Cartoons

Late last night I posted my latest 'When Cows go Wrong' cartoon that should have been put on todays posting but the time difference meant it went on yesterday's post! Cartoons are great fun and I enjoy creating them and have been doing so for a long time. The When Cows go Wrong cartoons seem to have a warm reception and I will continue to create more! So keep your eyes out for more soon! Tomorrow is the very first Sketch Club post and I hope it proves to be interesting and helpful to people, as well as lots of fun! Catch you soon!

Cow cartoon fun!

A Aries of Cow theme cartoons I am currently creating and posting on my Facebook page but here is one for you all to enjoy!

Sketch Club

Sketch Club is here! Together we can learn as we sketch and draw together, helping each other to progress through critique and encouragement

So later this week, on Friday, I shall post the very first Sketch Club assignment to be drawn!

I really hope you can join in with the fun of Sketch Club!

Thanks!

The Collectors

Finally completed the artwork after a few changes required to the text for the band:

Please click on the image to view full size!

Above from left to right is 'Big John' on guitar, Les on Bass, Sarah lead vocals and Gary on drums.

These guys are excellent musicians and play in and around Essex. They really rock!

Caricature face sketch

From a face that I drew at the weekend, he stuck in my mind and I had to draw him again from memory, above is the black and White sketch done in Art Studio on my iPad.

Caricature face

The colour version of this fun face that I drew from memory of a guy at the weekend

Caricature at a Wedding

Every year I draw at up to 100 weddings and I really love drawing and entertaining at all these weddings!

I receive many Thank You cards and notes from the happy couples and it is so nice to know I have been a part of their very special day.

Here is a THANK YOU I received this week from a wedding I was drawing at some weeks ago:

Please click on the image to view full size!

Busy again!

Another hectic weekend.... but will have something tomorrow for you...

Rock Band sketch

I am updating the artwork for a local rock band today. I did their art sometime ago, the band are called The Collectors:

The male singer has now left and the band have a new female singer, her name is Sarah.

I am putting together her caricature/cartoon to replace the old singer.

Here are my first rough sketches that I drew on Wednesday night at their rehearsal studio's:

I will keep you posted on how the project goes....

Here is a screen shot of my desktop, working in Photoshop CS3 to create the art work:

UPDATE: Line work done..

So here is the finished colour Sarah illustration:

All I have to do now is include Sarah into the group art to replace the previous singer!

And hey presto..... finis:

Small change to the text...

Sketching

It is always good to sketch different subjects to help improve your drawing skills.

Bodies are a great subject as the have numerous positions they can change to. Still life is limited but is really good to use to understand light and dark and shade. Bodies present you with a fresh challenge each time!

I am thinking of starting a sketch Club where once a week I pose a subject to sketch, then whoever takes part has there sketches posted here on the weekly sketchclub post, so that we can learn from each and encourage each other. What do you think? Would you take part?

Caricatures from this week

A little project I have been working on for a client this week:

Art apps & iPad

Zen Brush meets Art Studio on the iPad. If like me, on your iPad you will have more than one art app. It is fun to try them out and as most are low in price on the AppStore, you do not need to break the bank in getting the art apps.

Zen Brush is most popular for sketching while Art Studio is ideal for adding colour and working with layers, along with great control of the settings for things like brushes etc.

But did you know that you can draw a sketch in Zen Brush and then import it into Art Studio to add colour and create a 'complete' sketch, so to speak!

How do you do this?

Start in Zen Brush and draw a sketch. Then save it in your Photo Gallery on your iPad, Zen Brush allows you to do this.

Now exit Zen Brush and open Art Studio. Start with a new canvas first. Now in settings you select IMPORT and then select from Photo Gallery, choose the Zen Brush Sketch you saved there and it will now open in Art Studio as a new layer.

Now you add, alter or edit the sketch line work if you want to. In layers, if you select the clear bottom layer (thats where it should be) you can add colour to the sketch. Do not worry if you do not see the colour as you 'paint', simply go back to the layers and select the top line work layer that was the Zen Brush sketch, and change the setting from Normal to Multiply. The white on that layer becomes transparent and the colour on the bottom layer will show through!

Above is a Zen Brush sketch that I imported into Art Studio and added colour too.

BUSY AT THE MOMENT

Lots of things to get done so no real post today, sorry about that but here's an old one from the archive..

Libya Crisis

I do not normally post on political matters but today I had to share with you my thoughts on what has happened over the course of this weekend.

I am worried about the UN resolution and military action that has taken place in Libya and I do not support the decision to attack Libya.

It is a very complicated situation and is not similar to what has taken place in Egypt where the protesters were peaceful.

The rebels as they are now called are armed and are fighting the government to win their own goals.

Both sides are fighting. No matter what you think of Gaddafi, the rebels are also out for blood.

The preposition that we need to protect civilians is noble but I think we do not have the whole picture of what has been going on at the ground level.

So I believe the military action is wrong. Maybe I have it wrong in my thoughts but 2011 will show us how it will play out for the potential consequences we may face.

