New FIFA talent?

Well, I don't know if any of you have seen this, but it looks like there might be some brand new talent on the FIFA 14 cover.....

Ok, I admit.....I made this. But it was a gift for the FIFA product manager who I used to work with at EA Games. Plus, you never know, if Messi is ever unavailable then this might prove to be a window of opportunity for Kuran.

YOU'RE FIRED!!!!

Morning bloggers. So, here's a little something I rustled up for you all (quite literally). Lord Alan Sugar in all his glory, accompanied by Nick and Karren. Do you think he'd be impressed?

Mr Adam Young

Afternoon everyone.

Sooo, another day, another week.....another design. This time, it is a bit of a special treat though as the design is in fact my house mate......Mr Adam Young.

I thought this would be a bit of a change from celebrities or random characters I've created and Adam was the easiest target (sorry Adam).

To sum up, Adam loves his music and is actually a very accomplished guitarist (no one tell him I said that though...his head will get even bigger.) AND he even supported Chaz and Dave once. (That is a true story and if you buy him a beer he'll be more than happy to tell you it.) It was for this reason a guitar was an absolute must whilst trying to capture his overall personality. The background design is in fact a nod to the 'Guitar Hero' background - which I thought would be appropriate for this. I've also done a black and white version, which I actually think works slightly better.

Overall, it took me a weeks worth of afternoons (2 to 3 hours at a time) to get it done.

I have a few other plans for this design, and I'm also determined to turn other former colleagues and friends into cartoons in the upcoming weeks and months. The next victim has already been chosen, and you will all be the first to know when it is done.

A selection of prep sketches I did of Adam before going into the final design.

The Big Smoker

Hi everyone. So, with only one Bank Holiday left to go this summer, what better way to cheer ourselves up then with a new design?!

This guy is based on a small sketch I did years ago of a big, fat guy on a couch smoking a cigar (I've added the original below). I always liked the original drawing but didn't really know what to do with it until now. So I jumped into Photoshop last week and started to build it up a bit more. I'm keen to push this guy a bit further in the coming weeks and develop a bit of a back story for him - in my mind I'd love to work it so it looks like one of those grand family portraits with a big, gold frame. (Hopefully by the time I post that, this rain might have stopped.)

 Original sketch of The Big Smoker, from 2008

Taranti-not

So here it is, my first ever blog post. I'm feeling excited and nervous at the same time - not quite sure where the nerves are coming from, but they are there......how odd. Anyway, let's kick things off......

The whole point of me doing a blog is to talk about my art and drawings in a slightly more casual way than I'm able to on the main part of my site. I can show the process I go through with each piece, whether it's good enough to make my portfolio or not (and trust me, there are a lot of those.) And the design I wanted to use first is one that I just finished this afternoon......."Taranti-not"

This is a character I sketched out a while ago (although at the beginning it was just a head), and despite getting a lot of comments from people asking if it's meant to be Tarantino, I'm reluctant to say yes or no. I admit, I admit, it is based on him, but I didn't want to label it as a direct caricature just to give myself a little more flexibility with the design. (There's also the nagging worry that someone will come up to you and say, "that looks nothin' like him"!)

This is how the original sketch looked and I back then, I wasn't entirely sure where I was going with it....more of a doodle than anything, but I saw a bit of potential. I was keen on the gangster feel though. It was at the same time as Django being released, so Tarantino was fresh in my mind.

When I started on the painting, I thought I would go down the 'film noire' look and paint in black & white......but it just wasn't clicking for me. I didn't feel it was jumping off the page as much as I wanted it to. So, I went back to the drawing board (quite literally) and started to add some colour.

When I put the two versions together, the coloured version just had more weight and character to it. There are still areas that need a bit of tinkering, but it immediately gave me more direction and ideas on where I could take this character in the future.

Oh.....I also gave him some legs.........