Caricature Club & Neil Davies Illustration

Sigourney Weaver/Ripley oil painting commission

2012-02-06T09:20:00.002Z

This is the first larger scale painting commission I've done with oil paints instead of my usual acrylics and I'm pretty pleased how it turned out. I certainly learnt a lot from painting it and now I can't wait to do something similar as soon as possible!I'm a huge fan of the Alien franchise movies (well, the first three at least) and have been for many years, so I was excited when I got a commission to do a traditional painting of Ripley and surprised when I realised I'd never even drawn her before, let alone painted her. We quickly settled on an A2 size for the painting and one particular image from the first film was mentioned. This is my rough sketch (scribbled very quickly in Photoshop) that became the starting point:

I transferred the sketch to a prepared illustration board, but rather than jumping straight in with oils and risking a disaster I decided to do an underpainting in acrylics to get the values I was after, roughly at least. That dried very quickly and then I immediately put a thin oil wash over the whole picture, just to get some oil on there and to put a bit of colour on. I waited for that to completely dry (a couple of days)and then over the next few days I painted the final piece. Here are a few pics of those stages so you can see how it progressed:

After making a correction to a very wonky iris in one of the eyes it was finished. I toyed with the idea of putting some kind of reflection of the alien in the helmet visor but in the end decided that was a bit corny and would take focus away from the face. So here's the finished painting:

Looking forward to the next oil painting now (I think Blade Runner might be the next target) - and I'm always looking for commissions so please feel free to e-mail me if you'd like an original oil painting from me ;)EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention here is that I deliberately didn't use black paint at all in this, all the black areas are done with mainly mixed cobalt blue and alizarin crimson, with some purple and other colours in other areas. I was really surprised how well that worked out.

BBC Science Rocks!

2012-01-18T16:58:00.000Z

This design idea arose when I was trying to think of something to pay my own small tribute to the great science programmes being put out by the BBC. Series after series of amazing stuff; Frozen Planet, Wonders of the Universe, Cell, The Story of Electricity, The Human Body, Are We Still Evolving?, The Story of Maths and of course The Sky At Night (and that's just to name a few). There are many other BBC science presenters I couldn't fit it also.You can buy the t-shirt here. Let's go to work ;)

Galileo 'SCOPE t-shirt design

2012-01-12T15:41:00.002Z

Thought this was a bit of fun - another geek t-shirt to add to the list!Galileo 'SCOPE t-shirt

Fight Club t-shirt design

2012-01-11T13:03:00.001Z

You can buy this new t-shirt design here:Tyler Durden 'SOAP' Fight Club t-shirt

Practice with oils

2012-01-10T16:14:00.004Z

Did this little A4 size oil painting today of my wife, from a holiday snap.

New t-shirt design 'Four Horsemen 2012'

2012-01-05T09:50:00.000Z

Available to buy right here: Four Horsemen 2012

Commissions and feedback

2012-01-04T10:10:00.001Z

It's always great to get feedback from customers on my gift caricatures, especially when it's from someone for whom it was a present or surprise gift. This one is a corker:

Good morning Neil, For my Christmas present this year my girlfriend commisioned yourself to complete a caricature of me and my stock car and this is just a quick email to say what an amazingly awesome job you did!! I was shocked and stunned by what my girlfriend had managed to find and the work you did was truly amazing, the detail of the car is just immense and so accurate its untrue! To say I was and still am impressed is possibly the biggest understatement ever!

Below is the caricature, which was a really fun one to do and I was pretty happy with the look when I finished it. It looks even better now the customer has framed it!

And here are a few other recent jobs that were good fun to do:

Oh, and Happy New Year! Here's hoping 2012 is a cracker for all of us.

RIP Christopher Hitchens

2011-12-16T09:03:00.002Z

Skeptic Magazine cover - Jon Ronson

2011-12-15T18:49:00.002Z

This illustration was FUN.

The team from The Skeptic Magazine told me they wanted Jon Ronson on the cover and that his new book The Psychopath Test was just out (it's a really good book, grab it if you can). This idea came straight away an I did a sketch, thinking that they'd think it was a bit 'out there' and I'd have to tone it down or come up with something else. Nope - they liked it and so I went for it!

The idea is pretty simple, Jon is in a school classroom having just taken a 'psychopath test' and the teacher is handing him back his score sheet with a 100% mark. The slightly mad bit is that he's dressed AND made up as The Joker from The Dark Knight - it was a bit of a challenge to caricature someone and then give them full face make up of someone totally different. I was worried the likeness would vanish under the white make up and red lipstip. I think it came out ok though. There are lots of other little things in it too which I really enjoyed putting in. Can't wait to do the next one if they still want me!

