finding the Sat Nav a great resource as I can relax when driving and simply let it tell me where to go. No more fumbling around with maps in the car and trying to spot road signs to locate the correct road to take. The Sat Nav rocks and I am pleased I bought it!

Only one problem I have is the price of petrol (or Gas for my American friends), it is know so expensive that a trip like todays will cost me more. It is a concern as all new enquiries I now receive, reflect the price increase of fuel and I do not like putting my prices up. But economic forces determine how this all works I guess, so I have to do what is required. I will be filling my fuel tank up this morning and I'm not sure how much that will be, but most likely it will cost around £50 or up to $100 in USA monetary terms. Then once I get back from the wedding I will have to refill it again. So you can see how it cuts into my costs!

Anyway, I will survive and we shall have lots of great fun tonight!

Variations

From time to time I am asked about other types of work that require a drawing or illustration.

Some of these can be odd and crazy but mostly people ask about logo design.

So when people call about such work, I have to explain that although I can do what they are asking, I need to discover exactly what they want. They may have an idea but usually I am asked to do a logo or caricature to be used on business cards or to be used to be printed onto a vehicle and the person asking is not really sure what they want or how to go about getting it done.

They search on the internet and find my website and then contact me.

The problem is that they will normally have a very small budget or none at all and expect me to do it for the exposure!

So from carpenters to bands, to individuals who have designed the next hit board game, I have a variety of requests.

One such a few years ago was for a business idea three entrepreneurs had about a consultancy business.

They wanted to provide a seminar on how to make the right first impression (they should have heeded their own advice).
The name of this new business was Cryptic Frog.

I had drawn for one of the entrepreneurs at his daughters wedding and he thought I would be perfect to produce the logo that they required. They were desperate, apparently and needed to the logo like yesterday. This was due to the fact that they wanted to get their website for the business up and running on the web. We talked and he gave me the brief and we agreed a price which I thought was very fair.

After many revisions I managed to meet their brief perfectly and they were very happy.

The problem was actually getting the money form them. They had paid me a retainer at the very beginning and this gave me confidence as well as the fact that one of them had hired me before for his daughters wedding. But getting the balance took a nearly a year and over that time I understood that they had a nice idea but were out of their depth and really were unable to deliver. It was a shame as I was also interested in helping on the idea and attended a meeting about it during the time I was waiting for my money.

Above is my first draft sketch for the idea. This one I really liked myself but it was rejected as they wanted a simple line drawing. I cannot find the final file but the other one below is the final agreed image of a frog as the logo but with my own text added for fun!

The only aspect to this type of work that I do not enjoy is the money side. Waiting to get paid is horrible and sometimes you wonder if they will ever pay up! If they paid up front or at least on time as agreed then it would be much much better!

Hope you like the frog drawings!

When in Rome...

Adaptation to an event is something I do when I am about to draw live and entertain guests.

Weddings are usually friendly and full of happy people who are celebrating a very important day for the Happy Couple. So I draw with sensitivity and smile my way through and we all have a great time. Occasionally due to embarrassment of having to sit for a caricature, men can threaten me with physical violence if they think the caricature will be offensive.

This is just a reaction to the embarrassment of sitting and once they see what I have drawn they change their attitude and thank me for a great drawing. So when ever it happens I just keep quiet and concentrate on drawing.

School Proms are different. A room full of 16 year old kids with energy to discharge is completely the opposite to a wedding. Yes they want to have a good time but they can be very demanding. From time to time I get treated like they own me and I have draw whatever it is that they want and if they want copies they expect me to be able to draw exactly the same again, just like that!

But this is not that common and most school proms are lots of fun.

Last night I was drawing at a school prom and they were all great kids and we all had a barrel of laughs! I was drawing with more exaggeration and it went well for the occasion!

So whatever type of event I am going to draw at, I have to be ready to adapt and fit the atmosphere and people and thats just fine with me. All I want to see is people having a great time because of my caricatures!

Sports

To be honest, I am not a big sports fan. I enjoy sports but I am not a 'fan' of any particular type of sport or club. Some people are mad about sports and sport is a religion to them.

One of the biggest sports here in the UK is Football. The above image is a poor sketch by yours truly, I need to practice more on that!

Sport is great to draw though. One of my most favorite illustrators who is a master at drawing sports is Jack Davies. Jack is an American illustrator who has drawn for MAD magazine since the dawn of time. His work is simply the best and has inspired many artists in this field.

Here is a link to a site that has some info on Jack Davies - click here

Jack's work has a pure quality to it that explodes out of the page, you just cannot ignore the beauty and skill of his work.

I always love to browse through Jack's work and look to learn how he drawn the body in motion. His amazing talent to maintain proportions in his drawing while adding some extent of exaggeration is awesome. He is a master.

Jack as far as I know, also loves to play golf and even today you can find him swinging away on his local golf course!

My thanks go to Jack for sharing his talent and skills with us all, more power to his elbow and may he continue to show us all how to really draw!

Squirrel

I think this may be the squirrel that went for a swim in my water butt today?

I just shot this photo as I suddenly saw the squirrel run up towards my studio window, close to where the water butt is located in my garden.

This could be good news if it is the same squirrel, which means it has dried off and survived its watery adventure!

My local area

I live in an area that I surrounding by woods and a nature reserve. The woods are very old and it is thought that they were an area that Kings of old used for hunting.

While we are only 30 miles from the centre of London, we have beautiful greenery and nature around us. We love the area.

