John Shelley's Blog, page 21

A Drawing a Day #7

Why Princesses you may ask? Well, my 8 year old daughter might have something to do with it, though she claims she no longer likes princesses!

A Drawing a Day #6

A muse mood. Not sure where this came from, I think it fell out of the pen.

A Drawing a Day #5

The organic growth of towns is another theme that I'm attracted to.

A Drawing a Day #4

 This was inspired by the jumble of city life in London. Much as I love harmony of environment, I also love some chaos, places where streets and architecture don't quite fit together well. My current location is slower paced, though no less jumbled with centuries of buildings jostling on ancient medieval streets.

A Drawing a Day #3

A Drawing a Day #2

A Drawing a Day #1

For a while I'm posting a doodle every day. No planning, no under-drawing, just a pen going for a walk. Here's today's image!

Summer Greetings

Best Wishes to all my readers!

This year is very much a working holiday for me, scribbling away on illustrations into the early hours on projects to be revealed all in good time. In the meantime, have a cool summer!

Lost Jobs (an occasional series): Hooter's Island

Sometimes things don't go exactly to plan. You're commissioned for a job, the artwork is delivered to the client, but then plans change, for one reason or another it never sees the light of publication. Sometimes the work is a preliminary sample for a project which is later dropped, sometimes the production budget disappears or other outside circumstances interfere, occasionally the job is cleared by the art department, only for the company boss to veto at the last minute. It's usual for 'hiccups' to be sorted out at sketch stage, however very occasionally it happens after the production of finished artwork.

I thought it might be interesting to show some production anvils, some "Jobs that Never Were".

Case 1. Hooter's Island

The drawings in this post are all for a book that was never published. Some years ago I was commissioned to illustrate a children's novel with black and white drawings by an editor who had previously worked for one of the biggest character licensing companies in Japan (think of a certain cute kitten...). The story had originally been written as the plot to an animated film but shelved with the 1990's economic crisis. By the time I was approached the editor had started his own company and planned to publish the story as a novel. What he didn't explain was that he had written the story himself under a pen name - it was his own pet project - the printing and distribution was to be funded purely out of his own pocket. It was, in essence, a self-published book.



I completed the work and handed over around twenty finished illustrations, plus a full colour cover, but low and behold, he ran out of cash. The editor vanished, and the printer, who I believe was also never paid, held on to the artwork as collateral, fortunately after a struggle I was eventually at least able to convince him to give me the drawings back. I'd accepted the job under the presumption I was dealing with a respected editor at an established company, I would certainly have thought twice had I been aware of the circumstances.



The story was about a group of children en-route to visit a high-tech underwater adventure land, who are caught in a storm and wrecked on an abandoned island.



After dragging their pod transporter ashore squabbling ensues and they divide into rival factions.



The children split up to explore the island, and discover shipwrecks...



... shark infested waters...



... and eventually some realise the island is inhabited by mysterious 'Hooter' creatures.





The rivalry gets worse, the children divide into two groups.



All seems lost until an abandoned science laboratory is discovered at the centre of the island.





There, the Hooters are revealed as benign protectors of the island created by a long dead scientist. A distress signal is sent, and after a final showdown between the two main rivals the children are eventually rescued.



The story was a melding of familiar elements in a lightweight, adventure setting. Kind of Island of Doctor Moreau meets Lord of the Flies meets Pokemon, for an 8 - 10 year old readership.



It was a shame the work was never published, they're not really drawings that can easily be adapted for other uses. But at least I can share them here.

Sketchbook reveries

Here are some more random meanderings from my doodle-pad sketchbook.



As I've previously mentioned, I tend to sketch and doodle when I'm on the train. However following my move to Norwich the occasions for making train journeys have decreased drastically, opportunities for doodling reveries have hence become rarer.



When I'm in the studio I turn my thoughts mainly towards work and deadlines, in particular when my daughter returns home from school sketches are especially far from my thoughts. However this is a historical and creative city, there are numerous interesting cafes in the Norwich Lanes area and parts of the old town. if I can get into town I often drop into one of these cafe's for lunch with my sketchbook and story ideas note-book, plant myself in a corner and scribble away over a latte and sandwich.



Recently although I'm pretty tied up with deadlines right now, even if I stay in the studio at lunchtime, rather than hunch over a laptop I try to use the time to doodle for a short while.



Nomatter how busy I am with commissioned work, finding just a little time every day to draw freely is important therapy for the mind and imagination.

 More to come....