Caricature commissions

2011-12-04T10:31:00.003Z

Here are a few more recent commission jobs - one of the fun things about this job is you never know who you'll be doing next! The group one I'm very pleased with, the mobster theme was a lot of fun and I loved doing the car :)

A sketch of a day

2011-11-08T12:19:00.005Z

I know I'll never stick to a 'sketch of the day' regime, but I do need to work much harder to be drawing ALL the time as opposed to just some of the time. So here's a sketch for today (Scarlett Johansson) and who knows, maybe there'll be more...

...and so there is! Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock ;)

One more quick one - Stanley Kubrick.

Picking up a brush again

2011-10-31T10:27:00.004Z

I haven't painted anything in 'the real world' for a while, so I want to see if I can do a few acrylic (and maybe oil) paintings over the holiday period - if I can remember how. Starting with this one which is a portrait rather than a caricature. Here are the stages so far, it may well end up on a fireworks night bonfire - we'll see! Looks at lot worse in photos than in the flesh :(

(It's on canvas, 1m x 50cm - feel free to comment!)

EDIT: Update - just that hand to paint now. Terrible. Still, it's practice which is the point - have to think of another subject to try :)

One more quick gift commission

2011-09-21T14:10:00.002+01:00

This was a fun job, obviously the client wanted a James Bond theme for this chap, but also wanted to include their company logo in somehow. I was pleased with how I managed to include it... ;)

Some more recent gift commissons

2011-09-05T09:47:00.002+01:00

A host of new stuff, all sorts of people, all sorts of fun - I really like the one for the real-life brain surgeon! Contact me if you'd like to commission a caricature from me like these :)

Prof. Richard Wiseman for The Skeptic Magazine

2011-08-18T13:35:00.007+01:00

Finally I can show you this cover illustration for the new issue of The Skeptic Magazine! It's Richard Wiseman who is Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, and famous for many TV appearances and books about the mad things our squishy brains get up to.

The interview in the magazine partly promotes his recent book Paranormality (which is great), so the idea to put him in a Ghostbusters outfit came pretty quickly. I must thank Crispian Jago for his great idea for the actual pose. Really pleased with how this turned out, hope you like it!

I'm offering prints of this illustration for sale, they will be A3 size and cost £15 inc p&p. Click below to buy through PayPal:

Elementary...

2011-08-13T11:05:00.003+01:00

New t-shirt design I just put together. Been getting into Sherlock Holmes recently, so... ;)

Buy it here!

Also added another version based on the current BBC TV Sherlock (which if you haven't seen it is absolutely brilliant)as played by Benedict Cumberbatch:

Buy it here!

Zooey Deschanel

2011-08-04T14:40:00.004+01:00

Had this sketched up ages ago and now I've finally got around to finishing it. It's Zooey Deschanel, who I expect most will know as an actress. Recently though I discover she's a singer too, in a band called She & Him (with guitarist M.Ward) - and they are great. I love Zooey's voice and the songs she writes are wonderful - they have two albums out that are both on repeat play in my house right now ;)

A variety of gift commissions!

2011-07-12T08:57:00.002+01:00

Here are a few recent gift jobs - all very detailed and all very different!

Black Widow

2011-06-01T17:04:00.002+01:00

Here's the comic style pic, quite please with how it looks considering. I'll probably put a background on it and jazz it up a little. It's Scarlett Johannson as the Black Widow from Iron Man 2, btw. Wasn't really going for a likeness as I would a caricature, but I did want it to look like her anyway. Fun!

Little teaser

2011-05-31T10:35:00.002+01:00

Doing a comic-book sort of style thing for fun at the moment. I'm rubbish at it, so it'll probably end up as a more regular digital painting. Fun to try though, I'd love to get good at comic style drawing and inking.

Couple of gift caricatures

2011-05-29T11:40:00.005+01:00

Here are a couple more recent gift jobs - great fun as usual coming up with the ideas :)

Alan Rickman / Hans Gruber

2011-05-26T20:33:00.004+01:00

One of the best movie bad guys ever. Sharp-suited, classically educated thief Hans Gruber as played by Alan Rickman. For the Caricaturama 3000 weekly comp ;)

Orson again

2011-05-13T18:54:00.002+01:00

I was thinking about painting an Orson Welles pic in oils based on my sketch a couple of posts ago, so I just did this really quick colour sketch (10 mins or so). Rather than paint the sketch, I just had it open and used it as reference and painted really fast onto a black background, trying to push the exaggeration a bit further at the same time.

One year ago...

2011-05-11T08:12:00.003+01:00

...the shiny new coalition government was formed. Not sure if Nick Clegg will be wanting to party too hard to celebrate now!

This caricature is the main image on my caricature illustration website - check it out, there's a big gallery of work on there now.

Orson Welles sketch

2011-05-05T13:45:00.005+01:00

Tomorrow would have been Orson Welles birthday, as Derren Brown's blog reminded me today. I watched Citizen Kane and the Arena documentary on the great man a couple of days ago and both were just as good as I remembered. Here's to you Orson :)

You can now buy this caricature (titled Orsoniac!) as a t-shirt here.

