Who Are You

Some concept sketches I made for Jessica Kingsley Publishers' upcoming book about gender identity Who Are You. They ultimately went in another direction with another illustrator but I'm blogging about it anyway to prove I'm not even bitter or anything! What a class act.

Second Book

I'm trying to figure out my second book at the moment. I want it to look a fair bit "cleaner" than The Princess and the Fog which was deliberately quite scattered, ever-changing and a little confusing, to match with the theme. This one should be a lot "quieter".

This is what the protagonist looks like:

I've been writing her as "Fran" but I'm not married to that name. It doesn't have a title either. I am not good at naming things. My children are all going to be named Lloyd Jr.
I literally just this second was given the suggestion Ursula, which I like quite a lot.

I was thinking at first I was going to do the whole thing in watersoluble crayons like this, mostly because they're kina "fuzzy," which goes nicely with the gentle Autumn theme and the whole bear thing, and the colours easily variable. But now I'm not so sure.

Fran's had a very subtle redesign since the first draft of the book after feedback that some kids thought she was supposed to be a hippo (!)

Here's two of her, coloured on the left with gouache and on the right with very thickly applied watersoluble crayon, as opposed to the above image which was quite thinly drawn. Can't decide which I prefer. Results inconclusive! More testing needed!

Lecture Doodles

I'm finally coming to the end of my ridiculous 7-year university career and I know I haven't had much to post lately but I thought I would share with you some of my favourite lecture doodles.

I found a few years ago that I remember guest speakers much better if I draw them as they're talking. I have never shown these to anyone as I don't want anyone to be insulted by the way I've drawn them but I assure you that all of these are made with love and respect.

Riita Ikonen

Alexis Deacon 

 Nick White, who I could not get to look right!

 John Vernon Lord

 Jackie Batey, who actually was a teacher of mine for three of my 7 uni years and who got me into making zines!

Lois Walpole

  

 Russell Cobb

 Dr Annebella Pollen

And some Princesses and other stuff that has nothing to do with anything:

The Princess and the Fog comes out just over a month from now so I'll have some nice publicity stuff to post soon :)

The Princess and the Fog, post II

More sketchbook stuff from the picture book I'm developing as part of a body of work about depression in childhood. A happy, brave, smart princess in a big, lovely castle in a happy, peaceful kingdom is suddenly attacked by a cold, dark fog that envelops her head and makes her sad and tired and unable to do anything and she doesn't know why.

Her mum and dad (the King and Queen) do their best to help but they're a bit out of their depth and nothing seems to work. In the end, thanks to the help a friend of hers from school they're able to figure out what to do.

The story encourages young people going through a difficult time that they can't understand and can't seem to fix not to shut themselves out from the world, not to give up, and that it's okay to ask for help even when it seems like you're alone or that nobody will understand or care.
It also encourages parents not to PANIC, and that they can do a world of good just by being there.
As well as being a funny and happy story it will also be a valuable resource for parents and guardians alike.

The Princess and the Fog

Some examples from my current university portfolio. I am working on the theme of depression. These are a couple of paintings I produced based on my own personal experience with the subject matter:

Close up on the middle bit of the second painting. A heart, in a box. Protected from the encroaching darkness but closely confined and not altogether safe:

Some sketchbook pieces. Exploring visual metaphors of depression. How it feels to carry this big burdensome monster around with you.

I'm currently working towards putting together a picture book for children. Up until very recently, it was believed that children could not suffer from depression. The story I am producing is intended to fill a gap in the market and to guide younger minds through a very difficult experience. As well as providing a talking point between young depressives, who may otherwise have trouble expressing themselves, and their parents or carers.

Bill 2, some stuff

Another painting of William Shakespeare, for my mum's birthday:

Some dumb stuff from my sketchbooks: 

And some old stuff that I thought was strangely poignant:

mega sketch dump

Haven't done one of these in a while. Just a big ol' mess of stuff from my sketchbook (June? ish? 2011 - present) that I haven't shown off anywhere else.

There's a lot here and I didn't want to scan it all so I just took some cheap and nasty photos. If you want a better quality version of anything you see here, shoot me an email or something and I'll be more than happy to oblige.

As always, click almost any image to make it bigger.

 A sexy singer. Part of a series of paintings I was never satisfied with of different fictitious musicians across a variety of different genres. Might pick that up again at some point.

 Boy and Girl from Connections. Still very much in love. This later became a gift for a friend.

An idea for a series of small minimalist paintings that make a panorama when positioned together. I should get around to doing this at some point as well.

 Creepy. This one's probably inspired by this Ted talk.

A bunch of nonsense.

 This guy's pretty pleased with himself, huh.

For some reason food and alcoholic drinks are some of my favourite things to draw. Something inherently funny about them, to me, that I just cannot put my finger on.

Another idea for a series of small paintings. "Stupid," apparently.

Might make a full painting of this one day.

Look at all this crazy junk.

This was made as part of a proposal for a guy looking for an illustrator to help create a body of work around conflict resolution in the workplace. I never heard anything back.

Boop.