Netsukes and daguerrotypes

I've been warming up my new moleskine with drawings of my two favourite things at the moment - Victorian daguerreotypes and Japanese netsukes:

Netsukes were teeny tiny little sculptures, usually ivory, used as a toggle to fasten the inro (small boxes) which 17th century Japanese men wore instead of pockets.  It's amazing how such a practical and unassuming thing became such a statement.

The daguerreotype, invented in 1839, was the earliest method of photography. It was incredibly time-consuming, and because you would have to sit still for such a long time, the portraits always look so still and solemn - they even used special head clamps to keep you in place.  It was replaced pretty quickly by easier and faster methods, but the notable things with deguerrotypes, is that they could only ever make one copy.  It's kind of the exact opposite of a selfie.

 

The Bears are out there...

Hello everyone! 

So here I am again, book-free, and it feel very strange... Just like after the release of The Lion of St Andrews, am feeling both relieved and a little lost all at once, without a big looming deadline.  Now that the book is out there in the world, all the bear news will be over on the Facebook page, here: facebook.com/bearoftheeastneuk

Pop over for a visit, and tell your Scottish friends to look out for bears next time they are in Fife :)

 

Sailing Bear of the East Neuk

The book is finally finished!
It is being printed at this very moment - expect to see some more photos from the launch in April. Exciting stuff :)

Coming soon...

It's nearly time for the East Neuk bears... Exciting times ahead - stay tuned!

More circus doodles

The floating circus is getting bigger and a little bit steampunk...

Doodled in the Bristol cathedral courtyard garden - a lovely place full of flowery old graves. You can just see the circus floating past in the distance:

Stuff that's wonderful

P.S.  If you also want to see some stuff that I think is totally brilliant, here's my pinterest board

(But frankly, there's no end to the wonderful stuff out there I could be pinning - it's just too much fun and I could do it all day!)

Poodle Doodle

Have a look at my new design venture - at the moment, I'm doing dog breeds but who knows what could be coming up next??

Would appreciate a facebook like from any secret fans :)
PoodleDoodle

I'm also on twitter now too!
@poodledoodlez

Alexis Deacon

One of my favourite illustrator's around today, Alexis Deacon, has started a blog and I urge everyone to visit! http://alexisdeacon.blogspot.com Not only is it full of lovely drawings and sketches, but also some very clever advice:

His new book The Selfish Giant is coming out very soon - and I even had the privilege of getting my very own giant drawing in my sketchbook!!! Look!:

Amazing (Mustn't spill tea on that page...)

I also have one from the Australian children's Laureate too - Thinking of starting my own collection illustrator autograph collection - anyone know Quentin Blake? ;)