More sophisticated traveller...

Guess what country this poster represents?

It makes me want to scream "TOMATOES!"

Rendered in gouache to get that extra big fruity red.

The Sophisticated Traveller

If you're coming here because of the exhibition at Design Centre Enmore, WELCOME!

I'm actually a 3D animator by trade, but since I came from a technical background, I wanted to broaden my skillset by studying design and illustration.

From here, I'm aiming to create my own graphic novels.

Oh, and on the left we see a collage of a Maori dressed in a Japanese Kabuki style, because he is... a sophisticated traveller! I liked the idea but I had no idea how it would turn out. I think it worked rather nicely.

Lady Hawk

Lady Hawk!

The fun you can have with Corel Painter.

Medieval Cart... eep!

A major project for drawing class, featuring a medieval cart.

So, I decided to show a broken cart with a suspended horse. Because I am like that.

Combination of watercolour and ink.

Shipwreck by moonlight

Shipwreck by moonlight, on scraperboard.

The assignment was to study reference of boats, and render a realistic scene featuring a realistic boat. Shipwrecks look nice at night for some reason. Add moon.

Shiny teapot

This was an exercise in observation. We were given tarnished objects which we had to draw, then render in high contrast to give them the appearance of being polished and shiny.

I lightly sketched in pencil first, then I used ink and brush.

"Double Take"

A project called "Double Take", where at first glance, you see a building. At closer inspection however, you see...

Well. Look closely. :-)

Also known as "how to go insane with crosshatching".

Concept rendering: seahorse

Concept rendering of a mythical animal, using acrylic on canvas paper.

I mixed most of the colours on the canvas as I was painting.

Surrealist fish ladder

This is a surrealist image rendered in coloured pencils on blue card. The format is for an art catalogue cover.

Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard

This is a painting I did last year using acrylic on card, with an impasto base.

The idea was to create a stylised picture based on a palindrome. The picture had to work the right way up and upside down, like the design for the backs of playing cards.

My palindrome was "drab as a fool, aloof as a bard".

This artwork was one I created recently as part of an assignment: we had to design a campaign for a famous designer. I did Jimmy Choo, a shoe designer, and called the campaign "Wild Nights" (for those sophisticated women who like a night out on the town).

I created a simple cityscape (Illustrator) that was overgrown with rainforest (black ink). This design was composited over a background of coloured inks.

A happy wolf taking a dip in a river.

Rendered in pencil.

(Click on the image to enlarge.)

Cheetah, rendered in pencil.

Yes, I am an animal nut. I am also too fickle to choose a favourite animal; they're all too cool!

Snake shedding its skin.

Rendered with watercolour pencils.

This is one of my older portfolio pieces.

Kettle rendering exercise

A lighting exercise using pencils and a copper kettle.

Light from the left, light from the right, and light from the top, boo boo bah doo!

(Click on the image if you want to see it bigger.)

Good ol' M. C. Escher.

This was an exercise in ink using crosshatching to create tone.

Sketch in the park

One drawing class, we went down to the local park to sketch the trees, benches, lamp posts... maybe not the guy driving that small street-cleaning thingamee...

He passed me three times while I sat and scribbled out this image. I don't know if he wanted me to draw him, or whether he was waiting for me to leave so he could sweep under my bench.

Who can ever know...

I did this one with pencil. This was after the sun came out, and we ventured out of the shopping centre, where we had taken refuge when heavy rain took offence at our drawing activities. (There's only so much you can do under a leaky umbrella before you admit defeat, and head for the nearest source of hot chocolate.)

Squid queen and floating cat

Nothing like a floating cat with which to start your day.


"No matter how hard he tried, he could not get his feet to touch the ground" was the caption of our Book Illustration assignment, based on the theme of Chris Van Allsburg's book, "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick". Our content was open, so my obvious choice was to depict a group of very bad mice who were up to something. With graphite pencils.


Our second assignment was to show a gruesome and startling metamorphosis. Squid appeared to be the dish of the day amongst my classmates for some reason. But MY squid-lady has class! So, if you're suddenly transforming into a sea-loving form, at least you can bask in the comfort of knowing that none of your subjects would DARE mention it. At least, not to your multi-tentacled face.

This was a pencil drawing that I scanned and then painted up in Photoshop with a Wacom tablet.

Art Market Prints

I finished these two images recently for the art market that my illustration class will be running during the Enmore TAFE show (28th - 30th April).

The budgie image will appear on printed bags as part of a 12-image montage. All of the images were created by my class.

The budgies and meerkats will also be sold at the market as A5 prints and greeting cards.

I used a range of techniques to create these images, including ink and brush, gouache, ripping card, collage and Photoshop.

Welcome to the blog!

Well, I've gone and started a blog. I'm studying design and illustration at TAFE, and members of my group are beginning blogs so that we can share our artwork with the world. Huzzah!

Only trouble is, there's quite a backlog of material to share. It's a blog and not a gallery, so what the heck, I'll just throw in bits willy nilly. Hope you like 'em!

Let's start with one of my favourites, a possible cover for "Born" magazine. I'm something of an animal nut. This picture was done last year with acrylic paint.