dream a little dream

The Red Case - continued

(Part 1 HERE)

'The Shooting of Hector Littleton'

 

Well, laid up in bed with a chest infection, coughing my lungs up, wasn't how I'd envisaged the start to my New Year. I'd wanted to start all guns a'blazing, but the Universe had other ideas.

Poor vain Hector,

(drawing by Tracy Fennell Illustration)

 

 I love New Year. It is, without a doubt, my favourite of all the holidays and birthdays put together. I love all the possibilities and opportunities a new start begins. There's nothing I like better than a new chapter or even a brand new (sketch) book.

his untimely death...

(drawing by Kate Yorke)

 But lying here, gives me some time for reflection - which is yet another good thing about a New Year.

...meant he had no time to enjoy his ill-gotten inheritance.

 

2015 saw so many changes for me. Big changes. And one of those big changes, perhaps the biggest, was that I gave up my job to become a full time illustrator.

Somebody wanted that case and would go to any lengths to get it off him.

(Drawings by Karrie Brown)

 

This was not a decision I took lightly. I'd battled with it for years. And years. Making every excuse in the book not to do it. But I'd just got so bored of hearing myself talk about it.

On a train station on the other side of town a brief encounter was about to happen

(Photo by Karrie Brown)

 

Then, on New Year's Day last year, I just woke up and I took the leap. I made the decision. I wasn't going back to work. Job done.

But would she turn up?

(Drawing by Lynne McPeake)

 

I was now a full time illustrator. Yay!!!! Argh!! Shit! YAY!!!

He waited. And waited.

(Drawing by me)

 

I had no back up plan, hell, I had no plan. And, I had no money behind me, I had nothing. Not a bean to my name. All I had was this faith that somehow it would work out and this overwhelming belief that it was the right thing to do.

Then she came

(Photo by Rod Walton)

 

And sometimes that's the best place to start. There's something quite beautiful about being in that place.

But had she brought what he wanted?

(Drawing by Kate Yorke)

 

But it hasn't been easy. Far from it.

But when is anything? Anything that means anything?

There was no sign of the red case

(Drawing by me)

 

I was prepared for that.

And I was prepared to be poor. I'd been practicing at that for quite a while.

They moved into the café

(Drawing by Becky Field)

 

 But even though the stress about having no money continued (and still continues) everything else became better. Since making that decision everything improved. Finally I was doing what I wanted to do. What I was meant to be doing.

They'd go unnoticed there

(Drawing by Karrie Brown)

And, it's required me to be more, much more, creative. Not just as an artist, but how I live my life. I have to be creative in the way I spend my money and in how I make my money. And the latter has been a revelation.

He had the money but did she have the red case?

(Drawing by Tracy Fennell Illustration)

 

It was no longer feasible to just draw, and to hope that I might get some sales or commissions. I had to look at other things - things I'd learnt and how I could utilise them to bring in an income.

She came up with the goods

(Drawing by me)

 

I started using my creativity in ways I'd never have dreamt of. Bringing all of the things I'd learnt, all the things I was skilled at, and was good at, together. With some extraordinary results.

And there it was

(Photo by Rod Walton)

 

My favourite of which has to be this crazy idea I had for a series of alternative, costumed, life-drawing sessions, which had a narrative (that I'd written - in my head) running through them...

The red case inside the green case

Drawing by Liz Ackerley 

 

...passed on from model to model by via a little red case, and that included a lot of people getting shot or hit over the head with candlesticks and Prime Minsters getting involved with showgirls and...and...well, yeah, oh....

And whilst all of this was going on
(Drawing by Kate Yorke)

...and not to mention spies falling in love with each other.

This pair were falling in love

(Photo by Rod Walton)

 

I mean, who could have predicted all of that?

But can two spies truly fall in love?

(Drawing by me)

 

So you see, the craziest things can happen in just a year...

How could they ever truly trust each other?
(Photo by Rod Walton)

...when you take the leap of faith.

