Mini Figures
I drew these minature figures to scatter around my map of Trafalgar Square: If you look closely, you can just see them. As Trafalgar Square is usually one of the busiest areas of London, the original piece looked a little empty without any people: The final piece benefitted from the extra life the scattered people [...]
Tutorial Piece for Digital Artist
The current issue of Digital Artist Magazine – which can be purchased here – contains a detailed tutorial I wrote recently about using vanishing points within a composition. This was a slightly unusual piece on perspective as it shows a less classical application of vanishing points and it was interesting to explore the way in [...]
Two drawings of Neal’s Yard
I love Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden so I’ve drawn it a number of times. Here’s two very different illustrations of it:
The Construction of a Panoramic Illustration
I recently started working on a new panoramic view of London and thought it might be interesting to show a couple of the stages I go through when working on these pieces. There are a number of remarkable photographic panoramas to be found online, but I didn’t want to just draw a straight copy of [...]
View from Trafalgar Square
Here’s a new piece I’m working on, based around a terrific panoramic photograph I discovered of Trafalgar Square. One of the things I love most about Trafalgar Square is the way in which Nelson’s Column faces down the Strand; there’s something very reassuring about the sight of one of England’s most heroic figures keeping watch [...]
Castle on a Hill
Over the weekend I decided to try another drawing with my Letraset promarkers. I was thinking about drawing a castle on a hill and used St Michael’s Mount as the basis for the hill, as I discovered a rather nice photo of the island – with a ship in the foreground – in an old [...]
Bird’s Eye Illustrated Map of Reading
Here’s a quick look at a work in progress of mine; a bird’s eye view map of Reading, Berkshire: There’s some close up images after the page break:
Midsea Books
Yesterday I received an intriguing parcel from Midsea Books in Malta. It contained three of the books I illustrated for them between October 2009 and July 2010, The Lost Sock – by Rita Borg – Nemnem and the Giant – by John Betts – and a collection of poems written by school children as part [...]
Manchester City Centre
Another work in progress; this time slightly less resolved than the drawings of Covent Garden, Ponte Vecchio and New York. feel this image is a little flat and would probably benefit from some darkened windows and shady areas to some of the buildings, but thought it best to scan the piece at this stage to [...]
Vlad Dracul
Here’s a drawing I did of Vlad Dracul which is featured in the current issue of Ballad Of. This illustration reflects my love for all thing relating to the eccentric Wallachian prince, a topic I explored in a little more detail here.
New York City Hall
This line drawing shows New York City Hall; I’ve not finished with this piece yet, but the majority of the drawing has been completed, so I decided to post it, while I finish off a few other projects:
Covent Garden Market
I decided to rework my drawing of Covent Garden Market over the weekend; the original was a little bare and lifeless and it really needed some figures in it to make the composition work a little better: This is a crowded area of London, so I’m planning a version with even more figures in it. [...]
Panoramic Drawing of Budapest
I’ve wanted to draw Budapest for a while; but it’s always harder working on an illustration of an area you have never visited – one of the reasons I frequently draw parts of London is that I know these spaces fairly well and have already sketched them and thought about how to represent them. So, [...]
Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden, London
When I lived in London for a year, I had two jobs in the Covent Garden area and I spent a lot of my lunch breaks drawing Neal’s Yard and other places in the Seven Dials area. I love the relaxed, lively atmosphere in this part of London and so tried to get some of [...]
Bird’s Eye View of Reading
Here is a tiny section from an illustrated map I’m working on at the moment. The map shows Reading, in Berkshire and this is 1/16th of the total piece:
Linocut print of London Skyline
Another new addition to my Etsy shop is this graphic illustration of the London Skyline, which is a linocut print. These prints need to be drawn and carved in reverse and my usual tecnique involves drawing out the design, scanning it and flipping it over in Photoshop. However, for these piece, I used an especially [...]
Abstract Map of Europe
This piece started with a pen and ink drawing, which was then scanned and used as the basis for a geometric digital poster design. The piece was created as part of a tutorial for Digital Artist which explored mid 20th Century travel poster design:
Line Drawing of Cyprus Hillside
Here’s a quick commission I worked on at the start of this week; it’s a drawing of some Cypriot villas and will be used within a forthcoming property website. I’m in two minds about whether to alter the style of the piece a little; I like the clean lines in the drawing, but am concerned [...]
Abstract Map for Digital Artist
A recent tutorial for Digital Artist saw me creating an illustrated map of Europe which combined abstract shapes with small spot illustrations. I really loved working on this piece as the references I was asked to make use of (mid 20th Century travel posters) were exactly the sort of images that appeal to me most. [...]
Perspective Tutorial for Professional Artist Magazine
Below is one of the illustrations I produced to accompany a tutorial in perspective drawing for the excellent Professional Artist Magazine: And here are my spreads from the piece, which was laid out beautifully by their designer. The magazine had some fascinating articles in it, including a great piece about The Aesthetic Power of Geometric [...]
Typographic Linocut Map of Paris Arrondissements
Here’s the newest item to be added to my burgeoning Etsy shop – a linocut map of the Paris Arrondissements. I decided to make a second map after the linocut map of London proved to be fairly popular; I sell one or two a week and I was really happy that people seemed to like [...]
Illustrated Map for the Dawn Herald
I was recently commissioned by L.B Mara to illustrate a map and several watercolours for her absolutely excellent book, The Dawn Herald. Here is the drawing so far: The visual influences on this piece deserve a lengthy, detailed blog post all of their own, so I’ll refrain from going into too much detail right now, [...]
