Lach's lost world

Galactic Allies 4

2012-01-15T18:53:00.000-08:00

Facebook is evil- everything you put up, every comment you make- every photo is scrutinised and analysed, every face identified and filed forever for use by corporations or worse-
they track you when you're not on facebook....
I used to make jokes about how they needed a product recognition system that analyses every photo and identifies the logos and consumer products in it- to track and profile peoples ownership of things-
so it identifies theres a 6 year old tv in the background and places an ad for tv's in your every search and facebook page.
I would have thought they'd already achieved this-
but given the irrelevant adds I'm subjected to clearly they haven't (plus I don't post photos ....my wife does though)

Which is why if you must use facebook- make sure the only thing you do is play Galactic Allies - give the corporations and homeland security only a record of your gaming enjoyment.

If you do you might see these characters.

Looking back

2012-01-15T18:37:00.000-08:00

Spent a bit of time looking back at stuff I'd done the last 3 years.
Conclusion:- Way,way off being what it needs to be,a
lot of rough half done stuff,
but I need to be much much better than what I looked at.
But then they have been very difficult years- and in a lot of ways lucky to still be here.
Still though its like having a lot of photos of you where your pants have magically vanished over time.

Dinosaur Rocks

2012-01-12T21:26:00.000-08:00

Yessir that's the name of the book. Actually thinking about it reminds me of star wars rocks by Hugh Fleming.
The dinosaur rocks formation contains a kind of mysterious time tunnel- (while the bizarre tunnel to dinosaur times is open the bizarre fields it produces affects the electronics all around.)

Trying out some colour roughly on a cover - (although the final will be loose but no quite as scraggly)

Fathers Day cover roughs

2012-01-11T21:06:00.000-08:00

Going with the crocodile for the cover I think.

Another repost- that Murdoch monster book.

2012-01-11T16:08:00.000-08:00

I think almost every illustrator I know put in for that Murdoch monster maintenance book years back. Adele Thomas did a sweet job in the end. These are some images I did of this nose ghoul character- then i re read the entry conditions and thought I was in eligible because I had been published once or twice (albeit in educational titles noone would ever see).

Anyway while looking at that other blog and thought- why not put em up.

Some pre christmas colouring tests...

2012-01-11T16:02:00.000-08:00

When nothing seemed to be working and it felt like I couldn't draw- or couldn't find the right colouration.

Some of those dinos at the start of the year felt better than these-so hopefully I'm on an upward path.

Red Dog- the Pilbara wanderer revisited

2012-01-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

Posted these 2 years ago on another blog I don't maintain lately.
(I realised noone ever visited it ).
I haven't seen the red dog film yet either but its good from all reports.

*Weeks later - *
I went and had a look at the red dog wa site(which appears much revamped since last I saw it )
and they had a picture of John from the story!,
and the John I drew has scary sort of resemblance-(except mine has combed his hair a little)...... spooky eh?.

More Mates roughs

2012-01-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

I was looking back at the little mates mothers day images- how did I manage to massacre such promising roughs?
But then I need to keep reminding myself how very little time and money is allocated to them.
3 weeks seems like a long time but not when it comes to doing these it seems.
I think I prefer working in black and white also. I actually prefer the look of these roughs here and below to the coloured 'clean line version'.
I long to do a proper book-
well that ought to be my dinosaur book right now
but these little mates books keep needing to be done and ruining everything .
I'd love to go to that concept design workshop but now it looks like I can't afford the time away.

I might try and apply for an ASA grant to develop my 'shadow king' story. There might be an Australia council grant I could try for.

Oh yes and now it turns out my hands are now infected(on top of my usual hand troubles) and I'll be losing a few fingernails- who knows I might end up being a foot artist after all.
Aint life grand?

Fathers Day roughs-

2012-01-10T14:24:00.000-08:00

For Little mates.

Crocodile seems to be stealing the show.

Diamantinasaurus quick rethink

2012-01-09T15:02:00.000-08:00

Might extend the rhino fold over the top of the thigh.

Minmi

2012-01-06T01:03:00.000-08:00

And.... some minmi explorations. Again there seems to be quite a bit of variation. I've tried adding some cosmetic non bone spines and pointy scales along the margins - basically thinking about lizards and tortoises- or even thorny devils and horned toads that have all this surface detail (which isn't bony). There appear to be 3 spines above or attached to the back legs-who to believe? Also looking at the images of the fossil minimi-there doesn't appear to be much of its face left in the fossil- I can see the top- but is everyone just assuming it looks like other ankylosaurs from the side or did they somehow reconstruct a crushed flattened skull? I've tried to find a compromise. And how to hold the tail?

Diamantinasaurus

2012-01-06T01:01:00.000-08:00

Well after a fair hiatus the dinosaur book is once more upon me. Here are a few explorations for Diamantinasaurus. Its described by the Age of dinosaurs people as possibly being a bit hippo like in habits- but the interpretations of what it looks like that I've see images of seem wildly varying. I guess they need to publish more bones- but in the meantime I'll have a go. Actually I liked the more short necked, short tailed stocky creature I had in my roughs- I might revert to that- but I'll have to do it quickly-the race is now on to get the book done.
Had a check- looks like the two lower ones area bit long legged considering the bones- which is a shame because I like them. Still the head detailing could be a goer on them.

Dingo book

2011-12-18T11:45:00.000-08:00

Here are a few rough images from a book about a dingo-

trouble is I haven't seen the contract yet so I'm feeling a bit unsettled that I'd even done this much.

Playful Poppy

2011-12-18T11:42:00.000-08:00

Not so rough- but not highly polished either. Time is the thing once again,- and although I spent too long- it still wasn't enough, But then I have to get onto my dinosaur book for real now and this poppy book really messed things up.
Oddly though again in the last month I've had difficulty focussing while drawing. But
I'm feeling good and focussed about the dinosaur book so lets hope I can make time over christmas.

Rough night

2011-12-07T17:36:00.000-08:00

A bunch more roughs of things to come.

Leafy tree dragon

2011-12-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

Another dragon disguised as a tree-( part inspired by the weedy sea dragon.).
Trouble with drawing in pen is when you mess up like with the dark haired kid drawing on the right- you can't expunge it- well I might do so with photoshop.

