My Version of Mr Hyde

Having done a triangular image  one metre across for Pictiúr recently, I've been inspired to draw some more  big charcoal pictures.

Here's one that is on-going.

It's a slightly comic version of Mr Hyde from The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson.

I'd like to get on and finish it but the original is ten foot long and it's a job to unravel it and to get to work on the bloomin' thing.

Happy Christmas Everybody!

Here's a preparatory sketch from my version of Dicken's A Christmas Carol.

I'd like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas time!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog in 2013

Love and best wishes 

PJ 

Bustling London

Here's another rough from the book I am working on right now.

This is the opening spread showing a busy market scene in 17th century London.
I always loved those Disney movies that start with a great big panorama or a townscape before homing in on a particular figure or area to begin the story. I think it's a great way to introduce the reader into the period and setting of a story.

Medieval Street Setting

I've been enjoying inventing some nice old architectural settings for the book that I am working on at the moment.
The tones are added later in Photoshop.

Ten Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci

I hadn't bothered going to see the exhibition of ten drawings by Leonardo that is currently showing at the Ulster Museum.

I thought that they might be a selection of his less wonderful drawings, and maybe I thought it wasn't worth bothering over just ten pictures.

Anyway, I went yesterday when we were up in Belfast and had the kids over to see a Dinosaur exhibition that was also on at the Museum.

I was so thrilled to find that this extraordinary sketch of a man on a rearing horse is one of the ten drawings in the show.

For me, it was worth going just to see this picture.

This sketch was in a fantastic book about Leonardo that I had out on almost permanent loan from my school's library, and it always stood out for me as one of Leonardo's most sublime creations.

I stood and looked at this little drawing for a very long and happy moment.

So if you are in or near Belfast do go and visit the exhibition. It's on until the 27th of August.

The rest of the Museum is wonderful too.

Some Sketches of Grace

These are some recent studies I made of Grace.
Each one took one and a half to two hours.

Some Sketches from "A Christmas Carol"

I've been looking through old studies from my version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol trying to get a suitable design for the seven foot painting I will be doing in Hodges Figgis window next week.

I find the drawings I do as studies have a freshness and immediacy that I can't often keep in the finished paintings.

I must do a book illustrated solely with drawings.

A Portrait Sketch of Giuseppe

Giuseppe modelled for me for this portrait sketch. It took about two hours.
Notice how engaging the direct look from the subject is.
That look is something that is almost impossible to get in a life room situation, and it can be quite unnerving to paint it in a one to one sitting, but I think a portrait is generally the better for it.
We were both fairly pleased with the finished painting, but Guiseppe is a sensitive and gentle person, and I think he looks a bit hard in this one.
I will be doing a series of portrait sketches like this for practice over the coming weeks.
I have a number of sitters lined up, but if you are in the Dublin area and are interested in posing for me, drop me a line at info@pjlynchgallery.com

Issa

I was particularly pleased with this drawing for the main character, Issa, in the new book I am illustrating, as I made it without reference, and I think it is pretty convincing in the figure's anatomy and emotion.
I made a half-hearted effort to get models for this book, but I really wanted to do another book, like A Christmas Carol, that is drawn primarily from the imagination.

A Pencil Sketch of Desert Mountains

I don't think that any of my pencil drawings have ever been published in a book, but hopefully the book that I'm working on now will have some.
I had a lot of fun drawing this picture of desert mountains this morning.

A Selection of My Life Drawings

Here is a video I put together showing a bunch of my life drawings.
Hopefully I'll be able to do something similar with my life paintings soon.

Season's Greetings

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year.
Thanks especially to all my regular readers for stopping by the blog.
Here's a sketch of one of my favourite pictures from A Christmas Carol.
If you look very hard, it almost looks as if it's really snowing.

An Old Sketch on an Envelope

This little drawing on the back of an envelope turned up the other day.
It's a portrait of a lovely Welsh guy I used to know, named Dale Evans. We shared college digs for a year when I first went to Brighton Art College.
We were about twenty then.
I think it's a pretty good picture, maybe I should do more drawings on envelopes.

A Ghastly Griffin from The Bee-man of Orn

Here's a detail from one of my preparatory sketches for The Bee-man of Orn that I felt deserved to be looked at a little bit more closely. You'd hardly notice this chap in the final book as he appears as a small part of a much bigger picture.
I love drawing mythical beasts, and, before too long I hope to create a book all about them.

Preparatory Sketch for The Bee-man of Orn

I was going through some preparatory drawings with a friend of mine, when we came across this nice little sketch that I did for The Bee-man of Orn. It was never used, but I think it's a nice drawing.
Particularly interesting for me to see those faint images where I rubbed out earlier versions of the baby.

The Bee-man of Orn, cover art from sketch to painting

Here's a little video showing the process from sketch to the finished painting of the cover of The Bee-man of Orn by Frank R Stockton.