Fun gift caricature

2011-05-05T08:50:00.002+01:00

Here's a recent gift caricature that was a lot of fun - this couple just got married and the customer wanted them drawn in their stag/hen party outfits (him dressed as Bruno and her in a dress made of Haribo packets!). Brilliant, love doing fun stuff like this ;)

Natalie Portman Black Swan 2

2011-04-25T13:32:00.004+01:00

Another go, I used the body I had drawn in the first picture as reference and exaggerated a lot more, then painted a totally new face. Although it need a lot of work to be properly finished, I like it much better. If I get time I'll see if I can add a Black Swan also ;)

Natalie Portman Black Swan

2011-04-21T10:59:00.004+01:00

Also for the Facebook group Caricaturama 3000, I tried a more graphic style for this, not sure it really works so I might redo it. Also I thought it might be of interest to show a couple of steps on the way. The first sketch below I did by tracing over a couple of ballerina reference photos I liked the poses of and made sure they went together how I wanted (and then sketched roughly the caricatured heads also). Using the photos and the first sketch, I then started with a clean sheet and drew a new caricature of both figures, exaggerating the look how I wanted and using the first sketch to make sure the figures still worked together. I really like the final sketch - just not sure if I chose the right way of painting it!

Lou Ferrigno

2011-04-15T19:35:00.003+01:00

Another caricature for the Caricaturama 3000 Facebook group weekly competition (I really should do them more often) - this time it's ex-Mr.Universe and Incredible Hulk actor Lou Ferrigno.

While painting his body it reminded me of the type of muscled hero that Boris Vallejo paints, so I added a background as a kind of tribute to Boris also ;)

Quick sketch - Norman Rockwell

2011-04-06T10:43:00.001+01:00

Just a quick sketch of genius illustrator Norman Rockwell for the Facebook group Caricaturama 3000.

Some recent gift commissons

2011-04-06T09:37:00.002+01:00

Here are a few more recent gift jobs, had a lot of fun with these! If you have a special occasion coming up, why not get a unique gift caricature? Please check out my website for all the details or simply e-mail me ;)

Charles Darwin for the BCSE

2011-03-05T09:45:00.004Z

Here's the final Charles Darwin piece - I did this for the team at the British Centre for Science Education, a professional group dedicated to promoting and defending science education in the UK, particularly from creationists. It's something I feel strongly about and support. For more info on the BCSE, here is their website and blog. Hopefully soon this artwork will be available on t-shirts, mugs etc - I'll post all the details as and when that gets going!

This piece was a lot of fun to do, normally I find painting hair a bit of a chore but this time it brought the whole thing to life (probably because there is so much of it!). I kept most of the painting pretty loose and had fun with the colours. As well as the sign (which the BCSE guys will ad various slogans to to promote their activities), Charlie boy is holding a first edition copy of On The Origin If Species in his other hand.

Charlie Darwin

2011-02-24T11:24:00.004Z

Quick sketch of good ol' Charlie Darwin for a little job I'm doing for a good cause. More details when done :)

Edit: Changed the design, like this much better:

Sketching - Anna Torv

2011-02-19T16:19:00.002Z

Another pencil sketch, again portrait rather than caricature (although it's wildly awful) of Anna Torv. She plays Olivia Dunham in Fringe, probably my favourite current TV show.

I was inspired to have a go at this by seeing the front cover illustration of a movie magazine called Little White Lies. It's a beautifully simple pencil drawing of Natalie Portman and it took my breath away how elegant is was. The artist is Paul Willoughby.

My drawing is nowhere near as good, and I realised halfway through that the proportions were all wrong but it was fun anyway, I'll definitely try another soon.

Rupert and the God Delusion

2011-02-18T17:17:00.003Z

Bit of fun done with skeptic blogger Crispian Jago - here's the front cover, head over to Crispian's blog to check out the whole thing!

Couple of commissions

2011-02-17T09:39:00.003Z

Here are a couple of recent gift caricature jobs - just to illustrate two different levels of detail, the first one is my usual style and the second one is a little more cartoony. In these tough times it's always worth being flexible with the type of work you do to make sure your customers get what they want for what they can afford! Please check out my gift caricature website and e-mail me for a quote ;)

Michael Bublé final

2011-02-13T14:32:00.003Z

All done,looks ok I think. Doesn't have the looseness I would have liked but I think that will take a lot of practice to achieve. Fun though, hope you like it!

Michael Bublé WIP (cont)

2011-02-12T10:26:00.003Z

Started on the suit and done one hand - hand looks good, not really feeling the suit yet. Trying to keep the look I want in mind rather than slipping into autopilot and 'colouring in' :). Like the suit colour choice next to the skin though. So far so good.

Michael Bublé WIP

2011-02-11T17:18:00.002Z

So this is what I'm doing with Bublé. Recently I got a book on J.C.Leyendecker (and another on Norman Rockwell) and just been blown away by the work in them. This is my attempt at something that vaguely resembles a Leyendecker illustration. Not a copy of his technique (because that would be impossible for me), but trying something different inspired by that type of picture.

