Latest Jam

Not something I’ve done, but something nice that I have seen. This was hanging on the wall of the villa we stayed in in Greece.

As well as growing a beard and wearing a great hat (which I may never take off), I’ve spent the weekend constructing furniture and painting. I’ve never been the greatest at oils or acrylic or guache so I rely on photoshop. It’s a great replacement for ink and oils – though I usually start with a pencil sketch. Paintings I do in photoshop look just like like the ones I used to do with real media. Except that I haven’t spilt anything, or smudged or otherwise ruined it by clumsiness or lack of correct equipment.

I’m hugely inspired by classic 1950’s illustrators, like Ben Stahl and Bob Peake. I first came across these guys in a copy of the Famous Artist’s Course that my grandmother gave me. The course, as I recall, came in four enourmous ring binders and covered everything from colour theory through to the correct application of zip-a-tone.

For more 50’s illustration magic, I can’t recommend Lief Peng’s flickr stream of mid-twentieth century illustrators highly enough, it’s an amazing resource from the golden age of magazine and commercial illustration.

A more recent inspiration comes from Fables cover artist, James Jean.