But is it art?

Just been doing some house-keeping on all the files on my PC and came across a bunck of artwork I've done over the years. So I thought I'd share them with the world. Generous or what?

I've always been heavily influenced by one of my all-time favourite artists Quentin Blake - and it definitely shows in this quick sketch.

Another quick sketch - this one of how I remembered writing songs with Drew Millin when I lived down in Torquay (Drew's the good-looking one on the right). I'm sure this is how we came up with 'Things Have Changed A Lot' and 'Cruising to California', two of our best songs.

This is a cover illustration I did for a children's book I wrote and illustrated back in the '90s. It was about a family moving to a new home (as you may have guessed from the removal van). Looking at it now I can see I based the guy on the right on my late Uncle Bill - right down to his flat cap and scarf.. I'm thinking of revising this book, re-writing it and self-publishing it via the internet.

A sketch for a children's book I started ages ago. In later versions the Banjo Man is a much darker, sinister figure - and nowhere near as cheerful as this. I must dig out this story and do some more work on it!

According to Claudia Reading/Workshop

Pleased to announce that my play 'According to Claudia' will be having a Reading/Workshop at the Dolman Theatre Studio on Tuesday April the First (honestly, no fooling).

There are parts for 4 women and 3 men in the 30 - 70 age range. Hope lots of people can make it!

Using Scrivener to write a successful stage play

On a previous post http://paperblog-writer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/play-writing-value-of-group-readings.htmlI wrote about how useful a group reading was for my stage play ‘According to Claudia'. Recently, I was very pleased and proud that the play has been selected by the Artistic Committee of Newport Playgoers to open their new season at the 400-seat Dolman Theatre in Newport this coming September.

This represents a great personal achievement for me – especially as other plays in the season are by such renowned writers as Noel Coward, Somerset Maugham, Ira Levin and Richard Curtis. Illustrious company to be in!

I owe my success in no small part to the marvellous writing program Scrivener – and let me say from the start that I am not connected in any way with the company that makes it. I’m just a big fan as you'll see from this previous blog of mine: http://paperblog-writer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/play-writing-value-of-group-readings.html

Since I purchased Scrivener some time ago I have found it extremely useful for all my writing, from novels to TV sitcoms.  It’s so much more than a word processor. It has various formats for all kinds of writing, a databank where you can easily store and access all sorts of reference material from photos to character sketches – and a very useful autofill function which saves you the laborious task of filling in characters’ name every time they speak.

When writing ‘According to Claudia’ I started by using the corkboard to plot the play and create a profile of each character. From there I was able to flesh out each scene in detail and then get down to the nitty gritty of writing. If I wanted to change a scene Scrivener has a useful ‘snapshot’ function which meant I could take a snap of my original scene and then revise it, knowing the first version was not lost.

When I was satisfied with the final draft I exported the play as a PDF, making it easy to circulate to potential publishers and other interested parties. Previously, I have blogged about the beauty of Scrivener – and how ‘According to Claudia’ benefitted from a group reading which enabled me to hone it to perfection. The result is that it is now being produced on stage.

I’ll be writing regular updates about the progress of ‘Claudia’ from page to stage. If you're a writer or anyone involved in theatre I hope you'll follow them and find them entertaining and useful.

You can download free trial of Scrivener here:  http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

Play-writing: the Value of Group Readings

To all script-writers who are wondering what to do next or questioning the value of a group reading, my advice is to go for it.

When I completed my latest stage play ‘According To Claudia’ to the satisfaction of my wife, Caroline, who acts as my editor and harshest critic, the time came to test drive it with a group reading.

I approached seven of the best actors in Newport Playgoers and to my relief they agreed to do it. Then terror set in. Showing your work to people who have performed in some of the best plays ever written is a big gamble. What would they think of it?  Was it good enough?

A group reading of your script can be invaluable

So, I was very nervous when they turned up at our house for the reading. Luckily, Caroline had prepared a range of delicious canapés and other tasty bites to ensure the evening was a success. After assigning parts, the reading began. It was a slow start as the actors found their way but it was soon moving at a cracking pace, with lots of laughter and “Oohs” and “Aahs” from the cast.

