New Folio Site.

Another little teaser of what is coming. Soon....

Teaser...

New Site coming soon... ish.

Sketchbook page.

Just occasionally...

Every now & then a publisher will produce something that reminds you of why you became an illustrator.
 'How The Weather Works' by Christiane Dorion Illustrated by Beverley Young & published by Templar Books is a fine example of the magic.

Draw Fest.

A fab two days at Western Port Secondary College for this years Hastings Literacy Festival.  Lots of great authors & illustrators (including yours truly), presenting to Primary students from the surrounding schools. Enthusiasm by the bucket-load,  these kids thrived on the creative energy let loose in the sessions.

Big thanks for all the hard work to: Hastings Literacy Festival Inc. WPSC, teaching staff & helpers.

Just been told I should have titled this post as 'Connah-Con', I did receive a lot of request to draw Sherlock Bones.

Scrummy Gifts Make for Tasty Illustrations.

Super nice gifts from super nice friends:

Ultra superb Clairefontaine notebook & Delfonics old school propelling pencil (wood), sourced from tucci brown, Melbourne. 

So Long Sucker!

Nice little job with the guys at Copeland Publishing.

View a larger image here in the Editorial gallery.

Ahoy!

Pirates Ahoy! Just completed a tortuose project that's had me re-learning some very basic moves in PS... Tut! Tut!
 When working on detailed images, break the components down into layers.
Example: The Bear. Layer 1: Sky. Layer 2: Background waves. Layer 3: Bears Head, torso & arms. Layer 4: Bears Pants. Layer 5: Boat. Layer 6: Oar. Layer 7: Lifebelt & rope. Layer 8: Bottles of Pop. Layer 9: For-ground waves.
 It sound laborious but if you cock-up part of the image, you've only cocked-up that layer as opposed the whole image. So, for every component of the overall image break it down into layers. & will I remember this...

So here is a snippet from the image.

To view the whole image you'll need to sail over here.

Animal Farm.

This last couple of weeks has mostly been filled with:

Dancing Rats.

Daddy Chickens

& Daughter Chickens

Late for work Bears in pants

Lady Dogs & Little Ladies

Here & There.

Having just created a new Twitter background page (grrr!), with much fiddling of page size & orientation, it  has inspired this little series 'Here & There'.

A version of the Twitter Background.

here & there II V1.

here & there II V1.2 (can't decide which of the two I prefer).

For more in this Series, wander over HERE & have a peek in the Picture Book Gallery.

Another Free iPhone Wallpaper.

That's right folks, yet another free iphone wallpaper. Enjoy.

Weekend Dervish.

Knackered after a blistering weekend spent fanatically cleaning, filming & making. Started out with a gentle Autumn clean of the house until I reached the Studio & realised I hadn't seen my desk for what seemed like a lifetime. Four hours later & sweating like a (use your own imagination here)... Desk uncovered.

Oh Joy! Arse indented cushion. It's not really that big; my arse or the cushion.

Shelves, replete with books, dusted & reordered. Completed work (dating back some 6 months), faced & put away in a cat free zone. Various 'used to be' Moths, Spiders, & undiscovered lifeforms hoovered into oblivion. Had forgotten what a pay-off a good clean can be, totally re-energised the studio & myself.
 So, that was Saturday. Sunday comes, all out of kilter with the clocks going back & my 4 yr old Art Director wants to make a movie?!? "Let's make a movie about a dog, Dad"

I love this app: Stop Motion Recorder. Great fun & now we can all be Cecil B DeMille.
& finally to top out the weekend; cracked the middle section of the current Picture Book script... relief unbound.  Metaphorical shake down... & relax.

The Nowhere Boy.

Fresh out of the box is 'The Nowhere Boy' Junior Fiction Cover. The delicious Font involved is Northwood High.

A Welcome Return To The Land of Picture Books.

After a long period away from Children's Picture Books, 2004 ('Tomorrow' Published by Lothian Books & still available on Amazon), to be precise, I've taken the plunge again. The script is in early development stage so all sorts of things could happen between now & the final draft, as is usual but I'll try to post tit-bits as I progress.
 I love this early stage of a new script, in many ways it's a lot like a new love affair, full of unguided energy, a little trepidation, a big dose of fumbling fun, never fully sure of the direction. Watching the characters evolve from the most scratchy scribblings to someone who you would be happy to have around... of course, as the process moves forward you get to play inside these characters heads, a little like method acting, you live them for a short while, imbue them with a sense of self & place. However, this is a double edged sword (& I'm not speaking on behalf of all Illustrators, I've no idea how anyone else's head operates), for, in my head, the characters & scenes are fully animated, often complete with sound & of course as such they work perfectly but trying to encapsulate that as a 2 dimensional image is, yes challenging but often frustrating. & so there is always a slight sadness that (a.) I'm not an animator (b.) loaded with dosh or (c.) sleeping with someone from Studio Aka... which, if anyone from the Studio reads this, I'm totally happy to do, just don't tell my wife.
 So, it's fun & painful all at once (that's the process I'm talking about now not sleeping with someone from Studio Aka, that would be easy... move on!),  just a little like life I guess. & in a way that's what's happening, as a Writer/Illustrator you are creating a little bit of life...

Development of Lucy (from left to right), one of two main characters. I like her high Seattle fringe.

Patterns & Textures.

Jacket Cover 'Satellite Now'. Inspired by Metric's 'Satellite Mind' from 'Fantasies'. Now all I need do is write the story behind the cover. For those keen on Type this is where you can get your sticky mitts on Inked God

'Seeds For Thought'. Matt-tastic.

You can find more textured fun over at connahbrecon.com Be sure to check out the Design gallery.

iPhone Wallpapers

Well, as promised, here is the 9 Tales Wallpaper, along with a few more images. Each image is sized for the iPhone 4 but will be fine on the 3gs or iTouch. So, have fun, go wild & have something a tad nicer than a pic of ya wife on your tasty phone... unless your wife is tastier than your phone.

 I've had a couple of requests to make 9 Tales available as Wallpaper for the iPad, if I get enough shouts it shall be done.
 Enjoy...

9 Tales

Freya Wakes The Morning.

Owl.

Sebastian Steps Out.

All The Things You Left Undone.

  For more visual goodness go here: connahbrecon.com

App Fun.

A little bit of App fun from the weekend.

Poor Jasper.

A smelly Fish might just do the job.

  For more visual goodness go here: connahbrecon.com

9 Tales

Some Digital goodness with 9 Tales.

Watch out for the iphone wallpaper coming soon. 

In the meantime why not shoot over here: connahbrecon.com

Fish Fight!

Whilst in the UK this Christmas we got caught up in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's EU Discards Campaign & I would urge anyone with the faintest interest in our planet to check out the fight & sign up here: Fish Fight!  An utterly wasteful,  pointless exercise driven by the EU gravy-train.
 So, after the family had finished cursing tiny minds in Brussels, my nephew & I mucked about with some silly Badges for the campaign; here are four, mocked-up & ready to send to Hugh.

                                  

 For more tasty treats call in here: connahbrecon.com