A thousand and one leaves.

I am quite sure that I have mentioned this before, but I love trees.
Once upon a time I had hopes of making my career out of them. (I wrote all about that here) Turns out I can't escape them because nearly everything I draw or paint seems to have trees involved.

Fantasy things

Non fantasy things

Mixed media things

My 'portfolio' (such as it is) is utter arbour madness. 

Recently I got to be involved in helping a family of friends create a tree of their own, loaded with meaning and significance.

not a great photo...

So thanks Carli and Winston for letting me be part of creating something for your family.

In related news, I never want to paint another leaf again.

Oh dear

So ah... its been a while huh.

Over a month in fact. I have no excuses. I DO have a clean house, which frankly could easily fill in the time since my last post, but there has been a little bit more going on over at my house than that.

Like my third wedding anniversary which was all about Mexican food and watching the Hunger Games.

Then Diablo 3 came out... which was actually only last week... but it feels like the fourth member of our family because we spend so much time with it. Our second child (due in November!) is in great danger of being called Deckard Cain. (JOKES - I would never do that)

We got a washing machine and a fridge, so we can freeze things and actually keep food in the house. (the bar fridge was tragically inadequate for both of these tasks)

The rugby season started and Ky's hurt both shoulders, dislocated a finger, sprained an ankle, and bruised his nose. Ah rugby.

I started another blog called Dirt Ball which is about news stories and things that concern me about the world. (Its also been neglected since Diablo 3 arrived)

And on the Diablo 3 theme, a while back, before the game was released, Ky entered my art into a competition to win a beta key so that you could play the game before it came out. I won one.
This is what the drawing was.
Leaping through the air is a demon hunter (my character) and shooting her like a meanie is a Barbarian (Ky... you wife basher)

Sweet sweet fantasy .... baby

Oh come on. Music Box was the total peak of Mariah's career... or at least it was pretty much the last time I  cared to learn all the words of any of her songs.

In other news, I wanted to show you these things that I made:

I like fantasy art. I think it gets a bad rap sometimes because of stereotypes, but what's not to love about heaps of fairies and buff guys with weirdly ornate swords fighting dragons next to wizards. 

So ... hopefully I can get some more scenes together with some cool story behind them, because thats the best part of art like this. Back story. 

After reading several of Loomis's books on drawing, (the only real effort I've put into learning more about the theory of drawing) I have realised that: Lines are my friends, tones are mere aquaintances and colour is a ... moody stranger. 

Adding tone to these drawings has helped me give them more depth and dimension. I like seeing the lines become transformed with the watercolour. 

Adding full colour to somewhat complex scenes like this is something I struggle with. It always seems a little... off. (Is this the problem that I have been having with fashion all these years?) Something that drawing from life would certainly help with. As soon as there are more than just a few elements involved it all falls apart.

If you have a scene or story that you would like me to draw please leave a comment below and we'll get some voting going on facebook to see which idea is the most popular. Whoever gets the most votes will get the drawing... I'll draw it and you get to keep it. (I keep the rights to it so I can resell it, but you get the original) 

Good deal? Awesome.

This is open to anyone, anywhere in the world and is a great way for you to get your friends involved (hint hint) and help me get some more views. Drawing will be A4, in ink and watercolour like the ones shown in this blog.