Illustration Friday - stripes

I saw a great documentary on tv called 'Cuttlefish - Kings of Camouflage'.

One of the cuttlefish featured in the documentary was a Broadclub Cuttlefish which has the remarkable ability to bamboozle its prey with a crazy strobing stripe pattern. Truly bizzare stuff.

If you want to see a real one in action here's a link I found to a clip from the documentary.

Cuttlefish are so cool.

R :)

velocirapture

I drew this for the Illustrators Australia 9x5 exhibition 'rapture', opening this Friday.

Velocirapture was done with 6B pencil and shellac on 9x5 inch plywood. 

She's based on the well known dinosaur 'velociraptor', which would have actually looked a bit like this, with the obvious exceptions of the bunch of flowers and ludicrous expression. 
'What's with all those crazy feathers?' you cry. 'The velociraptors on Jurassic Park didn't have those!'.
Well actually these dinosaurs had bird-like feathers. They would have looked a lot like large birds with sharp teeth and four fast running limbs ending in huge claws. Just imagine Big Bird with pointy teeth. Kinda scary, if you think about it. 

If you can't make it to the exhibition you can see all the other pieces on line here 

narrative illustrations of a frog with a bouffant

Narrative illustrations for a class room reader about Billy the frog who is worried the pollution in their pond will inhibit the growth of his legs. Its okay, his legs grow. Phew!

science fiction homages and aardvarks

As a member of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club I get to use their magnificent library, listen to author talks, and meet other like minded nerdy sci fi types. In return I like to occasionally contribute art for the club magazine.

Here is a collection the cover art I have contributed.

As the club magazine is called Ethel the Aardvark you will note a recurring theme of aardvarks. I don't know why they named the magazine after a Monty Python sketch (Ethel the aardvark goes quantity surveying), but I suppose it's as good a name as any other and it gives me the opportunity to create absurd science fiction homages with aardvarks.

dinosaurs asleep

Dinosaurs asleep!

The dinosaurs in this picture are kind of based on ones that roamed Australia and Antarctica.

Created in response to Illustration Friday theme 'asleep'.

illustration of kids and animals on a hotted up thong trike

A couple of weeks ago I did a quick line image for Illustration Friday of a cockatoo driving its friends around on a hotted up thong-trike.

I couldn't leave it uncoloured, so here it is in all its Aussie colour palette glory.

R :)

Uisge beatha! We call it whisky.

Praise to the Celtic monks of old,

Who first the water of life bottled.

Distilled of grain mash frothing frisky,

Uisge beatha! We call it whisky.

'Uisge Beatha' is Scottish Gaelic for 'water of life', the name monks of the time gave to distilled spirit. Over time 'Uisge' became the word 'whisky'.

Is it too much suggesting 'old' and 'bottled' rhyme? Hope not.

I made up the verse and created the image in response to the Illustration Friday theme 'bottled'.

Here's some pics of the illustration process and materials.

spoonbill stirring tea

A spoon shaped face should never be 
socially deterring. 
It is ideal at tea parties 
for doing all the stirring.