Yvonne Craig R.I.P

We've celebrated the career of the wonderful Yvonne Craig on this Blog before. Sadly this time it's to mark her passing. She will be missed.

Queen Nefertiti

Ok because Natalie Kim wanted it, we have a Drawbridge about  the potential rediscovery of the Tomb of Queen Nefertiti. Your move Ms. Kim!

Giger & Woodroffe R.I.P

We awoke this morning to discover that two great artists and illustrators had died. Patrick Woodroffe & H. R. Giger. Both hugely influential and much loved. I did a drawing kind of based on my half memories of looking at both men's work while a drunk student in the late 80s. Thank you gentlemen.

Half Man!

This weeks subject is Game of Thrones. A remarkable show in many ways, not the least for how unconventional its heroes are. So here's a drawing of Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister.

Springtime

I've been painting ( in photoshop ) all day. So I just did a sort of abstract ...then I got cold feet and added a Blue Jay to it.

One Line World Leader - Kim Jong Un

One line, no lifting the pen.

I tried to do Ronnie Reagan first , but that went REALLY badly.

Just Dancin'

Here's one for the big girls.

Madiba

To say that Nelson Mandela is important to Africans is a wild understatement. He is not only the greatest living African, but he may be the greatest African who has ever lived and one of the world's greatest men. I'm not going to spend a lot of time justifying that statement,  there are smarter people than me writing books to that effect right now. Sufficed to say that rebel leaders are ten-a-penny, it doesn't take so very much to smash something that is rotten from the inside. To rebuild it however,  to pull peace from chaos, to drag justice from terror and hatred takes true greatness.
I lived in Arusha in northern Tanzania some years ago. A place named "The Geneva of Africa" by Bill Clinton. The peace talks for Burundi were ongoing at the time. President Mandela was using his considerable influence to move things forward.
I was walking down the street next to the conference building one day when a car pulled out in front of me and paused before turning onto the main road. I glanced at the passenger in the back seat and made eye contact with Nelson Mandela. I had just about the good sense to not stare dumbly at him,  I waved. He waved back.

Ray Harryhausen

I'm a day late with this. There's nothing I can add to the appreciation of Harryhausen's work other than I think he added an essential character and humanity to it that is often missing in FX work these days.

Earthday - Minecraft

It's earthday today and the first thing that came to my mind is the iconic Minecraft dirtblock. Perhaps this implies that I am too cut-off from the natural world? Or perhaps that Minecraft has taken up rather a lot of my leisure time. The game itself is a hyper rationalised version of the real world , complete with a simple ecology. One must harvest the bones of dead monsters to fertilize your crops. Irrigation is crucially important. Sadly the industrial aspects of the game are such that atmospheric pollution is not part of the game mechanic, but the thing about Minecraft is that it is always evolving , so it might be part of a future update. Perhaps increased toxins in the air will cause Creepers to get bigger and nastier...yes that would work. Perhaps in the real world that would be good too, dropping litter would be accompanied by a hissing noice and before you can turn around there's an almighty KABOOM!  Yes that would be good for the heads of many fortune 500 companies too.

The Nanny State

I never thought I would or could ever do a remotely flattering portrait of Margaret Thatcher. She sprawls across my earliest political memories like a carnivorous spider. It would be too easy to describe her as a monster , though she certainly fostered many monstrous things. She was as cold and without mercy as idealogs tend to be, but I think it's her arrogance that I found most offensive. It's ironic that she bemoaned the 'Nanny State' when she pretty much embodied that kind of suffocating 'it's for your own good' cruelty. At one time I thought that her death would make me very happy. Now I don't really care.

So long Carmine Infantino

The great Carmine Infantino died yesterday at the age of 87. It would be impossible to sum up his career and his influence here. Sufficed to say that it was profound.
One of my early editors compared my work to his once . He didn't mean it in a flattering way, but I decided to take it as a compliment. I think he found my linework a bit too angular, to fast and stylized. One of the hallmarks of Infantino's work was its speed and confidence.
I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Mr Infantino once and told him about that. He asked to see my work. Sadly I had nothing to show him at the time. Something that I regret now. Rest in peace maestro.

Iain (M) Banks

I borrowed Iain Banks' The Bridge from my flatmate Paul Aspden just after I finished college. I was told that Banks was brilliant but that the book was a difficult one. I was blown away by it! It was grand, ambitious,imaginative and funny. As much as it was a work of fantasy it also seemed VERY real to me. Which isn't too shocking as Banks apparently wrote the book under the shadow of the Forth Rail Bridge. which I had driven past for many years and gone over more than once in a train.
His debut novel The Wasp Factory similarly blew me away and seemed to speak directly to me in a way that no other novelist ever had. The fact that this guy was Scottish and this good was amazing. As being Scottish always seemed a bit naff to me as a young man. Scottish popular culture seemed suffocating, parochial and embarrassing . Banks made it ok to be Scottish , cool even! I proceeded to tear through all the Banks books I could get. His Sci-Fi novels were similarly breathtaking. Was there nothing that this guy couldn't do?
A year or so later my friend and collaborator Martin Millar casually introduced me to Iain Banks at a reading in Edinburgh. We went for a Pint or two at a local bar. Not only is Banks a great writer, but he's also a really charming , smart and funny guy. Which is of course completely obvious if you have ever read any of his work. He's also been tremendously prolific. I even lost track of his output for a few years while I was in Africa and frankly I'm still catching up. If anything he's gotten even better with age.

This morning I found out that Iain Banks has terminal cancer and probably only has some months to live.
That news made me very angry and very sad at the same time. The anger was selfish because I don't want to lose him, the sadness because so many other people will lose him too and for the pain he is going through.

I may hold off on reading my last few Banks books. I want to have at least one to look forward to.
All the best to you Sir and those that love you. I owe you a pint.

Jenna Louise Coleman

The new Dr Who companion. She's very pretty in a kind of retro 40's cutie kind of way. So I thought I might try and do a full on 40s style airbrush portrait. Like a George Petty or a Gil Elvgren. This is my basic drawing and I'll try and post the various stages here as I go.

Poseidon - God of wetness

George O'Connor has a new book out in his ongoing series of books profiling the Greek Gods 'The Olympians'. This one is about Poseidon, 'The Earth Shaker' http://www.amazon.com/Poseidon-Shaker-Olympians-George-OConnor/dp/1596437383/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363706054&sr=8-1&keywords=Poseidon+George+O%27Connor

Pope Francis 1st

Confused old white man walks into Vatican looking for the toilet and is made Pope.
I really didn't have enough time to do anything with the hands, sorry.

Cityscape

Something I drew for fun. Yea fun. I'm a bit anal I know.

Fear of a Black Pope

So just to annoy Tim , I'm going to take his frivolous topic completely seriously. The chances are very very small that the Catholic Church will have an African Pope in the near future. Though it's heartening that the 'safe' money is on a South American right now. I think it would be a very bold move by an institution that is seen as increasingly anachronistic and irrelevant to elect someone from Africa. To give that continent a strong voice on the world stage. I hear that Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana is a good candidate. I haven't a clue really . He has a nice face.

Margaret Hamilton - Wicked Witch of the West

As we all know that the West is an evil and decadent place. No doubt Tim's reluctance to draw ( someone who must be a relative , if distant ) is based on his latent socialism.

Rodman

I don't really know anything about Netball, but I Googled this Rodman fellow and he seems to be a bit of a character. A cartoon character even. Yes I know that this is overlapping the boundaried on the sides here, but frankly that just makes it seem more Rodman-esque.