Also noticed that I no longer look like my picture- the last 3 years has made me old quickly. I've been trying to get back into swimming and thats helped- but I'll put up a truthful picture soon.
Or better yet go back to Tokyo and get another one done there.

And a quickly shaded sketch of a hillside village house for the Shadow King story.
Kind of imagined the stairs going up drawbridge style and the front"deck" and awning folding down when theres trouble/at night. Thought maybe the shape and the stones might help in winter against avalanches.

Gentlemen prefer......

2011-12-05T01:03:00.000-08:00

Fill the blank,
it is the internet after all.

While you are searching ....a few variations to pass the time.

The horror

2011-12-02T06:14:00.000-08:00

Some more dino book rough thumbs above FYI- some a bit "spot the difference".
Some what I describe as a 'descent into madness' type of fiddling.
Its been a fairly dire week- behind in everything,-thoughts turn to digging ditches for a living instead.
Dire month really.
On a positive note the quality of people who turn me down still continues to improve.
Positive side of positive note- more time to do my own work I'd been fanging to work on- if only I had gotten through stuff.

Everything that can go wrong is it seems, my hands are sore and hard to close too and when I do the skin on my fingers splits and bleeds.....what fun.
I was sent the large version of Kind Katie-a Little Mates book- and the first picture on the title page is screwed- looks like its missing a photoshop layer or two in the eyes and mouth- dreadful manky looking koala as a result. I'll check but I'm sure I didn't upload it like that- something must have happened at the dream factory end..
On a positive bit of news- Wombat went a Walking is 10000 copies in print- which is small by any standard other than Australia- where its a triumph given its been on sale just 2 months. I think its initial run was much less...so please let me get a royalty check for christmas so I can buy some new hands.
On another positive note I did a few sketches for the shadow king that I liked and another tree dragon in my sketchbook. Just need to scan them in.

On the topic of christmas lists- Mary Ryans bookshop of Milton you are not on my list- you sell neither my Little Mates books or my Wombat book- you may expect coal at best and not the clean variety.

Shadow king 2

2011-11-25T14:12:00.000-08:00

More Ideas for the shadow king
Possibly a bit gruesome- might try something a bit more shadowy and ghosty.

Poppy the platypus roughs

2011-11-23T20:58:00.000-08:00

Here she is pretending to be a pirate and a painter in one spread- a couple of options.
I liked the idea of her digging holes everywhere in search of treasure.

And I liked my pokes at 'art'- well I don't know much about art but I know what I like....right?

Black things

2011-11-22T16:18:00.000-08:00

This morning,
I have a total avalanche of things to attend to but I'm hoping this will get me focussed the way it did last time.
Quite like the batty looking orc heads on the right.

Urban Cool

2011-11-22T04:44:00.000-08:00

10 minutes of the present brings a vision of the future-
Australian Streetwear 2025!
Imagined in the only remaining 5 sq m free space in Australia!
All that swirling radiation from failed reactors in India and Indonesia- the oppressive climate change heat, the rising sea levels
And they thought I was uncool- unhip, -not with it.
If skynet hasn't taken over and you are looking at this page 14 years in the future- remember you saw it here first.

Dinosaur book -different end.

2011-11-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

Looks like the dinosaur book isn't being called Goldie- and the end pages are being changed so Grandpa is moreobviously in on it- and the reason for the tameness of the dinosaur a bit more obvious.
Here's some ideass of Grandpa showing the book of dinosaurs he had made in his travels in the dinosaur time.

Kancho!- some teachers

2011-11-20T15:22:00.000-08:00

A couple of teacher ideas for the Kancho game,
Mr Hardy -an australian teacher beamed in from the 70's- kids these days wouldn't get it I suppose.
And Herman Bott - ex Nazi rocket scientist - a man with a seemingly easy target for Kancho-
If it weren't for his cybernetic rocket booster ass.

But I suppose male teachers are a curiousity in themselves- do any exist these days?

Also below a pirate with a toaster hat...don't ask me why.

That long black cloud.....

2011-11-18T04:01:00.000-08:00

Some Friday afternoon sketches.
Including a few thoughts on the Shadow King at top- what should he look like?

Roughs from Playful Poppy

2011-11-17T13:45:00.000-08:00

Just a couple- she's being pampered at the pedicure parlour, on a princess parade, and delivering the post, and playing with her pretend police car.
When I first got the story I groaned , but actually this might turn out to be my favourite book so far.

Galactic Allies 3

2011-11-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

A Couple more -
one for an outage page, and another friendly alien you meet.
Again best seen in the game itself I expect.

Dinosaur book roughs2

2011-11-15T17:18:00.000-08:00

A few more.
There's a whole bunch of older, rougher roughs that exist but I'll just put up these kind of shaded ones.
I bought a book "Dinosaurs in Australia" on Friday. Principally to hopefully get more of an idea of plants and other background items for my book, but also to see what their rendered dinosaurs looked like. Most of them weren't far at all from my guesstimations- except their rhoetosaurus looked really heavy (I'm not doing one in this book).Its a nice book and great because it has all the references in the back.

Also bought a last year back issue of Australian Geographic on polar dinosaurs- and again their mini polar tyrannosaur was pretty similar to that polar dinosaur sketch I did way back. But again bought it to check for any howling mistakes I might be making.
But then the story I've got is a bit high fantasy but also I'm trying to imagine possible dinosaurs- precursors to ccretaceous forms, ones that might conceivably be there from gondwana-
+ I'm figuring pterosaurs- although not much has been found in australia- because they can travel across sea and far- that there'd be similar ones to ones found elsewhere- in the same way for birds today

Actually I've 2 Little Mates books in rough form- I could post a few of those. The 'P' one was going to be a possum- but then it was switched to platypus. Which sort of set things back a bit but platypuses seem to have more comic potential.

Galactic Allies 2

2011-11-14T00:05:00.000-08:00

Another alien I did for Galactic Allies. Again its probably best to see these things by playing the game- not only because the 3 Blokes people beautified it further but because the story it goes with is probably very cool.

Sad day

2011-11-12T18:30:00.000-08:00

Normally I'd talk only about the art.
Saw on the news that black rhino's have been declared exinct.
When I was young I'd read about the dodo, sea cows and tasmanian tigers with horror and wondered how.
Of course we know why with rhino's- all for the vanity of some chinese and the murderers willing to supply them. Why didn't the chinese farm the rhinos?-Well their punishment now is to be forever flaccid- but I suppose there's some other hapless species they'll pick on instead.

