CUSTOMER SERVICE

(Gel Fineliner on A5 Paper)

I did this piece for Inktober as a reference to the way many artists are so afraid of causing offence that they self-censor, causing their work to be bland and void of any creativity. They opt for the easy life, shying away from any kind of confrontation, especially in this age of social media.

Trolling has been around for a lot longer than the internet. It's not a new phenomenon. It's just easier for people to do now. If any artist is worried about upsetting anyone then they should  consider calling it a day, because they're really wasting their time.

BOOKMARKS #1

 

(0.18 technical pen on card)

Cleaning out an old technical pen, I decided to use the diluted ink that remained to do a couple of small bookmarks on off-cut pieces of card I had. Each measures roughly 11 cm in height and, even they're basic images, they took a while to do with diluted ink in a 0.18 technical pen!

The Book of Magic & Mayhem

 

(HB pencil on 110mm x 78mm paper)

Odd characters and weird objects do tend to come to the fore when doing dreamscape pieces. This elf-like wizard, with even stranger looking ears than normal, reading a chaotic looking book of magic, is no exception.

Angry Elf

(HB pencil on 74mm x 106mm paper)

- NOT AVAILABLE -

In this dreamscape piece, I liked the way the dream construct elements of it made up the branches of a tree that the elf is hiding behind. Usually, it becomes nothing more than background, as in previous pieces.

And this little elf doesn't look too pleased at being discovered!

Dreamscape - Speed Tests

"Sleeping Beauty" (HB pencil on 63mm x 35mm card)

 

For the past few weeks, I've been working towards producing a short video on the Dreamscaping technique of automatic drawing (surrealist automatism). I realised that I couldn't do these at the current scale that I usually do them, which is near postcard size, as that would take far too long. So I needed a more acceptable size that I could view with the limited videoing equipment that I have, which is just the video function on my compact camera. In the end, I opted for 63mm x 35mm. The reason it's so specific is because I simply used a piece of off-cut card which looked the right size and drew around it as a template.

 

Before any video could be made, I had to time myself doing a piece this size. The first one was "Sleeping Beauty" shown above, but even at that size, I found myself getting carried away with it and forgetting the time limitations I needed for it. In the end, it took 1 hour, ten minutes to do. It's a good little piece, showing the remnants of a broken-down android forever staring at another amongst all the other refuse, but the time it took was way over the 30 minute limit I had in mind for them, so the work had to be more sketchy.

 

Now, a quick sketch is easy to do. A few minutes is all it would take. The internet is filled with videos of people doing just that, but the Dreamscape technique I use takes just a little more time.

 

"Elven Harassment" (HB pencil on 63mm x 35mm card)

 

"Elven Harassment" is more of a sketch in quality, but does its job, as it took 28 minutes to do. I've no idea what's going on in that image, but I do like the fact that the elf looks as if she's about to punch him. The final video I'll be making, obviously, won't be around that timeframe. It will be sped-up to around 3 minutes, but should clearly show the techniques used and the randomness of the image produced.

 

It's still a work in progress....

 

LULANI GREENSTAR - Elven Witch

I don't usually favour sketchbooks, mainly because a single A4 sketchbook can last me a long time. I can easily get 3 or 4 works from one single page of it, but I didn't want to waste the few unused sketchbooks that I do have. So, I decided the crop them into smaller sketchbooks of A5, A6 and A7, each having 8 or 10 pages and stapled with a black card cover. They're crudely made, with uneven pages, but they'll do fine. Plus, I'm more likely to use them in these limited formats. The first one being the following:

 

Lulani Greenstar - A6 art booklet (10 pages)

I didn't intend to fill the entire booklet with just one character, but after I drew the first one, I found that more was to come from it. So much so that it ended up being a day in the life of this character. The drawings are of various sizes, and quality, below its A6 format, but they work well. So enjoy meeting the sexy, sultry, elven witch known as Lulani Greenstar. She's been, sort of, expecting you....

 

Lulani Greenstar

Lulani Greenstar, the sexy, sultry, elven witch, warmly greets us...

 

"Oh, how wonderful for everyone else but me! Completely unannounced and unexpected guests, arriving at an inconvenient time - Do come in!"

 

The Unfamiliar Familiar

Ah! Now here we see the fabled "Witch's Familiar." What strange and exotic name does Lulani give this little helper?

 

"Well, I don't know who it belongs to, but I call it "Little Bastard" because it's always tearing up my herb garden - Cats are edible, aren't they?"

 

The Witch's Brew

Where would any witch be without her cauldron? We can but wonder at what magical potions Lulani is concocting.

 

"It's called a stew. I do get hungry, you know. Would you like some?"

 

What happened to the cat?

 

"The what?..."

 

The Flight of a Witch

Like all good witches, Lulani knows how to fly, but shouldn't she be using a broomstick?

 

"Piss off! I'm not doing any housework whilst I'm flying. Where's the fun in that?"

