Back to the 1700s:

This was done with pen and bleach drawn on grey paper. The bleach gives a glowing, feathered look when it's applied but it doesn't always scan in too well. This was done quickly before the project hand-in a few weeks ago.


Character ideas for Ellis Gamble, engraver and teacher to my protagonist. I had Jones from Dad's Army in mind when I was sketching these.


Lord John Hervey: aristocrat, supporter of Walpole and a very colourful character. I'm tempted to give him a more prominent part in the story, just because of all the outrageous things he said and did.


A few more hasty drawings with pen and bleach again.

The Resurrectionists

Photos of the first few 'Resurrectionist' books, based on the Edinburgh bodysnatchers of the early 1800s. Only seven books have been made, but more to follow as they are starting to sell.

Currently on sale at the Poly in Falmouth, Cornwall until Sunday 27th March.









More images and info to come later!

Gobbledegook

Some sketches from a debate at Cambridge last week ('This house believes that the veil empowers women') . . .






. . . and some faces in the crowd at a live music night at Miss Peapods a few weeks ago -

New work (and prints)

Hemming's Rents, a small lane. Drawn in black pen and quink. There were few paved streets at this time in London:

"...in other parts of the city each house and shop-owner cared for the patch outside the door; fops in red heels would stumble and sway between gleaming slabs and dusty ruts, stepping delicately past the piles of rubbish, ashes and oyster shells."
(Jenny Uglow, 'Hogarth: A Life and a World', page 297)


Some prints from the mono-printing workshop, above. (And these were the better ones!) Below are a couple of other things from my sketchbook. I'm still trying to work out the best materials to use for this (this is a mixture of black pen and quink) :





The Wolfman

This was from a workshop we did a week or so ago. The piece is unfinished, but it is based on one of Sigmund Freud's cases, the Wolfman. It was great fun to illustrate - we each had to illustrate a part of the case.














The original drawing (unfinished and hastily done I know):

This was unintentional, but when folded round on itself, the picture told a different story - ...Freud's legs matched his client's body:

More new work

Charcoal drawings, characters, etchings and other imagery.


Below are some prints from an etching, based on Edinburgh's Old Town. At first this was an experiment in drawing the Cowgate area in Edinburgh as a gothic labyrinth, but soon turned into a tonal exercise. I discovered that removing all the ink from the areas on the print I wanted to keep light, and leaving the darker areas more inky resulted in the finished print looking more dark and atmospheric:



Below is an experiment drawing in putty rubber on a charcoal surface, drawing only the highlighted areas.


Here are more characters and a rough idea for a sequence:

This is an idea for one of the main turning points in the graphic novel, where our (anti) hero elopes with his employer's only daughter. The elopement caused a rift between bridegroom and father-in-law for some years:

I'm not sure that this image scanned in so well, so I've included a couple of close-ups.

New Work!

I am working on a new project which will be a graphic novel set in 1700s London and based around the life of a well-known British figure. The characters are all based on real people and I have been researching into the people, costumes, writings and culture of the time.

A lot of the source material for the drawings have come from films and paintings:







Most of these are from the films 'Barry Lyndon' and 'Farrinelli'.

Some typography from leaflets, posters and other publications -


So far I'm planning that the graphic novel will be in black and white and I've been working with various materials for this, mainly charcoal, pen and ink. I want the atmosphere to be dark and grimy, which the charcoal really helps bring out:



This is a rough idea for two chacters, Kate Hackabout and Betty Careless. I have used a combination of black pen, charcoal and putty rubber for the highlights:



Some rough, un-developed sketches of James Thornhill, who will feature in the story :



Below are some hasty drawings of a crowd scene in 'Farinelli', drawn as the film was running:


More to follow later! :-)

Poster design for Dr Sketchys (screenprint)

Based on a sketch done at Dr Sketchys one rainy day at the Arches, Glasgow.