At the end, there was much debate about the play and plenty of positive feedback. Two of the most useful comments were:

 “What happened to my character? She just sort of faded away in the second act.”

“The main character is very strong and quite nasty – but you must give her one redeeming feature.”

There were also several suggestions about the characters’ relationships and how they could be developed. All in all, very useful – and it gave me lots of food for thought. So, copious notes were made and I’m now re-writing like mad. Next thing: another reading, and if that goes well a rehearsed reading in front of an audience in the Dolman Studio Theatre.

So, my advice is: have faith in your work. Don’t rely on the opinion of friends and family – they’re going to say it’s great as they probably won’t want to upset you. Put it to the test. Get some local actors round a table and give it a trial run. You’ll learn a lot about what you’re doing right – and where you’re going wrong!

Bill Pertwee on 'Round The Horne'

Bill Pertwee (top) with
 the 'Round The Horne'
team

Sad to hear of the death of another veteran 'Dad's Army' star, Bill Pertwee who played Air Warden Hodges.

However, for me, some of his most memorable performances were as Seamus Android on 'Round The Horne'. 
Not sure how many people remember Eamonn Andrews' Sunday night chat show - a futile attempt to rival Parkinson - but it was famous for the Irishman's inability to talk off the cuff and for his perspiring profusely when the subject matter got a little racy. 

Eammon Andrews

Marty Feldman and Barry Took's send-up was always very near the mark, never more so than in the lines (with heavy Irish accent) "My next guest has travelled literally two hundred yards to be with us tonight" and the interview-closing "And that's as true today as it was then".

'Round The Horne' is regularly repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra - always worth a listen. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00c7q4l

Sleeper

So last night four of us went to see the ballet 'Sleeping Beauty' choreographed by Matthew Bourne. 

Before the show I remarked that the last time I'd seen a production of 'Sleeping Beauty' had been at the Birmingham Theatre in January 1967. That had been slightly different as it was the panto version starring Morecambe and Wise.  

During the interval, after an action-packed and amazing first half (never thought I'd say that about a ballet), we were discussing the performance and I said, "It's brilliant but not quite as good as the Morecambe and Wise version." 

Sleeping Beauty panto programme

Everyone fell about. Not because of my witty remark but because a woman standing next to me had given me a look of pure scorn. 

No doubt, even now she's telling all her acquaintances, "There was this truly wondrous ballet, a work of pure genius, with Tchaikovsky's marvellous music - and this moron next to me was comparing it unfavourably to Morecambe and Wise."

On the very slim chance that she's reading this: it was a joke. J-O-K-E. Joke.

Special offers

"Mysterious" black watches

Just ordered a handy reading tray on the phone and qualified for a free set of 2 "mysterious" black watches, whatever they are. 

I turned down the special offer of a torch/radio despite the protests of very nice Asian salesman Derek who said, "But, sir, not only will you be able to see where you're going in the dark, you'll also be able to listen to your favourite radio station." 

Who among us, hasn't dreamed of doing that?

I should Coco

I think it was Chic Murray who said "We never had a chimney in our house. We used to have to carry the smoke out in buckets." Salvador Dali used to tell that one when he was at posh cocktail parties, usually dressed as a lobster. 

Cezanne captures the south of France

There's been a lovely series on BBC4 about how the Impressionists discovered the south of France when it was all little fishing villages and tourist-free. Then Picasso got in on the act and the next thing you know Coco Chanel is making tans fashionable among the chic thrill-seekers such as legendary photographer F Stop Fitzgerald. 

Narrated by Richard E. (for Ernie) Grant, the programme made me long for sunnier climes. 'Death in Paradise' does the same but that also makes me long for that beautiful actress who plays the sexy foil to Ben Miller's stuffy, suit-clad DI. 

