Illustration Friday - mesmerising deer-cat

Look into the eyes of the deer-cat. Look deep into its eyes. 

Feel the mesmerising power of the deer-cat. 

The deer-cat wants you to leave a comment. 

You know you will...

This is a scan of a stencil art Christmas card I sent to friends and family. The original had glow in the dark eyes! For this weeks illustration friday theme 'mesmerising' I scanned a print and gave it a slight animated tweak.

Its okay. The deer-cat says you can look away now.

the Shopping and Visitors Guide to Sydney Road, Brunswick

Recently I had the chance to illustrate two maps and a cover for the Shopping and Visitors Guide to Sydney Road, Brunswick.

The cover and maps are designed to be casual, engaging and informative, to deliver a sense of adventure and excitement, and to appeal to the aesthetically literate Brunswick population. For my fellow font geeks out there, the typefaces used are Singapur Heavy (the tattoo typeface) and Urgent Telegram (the typewriter typeface). Both very sweet typefaces.

The guide was published by The Sydney Road Brunswick Association and laid out by Beyond the Page.

If you are living around the Brunswick area you can expect to have a copy delivered along with the Leader paper sometime in the next few weeks.

They say Sydney Road is the best thing ever to have come out of Sydney (that's a Melbourne joke), so here's hoping the guide inspires some exploring adventures of Melbourne's mightiest and most culturally exciting shopping strip!

Cheers
R

 

happy wanderer

I was at a loss with what to draw over the weekend, so I had a look in the garden and discovered the happy wanderer is flowering.
Oh, and here are some dugong sketches too.
R :)

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 :)

illustration of bicycles outside the Union Hotel, Brunswick

Bicycles at the hotel is available as poster or card art via my Redbubble store

Around where I live a lot of people like to ride their bicycles, and we are blessed with many excellent local pubs. These things combine very nicely.

Though I do recommend some moderation if riding home from the pub... and a helmet.

Drawn and coloured in response to Illustration Friday theme 'bicycle'.

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.

weekend pen and ink sketches

I spent some time on the weekend sketching random items from around the house. For a bit of fun I thought I might colour them and post them here.

 

Old mugshots provide great character reference

A couple of weeks ago, over my morning expresso, I idly read a tweeted recommendation to check out a site featuring police mug shots from Sydney in the 1920's. Well I was utterly gobsmacked when the collection of 90 year old photos loaded. They were packed with more character, pathos and culture than you could poke a stick at.

The police photographer of the time had far exceeded the needs of photography for identification, transforming the mug shots into stunning works of portraiture and valuable cultural time pieces. They also happen to make great reference for some play with ink and a brush! A few of the painting efforts I thought I'd post here. I am happy with the results so far (I have to do more), but they are not a patch on the magnificence of the original photos.

Anyway, thought I'd share the reference resource around as it's such a beaut. Oh, and since finding the website I have also found out there has been a book printed with the mug shot photographs - City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912 - 1928, by a chap called Peter Doyle. I must keep an eye out for a copy.

 

spoonbill stirring tea

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