was having a beano mucking aroung last night with digital colour and ink. It's a self portrait.

I'm just trying out new ways of working at the mo, to get out of the rut. It's hard, when you graduate, you think you're at the top of your game, and it's hard not to fall into the trap of turning illustration tricks like scholl projects, so it's nice to fuck around.

aha! One pink oxjam poster! I have taped a paif of earphones to a piece of vinyl. get in there!

This is a departure for me, as it is digitally coloured...

I have woken up in Plymouth. Whoopsy daisy. So I have appropriated The Boy's Macbook, and i'm doing a poster for Oxjam. No money in this one but I reckon to get a lot of kudos from a friendly fish. At college I would probably have considered Dub Reggae out of my remit, being such an unrelenting indie drone fan. Mogwai, if you're reading this, want a poster? 

Here is life-threateningly cute picture of a wedding couple for Wed magazine.

Over the weekend, I have to spin out an Oxjam poster for G-town in the midlands, and an artwork for a mate's counselling coursework. I aslo have to go to Tesco's or starve. Nice.

p.s it would make my day if Photoshop Disasters picked up on this shameful misappropriation of the tool.

Not sure if this constitutes either illustration or a constructive use of time, but it did make Paul W spit tea out his nose

Working for Wed magazine at the mo showing a happy couple throwing the rule book out the window. Fairly literal and prozaic illustration, but ill whck it up asap, and get on with some wild and funky stuff over the weekend to make up for it x

Destruction leads to a very rough road but it also breeds creation. I think I need to start over...

I've been having fun.

Agent Darlink asked all nice like if i'd like to enter an AOI competion producing work around a London theme. I drew some wonderfully silly hats instead. You like? Deadline is next Friday, so any feedback would be useful/appreciated/shunned accordingly.

Going to Plymouth shoe shopping on saturday to match my new haircut. I am planning to become an Argyle WAG, but i'll be damned if they'll get me in orange...

Monday. day of dreams. Dreams shattered against rocks and disintegrating into shadows.
A non-student was just very rude to me and i feel a little fragile. I take comfort in the fact that he is not my superior, as he might seem to think. I have no superior. I'm not even sure i have an equal. Back with some picture news in a minute....

Went and Maisy day-ed at the Bookshop of local dreams in Wood Green where my mum lives today. I ate biscuits and accidently ending up working, selling books to unsuspecting customers who seemed to to think i'd worked there for years. It was really nice actually, I love working with books. I really have to knuckle down to my own soon. I was supposed to be hobnobbing yesterday with a publisher, but time catches up with you sometimes and drags you away from exciting times in a frog march. I have an idea though.

Meanwhile, i'm sticking up these two old portraits i did of the Bookshop Boys that i clip frmaed up and handed over as presents today to celebrate their first birthday. Interestingly, they have only got hairier since i drew these...Simon Key

Tim West

Yesterday was lovely! The tiny smalls were ecstatic to meet a big crazy lady who draws for a living. Campsbourne is a really lovely little school with such a positive arty vibe, and even the stropy kids got excited when i showed them my pictures and explained what i do. I think it's the first time i've felt like a professional drawerer. Not only that but it's made me realise just what an impact what we illustrators do has on little people. It's really made me want to tackle a picture book project again.

Went to see Agent Lady this morning. She's full of the joys of spring, promising big things from Egmont and dragging my folio to Bologna next week. What will materialise however is a different fruitbowl of fish. This wouldn't be the first time silly Cally got overexcited about the fragile phantom promise of a juicy job and ended up whimpering with her paws over her nose waiting by the phone. Poocakes. I get 'yah-darlink' blinded in a haze of 'mwahs' in these matters. Repeat after me. I must keep my pencils on the ground. Or my feet on the paper. Or something.

anyone know long it takes from Reading? i may karate chop myself in the face out of boredom in a minute. I have an interesting plan brewing involving weddings...dont panic if you're reading this Martyn...more later.

2 hours in a taxi and 3 and a half in coach D firstgreatpissedon make cally something something....
Go crazy? Don't mind if i do.

Three things are making me happy.
1) Don Draper. John Hamm, you are some kind of god.
2) I have been listening to 'Bodysnatchers' (the 'head) on repeat for 27 minutes
3) there is a lovely lovely boy in Plymouth who makes me feel like a 15yr old on a first date everytime i see him

It is nigh on impossible to draw on a train. I am going to be talking about Illustration in a primary school in North London tomorrow. I shall not tell the aspiring artists that illustration = starvation/disapointment and satsumas for tea most days.
Actuall, a satsuma would be really good right now...

I'm trying to come up with some ideas for a self-initiated book project to keep my grey matter occupied between illustration jobs, but i'm getting stuck, and over the weekend i think i worked out why. My problem has always been one of style over substance; I always knew the format of what i wanted to draw before I knew why that format might be appropriate.
I am forever indebted to Scott McCleod (not Highlander children of the Eighties...) for his chapter in Understanding Comics on overcoming the desire to put Surface i.e aesthetics before content. How many times did Alan bang on about contextualisation being the entire reason de etre for Illustration? why do these things take so long to sink in.

So i guess i need an ouevre before i find myself trapped churning out pictures for pounds with no satisfaction from what i'm doing.

Wait...can i have a cup of tea first?