Obviously I'm going to do the full figure, hopefully it'll look good when done - pleased with how his face has turned out anyway, so quite excited now to do the rest! Feel free to tear it to bits in the comments ;)

P.S. I just love Michael Bublé - I could listen to his songs all day (and frequently do). I blame my friend Judy for this as she introduced me to his music. I thought it was too cheesy at first (coz it is) but frankly I can't think of anyone who can sing the classics like this guy.

Sketching - Michael Bublé

2011-02-11T10:52:00.004Z

Most definitely not a caricature this one, trying to do something different and 'illustrative' I guess. Not sure how it will turn out yet! Pleased with the drawing anyway, drawn into Photoshop but it's all freehand and doesn't look to badly out of proportion anywhere...

Jason Statham final

2011-02-10T11:46:00.002Z

Done, don't want to fiddle around with it more, I think I've got as much detail in as it needs and I like the background blurry and out of focus somewhat. Looks ok :)

Close up

2011-02-09T20:22:00.001Z

Adding detail to the face now...

Continuing The Stath...

2011-02-09T17:17:00.002Z

Happy with where I'm at now, next stage is to dig up some reference that lets me get in tight and detail it out as much as possible...:)

More Jason Statham

2011-02-09T14:10:00.006Z

So I decided to figure out a background before painting more, so that's blocked in now and I've painted a bit more to his right arm and head. Need to work on the colours to make them fit together better. Also below are the ref pics, the main one is a shot from one of the Transporter films, but I actually sketched the caricature of his face before I found that from the other (paparazzi) shot. Shame the lighting is so completely different, would've made things easier!

Hope you're liking the process anyway. As this is just for fun I've got no plan, just doing what feels right!

Jason Statham block-in

2011-02-08T20:40:00.003Z

Blocked in really rough colours, not sure how much detail I can get into this as my reference pic is pretty rubbish, so maybe a more painterly style would work better? We'll see!

Digi-scribble - Jason Statham

2011-02-08T15:15:00.002Z

Back on the PC again, this is a quick sketch of Jason Statham in full kick-the-crap-out-of-everyone-in-the-room mode. Will probably paint this up in colour. Proportions aren't quite right yet but it could be good when done.

Sketching - Colin Firth

2011-01-30T18:28:00.002Z

Couldn't really decide what to exaggerate here, which is probably why this is almost a straight portrait! Fun to do though and I think the likeness is ok. Starting to feel more comfortable and confident with hatching, and speeding up a bit. Need to think of someone else to draw now...

Sketching - Tom Hardy

2011-01-28T15:54:00.003Z

The second 'baddie' in The Dark Knight Rises is to be Bane, played by Tom Hardy - another great choice. Tom was excellent in Inception which undoubtedly sealed his place in the next Batman film. I've only seen a few of his films, but he was great in Rock'n'Rolla and was easily the best thing in Star Trek: Nemesis. But that isn't saying much ;)

Another very wonky pencil sketch in my A3 sketchbook, starting with HB and working up to 7B. I spent an hour trying several times to draw Jack Nicholson before giving up completely and doing this first go. Funny how some people are easier to do than others.

Sketching - Anne Hathaway

2011-01-21T09:45:00.005Z

Trying (again) to pick an old fashioned thing called a 'pencil' and do some drawing! Got myself a clutch pencil which feels nice and a big A3 sketch book as I thought going bigger might free me up a bit and loosen up the arm and shoulder.

This is Anne Hathaway, who has just been cast as Catwoman in the next Batman film (great choice). It's a bit wonky to say the least, and not exaggerated much, but overall I'm pleased with how it felt to be sketching at that size. The clutch pencil has HB lead which was too hard so I'll have to get some softer 2mm leads. I went over this sketch with a 7B to give it a bit more depth.

New Wesbite - Neil Davies Caricature Illustration

2011-01-20T10:23:00.002Z

I've put together this new website to help me promote my caricature illustration, separate from the gift caricature work. Hopefully it'll help promote what I can do now! Here's the link:

www.neildaviesillustration.co.uk

Please feel free to have a look around and comment on how it looks, constructive criticism is always welcome of course!

Suzi Perry off the telly ;)

2011-01-17T14:34:00.006Z

Just a quick sketch I did recently of Gadget Show presenter Suzi Perry, again trying a much more simple style. Might have been using this as a base to do a few little cartoony things for the show, but it's not happening now as they're using existing artwork, so never mind. Nice of them to think of me, they liked my caricature of the team I did a while back.

The catsuit was fun :)

EDIT: Hello Twittererers! Please check out my websites and follow me on Twitter :)

Couldn't resist

2011-01-07T10:31:00.002Z

A bit more fun with Sheldon Cooper - had to do another t-shirt design! Available as usual at RedBubble by clicking here.

