Robe Commission

It has been a long while between posts and the reason for this is I've been busy with a number of commissions - awesome! One of which I'm prepared to show a sneak peak at its progress thus far.


The pics below belong to a finely detailed painting that I've been working on for the last couple of months. The subject being "A busy beach scene in Robe" (Robe is a town in South Australia).

As you can see, there is still much work to be done - but I'm happy with it's direction.
(Click on any of the pics to view larger)

Lateness ain't funny.

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival, a.k.a. MICF, is one of my most FAVorit-est festivals in the whole wide world! (And I know there’s no such word as “favoritest”, but I don’t care. So there!)

I love MICF so much that when I was at uni I even approached them to do an internship… which didn’t work out (cos they don’t take interns, hence the high quality of the Festival). Few years later MICF offered me a ticketing gig at the main box office and various satellite venues about Melbourne, this year will mark my fifth year working for the Festival.

One of the many reasons why I love the Festival is the people: the customers, the comedians and of course the Festival staff. However…. One of my BIGGEST Festival “bug-bears” is…. Latecomers.

People who come late to shows get under my skin. A latecomer disrupts or delays a show. This in turn irritates other patrons. It irritates and distracts the comedian on stage (and probably hurts their feeling, as they work really hard on their material!)

I get why lateness happens, ie. Problems with transport or another show went overtime (probably cos it was delayed by a latecomer!) or a last minute ticket purchase followed by mad dash across town to get to the show’s venue on time etc, etc. There are many many reasons why people arrive at shows late. Though I still think that patrons should be mindful and a little more organised, I mean you wouldn’t be late to the Opera or the Cinema… so why should stand-up or a comedy show be any different? 

I’m thinking, perhaps the MICF could do with an ad campaign, like the ones you see in drive-ins or retro cinemas ie. “Turn off your phone” etc. But this campaign would illustrate the benefit of getting to a show on time. Sure, we already know the benefit, but sometimes it’s nice to actually read/see them to be reminded.

So I approched the very talented Mark Campbell of “Folding for Air”, “Running Away With The Circus” and “Souls on Board”, a talented songwriter and gifted Copywriter. Together we came up with several concepts, two of which are below.

(click on images to view them larger)

The two executions, one a full-page print ad and the other a half page print ad. I’d envisage them to potentially be in the Festival guide or maybe a poster at a MICF venue. If a campaign with this SMP (Single Minded Proposition) was picked up, I think a small animation on the Festival’s website would also be great! And if money was no object…. A cartoon TV commercial! It’d serve both as a “Community Service Announcement” ad and the Festival’s own current campaign.   

If I were going to do these executions again, I’d probably go for a more “vintage” “retro” look ie. Drive-in theatre ads. Or perhaps even a “Leunig-esque” style/influence? (Michael Luenig’s illustrations are used every year by the MICF).  Still, this exercise was designed mainly to communicate the idea of encouraging Festival patrons to be more mindful of showing up on time to shows. 

Hmmm, I wonder if these would work?

Mario: Portrait of a Portrait

Starting the year by finishing my first commission for 2012! 


For something different, I was requested to do this painting outside my usual cartoony, exaggerated "Lucy" style. A challenge - but I thought I'd give it a go. Below is the finished result (and below that, preliminary "study" sketches)  

    

Coloured caricature commission

CHECK-ME-OUT! Feelin a bit proud. Feelin a bit "I'm totes awesome". Feeling just too damn cocky to be honest. Yay me!

Below is a full colour commission I've just recently completed. Please bare in mind I'm still very VERY new to the world of digital illustration, so my skills are like that of a young child compared to the masters who do this professionally.

Still... I think what I've been able to achieve is still pretty great, and I can only go up from here. Go me! (Am now grinning like an idiot)

Conundrum In Deed : Band logo design

Conundrum In Deed is an exceptionally talented band based in the UK. Their (beautiful, insightful and exceptionally clever) lyrics are expressed in a musical styling that is a fusion of folk, progressive and psychedelia. So they approached me to design a logo that could concisely represent their music.