I am concerned that the UN moved very quickly to go to war, rather than exploring other peaceful routes to resolve the problems in Libya.

We shall have to see how things work out over the course of this week.

Cow Cartoon

Online Store update

As you may know, I have an online store with Zazzle and people do buy from my store and it works really well!

I have made some updates to the store front to try to make it look more professional and slick!

Here is the link to my store www.zazzle.co.uk/sjhearn

I have also added some new products with new cartoons on them for you to view and buy!

Here is one of them:

BBQ Mug by sjhearn

Do please stop by my store and have a look and if you see something you like, then take advantage of the  FREE Shipping offer that is on until Sunday:

Free Shipping On All Orders     Use Code: FREESHIP2011     Ends Sunday 

Caricature self portrait

A new in colour caricature of my ugly mug, styled in a cartoon format.

I used Art Studio on my iPad classic and I have to say that Art Studio is an App that I really enjoy drawing with.

Animation update

I have made a few small changes to my Hungry Flower cartoon animation! Please click below to watch the updated animation via my YouTube channel:

Watch here

Hope you like it!

BBQ cartoon guy!

I had a ton of fun changing the fat guy cartoon into a BBQ cooking king!

And now you can get this great image on Birthday Cards, Tee Shirts and even a Tie..!

Click Here!

Character fun

Fun fat guy... I enjoyed putting this together in ArtStudio only iPad classic. I used the layer function to keep the black line work on top, with the colour below. That makes it easy to make any changes as I go along. Hope you like the cartoon, he looks like a cool guy!

Bird cartoon

Here I wanted to show the balance of when you make something large, something else needs to be made smaller. The beak is large but the body is small. So it works. This is a basic rule of drawing exaggeration and applies to any subject you want to draw. Keep this in mind when you draw and it will help you, let this rule be your friend!

Colour experiment

Having fun trying to use no black outlines...

Cartoon fun

Having fun with colour, a great way to discover what works and what simply does not. These sketches are a good way to try new things out and discover more about drawing.

It is much faster and easier doing these type of exercises on the iPad as I can draw anywhere i like! If I used paper it would require pens to draw with and then the paper would be thrown away. With the iPad I do not need to waste paper and ink from my pens. Digital is a great solution for sketching!

Japan Earthquake

Trusting our friends in Japan are safe and well and that everyone effected by this terrible earthquake will be safe, although we do know that there has been over 300 deaths so far.

I have heard from some of my friends in Japan via Facebook, who confirm that they are OK but there are many more who I do not yet know how the are.

Keeping them all in my thoughts and prayers at this time.

Live caricature

A snap from yesterday where I was drawing at Brunel University!

Drawing the eye in detail

Here I wanted to show you how I draw the eye in detail. Please feel free to copy this, over and over, if you want to improve your eye drawing skills. Good luck!

Music!

Check out this great video of Kemistry Duo playing live:



Kemistry | Greatest Day from mintyslippers on Vimeo.

Click here for their website

Cartoon Steve

This simple cartoon of myself was drawn on my iPhone with Zen Brush. I am showing this because this week I am back on a diet again to shed the excess weight I put on over the past five months. I hope to lose 30lbs and once I achieve that goal, I should be thinner. Then I can draw myself again and you should see a thinner cartoon!

Census 2011

On the BBC today, the news is out that everyone in the UK will be receiving a Census form to complete and send back.

You can read the story here on the BBC website CLICK HERE

This means that I will be able to write in the box about occupation, that I am a caricaturist!

Yesterday I had a successful day at a wedding fair, here is a picture of my ugly mug....

Gadaffi Cartoon

Here is a much better caricature of Siaf Gaddafi that I drew in Zen Brush on my iPad classic

Today I am at a Wedding Fair with my stand to meet new customers and hopefully take some more bookings for my services at their weddings!

While there I will be drawing their caricatures and I hope to get one or two photos that I will be able to share here with you!

Here are 10 'things' about me:

1. I love to travel
2. I own a Nikon camera
3. I have no regrets
4. I like beer too much
5. My friends are very special to me
6. As a teenager I was in trouble with the police a few times!
7. I love art
8. I can be grumpy at times
9. I love mother nature
10. Sometimes I can be away with the fairies!

Inside the Shed!

New Show out this weekend!

Moving the exaggeration

One way to move the shapes around to create exaggeration

Caricature levels?

Caricature is all about exaggeration. The interesting aspect to this is how far do you stretch the exaggeration? Over the next week or so I shall posting more on this subject and will share with you the scale of exaggeration. But today we begin with what is referred to as portrait style caricature, a drawing that contains the smallest amount of caricature. Here is what you could call the starting point. From this we can move on with more exaggeration. Take a look at the caricature example I have drawn and ask yourself, where and what would I stretch even further in this caricature. Keep in mind that exaggeration means both making things larger and making things smaller!

Drawing the eye video

A short video on how to draw the human eye....

Gaddafi caricature

Gaddafi holds here the one publication that he relies on for advice and help with his dictatorship!

Drawing the nose

A few examples of drawing the nose.