Sketchoholic.com contest entry

Raced together a quick entry for the Humberto Ramos Fairy Quest contest on sketchoholic.com.

Was a bit of a rush as i had very little time on this last nite. Definitely going to make an effort to find these contests a bit earlier.

Check out the thread at:

http://www.sketchoholic.com/Talent/member/my_contest_items.php?ContestID=349

Apologies for so little posts of late...

Apologies to all for my slackness of late with my blog. I promise to endeavour to get back on track with it.

Have been busy of late. This weekend I was fortunate to be invited to feature a a guest artist doing live sketches at a gallery opening from one of my art colleagues. Her exhibition "Something Wicked this way comes" opened at Rooftop Gallery in Melbourne on Saturday.

Was my first foray into the art scene as i usually live a very sheltered life in the toy industry where they make a point of keeping all their artists and designers deliberately unknown. My only assumption is so they can stop us being poached by other toy companies.

Sigh, if only they realised that a bit of recognition would inspire more loyalty. At my work we are very fortunate to have highly motivated creatives who are incredibly passionate about their products and hold a strong sense of pride in the work they do. I work with a team of illustrators who i consider some of the best i have ever seen, both in talent and work ethic.

Anyway, my point was, that it was enjoyable to meet some art industry people and to proudly put my name to my art. I was amazed at what a back catalog of personal art i had accumulated that was outside work. And i have to say i thoroughly enjoyed doing the live sketchs - i'll post them here soon.

I've also entered in another competition. This one is for Banjoe Kazooie: Nut and Bolts, and the brief was to design a vehicle that you thought might fit the game. I must say i really loved designing my lil Sky Hamster.

Anyway folks, i'm back and i'll try and stay more focused on this blog!

Ups and Downs

Been almost a week since i last posted here.

Trust me when i say it isn't due to laziness. Its been a real up and down week with plenty of stuff on. Having been working on a book cover which is now starting to take shape ( and interesting project and a nice change) as well as a few other projects. Recently did the character of the week challenge at conceptart.org. Was a cool topic - Goblin gunslinger. Mine was a bit rushed but he was still a lot of fun to draw.

Work has been...sigh...yeah, ups and downs i guess. I have a toy i designed going off at retail but as with all things there are always negatives to every positive....and i said i'd never gripe on this blog!

Zombies and a long week

Its been a long week with no chance to get to the blog, or maybe i've just been lazy.
My product that i worked on, Fish Bank is going great guns in the UK and Australian domestic markets so far. Retailers are reordering and sales are strong so its a good sign. Bit of a sleeper this one. To be honest, I had feared it might be too niche, but so far so good!
in what has been a relatively unproductive week for personal work i did manage to rush a submission for the Left 4 Dead contest on moddb.com. Here's my entry - I call her the breeder. Apologies to those that might find her a little distasteful.
Anyway, gotta go watch the second innings of the 20/20 cricket :)

Well I stayed true to my motivation for the weekend and completed most of the POW challenge on concept art.org. Got two of the pages inked yesterday.

This up and down weather is messing me round though - i don't care if its hot or cold - just not both so close to each other...aaaaarrrgggh! :)

Woke up this morning and feel like i've had about an hour sleep (which isn't true - i had a full nites sleep) but this hot weather at nite is a bummer.

Back to work today...sigh...I think I need a Berocca :)

The girlfriend is still depressed about her fable character getting fat. Have to admit thats pretty funny! (Hope she doesn't read this :) )

Anyway here's my two inked pages...

Spawn :Endgame Contest

Just got back from my second weekly Life drawing class. Its seems a little easier this week. Its amazing how easily you lose the ability when you spend all day drawing iinto squashed, disproportionate templates.
It comes as a real refreshing change to get back into some traditional drawing. Have been going the last two weeks with my fellow studio illustrators, Scooter and Yves. will be posting tonites artwork up tomorrow once i've scanned the stuff.

On another note; just thought i'd mention the Spawn:Endgame contest that myself and fellow Moose studio illustrators Brad and Yves entered in. Amazingly we all made the editorial teams final 25 which was a massive blast and a nice bit of recognition...made sure our bosses at Moose knew we made the cut (hint hint....:) ).
Alas my dreams of comic stardom have taken a hit as at last count i think i was 16th with only 26 votes. the internet can be a funny forum.
the good news is however that my bud Yves is powering on in awesome fashion, holding down 3rd place with a whopping 142 votes. Fine recognition for an awesome Spawn rendition.
and as for Bradley's, in all honesty his entry should be wiping the floor with the competition it thats' good.
I feel very proud to be amongst such high callibre competition.
Meanwhile its back to the drawing board to try and refine my comics drawing skills in order to fulfil my dream of being a world reknowned comic artist (ha! would you just listen to the boy).
I must admit tho, I do like the fact that the comic industry readily acknowledges its illustrators (as opposed to the poor old toy industry that makes a point to keep its illustrators and designers anonymous - hey! I thought i said i wouldn't gripe!! )
...and on another note - didn't get to see Wall-E yet. Old age is making me to tired at nite at the moment. either that or my body is yet to acclimatise to the daylight savings change.

anyway I'll finish off tonite with my humble Spawn:Endgame contest entry. If anybody wants to go check out the final 25 then go to http://endgame.spawn.com/?p=299