Portrait painting 4

I just realised that I have never posted this portrait painting onto my blog, so I'm doing it now at long last. (It's been on the facebook fan page for ages!)


It's a watercolour painting from back in October 2009, and is a portrait of my artist friend Nicole Volbeda.

Nicole came over from the Netherlands in 2008 to study on the MA Animation course at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) in 2008/09, which was the same time that I was in the final year of my BA Animation course.
We met online in the months leading-up to the start of her new course, so we kinda new each other before she even got here; and around that time she started a new blog to document her adventures in Edinburgh and keep friends back home up to date. In relation to that information, this painting was based on a photograph from her first "pre-move" visit to Edinburgh in the summer of 2008 (as published in one of the earliest entries on that blog).

While she was at ECA, Nicole developed a proposal to create a new children's TV series called Lilly Knows It All, which would have a bunch of short episodes (roughly 2 minutes each) starring a cheeky 5 year old girl & her strict mother, with the plot for each episode being a fun interpretation of traditional sayings being put into conflict: For example, one episode might focus on a conflict between the sayings "silence is golden" and "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"; while another episode (like the one Nicole animated at ECA) is about Lilly's strict mum ("know your enemy") being forced to buy a puppy because Lilly - in protest at not being allowed to get a dog - chooses to cause more trouble around the house than a dog would ever cause ("if you can't beat them join them").

Towards the end of my academic year (June 2009), I spent a few days helping Nicole with the digital colouring of that Lilly Knows It All episode using TVPaint on PC and a bit of Michael Jackson music blaring out through the otherwise empty studio (cos we started working together in the morning after MJ's sudden death)...
You can watch an "in-progress draft" of the full episode featuring some of my colouring by clicking on this link to the relevant post on Nicole's Lilly Knows It All blog.
You can watch a 1-minute introduction/sample of the fully finished episode on YouTube by clicking here.
And you can read all about the concept and development of the series on the Lilly Knows It All blog at: http://improvelilly.blogspot.com.

Nicole has now moved back to the Netherlands, having graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in November 2009, but you can check out her latest artworks (drawing/painting/animation) and other wonderful creations (knitting/sewing) on her new blog at: http://nvolbeda.blogspot.com/

12fp(s) - painting 20

This is the most recent piece from my series of Film-inspired Paintings, created in February 2010, a month or so after my exhibition at the Filmhouse last year.


The original film source has a stunning vitality to its aesthetic, with strong colours and bold lighting - it's a perfect example of the 1950s Film Noir style reincarnated in the 21st Century. And it was this wonderful visual style that attracted me to painting the image in the first place.

While working on the painting I knew that using colours alone would look horrible. So after laying down all the colours and letting the paints dry, I went over the painting with black outlines and texture (in a process similar to some of my favourite paintings from recent months) in order to improve the visual depth of the image and make the finished piece come to life.

Film/TV caricatures

...And finally for just now [regarding all the posts about my caricature work], here are some Film & TV caricatures that I made since the end of the Winter Olympics.

Quentin Tarantino (Film director)

Carey Mulligan (Actress)

Bradley Cooper (Actor)

Rab C Nesbitt (TV character)

I'll get back to posting some 'proper' artwork tomorrow...

Winter Olympics caricatures

Throughout the 2010 Winter Olympics I found myself glued to the TV for way too many hours (I was watching Curling or Snowboarding during the afternoon/evening, and Ice Hockey through the night). As a result I found myself spending very little time on my artworks, but at the same time, the short breaks in live sports coverage did inspire me to start trying some caricatures.

With a near-empty sketchbook, a big pile of old newspapers (full of pictures), and nothing else to be doing during the two 15 minute intervals of every Ice Hockey game, I realised that it would be the perfect opportunity to experiment with some caricature work... If nothing else, it would prevent my drawing and painting techniques from getting rusty!

Over the past three weeks I've made about 20-or-so caricatures in my little sketchbook: They've been a bit hit-and-miss so far, but I've been enjoying the learning/development process. Here are a select few:

Lindsey Vonn (Skiing)

Wayne Gretzky (Ice Hockey)

Jarome Iginla (Ice Hockey)

Jackie Lockhart (Curling)

Amy Williams (Skeleton)