Initially I was inspired on the idea of an "impossible object" (cos that to me says "conundrum" right?). So I pitched the impossible cube shape - which they liked. Though their brief needed to include "psychedelia" with amorphous organic intertwining patterns (ie. vines, tentacles and bit o' paisley.)

Bandmate Greg Shields, inspired by the concept of an impossible object then suggested "An impossible cube rusting away in the middle of a psychedelic forest, with bare ground and in the middle of the cube a single 'Holy Flower'* wilting in the middle". *('Holy Flower' being the name of one of their songs).

Following that suggestion is a quick step by step look into how I came up with their final logo design...

Basic outline...

...followed by rough colour...

...FINAL LOGO!!

The band love the logo (WOOT and a pat on the back to moi!) 

Already a fan has commented on their new logo as being:

"The love child of Escher and a tripper at Woodstock" (Tee hee, awesome!) 

To hear some of their music, click here 

(My personal favorite song of theirs is "Laughing Man")

Just doodling around

These are me "doodles"  (a selection of them anyway). You know, the kind of doodles you do when waiting on the phone or while sitting in a waiting room..... or when you should be working etc. etc.

(click on images to see larger)

Meet Wilber the Dragon

Beginning at the end of 2010 I was approached to illustrate a children's book, which is something I'd never been asked to do before. However it has  always been something that I've been interested in pursuing - so to have this opportunity just 'drop into my lap'...

well I didn't need to be asked twice.

Over the following months I submitted one illustration a fortnight, and in recent weeks that changed to two a week. Today, this very afternoon, I handed over the final illustration (so excitement!) Now it will be sent away to be professionally published and I'm really looking forward to seeing the completed result.

I've included a couple of sample illustrations below to "whet the appetite"

The book will be officially launched some time in early 2012 and from what I've been told by the author, Bronwyn Heeney, will be toured at book expos globally. Next year will also be the Year of the Dragon, so fingers crossed this book gets a noice bit o interest and publicity.

Lady Viper: The Snake Charmer

Legend and popular myth says that daughter and sole heir to Scottish Lord and Lady McInnes, Aileana McInnes (a.k.a. Sideshow’s Lady Viper), was born into a family bloodline once cursed by faeries hundreds of years ago during the ‘Great Faerie Battle of Scotland’. A conflict that started over land ownership. The curse states that, “Any women carrying the seed of a McInnes, will die during childbirth”.

Lord McInnes, like many of his ancestors, sort ways to break the curse once and for all. It was rumoured he even sort the controversial help of an Irish Banshee.Whatever the mystical bargain may have been, it seemed to have worked… at first.

Lady McInnes succeeded in giving birth to their beautiful healthy daughter, Alieana, and happy they all were until Alieana’s 6th birthday. On the day of the birthday celebration Alieana became violently ill, her complexion changed and her nose began to recede and disappear altogether. Concerned for her health, Lord and Lady McInnes uprooted from Scotland’s north to warm sunny southern Spain. They noticed an instant difference in Aileana's health, although sadly her nose never recovered, and with age her skin became more green and reptilian.

Shortly after the family settled in Spain, tragedy once again caught up with the McInnes family. Aileana's parents and head butler Manny Marcos Ratón disappeared under mysterious circumstances while on a picnic trip – rumours speculate that it was  yet another consequence of the ‘McInnes Curse’. His son, Señor Manuel Miguel Ratón a.k.a “Squeaky”, succeeded Manny Marcos Ratón.

“Nowadays I live at the family home in Spain for seven months of the year with my butler and faithful confidant Squeaky, and Santos my beloved green tree python. The rest of the time I’m touring with the Sideshow. I’ve never returned to the old family estate in Scotland. I’m told no one lives there anymore, although I’ve heard through the grapevine that some people believe the faeries have staked claim on that land again. Good for them”.

