I never really need an excuse to draw bikes and their riders… but the recent Tour Down Under here in Adelaide provided one anyway! In this peloton are a jumble of assorted loose & jolly cyclist scribbles from around Tour time and a couple from my Spring Ride brainstorming too. Hop on your own trusty treadly today!
Tag Archives: funny
With a ho ho ho
It seems an age ago now, but in the lead-up to the silly season I was hard at work on a varied suite of illustrations to accompany letters from Santa. That’s right, FROM Santa! As I’m sure you’re able to deduce for yourself, it logically follows that my client was none other than St. Nick himself. You see, Santa’s quite a wordsmith, but has never been any great shakes at drawing, and what with Mrs. Claus’ arthritis setting in, I was the natural choice to decorate the letters!
I particularly enjoyed drawing all the different elf-kids and the various Woodland hanger-onners of their tree. I have it on good authority that rather than rudely separate all the critters from their stubbornly-defended lodgings, the elves just decorated around them!
The little grey cat was a constant attendant to proceedings …
Posted in illustration, Mixed Media
Goofy Caricature Cards
This will be the first of a relentless slew of long-overdue updates! A couple of caricature commissions for birthday cards, for some particularly excellent personages about town. The first was for a Fashion Disaster / Op Shop themed birthday. The second, well, who can say, sometimes you take a brief in a new direction and that direction is RECEIVED WITH MUCH JOY AND HILARITY BY THE CLIENT!
Spring Ride this Sunday!
The birds are above and the bees are a-buzzin’ … Spring is here! The Bicycle Institute of South Australia gave me free reign on this poster for their second annual Spring Ride, and it ended up a cavalcade of colour and new life. It was more of an excursion into watercolour than I’ve braved before, and I’m very happy with the freshness of this big birdy and how she holds her own without the black lines I usually use.
The Spring Ride itself looks set to be an excellent event, I can’t wait! A couple of the organisers are the masterminds of past Ready Set Ride outings and I reckon anything they’re associated with is guaranteed to be heaps of fun. If you live in Adelaide, come along! This Sunday, from 10:30 at Victoria Park. There’s more information here and here …
Posted in illustration
wuff, wuff!
DOGS! I’m a bit obsessed with ‘em. In pencil, watercolour, ink and pen, I’ve been busy doodling woofers all over the place. Here are a few of my recent canine creations in a variety of styles. Lovely little fellas.
Posted in illustration
Undone!
“The bats beat their wings in a terrible rhythm. They stirred up a storm of squealing fury. My feet left the ground. I was flying.”
- Paul Jennings, ‘BATTY’, from ‘Undone!’ Penguin Books 1993
“Anthony nodded his branches at me. ‘Mnn, nmng, nn,’ he said.
I didn’t know what it meant. Probably something like, ‘You embarrassed me. Now it’s your turn.’ “
- Paul Jennings, ‘NOSEWEED’, from ‘Undone!‘ Penguin Books 1993
Re-reading Paul Jennings’ books is a treat. There are always a few stories that I’d completely forgotten, whose endings fill me with fresh surprise and delight. And while they really don’t need pictures – everything’s there in the stories – some moments just cry out to be drawn, even if it’s just for the fun of it. Here are a couple of those moments – the ones I couldn’t resist scribbling down the instant I finished reading. BATTY and NOSEWEED. How did these characters end up like this? Go and read Undone! – you won’t regret it!
Posted in illustration
Group portrait (with a guest star)
Yep, I occasionally draw adults too, in case you’d been wondering! This group portrait / caricature was commissioned by my housemate and features her workmates … and … their dream date, a certain Mr Obama! They look like they’re somewhere suitably swanky, too.
Posted in illustration, Portraits