Mythbuster Kari Byron

2011-01-05T19:41:00.002Z

Another practise sketch, the lines are a lot nicer on this piece and it was fun to colour. Quite pleased with how this turned out, will probably do the other Mythbusters soon also :)

"Sheldon's Dream"

2011-01-05T09:18:00.003Z

OK so here's the fun personal project I've been working on for a while - my little tribute to The Big Bang Theory and Forbidden Planet (one of my favourite TV shows and one of my all time favourite movies).

I did it in a simpler more cartoony style than I usually try, I'm not very good at it yet and it shows, but I learnt quite a bit. I tried to keep the background of the dream as close to the movie as possible - the colours are based closely on it and the costumes are also close to the film. The 'Id Monster' was a lot of fun to do (although there is a bit of artistic license in showing it at all - brownie points for those who know why) and I had a ball putting on layer after layer of detail and lighting.

I was a bit annoyed that I couldn't get Robby the Robot in the main picture, but once I'd decided to add the dreaming Sheldon it was a no-brainer to add him clutching a toy Robby while asleep. I love that little Robby!

Here's the main pic without the bottom section:

I've added it to my RedBubble site, so you can buy t-shirts of it now by clicking here.

A quick sketch

2011-01-03T11:45:00.002Z

This is Amanda Seyfried, very quickly sketched for the Facebook group Caricaturama 3000. Like most people, I love Alphonse Mucha and that style of art, and this was done with that in mind. Also I got an incredible book of comic art by Adam Hughes (called Cover Run) for Xmas which has been very inspiring.

Sheldon sketch

2010-12-21T11:27:00.002Z

I've always resisted going too 'cartoony' with my stuff, I think maybe I should see what I could do and if it looks any good. This is one face from a group in a big picture I've had planned for a while but not finished as I wasn't sure which direction to go with it. Maybe I'll do it in this style, doesn't look too bad does it?

(Yes it's Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory and hopefully the final piece will have all the main characters in it)

Bit of fun

2010-12-20T15:31:00.002Z

I'm sure, like me, you've wondered what Christopher Nolan's mind-bending dream movie Inception would be like if made into a kid's TV series - wonder no more!

Thanks to everyone who has viewed and commented on my blog this year - have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Olivia Williams

2010-12-02T09:46:00.003Z

Quick sketch of one of my favourite actresses - Olivia Williams. Fantastic in the TV series Dollhouse and a ton of movies.

F1 Drivers caricature - updated!

2010-11-21T14:20:00.004Z

Reworked my F1 driver's pic to reflect the final championship standings (Vettel won of course). If anyone wants an A3 print of this version, drop me an e-mail and I'll sort one out for you (same price as before, £12.50). I'll also add the new version to my RedBubble page so it will be available as a t-shirt :)

Another v.quickie

2010-11-18T10:18:00.000Z

H.P.Lovecraft! (Thanks to @zjqj for the suggestion)

Emma Peel

2010-11-16T21:25:00.002Z

Liked the sketch so I did a bit more work on it :)

Quick sketch

2010-11-16T17:41:00.001Z

Just a quick doodle - Diana Rigg as Emma Peel, of course ;)

F1 Drivers caricature - finished

2010-11-05T08:14:00.005Z

(Click to see a larger version)

Here's the finished piece, with a few updates - Alonso is now in front of course, as he's leading the championship going in to this weekend's Brazilian GP. Check out Keith Collantine's consistently brilliant F1 Fanatic blog for all the info you could need on F1 - he's used my illustration for his latest article :)

This piece was so much fun to do. The idea is to show how Alonso has been helped by his team (Ferrari) choosing him as main competitor this year very early on, while Red Bull and McLaren have stuck by both their drivers. Who knows how it will play out with just two races left? The Red Bull and McLaren drivers are shown running a three-legged race, Webber and Vettel duct-taped together and Hamilton and Button are strapped tight by a McLaren branded carbon-fibre leg brace :) Plus I just love my little Massa.

You can get this illustration on a t-shirt by clicking here. It looks awesome! Also happy to send A3 prints to anyone who wants one - price would be £12.50 inc p&p - just e-mail me on neil@caricatureclub.co.uk if you'd like one :)

While I'm on an F1 theme...

2010-11-01T18:30:00.002Z

This is a sketch of an idea I had to illustrate the five drivers in the F1 championship race this year. Not sure if I'll get to finish it but I think the idea works - I've got Red Bull drivers Webber and Vettel shoving past each other, Ferrari No.1 Alonso being helped along by a little biddy Massa, and McLaren drivers Hamilton and Button doing the teamwork thing by being tied together (till the end...?).

Should probably get on and do it as the F1 season will be over soon!

Ayrton Senna

2010-10-31T11:41:00.002Z

A sketch of a young Ayrton Senna. You can see the steely determination in his face even then. Legend. Very much looking forward to seeing the documentary film about him coming out soon, I've no doubt it'll bring back some memories of watching probably the fastest F1 driver anyone will ever see.