These are dark times- in mass extinction events its all the big creatures that go first.

What's the link to art/illustration?
Well -we dull the pain,
we distract and amuse so its bearable (anyone with young kids knows how distraction helps them when they are hurt).
But as someone who loves all those magnificent african animals- there's a hole there now, and a fear that all these beautiful creatures will be consigned to the world of dragons.

Couple of further Dinosaur book roughs

2011-11-11T14:37:00.000-08:00

Dinosaur tinkering

2011-11-10T03:28:00.000-08:00

Looks a bit like a mutant goanna. I wonder did dinosaurs have tongues? I guess the bird ancestor ones didn't- still in a 15 min tinker theres no harm done.

Galactic Allies

2011-11-08T22:03:00.000-08:00

A while back I did some work for 3blokes studio on their Galactic Allies game- so now that its out I might post a bit of work. A bit of it anyway- there's some stuff that's still not in the game so I couldn't show that , and a bunch of preliminary and rough stuff that I could show another time.
But the best place to see any of this is to go play Galactic Allies- because Chi-han at 3 Blokes added lots of loveliness to the base images and made them look much much nicer and more expensive.
So tell your friends -tell your enemies even and play it till you are blue in the facebook.

I seriously need to practice painting more- pull my finger out as it were.The roughs and line drawings seem so much nicer- so I need to turn that around.

Goldie Dinosaur book roughs (some...not all)

2011-11-08T19:30:00.000-08:00

Well the book of Goldie the dinosaur has been transformed over the last month to be about a boy finding a dinosaur and travelling back via a mysterious time tunnel into the early cretaceous Australia. The idea is this weird time wormhole has existed for a long time in this rocky island of a hill- like the ones we have in the cane fields of Murwillumbah.
I had thought originally there should be carvings or paintings on the rocks(I was going to use my kids dinosaur drawings as a basis)- but then I switched it to fossils in the rocks-
which is better and saves hassles from indigenous Australians being insulted or trying to find some similarity.
It is about the dinosaurs after all- (and the nature in Australia)

Part of the idea is that the weird magnetic/radiation field the mysterious tunnel produces when it's 'operational" plays havoc with electrical equipment etc(it comes and goes)- so when the boy first arrives on his grandparents property he can't just sit and play his gadgets/phone/camera etc - he has to explore for something to do(and his grandfathers insistence)... and there's that mysterious hill just waiting there.......
.
Part of the idea is the Dinosaur he initially finds has used the tunnel as a safe haven to create safe nesting site in this time,
also part of the idea is that his grandfather is aware of its existence(the tunnel and the dinosaur) and has been secretly interacting with dinosaur (taming it/its sort of used to humans).

anyhow so here are some roughs- not all.....
I've tried to put some Australian dinosaurs roughly in place- I'd settled on the early cretaceous - theres a bunch of large dinosaurs discovered in queensland to live around then, - but imagining there might be stragglers from the late Jurassic and maybe precursors to later Cretaceous forms too in the mix...but also theres suggestions of dinosaur types in trackways in WA that I could sneak in (titanosaurs)stegosaurs,ankylosaurs?)...so I'm using my imagination a bit but trying to keep things correct ish. So theres some muttaburrasaurus, minmi, diamantinasaurus("matilda"). some allosaur looking ones, some "mick" sauropods and "elliot" style ones etc.
I haven't gone through and corrected numbers of toes etc...they're roughs
But a few I'll invent in a guesstimation.

Dr Sketchy Scribble

2011-10-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

I went to a Dr Sketchy's a few weeks back for an Illustrators Australia meeting.
Problems with doctor sketchy are:

1 Poses too short- flouncy costumes massively increase detail to get down-so it never happens
2 Models don't hold still.Not even close
3.Can't see what you are supposed to be drawing- can't see what you are drawing. A bunch of stuff and people and poles in the way- and too dark to see the end of your pen.
Strangely the ones at the Glass bar in Brisbane are constantly worried about exposing themselves or wardrobe malfunction.....it makes you wonder

Which is why I kind of goofed off and just did charicatury type drawings.

I desperately need to return to life drawing though- it's been a year since I've done any.....very bad.

Cafe Scribble

2011-10-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

Some breakfast scribble from a few weeks back.
I actually use my sketchbook just as an ideas book-
I actually put down a neat idea for a kids book- featuring troll/orcish things- but I'm not showing it yet.
I don't know why I'm a bit protective about that one.

anyway.

Evil Women

2011-10-25T05:08:00.000-07:00

Well...she devil things. Its strange, doing these this morning- which is precisely what I shouldn't have been doing- snapped me out of my lack of focus and loss of drawing ability. Not to say these are genius- but to say the process started me back on the path whereby I pay attention more- even if they are still rough.
So what might be viewed as indulgence is hopefully now going to pay of in terms of better work and not being a lost drawing soul.
I've never really had more than a day at a time of lost work from "one of those days" so to have weeks of it has been very hard.
These were inspired by the idea of Seven character from Cameron Crichton's Black Temple (everyone please send him money so I can do some neat concept work) .

Goldie idea on ice.

2011-10-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Looks like the core story I was going to use for my dinosaur book is going to be swapped for a more adventure in dinosaurland type excursion- which I don't mind- I'll still do the Goldie idea as separate, I guess this way theres more dinosaurs in it. Hachette were keen on the riding around dino-times aspect- whereas this was just a dream in the other more 'realistic' other story. So in the new story we go back in time in a way- which as a rule I don't like the idea of, but I thought of some things to make it more self consistent fantasy and less sucky. I signed the contract at last a few weeks back and just this weekend past it suddenly felt real....so expect a lot of dinosaurs in the next month.
Above are some of the initial rough thumbnails around te dream bit - some of which contain elements to be used in the new story

Little Mates Mums day book

2011-10-25T04:45:00.000-07:00

A few page images from a Little Mates special.....I don't know why there have been literally weeks lately when I haven't been able to focus or draw. A bit of a worry- part of the reason I'd fallen off the earth blog wise. I'll start redeeming myself and start posting a backlog of things to see.

