‘Shut up about comics Neil’

Nup, I’m gonna talk about comics for eeeeever, or at least for this post then i’ll be done for a wee while.

As many of you know, I love getting Mail, especially from real people. Well today I received a comic! It’s called ‘The Lobster King’ and it’s written and drawn swedish illustrator Clara Bessijelle .

Reading through the comic is like being transported to a surrealist painting where things are just that little bit darker and stranger yet still retaining a dream like quality.I actually had the pleasure of meeting Clara last year, she was living next door for a wee while and I got to show her around Glasgow, as well as showing her some of my naff pictures. The whole experience was quite expiring actually and since then I’ve gotten more into indie comics, to the extend I’ve started working on one myself but shhh it’s a secret.

Anyhoo for more about Clara check out her blog.

oop before I go,I did another zelda picture!

well that’s me for today, take care!

nx

Edinburgh Adventures

Hello everyone!

Just a wee update about my day today, It was mostly spent in Edinburgh in the Roxy Art House, there I set up shop for the day along with 20 something other designers and crafty types, basically my kind of people.

I took a wee picture of my stall mid set-up, I really need anew camera :/

It was a very lovely way to spent a saturday actually, I got talking to a lot of people about my stuff and even sold some bits and bobs.  I think for me though, I got the most out of talking with the other designers, especially the other illustrators, I don’t often get the chance to talk to like-minded people in person so for me that side of things was priceless.

But that’s not it! On my way home I decided to pop in to Edinburgh’s massive(compared to Glasgow’s) forbidden planet, where I almost exploded with excitement at the site of the thousands of comics and geeky memorabilia. It was in this nerd haven I found something very special, something I never dreamed of seeing with my own eyes, Chris Wares ‘Acme Novelty Library’. So without a second thought I nabbed it, and here it is.

Yes, as I previously said, I do need a new camera but you can clearly see it’s set apart from most comic books, first of all, it’s huge, secondly it has gold details that go round the spine. And on opening the book I was nothing short of amazed.

The amount of work and details that’s gone into the book is almost sickening,  to the point I almost want to give up. I just can’t get my head around how one man can do all this, from the delecate typography to the weaving story lines and amazingly technical drawings and perfet colouring, It’s almost beyond reason.

Well I guess on the plus side It’s always good to have something to aim for!

Sorry about my blabbing I got a bit carried away :P
nx

The Perfect Role Model

During my painting sprees I like to put on a film in the background, nothing that requires much thought or much of a plot to follow so my best bet is zombie films!

My favourites are from the golden age, where there was no cgi, just stop motion, good makeup and puppets, so yesterday I went through the whole Evil Dead trilogy and by the end I felt like paying a little homage, and here it is! I actually can’t believe I havn’t made a little tribute before, I mean, the guy’s got a bloody chainsaw for a hand, and then in Evil Dead 3 he gets a robot hand, a bloody robot hand!

If that’s not cool I dont know what is!

nx

Then I’ll Dig a Tunnel

Hello everyone!

Hope you’re all enjoying the summer, I just have a few bits and pieces to share today, Firstly a little drawing.

This was actually a commission for a friend, It’s actually one of favourite kind of  jobs because I was only given a lyric and then had the freedom to interpret it any way I wanted, anyways that’s what came out and I was very pleased with it and so were they(yay!).

In other news I’ve been spending most of my free time preparing for the Made In The Shade Summertime Hop which will be in Edinburgh in the Roxy Art House this saturday!

I’ll be there setting up shop with some new pictures and prints as well as almost 30 other indie designer crafty vintage people, If you’re around that area It’s definitely worth a peep!

Oh a poster!

For more about Made In The Shade check their site or facebook!

Tarra!

nx

Keep it in Writing Part 2: The Sketchbook

Hello Everyone!

I hope you’re having a lovely day and enjoying the nice weather for the time being.

Today I’m talking about writing again, except on a more personal level, I’d like to talk about keeping a sketchbook.

Now, for me It’s pretty much part of life, I never leave the house without my sketchbook and pencil case in fact I feel a bit weird without them. They’re wonderful for jotting down little ideas, notes, reminders, or even having a little doodle whilst on your travels.

Actually my last exhibition was pretty much all taken from random entries into my tiny a5 sketchbook, In a way it was to make a point on how many little thoughts and ideas pass through our heads daily which are usually forgotten about but otherwise could be quite entertaining!

