A meeting at my publisher led me to spend yesterday evening drawing pig fine art masterpieces to go on Pigsticks’ wall. THIS is what I went to art school for…
My humblest apologies to Fernand Leger.
News
If Pigsticks went to nursery…
It’s my daughter’s last day at her nursery today before moving to a new pre-school, so I’ve drawn them a picture. I haven’t worked out yet if it’s a young Pigsticks off to nursery with his dad, or Pigsticks taking his nephew, so I’ll let you decide.
You leave your office for one minute…
And a cat nicks your chair!
Milo has no respect.
A snippet of Pigsticks & Harold
Please excuse my internet absence of late, but I’m working like a fiend, trying to get as much done as I can before our second baby is born in November. There’s nothing like a good deadline to help you get stuff achieved!
So to show I’m still in the land of the living, here’s a little pic from the first Pigsticks & Harold book to whet your appetite.
New colour brush pens!
I’m trying out some pens to recreate the digital process of separating out areas of line. It’s all about the colour, and even though I may not use them for final art, it would be great for sketchbooks and signing.
Maybe I need to get some less gaudy colours, but it’s a real step in the right direction.
Can you tell which is real colour?
Milton Rhino and his suit
This is posing me a few problems. What colour suit does a slightly officious Rhino wear?
Still not convinced.
Alice Anteater gets cuter
Characters change subtly over time – look at early Snoopy compared to the one we know now – and it’s always interesting to look back and chart the evolution of a character’s style.
Pigsticks and Harold have both evolved over the past three years. They’ve become cuter and a little less weighty, and the line has become more fluid. The other Tuptown characters have also grown-up – or grown down.
Alice Anteater is a nice example of this. I recently spent a day drawing her to get her right, and she seemed to get younger and cuter before my eyes. With that cuteness also comes playfulness, and suddenly I found myself knowing her better. She’s incredibly shy of other people, but when they’re not around she gets up to all sorts of things.
Here’s a before and after!
There’s still much of the old character there, but I think she’s now much more part of the Tuptown team.
Pigsticks of Arabia
I’ve been getting Pigsticks’ outdoor gear fixed in my head, and here he is in desert mode. My great grandfather was Lawrence of Arabia’s driver, so of course, Pigsticks would need to follow in his tradition!