Drawing for Life – 8

Back in the life drawing class again, above The Sparrowhawk pub, London, SE19. I tried my hand with some compressed charcoal. It was a bit tricky, as that medium is great for large scale drawing, but a bit hard to control on an A4 pad of paper. I think next time, if I use it, I'll make sure the sheets of paper are larger. So, I've only included my favourite drawing from the night. In future, I'm going to be more ruthless with my editing. Otherwise this blog is in danger of being a constant parade of naked bodies.  

Drawing for Life - 7

Back at Betty Frankenstien's Drawing Room, after a good  few weeks' absence, I found that I was a bit rusty at the old life drawing. Eventually, the scribbling cogs began to turn smoothly, so I carried on using that technique where I try and keep my pencil on the page as much as possible. I quite like the results (a whiff of Egon Schiele, perhaps?) and the wiggly lines make me think of blood vessels, tendons and the nervous system.

Design Competition With OhhDeer.com

I've just entered a design competition through online store OhhDeer.com adapting some images that may be already familiar to you, dear Reader. The concept of the contest is as follows: I create the pillow/cushion design (or three in this case) which is uploaded onto their site. At the end of the 'live' period (I think it's mid November) the designer of the cushion with the most social media sharing AND sales will be asked to join their collective. It's a very clever device and a good way for them to see a whole range of artists' work, but within a real commercial setting.

If you're reading this, please share your favourite cushion (via the relevant Facebook link on the OhhDeer.com website) or even buy one! Even if I don't win, the automatic designs the competition creates look great, and may have inspired me to do something like this myself in the future.

Click on each design below, and it will take you to that product on OhhDeer.com.

Dinosaurs design

Three dragons

Sphinxes

Giraffe for a 2 year old

I thought I'd share a birthday card I knocked up yesterday for a little relative of mine. A sweep of yellow acrylic paint and some permanent ink et voila! One giraffe. I've now started to build a mental list of zoo of animal numbers. I'm sure more will end up escaping in due course. In fact, I should probably take a trip to London Zoo and sketch a load of exotic beasts from life, shouldn't I?

Images for suttonshares.org.uk

I recently did some cartoon style images for the launch of a new time sharing scheme (sometimes known as time banking), based in Sutton, Surrey, called Sutton Shares. Run by the Volunteer Centre Sutton, it's for the London Borough of Sutton. I'm happy to see that they've used some on their website, but I also understand that they've been showing them to people during the scheme's training sessions, and using them as part of their handbook. Always happy to help a good cause with my felt tips and photoshop!

suttonshares.org.uk