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June 12, 2011#

Cock Fight

It is what it is. Two giant cocks battling it out to the death, in a desert dust bowl. Two cocks enter. One cock leaves. This is the way it has to be….

The title, based on that weird bird blood sport, was the obvious inspiration for this painting, but as i was sketching it out in the sketch book, i decided that i wanted to work on painting monumental scale, in a kinda fantasy art wankery way.

Last year sometime i saw some of the artwork done for that abysmal film Clash of The Titans. It was the Cracken emerging from the water,  and while the film was crap, this image was awesome, and the sense of scale of the beast was wonderful, and i kept in in mind while working on this.

The other thing i was looking to study was getting  movement in dust and atmosphere a little more, as the cocks would be rising up and thumping down and twisting like two snakes fighting, kicking up debris, and dust.

May 19, 2011#

Commission: Wedding Invitation


Now that the invitation has been sent out, i can upload the latest commission: a wedding invitation for my brother in-law and his fiance.
They asked for a superman theme, and this is the finished result.
I was trying to capture a bi of the Eamon’s goofy fun nature, and Lois’ kinda loving amusement by it. 

 

My initial sketch i had Lois holding Eamon, as it let me have a bit more fun making him look the part, but was asked to do the alternative one for comparison, which is the one they went with. I probably would have preferred the first one, but i’m still happy with how it turned out.
I manage to slip in a subtle play at them by flipping the ‘S’ on Eamons outfit, in honour if the dislexia that he wears proudly. I’ll add that it wan’t picked up until it was basically on it’s way to the printer. Make of that what you will.
December 17, 2010#

Wreck The Balls (Merry Christmas)

Was running a bit late getting a card ready to send out this year. After last years card (here), the pressure was on, but i just couldn’t get there… properly anyway.

This started as a sketch when i had christmas carols stuck in my head, and couldn’t get them out. This is a take on Deck the Halls. It could have easily have been When Shepards Wash Their Cocks By Night, but after the commission i’ve just completed , the thought of another landscape just horrified me.

Not sure the blue glitter really worked out, but whatever – at this time of year, it’s the thought that counts.

December 8, 2010#

Bring Me The Head Of Brian Cowen

Brian Cowen

A man can dream, can’t he?

50 x 45 cm prints available, and, this year, would make the perfect Christmas gift!

December 1, 2010#

Solitary Turf War

The finished commissioned piece. It was a Christmas gift for the husband of the client. The husband is referred to as Francis of Assisi by the surrounding neighbours, as when he goes for a walk, his 4 cats, 3 dogs and Billy the goat go with him. And because he uses colourful nylon rope as a belt, because he feels that a normal belt just doesn’t cut it. The current colour is bright pink.

During the course of doing this work, the old labrador sitting in the cabbages died, so i was asked to kinda ‘nice’ it up a bit – i had made it a little geriatric and decrepit  looking.

For some of the background to this work, scroll down, or click here

Client is very happy with the digital preview, as am I, though like most things, there is always something you ‘d like to change, or would like to spend more time on – but sometimes you just gotta leave it alone.

Been a good experience, full of learning and patience – primarily hardware shortcomings. (Taking donations now for replacement gear ;-) )

The print came back quickly from Steve at www.360-dpi.com and looked great printed on canvas, though paper would have been my preferred medium. After meeting the client on a cold windy day in the carpark of Coona Tesco the hand over was done.

Got a call on Christmas day to let me know everyone though it was great, which was nice, and a huge sigh of relief!

Submitted for Illustration Friday topic “Cultivate”

November 28, 2010#

Process Diary: Commission (part 2)

The continuing saga….

November 21, 2010#

Process Diary: Commission

Thought I’d upload some of the bits for the commission I’m working on at the moment – November has been a very slow month for blog updates! The image has a pile of animals, and getting the particular coats “correct” has proven to be a challenge, as has getting the personality of the critter too… great fun though. 
I’m having to split the job into different parts, as the required resolution and the size of the final output is giving my computer a nervous breakdown, and it’s already teetering on the edge. 
For now, however, time is ticking…. 


October 22, 2010#

Interview for Limerick Post

A screen shot of my interview with the Limerick Post digital edition. The paper copy is out this weekend, 23 Oct.

Pretty happy all in all – hopefully it’ll drum up some business!

Thanks again to Rose Rushe at the ‘Post for making me sound life i might be fun to be around…. sorta.

October 19, 2010#

Still Life With Jeans

muffin top A second to add to the Still Life Series. This had some challenges – the crusty muffin look, and the denim were a bit of a pain. Which is to say the whole thing was tricky, but started with a good sketch, and it made it bearable at least…

I have a screen capture recording that i’ll have to edit and speed up, to let any one interested to look at the process that was gone through to get this done. Could be anther couple of days…

Update: Video uploaded! Was a bit of a churn – 10.5 hours reduced to just under 9 minutes, speed increased by 8000% (for god’s sake….). 

October 1, 2010#

Process Diary: Cowen

Starting off some of the process diary stuff. This is a work in progress of the leader of Ireland, Brian Cowen. I’ve done a quick one of him before, but wasn’t completely happy with the likeness, so i’m having another stab at it.

Getting the jowls right is more of a challenge than i’d thought possible, in particular getting the to hang properly off those mammoth lips, but at the same time kinda prop them up…

Well see how this develops over time. Hope to keep going with it, but have to juggle a couple of other jobs at the moment too. Maybe it’ll be ready for Halloween…