Ipswich festival-

2011-09-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

Its true- bad photos happen to good people, but also bad photos happen not so bad drawings.
I blame my iphone personally-
but also I didn't get photos of all I did- but maybe you'll get the picture.
A few of the many fast orcs, a dragony thing, and an image from a book in progress.
Sorry to anyone who wanted a drawing but missed out.

Back into it #2

2011-08-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

Just apart from my australian mythical animals I need to continue
I started back into learning zbrush- but first a quick half finished headsphere. Sort of baby-man-child with a moustache...scary huh?
I'll go through the docs and watch the tutorial vids again- then maybe hit up friends who know what they're doing zbrush wise.

Come back arnie all is forgiven.

2011-08-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

Well I just saw the new Conan film, and it is three things- inexplicable,incomprehensible and laughable.
I think the director and the writers need to be tied in a sack and thrown off a bridge....as a start to making the world a better place.
I also have to say also that arnie's acting towers over jason momoa- (who came across as a smirking, prancy, back sack and crack waxer).
And the bad guy was about as fearsome as a pensioner could be.
There was a dead giveaway bit where the baddie and his daughter huffed despairingly when conan jumped into the sea to get away. It was the "who writes this shit huff" for sure.
At that point I too wished I could jump into the sea to get away also.

Also I think the action sequences were particularly badly edited or conceived, the music sucked, and sad to say so many shots were concept art cliches and each shot so contrived as a concept art money shot that there was no visual continuity whatsoever.
Who'd have thought saying " I slay . I love. (I act badly)" was such a leg opener?
And I don't know who was the health and safety cultist because they sure don't make evil temples(or bridges across lava filled crevasses) like they used to- a bit like the Holy grail or Jabberwocky or Sam Pekinpahs Salad Days in a lot of places.
Luckily though Conan has super hearing so he can hear the purebloods faint cries whether it be in a forest miles away or a crumbling cave.

Sigh.

Quick dragony thing

2011-08-24T02:57:00.000-07:00

Might try to do something unquick.
Is it alright to have a past mid years resolution?

The alchemists

2011-08-23T04:48:00.000-07:00

From a conceptart .org thingy- a gunslinging alchemist- 3 different quick takes.

Instead of doing something constructive

2011-08-22T06:10:00.000-07:00

I did these.
Feathery spirit guides.

Wombat ! !! Bad shots of a good book

2011-08-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Samples of "Wombat went a Walking " arrived.
A hard book is good to find.
Herewith my hasty photos of my first book with the good people at Hachette. Hope to do a bunch more with them soon.

Oliver

2011-08-17T23:38:00.000-07:00

Almost all over bar the shouting. A little left on p20 to go. Some page still need more love but as usual there wasn't time which is sort of odd to say because this book dragged out a bit due to a series of disasters.
Maybe might be able to add the extra love tonight and tomorrow and fix things. Anyway heres a few of the love needin' pages.

Quick and hairy

2011-08-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

I'll say its not quite my idea- I went to a dr sketchy in Brisbane on tues night for an illustrators meet up and they had a girl dressed as a female faun (whats that called?)..

Truth be told I started doing the face then ran out of ideas.
then thought "oh go on give her hairy goat leg thingys",
as you do.
I don't like brazilians anyway, (neither does Elizabeth's rufous minge bat).

Fil Barlow has a blog! I tried leaving a praiseful comment but I am apparently persona non grata.

Still,- imagine an imaginative creative art evangelist predating shaun tan by 20 yrs but never becoming a household name like shaun tan. An check him out those who don't know.

Great expectations

2011-07-24T05:23:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the SCWBI queensland meeting. It was held at the City square library which is a triumph of bad design. I got to the meeting a bit late because although I arrived in time - I thought I'd go to the loo, and had to wait around 20 minutes for the privilege of entering an olfactory toture chamber(one of only 2 in a multi-storey building). Honestly a bucket in the street would have more appeal. So then I appear to the meeting late- and sit on a singularly large office chair away from the table- that's all thats left. A security guy appears and offers to get more chairs- I resist the urge to say "No, get more fucking toilets, (or buckets at least.)" because he didn't design the building, but more than likely he has a bucket of his own and could care less about those entering rooms that smell like week old roadkill . At least I got to walk around and look at the illustration displays while I waited.....and waited....and.....waited.
The meeting itself.

Lucia showed some stunningly beautiful books she'd worked on, and Peter Taylor's calligraphy book looks awesome and screams quality to me(a massive undertaking). However the whole time I felt apart from it all- like I don't belong, and seeing the books Lucia works on kind of makes me wonder what I've done wrong all this time. I did get some drawings done in my sketchbook while I listened to the meeting- here they are cobbled together. I quite like goat man with the pipe- I'm really liking the fine quality to any designs I get with a ballpoint pen.
After the meeting I didn't hang around- I'd already seen the display of illustration- plus I had to get over to Milenko's place pronto for a catch up (waaaay way overdue).
At Milenko's.
I got peek at where Vessel was at and its beautifully different - looks sort of Czech inspired or Alphonse Mucha steampunky- but a massive amount of work for 4 guys. Milenko works so fast that you know if there's not much going up on his blog there must be a ton of work elsewhere you didn't see. Going over to Milenko's reinforced my growing opinion that e books or apps is the way to go- self published or teamed with one of the programmers we know etc. Milenko also has many people throwing projects and money at him it seems, but I think Vessel is definitely his ticket to the fur coat he always wanted.

So on the topic of great expectations here's two very quick ones-geez magazines these days- I dunno...

Just a test to see if anyone's reading

Journey of a thousand miles

2011-07-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

starts with a bit of colour on the sketchbook scan.
Just a start- I thought these tree dragons could be like those treefrogs which are sort of bark coloured on the visible side- and bright yellow and black on the underside- or even butterflies have bright wings on one side and camouflage colour on the other.

Anyways- looks like goldie might get off the ground soon- other things mightn't- but I'm fed up,
tired of waiting
and I'm starting now and I'm going alone
so I hereby resolve to get my other dinosaurs and australian mythic/hidden creatures off the ground.
I'm going to detail the ideas so that by next year I'll have enough for books to sell at Supanova etc.

