Stupid people

A couple of illustrations from a book pitch about the idiots around us, and how dumb we all are.

Women who subject themselves to painful hair removal...

... and people who still believe that cupcakes are, like, a thing.

personages

 

For a few years, now, I've been writing articles about bande dessinée for Vingt Paris - an online, English speaking magazine about the French capital.

Most recently, I got to pick up my dip-pens for them, and draw the kind of people you'd meet in and around various arrondissements. Some of my favourites are above (which you can also check out on flickr). But why bother with that, when you can head over to the newly-revamped Vingt Paris site?

brighton hipster

Seen outside The Windmill, Upper North Street on Saturday.

the big dig

Last month, the guys at Water Aid asked if I would draw an image to form the backdrop to their tent at Bestival - a four day festival that's held on the Isle of Wight each year. They were there to promote 'The Big Dig' - a campaign to help 'bring clean water and sanitation to communities across Malawi, transforming their lives forever'.

The drawing I turned in is a bit more sober than my usual stuff, as the last thing we wanted to do was 'cartoon' such an important issue. I was (and still am, if I'm honest) a bit unsure about it - but Water Aid liked it and the tent was a great success for them. So who's arguing.

Here are a few pics.

The banner (held up by the printers. I'd like to think that the hand on the far left belongs to the guy on the right, but no).

My drawing.

Some festival goers, posing in front of the banner at the Bestival tent.

three

 

Ed Tudor Pole type at New Cross, 28th August. 

St Pancras, 25th August. 

 

Herne Hill. 9.20am. 27th July.

Radio silence

I haven't blogged in an age, have I? Sorry about that. I am drawing. Honestly. But until they're ready for you to see, here are a couple of other things.

Telephone doodle.

 

Unused character design.

new scribble

New big scribble. 236 x 168 cm.

more lines

Black paper and white pencil crayon. 118 x 84cm.

crash

 

June 21st.

cyclist

A few months ago, I overheard an obnoxious, whiney cyclist complaining about her lot. So, when the guys at the Tooting Free Press asked me if I could draw something for their first issue, I drew her.

I did it back at the beginning of the year and I think it's clear from the style that I some of Searle's 'New Mayhew' drawings kicking about. It certainly looks a lot more considered and 'traditional' than the stuff I've been doing in the last month or two. Still quite like it, though.

If you want to find out what she was complaining about, then you'll need to get hold of a copy of the paper.

 

abstracted

A bit pixellated. Apologies. 15th June.

 

White pencil crayon on A1 black paper. 11th June.

mindless scrawl

As I mentioned the other day, I've been drawing from life so much (what with the public transport pictures) that I'd forgotten how much fun drawing without thinking was. Here's a few pictures from the past day or two.

 

The last one was immense fun, drawn onto A1 black paper with a white pencil crayon. It took about an hour, I suppose.

Here it is 'in real life', weighed down at the corner with a book, a notebook and a box of R. Crumb postcards. Without them, the paper would snap back into a tight tube and roll off onto the floor.

thrilled at going back to work

Honor Oak Park. June 6th.

cardboard tube

Woman with a cardboard tube at Herne Hill this morning, 8.45 ish.

swelter

All between London and Brighton. 25th-27th May.



not drawing from life

I feel like I've spent too long drawing from life recently, what with the public transport pictures. So, to recharge, I've been doodling without trying to think too much about what I'm drawing. It's been a lot of fun. I fancy doing a bit more of it.

Yes. Even if I'm drawing chairs.

For the third drawing, I was on the train listening to Bongwater. The speech balloon's from a track on their Power Of Pussy album. I hadn't listened to it on headphones since I was about 16.

no nick o'teen

A hastily-photoshopped telephone doodle, of Superman having a tab.

glossy

Woman with a patent leather jacket, and (it seemed) patent leather hair.
East London Line, between Dalston Junction and Whitechapel. 16th May.

tube etiquette

Ashleigh Young is a New Zealander living in London. 

On her blog, she wrote a lovely little piece about travelling on the tube, and she included a bit about my 'public transport' drawings. It's great to see that the drawings strike a note with people like Ashleigh. And what she's written about 'tube etiquette' is, I feel, exactly right.

three

Circle Line. 25th April. 9.30am ish.

London Cannon Street. 9th May. 9.20am ish.

Southbound Victoria Line. 6.30pm (ish). 14th May.

shelton

While in Paris, I got to hang out with Gilbert Shelton, creator of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. I've been a fan of his since I was about thirteen or fourteen, I would think, so to sit and chat and eat and drink with him was a real treat. And what a lovely man Gilbert is.

I'll write up the interview properly sometime soon, but in the meantime, you can read a short piece that Matthew Rose wrote about the meeting (and other things) over on Philadelphia's 'The Art Blog'. 

You can also see more photos (including the drawing Gilbert did for me) over on my new facebook page. Did I mention that yet? I did?

paris

I wrote about the new Robert Crumb retrospective in Paris, for Vingt Paris Magazine, and also the Art Spiegelman show at the Pompidou Centre's library, which was just great.


But most exciting of all was that I got to hang out with Gilbert Shelton while I was there. I'll write up the meeting soon, but in the meantime, there are some photos here.


(You'll see that's on my new facebook page. You should 'like' it. Oh, go on.)

sweaty

East London Line. Between Whitechapel and Haggerston. 4th April.

tiny sparrow of a woman

Clapham Junction. 31st March. Midday-ish.

she makes war

Towards the end of last year, my friend Laura passed my details to her friend Laura, who records under the name She Makes War.

Laura's idea (that's the second Laura, keep up) was to ask a few people to submit drawings, each illustrating a song from her forthcoming album, Little Battles. That sounds like fun, I thought. I remember poring over the illustrations that came with The Who's Tommy LP as a kid (and being terrified by half of them), and Gary Lund's illustrated insert to Harry Nilsson's 'The Point' is one of my favourite things in the world, ever. Oh, and the cover (and insert artwork) from 'Tricks Of The Shade' by The Goats is bloody marvellous, too.

And so, with those heady heights in mind, I told Laura I was game, she sent through the lyrics to a song called 'Never Was', and I set to drawing. Of course, I didn't manage anything as eye-busting or memorable as the stuff I mentioned above but there you go.

On Saturday, my copy of the album showed up in the post, and here - in the lyric book - is my drawing.



Other people who took part include:

• Emma Carlisle
  


• Morgan Gleave


• Alex Milway


• Marnie Pitts (who also drew the cover for the album)


• John Riordan (who has blogged about his drawing here.)


• Viviane Schwarz


• Frøydis Simonsen


• Rebecca Strickson

... and you can buy the album, which comes out next Monday (9th April) here.

heatwave

Barbican. 30th March.

rose tattoo

Dalston Junction. 5.30pm. 21st March.

three people

New Cross Gate. 11th March.

Sheffield to London train. 16th March.

Kings Cross. 15th March.

jumpers

Peckham Rye - Farringdon. 9-ish. This morning.

both sections of the paper

Between London Bridge and Blackfriars. 10.30am. 5th March.