Artwork Preview

Hi guys and gals. I'm currently at the ISCA annual caricature convention in Sandusky, Ohio, where the competitions have now closed and the voting on all the amazing artwork is over. The awards banquet will be tonight, when the results will be revealed.

For those who didn't come along (and you've missed a GREAT one!), here's a sneek peek at a couple of new pieces from the book that I also included in my portfolio presentation here in Sandusky. The feedback from my friends and colleagues has been fantastic, I'd like to thank them for their kind words.

Books Available To Pre-Order!

Now that the book is being printed, I am happy to start taking pre-orders. I've included three options for shipping, UK, Europe, and Rest of the World. The books will take about a week to be printed, then another 3-4 weeks to arrive from the printers.

To pre-order the book, choose your destination below and continue to the Paypal website for payment.

UPDATED 29/10/09: Thank you to those who have ordered so far. Just to restate, to avoid unnecessary emails and payment requests, please choose the correct shipping option for your location. The price of the book is £16.99, so the shipping options for your location will already have the shipping costs added. Choosing the wrong location will result in an extra payment request before the book can be shipped to you. Thank you!

Shipping options

UK £17.49 Europe £20.99 Rest of World £23.99

Waiting for colour digital proofs- and sketch of camel

Hi guys, sorry for the absence, a lot has been happening. Firstly, I've finished and sent off the book to the printers, so I'm now waiting for the colour digital proofs to arrive for my approval. I've also relocated to the coast, which has been both exciting and stressful, but definitely worth it, the new place is great! I'm also working on some private commissions along with all the unpacking still to do.

Once I've got the proofs, I'll set up a page for pre-ordering the book, really looking forward to seeing the proofs!

Finally, above is a quick warm-up sketch from yesterday.

Same background, different jobs!!???

Managed to squeeze these jobs in between working on the book artwork last week. Two commissions, both for different magazines, both using the same background. The first is for the Radio Times of Steve Coogan, one of my favourite comedy actors, and the magazine should be on the shelves from today. For creating the bricks, I painted one, then used layers to create the rest, adding more detail with each layer to avoid too much repetition. I used various brushes, one I found on the internet (sorry, can't remember where) for creating the gritty effect of the concrete.

The second is for The Weekly Standard, of Chancellor Merkel of Germany. They asked for the poster to be on a brick wall. Quite handy really! Still had some work to do to the poster, but all in all, an interesting combination of jobs.

BOOK NEWS

The artwork for the book is now FINISHED!!! I am so pleased with the work I have put into it, I can't wait for you to see it. There are still a few things to do, in terms of production, but it's pretty much done.

Got lots to do this week, getting ready to move house, 20 week scan for our forthcoming baby on Thursday and drawing at a wedding on Saturday, plus other commissions to be worked through. Plenty to keep me busy! ;)

Eddie and Frank for Radio Times

This was a little piece for the Radio Times a couple of weeks ago. Frank Skinner and Eddie Izzard on Radio 4 doing a show called 'Chain Reaction'. Doing another one for the Radio Times now, plus I've nearly finished a photoshop painting of Gordon Brown for the book (possibly my favourite piece so far). The book is so close to being finished!

Ismael Roldan- R.I.P

(self-caricature of Ismael)

This morning I discovered that my good friend Ismael Roldan has passed away. He was 45. I don't know the details of his death, but it has been confirmed on the ISCA forum where I first read the news. This is a very sad day. I only met him in person for the first time last year at the ISCA convention, and I am distraught that I will not get to meet him in person again. Since the convention, we have corresponded via email and telephone, sharing advice and experiences, and I was looking forward to a long friendship with him.


This is a sketch he drew of me whilst I drew him at the convention:


This is a terrible loss for the caricature world, he will be sorely missed! RIP Ismael!

New Cover Design!!

As mentioned in the previous post, delivery of the book once it's finished is going to take a while, this is after approval of proofs, which will also take time, so I will be delighted if the books are delivered before 30th October. The new cover design (image shown is the draft version) was created by Neil Davies, he did a great job.

New artwork for the book includes Gordon Brown acrylic, Charles Dickens acrylic, Liv Tyler digital, Ozzy Osbourne digital, Lemmy digital, Bill Murray watercolour, plus a tutorial on exaggeration, and new photography of older paintings. There are also some new sketches never before seen.

Sketch of David Op De Beeck

It's about time I posted some artwork on here because I can't show you any of the work for the book. Just a quick sketch for now.

BOOK UPDATE: I've found out that it will take over a month from finishing the book to them arriving on my doorstep, so I am dashing to get everything done, the plan is to have them in time for the ISCA convention at the beginning of November. It's going to be close!

Exciting Book News!

Hi guys,

There will be a change in the way the book is to be published. I will now be personally stocking the books, which will mean I can deal with each customer directly, and each book will now be signed by me. This will also mean there will be a delay between finishing the book and publishing. I am still finishing off lots of artwork, paintings and sketches, and I am very proud of them all. I am planning to have at least ten new paintings and sketches in the book that have never been seen before. I hope you'll like them!

I've also changed the cover ever so slightly, let me know what you think! ;)

Kevin Kallaugher!

Allow me to introduce some samples from the pen of KAL. Kevin 'Kal' Kallaugher, has been drawing political cartoons for the Economist for the last 31 years. His book, 'Drawn from the Economist', has been on and off my bookshelf for the last twenty years, and was one of the main inspirations in my youth in terms of caricature. So I was thrilled and honoured when Kal agreed to write the foreward for my book.

I'm working on lots of new pieces that will be exclusive to the book. I am very proud of this new work, I consider it my best work yet, and it's killing me not being able to show them to you. I guess I'll have to restrain myself, or just keep painting! :)

Bill Murray W.I.P

Another piece I'm working on for the book, this one is watercolour, a medium I absolutely love!!

Ozzy W.I.P

Working on some new artwork for the book, including this one of our pal Ozzy. This is about an hour and a half so far.

Napoleon Sketch

Going through a history book is a great way to find subjects to draw. We have a really big full colour hardback filled with excellent pictures of moments, people and objects from history, so not only am I having fun with the drawing, I'm learning history too!

Napoleon was very particular about his public image, and only hired the finest portrait artists to portray him in a favourable light. It is pretty certain then, that this is what he actually looked like, right?

Finished Arnie Painting!

Finished the Arnie painting, now to assemble, edit, and write about all of the photos I took during the process. I expect to have the book finished and ready to buy for the end of August at the very latest, and if I didn't mention before, the book will be available through Blurb, and they can ship to destinations all over the world!

Arnie Update

I've taken plenty of photos of this so far, so hopefully it will make a useful and entertaining step-by-step for the book. I'll post the final painting when it's done.