'Goldie ' development sketch

2011-07-20T17:41:00.000-07:00

This morning.
there's a lot of subtlety in kids faces- I'm trying to learn so I can do a nice stylisation- or things that appear simply drawn.

A life of near misses.

2011-07-20T03:09:00.000-07:00

And far.

You know I must be the only person left in Australia who hasn't worked for Animal Logic or Dr D or Weta.
I suspect even the chickens in my back yard have worked for them.
Not sure if its good or bad- I'm kind of exclusive then eh? Drawing away in my burrow.
Ah well ....
also I learn today further developments on Alex Proyas Paradise Lost --they will set up a satellite Digital Domain in Australia to service the film or some such.
.......another something I missed out working on it seems.
Ah well I can draw devils or angels when I want anyways there's no need for a special occasion.

On a completely trivial note I've bought an iphone so that, in theory, emails can pursue me wherever.
I am completely unused to something small or thin in the phone dept so I keep thinking I'd lost it when its just in my pocket.
Geez Getting old sucks.

Here are some very brief sketchbook scribbles that I elaborated on briefly in photoshop.(a pair of briefs! hohoho)
More art soon.

'Goldie ' development sketches

2011-07-20T02:57:00.000-07:00

Practicing drawing the kids and trying some slight stylising.

BAD Showcase and Smash 2011

2011-07-17T17:18:00.000-07:00

Well the last week was fairly busy on the promoting front. I had a space in the Brisbane Art Directors illustration showcase on the Wednesday night- then off to Sydney on Friday- partly to catch up with Scholastic and meet with Jon Appleton at Hachette, but mainly because I was on the Art panel and had a table at Smash 2011.
In between all that I was trying to do more little mates stuff and work for 3blokes.
Its a shame I can't show any of the 3blokes stuff (yet?).
The BAD illustration showcase was very well attended I thought- I was relieved. Also relieved that there weren't many other illustrators showing their stuff. Also annoyed that there weren't more illustrators showing their work- what is it with Brisbane area illustrators? They are such slackarses, but yet there must be a myriad of them out there- think of all those guys working in games alone in the Brisbane area- where are they?
. That said it felt a bit odd showing my stuff to an advertising audience because my work isn't exactly advertising fare- I mean if you look at whats top of the listings on "The Loop" you will understand the difference. But then I figure they're always looking for something different- so I guess that's me in this context.
Visiting Scholastic I noticed there was a veterinary hospital next door to a specialty butcher- a little too convenient don't you think? ie
"I'm sorry Miss Peabody but your Basset's nice plump leg will just have to come off" or
"I'm sorry sir, I'm afraid there's nothing we could do, however chef could do quite a bit so here is a soup , a pate, and some sausages"
The news from Scholastic was that they would be selling bundles of Little Mates and that they'd scored a deal with Woolworths(could be wrong but one of those big guys) to take on a large quantity of them- so while I don't win book awards, hopefully in time their accountant will buy me a beer.
I then visited Hachette in the city. Its odd- Scholastic is out in the suburbs but appears quite corporate inside- whereas Hachette is in this very corporate looking building in the city but is nicely Terry Gilliam looking inside(which I love) when you are past the front counter.
Hopefully the result will be the long awaited dinosaur book(s) by me,- but if it doesn't happen with Hachette I'll use the time I'd mentally allocated to doing them for Hachette in the coming months to work on them myself. Actually int he squiggles below you can see I was doing ideas for my book of fantastic australian creatures- so some dragons that are camouflages like fallen trees, a sort of tea tree swamp creature etc.
It is well past time, and although the cost of self publishing condemns you to maybe building a papier mache shelter out of the unsold copies to keep warm at night, I actually need something of my work to sell at things like Supanova and Smash. (Theres a nice segway).

Smash 2011 is a Manga and Anime event (With lots of Cosplay people wandering around). Apparently last years event at the town hall was a bit of a disaster, but on Saturday there were easily the numbers you'd see at recent Supanovas(>20000?) - so that was good.
The whole thing did sort of reignite my interest in doing a comic or graphic novel - so maybe this time next year I'll have something to show.
I didn't get much time to draw at my table because there were several Art panels that I was a part of- but I did a few pages of doodles- some of which I can show- some I can't because they were 3Blokes related. Thankfully the good people from Kiseki at the table next to mine kept an eye on my stand while I was away most of the day.
Thanks guys.

Popping off to bed

2011-07-05T05:30:00.000-07:00

Quick squiggle in praise of popbot before bed.

Had a look at Peter Ford's blog- Popbot is on!
(I'm only a month behind the times great huh?)
At last some Australian born coolness in a film.

Kind of draw first- look at what these guys are supposed to look like after.
But then it needs to be done at once minimally to be in the spirit of the popbot artwork.
So 7 minutes worth is fine.

Nyeah.....What's up Lach?

2011-07-04T05:31:00.000-07:00

A quick update.

Well I survived the workshops I held at the State Library. I got better toward the end- however what I was doing was precisely what I would have done if I had done no preparation (instead of writing 17 pages of notes and more of drawings as I did).
Hooray!

I finished the Numbat book, it and the previous book(Messy Mia) are off to be printed.
Hooray!

I started doing some work with the good people at 3Blokes studio on their latest facebook game.
A source of great pleasure.
Hooray!

Ave ma Nina

2011-06-28T03:39:00.000-07:00

Finished the numbat book
- Huzzah.

Some pics.

Talkin' at the SLQ

2011-06-28T02:38:00.000-07:00

Well I'm currently doing some workshops at the State Library for kids.
I spent way too long thinking about it and typed up a bunch of notes and thoughts......
and had done pages and pages ofthumbnail notes and ideas in my sketchbook
which when I was there first day all sort of went out the window.
(Just like a war I guess. )

I had thought of a scenario for people/kids to draw to- a sort of computer gamey idea .
As usual I love it and everyone else's eyes glaze over.
So I started a blog- initially I wanted to take photos of the kids drawings and post them on the blog.
Which in the fog of war hasn't happened.
But in a bull headed sort of w ay I'd started filling the blog this week with notes and I'll add in the associated thumbnails.
And I'll add in the creature designs I do too (those Planet x ones will be relocated there.)
So there.

http://tartarusv.blogspot.com/
Called Tartarus V after the planet in the game idea
(Here is a quick sketchbook idea for an arboreal creature from Tartarus V that drops or launches itself like a giant dart to impale and kill passing creatures. It has little wings or blade like sections on its limbs that allow it to slow or adjust its descent helicopter style )

A design WIP, still needs banners and all but if I post all my "how to rambling" there maybe the universe will be kind.

