Current Projects

I had an email from a design studio I worked with on my last commissiom. They said the author didn't make clear what he wanted when he asked for a shellfish as a thumbnail image. I had photographed my crab from a different angle to the main illustration but they really wanted a Scallop or something similar. So I created one in plasticine. I modelled the basic shape in white, then put some pink clay through a pasta machine and layered this on top. I then cut away strips of clay with a scalpel and incised grooves into the surface to blend it together. It's only going to appear as a small image so the detail should be sufficient.

Below the scallop shell is an image of three armatures for the current commission. They are for the hen, duck and horse. Below that are the animals at various stages of development. The horse and duck are semi-roughed out. I modelled the hen's body but decided I would need more detail for the head. So I did that separately and added it to the body in Photoshop! Shown at the bottom of this post.

Money, money, money.....

From 1988 until 2004 I was the "court-illustrator" of a small fantasy family-themeparc, called "het Land van Ooit". In English one would translate this as "the Country (Land) of Ever". This theme-parc presented itself as a country where "children are in charge". It was inhabited by all kinds of fantasy characters like the forest-elf "Sap the Earthroot", a talking horse called "Kos with the Moustache" (who in fact was an enormous Shire-stud), giants with trees growing out of their heads and a variety of knights, sorcerers and vagabonds.
This country was ruled by the Governor, because the heirs of this country - the Count and Countess - were bewitched into black and white swans, which can still be seen in its Coat of Arms. Visitors could only cross its border by first learning its very special greeting-ceremony and by buying a so-called visa.

One of the more rewarding projects I did quite some years ago - at the end of 1989 to be precise - was designing its own currency: the "OoitSenten", which could be purchased at "the Bank of Ooit".
I'm proud to say, that these banknotes were printed by the printing-house, where also the dutch national banknotes and passports were (and are) printed: The Royal Joh. Enschedé in Haarlem , founded in 1703, one of the ten oldest family-businesshouses of the Netherlands.
That's why the OoitSenten look so beautiful (at least in my opinion) with their special iris-print; the gradual change in colour in each note.

Unfortunately this parc went bankrupt a few months ago, leaving many, many fans orphaned. These "old-Ooiters", as they call themselves, are finding each-other again on a few fora on Internet and for them - and for anybody who is interested - I started a special weblog where I'm presenting in a more or less chronological order, all my artwork I did over the years for this sympathetic little country.
So if you like, check out: ooitgetekend.blogspot.com
Only in dutch, I'm afraid, but with loads of illustrations.

The Ugly Giant

Daisy

Beanstalk Model

This is what I've 'bean' working on. Although I haven't had approval for the roughs yet, I thought I'd get some of the main 'props' done. I have just cut the model out from its background using Photoshop. I will await the go ahead from the Editor before I create the watercolour matte. Believe it or not the actual model is 2 1/2 foot tall. It is based on an armature made of garden wire and covered in papier mache. This was originally already a beanstalk I made for an illustration over 5 years ago. But then I stripped and cut it down to make a tree for the dog illustration below.

I stripped the bark off and reconnected all the bits of wire framework and built the whole thing up in green plasticine. It was like creating Celtic knotwork which is more like maths to me than art. Having said that, at times I quite enjoyed creating the sculptural form.

Jack And The Beanstalk Rough Roughs

Here are a couple of roughs from my current brief. The size and shape of the images have made it interesting trying to get scale and perspective to look right. In the images with the giant coming down the beanstalk, version 1 is closest to the brief, but they wanted 'mum' and the 'hen' to be shown looking on anxiously. I created a version 2 because I thought the main action was at the botom of the stalk! I didn't go overboard in terms of quality of the sketchwork but I did try to give a reasonably accurate idea of how I intend to compose the images. I am going to create the main characters in clay and render the backgrounds in watercolour.

Aesop's Fables

Hi there, i'm working on a series of acrylic paintings of the Aesop's Fables. Here are a couple that are not so well known: The Bull and the Gnat and The Dove and the Ant. I really like the size difference between the two animals in each story. The ant is a bit tricky to see as the photo is a little too dark - he's there in the water - don't worry there's a happy ending, the dove saves him!