A few drawings/panels from a little comic project I’ve got going on:
Edinburgh has only made the feeblest of attempts at a proper winter this year so I’m having to get my snow fix from drawing it, and drawing it a LOT. Next year I’m moving to Canada!
Cormorants are the best.
In other news I’ve just given my website a bit of an overhaul. I’ve redesigned the portfolio section with WordPress to make it easier to keep up to date (Dreamweaver is nice enough but such a hassle), and added a comics section so all of those are in the one place. Check it out!
Why why why did I think it would be a good idea to check the Illustration Friday topic last thing on a Thursday night? I wasn’t planning on doing one at all – but then I saw that the topic was Octopus. How could I resist that? I didn’t have much time of course so this is just a quick tentacle study, but it’s something.
This comic has been inspired by my obsessive watching lately of ‘Life Below Zero’ – a documentary about people living in Alaska – on Netflix. My inner misanthropist (not so inner really) loves the idea of living alone in a cabin in the far far north, with a wood stove and a sauna and lots of books. My inner realist on the other hand knows that I wouldn’t be able to kill an animal and would therefore starve/be eaten by bears in about three minutes. So I’m having to content myself with daydreaming and drawing comics about it instead! Click on the image if you want to see it a bit closer up.
Well, here we go again – Christmas cards! Here’s some spaniel cards to fill you with a deep sense of foreboding and despair that festive spirit.
They need a bit of cleaning up before I actually make them into cards, but here’s a first look anyway. Should I leave them as they are, or add a message like ‘Happy Christmas’ or something?
Shortly after the holtfish hatches its skin acquires an eerie green glow, and after a couple of days deep pores begin to form in its surface. As it matures these pores become deeper and begin to merge, forming a complex of tubes and caverns inside the creatures body.
During the holtfish’s juvenile phase it makes the one and only trip of its life to the surface. It travels from the sea to freshwater rivers, where it seeks out holts containing newborn otter cubs. Using long tendrils which emerge from the holes in its upper body, the holtfish grabs these cubs and stuffs them into the holes in its abdomen. Once its caverns are filled, the holtfish descends to the sea floor where it continues to mature along with the otters (which are sustained within its body via an unknown mechanism).
The reasons for this bizarre ritual and the purpose served by the otters are currently unknown, but it is thought by scientists that an understanding of how the mammals manage to survive inside the inhospitable environment of the holtfish could be of great significance.
(click to view full size)
Another comic I did for practise (click the pages to see them bigger):
This is kind of part of the same series as my salmon comic. They’re stories based on the various animal-encounters my family had in the house we lived in when I was a child (at at least on my slightly confused memories of them) – maybe I should make them into a little zine or something, when I’ve done a couple more? I dunno.
