My Sketchblog

Learning Japanese-Katakana-MU and YO

2012-01-16T12:07:00.001-08:00

Nearly finished now!

Learning Japanese-Katakana-MO and ME

2012-01-16T12:06:00.001-08:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-WA and N

2012-01-16T12:05:00.001-08:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-MA and MI

2012-01-16T12:04:00.001-08:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-RU and RE

2012-01-16T12:03:00.001-08:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-RA and O

2012-01-16T12:02:00.001-08:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-HE and FU

2012-01-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-HI and HA

2012-01-14T03:52:00.001-08:00

I've drawn out the whole of the katakana alphabet now, though I still need to process the rest and am doing pretty well on the test. Next up- the simpler kanji and more language study (so I know what I'm reading) My kanji text book suggests looking at some of the characters pictographically , so maybe this method isn't as batty as I thought.

Learning Japanese-Katakana-HO and NA

2012-01-14T03:50:00.000-08:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-RO and RE

2012-01-14T03:49:00.001-08:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-YU and YA

2012-01-14T03:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-24T01:54:00.000-08:00

Illustrator practise

2011-12-24T01:47:00.001-08:00

A portrait in Illustrator.

Pat's birthday present

2011-12-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of birthdays round this time of year. This is my boyfriend's best friend riding Johnny 5 from the film Short Circuit

A Present for my sister for her 30th birthday

2011-12-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

A present for my sister for her 30th- she's a part-time writer just setting out into the paying market and this is an illustration for one of her short stories. I'll link to the original if it gets published. The picture came out a little darker than I thought but that fits the tone of the story.

Learning Japanese-Katakana-TE and TSU

2011-11-19T03:27:00.001-08:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-TO and SA

2011-11-19T03:26:00.001-08:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-TE and TSU

2011-11-19T03:25:00.001-08:00

Sketches

2011-11-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

Parts of this old graveyard have been deliberately left wild to encourage wildlife. It's very scenic in autumn, especially when it's misty.

Happy Halloween everybody!

2011-10-25T11:27:00.001-07:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-KE and KU

2011-10-16T08:21:00.001-07:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-KI and KA

2011-10-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-SO and SE

2011-10-16T08:18:00.001-07:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-A and I

2011-10-06T23:34:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-U and E

2011-10-06T23:33:00.001-07:00

Learning Japanese-Katakana-O and KO

2011-10-06T23:31:00.000-07:00

Design for work

2011-09-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

I've moved further into graphic design since I've been at my current job. It's given me a reason to brush up on Illustrator. Here's some work I've done in the last few months

Sketch-Marriott's Way

2011-09-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking off on my sketching recently. This is a part of Marriott's Way, a 26 mile footpath from Norwich to Aylsham.

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-all of the damn things

2011-09-10T09:57:00.001-07:00

It's only taken five months....

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-RU and RI

2011-08-25T12:55:00.001-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-RA and WA

2011-08-25T12:54:00.001-07:00

This may be taking ages but it's working.

Murky Depths illustration-The Dollmaker

2011-08-23T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here's an illustration for The Dollmaker by Anita Siraki for Murky Depths magazine

Afghanistan

2011-08-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

A quick pic for my friend Helen's leaving book- she's currently an aid worker in Afghanistan. The thing she's holding- that's supposed to be a can of Pimms.

the aqueduct

2011-08-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

Another illustration for my sister's story An Assembly of Bones. I seem to specialise in illustrating scenes which didn't end up in the final version of the story. This is between the last and next-to-last chapter.

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-MI and MU

2011-07-24T06:58:00.000-07:00

I'm trying an experiment - the letters are sinking in well but my vocabulary is still terrible, so thought I'd use Japanese words for the mnemonics rather than english.

MI=mizu=water. MU=musume/musumesan=daughter.

I don't know whether this will work, some of the previous pictures took a while to sink in, so I probably shouldn't be making things more difficult for myself.

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-MA and YO

2011-07-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-MO and ME

2011-07-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-HE and FU

2011-07-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-HI and HA

2011-07-23T05:45:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-NA and HO

2011-07-23T05:44:00.000-07:00

Witchcraft in the Harem

2011-07-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

Another reclamation Drabblecast illustration, this time for Witchcraft in the Harem by Aliya Whitely. You can read a text version here. It's trippy.

