Just working up a new style - which seems to be working for this book in particular that deals with grief and death.

I like the contrast of the bright colours and simple indian ink.

This is work in progress. A part of me feels the character and the tree need to be more 'real' or 'correct'.

click on it to enlarge.

A little thought on pirates. When thinking of story ideas I like to turn things on their head, change scale and imagine the apparently impossible.

As soon as you do this, reality gets turned inside out: The radio listens to you, the stairs take you nowhere,  hats are boats, boats are hats, computers are really good as carpets, your lunch eats you and instead of binning the bits of you it does not want to eat, it makes something of them…that's enough! There are some ideas. 

Two characters here. The two are close friends. I have been re working the start of a story, making the relationship of the two main characters more 'real' for the reader.

Digital this time. It is a strange sensation looking at the screen while your hand, out of sight, creates the image. 

I have spent today doing character pieces. Developing a character who is bullied in one of my books. Interestingly I have chosen to work in pencil here and in a particular style. The character might not end up rendered in this way but it is good to 'get to know' them in detail before deciding to go more abstract.

Well - time away from the world of digital communication. Created this during a small 'limbering up' session this morning - funny how it takes a while to get the hand and the mind connected. This quick portrait done as the ink in the goats hair brush dried up. I like indian ink, but I think it has it limits.

I often get images in my mind that are completely disconnected from projects in my mind, but are usually bits from recent imagery I have seen blended with things I am pondering.  This image is one that has been in my mind for a while - having them parked there is frustrating. Best to let them out and then they can find a setting and details some details appear. These creatures seemed to end up here.

Off to deliver my portfolio yesterday. Took the leap. I had a great talk with the current art director at Templar and then sat on trains for hours to get myself to Random house and to Bell Lomax Moreton (literary agent).

The trains took ages - I imagined that it stopped at every mouse hole on the way.

Coming back into Dorking at the end of the day I wondered if you could illustrate a journey through the place names you come across.

England must be one of the best places in the world for place names.