 

The Love Potion

As a working witch, Lulani does all she can to help people with their problems...

 

"I'm sure you'd like this love potion, but let's be honest here, you're an ugly little fucker, aren't you? It'd just be a waste. I mean, I'm good, but I'm not THAT bloody good!"

 

"Burn the Witch!"

Lulani pays a visit to her good friend, and fellow witch, Karlotta Krane, who looks to be in a spot of bother...

 

"It seems that half the villagers were cursed with a plague of boils and she got the blame for it. Can't imagine who else could have done it. But don't worry, I'll save her, as soon as she reaches the point where she soils herself. I'm sorry, but she really needs to be taught a lesson. After all, she's blonde, beautiful, and much more popular than I am. In other words - WHAT A TOTAL BITCH!"

 

Raising the Dead

Using her powerful magic, Lulani has the ability to raise the dead! What diabolical plans does she have for this horrific creature?

 

"Nothing much. He was the shoemaker from the village and he owed me money. I just want him to pay me back. Death is no excuse when you're in debt to a witch."

 

The Rabbit Lulani

Another of Lulani's tricks is her ability to transform herself into a rabbit! But you can still tell that it's her.

 

"Really? How?"

 

It's your bright eyes, burning like fire.

 

"Why thank you!....wait, what?"

 



The Working Witch

There's always something that even a witch like Lulani needs to learn about magic. That's why we see her studying here.

 

"Bollocks! I don't need to learn anything. I'm doing that magic charm for fame, fortune and love that you wanted. That is why you're here, isn't it?"

 

Well....yes, I suppose so. It's not for me, you understand. Oh no, no, no! It's for a "friend"....Yes, that's right....a "friend"

 

"Yeah, yeah."

 

The Cock and Balls Magic Charm



It's....It's....IT'S JUST A COCK AND BALLS!

 

"You know nothing of witchcraft! It's clearly the "Phallus Rampant" an ancient symbol of fertility and good fortune. Besides, even if it was just a cock and balls, I'm a witch and I drew it, so that makes it a "magic" cock and balls."

 

You really are a mental-case, aren't you? And if you think I'm paying you for that, you've got another thing coming!

 

"The shoemaker once thought as you do."

 

 

Guardian Spirit - XORINA

(Green biro on 127mm x 76mm notecard)

- NOT AVAILABLE -

 

An unusual artwork, and the first of a few that I'll be doing. It's inspired by those that believe in guardian angels and spirit guides. I suppose it's really no different to those that believe they've been abducted by aliens. An idea that some higher being has, for some obscure reason, singled them out as something special. A constructed personal sense of worth in a world where they feel they have none. It's quite sad really, in that aspect, so who am I to begrudge them their little fantasy?

 

What I find amusing about them, though (especially with regard to spirit guides) is why they tend to be mostly American Indians aiding those with no heritage of such. I have this strange scenario in my mind of all these Indian spirit guides lining up to clock in and out of duty, with one suddenly turning to another and saying: "What the fuck are we helping these bastards for?"

 

In reality, these "entities" could be anything you want them to be. After all, it's your delusion, so why not treat yourself to something different? Like a sexy little elf-woman with a sword, for example.



Merry Christmas 2016 - Elf Made



(HB pencil on a 138mm x 87mm postcard)

- NOT AVAILABLE -

A Christmas elf is not born, they are made,

From one who lives their life in the shade.

 

As with the previous two years, I put this artwork on some Christmas cards that I printed out, which I then gave to various people. I re-used the idea of the strange, foul-mouthed elves that I'd previously used for the 2014 card. The story within the card tells of how Santa's elves are created, which you can view below by clicking on them (click on one and you should be able to easily scroll through them all):

 



 

On a scroll of vellum, with ink of blue,

For your letter to Santa is what you must do,

Tied and bound with a feather found,

Then cast into fire when there's no-one around.

Hentai 4 Food

(Black fineliner on 125mm x 75mm notecard)

In the 1980s and 90s, when it broke into the west, manga and animé had a cool factor that nothing else had. It was edgy, underground and subversive. If you read manga, watched animé, or you were a manga artist, you were part of a very select group.

But, those shining gems we were first given from the east were quickly submerged by a tsunami of low-budget shite. Both manga and animé soon became a shameful cliché of itself, further compounded by the flood of hentai which inevitably followed.

Now, whenever the words "manga" and "animé" are mentioned, they're associated with cheesy animation or sex, because that's all they're really worth now. A terrible fall from grace for what was once the coolest kid on the block. It's everywhere and nowhere, and worth nothing.

Even though I used to love drawing manga, this crude, half-arsed example here will be the last manga image I ever draw. Perhaps, one day, it can somehow regain part of that lost credibility, but until then it's nothing more than an unclean dirty whore, an embarrassment to view and use, very much like a sign written in comic-sans.