wiLbur's blog

bah! couldn't quite get this ready in time...

it must be still hallowe'en *somewhere* in the world, right?

here we go with another graverobber pic.
'fraid this is completely out of sequence with the graverobber *story*, however -- on account of it happened quite by accident...

remember this, the very first of my graverobber drawings?
well, it's still my personal favourite, so when i volunteered to draw in one of those *travelling moleskine* thingies for *the big draw*, on the theme of *naughty*, i thought i'd revisit it. then, after i'd begun, i decided a straight copy would be a lot less fun than rejigging elements of the composition a bit, sticking his newfound canine companion in, etc. so anyway, here it is:

well, it's been a while since i updated my grisly little series concerning the graverobber, but i haven't forgotten about it...

introducing his dog.

this went down so well (here) i decided to improve a couple of the sea creatures and add a splash of colour...

i know, you're going to tell me i've ruined it...

another book-inspired drawing -- george and lennie from the classic steinbeck novel...

...and another splash around with watercolour...

i've been reading books with no pictures in a bit lately. i reread *catcher in the rye*, a book i loved as a lit student. so i drew a picture...

mending the net

regular readers may remember my series of posts about all the twists and turns in my drawing style over the years... (or not...)
anyway, i've started drawing this little chap quite a lot, and i suddenly realised he's actually very similar to a style i was drawing in ten years ago -- here's a drawing from 1999, (a bit tatty because it got stuck on the back of a sketchbook):

and here's a 2009 redraw:

now i know they're not identical, but i thought the similarities were striking enough to warrant a little postscript to all that archive hour stuff -- the more things change, the more they stay the same, eh...?

a small exercise in trying to get a bit more texture into my colours...

...with thy big bag of bones in the night...?

whither indeed -- don't ask me... earlier parts of the journey here

well, a lot can happen in a year and a day..

i suddenly thought it might be fun to tag along a while with the character in this drawing and see where he's heading...

more soon!

in other news, there are three *wiLbur* cartoons in the current *private eye*, which is rather nice, my first hat-trick in *the eye*

sarah mcintyre (jabberworks) inspired me to have a go at a cyrano drawing, and here it is... yes, i got the watercolours out again and had a good old splash around with them this time, as you can see... (may have got a little bit carried away with the splashy stuff...)

garen ewing (of *rainbow orchid* fame) has joined in the cyrano-based fun, too, over at the *super comics adventure squad* blog -- the whole lot can be seen here

here's my latest *dark* drawing...

if this had been a commission, i'd have another go at it. i feel my headless horseman is somehow lacking in sinister qualities, plus the composition is a bit muddled in places, i fear...

also -- note to self -- try one of these that isn't framed by a tree/trees -- i really need to get out of my comfort zone some time soon!

my kids asked me to draw them an ugly ogre...


i've been splashing so much black ink on the page lately it seemed natural to have a go at trying white on black...

there's a tighter crop of it here... couldn't decide which edit i like best.

here's another *dark* drawing...
it's my effort at the famous scene in the graveyard at the beginning of great expectations...magwitch is hiding behind a gravestone waiting to pounce on pip...

i know it's pretty similar to the last one, not least because it's set in a graveyard again...but that's sort of what i'm up to here -- playing with a theme, letting one drawing lead me to the next and seeing where we end up...


meanwhile -- here's a few links:

the delightful tim harries was kind enough to draw a bodkin and the bear fan art pic

this weekend is the shrewsbury cartoon festival -- i'll be there, cartooning in the square and generally hanging around and being a reprobate, there'll be many great cartoonists there too, so if you're in the area, pop along.

plus, if you're a comic creator and you haven't heard about the BAM! anthology -- make with the clicky here