Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to me.. happy birthday to me!! And Happy Father's Day too.

And still I have to work..

..sigh..

Work update

Here are some more commissions I have done - I just didn't get round to posting them.

Mr Anderson

Listening to your show, Gerry. Keep 'er lit!!

Guess who I drew?

I was lucky enough to join the movers & shakers in FIFA and the IFA last weekend at the Slieve Donard Hotel where i was invited to draw the distinguished guests.

They were charming and a delight to work with. And sitting drawing Mssrs. Blatter and Platini was an honour.

Just a pity I hadn't been able to be photograph the occasion.

Wedding Show King' Hall Belfast

Many thanks to everyone who stopped by my stall at this year's Wedding Show. It was a long couple of days but I thoroughly enjoyed the event. It is heartening to see that, despite the global financial hiccup we are all hearing about, couples are still out there putting the effort into making their big day special.

I look forward to working with everyone who booked me.

Here is a look at my stall.

Another year ... gettin' older

Y'know what?  I'm sure I was better looking when I was younger.

Mojo

Here is a design workout of a character for a cartoon strip I am working on here with an obscenely talented scriptwriter on The Oul' Sod.

..(did I lay that on a bit thick, P?)..

More to follow..

Tony Hart RIP

I was really saddened to hear about Tony's death yesterday.  He was a real hero & inspiration to a generation of us growing up as young fledgling artists.  He is one of the few tv presenters I would dearly have loved to have met.  Very sad news.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

New year, new start, new discipline!  

I have finally got my website up & running.  My intentions are to use my blog more now & do the thing right.  I will advise you of any & all wedding fayres I will be at in the coming year and also any public events you can see me at.

Ever onwards!

A Clutch of Commissions

..I'm sure that's the correct collective term. Some stuff I've done this month.

The Divine Nora

So she finally decided to put in an appearance!

Florence

This is Florence. Her daddy is an artist and a big Leonardo fan. And she does have an enigmatic smile..

Wedding in Clandeboye

I was working at a wedding yesterday and managed to remember to bring my camera. These lovely people were kind enough to allow me to snap them with their drawings.

Bangor Hotel

Awhile ago I was at a Wedding Fayre in the Marine Court Hotel in Bangor. I drew one of the staff members there. Last week I was back there for a wedding and was delighted to see my pic framed & hanging in the foyer!

Belfast Maritime Festival 2008

Another Great festival was run by Belfast City Council this June. Despite the unpredictable weather crowds turned out to enjoy the spectacle of the Tall Ships docked here in Belfast Harbour. I was only rained off once over the 2 days. Here are a few pics Snapped by Mrs Nuff.

Wedding June 08

THanks to Sparky from Bright Sparks Photography (check him out at www.brightsparksphotography.com ). He was kind enough to snap me at this wedding in June at Belfast Castle and to send me copies of the pictures.

Belfast Spring Fayre 2008

I was delighted to work at the Spring Fayre on 19-20 April at Barnett Demesne in Belfast. A great crowd attended and kept me busy over the 2 days. As someone who remembers less celebratory days here in NI it is commendable for the City Council to arrange these events.

Look out for me at the Maritime Festival coming up this summer.

Commission

This one was for a Bride & Groom on their wedding day. They were getting married in Australia.

Update on some more sketches...

I had a look around my files & found some pics to post. Some more pencileers from the Drawing Board.

Jarlath

Hey j - if you're looking in I hope you had a great birthday.

More Stuff

Here are another couple of caricatures.
The first one is of a local broadcaster & a very nice fellow to boot.


The second is a revisit to one Mr Appledorn - a very talented caricaturist whom I have drawn before. He drew me recently on the Drawing Board so I wanted to return the favour.

Happy New Year 2008

As you can imagine the arrival of the new Nuffling at the end of last year took it's toll on my work life balance. I have not had time to post work online as much as I would have wanted and have already had to carve myself a little area of peace & quiet to get some work done.

So here are just a few of the pieces I have done since my last post. I will update as much as possible this year.

Who let the Dogg out??

Well, after the waiting li'l Nuff junior arrived safely on 14 November. And she's a little doll. Expect her to make an appearance on here soon.

Meanwhile I have now just about gotten used to the sleepless nights and managed to get back to some semblance of a normal working pattern. So to exercise those cartooning muscles again I took up an online challenge to draw the Snoop man. Hope you like.