Anyways, to conclude I think keeping a sketchbook is a really neat thing to do, I always love having a wee read back to remember some things I’ve done or find some ideas I’ve forgotten about, and especially if you’re a creative in any sense of the word it’s totally essential.

So why not give it a bash? sketchbooks are only a couple of quid these days and you never know it might inspire something :)
I just really like that saying, one for the books as they say!

OH! can I also remind everyone you can subscribe to my blog via e-mail, just pop your address into that little box on the right and you’ll get a little e-mail every time I update the blog, give that a try too!

nx

Time to Grow Up?

During the course of my day I’m usually confronted with some kind of remark against my life choices, this can be anything from ‘why don’t you get a real job?’ to ‘why does someone your age have so many toys?’ and even earlier today I was getting a slagging from the ladies at the post office for my messy handwriting.

Anyways I’m not going to get a ‘proper’ job or learn how to write anytime soon, and I love my robot collection so if you don’t like it go stuff yourself :P

nx

Nintendo Power!

Hello! How’ve you been keeping?

I’ve been busy painting the last few days and would like to share my new pictures :) I’ve been lacking slightly in inspiration for the past wee while, I guess nothing all that interesting has been happening, so I thought to myself, what used to inspire me when I was a lil’ un? and of course it was computer games!

So I started off with my all time favourite series Zelda! Here’s Link, he’s found a triforce.

It’s based on the concept art for the first nes game where all the characters were a bit more cartoony which fortunately lent itself quite nicely to my style.

But It didn’t stop there! here’s a magic mushroom,they make mario grow big.

And so no mushroom is left out, I also painted a 1-up!

I’d love to do more stuff like this, but obviously I don’t want to turn into ‘that nintendo guy’ im only just getting over being commonly known as ‘the robot guy’ I do love it though, I remember reading my first school report card which went something like ‘Neil could go far if he spent less time doodling video game characters on his jotter and more time on his work’ and that was pretty much the same right through to secondary school :P

Alright I’ll stop geeking out now.

take care!

nx

New In Town

Hello again! It’s that time again for another insight into the amazing life of a mental artist, This week I’d just like to show off another painting, this one was actually a commission, and like the best kind of commissions, I was given complete freedom (although other times jobs with strict guidelines can have interesting results) and so I had a flick through some of my sketchbooks and found a little idea I jotted down some time ago.

Basically, as I often do, I pondered into the life of a robot, this time a giant robot. Now, a lot of the time in sci-fi films robots and monsters find themselves in big cities (always new york city for some reason,place must be a dump now). Anyways I got to thinking what if I was a big robot in that situation,would I go ballistic and start tearing the place up? probably not, I’d probably have a seat, or try to find a giant robot or lizard pal to hang out with.

And that my friends is the kind of thinking behind most of my pieces!

hope you like it!

nx

The Original Pimp My Ride

If I havn’t mentioned before, I’m a bit of a ghostbusters obsessive and every now and again this comes out in the odd picture. This time around I’ve focused on the amazing ecto-1, possibly my most favourite car in the world! It’s made from a souped up 1959 Cadillac hearse,in fact the rack they would roll the proton packs out on was originally used to carry bodies about, interesting!

Ok here’s my painting!

cool yea? I’m actually chuffed with it,I’m still weighing up whether or not to keep it or let it find a new home. anyways, as further proof of my ghostbuster love, I found this a wee while ago in an old photo album, it’s me (and all my friends) on my 4th birthday, and as you can see on the left is my prized and dearly missed ecto-1.

Well that’s it for today I’m afraid, can I just thank the nice people who wrote back in reply to my postcards, It’s such a relief to get mail from real people :)

take care!

(and yes, that is a ninja turtles cake).

nx

26 stamps later…

Well I stuck to my word and that’s all my postcards now out travelling the world, some went as far as eastern europe, a couple went to America and one is even on it’s way to Indonesia, each one with it’s own bit of inane babbling from me. I hope some of you get the time to write back or even write a letter or postcards to a friend near or far, my main point of this little experiment is really to try and bring back writing to people, getting a hand written letter in the mail, for me, is far exciting than a text or email etc

p.s If you left a comment last week and didn’t hear from me I sent an e-mail to the address you left the comment with, so check it or no postcard for you!

Also If you’d like some of my postcards for yourself they’re availible from my etsy shop!

I’ll be back soon with some new pictures and adventures :)

Nx