Crispian Jago Skeptic Trump

2010-10-18T10:31:00.003+01:00

Here's a well deserved Skeptic Trump card - the genius who thought them up in the first place, Crispian Jago! Check out Crispian's blog for some brilliantly clever skeptic stuff including the absolutely amazing Modern Science Map. It's been a pleasure working on the Skeptic Trumps cards with Crispian (not to mention our Skeptic magazine cover)- hopefully there will be lots more to come in the future.

Thanks go to Daniel Pope for putting together Crispian's card and surprising him with it at TAM London :)

Group caricature commission

2010-10-13T13:22:00.002+01:00

This is a job just finished for a local hair salon, which was a lot of work but a huge amount of fun. It has a few people from the salon working alongside some famous Paul Mitchell stars, so I had to caricature all of them accurately and come up with a salon setting for them all. It's a little more cartoony than I would normally do but I think it works, most importantly the client loved it (as did the Paul Mitchell people apparently, who all got copies and signed a canvas print version for the salon).

'Skeptic' t-shirt idea

2010-10-11T09:43:00.002+01:00

There's a definite difference these days between the meanings of the two spellings of sceptic (UK - sceptic, US skeptic). The use of the US version seems to be the one linked to the 'skeptical' movement (that voices opinions on any and all non-scientific woo that's out there). So I say DISPLAY THE K!

Click here to buy a t-shirt!

The Skeptic Magazine cover illustration

2010-09-24T17:55:00.005+01:00

Finally I can post my first (and hopefully not last) magazine cover illustration that I did recently for The Skeptic Magazine of Simon Singh and David Allen Green (and a couple of other faces Skeptic readers might recognise). Huge thanks to Crispian Jago who asked me to do it and Chris French for liking it! It was great fun to work on, not only getting the faces right but recreating the atmosphere in the specific pub where the meeting I was to illustrate took place.

I'm offering a very limited number of prints of this illustration (just 50) for sale. As with my other prints, they are A3 size and printed on a high quality archival paper and are hand signed and numbered by me. The price is £17.50 inc p&p, and I will be donating £5.00 from every sale to the DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal - just click the PayPal buy now button below to order your copy:

Albert Einstein t-shirt design

2010-09-19T11:45:00.003+01:00

Here's the last of these t-shirt designs for the moment (unless I think of any more that it works for) - the daddy, Albert Einstein! Check it out here.

Full caricature:

Fun gift commission

2010-09-15T09:16:00.003+01:00

This one was a lot of fun, really enjoyed doing the "dad dancing" pose! Could've added more lighting detail but I think where I finished was about right for the job. Glitterballs FTW!

New t-shirt - Darwiniac!

2010-09-13T13:42:00.002+01:00

I've done a third caricature t-shirt design to compliment my Feynmaniac and Houdiniac designs - this one is of the famous creator of the theory of evolution, Charles Darwin! Check it out here.

I have one more in mind to complete(?) the set... ;)

Here's a closer look at the caricature:

More oil painting practice

2010-08-26T11:45:00.006+01:00

This time I'm trying to paint a portrait of my lovely old dog Darwin (who sadly died in January 2009). No real clue if how I'm painting it is how you're supposed to paint in oils, but so far so good I think and we'll see what happens! Might have to get some fast-dry medium though as I'd like to paint on this as a base but not mix into it too much. Kind of like saving a digital painting at a certain point and going back to it? No? No, maybe not.. :P

Anyway this is fun and I've made myself a handy glass palette on a little side unit I use for storage and that feels really comfortable to use. Hopefully I'm creeping towards a solid set up that I can work from and start trying different things with oils.

EDIT: And a bit more:

Wedding caricature

2010-08-25T09:44:00.002+01:00

This customer used their caricature as a wedding display, and framed it so that guests could sign it! What a great idea :)
Here's the original:

Richard Dawkins "Dawkins Says" t-shirt designs

2010-08-24T16:55:00.002+01:00

I've added a couple of "Dawkins Says" t-shirt designs to my RedBubble shop to go with the "Hitch Says" ones - having fun with these designs! Here's the design and links to the shop:

Quote t-shirt 1: “I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.”

Quote t-shirt 2: “We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”

A happy customer!

2010-08-23T10:45:00.003+01:00

I received a lovely thank you e-mail at the weekend from a customer, and a great photo of the caricture subject with their caricature!

Dear Neil,

I just wanted to say thank you for the fantastic job you did with Xxxx’s caricature. We presented it to her today and she was delighted. Everyone was marvelling at how good the caricature is. I’ve attached a picture (sorry about the flash!).

All the best!

Kat Von D... cont...

2010-08-22T13:20:00.005+01:00

Still not happy with this, I really want to keep pushing the exaggerations as much as possible so I keep chopping and moving bits about and then re-sketching from scratch to get something I really think works. So far, I think the second one here is as far as I'd want to go, but who knows? :) It's much better than what I started with anyway.

