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I've just had my comp copy of another book I've illustrated for Cambridge University Press, like the ones I did last year it was done for the Discovery Readers range.


This one, A Little Trouble in Dublin was 25 illustrations in all, and after the approval of my rough pencils it was pretty much an illustration a day schedule.


Precocious teenage twins Andy and Mary get into a scrape with some criminals who run a forged euros racket in Dublin. Here, they've ended up at the Garda station where I designed a "watch out" poster, that gets mostly obscured... it was too visually distracting when it was where the map of Ireland is now, so I sacrificed it, the effort wasn't wasted though as it helped continuity in the next image where the twins had changed their clothes...


Four merit points for anyone who spots the two "in" gags I've included in the previous images and a gold star for anyone who gets the gag in the following one.


Don't ask if you're right though, I'll never tell!

I've entered the V&A Illustration Awards 2010 with the work I produced for Cambridge University Press. The work was for a couple of books published earlier in the year, but I have only entered with illustrations done for Tales of Terror.


My entries can be found here. It's all very exciting. Fingers crossed for me everyone!

The reason I entered was a twitter post I saw made by Dave Gibbons. Now, I'm not wholly sure I like twitter, but without it, I doubt I'd have entered...

Two? TWO posts in one day? surely not!
Twisted Creatures again... a quickly coloured up ink sketch.


I had chosen the humble Donkey for this round, please follow the links to see Matt's and Phil's for very different, but wonderful takes on the theme.

Ever since I was small I've always mis-heard the pronunciation of Don Quixote... This idea wasn't going anywhere until I talked to my lovely wife the other day and she casually said "What about Donkey O'Tay and Sancho Panda?" - I swear, I nearly wet myself.

Phil has chosen the Hyena as the next victim creature.

The Cambridge University Press books I did illustrations for earlier in the year are going to be published soon and I received my complementary copies last week...


I thought I'd share a couple more illustrations from Tales of Terror and Tasty Tales here too.

  

Well, I'm nearly settled in the new abode but I'm struggling to find my stride with regard to getting back to work properly... I need to focus rapidly as deadlines are starting to loom like mountains on the horizon now!
What I could do with is a "no pressure, no ties" sort of thing, something small, where it doesn't matter what the final piece looks like, just a deadline of some sort...

...the new topic for DrawerGeeks is TROLL.



The thought process behind this one was simply: There is no way something as evil and conniving as a troll is going to be outwitted by something as bone-headed as a goat.
I vote for an alternative ending for 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' when the third and oldest goat happens upon the bridge the Troll thinks that this goat, although bigger, looks a bit stringy. The Troll decides to saddle this goat up, ride into the field where the other littler goats went and have himself a nice feast. Then it's off to market to sell the big dumb animal he's riding.

Another illustration from Tales of Terror for Cambridge University Press. Well, the background to one anyway.


Quite pleased with this - most of the illustrations I've done recently for Cambridge University Press have turned out quite well. There has been a lot of things I have struggled to get right, but somehow that increases the satisfaction when you've finished and you're happy with the results.

This is all painted digitally in photoshop, over quite a loose sketch. I've got a couple of custom brushes that behave slightly unpredictably and they've given this a mixed natural media feel - well I think so.

I thought I'd share three other illustrations that I've done for Cambridge University Press in Madrid. All done for books in their Discovery Readers range, the first two are from Tasty Tales.

This first one is a kind of Harry Potter styled kid with whiskers...


sketches:


tighter pencils:


This next one is a nice, tasty, Full English Breakfast... in its natural environment - a seaside B&B!


sketches:


tighter pencils:


... and this one comes from Tales of Terror and is from an adaption of the Edgar Allen Poe story The Tell Tale Heart.


sketches:


tighter pencils:


Hope you enjoyed seeing these - I've got a few more to do which should be good and I'll share a couple of those when they're complete too.

The current DrawerGeeks topic is Jack and The Beanstalk:


Didn't have much time for this again...
I was going for a "not much more than a hill of beans" and a "credit crunch" - bad deal thing...
In the end I went for this cheap Deal or No Deal gag. You win some, you lose some... I think I lost this one!

I found this great free online font generation service via Mark Cardwell's Bad Librarianship blog. I'd been thinking I'd like to have a go at getting my own block capitals done as a font... Well I think there's a lot more potential than simply that with this fab online service.


I got this workable truetype font as an almost instantaneous result of uploading a template page and pressing a button. I know there are some problems with a bit of the kerning, but with a bit of fiddling, I think you could get a great font as a result.

I don't normally big-up things like this, but this one was relevent and useful to me.

That's right, the next dazzling installment is ready for your viewing pleasure...



...and, as they say, the thick plottens!!

Rup and Matt, my good old pals, suggested a rock underneath Taormina's foot - they thought she looked like she was floating in mid air in the rough from my last post - I think it worked, so thanks guys, I appreciate your input!

Just after Christmas I did five illustrations for a book about the fictional life of giants... I was in a bookshop yesterday and found that the book was out on shelf!! From those five illustrations, only two have made it into the final book but if you want to see my first commissioned work in print: The Secret History of Giants is published by Templar Publishing and I am credited here, which is really cool!
...and for those of the curious persuasion, here, in all their glory, are the five illustrations I did!

Giants Playing Quoits

The Giant's Daughter's Wedding and A Giant With A Dragon's Tail

Jack The Giant Killer and The Childe of Hale

It's nice to be in print and especially to be involved in a nice project with a well respected company...

...buuuut, this is the only real work I've had this year...

It's been a criminally long time since I managed to get an episode of Taormina posted...
So, just so the three of you out there who're following her adventures don't think I've let her fall by the wayside. I thought I'd post a bit of work in progress.


This is the first panel, without line-work for now. There are some details to tighten up but the main thing I'm not happy with is the arm holding the log. Her whole pose is supposed to be a bit Boudicca. She is not worried about the haima-vulture and I want to maintain that confidence in her. Perhaps I can just lose the log from the last episode, not worry about that level of continuity and just have her hold on with both hands?

Anyway, this is just a taster and I hope to get the episode finished and posted this week.

Both the creatures in this are fierce too!

Author: David Michael Slater Illustrator: S. G. Brooks Published: 2004 Flashlight Press ISBN: 0972922512 Chapters.ca Amazon.com Funky illustrations, full of action and emotion, contrast the frustration of an imaginative young boy with the misinterpreted reality of his moms impending marriage. Its a palpable reminder of the power of perception — but our daughters come back for the laughs. Tags:childrens book, David Michael Slater, Podcast, S. G. Brooks, The Ring Bearchildrens book, David Michael Slater, Podcast, S. G. Brooks, The Ring Bear