The Tiger Fortune Princess

2011-07-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

The Drabblecast are looking for new artwork for their back catalogue. This is an illustration for Episode 57-The Tiger Fortune Princess by Eugie Foster. You can download the archives here or buy her anthology Returning My Sister's Face, And Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice

The illustration has a (semi)hidden dragon. The crouching tiger I originally planned didn't work out.

Austerity Caption 2011

2011-07-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

This is an illustration for Caption 2011 (6-7th August) The theme this year is "Austerity" I usually donate a piece of artwork each year even if I can't attend. I looked at a lot of 40's era poster art before deciding that I preferred 50's travel posters, because frankly I have enough austerity in real life at the moment.

The city is Dubrovnik. The pencil art is inspired by Ray Harryhausen. I've started to try and get more textures into my work, which is a lot of fun, but messy. I rent and four years ago I dropped a whole bottle of indian ink down the cable hole in my desk. It's the only time I've ever lost my security deposit.

An A3 version of this will be at the charity auction, if anyone's attending and fancies bidding.

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-NO and NE

2011-06-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-NU and NI

2011-06-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-CHI and TA

2011-06-25T12:23:00.001-07:00

zoo sketches 2

2011-06-11T10:56:00.000-07:00

The drawing at the top is a maned wolf. They are cool. I did not exaggerate the legs.

zoo sketches

2011-06-11T10:54:00.001-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-TE and TSU

2011-06-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-SA and TO

2011-06-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-SU and SHI

2011-05-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Why a panda picture for SU? I'm getting old.

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-SO and SE

2011-05-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-O and KU

2011-05-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-KO and KE

2011-05-21T02:57:00.000-07:00

I couldn't think of an easy picture for "ke". An old man in a manga I used to read years ago cackled a lot. The sound effect was "kekekekekekekeke".

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-KI and KA

2011-05-21T02:33:00.001-07:00

Probably should explain a little bit about these.

Hiragana is one of the three Japanese alphabets* It's syllabic, which means each character represents a sound. There are 46 characters and this alphabet used for native Japanese words. There's loads of resources online if you're interested in learning more.

"Ka" is an audible question mark-which can be difficult in conversation. If you're a beginner, you know when someone is asking you a question...but can have no clue what they're asking for.

For some reason I think that the "ka" character is supposed to represent a man flexing his arm muscles. Stuff like that is why this alphabet is for my reference only.

*or four, if you include romaji-English letters.

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-U and E

2011-05-21T02:30:00.000-07:00

Learning Japanese-Hiragana-A and I

2011-05-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

I've been learning Japanese for a while and haven't done much self-directed art work. I am hopeless at remembering languages so thought it would be good to combine the two. I had a stab at drawing some comic strips like the one below based on my old Japanese teacher, who made a pretty good cartoon. I think the alphabet works better and it's also quicker to produce.

Disclaimer: I'm not a calligrapher - or a reliable teacher of Japanese. My efforts at reproducing Japanese characters would make Fujiwara no Teika bite his brush in half.

Australia sketches-road trip from Cairns to Sydney

2011-05-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

I didn't have time to do much drawing: too much driving. We did nearly 4000k in total.

Drabblecast illustration

2011-03-01T13:46:00.000-08:00

An illustration for Episode 202 of the Drabblecast, Boojum by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear.

Norwich Puppet Theatre

2011-02-23T01:56:00.000-08:00

Climbing sketches

2011-02-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

Strawberry Ale

2011-02-12T05:24:00.000-08:00

You can buy Strawberry Ale , written by Michael Burness and illustrated by yours truly, here, for a very reasonable £3.50 (hard copy) and £1.50 (electronic copy)

"Flourishes of Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams"-Small Press Reviews

"A bloody good little read:seriously!"-Birmingham Mail

Teamwork Illustration

2011-02-12T05:09:00.000-08:00

This illustration is for Murky Depths issue 16, Teamwork by Jonathan Pinnock. When I tweaked the final jpeg file I noticed how the shapes in the framing panels mirror each other. I wish I'd planned that.

Drabblecast People's Choice Awards

2011-02-01T13:42:00.001-08:00

I've been nominated for the Drabblecast People's Choice Awards (Episode Art) for my illustrations Funeral Song For A Ventriloquist and Once A Month on a Sunday. You can look at the other contestants and , more importantly, vote for me here. The Drabblecast is a science fiction podcast which is very cool and worth listening t, though if you're on my website, chances are you might already.