EDIT: That's it, I'm stopping with this one! Probably.

Kat Von D 2

2010-08-21T17:10:00.005+01:00

Better. That's much more like what I had in my head. Could be a fun painting! Time to see if oils are as fun painting on a bigger scale ;)

Or I might have another go and try and distort even more, it's still a bit tame...

Some recent gift commissons

2010-08-21T10:09:00.003+01:00

Here are a few more of my recent gift caricature commissions - some really fun jobs here! A vintage motorcyclist, an award winner, a Glastonbury couple and a rail employee! If you would like to commission a gift caricature for an event, celebration or just for yourself, e-mail me for a quote and check out my website. Also there is a bigger gallery of gift work on my Facebook page.

Kat Von D

2010-08-20T16:25:00.003+01:00

Just a quick sketch of the amazing tattoo artist Kat Von D - I'd like to do a painting of her soon based on this once I've worked out it a bit. I'm a bit addicted to the current crop of tattoo TV shows, Miami Ink, London Ink and of course L.A.Ink. The talent that Kat and the rest have is very inspiring.

Katy Perry oil painting

2010-08-18T16:34:00.003+01:00

Not a caricature, just something I wanted to try to practice with oils. I'm a big fan of pin-up art, Gil Elvgren in particular and I'd love to be able to paint something like his work. This is Katy Perry's new album cover (slightly adjusted to fit a landscape canvas) and it took me something like four or five hours on and off today. Really pleased with it for a first crack at this sort of thing. It's 14" x 10". The first photo is the block in which took about an hour or so, and the second is the finished painting. Let me know what you think!

Finished Dr.Who!

2010-08-17T14:00:00.002+01:00

Well, ok - not finished actually, as I don't have a brush small enough to do the text on the door sign! Drat it. Still, other than that it's finished! Need to think of someone else to do next...

Once I've finalised this I expect to have prints available for sale on my website - perhaps as a pair with Sherlock?

Still working on Dr.Who:

2010-08-16T10:53:00.001+01:00

Getting there slowly with this one, although there will be more detail in it than the Sherlock painting. This is a close up of the face detail which still isn't really finished yet. Back to it!

Second oil painting - Matt Smith

2010-08-13T14:28:00.003+01:00

Off we go with another A4 oil painting - this time it's Matt Smith, the new Doctor Who. It'll be a mirror of the Sherlock one. Spent a few hours on the stages pictured above, so far this one isn't going as well as the first, I'm finding it harder and I think it might be because I'm using a different board - this one is a Winsor & Newton canvas board whereas the first was on Daler board which has a much rougher texture. I think I prefer that, as it grabs the paint better. We'll see how it goes :)

Gwen Stefani prints now available

2010-08-09T09:58:00.005+01:00

Check out the Traditional Paintings section of my website now, as I have a limited edition of 100 A3 prints of this Gwen Stefani painting for sale to go with the Billie Joe Armstrong one ;)

Or you can order a print directly from this blog by clicking the 'Buy Now' button below - the A3 signed and numbered print is £25:

6 Of The Best - Edinburgh gallery show

2010-08-09T08:55:00.002+01:00

Starting today is the gallery exhibition "6 Of The Best" at Digital Design Services in Edinburgh - it's on until 27th August so if you're in Edinburgh for the Fringe, pop in and check it out! Here's my work in the gallery:

Also showing work are these incredible artists:

MIKE GIBLIN – Character Design
MARYNA HALTON – Photographic Fine Art
NICK HARRIS – Fantasy Art
OLLY HOWE – Illustration
KATE KNIGHT – Contemporary Florals

I'm really honoured to have my work displayed alongside those guys. Thanks again to Colin Knight of Digital Design Services for setting it up!

Sherlock finished (ish)

2010-08-08T14:57:00.003+01:00

Done, although I might add the door-knocker that's in the reference photo yet (and sign it!). Really pleased with how this turned out considering it's a first effort in oils. Very exciting, now I need to think of some more people to paint!

Oh and this painting is A4 size roughly.

Sherlock continued...

2010-08-07T18:30:00.002+01:00

D'you know what? I think I get oils. A little light bulb went off in my head as I was painting more detail into the face today. I really like oils! Now I'm excited to finish this painting and see how it'll look. This is a close up of the face, sorry for the dodgy flash photo.