Supanova Amateur photography hour.

2011-06-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

Some photos of the stand with Mr Yong as stunt double for me.

Also some rudimentary photos of some of the drawings I did. There were also a few drawings and commissions I forgot to get a (bad)photo of . The one of the girly on the dragon being chased by the bad guy is a recreate of a similar drawing that I'd done at Brisbane Supanova- (but had sold before the guy who was going to buy it also could get it).

More about it all soon once I extricate my self from the current deadline crises.

Going South...(words,words,words)

2011-06-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

For the winter it seems- or at least a few days for Supanova in Sydney. I say that because it was relatively balmy in Kingscliff-and depressingly dreary here in Sydney.
I left at about 4.30 in the morning- and wow it was really magical and mystical viewing between Ballina and Glen Innes- all of this daybreak hitting the fog and mist-kinda ghostly paddocks you expect some figure to emerge from. But then after as I headed to Tamworth it seemed all the colour drained out of the landscape- pretty much till about 100k from Sydney.
What I'm getting to though- is I was seeing all these amazing views and lanscapes and colours as I drove along
- and then you think of what passes for environment 'concept art'- kinda monocromatic blasted landscapes.
Man there is so much mysticalness to be had in these australian landscapes I was seeing-why should anyone (from australia) bother regurgitating the same environment memes?
+ I saw a lot of what I'd call "Australian Gothic"
Odd as it seems I've never driven to Sydney from Brisbane before- always Brisbane to Melbourne or Canberra to Sydney- so I'd never seen that northern approach to Sydney.
So what I'd like to know is- who paid for all those giant cuttings through all those stone hills?
Can't have been the incas- they're all dead. It looks amazing like the footings of giant japanese castles but I am disgusted at how much would have been spent on this indulgence of a motorway.
And yet there are cracks on the surface of the freeway you could hide an elephant in!
Bah.
Am completely unused to city traffic- spent 1 hour travelling 5 k on Parramatta Rd. I think all you Sydney people who live and drive in this need your heads read.
What needs to happenis High speed wireless in these country towns and fill those old buildings full of artists. Again glen innes had some really nice ones(buildings-not artists) on its derelict looking main street.
(And just what is it with chinese restaurants in Country towns?)
Which brings me to my visit to Tamsin Ainslie's open studio the previous weekend.
Basically Tamsin has created a sort of Illustrators heaven on earth in her little second floor studio in Murwullimbah. A beautiful little studio-unfortunately I had to view and run but Tamsin's brownies and cupcakes looked fabulous too- I know I'm a starving artist but I can still resist the urge to stuff my pockets full of free brownies(note-decision not to stuff brownies into my cheeks like a chipmunk I now regret ).

Testing output

2011-06-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

Does it work?

no not really- just uploading- they seem to process it again and it looks shit (more so I mean)
What am I doing?- well I've got all this crypto animation I render out an eternity ago and while I update my website I thought I'd put it on.
Actually I think some of these kids e books are becoming animated extravaganzas.
I would like to do some animation again- but I'm quite snowed under these next couple of weeks- possibly terminally snowed.

15 Minute Triceratopsy Tinkering

2011-06-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

Thinking of tinkering with colour ideas,-

hmmmm.....might try a minmi in a thorny devil stylee.

err .....I think that's what happens if you just start blobbing down colour without any underlying drawing or structure

Nina in progress and some Mia pages.

2011-06-08T01:10:00.000-07:00

Some of the Mia pages were still a little rough, - but again the whole time and money thing rears its ugly head.
Hopefully the feeling is right which is most important.
Also an image of Nina the Numbat- I'm in the process of colouring the Numbats in this Little Mates book.
Nina is going to be a lot simpler and character focused than Mia - partly to save time, mainly though, simpler is sometimes better in these little books.

Tshirt idea tinkering

2011-06-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

A new flat colour fox(on grey so I can see how it sits) and some other rough ideas (some meant to stay rough).

Neat!Neat!Neat!

2011-05-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

Is a song by the Damned, but also words to describe cool things.
First of all- Imagebot, by my good friend Cam, is awesome!
I hadn't had a chance to toy with it until recently but its great and so much potential too= particularly if/when you can customise your image libraries/links.
Then also theres some people doing neat things here in Adelaide- the guys at Monkeystack,the PRA, and Rising Sun, and Tim McBurnie.
Always a comforting thought to think theres people in Australia doing good creative stuff.

Its nearly time to return to my burrow , and farewell the bright lights (and fart ridden lifts) of Adelaide.

Last Morning at cdwa

2011-05-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

A bit of colour fiddling of a quick sketch-a bit hard to tell what the true viewing angle is on this slate thing.

The drop bear

2011-05-19T03:56:00.000-07:00

What could possibly be worse than walking into a spiderweb at night?

Getting a face full of drop bear, and suffering the wrath of the enraged marsupial.

Black thing

2011-05-18T17:22:00.001-07:00

A bit dementor inspired
and a sea monster with a mermaid for scale-

both done while watching carlo's talk

and another sea monster which fires a projectile/or high velocityjet of water like a giant archerfish

and a dragon block in

More furry friends

2011-05-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

with guns

and a mech sketch

and chewbacca and han- quickly

Chewie

2011-05-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

Topic of the morning is a chewbacca redesign- so I did these while watching.

