waiting just to fly fly fly

Click on drawing to view... Hope your bodies are warm this Christmas.

rulers at the ready

Just a note to say that 'How to Draw Like a Loon' my new zine, and mini tutorial, is now available on Etsy. Buy your copy HERE. Plus, there's a special price for three copies HERE.

And, another little note to say that you'll need a ruler to read all the craziness on the first page. Thanks to everyone who has bought it so far.

a two way street

This was a nice little surprise in my mail box today. I sold this drawing earlier in the year. It was destined for a little girl's bedroom wall on the other side of the world to me. How great does it look all mounted and framed? I would never have considered such vibrant colours or patterned mounts ('matts' in the US?). I probably would have gone with white. These photos make me totally reconsider how I'll frame my drawings in the future. I think it looks fabulous.

Do you have any of photos of my drawings in your homes? I'd love to gather some together for a future post.

Thanks, Oli, for these lovely pics.

the lonliness of an illustrated zine maker

Thanks to everyone who has purchased a copy of 'How to Draw Like a Loon' thus far. They are still available HERE, before Christmas, to those in the UK. I'll open that up to the 'rest of the world' after the holiday.

You know, I've come across many a learning curve since opening my little Etsy shop, a couple of years back, and especially since I started making and selling zines. One of those curves, that I am currently in the process of tackling, is how to keep the personal touch whilst running an efficient small business.

You see, the postage and packing of the last couple of zines was ridiculously time consuming. I didn't make things easy for myself. In fact I seemed to make them impossibly difficult. Some of you who follow my blog, and who have purchased my zines, may recall the 'Nut' envelope decorating debacle. Plus, you may remember the hand written teeny weeny pixie letters and gift tags that came with 'About A Book' zine and caused my last nervous breakdown. I totally underestimated the time all of these little touches would take.

To say those experiences were stressful is a big fat understatement and I will not be going back there. Imagine hand decorating envelopes for over 250 zines. The scene below is just a glimpse into how that felt.

That HAD to change. Since then my friend has taken over the running of my shop and the mailing of zines. While this has meant that the orders are being sent out a day or two after they come in, the personal touch has been lost along the way. So, how do you do both? Is it possible to do both? I think so. And, have a few ideas on how to redress the balance. One is little limited edition compliment slips that change every so often, drawn especially to express my gratitude to you, like the one at the top of his post.

I hope these experiences of mine may be useful to you should you be considering zine making and opening up your own little Etsy shop.

And, finally another little plug for my new zine 'How to Draw Like a Loon'. The perfect stocking filler for anyone who loves to draw. Buy it HERE now.

bathtub gin and irving berlin

Saturday saw December's outing for our Sketchcrawl North group. This time we did something a little different by attending a Dr. Sketchy event. Dr. Sketchy is an alternative life drawing class with gorgeous burlesque girlies, in all sorts of cheeky poses, as our models. It was Sheffield's debut Dr. Sketchy event and I think I can speak for most of our group when I say we hope it's not the last! It was nothing but fabulous.

When we go on out on our sketchcrawling get-togethers I like to try to work in a different way. To play a little, if you will. And, Saturday was the perfect opportunity to do that. This is the only sketchbook drawing I made. I also took a roll of wallpaper (well, poster paper but you get the picture) and some thicker marker pens. I'm wondering quite how I'll upload that? Maybe a little video is called for.

I don't want to bang on about this too much but necessity dictates; if you are in the UK you can now get your hands on my new zine 'How t Draw like a Loon' HERE. I'll list it for the 'rest of the world' after Christmas.

Cheers, my dears!

so lift off love

Finally, finally my new zine is up for sale. But, hold your horses. This time I made sure I was ready to go. I've waited until I had the zine, the envelopes and the other bits and pieces in my hands before listing it. In the past, you may recall, I jumped in head first, not prepared and I vowed to myself that I'd never do that again. It was soooo stressful.

However, in waiting until I had all the components ready for the off I have missed the 'rest of the world' Christmas deadline. So, I am only going to be putting this little zine up for sale to the UK this side of Crimbo. Sorry, about that rest of the world. Don't forget to keep some of your Christmas money to get your copy after the holiday.

I'm absolutely chuffed to bits with 'How to Draw Like A Loon'. It's the best yet. I hope you will be just as chuffed.

Some actual photos to come.

So, get your copy HERE.
UK order this NOW to get your Loon before Christmas!

and again and again and again

'have you tidied that room yet?'
'er...'

Remember THIS POST? That was a lot of fun.
I must do something similar soon.

When I made this pair of drawings I was thinking back to being a kid, and being told to tidy the room. I would literally just shove everything behind the sofa and feel that that was a job well done.

Also, you know that infamous little cat toy in the bottom right hand corner of the top drawing? Yeah? Well, can you spot it in the drawing below?

'...yeah, it's done.'

you are perfectly reflected

I've been working on some commissions recently, a couple of which were for visitors to my exhibition in the summer. I was very interested, during the exhibition, to know which drawings people liked the best; not for any particular reason, just for curiosity, I suppose. The drawings of collections of little things always seemed to come out on top.