Still trying to improve the likeness - the left cheek (his right) is too high so I need to see if I can bring that down somehow. But this is fun. I think I'll be doing more of these smaller oil paintings :)

Oils! WOOOO :P

2010-08-06T17:49:00.003+01:00

Here's my first attempt at an oil painting (well the first hour or so of it anyway). I don't have any idea if what I'm doing is right or not, but it's looking ok so far... takes a bit of getting used to after using acrylics for so long, but I like aspects of oil compared to acrylic. I'll be very happy if I can crack this and do something decent. This is Benedict Cumberbatch again, the BBC's Sherlock Holmes. Will do more and update soon ;)

Pencil sketches

2010-08-06T09:54:00.004+01:00

One thing I have never done enough of - ever, not just now - is regular pencil sketching. So I'm trying to get back in the habit by doodling some things in a sketchbook. These are a few quick photos of a few pages - all BAD - although I quite like my sketch of Benedict Cumberbatch (what an awesome name!) as Sherlock Holmes (a new modernised Holmes made by the BBC, for you Johnny Foreigners who haven't heard of it) on the far right. Might do a Watson and make a painting of that soon.

So anyway, I'll keep doing these and maybe post more soon if any more of them aren't utterly dreadful...

Gwen Stefani / No Doubt painting finished

2010-08-05T17:40:00.002+01:00

All done. Could probably do more on the detail front but I don't want to overdo it and get it all muddy. It's acrylic on canvas, 1m wide x 1.2m high. I'll varnish it tomorrow and the colours will pop a bit more I think.

Glad it's out of the way, now I want to find someone new to paint on a smaller scale in oils to see how that works...:)

New t-shirts available

2010-08-03T16:09:00.003+01:00

I've put three more caricature paintings onto t-shirts at RedBubble, pop over to my store there to buy and to check out the range that I have there now. Will be adding more soon I expect! Here are the new ones:

Pope on tour 2010!

Joker "I believe..."

Angelina Jolie in 'Wanted'

All sort of colours of t-shirt available of course!

Caricature Club t-shirt store at RedBubble

Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong now on a t-shirt!

2010-07-30T09:21:00.003+01:00

My Green Day/Billie-Joe Armstrong caricature painting is now available to buy on a t-shirt - check it out on my RedBubble page here!

You can get it in a huge range of colours, although it's got to be black or red (or maybe olive green), right? :)

Progress on Gwen

2010-07-30T08:41:00.002+01:00

Mostly done in these areas now, it's looking ok...

Painting again...

2010-07-28T10:05:00.003+01:00

Finally got round to starting my Gwen Stefani large acrylic painting - no idea how this is going to turn out, getting frustrated with the whole painting process at the moment. Will try a small oil painting soon and see if that feels any better. Still, going to push on with this for a few more days and see what happens!

LFCC and other things

2010-07-21T11:09:00.003+01:00

Well as Paul Moyse has reported we had a great weekend at the London Film and Comic Con - I sold a fairly respectable number of prints and Paul did a roaring trade of live caricatures (including one of my wife!) and shifted many copies of his excellent book. It was a good learning experience and I know how I'd do things differently next time to potentially sell more. The big original paintings I had got a lot of attention too, so I'll be planning some new ones soon.

I've also just done my first magazine cover for The Skeptic Magazine which will be available in a few weeks (so go and subscribe, and tell them I sent you!) - so I'll being posting it here when it's out. It's a good piece of work I think, the editor Chris French was very impressed so hopefully I'll be doing other things for them in the future. In fact I already am - I'm working on something for their website right now. Exciting stuff!

London Film and Comic Con - 17th-18th July

2010-07-07T15:55:00.002+01:00

I'll be showing some of my work at the London Film and Comic Con at Earl's Court 2 in a couple of weeks time - 17th and 18th of July:

http://www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com/

This is all thanks to the generosity of fellow caricaturist Paul Moyse who asked if I'd like to share a table with him (is he MAD?). Hopefully my stuff won't look too shoddy next to his awesome paintings!

As it's a film and comic con, I'll be cramming a few suitable paintings in the car and a stack of prints - plenty of Joker, Batman, Hulk, Wolverine, Watchmen and others which should go down well!

Are there any stars attending this convention I hear you ask? Only CAPTAIN FRIGGING KIRK!

See you there!

A short note

2010-07-07T15:47:00.003+01:00

Just in case anyone is interested, I have a second blog called A Caricature Of An Atheist on which I will very occasionally (when the mood takes me in other words, which isn't all that often tbh) write down some thoughts on things religion and/or science related. I'm a bit of a science geek and very much a proud atheist and so the collision between science and religion is a subject I enjoy reading about.

http://acaricatureofanatheist.blogspot.com/

Also, I notice I now have 101 followers on this blog! Yay! You 101 are now officially the 101 coolest people on the internets.

Family gift caricature

2010-06-29T11:02:00.003+01:00

I think this is a good example of my gift caricature work now. I got several great photos of this family and a few tips on what to include for each person i.e., the mother should have a camera, the older daughter is quite artistic and the younger likes spiders and being naughty! From those ideas and the photos I came up with this composition to include all of those things in one scene and I think it works pretty well. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do more of this sort of thing!

A few more recent gift commissions

2010-06-28T09:16:00.002+01:00

Had a lot of fun with these, especially the the US Army pin up - what a gal! Extra special because she has a three-legged (or tri-pawed as I prefer to say!) dog just like I do now. Tri-paws FTW!