nik-chinook-blog

The Garden Inspector - work in progress

Fri, 20 May 2016 18:42:18 +0100

The main nine illustrations for the Garden Inspector are complete and the manuscript is at the proof reader's.
So now I'm working on the secondary illustrations which I plan to be interspersed amongst the text and bring to life some of the other features of the story that aren't 'in the gardens', so to speak. So for example, this 'work in progress' is going to be the 'Town Hall' from where our hero sets forth on his adventures.
Yes, dull, yes grey, yes bleak, yes Kafka-esque *

Pastels and pastel crayons which will possibly have some digital work in photoshop or Painter.

*"The terms Orwellian and Kafka-esque are not permitted" - Superintendent Chalmers

Weird Events in Suburban Gardens

Fri, 26 Feb 2016 17:24:06 +0100

In the spirit of David Lynch and born out of my love for William Heath Robinson's illustrations, mixed with a little English murder-mystery fiction and then shaken with chilled Giles and crushed Adrian Tomine....

This is the delightfully lush and creepy world of leafy suburbia in a dream-like 'Britain between the wars'. A place where Garden Inspectors from the Ministry call on you unannounced to check your Dahlias and eccentric boffins are building time machines in the garden shed while listening to 'Dick Barton - Special Agent' on the steam wireless.

Meanwhile, in the drawing room Marjorie is waxing the Stoat and dreaming of Rudolph Valentino. 'I wonder what it's like to be spanked,' she softly sighs and decides on Cornwall for holidays this year.

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These images are just part of a series that are going to make up some larger pieces and also part of some short stories (as you may tell from the intro above).

The Lawnmower | The Garden Inspector has bravely ventured through the gate on this one!

Topiary | Horticulture meets Magritte

Sunbathing | A bit of glamour in the garden today.

Irrigation | This small sketch is one of several experiments which include sprinklers, some balloons and a complex water-pipe system!

Hope you like these images and follow how the continuing series comes along. I'd be delighted to have any feedback on this whole world I'm creating.

The Fishermen of Cornwall

Mon, 08 Feb 2016 11:55:32 +0100

And here is the final image of my Fishermen of Mousehole illustration. Although I've already had a lot of Cornish residents pointing out similarities with Falmouth and other Cornish locations! So maybe is is going to have to be Fishermen of Cornwall instead! "Proper job" as we say in Cornwall.

Fishermen of Mousehole

Fri, 05 Feb 2016 15:20:37 +0100

I have a tiny little sketch of memories of the little Cornish fishing village or Mousehole. (For those of you who don't know it's pronounced "Moawsul" if you want to avoid looking like a toursist). The drawing in my sketchbook was near to the first image I did for the 'Edna at the Window' piece and so it has sort of cross-fertilised into this project.

The other influence as you might have spotted is MC Escher. The idea of the continuous staircases is translated into the trawler men making their way up the steps from the harbour, day after day, for generations.

Here are some shots of the work in progress and I'll keep you updated.

The original sketch

Starting work on turning sketch into finished piece

Getting into some colour

Copic Marker Stand for £3

Fri, 05 Feb 2016 14:58:49 +0100

This is all about distraction and procrastination. What I really should have been doing is working on the art; what I actually did for a couple of hours is make a little box/stand for the small selection of Copic markers I have (and love).

You see, even with the small selection I have, it soon gets annoying as the roll off the desk, under the drawing board, get colour order/tones mixed up etc. I'd had a look at some ready to buy stands by copic and others but they're all silly money. And frankly there's more exciting things I could spend the cash on; more markers for instance!

I'd seen an Art Workstation tour by Baylee Jae on YouTube recently and she had made a really extensive marker stand with foamboard. I didn't need anything that impressive for my number of pens but it sure gave me a kick up the pants to make something myself.

I'd soon found a small storage box (of which I have dozens) that would do the job and also dug out some scraps of mountboard. I knew I'd kept all those useless offcut leftovers for a reason! :)

The most complicated bit was the measuring and marking up. But even that wasn't too bad as although it might look a complicated structure in the pics, it is actually only two parts, which are repeated!

A good cutter or in my case, new scalpel blade is essential as in all card/paper crafting. When all the parts were cut-out there was a bit of fettling to be done, just to compensate for my errors. Then I assembled the frame, popped it in the box and did my OCD organisation of the pens. Nobody was more surprised than me when it worked and looked 'ok'.

Now I really must get on with the art. Or I could delay by writing a blog about it. Oh I just did.

Raw materials

Panels measured and cut

Panels assembled

Not perfect - but not too bad.

City Life

Tue, 26 Jan 2016 08:35:02 +0100

The 'Edna at the Window' illustration is just about finished! I'm gonna contemplate it for a few days yet but I think I'm done. The trickiest part at the end was working out the colour balance and depth of shadows. On the low res image above the contrast is much flatter than I'm going to have in the final Giclee prints. Those will be much darker with some of the shadow areas reducing the brickwork detail but adding deep blue/purple tones. Very atmospheric!

It's all come on a long way since the initial sketches. I'll try and add those or you can simply scroll down to earlier posts.

The process has been: Pencil sketch - Ink and pencil tonal tests - large marker preliminary - 3D model building - texture and lighting - output print - paint over in coloured pencils - scan - photoshop tweaking and details.
The Giclee prints are going to be a good size and will show off the detail and tonal atmosphere really well.

Oh, and thanks to Kirsti for the Cafe name. You now feature as the proprietor on the cafe sign :)

Ideal Homes

Thu, 21 Jan 2016 12:22:52 +0100

I found a little pen and ink drawing from last year and I thought I'd add some colour and finish it off. It from an idea about a series of whimsical 'ideal' homes for different jobs or professions.
The one I'm drawing at the moment is a house on 'rockers' for an old Sea Captain!

Watch this space :)

Pen and Ink, watercolour, pencil and Photoshop

The unfortunate Traveller

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 14:34:49 +0100

Revisiting my 'occassional' series with this piece. It started with improvised acrylics, then into watercolour, guache, coloured pencils, bananas, then into digital. So pretty mixed media I would say. The original is pretty small so you get a nice feel of the texture of the paper.
Hope it gets a smile. Made me laugh - but then I'm easily amused; especially at my own jokes; and my sisters. Must be genetic I guess.

Strange world.

City Streets IV

Fri, 27 Nov 2015 19:25:08 +0100

Moving this image on again and there's a lot of changes; some obvious but many quite subtle. At one point my notepad had a list of 25 changes to execute.
To name but a few; lights on in cafe, add moon, thin the drainpipes, reduce the railings scale, add steps / windows at end of tunnel, details of edna's room, add bicycle... and so on and so on. :)
Some of the details aren't so visible in this small jpg but on the full screen original the subtle colour effects and lighting is really working well. I'm now digging into the painting and finessing of surfaces and textures. An example is the steps - I'll try and include some shots of the basic render and my finished details.

The current state of the piece, with some of the changes mentioned above.
And below some enlargements to show the type of detailed work I'm currently doing.

That's a messy set of steps!

City Streets part 3

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 18:46:22 +0100

I've taken my initial drawing and in planning for a painting, I thought I'd build a 3D CGI model of the composition so I could play around with the lighting and details for a while. Technology huh.

Any way, here are some pics of work in progress!