long-necked monster (in-progress)

This is a quick view on what I'm currently working on for my course. It's part of a sequential image project. One of the (many!) challenges, after the sequence has been worked out, is trying to maintain the same colours from image to image. The one on the right is a complete one, while the one on the left is the one in progress. First time trying out pastels, and I quite like it!

Around Cambridge

This is a continuation of my observational drawing project. I decided to experiment with a bigger format using charcoal. I'm pretty pleased with the result. I think I'll try soft pastels next.

New Square, Cambridge

A row of shophouses facing Market Square, Cambridge

View over Market Square

Kings College, Cambridge

10-11-12: Some observational drawings

Ok, so today is the 10th of November 2012. So I thought that I'd post some of the sketches I did for an observational drawing project. My chosen theme was people and food.

A quick sketch from the window of Yo! Sushi restaurant in Cambridge

Market Square in Cambridge

Caffe Mobile at Market Square

Michaelhouse Cafe, Cambridge (church converted to a restaurant)

Bill's restaurant in Cambridge

jocalatte near Grafton Centre, Cambridge

Nero Cafe, Fitzroy St, Cambridge

Patisserie Valerie, Cambridge

CB1 Cafe, Mill Rd, Cambridge

Hello from Cambridge!

 Yes, I'm in Cambridge!

Ok, so I haven't been updating this blog for some time. Well I have an excuse! I was busy applying for the MA in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. There was a whole lot of preparation to do: visa, new accommodation arrangements, fees, and not least of all the move from London to Cambridge.

Once here, I've been getting acquainted with this lovely city. The photo on the right is of St John's College. No, this is not my college (I wish!) but one of the many colleges of University of Cambridge. I've also been busy sketching everyday for my first assignment, and once I have some decent sketches, I'll post them.

Stay tuned!

The Wild Swans

The following pieces are for the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2013. They are based on The Wild Swans, the fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen. I picked this story to illustrate as I wanted a fairytale that is not too well-known. After trying a few different techniques and materials, I settled on simple black and white pencil drawings, not unlike what I did for The Bloody Chamber.

 

 

 

 

Old Chinese Mural Painting

Right, I had painted a really simple picture with just brush and ink and I decided to scan it in and see what I can do with Photoshop. I have been learning a lot through lynda.com videos and thought maybe I could practice some of the techniques I learned (before they all go poof in a month's time). So this is the brush painting I started of with this:

 

...and ended up with this (sort of like an old chinese mural):

What big teeth you have!

I loved the wolf I created in my previous post so much that I created another one. Trying to imbue more "character" into my characters.