SketchCrawl

I participated in the 9th Worldwide SketchCrawl this week. SketchCrawl was started a couple of years ago by Enrico Casarosa, an artist living in San Francisco, as a way of getting artists away from their desks and spending the day together out and about sketching - essentially a pub crawl with drawing rather than drinking. Many people from around the world participate and then share their results online. Unfortunately I couldn't get any locals interested but took myself out around Amsterdam anyway. My efforts are below - click on the pics to see bigger versions. [My scanner has washed out some of the tones and textures, which is a shame as the pages have a nice sepia look to them.]

The output from other artists around the world can be seen at the SketchCrawl forums. There's some great stuff there - take a look.

Illustration Friday: Robot

I'll bet this is a popular topic. Robots are definitely fun thing to draw. Just for good measure here's an old pic with a bit more drama (click on it for a big version):

Illustration Friday: Spotted

As I've been in Antwerp for a couple of days I'm a bit late with this week's pic and it's quite a tough subject with which to find an original angle. I suspect I'm not the only person to do the Dalmation thing but what the hey.

His Dark Materials

They were auditioning in Cambridge this week for the part of Lyra in the first of the film versions of Philip Pullman's book trilogy, His Dark Materials. I only discovered the books about a year ago but was impressed (and a bit shocked) by their originality and breadth of ideas. They also make good source material for illustration ideas. Here's my version of the villainess, Mrs Coulter and the enigmatic Lord Asriel.

Illustration Friday: Speed

What's a dog doing with rocket-powered roller skates? A quick way to fetch a stick I suppose. Have a good weekend everyone!

Illustration Friday: Spring

Well, it's definitely getting more Spring-like around these parts with sunshine and rising temperatures. Which is just as well as I forgot to put any drawers on little Thumper here.