A poster illustration of the Westgarth Cinema

I saw two people outside a cinema lean over a motor scooter to kiss and I knew had to make an artwork of it.

In this drawing, behind the kissing couple, is a building based on the Westgarth Cinema in Northcote, Melbourne. It used to be called the Valhalla, a fondly remembered arthouse cinema. I have watched hundreds of films in this place, but haven’t kissed anyone here while on a movie date… yet.

Visit my shop on Redbubble to buy Meeting at the Cinema on posters, art prints and other gift items

The artwork was hand drawn in pen and ink and coloured digitally. If you are familiar with the Westgarth Cinema you will probably notice I changed a few details. For instance you can't really park a motor scooter on that corner, and I removed a power pole because it looked visually odd and distracting imbedded in the awning as it actually is in real life.

I created the artwork as an entry to Illustrators Australia's art exhibition Paper to Pixel. So if you went to the exhibition this artwork will probably (hopefully) be familiar to you.

Look at that big menacing ink blob right under the couple. Gaaagh!

Good thing there is digital editing.

To show some of the process here's the pencil rough and the ink drawing before I coloured it.

illustrating a map of historical railway lines

How many stations will need to be placed and labelled? 

255 stations on 27 lines. 

Hmmm, that's quite a few. Okay then, lets see how we go fitting all that information in...

Earlier this year I was commissioned to illustrate a historical map of Sydney's rail lines and stations. I was supplied with a rough layout and information of when the lines and stations opened, moved, extended, renamed or closed. A complex document to layout! I would like to think the result remains visually simple and easy to follow.

Truth is I enjoy putting together a historically based info-graphic like this and it makes me happy thinking of the historical train enthusiasts eagerly pouring over the carefully presented information.

If historical rail maps of Australia are your thing you can find this map and others available for purchase on Steve Watson's website www.trainsandtrams.com/sydney-train-map

 

Book illustration - Aliens Ghosts and Vanishings

 

Aliens Ghosts and Vanishings Strange and Possibly True Australian Stories Written by Stella Tarakson illustrated by Richard Morden Penguin Random House Australia

In store November 2016!!

http://pen.gy/2eHiWnI

A year ago I was approached to illustrate Aliens Ghosts and Vanishings a book examining the most bizarre stories from Australia’s culture and history. It is a joyride of Australian gothic weirdness written for 10 to 15 year olds, however I enjoyed reading it and I’m quite a bit older than that.

Did a UFO drag a family’s car off the road in the middle of the outback? How did rocks rain from the sky in WA? And what became of the prime minister who went into the surf and was never seen again?

Explore the strangest tales, most incredible encounters and creepiest urban legends in Australia’s history. Read about the investigations and weigh up the facts – do you believe the official explanations for these weird and wonderful events?

Here's a few examples of the strange tales it examines...

Mythical creatures! This particular beastie is the Hawkesbury River monster, illustrated with the appearance of a plesiosaur. Next time you’re dabbling your toes in a river look carefully to be sure there is not one of these lurking in the deep. Chomp chomp!

Haunted places! Some ghost hunters believe haunting spirits can be located with an electromagnetic field detector. Well I'm not so sure about that, but you can decide for yourself.

Mysterious locations! Have you heard of the falling stones of Mayanup, Western Australia? This is Audrey of Mayanup in the 1950s, around whom things would move strangely and rocks would appear, slowly falling to the ground. I'm not sure if she could actually levitate, but it felt appropriately telekinetic and spooky, so thats how I illustrated her. 

UFO Sightings! In 1966 in the Melbourne suburb of Westall more than 200 students and teachers from two schools saw a mysterious object land in a nearby grassy field. I was delighted when I learned I was to be illustrating a scene form the Westal UFO sighting. I had heard some of the witnesses speak at a convention and personally asked them to describe what they remember seeing and feeling when they approached the object. Best illustration reference ever.

Bizarre disappearances! What was behind the disappearance of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt? The conspiracy theories speak of a shark attack, CIA intervention, eloping with a love interest, UFO abduction, and even a Chinese submarine waiting to take him away! 

This was the first illustration completed for Aliens Ghosts and Vanishings, setting the style for the rest of the images. The plan was to create dark, mysterious illustrations with simple line work and lots of texture. I was also keen not to patronise the teenage readers with twee illustrations, instead aiming high and assuming an audience of sophistication.

Strange happenings! Does the existence of the Gosford Glyphs prove ancient Egyptians travelled to Australia, or are the markings simply a prank by some cheeky school children? Hmmm, what would be more likely... let me think. Ancient Egyptians, obviously!

So many wonderfully strange tales. A book I thoroughly enjoyed illustrating. 

