My first post for 2010 is my last Illustration Friday of 2009 and the theme is Pioneer. I need sleep - it's 5am, cold and snowing a little, (clearly not much of a pioneer spirit going on here!) so these are just a few Pioneer houses from my sketchbook, made yesterday. Mixed media. Happy New Year everyone!
Update: I've put a bunch of these up on flickr - here's a collage of all 26 sketches and you'll find closeups in the set. Thanks for looking.
Julian Beever's accessible 3D pavement art always get a favourable response in my classroom, so I look forward to showing my students this video of the making of The Crevasse by Edgar Mueller. While it removes some of the mystique surrounding this form of trompe l'oeil, time-capture vids like this are useful in subtly overcoming objections to sustained drawing - 'instant' results generally being the preferred route!
Tasty posters abound on Eating The Road though my personal fave is this Cereal Chart. Fun.
Best Lego House ever. There's a few vids of this full-size house though sadly nothing I've seen [yet] which captures the essence of the interior - a shot looking back down the stairs as shown in the full BBC James May's Toy Stories. Plastic post-modern architecture at its best.
It's good to look up from the drawing board to see real life once in a while - just saw the loveliest winter sunset....
It's not difficult to tell why Brighton is home to much of the UK's creative talent... the old town centre is a sure fire antidote to the boredom of looking at the same ubiquitous chain stores and cafe's that line so many UK city high streets. I took a few snaps before the light ran out - see photos on Flickr
Thinking 'Big'.
No matter what where you fall on climate change issues, it's an undeniable truth that polar bears are not surviving the loss of their sea ice habitat. A fact I'm reminded of each time I see this ill-conceived image - so far, one billboard plus these London Underground platform posters.
To the creative/s who came up with this marketing campaign - great job. These are the best global warming propaganda posters I've seen yet.
A photo I took inside the walled garden at Fulham Palace, (London SW6) has just been published on the cover of a glossy local lifestyle magazine. In the past I've been at work in daylight hours when it's snowed, so photography hasn't been a possibility. But this was a proper 'snow day' off work. In a lecture at Camberwell, illustrator Russell Cobb advised on being selective when teaching oneself to observe, i.e. take photos of cafe's in Paloma, rather than just taking photos of Paloma. So this is my local Bishop's Park. I concentrated my efforts there rather than roaming further afield. There are more here in my London Flickr set.
Thank you to SW6 Editor, Lorraine Crighton-Smith. I really like the green and gold.
Tonight I caught up with Joe Beale (centre) and Paul Giles who are exhibiting at Artspace, just along from the Apple store and Nero's on Regent St., Oxford Circus. I snapped them with Elli Chortara in front of some of Paul's work. Artspace has a bright, contemporary feel and it provided welcome respite from pushy commuters and Oxford Street's busy late night shoppers, (I'll be back for decent pics of the lights another evening). On the way there, I ran into Nikki Gamble and we got talking about IBBY - next week I attend my first meeting regarding the 2012 Congress to be held in London, so right now I'm busy familiarising myself with some of the writers and illustrators from around the globe who are past IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Award Winners.
