November 16, 2009

LATEST ART

Various bits & pieces, including some photos taken this weekend at the wedding of Helen & Ali in Yorkshire (thanks for letting me post these snaps, guys!), a recent Christmas Card commission, and some stuff from my sketchbook.

...as always, I'm indebted to The Lovely Lynsey for her sterling work on camera duties. Enjoy!



Reaction shots to the above...





The following little guy is David, who with his little brother Harry never left my side all night. A budding artist to watch, I reckon!















The 'chest hair creature' above was inspired by a hilarious piece I saw over at the blog of the mighty Jert. If you're not familiar with his work I'd highly recommend you check it out. Warning - contains strong language and adult humour!!









November 05, 2009

COUPLE O' LIVE CARICATURES

These were drawn at a 21st Birthday Party in Durham recently. The last photo gives you an idea of my process when drawing live, where I whack in some basic shapes & expression with a blue Polychromos pencil before committing myself with ink. Why blue? No other reason than it looks cool, even when the lines aren't erased at the end. Reminds me of rough animation drawings.

...incidentally, thanks to Christine Ebdy for taking these snaps, and for allowing me to tinker with them slightly (this includes reversing each pair so they're the same way round as their drawing). Just click on her name or the link on the right-hand side to visit her website.





October 30, 2009

LAS VEGAS COMMISSION

Apologies for the lack of posts lately, I promise there'll be a decent influx of stuff coming shortly! In the meantime here's a gift illustration created for a couple who tied the knot in Vegas recently. As is often the case there were a couple of in-jokes that needed to be included, hence the kiddies' scooter, Elvis-isms and Stratosphere Tower (the groom rode this the night before the wedding). I threw in the minister as a freebie; after being told of this all-singing, all-dancing fusion of Barack Obama & OJ Simpson, how could I not?

October 13, 2009

MILITARY STEP-BY-STEP

Following the interest in my earlier post where I outlined the various stages of a large group caricature, I thought I'd post another. Again, this was a privately commissioned piece where the artwork was ultimately going to be presented as a gift at an upcoming event.

As I usually find with this type of project, I found myself presented with a unique set of challenges and quite a few logistical headaches en route to the final illustration. I'd been given a very specific brief, and indeed quite a lengthy list of in-jokes and background elements (some of them extremely specialised - cheers Google!) which needed to be included. In the end I was generally happy, though there are certainly areas where I feel I'd make improvements next time.

As with the Orient Express illustration, the following is a deviation from my usual private commission procedure where I don't submit roughs; however there was so much scale and intricate military detail that I really had to work closely with the client to ensure nothing was omitted or incorrect.

Step 1: Rough Pencils A. The first pass, informed by the client's description and in this case, rough sketch. The 'bubbles' were an idea I came up with when it became apparent some indoor scenes were required, despite the rest of the illustration taking place out of doors.



Step 2: Rough Pencils B. Some changearounds and modification to detail, but nothing too vast.



Step 3: Linework. Like much of my art, this was fully hand-drawn with markers & fineliner and then scanned into Photoshop for colour.



Step 4: Completed Artwork A. A low res JPEG, emailed to the client to ensure all was well. As it happens some of the uniform detail had been overlooked, as well as a couple of other small details.



Step 5: Completed Artwork B. The final article. As I said, there are still a few areas that niggle: the empty area of tree canopy on the right was always a concern, and it does unbalance the composition slightly. Though overall I'm satisfied with the final result (as was the client), and I've learned some good lessons in the process. Hope you've enjoyed this sneak peek!

October 10, 2009

STUDIO CARICATURES

These five illustrations were commissioned by a couple getting married (today, as it happens) as gifts for the best man & ushers at their wedding. They were required at pretty short notice, and were requested to be drawn in my 'live' style, ie simple black line with some marker shading, and minimal detail excepting the outfit requests. Pretty cool gifts, I thought!











October 05, 2009

RECENT LIVE PICS

A couple of game chaps from a wedding fair, and a really fun lady from a corporate event. Great faces!





September 11, 2009

FOOTIE COMMISSION

Quite a fun job this, completed as a birthday present for the main chap in the centre. (The actual artwork didn't contain the reference photos, I've simply pasted them in here for comparison.)



For further information on commissioning a gift caricature, drop me an email at mikegiblin77@hotmail.com where I'll be happy to provide details.

September 08, 2009

ANTONIO BANDERAS

This started life earlier today as a warmup sketch before I started my 'real' work. I later felt it worthy of a Photoshop paint job.

August 31, 2009

LIVE CARICATURES

A few photos taken by my girlfriend Lynsey at this weekend's weddings. All told we covered more than a thousand miles on what has to be one of the more exhausting weekends in recent memory. We set off from our home town of Newcastle on Saturday morning, travelling up to Inverness in Scotland for an afternoon booking. We then drove back down on Sunday for a 6pm booking in Liverpool, before heading back here. Crazy times (yet fun, as I'm sure the pics will attest). Now someone get me a large Southern Comfort!!







Reaction shot to the above...







This guy was a hoot...

o

August 23, 2009

MORE GIFT CARICATURES!