Aliens Ghosts and Vanishings is available in stores and on-line November 2016.

Christmas Whale Christmas card

Will the Christmas whale be climbing down your chimney this year?
One can only hope!

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble  to shop for Christmas Whale on Christmas cards, t-shirts and other fun decorated gift items

The Christmas whale is here with its friends the Christmas dolphins. Echo locating by Christmas carol they bring their cetacean joy to all the boys and girls of the ocean.

The Christmas Whale is part of an ongoing personal challenge to create the most absurd yet fun Christmas card I can. There is so much of the Christmas festival I find utterly bewildering yet enjoyable, so I feel a little nonsense actually makes a Christmas card design more relevant not less!

Combining ocean going creatures and Christmas festivities has been a bit of a theme for me this year. Nothing says absurd as much as a whale wearing a hat and fake beard, so I am pretty happy with this card. Hopefully it hits the right balance of mad, festive and cute for you too.

Roller Skating Robot Santa Christmas card

Roller Skating Robot Santa.
Scanned stencil art.

There is no reason for Robot Santa to be on skates. No underlying metaphor, or commentary on the Christmas season. It's just how he rolls.

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Roller Skating Robot Santa as Christmas cards, t-shirts. mugs, tote bags and other decorated gift items

Christmas Beetle Christmas cards

Christmas beetle flying and Christmas beetle.
Originally designed as stencil art styled Christmas cards, now available on a whole lot of gift items.

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Christmas Beetle gift cards, t-shirts and other decorated gift items

Christmas beetles Anoplognathus pallidicollis can appear in large numbers approaching the Christmas holiday season in Australia. They are large beetles, often appearing shiny gold or metallic green.

The original versions of these Christmas beetles were hand printed by sponging paint through stencils. The prints looked lovely but didn't scan very well thanks to a very thick bumpy paint application. I needed clean well defined digital files to sell the artworks online, so I actually scanned the hand cut stencil forms and coloured the resulting shapes digitally. So these beetles are a bit digital and a bit hand made. I do a lot of combining digital and hand made art. Hopefully I am good enough at this that it is hard to tell where the digital ends and the hand made starts.

Celebration Sunfish, probably a Christmas card

Celebration Sunfish
The Ocean Sunfish, also known as a Mola Mola, loves a reason to celebrate. Christmas, holidays, birthdays, whatever the occasion it will be there dressed as a present with a big bow on its head.

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Celebration Sunfish on gift cards and lots of other stuff like t-shirts and mugs

Not quite sure why those jellyfish look so happy. Sunfish eat jellyfish.

When I drew this I had it in mind that it was to be for Christmas card. Now that I look at it I can see it would work equally well as a card for birthdays or in fact any celebration. A versatile sunfish!

painting a Troodon for Dinosaur Hamlet

Dinosaur Hamlet is my entry to the 2015 Illustrators Australia 9x5 art show. 

It took much longer to paint than anticipated, and being no expert with acrylic paints I battled with the medium throughout the entire process. Oh well, the battle is over, the painting is completed and has been delivered to the gallery in time to be part of the show.

The theme this year is 'Playtime', so I painted a Troodon, which is small relatively intelligent bird-like dinosaur from the Cretaceous period. It poses with a dinosaur skull as if performing the famous 'Alas poor Yorick' monologue from Shakespear's Hamlet. An obvious response to the theme, don't you think? 

This Illustrators Australia 9x5 art show will be up until 5 Dec 2015. More than 60 illustrators have each done an artwork in response to the theme 'playtime' on a 9x5 inch ply board. So if you are in Melbourne get along to the Abbotsford Convent and have a look. You will be glad you did!  

Oh, and I illustrated and designed this year's invite featuring a playtime kitten. Inspired by Miso the wonder cat attacking my toes in the middle of the night. 

And finally, here is an animated gif of the Dinosaur Hamlet in progress, so you can see how I went about painting it. It took a lot longer than this gif does!

lace monitor makes lace

Lace Monitor crochets lace underwear.
Her name is Anna. Go Anna!

This lace monitor was originally one half of a spot-the-difference puzzle in a book of Aussie Puzzle Adventures. I think she is sweet enough to be crocheting out in the big wide world on her own merit. So now she is on Redbubble and Society 6 as prints, gift cards, t shirts and the like. Long may she craft!

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Lace Monitor makes lace on gift cards, carry bags, t-shirts and stuff

Puzzle illustration - Collect Ten Flowers for a Pavlova Picnic

 

Handsome Yowie has a Flower. Beautiful Bunyip has a Pavlova.

