24

I was going to try and do advent pic 24 before bed, but I've been out this evening and now it's Christmas. I don't want to rush another pic and I don't want to be cranky and sleep deprived tomorrow. And since my pics have nothing to do with advent, really, so I hope you'll forgive me if I finish the series with the final two pics on Christmas evening or boxing day. I hope you'll have plenty of things to distract you tomorrow anyway. Have a good one!

Advent | 23 | Bill

Advent | 22 | Han

Advent | 21 | Dead Men Tell the Trails

A bit of a speed painting. I didn't bother with any reference imagery, so my medical and forensic art graduate friends will probably be quick to spot the inaccuracies in this drawing. I've spotted a few myself now, looking back on it.

Advent | 20 | Remains to Be Seen

Advent | 19 | Han Gliding

Advent | 18 | Seen the Light

Advent | 17 | Captive Audience

Advent | 16 | City View

Advent | 15 | Dream a Little Dream of Me

Based on this.

Advent | 14 | Flamer

Fan Art

I've just realised that in the years I've run this blog, I've only got two posts tagged with "fan art". I so rarely draw other people's stuff now, I've always tried to focus on my own. But I probably should do more of it, it's a good way to learn.

Simpsons, The

Some 10-second scribbles. I'd really love to animate these characters if I were allowed to loosen them up from their model sheets. I love the early characters where Matt Groening's style (or at least some sense of cartooning) can be seen. None of the later characters are any fun, with their realistic hair styles and evenly-proportioned faces. They look so unrewarding to draw. Nothing abstract or stylistic about them. Celebrities playing themselves on the show now are the worst. They try to transform them into their simplistic style but without any caricature, so they're just unrecognisable without "Wow, it's _____ ______ from ______ __ ___ ______! What are you doing in Springfield?". Maybe they're afraid of offending their guest stars with any kind of exaggeration in their drawings? It wasn't always this bad.

Then, and now.

Advent | 13 | Hairbrained

Detail:

Advent | 12 | Prometheus

Advent | 11 | A Trip to the Moon

Detail:

Advent | 10 | Skeletons in the Closet

Advent | 9 | Lit a Fire Under Him

This was originally just a rope bridge over a canyon, because a rope bridge never fails to put me on the edge of my seat. But it just wasn't interesting enough to look at, and guy-I-don't-have-a-name-for-yet just wasn't standing out from the ground. Rocks, plants or water could have helped, but they're too calm and pleasant - as if hanging off a bridge didn't already make the scene dangerous enough. Lava also adds an additional element of "where is he, and what is he doing there?"

Also, I've decided to switch to four fingers for these guys. The more realistic I draw hands, the weirder it looks to have just 3 fingers.

Advent | 8 | Grotesque

I'm not sure what I was channelling here, it just came out.

Advent | 7 | "I Don't See Him in Here"

The Invisible Man is only invisible as the air around him.

Advent | 6 | Freezing Bridges

Was rather dissatisfied with yesterday's picture, so I decided to do this one in a different style. It works better for this sort of thing - scenery and natural forms- and it is a lot more therapeutic to paint. The more cartoony style its a lot more precise and requires a lot more attention to detail if you're doing a complex scene.

I'm still a day behind, but I keep starting these pictures late and then I have no juice left to start another. I need to start early one day to catch up. Ideally I'd like to do 3 in one day, so the picture is up at the start of the corresponding day.

Advent | 5 | Something Overlooked

A quick one.

Advent | 4 | Spell Check

I didn't have time to finish colouring this one yesterday and I've been busy today. Advent pic 5 is on the way now. I should add that this guy is a bit of an occult enthusiast, a would-be wizard even, should the title pun go missing.

Advent | 3 | Fetch

Relevant reading...

Advent | 2 | Ure Mine

I liked using light in three different ways to depict each character.

Advent | 1 | Icebreaker

Haven't painted for a while, feeling quite rusty. I was totally "how the heck..." when it came to painting the aurora, but it turned out quite good. The boat, however - which I expected to be easy - proved tedious and tricky.

Advent Drawings

To try and get out of my rut and into drawing again, I've decided I'm going to do another series of Advent illustrations - a new picture each day of December leading up until Christmas. I didn't have a theme last year, but I'd like one this time to help connect them all. My top idea at the moment is to make it about The Yeggmen (an inappropriate working title for a comic I've been developing), and have each picture based on a story idea, almost like a cover shot, or just have some kind of illustration that'll help define the the characters and setting a little. What do you think?

If you have any other ideas for a theme, post a comment!

Brian

I'm watching some testimonies on The Leveson Inquiry and doodling Brian Leveson. He has a distinctive face which is fun to draw.

Yeah, good luck with your work, I'ma have a snooze

Something I scribbled on a long train journey after the pub on a piece of scrap paper on my lap. I might do a better picture based on this, as I really liked the contrast between these two girls.

Colour

Some more meddling. Inspired by the restricted colour palettes of old computer games.

Something Dark This Way Dwells

After failing with making a new avatar I just started some frustrated doodles, which quickly became this.

Me

Decided to make myself a new Twitter icon, but it turned out I didn't like how it looked scaled down that small. Now I don't know if I like it or not.

The Poles

Since completing my Masters course I've either been working or doing nothing, beyond a bit of writing and development for future ideas. But that's not drawing, and I'm trying to get back into doing that regularly. These are a few post it doodles I did while watching Frozen Planet. I'm feeling incredibly rusty and uncreative - here's hoping I can beat it.

Smelling like a Brewery, Looking like a Tramp

Doodles on a Bank Letter

Something I've been doing the past few hours without really realising. Excuse the personal information marker-penned out.

Light Paint

Improvements

After reading about the Star Wars Blu-Ray release I got to thinking that some of my own work is not as good as it could be, and I decided to go back and revise some comics that just didn't work as visuals alone.






I'm sure the fans are going to love it.

Conflicting Ideas - Full Film

"An artist's rivaling creations fight for his attention."

The culmination of my year in MSc Animation and Visualisation. A short film that combines traditional 2D animation with live action with some VFX to boot.

Conflicting Ideas - Behind the Scenes

A short look at the production of my latest film which combines 2D animation with live action, in which an artist's prior creations exist in the same world he does - but not peacefully.

See more of this project here: http://upsidethebox.blogspot.com

Conflicting Ideas

Conflicting Ideas

A few stills from my latest film, which I just did the finishing touches on yesterday. It's not available to watch yet, but shall be premièred at the Dundee Masters Show next Saturday.