Late night drawing

With the birth of out first-born imminent, I think I am taking advantage of being able to work into the wee small hours here on the Oul' Sod. Many sleepless nights ahead it seems if I listen to everybody.

Maybe we'll get a good'un though...

I posted a version of this on another blog earlier this evening but couldn't resist the urge to tweak it.

Engagement

I thought this was a novel idea! This couple wanted to record their engagement with a caricature rather than a photograph. And I'm always happy to oblige.

Some live caricaturing

Here are some pics snapped of me working at some shows.

Each takes about 4 minutes or so to do.

Guess what? Another caricature

Here are two variations in painting a caricature. the first is fully done in Illustrator. The flat colour treatment still appeals to me. I imagine growing up during the golden age of comics has done that to me. Nowadays it's all too easy to succumb to the temptation of throwing filters at pictures.

The second is painted in Photoshop. I imported the lines from the original Illustrator drawing.

Some more caricatures

I drew these this week. I have a few commissions on at the minute & these helped me refine a style I wanted to use.

September's goodies

Here are a few new additions from this month. I have been very busy with live caricature work this last whie that I have been remiss in my postings. I'll try to catch up.
Tim Burton caught my attention today so I had a pop at him.

This was another commission to celebrate a works retirement.

Another One

..this time of Nova Scotian caricaturist Don Pinsent.

Wedding Day Smiles

A commission to be given as a present to a recently married couple.

Herself

It's Mrs Nuff who celebrated a birthday recently.

And as an artist I really couldn't go & buy a birthday card, could I?

More Drawing Board Fun

Another of the talented artists from The Drawing Board.

Drawing Board Caricatures

Whatever was in the water here on The Oul' Sod seems to have gotten my creative juices flowing. I was inspired to draw all these over the last couple of days. Long may it continue.

The final piece in full

Since it has been almost a month since I handed it over I think I can assume this has been presented to the subject.

I was asked to show the building where he started his work way back when and the new premises at the time of his retirement.

Latest Commission

Here is a glimpse of the latest piece I was commissioned to do. I am not sure when it is going to be handed over to the subject - he is retiring from his company - so I will hold off on publishing the full cartoon for a bit.

Jimmy Nesbitt

Here is one I was commissioned to draw a while back.

Isn't Mr Nesbitt now about to apear in a new adaptation of Jekyll & Hyde sometime soon on our screens? This posting may be timely after all..

'Pool Fan

Another commission. THis time for a Liverpool fan. Check out what I made of the promoters' logo on the shirt.

New Commission - the 'silver' surfer

..And Finally
The client requested some final amendments so after the addition of glasses, a name to the boat & a closer shave, the piece was finished.



Update
Now with added details & colours.



These are the preliminary line drawings for my latest work.

For commissions I prefer to let the client see the early drawing in case I am heading in the completely wrong direction with the caricature. Having this approved allows me to go full dingo pelt at the final picture.

The Lads at last

I think I will leave this one alone now. I have an urge to move on to my next piece. The aged, distressed effects were added in Photoshop and I have pushed the tones more.

The Lads Update

It's been a few hours since I posted the preliminary linework. I worked it a bit more & started layering in some colours. It's the wee small hours now so I should call it a night.

Ever onwards..

2pm the following day:

I have worked a bit more at it this morning & afternoon. I find generally when I get straight into work in the morning I don't even take a break for breakfast/brunch/lunch! I think the kitchen is calling me now though so here is the picture so far. Still all in Illustrator.

6pm

More tonal layering to define the features. Illustrator's multiply feature is very useful in this process.

The Lads

As the nostalgia bone was still in need of scratching, I have started on the two funniest clowns in the history of cinema. This is a work in progress & I will post the finished article as soon as.

The original Proper Charlie

It's Sunday afternoon. Mrs Nuff has gone off shopping & I have settled down to some work.

So here's Mr Chaplin. Mostly in Illustrator with a little Photoshop tomfoolery to add interest to the finish.

Happy Times

One of this group of former colleagues commissioned a caricature.
Hand-drawn & inked.

Born Slippy

Here he is - the Teflon Taoiseach, the man who hasn't had a financial crisis since ... well.. his LAST financial crisis.

Take a bow, the man who carries all the cash the Queen doesn't!!

Mr B-Bertie Ahern.