York Endurance Drawing...

Spent the day in York with Jonny and Helen with the plan of drawing outside. Okay, maybe not the extreme endurance drawing of yore, but still a challenge to stand drawing for 30 minutes at a time in the cold and drizzle of a grey winter day. Of course these harsh situations are alleviated by spending time in pubs and cafes to return the circulation to frozen extremities.

And this is what Jonny was drawing...

Blog is fixed...

Hurrah, 13:00 22/02/2010 Blog is accessible again.

Blog is broken…

Bit of a problem uploading items to this blog…

Charles Waterton… Why Bother?

Trying to build up my drawing muscles, not strong enough to stay outside very long in the cold so headed for Wakefield Museum. These, strangely enough, caught my interest…

Again, thinking as I was drawing. Usually I would say that I look at what I’m going to draw and visualise imaginary lines where things meet and intersect, negative space around the forms. The curve of the monkey’s base intersecting at the arms and leg for instance. Making it up as I went along is the closest I can get to the feeling of drawing these strange objects. My point of view changed as I stood and crouched too, so they are really inaccurate. I started on Martin Luther’s right paw and just drew what I saw next to it until it was finished. The same for ‘John Bull’, where I started on the dragons head. This way of drawing means you have to have a certain amount of faith in what you are doing unless a line ends in space and misses its connection. Taking a digital photo would have been more accurate, more descriptive. The point is, I stood in front of these weirdoes and now have a 20 minute memory of Wakefield Museum and Waterton’s creation. ‘Why bother’ indeed.

A Day Out in Leeds…

Spent time in Leeds today and managed to get some drawing time in too. First stop was the half term crazy Royal Armouries. Much of the Armouries entertains me. I do like the ceremonial swords and the many many weapons designed to kill and maim in the most attractive way possible. The craftsmanship of these weapons is undeniable, their intentions, inevitable.

It has been awhile since I have been ‘out’ drawing, and as I was getting my hand/eye back I started to think about the ‘rules’ of what I was doing. Whether I follow these or not is not important, I can’t help but think of the comments intentional or not I’ve had over the years when I’ve put pen to paper.

Trying to find something to eat we ended up at Leeds City Museum for a baked potato and cheese. I have never been to the museum before so this is the first time I see the skeleton of a Giant Deer, which looked tremendous.

Okay, Let’s try Live Writer…

y recent frustration with Blogger and WordPress have led me to try out Windows Live Writer to write and upload stuff to this blog. So this is my first stab at using it, after a brief download and sign in procedure everything seems nice and Windows cosy, lets try uplaoding a drawing….

Brill, that was fairly easy and there seem to be a load of options to play with special effects…

 

And joy of joy’s, Live Writer is underling spelling mistakes as I make them (did you spot the misspelt ‘uploading’ above). This is making me happy. I was constantly bullied as a child (by teachers) because of my atrocious spelling and It’s not that much better now I’m an adult. It has left me with a condition where if any one does pick me up on a spelling I am instantly transported back to being a lonely child wanting home time to come early so I can get back to the safety of my  bedroom and read comics, nothing changes really in a lifetime. Strange that I should choose a profession that relies on me writing in front of people, sometimes in public, it’s like I’m subconsciously taunting myself to fail.

It’s also worth mentioning that the editor is WYSIWYG, down to the type face and customised layout, which is so much better that the Blogger way of doing it was (typed in one font and displayed in another). So that’s a big happy thumbs up for Windows Live Writer and easier Blogging from Mr Welding.

Still Taken with Live Writer, But…

Lining text to the top of a photo image seems a bit of a problem and Chrome and Safari browsers seem to apply the image special effects to all images within the post, Internet Explorer 8 seems fine with it though apply different effects to different images. Still, these are things I can live with for the moment, while I get used to finding my way round.

Recent page from a doodle drawing book.

1998 Moebius Sketch...

Matt D left a comment which mentioned this year's 'Angouleme International Comics Festival' and that got me thinking about this sketch I got from comics legend Moebius at the '98 Festival. It's the only fan sketch I've been brave enough to ask for, ever. I've lost so many photographs and bits of artwork due to moving, negligence and floods over the years that I'm quite pleased to have found this scrappy bit of memory ephemera paper intact.

Banners at the Faceless Office...

The printed banners featuring my artwork arrived at the Faceless office today. Here's a quick snap of H previewing them. I've only seen these 12 illustrations and designs on my 24 inch monitor and on A4 Prints so to see them at .75 x 2.4 Metres in size is a bit mind blowing.

Breathe in - Breathe out...

Damn it all to HELL! Have spent a reasonable amount of time trying out WordPress and have come to the conclusion it's just as bad as Blogger. In such a pickle I have now locked myself out and really can't be bothered with trying to find a way in, it feels like another way to just waste my time. Does the male brain just reach this point by itself? I no way regard myself as normal, as average but I really do feel like a stupid old man who can't text his children because he can't work out how to switch his bloody phone on! Defeated by technology.

Ah well, this is a drawing of Frankenstein's monster who features in a recurring dream I've been having.