Goodbye blogspot...

I am not going to be updating this blog again, as I have newly designed my folio site with Wordpress. I'm going to use their blogging tool. You can check it out here. Thanks!

Irish Sketch Society - Week 6

Irish Sketch Society week five - The Joker. I did some scribbles in pen, but went with a pencil sketch for this week.

Here are my pen sketches, I was going for a nice quiff hairdo. Ha.

Irish Sketch Society - Week 5

Irish Sketch Society week five - Super Mario Bros. So I did loads of sketches for this week, most of them based around other characters, not Mario. I have played a lot of Mario Kart and ALWAYS get inked by that stupidly cute squid, so it had to be him. I then decided to make it out of felt because I haven't done that is ages and the design really worked for that medium. I had great fun making it.

Here's my process.. sketch, cut and sew!

Irish Sketch Society - Week 4

Irish Sketch Society week four - Birds. I drew lots of owls, a cardinal and a penguin in a scarf. But I chose to go with The Owl & The Pussy-cat. I did it on yellow paper with red pencils. I have no idea why.

Irish Sketch Society - Week 3

Irish Sketch Society week three - Die Hard. This might just be my favourite movie of all time. There were a lot of amazing John McClane entries, so I decided to go with a great quote from Holly:

Irish Sketch Society - Week 2

Irish Sketch Society week two - Leprechauns. This is my entry:

Laika also have a creative challenge on their facebook page for the first Friday of every month (which I just found out about), so I chose their topic of "The Unlucky Leprechaun". Two birds with one stone, eh!

Irish Sketch Society - Week 1

Irish Sketch Society, is a new collective that posts a weekly topic and asks anyone to submit their sketch to be showcased on their facebook page (click here). Week one was Batman. This is my entry.

Irish Folk Furniture...

I designed the poster for Irish Folk Furniture, directed by Tony Donoghue. It won the prize for Best Animation at the Sundance Film Festival 2013.

Irish Folk Furniture uses stop-motion animation to breathe life into the disregarded pieces of furniture that frequently lie rotting in Irish barns and sheds, showing the process of renovating them and returning them to the homes they once inhabited. The short is directed by Tony Donoghue and produced by Cathal Black under the IFB ‘Frameworks’ animated short film scheme.

Here it is proudly displayed in Park City Utah, home to Sundance Film Festival.

I also did a landscape version.

A round up of 2012...

It's nearly over for another year, I seem to have let the side down on the aul blogging this year. A lot of excellent things happened to me in 2012, here's hoping that 2013 will be even better. The biggest highlight was getting a new job, which let me have more free time for personal projects. With all this free time I decided to volunteer my services:

First up was Darklight Film Festival, Irelands premier festival celebrating independent film and animation. It took place over the weekend of 23rd August. One of the highlights for me was Seamus McGarvey in Conversation with Kieron J.  Walsh what a talented and hilariously funny guy. It was so interesting to hear him speak about his career and techniques. My favourite film of the weekend was definitely Indie Game the Movie, a documentary about creating indie games. I met some great people over the weekend, definitely worth volunteering my services.

Next up was Mountains to Sea DLR Book festival, which took place from 4th-9th September. I worked at many events including Des Bishop & Tom Inglis (in the Maritime Museum) and Joseph O'Connor & Jonathan Dee (in the Pavilion Theatre), which I found really interesting. But the highlights for me were the family events. I worked with the fabulous illustrator and writer Sarah McIntyre on a comic book making workshop and the Picture Book Picnics (also with Irish illustrator Chris Judge). Sarah describes her adventures at Mountains to Sea on her blog here (which sums up the events better than I could!), where she also wrote the nicest things about me (below)! It was such a great programme of events, if you have never been, you should pencil it in for 2013.

Then in November I volunteered at The Ark, which is a cultural centre for children. The Telling Tall & Tiny Tales Experience ran for the month of November, where I was an invigilator. There were lots of workshops and an exhibition of Irish picture book artists. I hope to continue to work with The Ark over the coming year at their many events.

That's it for now, all the best for 2013!

New baby illustration...

Illustration for kids plate...

Popsicolor App...

I downloaded the Popsicolor App, here are my first attempts. It turns your photos into watercolours. Thus proving I am on my way to becoming Crazy Catlady Crowley™, all my photos on my phone are of the cat. Hmmmm.

Sketching...

Sketches...

I'm doing a bit of a spring clean and have found countless sketch books, so I aim to start scanning and uploading them over the next week! These are from ideas that I am working up for a picture book.

La Tranche Sur Mer...

I went on a family holiday to France, here are a few shots of things that I found interesting!

Berlin...

I went to Berlin for the weekend at Easter. What an amazing city, I really regret not moving there in my 20's! We started off with a really informative walking tour, followed by lots of museums, art galleries, and of course the nightlife. Here are some pics that I took while there.

Study morning...

I recently went to a study morning in the National Gallery; Fables and Fairy Tales in Art. A little bit of blurb about it from their website:

"This Study Morning will enable visitors to enter the magical world of Fables and Fairy Tales and see some enchanting images created by artists, poets, storytellers & illustrators in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Guest speakers will explore the art historical and literary backgrounds, together with a focus on the illustrator-creator of some contemporary images of fairies and fantastic creatures. It will conclude with a guided tour of the display Fables and Fairy Tales."

It was a fasinating way to spend a Saturday morning, I got loads of great ideas and learned of some new illustrators that I didn't know much about at all, including Richard Doyle and Richard Dadd. It was a great way to pair the study morning with the exhibition. And of course to see the Harry Clarke illustrations again (there was an exhibition of his on a few years ago that I attended). I love his illustrations and stained glass windows so much.

Doughal from Father Ted...

My very talented flat mate Alan Eddie painted this picture as a Christmas present for his lady. I love it. Have asked for a Ron Burgundy version for our house, but no sign of it yet!

Seagull design...

I was asked to make a seagull based on a character in a proposal for film funding. The person involved wanted to bring the character along for their interview, which must have worked, as they got the funding. Watch this space!



Shown beside the cat for scale (btw my cat is quite large!)

The original drawing

New baby illustration...