Aesops Fables - The Crow and the Pitcher

Here's the second in my series of Aesops Fables. Getting deep down and dirty with some serious cross hatching action.

Inked Art



Pencil Rough



The Crow and the Pitcher

A CROW perishing with thirst saw a pitcher, and hoping to find water, flew to it with delight. When he reached it, he discovered to his grief that it contained so little water that he could not possibly get at it. He tried everything he could think of to reach the water, but all his efforts were in vain. At last he collected as many stones as he could carry and dropped them one by one with his beak into the pitcher, until he brought the water within his reach and thus saved his life.

MORAL - Necessity is the mother of invention.

Aesops Fables - The fox and the goat

The Fox and the Goat

A FOX one day fell into a deep well and could find no means of escape. A Goat, overcome with thirst, came to the same well, and seeing the Fox, inquired if the water was good. Concealing his sad plight under a merry guise, the Fox indulged in a lavish praise of the water, saying it was excellent beyond measure, and encouraging him to descend. The Goat, mindful only of his thirst, thoughtlessly jumped down, but just as he drank, the Fox informed him of the difficulty they were both in and suggested a scheme for their common escape. "If," said he, "you will place your forefeet upon the wall and bend your head, I will run up your back and escape, and will help you out afterwards." The Goat readily assented and the Fox leaped upon his back. Steadying himself with the Goat's horns, he safely reached the mouth of the well and made off as fast as he could. When the Goat upbraided him for breaking his promise, he turned around and cried out, "You foolish old fellow! If you had as many brains in your head as you have hairs in your beard, you would never have gone down before you had inspected the way up, nor have exposed yourself to dangers from which you had no means of escape."

MORAL - Look before you leap.

Dragons Blood Pirates - Series 2 - Book 11

A couple of sneak pages from Book 11 (!) in the series.

Dragons Blood Pirates - Sneak Preview at books 2, 3, and 4

A couple of interior page drawings for books 2, 3 and 4 of the Dragon's Blood Pirate's series that I'm working on. There's about 30 pages of illustration per book, so these pictures are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Two more books to go and they'll be finished and sent off to the printers, I can't wait to see them!

Book 2 - Saved from a falling bit of ship.


Book 2 - Sea battle.


Book 3 - Luring Vampire Zu from his cottage.


Book 3 - Being shown the right direction.


Book 4 - Slashing through the undergrowth.


Book 4 - Shrunken heads in the forest!

View from my parents old house into the garden.

Sometimes I try doing a proper drawing. They're few and far between in occurrence, but fun to do. This is my parents garden after a rather mammoth growing session of all the plants.

Black and White ELT textbook

Presenting a veritable feast of various foodstuff line drawings for an ELT textbook.

How many ways can YOU draw a sandwich?

Short story - Requiem

This is a story I wrote and illustrated during a rather creative period circa 1999/2000 or thereabouts.


I'm not a Jackdaw, Raven or Rook
So have a quick check in your bird-spotting book
And if you're lucky it will show
I'm non of these - in fact I'm a crow


You'll often see me strutting around,
Happily pecking away at the ground.
In most every way I'm a regular Joe -
Apart from one thing I'd like you to know.


I've got a fear that's quite unfounded
I loathe the sky; I want to stay grounded
I know it's strange, it's even absurd
To be scared of heights, when you're a bird


when I was young and first started school
(back in the days when flared trousers were cool)
I'd pretend to be sick, (I used hundreds of lies)
And I'd sit on the ground while others took to the skies


I spent my time reading all sorts of books
About aeronautics and fly fishing hooks.
I passed my exams; did remarkably well
But the thought of heights made me feel unwell


When I turned 17, I decided to try
To forget my fear and learn how to fly.
Laid my cards on the table; said "Now is the time"
Found a tree and started to climb


I got to the top and looked over the edge
(I was maybe 6 foot above an old hedge)
My legs felt like jelly and my head felt weak
I opened my mouth, but couldn't speak


Stuck on the spot, I couldn't move;
But what the hey! I could only improve.
A moment or so later I felt my foot slip
And I fell off the side as I lost my grip


I finally managed to utter a sound
A gutteral "Uuurg" as I hit the ground.
I took account of myself as I lay on my back;
What went wrong? Ah yes; I forgot to flap.


Now every so often, when I have the time
I climb up a rock (if the weather is fine)
And try to conquere my fear, (I've not done it yet)
By jumping up and down till I break into a sweat.


And as I write this, I'm at the top of an oak
But I can't get down - sadly this isn't a joke
I know what you're thinking, I know, I know
I'm stuck in a tree and the wind's starting to blow


I can't help but notice storm clouds in the sky.
It's a times like these I wish I could fly.
One day, I'll be just like a normal crow
But not for a while, thanks to this damned vertigo

Flies!

These little fella's were drawn for an art exhibition in Brighton last year. Since then they've decorated my hallway rather handsomely. Keen eyed viewers will notice they're the same flies as the flies on my background image. Nice huh? Even keener eyed viewers will also note that each fly features in each picture as a progression. How exceedingly clever!

BagManDan - in action! (Caution, contains image that may be offensive to some viewers).

Dan is the greatest man on planet earth. No question. However, even the most perfect human to ever live still has to "go" from time to time. This is how he acquired his Nom de Guerre.

Brighton Linesman Society - The Carpet Sellers of JouJouka

Plucked from the original Brighton Linesman Society archives, (back when the society had rules and stuff and everything had to be B&W, not like nowadays where you can do anything you like, etc etc).

This one is a favourite thanks to the details. But the say the devil's in the details don't they, so who knows.

Dragons Blood Pirates Maps - Hatchette Australia

I love drawing maps, and I love researching things, so it was a dream job to come up with a load of maps of the various islands featuring in the "Dragons Blood Pirates" series that I'm currently working on. I had to create 2 different maps, one that will feature on the inside front pages of each book, and a second much more detailed version that's going to be a pull out feature at the back of each book. They were all drawn to look like they'd been created on board a rolling ship under candlelight. Part of the brief was to make the handwriting look "piratey" which isn't a problem as that's pretty much my normal handwriting, just with a couple of extra swirls and flourishes. I can't wait to see the finished items!


This is the small map.


Cannibal Island showing traps and secret routes.


The Town island. The perspective of the houses is based on old maps I found of London.


Shipwreck Island - labeling all the shipwrecks (possibly a little obviously...)

Dragons Blood Pirates Book 1 - pencils and inks - Hatchette Australia

Here's a couple of pages from the first of a series of 6 pirate story books that I'm working on for Hatchette in Australia. They're all chapter books, meaning that there's a B&W drawing every couple of pages to help the reader along with the story. I'm loving drawing these. They're ace!

I've put in the pencil rough and the finished line work so you can see how things progress.



Captain Gunner.



A storm in the kitchen.



Outside Stanley Spong's shop.