Collect Ten Flowers for a Pavlova Picnic!
Help the handsome Yowie find his way through the maze to a picnic with the beautiful Bunyip. If he collects 10 flowers along the way she will give him a great big slice of pavlova. Yum. This is another of my Aussie Puzzle Adventures

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Collect Ten Flowers for a Pavlova Picnic, Handsome Yowie and Beautiful Bunyip on gift cards, posters, t-shirts and stuff

What are these strange beasties?

Yowies and Bunyips are Australian mythical animals or cryptids.

Yowies live in the darkest unexplored reaches of the Australian bush. They are big hairy ape-like beings similar to a Sasquatch or Yeti. Bunyips are dangerous magical creatures that inhabit isolated rivers and billabongs.

Both are to be feared and treated with the utmost caution, unless you are have brought flowers or pavlova.

Puzzle illustration - Who threw which boomerang?

Today the boomerang testing range is a whirl of confusion.
Can you tell who has thrown which boomerang?
Here’s a hint, the patterns on their helmets are coded to the boomerangs.
Who threw which Boomerang is another Aussie Puzzle Adventure

Thorny Devil

The Thorny Devil is available on its very own range of gifty items.
Also known as the Moloch or Thorny Dragon, these little lizards live in the Australian desert.
They are covered with spikes.
They are super cute.

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Who Threw Which Boomerang and for the Thorny Devil on great things like tshirts, cushions, posters, gift cards, and lots of other stuff.

It's a stick.
And when you throw it... it comes back!

Despite the old stereotypes most Australians live in cities not in the outback, we almost never ride to work on kangaroos and most of us are not expert boomerang throwers. Though as it happens I actually do have a collection of returning boomerangs, some of which seem to be missing. I must have thrown them away. I wonder if they will come back?

R :)

Puzzle illustration - Spot the Tawny Frogmouths

Can you find all five Tawny Frogmouths?
Of course you can, but you have to admit they are pretty good at hiding.

Tawny Frogmouths are birds found (or not found) hiding in trees throughout Australia. They look like owls, but are actually more closely related to nightjars. Experts at camouflage they can look just like a tree stump, even up close! That is, until they open their big yellow eyes.

Spot the Tawny Frogmouths is one of my series of Aussie Puzzle Adventures.

It was originally in of a puzzle book of mine called Puzzles Down Under, published by Black Dog Books in 2009. The publisher has since reverted the rights, allowing me to make the puzzles available as beautifully printed posters gift cards, art prints and t-shirts. So you can expect a lot more of these puzzles very soon.

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Spot the Tawny Frogmouths on gift cards, posters, cushions and stuff

Stencil print - Rufous Songlark Sings

Rufous Songlark is singing about the good things of Summer.

The Rufous Songlark is a small bird native to grasslands of Eastern Australia. Each Summer the male bird sings almost constantly.

This 2 colour stencil design was originally cut and hand printed to be part of the Bimblebox 153 Birds Project. 153 printmakers have each represented one of the 153 birds known to use the Bimblebox nature refuge. This nature refuge in central Western Queensland, Australia, is to be destroyed as it is in the path of a mega coal mine.

The prints contributed to the 153 Birds Project now form a touring exhibition raising awareness about the plight of the nature refuge and the potential threat these vast coal mines represent to the biodiversity of the region.

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble  to shop for Rufous Songlark Sings on gift cards, giclee art prints and home decor

spruced up the website

Too often have I thought 'Must update my portfolio website' and gone on to do exactly nothing about it. Well a few days ago I broke with this long standing tradition. I reviewed and changed my portfolio images and updated the layout of my website and blog. I also gave the site a shiny new domain name www.richardmordenillustration.com.au

My aim was to make a site visually clean and simple to navigate. All the information a potential customer needs is on one page. No need for a separate landing page, folio page, contact page or about page. The website is built with blogger so folio images are easy to update and the responsive blogger layout means all should look fine on a mobile device.

You will notice inky octopuses in the side bar. These tentacled critters were painted as decorative devices to visually break up the text and give the site some added personality. I took photos of the octopuses on the drawing board. Here they are...

a bench for my studio space

I made a bench for my studio space. The working surface is a lot higher than is typical for a work bench allowing me to comfortably draw at it when standing up.

I have to admit most of the work was done by the local hardware store. I asked them what I should do to make a cheap standing height bench to be used for light work, mostly drawing. They suggested the basic construction you see here and sold me a light hollow door, 3 metres of 70x35mm pine which they cut to the required lengths, some screws and drill bits. All that remained for me to do was drill pilot holes and screw the lot together. Even I could manage this.

And because I am much better at illustrating diagrams than I am at timber constructions here's a very basic isometric projection of how the bench went together.