Railhead concept artwork

To celebrate the release of Philip Reeve's new novel, Railhead, OUP asked a few illustrators to come up with their own interpretations of scenes and characters from the book. It's hard to sum up the book in a few lines (it's filled to the brim with incredible concepts and ideas).Here's a quote from the back of the book -

"Come with me, Zen Starling, she had said. The girl in the red coat. But how did she know his name?
The Great Network is a place of drones and androids, maintenance spiders and Station Angels. The place of the thousand gates, where sentient trains criss-cross the galaxy in a heartbeat.
Zen Starling is a petty thief, a street urchin from Thunder City.
So when mysterious stranger Raven sends Zen and his new friend Nova on a mission to infiltrate the Emperor's train, he jumps at the chance to traverse the Great Network, to cross the galaxy in a heartbeat, to meet interesting people - and to steal their stuff.
But the Great Network is a dangerous place, and Zen has no idea where his journey will take him"

I chose to draw an escape across the rooftops and Uncle Bugs, a Hive Monk ("a creature made up of thousands and thousands of insects, which come together to form a being with consciousness. Hive Monks choose to form themselves into a human shape, including making themselves a kind of paper mask for a face."). So much to choose from in the book. I'm sure it's going to be another massive success for Philip.

Also be sure to check out Ian McQue and Robert Ball's interpretations of the Railhead world. Amazing. I'm not worthy!

LICAF "Wish You Were Here" postcard project.

Here's my contribution to the Lakes International Comic Art Festival's "Wish You Were Here" project. It was an honour to be featured alongside such a stellar group of artists - Bill Morrison, Sean Phillips, Dave Gibbons, Bryan Talbot,Steven Appleby and Sarah McIntyre & Philip Reeve.

You can read more about the project and see all the postcards HERE.

I was determined that I wouldn't draw Castlerigg until I'd visited. What a place! Here's some preliminary sketches.

Swallow Falls and Llanberis Pass watercolours

Two recent watercolour paintings based on the Welsh landscape. Swallow Falls, Betws-y-Coed and the Llanberis Pass. Both available as prints HERE. Some process pics for your perusal below.

Drawing block apartment blocks

I couldn't seem to draw anything on Monday. Every line was a struggle. So instead of not doing anything I thought I'd just take a piece of A3 paper, 2 brushpens and a dip pen and start drawing buildings and streets until the page was full. I find this very therapeutic. No real thought behind it. Just start in one corner and continue until there's no space left on the page.

Christmas Tree City

The last of my "Snowman's Land" pics. Christmas Tree City!

Snow Manor

"Snowman's Land" is on in Foyles Cafe until January 3rd.

Gift-wrapped Tower Blocks

Another "Snowman's Land" pic.

Candy Cane Towers

Another of my "Snowman's Land" landscapes.

Snowball Creek

Another pic from "Snowman's Land". Starts Monday in the Cafe at Foyles.

Bauble Tower

Another of my landscape pics from my upcoming "Snowman's Land" exhibition in Foyles.

Bridges, buses and buildings.

Everyone likes bridges, right? Right!

Christmas lights

It's Christmas in the woods.

Another Winter landscape

Here's another pic from my forthcoming "Snowman's Land" exhibition.

Snowman's Land

Here's the main image for my exhibition, Snowman's Land, starting in the Foyles cafe (Charing Cross Road, London) on the 18th of December. It's a continuation of my "Imagined Landscapes" series but with a Christmas slant. We've also got a Felt Mistress exhibition in the gallery on the 3rd floor from the 11th of December (same day as the book launch). It's a bit of a takeover!

I'm going to try and post an image a day on the run up to Christmas. Let's see how that goes....

New books in the shop - "Imagined Landscapes" and "Monster London"

I've added two new publications to my shop -

"Sketchbook Vol 2 - Imagined Landscapes" is a 32 page book featuring a selection of my fictional landscape drawings. It's an edition of 100, each copy signed and numbered.

And "Monster London" - a 36 page colour A6 book collecting all the work from my summer exhibition of the same name at Foyles, London.

Another landscape

Another brushpen drawing from my sketchbook coloured in Photoshop.

"Octopocalypse" - THE END expo, Cancun

Back in February I was asked to take part in a group show called 20:12 as part of The End expo in Cancun, Mexico. 24 artists were chosen (12 from Mexico, 12 from other countries). Inspired by the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar (this year apparently. Don't start reading any long books.) we were each asked to illustrate a clock face that represented a specific hour of the day. I chose 8:00. I like 8s. Here's mine ("Octopocalypse") plus some photos of it in situ (courtesy of Quique Ollervides - one of the show's organiser and the person who got me involved in the show). The original preliminary sketch can be found HERE. It looked like a great expo. I wish I could have attended.

First Doodleplanet of 2012

Last night was the first DoodlePlanet of the year. Here's my contribution. Emulsion, 2 brush pens and an ivory Posca (thanks, Dan!).

Tentacles, towers and tall sculptures.

Some pages from my sketchbook over the last few days. I want to start building massive abstract sculptures now. Don't think my neighbours are going to be impressed.

Island with Cat Statues

A recent private commission. I can see a whole new series of drawings featuring over-sized animal statues about to begin...