Spring sunset
- At March 20, 2019
- By Adam
- In Sketchbook, Updates
- 0
Today apparently marks the start of Spring here in the U.K plus there’s something called a super worm moon whatever that is! The days are getting warmer and the rain has lifted, at least in Manchester, for the time being.
I was wandering around town today, looking at all the incredible development that is going on in this city. It’s like something out of a sci fi novel, except when I read about Hyperloop it makes me think we are actually IN a sci fi novel. It’s very cool but also maybe moving a tad fast. Capitalism doing its thing I guess! Just to be clear though, no Hyperloop in Manchester, just lots of cranes and shiny glass 🙂
Whilst contemplating life in the big ‘Northern Powerhouse’ I saw an ace sunset out of my window. I’ve sketched and drawn this numerous times, but it never gets boring, as the clouds are ALWAYS different. you notice little changes in the tree/building silhouettes, too. this sketch was digital (Krita again) whereas the others are normally in a sketchbook with mixed media. tonight had these wonderful, silky ink clouds that almost dripped across the gradient skyline. Here’s the sketch:
Anyway, enough about skies! A little side note: my short film: Who moved my Penguin? recently got accepted into the Lift Off screenings run by Pinewood Studios. So here’s to the film’s first laurels..! There’s a few other festivals that it’s looking likely to get into due to its theme, so I’ll post updates when I get some 🙂 The work on the new film is going good now too, made some progress today! The trick I’m finding is balancing the time between different projects, keeping all the plates spinning, as it were. Oop, one’s about to drop, no more blogging distractions from me…
Athletic lizards
- At March 03, 2019
- By Adam
- In Sketchbook, Travel
- 0
Okay maybe not lizards that run track or anything, but bear with me…
When I was working away last year I used to see these funky lizards on the wall below the studio window. They’d be sitting out in the scorching midday sun practically frying to the concrete. There were two distinct types, green lizards and the grey/black ones with orange heads. Some of them were a foot long and could move very quickly when bothered! My favourite thing they did was their ‘push up’ routine. When they saw another lizard, they’d immediately enter into a push up contest, bobbing quickly up and down until one clearly gave in due to lack of muscles 😉
He’s a sketch of the triumphant winner. I gave him the name Limmy as he was the most frequent wall visitor and also the one who was most likely to get squashed by a car, judging by his road safety choices. This has absolutely no linkage to why he’s called Limmy, he just felt like one.
The sketch was made in the brilliant (and FREE) Krita software. Support them with a donation if you like what you see, and don’t forget to feed back on your experiences or wish lists! I do love the brush selection but often wish the handling of masks was a little more straight forward. But maybe I’m just used to a different method 😀 Can’t complain for free eh?
Birds of Mauritius
- At January 21, 2019
- By Adam
- In Sketchbook, Travel
- 0
When we were over on Reunion Island there was time for a short trip to the Mauritius. It’s an AMAZING island with beautiful scenery, delicious food and very kind people. There was only one downside to our trip and it was that we were robbed on the way to the airport, losing all our possessions (including passports, camera, sketchbooks, phone, etc)…they just left our suitcase as they obviously couldn’t carry that! But even though it was a tricky few days following and not the cheapest trip after all the extra costs, we were so thankful for the people who helped us and made the experience more of an enlightenment than one massive downer.
I did this sketch when trying out the software Krita. It’s really decent and FREE! It was completed after the trip, so it’s probably a little flatter on the ‘life’ side of things (I always think an on location sketch has a bit more ‘oomph’ than something from a picture) but alas the sketchbook from that day was nicked! I hope the perps have had a good read of it and it’s inspired them to take up drawing themselves 😛 Maybe not hey.