Cheers

Caroline

random sketches

2011-01-23T04:58:00.001-08:00

Assembly of Bones illustration mk 3

2011-01-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

New Year 2011

2011-01-04T11:28:00.000-08:00

Random sketches

Download free Christmas gift tags!

2010-12-23T12:18:00.000-08:00

Strawberry Ale is finished!

2010-12-19T10:33:00.001-08:00

Woohoo!

here's one of the last pages. I'll post again when Unico publishes it.

Deviantart

2010-12-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

I've started a gallery at Deviantart here to cross-post some of my artwork.

Assembly of Bones illustration mk 2

2010-12-14T13:08:00.000-08:00

Another Assembly of Bones illustration for my sister, currently living it up somewhere near Laos and not able to get the usual kind of birthday presents.

more life drawing

2010-11-21T11:20:00.000-08:00

phone robot says check your messages!

2010-11-15T12:12:00.000-08:00

The Assembly of Bones

2010-10-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

My sister is traveling from London to Sydney. This is an illustration for a short story she's writing, as an apology for my bad Livejournal skills.

Kate, sorry. Take care and try not to get eaten by tigers. See you in Oz.

*Edit 32/10/10-Sister pointed out title of story is actually AN Assembly of bones. Rats. Have changed*

My show at the Dancing Goat

2010-10-03T06:16:00.000-07:00

No more posts for October, so you can gaze at the wonderful postery goodness.

Also, I got a shoutout on the Drabblecast here. Combined with the shark cage diving, this means I am now Officially Cool.

life drawing

2010-10-03T06:10:00.000-07:00

Life drawing. First class in ages. It goes SO MUCH FASTER when you're not actually the model.

Norwich Cathedral sketch with added tourist goodness

2010-09-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Legend comic colouring

2010-09-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm still hacking away at the rockface that is Legend. This is the completed coloring for page 42.

Drabblecast illustration

2010-09-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

For a story by Douglas F. Warrick. You can find the audio version here

Vet illustrations Mark 2

2010-09-24T14:52:00.001-07:00

The Vet School book I illustrated way back when wanted a new cover design for a reprint. Here it is.

dammit...

2010-09-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

Great, my resolution of not buying comics until I have saved enough money to visit my sister in Australia is pretty damn shot.

I have been waiting for three YEARS for this book to come out

...and I already have a copy of this one but the new version is just so damn pretty

My show

2010-09-18T07:36:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty busy getting ready for this at the moment. I'm going to show 12/13 pieces and it's a mixture of digital prints like the picture above and original sketches from the Shetlands and Norfolk. Most of the work has been posted here in some form or other, including the chickens on my title picture.

Shetland sketch dump

2010-08-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

I found some more pictures but had a problem inserting them into the post I'd already created. So here's a sketch dump. Below is the broch of Mousa. Brochs are pretty cool. Archaelogists used to think they were the Northern Isles equivalent of castles, then they thought they were cool defensive structures that you could build without scaffolding (clever, as there's no trees on Shetland) Now the explanation is edging towards "ritual and ceremonial" which is archaeologist speak for "damned if I know"

Inside the Broch of Mousa

These two drawings are at Eshaness. The cliffs there are hardcore
Another broch, this time at Cillikimin (may have spelt that wrong) near Lerwick. I got a bit obsessed with archeology on this holiday. Entertainment is limited in Shetland, and I like old stuff that's remote and deserted and isn't fenced off. In fact, one of the tombs I went down was entered by an exact replica of the hatch from Lost. If I had broken my ankle down there I'd probably still be waiting to be rescued by a random hiker.

Shetland holiday

2010-08-23T11:17:00.001-07:00

I've just spent two weeks in Shetland and Orkney, staying in camping barns, drawing, walking and generally slobbing around. The sketch below is the first place I stayed in- the Windhouse Lodge, the gatehouse to a haunted ruin.

These sketches are just me hanging around the harbour. I like drawing boats.

Staying in youth hostels was good for drawing, because I'd come in in the evening and get settled and usually someone else would turn up. So I'd go outside to give them room to get their stuff sorted, then I'd come back in and have a chat later. I met some really nice people.

Shetland holiday 2

2010-08-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

I then went down to another bod, the Sail Loft ( red house) There was a little house in the voe. I thought it was a fishing shack but after listening to the locals I think two hippies were living there. It looked fun, but I bet they don't do it in winter.

