SKETCHING ANIMALS AT THE ZOO AGAIN

As much as I like the dark and the rain and an evening chill, I was just about ready for home when I'd finished these quick animal sketches. The best thing about the cold when drawing is that it promotes a faster way of working I think and these didn't take any longer than a few minutes each.

A SKETCH REFOUND

I stumbled across this little ink drawing today whilst flicking through an old sketchbook and realised it's better than a load of drawings I've spent hours labouring over. It's fairly bold and loose and would only have taken a short minute to do.

Like most everyone else who keeps one, my sketchbook is a sanctuary for small drawings like this. Sketches that would perhaps otherwise become lost and forgotten.

ANIMALS OF THE ANTARCTIC

It's not that I'd forgotten or forsaken this blog, it's just that I've been incredibly busy illustrating a new children's book series and too tired to maintain it for a while.

But in a break and having given this blog a check up, I thought it was high time to pop some colour back in its cheeks since it seems to have gone a little bit black and white.

The illustrator in me couldn't help but draw a line around these small watercolours of antarctic wildlife but since they're set against a plain white background I suppose they benefit from some sort of discreet definition.

CHARCOAL FOOT DRAWING

When I did this charcoal foot drawing at Maidstone college of Art in 1992 I was looked upon by some of my peers as a bit of a monkey (I know this from the noises they were making behind my back). But I wasn't after a refined drawing when I stuck my charcoal between my toes, I was looking to make marks that I couldn't when I drew with my hands. Because there's less control using the feet, the marks are just that little bit freer and it made me think about what makes for a good drawing in a completely new light.

The drawing itself is a large picture and I was able to walk around it and work on different areas as I drew, accidentally smudging other parts as I went.

ELDERLY LADY

I had a friend once (look at me showing off) and when she's old I think she might look a smidge like this quick pen drawing I've done of an elderly lady.

I did this sketch in black Indian ink with my dippy pen, which lends itself to keeping the lines lively and loose. I tried not to allow the pen to rest anywhere on the paper for too long to give the drawing as much life as I could.

ELISABETH SLADEN

I did this pencil drawing way back in the heady days of August 1992, a month before I started my degree at Camberwell College of Arts. When I was a boy, Elisabeth Sladen would make my heart go goosey whenever she was on the telly in Doctor Who and I did this portrait for her when I met her in London at a signing session. She was so lovely and complimentary about the drawing when she accepted it, my heart pumped up to Goose Factor 9.

Sometimes I wish I did but I don't often do drawings like this anymore because they're so time consuming and although I still have the patience, I'm always too busy illustrating books and stuff.

Other Dr Who drawings can be found on my website.

SKETCH OF A LADIES' MAN

This is a Leonard Cohen drawing I did today that was required as a quick commission. Anyone who ever knew me, I don't know anyone anymore, knows that I spend a lot of my time messing things up. And this drawing is a top example of that as I had his face all wrong after making the marks around the eyes, mouth and nose far too heavy. To be fair though, I'm a bit poorly today and I can't concentrate very well with a headache. And my nose was running and kept dripping on my work.

Frankly my friends, Lenny deserves better than that.

I'm quite resourceful in a tight spot so I took my drawing and popped it onto my computer where I gently over-layed bits and bobs of the original photo I used as reference. I haven't done this before but I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. The main problem was to try and make sure the parts I corrected still looked as though I was clever enough to have drawn them. But I'm not clever, not today. Today I'm a fraud.

Everybody knows.