CSI: Three Bears House. Who stole the porridge?

What a rotten week! The weather thinks it's November, I've had several jobs pulled out from beneath my feet. Next stop: cardboard box under the bridge, or maybe I'll rent a room in the Three Bears house. I hear they've got various size beds to accommodate the most gangly of illustrators!

Here's a look behind the scenes at how the three bears illustration went from this scrappy scrawl:

...to this::

(click on the pics to enlarge them)

After scanning in the original pencil rough I re-drew the lines of each element (bears, furniture, goldilocks etc ) directly into photoshop using a custom brush that acts like a 2h pencil. I deliberately gave myself a maximum of just 2 minutes per character. I worry the most about the lines so really this was a way of hurrying me along.  COME ON, HURRY UP!

Now let's look at little Goldilocks sneaking around the staircase..

First the original pencil sketch. Quite awful isn't it?

 But, it's like shorthand to me. I know what each line is going to end up like

So, here i go on the timed photoshop pencil line (Tick Tock, 2 minutes! Time's up!)

The staircase, goldilocks and her hands are all on separate layers.

Let's add some hunky-chunky blocks of colour.

A bit of gradient and light shading on the stairs.

Some goldi-shadows on her goldi-locks, and greeni-dress. 

A touch of shade and light on her face, and oh yes, i'd forgotten her eyes! 

Finally a bit of light detail on the stairs and hair and a quick dress colour change 

Then all that's left to do is repeat for each element,add cut-out paper backing to each, fake some shadows,  create a room for them to live in and CH-Ching!

The only question left is who has been eating my porridge? Was it you? 

And, did you stir in any Golden Syrup? 

Jubilee Celebrations (or four unpaid days off, as i like to think of it)

I've spent quite a lot of the Jubilee weekend watching science fiction movies and eating lots of tasty food. To celebrate the cake and sci-fi here's a couple of illustrations: 

Changing of the  guards at Buckingham palace. Can you spot Morecambe & Wise amongst the guards?

and, hold on, who is this driving the bus here, and why is Doctor Who not travelling by Tardis?

What's In the Box?

Look what turned up in the post today - no, it's not a secret stash of delicious donuts, but an educationally nourishing set of learning flashcards I did for Oxford University Press last year. 

the box is FULL of my drawings!

and more and more and more...

 There are hundreds and hundreds! I had actually forgotten how many i had done!

The flashcards help children learn concepts such as weather, time, colours, meals as well as everyday objects, vehicles and animals.

  I drew everything from Agriculture to Zoology, Apple to Zebra, Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Zee.

It's always nice to receive actual copies of things you've worked on, and nice to know that kids around the world will be learning from pictures you've drawn.