Shetland holiday 3

2010-08-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

I was in Lerwick during the annual Fiddle Frenzy. I ran into a lot of the performers in the youth hostel and ended up going to their last concert. I love drawing people performing but I'm honestly not a folkie- however those that are should check out Maggie and Brian on Myspace

Shetland holiday 4

2010-08-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

I forked out for a boat trip to draw some birds at one point but the best animal spot was a minke whale which popped up when I was drawing some cormorants on Mousa.

Shetland holiday 5

2010-08-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

This is Orkney, where I went next. It's the first time I've been back since my first backpacking trip at age 17 with my sister. It seemed pretty remote then- I was surprised at how gentle and well-farmed it seemed after Shetland.

These two drawings are the Stones of Stenness.
Stromness in the rain. I hung around for a while getting wet and eventually had to seek shelter in a tapestry artist's studio. She was pretty inspirational- she emigrated from Yorkshire two years ago, set up a tiny house cum studio cum gallery and makes a living teaching art and selling sculpture and tapestries.
This is Tomb of the Eagles. This made a big impression on me at age 17 because it was the only museum I'd ever been in which allowed you to handle 3000 year old artefacts. These were made by Neolithic people, but they were pretty much exactly the same as people today. They weren't daft. The average woman back then was taller than me. I'm a midget*.

The hill from Finstown. The mound in front is another tomb. They're pretty common on Orkney.

*You were likely to be crippled by arthritis and die aged 35 but that's wonderful modern medicine for you

in bruges

2010-07-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

I went to Bruges for my cousin's wedding this weekend. Here is a quick sketch. It looks very peaceful. Imagine tourists three deep on the bridge behind me.

extreme morris dancing

2010-07-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

A morris dancing festival. Hey, I live in Norfolk now.

The guys in the feathered hats are the Kettering Witchmen. They wear leather motorcycle gloves, use sticks like two-by-fours and tie their bells to their Dr Martens. They're pretty cool and remind me of the southeast bonfire societies.

Caption auction artwork

2010-06-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

I've submitted artwork for the Caption auction in Oxford for the last three years (this will be the third) Unfortunately I can't go as two of my friends are inconsiderately getting married, but the theme for this year is Mad Science. I've got a load of magazines like the one below (tag line of the cover story "A Mutant- he knew the innermost secrets of all creatures-except himself!") and interpreted "Mad Science" as 1940's pulp science fiction magazine imagery.

sketch dump

2010-06-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

at the park

Once a Month

2010-05-09T03:00:00.001-07:00

Chapter art for Episode 163 of The Drabblecast , Once a month, on a sunday by Ian McHugh.

Unfortunately I drew this illustration way too big and had to crop it quite radically. You can see the final version on their website, which you should check out anyway because it's amazing.

Museum sketches

2010-04-16T13:19:00.001-07:00

I've been asked to draw skeletons a couple of times and they're really difficult to blag. I need some practise, plus I'm interested in anatomy anyway, so went down to the local museum. It would have been better if they hadn't posed it in a chair reading a book. Also drew some stuffed birds, because I had to pay £6 to get in and thought I better make it worth my while.

Sheep

2010-04-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

Psychology School 2

2010-04-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

They didn't like the brain. Or the couch. Considering having the brain floating in a jar. With a label marked "Really Insane"

Psychology School

2010-03-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

Another how-to university book. I really like the brain in the title, but I have a feeling they might end up using the alternative version, a couch.

short story illustration

2010-03-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

I did this illustration for a story my sister was entering into a competition . It would have been better if I'd had more than a day.

a blast from the past....

2010-03-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

I found a bunch of stuff I drew ten or more years ago tonight- so here's a blast from the past. This first comic was drawn at the height of the Pokemon craze...I think I must have been 16 or 17 *

I was a year or two older when I drew the pictures below-so the lady was probably from the LJ Smith Night World books (Twilight for the 80's generation)

The other two are Death and Delirium. I'd just finished reading the first couple of Sandman books. This was the first proper comic series I ever read. I was bowled over.

* and a giant nerd

a new project

2010-03-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

I haven't been doing that much drawing for a while: trying to concentrate on work and learning Japanese. Here is some colouring work I've been doing for the Unico series I Am Legend.