This is one of two 'small thing' drawings I have completed since then. I love these drawings. It's kind of like doing a jigsaw. There's so much satisfaction in finding another piece that slots perfectly into place.

There is one issue I have with being commissioned to complete one of these drawings though; the moment when I have to ask "would you like me to include the pube?"

why i went missing

I'm just coming to the end of the commissions that all go out for Christmas. I've been drawing into the wee hours of the night. Or is that morning? I've lost all sense of time. I'll be back to share some of this work with you from tomorrow. I will I will I will.

into the light of the dark black night

Here's the last of he classified ads that will feature in my next zine. You know, last year I made a post where I vowed to never ever launch a new zine before Christmas. I am such an idiot. I really am.

Plus, on the subject, I was going to list 'How To Draw Like A Loon' today but after consulting my part time manager/shop keeper/advisor, Tim, I was advised not to. It is currently at the printers and he suggested that I do not list it until I have it in my hands and it's ready to go. That way, I shouldn't be making future posts where I apologise for it being late. Like I usually do.

Also, I would like to take this opportunity to ...er....ahem....apologise to all those who have been waiting to see their classified ads for bloody ages. I....er...welll.....uh....ahem....you know?

and any eye for detail

So loons, just a little note to say that I will be finally putting my new zine in my Etsy shop in the next couple of days. 'How To Draw like A Loon' is along the same lines as 'How To Draw Like A Nut' but with more pages. And, we know what more pages means; more drawings! I'll post the last of the classified ads tomorrow, too.

'Citing!

out of the blue

Unbelievably, despite having all sorts of stuff on the go, I have started a new Moleskine sketchbook. Well, it's not exactly new. It was the blue ballpoint themed Moleskine that I embarked on a couple of years ago. I wasn't quite feeling the blue ballpoint theme, though. For me the two things were not working together. Unlike my old sepia themed Moley; the sepia ink and cream paper were the perfect marriage - a bit like pineapple and cheese on a stick (for those of you who have never had the pleasure, cheese and pineapple on a stick is a British delicacy). The blue ballpoint was a bit like a pickled onion and cheese on a stick (another British delicacy). Now, I know to some pickled onion and cheese works, but I just don't like it.

So I ripped out the pages I'd made blue drawings on and stuck some other pages together and then I came up with this idea. It's a book about places that I know, or visit, and I'm sure you can see what I'm doing with the pages. I've always wanted to do a pop up Moleskine, and indeed have started one with an Air Mail theme, but the whole pop up thing is much more complicated than I could have imagined. So, while I get my head around it, this one's a compromise. It brings the total of Moleskines I have on the go to double figures, which is why I am giving it the working title of 'Another Bloody Moleskine'.

News on my new zine to follow shortly! Finally.

somewhere i can warm my bones

Have you ever noticed that it's not until you've uploaded a drawing, and viewed it on the screen, that you realise that it's not quite right? It needs something more. Something else. I posted the drawing above a little while ago, and as soon as I saw it on screen the banana screamed out 'colour me!'. My first concern should probably have been that a banana was screaming at me from computer screen but I could only agree with it.

And above, some nonsense about how I like to spend my Saturdays; which is basically as lazy as is humanly possible. I think the words in the last sentence should probably have been in a different order, but hey ho.

Sunday was a different story. Sunday saw the November sketch crawl for the Sketchcrawl North group. It started at Sheffield train station and then moved onto the Winter Gardens. I didn't get many drawings out of the day. Some bits and pieces on various journal spreads - which I'll post when the pages are finished - but towards the end of the afternoon I pulled this one (above) out of the bag.

You know, I'm never that bothered about not having much (drawing wise) to show from the day. I get so much more out of it than that. A few months ago I would never have thought I'd be enjoying sketching outdoors. With people! The idea horrified me, quite frankly. But, it's been a revelation. Sharing a day with people who love drawing as much as I do, chit chatting about pens, paper, techniques and all the other stuff your friends and family have no interest in and noseying in every one's elses sketchbooks at the end of the day is more than enough for me.

You can see some actual drawings from the day on our Facebook page HERE.

Happy Monday, folks.

autumn blew it's leaves at me

I seem to have powered through this latest Moleskine. I only have a few pages left and, yet, I only started it about four months ago. Some of my past Moleskines have taken that many years. I guess it's a sign of how much I have enjoyed this quicker, less laboured kind of drawing.

This book should be finished after the next sketchcrawl in Sheffield on Sunday. Anyone interested in joining the Sheffield and Wakefield sketchcrawl group get in touch and I'll pass on the details. Or take a look at our Facebook page.

I'm feeling a bit panicky that I don't yet have a new Moleskine waiting in the wings. I feel that some shopping is in order, because as winter draws in I'm hoping to hibernate and draw draw draw.

til my fountain pen runs dry

Inspector Endeavour Morse

This drawing is partly a gift for my, ridiculously young, friend's 21st birthday and partly a thank you for all of his help and hard work in setting up my exhibition earlier this year.

For some reason the scan of this portrait hasn't done it any favours. I found the same with the cat and dog portraits. The cross hatching looks quite flat. I don't know. Plus, I was way out of my comfort zone with this subject matter. But, for my first attempt at an 'orse I'm rather pleased, and so was his owner.