Sorry to say I know little about wookies, apparently they were forest dwellers or arboreal - which is why I gave one a large balancing tail like a snow leopard

News

2011-05-15T23:02:00.000-07:00

Currently I'm in adelaide at the CDWA event.
Currently I'm trying to get my new Asus EEE slate computer to work reliably/at all.
Currently I'm fretting because said computer won't work about the 2 books I need to finish for the Little Mates series.
Little Mates
The letter M one with magpie might end up being magnificent- theres a lot of detail to do and add- but also very daunting, the N one- is about numbats is quite the opposite.
Numbats are insanely cute- especially little ones.
But they need to be finished very shortly and because of the computer I bought to travel with a world of hurt awaits.
New Computer
I bought an ASUS EEE slate computer a week before so I had something to work on while away- and its been a disaster. While pressure sensitivity works on their bundled software- it doesn't in photoshop.
Yes preposterous, yes infuriating, no I won't buy an ASUS again.
It was to be my sexy- take anywhere drawing tablet, - now its a source of high blood pressure and the since hope an earthquake strikes ASUS.
CDWA trip.
Well I'm here a day and a half now. I arrived very early- too early to check in where I was staying.
So I wandered about ,had breakfast, then headed to the place. On the way it transpires I'm on the club and sleazy street and must hop and skip about to dodge the vomit on the pavement. I spent half my time once there trying to get my computer reliably working.
But there were lots of cool friendly people there and Simon had done a brilliant job or organising the event from what I could see.
Much later when I finally was able to check in I found the room I was staying in looked like the sort Tarantino would have someone tortured in.
And is it possible to install a fart permanently in a lift?
At the Adelaide Paringa- the answer is yes.
More soon if my computer allows

Messy Mia wips

2011-05-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

Wombat went a walking -wips nearly there

2011-04-27T00:08:00.000-07:00

Here are some pages from "Wombat went a walking".
Some are close to done.
Nearly....
Then its full steam ahead on Little Mates and those talks i need to organise.

Make it one for my monkey

2011-04-06T04:16:00.000-07:00

and one more for the road.

At this point its best to go out and look at the stars.

Some character roughs

2011-04-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

Brisbane Supanova

2011-04-04T02:40:00.000-07:00

Well another Supanova survived!

Highlights:-
The beautiful people who get dressed up and make the whole thing something to see(and those where you just about get to see the whole thing :) ).
Meeting some appreciative, and some creative people.
Sharing a table with good company - Peter Yong.
Getting good feedback on the Little Mates books, and odd booksellers telling me they had been selling well.
Learning that "Mate that is totally fucked!!!" is in fact a compliment amongst younger people.
Stopping the last parking person from leaving the showgrounds and not having to walk home.
Not being in the official artists alley but in the thick of it.

Lowlights:-
Supanova security and health and safety zealots.
Not selling any prints and not many drawings
Not actually being in an " Artists alley" with other artists, or being one of the non banner artists and therefore non-existant in the literature like the rest of the non official artist. alley artists.

Here are a bunch of drawings I was doing while at Supanova. The photography is dreadful, I know, and the lead is reflecting the flash and washing out the lines, but maybe you'll still get the idea.
(Its just my beloved A3 scanner is dead- the lamps gone and needs replacing)
The pages are all A2.I didn't have room to do my big drawings...oh well.
I gave a few dinosaur drawings away also - I didn't get a shot of, and I did a quick drawing/commission of a sort of cat Jedi that was at the starwars stand next to us.

And some photos of the fun folk at Supanova

Who the heck is that guy goofing off ? I mean it looks and draws like Peter Yong, but can you ever be sure?

I guess we need a tentacle at our stand too so visitors can relax like this also.

If these guys were running for the state elections- I'd vote for them- and could they really be so much worse?

Here is "Cat" Jedi, and a nurse of sorts.

Magicians and priestesses

2011-03-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

Thats the beauty of being an occult priestess or freaky wizard- you work from 'home'-
therefore you don't need pants.

Bikie character thumbnail pages

2011-03-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

A Few viking type ones, and a Japanese bikie guy for fun.

(Always loved Leningrad cowboys hair)

Why the Long face?

2011-03-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

Says the barman to the horse.
Of all the doodads to post that I have ....

this is the most recent.

Could be an indicator I'm going mad here in my burrow at Lach-land.

Quite like the top guy with the nose on top of his head .

Odds and sketchbook ends.

2011-03-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

My current sketchbook is more jotting down ideas- so heres a few pages,- some not brilliant -other ideas or scribbles I quite liked.

Here's an Idea for a musical monster- it has fleshy thumb like things that open an close over nostril holes in its trumpet.

And here are some coloured pencil doodles-( I dug around for some pencils- to fiddle with them for a change). I guess trying to see what sort of minimal initial scribble and minimal colouring I could feasibly get away with.

Undiscovered dinosaurs

2011-03-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

In the wilds of my sketchbook. Done in a very low stress scribbly way.

And here is a snippet of life on planet x. They are gigantic creatures that plough through the ice crust to get to the organisms/algae type stuff below. One type has a shovel/skid which it drives along scraping the surface and through which food is filtered . The other has giant plough type appendage(s) trailing it which breaks the surface and other tendril types gather the food.
Also theres this sort of organic helicopter creature with a central tongue/grabber that plunges through and snatches food from just under the ice.I imagined a bit dragonfly like.

Wombat went a walking page ideas

2011-03-18T23:36:00.000-07:00

Or otherwise called "Thumbnails in a day "

Here are the first page ideas for the story. Each image has different thumbnail ideas for a given page.

Wombat cover WIP

2011-03-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

Characters on a fairly rudimentary grass, missing a kangaroo and some remaining work.

Some Lazy Loulou images- nearly

2011-03-14T03:12:00.000-07:00

As in nearly done- at least as far as time allows-I'll try to clean/fix them a little before sending them.. The whole saga of my father's hospitalisation put everything off schedule-and Lazy Loulou is a 'casualty'- kinda went into my 'Wombat went a walking" time.
So I couldn't do nice linework the way I like to, and made an executive decision not to do full scales/patternings on the bluetongue.
(Yes I could have done a scale brush in photoshop, but that would have been at odds with the 'by hand' look of all the other books so far.)

Last week I visited Lucia and Vincenzo to look at their new book app which looks great and sounds great in a swag of languages. I said sign me up to that! So maybe there will be my writer illustrator debut on their Blue Quoll label. See the sidebar link

I 've had a bunch of good ideas lately and been writing them down in my sketchbook. Actually its more A4 sized, and more of an idea book than a sketchbook.
One is a twist or take on a game idea, others are ipad book related.
Here are a few scribbly pages- not containing any of the ideas I've just talked about , well because.
(I guess one recurring idea appears to be nude women- but that's not what I meant by good ideas- good as it is.)