 And 2016? Well, I intend to make even more crazy things happen. Lots more.

Oh, and it would be nice to make a bob (buck) or two along the way too. That's the aim.

 And then there was Edna

(Photo by Rod Walton)

 

I must say a HUGE thanks to all of the sketchers and amazing models who have made this project an absolute joy and one of my proudest achievements.

  I CANNOT wait for the new series set in a swanky New York apartment block in the 1970s to start in Feb. Let your creativity have no limits and it'll take you to amazing places too!

 

Hector Littleton played by Mike Cross

Michael Mann played by Christopher Freeman

Eliza Day played by Kayleigh Amos

Edna played by Kristina Parkin

an open sketchblog

Putting your work out there, in the big wild world (the internet), is a weird thing. A great thing, but it never fails to surprise too. Specifically what people respond to. And don't. You can be really really pleased with something you've created and it'll get a luke warm response and then there are things that you are in two minds about posting/aren't happy with/don't like and they get a huge response. It's amazing. It keeps you on your toes. It makes you realise you can never predict or presume. Apparently these are my 'best nine' from Instagram (@aheavysoul) of 2015. They wouldn't have been on my list but once you've put it out there it's not just your work anymore, it takes on a life of it's own. Thanks for all the Likes, comments, etc, here and on all of the other places I share my work. I appreciate them all. Even the ones for the crappy drawings!

Happy New Year to you all. I intend to fill January with posts, on my blog, to inspire people to draw. To kick start a creative New Year, if you like. Sure, I know that most of you don't need any inspiration to draw - you're as obsessed as I am - but somebody somewhere may just stumble across it and get inspired. Just as I did, around nine years ago, with someone else's blog*. So, you're all invited to my New Year's party (blog). Call by any time.

(*An Open Sketchbook. It was Suzanne Cabrera's An Open Sketchbook)

paper doll

Tired of Christmas? Bored of all your new presents and technology? Fancy doing a little creative project, a bit of colouring and cutting out?

 Well, it's funny you should say that, because I've got just the thing for you.

Check out my new downloadable (so, no waiting around for them to arrive) colour in, cut out and assemble paper dolls.

Get out your scissors, pens and pencils and get creative!

Find them HERE.

the upside down sketchbook project

 I don't understand how people get bored. It's a complete mystery to me. How is it even possible when there are so many things you can do to amuse yourself? I have a million and one projects on the go that I can dip into when I have nothing else to do. My problem is those projects too often get shelved because I never have nothing else to do.

Here's one of them. I started this a little while back when my friend, designer Emily Pickle, bought me a couple of Chagall and Renoir sticker books. At the same time I'd bought a couple of cheap little sketchbooks that were on a buy one get one free offer. So I dedicated one to copying the stickers. But, copying them upside down

Now, I'd heard about this technique a long time ago, when I first started drawing. I'm sure it was through Danny Gregory but I can't be certain. I didn't really give it much of a go back then. I was too caught up in making everything look perfect, and hadn't really learnt to trust my own judgement. Anyway, I only really started playing around with the technique, properly, a few years ago. Now, I really love it and use it often. Especially with portraits.

So how does it work? Well, it's really quite simple. I'm sure many of you already know, but for those who don't (and being self taught and not having that art school background, I had never come across these techniques before hanging out with illustrators online), here's a quick demo.

As I said, I was given these little sticker books of paintings from a series by the great painters. I'm not really a Renoir fan, but that really doesn't matter at all. And, as for Chagall, well, although I knew his work I hadn't studied it until now. And now I really am a big fan. I stuck all the stickers on the left hand pages of the sketchbook. You don't need stickers though. You can use absolutely anything as subject matter.

Then what you do is you turn the book upside down. See below.

All I have used is a fine pen and then a thicker pen; like a brush pen, a calligraphy pen or anything with a thicker nib. A marker pen will work just as well although they often bleed through the paper.

