Train Guy Project

I'm flying off to Australia tomorrow so won't be blogging for a while, it's going to be awesome plus I'm packing some serious sketchbook so I will no doubt post some stuff on my return!

 In the mean time I'd thought I'd post up some of my exploratory stuff for my 'Train Guy' project. Still work in progress, playing with styles that I'm not sure I'm happy with yet. I wasn't 100% sure posting incomplete stuff up here is a good idea, but since it's been a slow burning project, I need to get some of this stuff off my desk and (potentially) get some responses.

Primarily exploring the character and aesthetic the 'Train Guy' character was initially an embodiment of old American Railway workers, industry, hardship and pride.

 Thinking about ways of depicting a functional, industrious character led to an alternative kind of culture to draw from Russian constructivism, and so to Bauhaus which has grabbed me as being an interesting potential art style to apply to a video game's art direction.

Having said this, when doing some more painterly work, I really liked how it had some of the qualities of old cigarette cards, which I thought would be an amazing way to tell a story, and sort of captured the romance and aspiration of the railways but from a blue collar grass roots level.

It's my hope to be doing plenty of writing and design over the next few weeks to try and work some of these themes out before pushing the rendering and illustration further.

Space Commuter

Found this old character in a sketchbook today, gave him a digital dusting off! Nice working with watercolours - it responds really well to digital tinkering too.

Pirate Mondays

Quick Blackbeard using some fun new brushes.

Street Sketches!

I'm going to update this post as I scan and compile these images: For some time now I've been keen on practice drawing more people and using pens more frequently to record things I see. 

A friend and former colleague kindly gave me a V ball pilot pen, and I've enjoyed how the fine lines have influenced my sketching, which I often feel is messy and overly constructed. (NB some of these drawings are still just that, but in a few cases I feel like I've been able to break some bad habits, which to me is progress!)

Also been playing with brush pens:

And the obligatory pencil:

Sketchbook Scan Sunday!

Since returning to a spell of freelancing towards the end of last year my Sundays have again become the universal day of Tea and admin, since the Taxes are done I thought I'd try another slightly tedious task and scan in some sketchbooks.

Here's some compilations from last years Inktober month. Some street sketches up next post!

Some old ghosts...

Just dug up some work from last year that never went anywhere, I think these were intended for use as stickers - not particularly seasonal but hey-ho. In my more current projects I've been doing loads of 'dirty' digital painting with some great grease pencil brushes, so its nice to look back at this stuff which is using crisp vector masks and smooth gradients.

VMAT 2013 - Merry Christmas!

Some friends suggested doing VMAT (very merry art trade) this year, cheated a bit on the colours but was fun.