christmas otter

A not very happy otter wishing a very happy Christmas. (He hates his festive jumper - itchy and generally not in good taste.)

simple pleasures

A little update from my sketchbook.

scooter

Wild boar don't cycle. Of course they don't. They ride scooters!
(Thank you Wojtek.)

brigade (tandem)

Drawing bicycles is hard. Very hard. And to draw one or two of my characters riding this bicycle is even harder. While working on this one I realised that as much as I want those guys to be eco-friendly, cycle to work and stuff they just cannot. Their legs are too short! So I went through other characters I'd created and tried to put them on a bicycle and their legs were also too short! Now I feel guilty...

On the other hand it is fascinating that at some point the characters start living they own life and refuse to do things you want them to do. I will need to experiment with other means of transport here...

Website

 

 My website is FINALLY updated! Less foxes - more lions. Have a look!

Here comes Supermouse!

 Sometimes you just feel like drawing a Supermouse and there is nothing you can do about it.

ms lioness has a new bag

A little update on what's been going on in my sketchbook recently. And yes! I've got a new bag! A proper bag with internal pockets and adjustable strap. My first ever proper bag! It is slightly different to the one that Miss Lioness is proundly wearing but I am as happy as she is.

bad day

new gadget

You have no idea what fun it is to watch a guy who just got a new gadget. And I had no idea that you can get that excited about a piece of plastic with a touchscreen on the surface and internet inside.

This is a boar by the way, not a pig. The fact that I need to state this means that I should do some more boar research I guess...

a saturday morning

angry bear

 

Having fun drawing animals that express all sorts of negative emotions. I didn't expect it to be that difficult! No matter how hard I try to draw something ugly, scary or angry I always end up with cute and funny...

This guy is a poet and he is not having his best day.

if: boundaries

I love drawing silly dogs. This one is inspired by my favourite character from film "Everything is illuminated".

sketches from berlin

I am not sure if I mentioned it here before but I fell in love with Berlin. The same way I fell in love with Rotterdam and other cities which are not beautiful in a way some of European cities are but they definately have huge amounts of energy hidden under not-particularly-renaissance surfaces.

For some reasons I didn't feel like sketching when walking/running/jumping/flying through the city (definately not Edinburgh scale). This is why all the sketches are made at our friends's place during our nice and calm evenings that were at some points even more inspiring Berlin itself!

(Sketches nos 4 and 5are made in cooperation with Franek.)

IF: mysterious

So we went to see the famous fireworks at the end of Edinburgh Festival; for the first time since we came to live in this beautifully cold and windy city (it was the first time when it was not that cold and windy and we managed to see the whole thing). Anyhow, I don't really understand the idea of standing in the crowd in the park and watching some small lights flashing far away. What's the point?
Konrad said something like: "Don't you feel like all of that is like from the Moominland?", which I had to agree with and make this Moomins inspired picture.

Done!

It looks like I don't need to draw horses anymore! All the illustrations are finished and submitted to the publisher and the book will be published in July 2012. I hope you'll like it. It has been a busy summer but fortunately in Edinburgh we don't get anyhing like summer at all so there is nothing to complain about.  It was a fantastic experience to illustrate something which is completely different to what I usually work on. I learned a few things:
1. I can draw horses ( a big surprise).
2. I can draw human characters (even a bigger surprise).
3. Digital colouring is actually fun.
4. I love my tablet.
And now I feel like moving on to other projects featuring smaller animals - mice, shrews, bats, squirrels, weasels. Hooray for rodentia! The only problem is that I don't feel like drawing at all and I might need to take a week or two off with my sketchbook and pencils hidden at the bottom of a deepest drawer.

portuguese

And some photos from our trip to Portugal. Graffiti, cats and dogs mostly.

lazy lazy lazy

A few sketches from our trip to Portugal.

 

IF: Asleep

Ok...it was supposed to be a dormouse but I think it resembles more something between a bear and a fox. It is rather frustrating that everything I draw looks like a bear or a fox. I will have to have another go on a dormouse soon. Anyhow, this one is quite content - a pre-lunch nap on a tea towel somewhere warm and comfortable.
I am experimenting with my new set of drawing inks which is quite challenging. I love the colours though. This one is the Sunshine Yellow - very much needed now in cloudy, windy and rainy Edinburgh.

horses dogs and penguins

I've got internet now and the carboard boxes are gradually dissapearing from our living room. Our new flat finally looks like a place to live and not a messy storage.
Back from short holiday which was not a proper holiday as I have been busy drawing horses for Penguin (the photo above shows how busy it was). I was drawing on the plane, in the garden, in coffee shops, in the park and on a beautiful meadow by the forest (there was a stork on the meadow too so I had a good company). There was this little boy sitting next to me on the plane and as soon as he's seen me sketching he started crying that he wanted to draw too. I think next time I should take an extra set of colour pencils. Anyhow...I've got a brilliant job - even 5 year old kids are jealous!
I made some dog sketches too - kind of reward after each horse drawing fiinished. Dogs are fun to draw!

new place

Last weekend was far too busy and too exciting and I think we will need a good few days to recover. Moving flat, a wedding, a very successful craft fair and an overdose of good news is kind of too much for one weekend. My studio is a mess and I there is no internet at our new place yet. Hope it is going to change soon. In the meantime I am using my mobile coffee shop studio.

moving home

I wish life looked like on the picture above. Instead I am surrounded by cardboard boxes, black bin bags and bubblewrap trying to find my way through. Moving in not fun!
The good news is that there is a cat flap in our new place! Which I suppose means that we'll be having all the cats from neighbourhood coming over for afternoon tea.

haar is back!

 

When Edinburgh looks like this (the views from the castle if you haven't recognised), creatures like these appear in my sketchbook:

Otherwise just started Easter baking and the smell of cheesecake coming from the oven is so difficult to resist...

au bar

I love when it is raining in Edinburgh. Especially on a Monday morning. I get a coffee and plan the week ahead while watching people rushing to work. Most of them is triple unhappy - because they had to wake up early, because it is Monday and because it is raining. 

magpie market

 

Come to the Magpie Market on Sunday the 8th of May! It's in The Hub in the very centre of Edinburgh and there is going to be plenty of beautiful stuff.  I will be selling my prints and toys there too. The entry is free! So come, come, come!

back

Bologna was beautiful, warm and sunny. Plus good wine, delicious pasta, lovely shops with local food and hundreds and thousands of beautiful books for children (I only bought one). Very inspiring all of that! I also had a few very good and very promising meetings at the fair and some very interesting comments. The only bad news is that one of my owls is missing! Our suspicion is that she escaped with a pigeon (pigeon bolognese). She must have got influenced by the very romantic atmosphere of Piazza Maggiore. And now the other owl, Lampart, is very lonely and is looking for a girlfriend.

Oh, and I've never had time to get the Italian espresso I had been dreaming about...

off to Bologna!!!

Pink portfolio, yellow tights and red suitcase - everything ready for our Bologna trip! Looking forward to italian espresso and all these beautiful picture books I am going to see at the fair.

if: toy

For some mysterious reasons I woke up at 5.30 am yesterday. I went for a long walk (love early Saturday/Sunday morning walks. The world seems to be more spacious then), made the illustration for this week's IF topic and then baked scones for breakfast. I also finished putting my portfolio together and "binding" the dummy book. And as a reward - a trip to my favourite coffee shop to do some people sketching and doodling! Drawing people is not as fun as drawing animals but I decided to do some more of that. Perhaps it is just the matter of practice.