Life Study of Joanne, Revisited.

I have just tidied up the background of this life study of Joanne for a forthcoming exhibition.
This is one of my favourite nude portraits.
Don't forget my portrait workshop at Kennedy Art in May.

My Portrait Demo and Workshop at Kennedy's

I am delighted that I will be doing a portrait demonstration followed by a workshop on the 11th May at Kennedy's, 12 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2.

I will be painting a portrait sketch from life in oils from 10.15am for two hours. Then, after lunch, the participants in the workshop will get to paint their own study in oils under my supervision.

The workshop will focus on the challenges and rewards involved in creating a compelling likeness in a single sitting.
Composition, blocking in, tonal relationships, colour palette and accuracy in drawing will all be studied with a particular view towards speedy progression of the work.
I think we'll have a very enjoyable day. I'm really looking forward to it.


Contact Kennedy's if you'd like to join us. 

ph  + 353 (1) 475 1749

info@kennedyart.com

Happy St George's Day

Happy St George's Day.
I haven't ever illustrated that saint's story but this has similarities.
It's video of me doing an illustration showing the Bee-man of Orn tackling a pretty scary dragon.

Storm at Sea

Here's another illustration from the book I am working on at the moment.
Another storm scene.
I have quite a bit more work to do on this one, but I thought I would post it now to show some of my process.
I'll post it again when I have added more detail.

由PJ美林畫報

Here are a few more.
Greek? Chinese? I'll have to check.
"Oscar Wilde: Stories for Children" is the most translated of all the books I have illustrated.
Perhaps I'll get all the foreign editions together for a blog item.

My Russian Book Covers

Many thanks to my FaceBook friend Maxim Mitrofanov who sent me these Russian covers of some of my books.

I do get sent most of my foreign editions but somehow I don't think I had seen these.

For me the Russian typography adds a beautiful quality of mystery to these covers.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Here's another one from a year or two later. It represents the wicked Queen who was Snow White's stepmother admiring herself in the magic mirror.
It was published in the Candlewick Book of Fairytales and was used on the cover of one edition of that book.

Images from The Once and Future King

I did this drawing at college. It shows the Wart meeting Merlin, a scene from "The Sword in the Stone" by TH White.

I'm sure I must have posted it before but it was a very key image in my college career and it directly lead to me doing this book cover for the book for Collins one of my first publishers.

TH White's "Once and Future King" series is still my all time favourite work for young adults.

The little vignette of the Wart and Merlin reading appeared on the back cover of the book. I can't find the book for sale anywhere on line. It must be a bit of a rarity.

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Two More Covers from the Chronicles of Prydain

I have found another couple of those covers I did for  the Chronicles of Prydain  by Lloyd Alexander.

I'd love to find the images I did for the boxed set.

The Chronicles of Prydain

While I'm sharing a few illustrations from my early days as an illustrator I thought I would show these covers I did for a set called the Chronicles of Prydain  by Lloyd Alexander.
They are a very enjoyable series of books written about fifty years ago in a fairly Tolkienesque style.
There were five in all and I also designed a box for the set. I'll see if I can find some more of those images next time I am down in the vaults.
I don't have all the titles to hand, but the first of these is The Black Cauldron which was turned into a movie by Disney.