Funny Peculiar

Posted by kp – November 7, 2012

Hello!  At last I can post some of the illustrations I was doing over the summer for Funny Peculiar, Will Young’s autobiography.  He gave me the chapters as he wrote them and I went through thinking up ideas, 2 per chapter. It was so much fun; the book is v amusing (as you’d expect) but sad too in parts, which I tried to reflect.  We were going for a whimsical, stripped back look, though I did sneak in a bit of cross-hatching here and there. Other excitements have been an extract (including pics) being featured in Attitude magazine, and, wait for it, Eamonn Holmes doing THIS:

Anyway here are a couple of pictures….

Will talks in one chapter about how even once he’d come out, he was still being offered ideas for videos where he’s walking down a beach with a woman, Backstreet Boys-style.  Crazy.

Smith, the champion belly-flopper of Will’s prep school, preparing for his high dive.

Will talks about his depression in the book.. this picture is about the struggle to get up and meet the day.

This silly bird is my favourite.  It heads up the last chapter (involving the death of a pigeon) and it happens near me, so it’s a Hackney pigeon on a Hackney tree.  Of course pigeons go to heaven too.

I think it’s brilliant, and speaks volumes, that Will wanted to do this instead of the usual photo insert.  It was a fantastic project to work on and I’m so grateful to him for the opportunity.

At all good book stores now!  (Waterstones/Amazon)

the grey gentlemen

Posted by kp – September 24, 2012

I’m drawing a comic for a lovely lady I met at the Kapow! comic con – her name’s Yen Ooi and she’s a writer (you can see her stuff here).  It’s completely new territory for me, I have no idea if it will work or if I’ll be able to do it but I read a lot of comics these days, I’ve been reading up on the artform and I’m really enjoying the opportunity. We’re having a bit of a trial run on a couple of pages to see if I/we like it.. anyway here are some character sketches for two of the main characters, the Grey Gentlemen….

 

Without going into too much detail, they’re VERY TIRED and have essentially worked so hard they’ve wasted themselves away.

Be Sensible

Posted by kp – September 7, 2012

A couple of pages from the storyboard for The Trainline ‘Be Sensible’ ad which is out at the moment.  It was inspired by the scene in Airplane when everyone goes ballistic on hearing the plane is in trouble (can’t remember the reason exactly), but in this case it’s because a guy runs into the carriage announcing you can get your tickets cheaper with The Trainline.  This was a 2.5 day storyboard so there are lots of frames – there are a bunch of 10 second versions as well which I’ll post at a later date.

I’ve put the full storyboard for the 30 second version up here, and the ad’s on youtube here.

 

 

Orlanda

Posted by kp – September 6, 2012

A pencil drawing of my friend’s daughter, Orlanda.

Rubie’s Disney Princess storyboard

Posted by kp – August 24, 2012

Hello.. here are a couple of pages from a storyboard for a recent pitch – I don’t think the agency won it but I was pleased with the storyboard, so here it is!  It’s another one for Rubie’s costume hire, this time for Disney Princess outfits.  You can see the rest of the frames here.

Berlin

Posted by kp – August 8, 2012

My fancy Richard and I went to Berlin last week, for a friend’s wedding.  I’d never been and found the whole thing totally fascinating – it’s mad to see the Luftwaffe HQ and the Berlin Wall inside of one walking tour in one city centre.  There is so much to think about.  We weren’t in the city long but here are a few sketches.

Doodling while waiting for Rich at Gatwick.  I get quite bored of always drawing people from behind but now I’ve realised it’s a good time to do hair studies.  Yes!

Rich trying hard to relax..

The Berlin wall memorial at Bernauer Strasse, which is the place you must go to to really feel what it was like – Checkpoint Charlie is manned by part-time strippers and nothing there is authentic.  The sketch is of the outer wall, on the border with West Berlin.  They made many ‘improvements’ to the wall over the years, one of which was the cement tube on the top which made it very difficult to get over.  I’m standing drawing in the deathstrip, or no man’s land, and behind me is some remaining inner wall (bordering East Berlin).  I think it’s the only place you can still see both walls.  It’s such recent history, and now here we are wandering around it as tourists.

A flotilla of hats

Posted by kp – August 3, 2012

According to this.  Practising one of the pics for the project I’m working on at the mo.

Spidey

Posted by kp – July 23, 2012

I’ve been super busy with a very fun book illustration project.  But with the exception of a couple more pics at a later date, I’ve finished!  Literally as the sun comes out, perfect timing.  I’ve just been trying out odosketch – I resolved the disaster of my owl’s body with a big posh coat, obviously.

Here’s a recent pitch storyboard for Rubie’s costume hire.

Boing Boing Tigger

Posted by kp – July 11, 2012

Another A A Milne-themed storyboard.. this one’s for Boing Boing Tigger, a teddy which makes a boinging sound, surprisingly, when you shake it around.

The anatomist

Posted by kp – July 10, 2012

I went to a private viewing of the Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery last week – my first visit to Buckingham Palace after ten years living in London.  To wander around Leonardo’s drawings getting a bit drunk on white wine, on one occasion with only one other person in the room, was an amazing thing.  I got to stand right in front of the pictures, rather than in that awkward leaning position you usually have to adopt, and study them closely.  Did a little sketch at the end perched haphazardly on a bench.

A couple of bits and bobs – here’s a scrawl of Jesca Hoop at a recent gig (love her)..

..and our friends’ baby, Sylvie.  Drawing children from life is almost an impossible task, I think the secret is to make bits up.