Box 2 - Mrs. Finchley - Chapter Four

Box 2 - Mrs. Finchley - Chapter Three

Box 2 - Mrs. Finchley - Chapter One

Box 1 - Ruth - Chapter Three

Box 1 - Ruth - Chapter Two

More things

Ruth/Mrs. Finchley

I'm in the process of designing and producing an 'artist's book'/comic at the moment. It won't be finished until around May, but as we had to put together an exhibition today, I made a couple of trial double-page spreads to show. The design will probably change somewhat between now and when the final thing comes together, but this'll give you some idea of what I'm working on anyway.

Just some more bits and bobs

Sketchbook drawings and various scraps, all experimental really. This is all related to the same project, even though it may not seem like it at the moment.

I'm not really sure about the colours on this. I've discovered that I actually find colour very difficult. Probably comes from years of being a little goth.

Variation on a previous experiment. I kind of like this better, just for the contrast of realism and scribbly ink drawing. Typography wasn't really well thought-out though.

More ink/bleach. Yeah.

Sorry grandma for inadvertently making you look sort of like Jabba the Hutt. Yeah, this is sort of a poor-man's Raymond Pettibon, but I enjoyed working in such a loose, quick way. Despite everything, I still kind of like this somehow. The quote is from The Umbrella Academy. 

Inky little drawings

Stuff I've been trying out today. The first two have a little bleach as well, you know me.

Been playing around with some imagery and layering today

Not sure about this yet. I think some different materials/processes might be needed for the background image. Text could stand out more too.

More experiments with ink and bleach

I guess I just like inhaling the fumes.

These are pretty rough, obviously. I spend quite a lot of my time trying to do very detailed drawings and get them exactly right, but I actually think fast, scribbly ink drawings can look pretty cool. And then I pour bleach over them, cuz, well, why not.
I've discovered I like drawing people without eyes as much as, if not more than, I like drawing eyes. It makes me think of Lobster Johnson.

Atomic shadows

Bleach on Quink. Worth mentioning because it only seems to work on Quink - indian ink or regular water-based ink will not change colour.

Grandparents and memories

Untitled (2010). Ink, charcoal, paper ephemera, monoprint, calico, parachute silk (well, the cheap version of it anyway).

This was a piece on the subject of memory. The central figure is my grandad, who I never met as he died before I was born. He fought in the RCAF during WW2 at age 17 - he was too young to join the RAF in Britain. The idea was to piece together an image of his memories from this time, based on old photographs and stories I heard from my mum and grandma. I get the impression it was the best time of his life - he never talked about the bombing he'd had to take part in, but he did love flying planes. There are certainly things I could have done a lot better with this piece, the very noticeably asymmetrical shape bugs me. But in person it's got a really nice texture. 

Untitled - detail (2010). Ink on calico.

Untitled (2009). Manipulated family photograph from WW2.

Untitled (2009). Manipulated family photograph from WW2.

Grandma (2010). Charcoal on paper.

During the time I was working on that project for college, my grandma was very sick with cancer. I took the main drawing of my grandad to show her while she was in a nursing home, but after that she was rarely composmentis at all and she died before I finished it. The night before she died, I did this charcoal portrait of her from a holiday photograph. Those of you who have known someone with cancer will know how much it can change a person. We knew she was going to die soon and I wanted us to be able to remember her how she had been for most of her life - kind, strong and lively with a wicked sense of humour - not how she was when she died.