‘ it’s much too early, but it’s time to go.. ‘

‘ they say, “it’s full of stars” ‘

this series of drawings are incredibly self-reflective – they’re coming about during a period of mental turmoil when my own perspective of all things is undergoing a significant change. i feel as though they’re all little epiphanies, and by creating the drawing i’m solidifying it as a  personal commandment.

but there  is also an element of narrative storytelling, and an attempt to learn/develop a new artistic style. so while the character in the images is undoubtedly myself, in the images he is setting off on his own journey of self-discovery. i have no plan where this is going, but i suspect that his discoveries and my own real world encounters will be something of a mirror, and each potentially provide momentum and inspiration for the other.

i guess, over time, we shall see where this is all leading..

this one is titled, ‘ikhemu-sek’, which is a term used by the ancient Egyptians – it means ‘the ones not knowing destruction’.

it refers to the northern circumpolar stars, as from their perspective these stars never visibly set below a horizon – they were eternal.

the image is filled with an awful lot of personal symbolism, which i suspect even those close to me would struggle to understand, but it is there nonetheless..

following in the vein of ‘the tempest’ piece i wrote about in my last post [link], i’ve wanted to explore a more narrative/storytelling approach with some of my work.

i’ve found the work of chiara bautista [checkout her facebook here] a massive inspiration for this possible direction. so this first sketch and painted version were done with her work in mind..

this attempted style is very new to me, which is why i tried creating it in both digital and painted format — though i don’t feel as though i found my groove with either for this image.

weirdly, one of the issues i felt hindered me on this piece lies in the fact i was attempting to depict my own personal thoughts and feelings about a situation. but this was a private train of thought that i didn’t really want to discuss with my friends/family who follow my art page – so i ended up making using cryptic/symbolic visuals rather than a more direct approach to the subject.

anyway, it was an experiment and useful in itself for a number of reasons; it informed me regarding aesthetic and how willing i am to wear my heart on my sleeve.

the text used in the painting is the start of the phrase, “don’t wish, don’t start. wishing only wounds the heart.” (from Wicked).

this next one is another digital piece…  i’ve titled it “the artefact”, and if i am completely honest it is simply another version of the idea i attempted to illustrate above…

i returned to a more familiar digital style which used in the past. and the male character present is very definitely myself – this would be completely apparent and recognisable to anyone who knows me in real life.

so there’s a little more opening myself up to the world, but at the same time it’s still ambiguous enough that i don’t feel i’m completely spilling my guts to the world at large (or indeed my friends!).

what is incredibly weird though, is how utterly self indulgent it feels to be painting myself – and then showing it off.  i’m really quite shy and introverted, and (hopefully) not particularly prone to narcissistic tendencies.

making these pieces are akin to writing in a diary for me – granted a diary i am waving around allowing anyone to see – but a diary nonetheless. it helps me understand my emotions and deal with the mental struggles i am faced with on a daily basis.

i really dont imagine anyone would actually care what goes on in my life… but i do. so, for the time being i suspect i’ll keep making creating these abstruse reflections of my own life.

checkout more of my work (though less rambles) over on my facebook page [link]

meet my friend, kitty. though she is better known online by the moniker, crumpled foreskin!

the photo is from a mermaid-themed shoot she did last year for paul fessey photography. i thought it was rather lovely image and wanted to try to do a painting of it at somepoint.

please note that all copyright of this photograph belongs to ‘paul fessey photography’ - i am simply reposting the image to show my source of inspiration. you can check out more of his excellent work on flickr [link]

well, i never managed to break out the paints, but i did make a start on a digital sketch…

although this is still very much a work-in-progress, i’m reasonably pleased with it so far.

i haven’t made any real effort to work on a likeness yet so it really doesn’t look much like kitty. but hopefully i’ll get working on it again soon, and post the finished results.

“nosferatu” [wacom, p/shop]

the nosferatu-look has always been my favourite depiction of a vampire – which no doubt originates from being terrified by salem’s lot [the '79 film] as a young child! i seem to remember being very fond of the klaus kinski version of ‘nosferatu’ while i was growing up too, but i haven’t seen it in years so not sure how well it has dated..

now that i think about it, there’s a couple of vampire movies amongst my favourite films – specifically near dark, and 30 days of night. however they both have such terribly disappointing endings.

maybe i should give twilight a go… it can’t be that bad, can it?

“the drowning of mr.wormtongue” [photoshop + wacom]

i scribbled for a good half hour before this started to evolve out of the mess i was making. probably spent an hour on it total. i find creating a sketch like this to be a very cathartic process.

it is very rough and ready – but combined with the title, i think i do like it!

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“wolverine” [photoshop - 25 minute sketch]

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it was essentially a ‘draw off’, wherein artists put forward characters, and they then draw them having a bit of a scrap. the audience who were following the fight then voted for a winner.  the beauty of this system meant that it wasn’t always the better artist who won – entertaining the crowd counted for a lot!

my character was tellyhead..

well.

here’s another couple of old pics from the fightclub days.

this first one was the result of quite an epic battle with a character known as electrobob by an artist called evil robot. you can see the whole fight as it unfolded over in this thread here, and does demonstrate the unscripted flow of the fight as each artist tried to maim the other’s character and put on a good show for the bloodthirsty audience!

“tellyhead vs. electrobob” [p/shop, wacom. july 2009]

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this next one was a challenge set as homework for all fightclub members. “pick a fight, and lose!”

rather than fighting against another real artist, we could pick any character from fiction and lose a fight to them. i decided to use the rather fab calvin & hobbes by bill watterson. i adore these characters, so wanted to use watterson’s style and calvin’s perspective on the world as the backdrop for my fight.

ideally, you should click the image to see it full size, and read it panel-by-panel…

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