I'm considering changing my job title to 'dreamer' or 'dreamer who draws".
Its more apt, and you know every man and his dog is a 'concept artist' these days.
Oddly enough I had a meeting with the State library people last Thursday about doing some character design/monster drawing workshops . But I had a bunch of ideas for those too thankfully.

Wombat went a walking

2011-03-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

Is a book I will be doing with Hachette shortly.

Here are a few of the initial character roughs.

It could be that I'm a bit typecast for doing australian animals currently, but I think this book might be my first hardback, and as they say "a hard book is good to find" .
Well I say it anyway.
Also I need to do it in a way that looks different character wise from Little mates but hopefully complements it so one will feed the other.

I'm also midway through colouring the next Mates book "Lazy Loulou ".
So I might post a rough or two from that.
Gee everything is rough it seems.

SupaNova and more news

2011-02-24T18:04:00.000-08:00

Well I've sent off the forms and broken the piggy bank, so SupaNova Brisbane and Sydney, here we come!
This time ably assisted by none other than Peter Yong (I hope).

Other news- I might be at the CBCA "Evening With the Stars" in Brisbane March 24.
They asked, I said "yes and I'll do some drawing for you",
they said "errr...maybe I'll just check.." (or words to that effect)
So that could be a yes.
If it is a yes I'll post a link.

On the definite side of things is me appearing at Black Cat books in Paddington to promote Little Mates.
Although , just looking one of the dates kind of clashes with SupaNova, so while the date is wobbly my appearance isn't (Unless I've been drinking/near miss with the car etc).

Also on the wobbly tentative side of things are some workshops I might be running in June for kids.

Also wobbly, is I'm thinking of attending the Concept Workshop Simon Scales was organising.
(Saving account seriously wobbly,therefore attending wobbly.)

Its a wobbly world it seems,
so I'll scrounge some of my hastily drawn wobbly doodles to fill the white space.

Goldie

2011-02-24T17:30:00.000-08:00

Well the last few weeks have been fairly disrupted, largely with trying help care for my dad and wrangle him in and out of hospital. Which is why there's been little posting- sorry guys.
On the list of sad news is that the Queensland Dinosaur book reappeared lazarus style then disappeared in an asteriod collision extinction type flash.
I intend to retain copyright and this was a casualty of that policy sadly.
Sad because of the fantastic job I was going to do, but didn't get to do.
Not taking a job because you want to keep your copyright isn't sad- just business.

On the positive- had a great idea for a book with a dinosaur in it while waiting and drawing in the Emergency section of the hospital.
Its going to be called 'Goldie'.
Goldie is a dinosaur but a contemporary one. Its a feathery one like a feathered australovenator, or maybe small allosaur, but my own so all those scientists don't get bent out of shape.
Its going to be set in the now in australia.
Its called goldie while small by the kids because of its colouration/feathers
I'm going to use my wife and kids as a basis for the characters (because of course they are good looking).

Anyway here's me just starting to tinker with colours on one of the pages of my hospital scribbles.
I've more pages but I don't want to give away more yet.

here a quick colour idea for a sort lionish/hawkish sort of goldie- but this one is closer to the banjo dinosaur in heavyness- mind you its all thefeathers on its underside bits making it look stocky.

this isn't one of the hospital ones - I just started tinkering away.
I think the more colourful/graveful one is better for kids although I guess tthe tan colours make more camoflage sense..
I do like the idea of it running down kangaroos and wild brumbies and camels.

WIPs from Kind Katie

2011-02-07T16:30:00.000-08:00

the koala.
There's still some amount of love required yet on these images but here are a few.
Just so's you know I'm not just lazing around having a fine time.
There was a tiny opportunity to get a dinosaur in, which I seized
so that's a Kronosaurus knocking the kooky karaoke machine.

Some books

2011-02-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

I'm working on K, but heres some that I've received so far.

News from the front

2011-02-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

Those few who visit this blog would realize that I'm working on a series of kids books.
Well I had thoughts about trying to do one of those book launch thingy's at a local bookshop.
My wife went down to talk to them and found that the book rep had already been past with the books and that for reasons too numerous to list here- that they hated them and wouldn't stock them-(one of which being the covers being white/not impactful- which I agree with)
but instead suggested we do a book about surfing.

Needless to say they are now "on the list" as Paul Buckley would say.
And no....
....its not a shopping list

In the meantime I will try to restrict myself to higher thoughts in the hope that they will magically resonate across the world to someone somewhere who needs some monsters drawn.

Thumbnails of promise

2011-01-30T17:27:00.000-08:00

Couple of thumbs I liked- will clarify them so people can understand them-but I have to get to work.
Actually theres a bunch of interesting thumbs lately but it takes more time to clarify them .

Bad Boy, bad girls.

2011-01-30T17:25:00.000-08:00

Badly drawn or just bad?

Badly drawn-
I'm trying to loosen up and stop stressing about being correct and just play-so there's little correctness to be had I'm afraid-
....still practice practice and maintain a state of delusion-.

Bad Lieutenant

2011-01-30T17:21:00.000-08:00

Bad batty.
I don't know why I did a few sleazy batmen.
and no- I don't want you to tell me either.

Wizards, Ice princess, and eeeevil.

2011-01-24T03:52:00.000-08:00

Some digital sketchbook ideas.

New dino started

2011-01-20T14:40:00.001-08:00

in a crocodile stylee

Small sketchbook characters

2011-01-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

The pirate has a flying fish instead of a parrot,- and an evil false eye made out of some cursed jewel.
The lady with the bird on a stick is a professional cat herder- with her is the "tea lady"- from the international tea special ops.
the guy next to the pelican is mr Sandman.

Idea for a guardian WIP

2011-01-20T04:38:00.000-08:00

I'll actually refine and finish this one a bit-
I know I say that a bit but I like this idea- just its bed time.

More bad guys

2011-01-19T02:19:00.000-08:00

Rrrraaaargnnnnghh!

As arnie might say.

Got a bit confused with the extra arms on the guy on the right-might redo him with just 2 big arms.

Bottersnikes

2011-01-17T20:00:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help myself. Bottersnike designs for the great australian animated film that's yet to be made. The gumble in the round jam tin is slightly sugar glider styled.

Little Mates- Jack

2011-01-17T11:54:00.000-08:00

Or some of "What I did on my holidays" part 2.