Just before I started to prepare this post, one of our regular squirrels came into the garden. Unfortunately it decided it wanted to explore the water butt that holds my rain water for the garden. I heard a splash and frantic scratching. The water butt is very close to my studio. I took a look to see what the commotion was all about and saw the squirrel frantic and desperate to climb out of the water, it was starting to drown!

So I quickly grabbed a length of timber and placed it in the water for the squirrel. The squirrel grabbed it with its claws and suddenly started to scramble up the length of timber. As it did this I pulled the timber out and the squirrel fell to the grass and looked very shocked! The poor thing was soaked and looked like a rat! The squirrel scampered off the bushes and I'm not sure where it went as I have not seen it in the last 15 minutes.

I hope it dries out and gets over the shock. Sometimes a shock like that can actually cause death! Lets hope not for my little squirrel.

Disney month!

Pluto

The Disney dog who had his own personality and 'star' quality right from the start!

Pluto made his debut in 1930 and is one of the earlier characters of Disney that has remained almost unchanged in over 70 years!

Pluto has also been developed with a golf theme and there are many cartoons of him with Mickey playing golf and having lots of crazy mishaps.

Pluto is one of my favorite Disney characters!

ideas....

This is an old cartoon of a pet dog I did some time ago. I was pleased with the outcome of the dog and thought it would be fun to create a character for the cartoon.

So I named the dog Abacus.

It is one of those things that you have on the back burner and hope to develop at a later stage. It is still there as I have not really had the time to do anymore with Abacus.

But I think I shall add him as I have 'Gerald' the rat, here on the blog. The idea being, they are characters I can develop for some fun and play around with on the blog. So during the next couple of months I shall be creating some new 'cartoons' for both Gerald and Abacus and putting them on the blog. So look out for them!

Q&A

Question: what type of equipment you would rely on for a live session - do you have a typical set-up ready to pack in the car and go?

Answer: I do have a ready pack that I prepare before drawing live. Here's the run down:

A French Easel
Promo Board that attaches to the easel
Drawing board that sits on the easel and has my paper clipped to it for drawing on
Bag with the preprinted paper in - A3 size
Two small lamps that clip onto the easel
Extension cable for the lamps as most venues will have power sockets nowhere near to my position
Pens
Elastic bands in a plastic container for customers to use
Business cards

All this fits into a luggage bag and when it is zipped up, is easy to carry and wheel around. The luggage bag can often double up as a 'table' when I am working as I lay it on its side and use it to place my A3 paper on.

Thanks to Tim Bye for the question! If yo have a question, please email me and I will be more than happy to address it here!

Doodle in Photoshop CS3

Just enjoying the good weather we have here at the moment in England and with the window open in my studio, I sat and doodled this little face in 10 minutes. It is not supposed to be anyone in particular but the nose is one I drew last weekend and it stuck in my mind! I enjoy playing around like this as it helps me experiment and often find new ways of 'painting' with Photoshop!

The Art of Disney

It all started with a mouse, as the famous line goes but one man brought the idea to the drawing table, namely Walt Disney.

Walt was born on the 5th of December 1901 in Chicago and grew up on a farm in Missouri. At the age of nine his father's illness forced them all to move to Kansas City. He started drawing as a young child and by the age of seven was selling his pictures of farm animals to neighbors.

After some shaky starts to his career and tough challenges, Walt was able to debut Mickey Mouse in 1928 in New York City.

The now famous cartoon 'Steam Boat Willie' showcased the first synchronized sound track. That was the start of what was to grow with animation and Mickey Mouse, into the Disney we see today.

More detail on Walt's early years and beginnings can be found in the wonderful book "The Art of Disney from Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom", written by Christopher Finch, I highly recommend this book for your collection and if you have not already read it, it will give you a great insight into the history of how Walt went through the early years in the 1920's, having some success and some problems until he put out Steam Boat Willie in 1928.

The books ISBN is 0-7535-0344-1

For me, growing up as a small child in the early 1960's, we would watch the Disney cartoons on television. They were not on air as often as they are today, so it was a 'big event' when a Mickey Mouse cartoon was on and I wold try to never miss it. I loved watching those cartoons and for a few minutes would be transformed into a world of imagination and wonder.

This was also true of the Disney animated movies that were released in the late 1960's and early 1970's, I thought they were wonderful to show a story in animation and how they developed some very strong characters within the story line.

More on Disney in a few days......

Day Off

Yes today is a 'day off' from work although I have had a few phone calls and emails to attend too as well as giving my french easel a 'service' (the screws and fixings come loose after so much usage!).

SO for the rest of the day I have been relaxing in some loverly English sunshine with a cold can of beer to hand!

Tomorrow will have the first Disney post so please do pop back for that!

Enjoy YOUR day and see you soon!

Rules Restaurant

The oldest restaurant in London! We had lunch there with friends and it was a loverly meal and great to be in such a place with all its history. The restaurant has lots of interesting 'things' hanging on its walls, including many cartoons!

It is located very close to Covent Garden and I can recommend it to anyone but do book in advance as it is always very busy!

Directions

Just a playful little cartoon on the subject of getting directions when you get lost in the city.... some people will help but their lack of enthusiasm can be a surprise!

Great software!

Yesterday I downloaded and then purchased this really neat piece of software called EarthDesk.

It puts up a wallpaper on your computer, both Mac and Windows, and displays a real time picture of the Earth as seen from space, with real time daylight and moonlight tracking.

Here is the website link - http://www.xericdesign.com/index.php

I can recommend this as it is really cool and if your into this kind of thing, you will love having this on your desktop!

You can see where daylight is currently and which parts of the earth are in darkness.

It is customizable and I had fun playing around with it.

You can download a demo first to see how it works, give it a shot!