The Eighty Sixth Doodle

You may have guessed by now people: I LOVE DRAWING BODIES.

 

I mean like, live bodies, as in, well...people being all humanesque and stuff. And clothes. I love drawing clothing. And hair. And muscle tone.

 

Well, you get the blimmin' drift.

 

So I created some pretty sick (even if I do say so myself) illustrations for a new London clothing company Drop 'n' Roll, and above is the main header image encompassing drawings of their range of t-shirts for men and women.

 

If you're a small clothing company get in touch about creating some unique one off illustrations for your site. Photos are great to show off individual pieces but if you want something truly different, then hit me up.

 

(Can't believe I just said hit me up. I cannot pull that off.)

The Eighty Second Doodle - Ladies & Beasts

 The Ladies & The Beasts Series

The Lady & The Raven

I've had a few questions and comments about my newest series of paintings 'The Ladies & The Beasts', so I thought I'd write up here in my blog to answer a few of those questions! Also, it's a nice way of putting down in words why I paint what I paint.

My work is constantly inspired by strong women, 'cause lets face it - we're super badass. We have marvellous shapes and features and hair, all the things I love to paint. So when I first began painting these ladies with different types of animals and birds, even I wondered where exactly in my head they'd come from.

The women I paint are, firstly, not 'perfect' airbrushed model types. They have bumps. They have lumps. They have tummies. They often have fierce, not typically beautiful features. But that is perfect- because it's what we all are in reality. And we're awesome. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I reckon, and everyone is beautiful to somebody else out there. And that is totally awesome too.

The Lady & The Fox

So I suppose you could say that my ladies are Renaissance ladies - ever looked at those paintings from the 15th or 16th century by the likes of Botticelli or Titian? They are curvy, they have real shape, there is often an aspect of nature in the composition. I've simply added a few extra modern things- a slice of ruggedness, a streak of alternative attitude, a dose of colourdy hair (colourdy aint no word, but meh!) to make these ladies true, 21st century badass goddesses. They are Amazonians, they are natures' warrior ladies. They are feminine and lovely but they are tough.

The Lady & The Wolf

In regard to the other aspects of my paintings, I've had a few people ask me if the animals are meant to be 'clothing' or 'accessories'; the simple answer to that is no. The animals are in fact a part of the women- their positions are often intwining, protective. Of course, I like to leave people to decide for themselves what they see in my work, but for me the animal or bird represents the soul, the personality of the woman. Sometimes they act as guardians, such as in The Lady & The Owl (see below- I'd bloody love having a wise old owl looking out for me), sometimes they are more shielding as with The Lady & The Fox.

But when it comes down to it, you can see what you like. My paintings can mean whatever you'd like them to in your own little head- they can represent something, or they can just be an image of a lady with an animal. Simple as that. You can relate to the women I paint, you can see an attitude you recognise, you can like the colours.

At the end of the day, I hope people enjoy looking at my work and perhaps see a little thing that means something just to them. So, enjoy.

The Amazonian

The Native American 

The Lady & The Owl

The Lady & The Arctic Wolf

The Lady & The Swan

The Eighty First Doodle

Sometimes you just need to have a good ol' painting sesh. With some recent work I've been creating I've been taking photos all the way through of the various stages, which is actually really interesting. It's quite nice to look back at how you built up a painting; all the various layers and shading techniques that you use, perhaps without even noticing!

 

Here's the finished painting of my Native American inspired lady, done using watercolours and inks :) 

The Sixty Seventh Doodle

The tube is an amazing place. (Before we go any further, I of course mean the London Underground, not like a tube of cardboard from the middle of loo roll.) You see all walks of life down there, it is quite marvellous. Mwahahaha.

This illustration came from a girl I saw on the tube who was pretty funky. Now, she didn't actually have a weird blue aura and I am certain her real life face had an outline - I used artistic lisence 'o course. But she was a hellova lotta fun. Trying to capture that nonchalant, effortlessly cool way she hung from the pole, her funky outfit and hair, her general groovy vibe. 

I mean, I don't know, maybe she is actually a total cow in real life, and I'd find that I'd rather chew glass than draw her. But in my head, and on the tube, she seemed funky. May as well draw funky people when you see 'em ey?

The Sixty Sixth Doodle

Someone said to me that this illustration looks like a dark Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Must be the pigtails!

Outlines are, at times, over rated. It's nice to see what happens when you take them away. How do you keep the concept of shape, depth, form? Do you lose anything? I find that, if anything, you gain more. Sometimes defining pencil and pen lines can hold back the mystery and ease of a piece of art work. Can you be too defined?

Oh dear, I am clearly feeling a wee bit philosophical. 

Take this pigtailed lady above. She began as a sketch, and after a while of staring at her wondering what to do, an idea started to form. I began painting out parts her face, splashes of hair, dark pools for the eyes. And here she emerged, no outlines and all the better for it. 

Odd ey. Take away boundaries of any sort and groovy things can happen.

The Twenty Ninth Doodle

So, I went surfing in Australia. Oh my word, I swear my stomach was killing me the next day, all that fighting through the surf. Though I unfortunately did manage to fall off in the shallows and totally buggar my shoulder - typical.

So accepting that I am not meant for the extreme sports lifestyle, I am more than happy to do the art work. I can't hurt my arm this way (well, that isn't technically true, but that's another story).

So here's a sassy surfer girl, in watercolour and pen. Ahhh don't you just love the sea ey.

The Twenty-Sixth Doodle

I am a full on history geek, so obviously I love a bit of Sherlock Holmes. Love the books, love the film, love the BBC show. So I decided to do a doodle on it.

So here is a drawing of Benedict Cumberbatch (best name ever) and Martin Freeman. Is it odd I have a big crush on both? Yes, it probably is. Oh well.

I have become obsessed drawing people in this way. My line work is fairly harsh and cutting, but I have avoiding anything 'emo' or scary. Just because something is a little harsh looking doesn't mean it isn't beautiful or interesting.

Coats and fabrics are also amazing to draw and paint. Do it. It's very theraputic.

The Twenty-Fifth Doodle

I love drawing people. Love it.

Now don't get me wrong, I have gotten much more open minded in my old age (oh lord I will be 26 this year ahhhhh). I have become facinated by buildings and even animals, things I used to hate to draw. But essentially, my soul is still in people.

The muscle structure. The way the light reacts to skin. Hair and how it moves. Those beautiful folds in shirts that we would never normally notice, until you really, really look. Eyes. Lips. Necks.

Amazing. People, you are all GORGEOUS to me.

The Nineteeth Doodle

I really like the idea of doing fashion type illustrations, but with my own edge. I don't know if you've noticed (HA) but my style is rather messy, gritty and pretty grungy. But I still feel it can go with pretty much any subject matter!

This lady just sort of popped out of my head from a rough sketch, she is very bohemian! I love the layering of watercolours, they literally rock my world. Acrylic can be fun, but watercolour is my true love. Always and forever. Gosh, how emo.