DEC 2014: End of the year round up part 1!

Its been a crazy-busy couple of years at Mind Candy. I've since gone freelance again but still love working with the amazing people there! I had a chance to work on a ton of fun stuff and 2014 was mainly focusing on the PopJam app that MC put out. Here are a few things I did for PopJam

We also started work on a music video, so here are a couple of key scenes I mocked up:

A large part of the app was the avatar selection section! Kids can add their own profile pics but we wanted to give them some default options too. Here are just a few I created:

more to follow!

AUGUST 2014.....Been gone, come back!

It's been quite a while since I posted anything here, mainly because I've been working on a ton of stuff for Mind Candy and the PopJam app. I'll post up some things that I've worked on in a little while but in the meantime here is a private commission I recently completed:

July 2013: Spiders...urgh

EEURGHH! 

June 2013: Dean and Jemma x x

Here's a lovely commission I had to do for my lovely friends Dean and Jemma's wedding invites! Really fun to do, working from reference taken from Jemma's Pinterest page :)

MAY 2013: More colouring in :)

April 2013: Colour fun

I've been spending some time exploring colour theory and application over the past few weeks. I'm a few weeks into Nathan Fowkes' tutorials on Schoolism and it's a real challenge. 

I have so far to go until I feel I am anywhere near where I should be as a professional artist but I'm enjoying the journey none-the-less.

The images below are the result of the 3rd week's assignment which was to use a variety of light and colour harmonies. I used one of my old cartoons (c.2007?) and painted the various scenes over the top.

Feb 2013: Barrys Orc

I've been working on this little project for a bit, which was inspired by a friend at work! His name is Barry and he's not an orc. I'm planning on creating a turnaround sheet for these guys and hopefully some pose sheets over the next couple of weeks!

I still don't know whether the Orc is Barry's alter-ego or just a friend. I definitely want the orc to be real though and not an imaginary friend. People just don't seem to pay attention these days, so perhaps they are both just ignored?

Jan 2013 part 2 : Would you buy a used car from this man?

I've recently started working at Mind Candy to work on Moshi Monsters!! I'm surrounded by some of the nicest and talented people and everyday is a pleasure to go to work! 

Of course I can't show what I've been working on yet but for now here's another little personal project I'm having fun with. It's inspired by one of my work colleagues, who completed Stephen Silver's Character Design course on Schoolism. Apparently she had to design a second-hand car dealer from New York, so I thought I'd put a spin on our salesman and turn him into even more of a dodgy geezer.

Initial designs had him holding a pistol, fitted with a silencer, leaning on the bonnet of car but I though the car wasn't working (well, it is a second hand car!) and I wanted to get a bit more comedy in the image so added car keys to his belt and turned the gun into a cigarette lighter.

...and with some 'goodfella' specs!

....and here's a slight reworked version.....bit more form on the belly! Big thanks to Gillian Reid for taking time out to offer feedback, guidance and general inspiration :)

JAN 2013: Happy new Year :)

Well, this is my first post this year.... with a picture created last year! I'm going to post here as much as possible. I'm back into the flow, with some exciting new directions at work too (watch this space!).

OCT 2012: ZULUZ!

This is a logo/ character design for the band Zuluz, a surf reggae band from sunny Brazil! Their website is being updated at the moment but you can check out their sounds on Myspace and Facebook. 

OCTOBER 2012: Hardback joy!

It's Arrived!!! I came home earlier to find a parcel with a copy of Kirsten Irving's new poetry book (and it's a signed copy too). That alone is usually cause for celebration except this one has my illustration on the front cover! Good times for you too because you can order yourselves a copy HERE 

SEPT 2012: More Mindshapes illys

This is how it all starts. Here's one of my very vague thumbnails for one of a few banners I had to create for Magic Town. I think I created the other thumbs digitally so only one exists but I thought I'd show how basic an idea can be to get you started. I tend not to do too many iterations (unless I'm asked by a client) especially if I've got a strong idea and ready to roll! 

May 2012: Livebooks for Magic Town

Here are the front covers for the books I created for the 'Aesops' House in Magic Town! I was asked to create the story illustrations for three titles and I'm currently working on the the forth story.
Livebooks are animated story books where kids have an option to watch, read-along and play mini-games themed to the chosen story!

MAY 2012: MAGIC TOWN IS OPEN!

After months of hard work at Mindshapes we finally launched Magic Town this morning!
It's a new virtual world based on picture book characters for young children. It's a ground-breaking way for families to share story time and it's unlike anything you've seen before.

Watch the video HERE for a sneak peak.

Magic Town presents every child with a free story every day, and each child's version of Magic Town is unique and the more kids explore, the more content they will see. 

There is so much great content to add over the next few weeks and months so the work has only just begun. Stop by and check it out :) 

FEB 2012: AFter hours part 1!

I really miss my Sketchoholic sessions but since starting full-time work and doing long commutes home I've found plenty of excuses to not do art after an honest days work. I've recently felt frustrated with my personal work/ ability and put it down to the fact that I'm not being challenged or pushing myself. I need to do more, so it starts with this speed painting (actually there's a few days of miserable attempts to get back into it but they ain't going up!).
I treated myself to Big Huge Games' 'Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning' last week. The Beautiful environments and awesome creature design soon had me inspired and firing up the Wacom! There's some creatures called Bogarts; vicious tribal dudes with wooden masks. This is my Bogart, without it's ritual mask.

FEB 2012: new post of older work

I found an old image I created for Sketchoholic back in 2010.