I started by making a line drawing. This exercise is all about looking. Really looking. Starting in the top left hand corner and trying to copy, as best you can, the photo or image you're working from. Stop wondering if you're getting it 'right' and just keep looking. Resist the urge to turn it the right way up until you've drawn the whole image in.

THEN you can turn it around. It's never really going to be 'perfect'. There'll always be a quirkiness about your drawing, but I think that's the joy of doing this. I always find I make the eyes huge.

 When I'd completed the line drawing, and turned the book around, I shade the drawing with the thicker pen. There's no reason you can't do all that while the image is still upside down. I just like brining it together like this at the end.

I've since found some more stickers of Japanese art which should complete the sketchbook (after I've shared them out with Emily Pickle, that is).

I should add that your first attempts may look absolutely nothing like the image you are copying. Mine certainly didn't. I've done a huge amount of this stuff since getting into it. But it's amazing how quickly I got better at it and how confident the drawings became. But, I guess that's the same of anything you do.

This one above, is one of my favourites.

One warning; if you do decide to dedicate a whole book to this technique, no matter how much you try, this will at some point happen...

these cafe days

Tampopo, Manchester

I saw a friend recently, who said "what have you been up to? Just going from café to café?" And, you know, from my drawings, it could look like that is all I do.

I do enjoy drawings in cafes though. They seem to combine all my favourite things; people, food and stuff, whilst being (mostly) warm and dry.

It's particularly useful, too, should you have forgotten to take your sketchbook out with you, if the café has paper place mats. I commend Tampopo for this. I managed to dig out an orange felt tip pen from the bottom of my bag for this one. I believe all cafés should use paper placemats. When I'm Prime Minister I will make it law.

The Plaza, Stockport

 One of my all time favourite cafes is the Plaza in Stockport. This place is an absolute hidden gem in a grey concrete city.

 It was built in 1932 and the café has pretty much stayed unchanged since then. It's like being on set of a Poirot film. Really very beautiful.

Plus, whoever was in charge of casting, has done a great job with the staff. Perfectly drawable café in every way.

Village Green , Eyam

 Then, the other day, we found a new café. I love it when that happens - when you find a new good café. Because, yes, I like a drawable café but the food is just as important.

And this one in Eyam 'plague village' ticked both boxes. I'll be returning. Next time, I'll sit in a different place, for a different view to draw.

Oil Can Café, Hepworth

 And so to today. The last café before Christmas.

But just to prove that I'm not always just sat around a table eating and drawing here's a something I did at work...

Oh.

Merry Christmas folks.

if you go down to the woods

I have some lovely new posters in my shop, folks. Professionally printed wall art for great prices. Check them out HERE.

Thanks for stopping by. More inspiration soon.

confessions of an obsessive sketchbooker

It started with a girl on a train. I had to start it somewhere, so it started there.

Then I got into work and it grew (I still have to pinch myself that I go into work to draw).

I was trying to cover up the mess of the marker pens that had bled through the previous and following pages. I love marker pens, they are my new favourite thing. But they do not like sketchbooks. They do make a right old mess. Although I kind of like that. I like the challenge and, actually, you could look at it in a totally different way; the stains/mess give you something to work with.

Yeah. Plus, it really suits the way I like to create my sketchbook drawings these days. You see, this chaos and mess expresses much more about what goes on inside my head than any of my earlier 'perfect', serene, calm sketchbook drawings did. Sure, I get that I was looking for that at the time - a kind of peace - and that's what I was hoping to achieve from drawing, but, for along time I denied the mess. Not any more.

There are no rules to this kind of drawing. Nor rules or restrictions to making these kind of spreads. They're just a sprawling stream of things that are happening multiplied by a stream of consciousness. That, at this present moment in time, is my favourite way to create my sketchbooks. And, is the most interesting way too.

Okay, there's just one rule. Spotted it?

Yeah, never leave one millimetre of paper untouched!

There is still a little time to order from my shop for Christmas. Inspire someone you know, to draw their lives, with my zines or books. Or treat yourself. You can find my goodies, all created with love, HERE.

Thanks.