Ignis in 3D

Many thanks to fellow Iggy, Phil McDarby, for telling me about this lovely 3d computerized rendering of my little dragon, Ignis (below) from the story by Gina Wilson.
The computer version is by Vlad Konstantinov, and I think he has done a wonderful job.
Now we just have to persuade Dreamworks or Disney to make the movie.

A Busy Week for Exhibitions

Tuesday night was the opening of the RHA’s annual open submission show.
It was a great occasion and a lot of folks were very kind about the two pictures (above) that I have in the exhibition.

Wednesday saw the opening of the RUA’s War On Want Charity show at the Ormeau Baths gallery in Belfast. I have a picture (below) in that exhibition too, and I was delighted to hear from the organizers that it was the first to sell when the catalogues were sent out.

"No One But You"

It's great having a Dublin city centre studio, and it's particularly buzzy during the week of official visits to Ireland by both Queen Elizabeth and President Obama.
The Queen's visit a few days ago was a major success, and today President Obama is making a speech down the road a bit in College Green. I don't think I'll be able to see him from my window but I will certainly be able to hear his speech. (They are testing out the PA system right now)
Obama is such an important figure in history, being the first African-Irish-American President, but he is also a hugely inspiring speaker, and I am really looking forward to hearing his speech later to-day.
I blogged before on how one of the pictures in "Lincoln and his Boys" by Rosemary Wells, was inspired by Obama's election, and likewise I was thinking about Obama when I created the image on the cover of my latest book "No One But You".
Written by Douglas Wood, "No One But You" was published in the US last Tuesday.

A New Life Model

I've been really busy doing another poster job and so I couldn't make it in to my Thursday Life Drawing session. I was a bit annoyed because I heard there was going to be an unusual new model.


I must say I thought the artists would be lucky to get a few quick sketches of Toby the pony, but from the slideshow and the TV report (courtesy of Una Sealy and Brian Gallagher) it looks as if some great work was done.

Step by Step on the Boozy Irish Heroine

I did a step-by-step on the process of creating the illustration for the Irish Examiner poster.
You can see it at the IGI's blog, Scamp.

Oh Well That’s Just Lovely, Isn’t It?

Here's how the wide version of that poster looks in situ.
Thanks to Broadsheet for that. They have a few funny comments on it at their blog under the heading "Oh Well That’s Just Lovely, Isn’t It?".


Thanks to fellow IGI member Annie West for the heads up on this one.

My Boozy Celtic Heroine

I don't do a lot of ad jobs, but I was attracted to the idea of this one.
Binge drinking is a huge problem in Ireland and still our pub culture seems to be one of the biggest draws we have as a tourist destination.
To advertise a series of articles addressing the issue that will run in The Irish Examiner from Friday, I was asked to provide an image of a Celtic heroine who has had a few too many.
There is a full page ad in the Examiner to-day.
I had a lot of fun doing the research and the painting, and with a really tight deadline it was a great change from my usual children's book work.