Aileana McInnes a.k.a Lady Viper

Little Miss Noelle Et'All: The Three-eyed Midget

A tiny figure but a big presence, Noelle flashes a brilliant smile from the top of her custom made high stool, with extra ‘booster’ books, designed to make her eye level with most normal sized people, or humans... because Noelle is not human.

‘Mon père was a Faery, ma mere Unyuk* (*Pronounced: oón-yuk) which iz like a type of one-eyed Troll. I am what you call ‘hybrid’ of ze two, as you see with my extra eye and my gift for talking to spiritueux and seeing ze future. Unfortunately, because of my muddled appearance, I do not fit in ze world of faery, nor do I fit in with ze unyuks.

“My spiritueux guides encourage me to join ze human world, which I did, though sadly in doing so I vill never see mes parents again. I cannot return. Fortunately I find a place for myself in ze community of ze Sideshow. Now zey are ma famille.”

She smiles, a twinkle in her eye, “I found ze Sideshow, they did not find me. Now they would be lost without me”.

She suddenly sighs wearily to herself, "My ‘ed getz so crowded with all ze visions and ze spiritueux voices talking at me all ze time. Zey never stop. I mean, I am use to et, but I still get tired. I paint because et is ze only time I can make my ‘sight’ and mind quiet .The spiritueux and ze visions do not disturb me when I sit in front of a blank canvas. Perhaps et is because they are so interested as to what I might paint or maybe et is because zey can not second guess me. Or maybe both?”

She suddenly bursts into laugher that sounds like crystal prisms in the wind, “Do you want to know my real name? I tell you. Mon nom réel est Pluie Noelene Willowglitter. Willowglitter is mon père family name. Ma mere.....well, she just liked ze name Noelene”. Noelle shakes her head and wrinkles her nose, “Me, I do not like  name... not at all. So I change it to Noelle – so iz like ‘Leetle Mz, Noelle Et’all’*, iz clever non?” *(Little Miss Know It All)

The Hummingbird Sisters

Meet Lulu and June Hummingbottom, the conjoined twins of French Canadian amateur Genetics Scientist Judy Hummingbottom and Anglo Canadian World Famous Pianist Lewis Hummingbottom.

Talented and gifted singers, the girls can sing Opera, Jazz and Yodel. With such an impressive talent and a striking look, it was no surprise that the Sideshow found them and quickly offered them top billing! Part of their act is to dress up as an Angel and Devil; Lulu as the Angel and June as the Devil. Off stage their personalities are to the contrary. Lulu admits she is the cheeky loud one with "an Encyclopaedia of Vices" while June tries to avoid bad habits.

Lulu: If it's frowned upon cos it's 'naughty' or 'inappropriate' I probably indulge myself. Drives June crazy. What’s that saying about the cheese again? 

June: As different as chalk and cheese.

Lulu: Yeah, that’s it! We’re as different as chalk and cheese.

Black. White. Yes. No. Dark. Light. Dog. Cat. Night. Morning. Elvis. Beatles. Rolling Stones. Beatles. Lady Ga-ga. Beatles. VODKA MARTINI! English breakfast with a spot of milk or earl grey with a slice of lemon. Steak and chips. Vegetarian Sushi. Australian Football, cos I like the tight shorts on the “Aussie blokes”. You are such a pervert. I’m personally not interested in spectator sports. I prefer the visual arts. I’m particularly impressed by… Yep, I’m all for gay marriage. Huh??... I mean, I feel it’s a basic human right. Right? Come on, it’s a complex debate, you can’t leap in and say “Yes” like that, it’s not that simple. However, having said that, I suppose I support the right for same sex marriage also. Really? Since when? *Rolls eyes* I’ve always felt that way, you knew this already. *Sighs* you just don’t listen. Hey did you know, when we were young I was the first to learn how to talk. When June eventually decided to start talking, she could only speak in French!! Weird huh? You’re a bit of a ‘freak’ eh lady? Well you know what they say Lulu? It takes one to know one.