You can't always get sexy foils any more. We used to lead the world in manufacturing them but alas all the factories have been pulled down to make way for cut price hypermarkets and tanning salons. I blame Coco Chanel, who should not be confused with Coco the Clown, even in an emergency. This has been a public service broadcast.

Coco the Clown

Coco Chanel

Photo finish!

Having taken lots of PR photos for Newport Playgoers' production of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' it was nice to see them used in the South Wales Argus. Even nicer was the fact that one of my photos was used on the cover of the paper's weekly Guide supplement.

Thanks very much to the Guide's editor Andy Howells - and I recommend you visit his amazing website where he writes about everything from 'Dad's Army' to Doctor Who:
http://andysretrospace.blogspot.co.uk/

Victor Mature versus the Mau Mau

Barely able to move I lay on the settee today and watched 'Safari' starring Victor Immature and the lovely Janet Leigh (a few years before Hitchcock had her stabbed by a psycho in the shower).

Amazing film on many counts, not least because the African bearers, despite having a rich musical heritage of their very own, chose to sing a Jamaican calypso as they bounced across the plain on top of a truck. 

The lyrics mentioned every African animal and just by chance they all went past when their name came up. Also featured a rhino charging mercilessly at a shop window dummy and tossing it in the air. Those rhinos, eh.

Vic was bent on revenge as the Mau Mau had killed his (very annoying) son. All that was left was the toy tank Vic had given him. Needless to say, Vic took that tank on safari with him.

Janet Leigh went down the river in a bright yellow dinghy for a lark and was menaced by dozens of crocodiles before going over a waterfall. She survived that only to be menaced by a dozen more crocodiles. We've all had days like that.

Making "ghosts" for 'Blithe Spirit'

Recently I had the pleasant job of photographing members of the cast of Newport Playgoers' production of Noel Coward's supernatural comedy 'Blithe Spirit'.

The play is about a man who, for a dinner party amusement, arranges for a medium to come and hold a seance - which conjures up the ghost of his first, mischievous wife, Elvira. Only he can see and communicate with her - much to to the consternation of his present wife.

In the play, Charles Condomine (David Constant) 

accidentally summons up the spirit of 

his dead first wife, Elvira (Eloise Rossiter) 

much to the annoyance of his second 

wife Ruth (Rosamund Jones-Griffiths)

I thought it would be good to use Photoshop to actually create a ghostly image of Elvira and these are the results, achieved by taking two photographs and overlap them using layers, then adjusting the opacity and adding a slightly green filter to give a spooky effect.

These are the results. Next project is to make a video trailer for YouTube in which a see-through Elvira talks about the play - and hopefully entices people to come along and see what promises to be a truly haunting production. Noel Coward’s sophisticated comedy ‘Blithe Spirit’ is at the Dolman Theatre from Wednesday 12^th – Saturday 15^th September at 7.15 pm, with an extra matinee performance on the Saturday at 2.30 pm. To book tickets call 01633 263670 or visit www.dolmantheatre.co.uk. More information is available online at www.newportplaygoers.wordpress.com. New members are always welcome to become involved both onstage and behind the scenes!

The beauty of Scrivener

After using it for a trial period, I’ve taken the plunge and purchased Scrivener – a great tool for writers that makes Word seem a redundant way of creating everything from novels and academic dissertations to plays and scripts.

I first used it to write a stage play and quickly discovered there are a number of different templates depending on what sort of writing you’re doing. 

When you start a new project the menu offers a variety of formats for stage, film and radio plays as well as novels and short stories. It’s easy to create your own templates too so you write exactly the way you want to write. 

Like other script-writing software, Scrivener remembers your characters’ names so you don’t have to type them in each time. Simple keyboard shortcuts enable you to go into capitals or change where you type on the page depending on whether you’re adding stage directions, action, characters or dialogue.

Fair enough. But where Scrivener scores top marks is in its ability to store everything you need for the project you’re working on in one place and put it all just a mouse click away. I found the enormous benefits of this when I recently re-discovered a book I was writing about my childhood in the back streets of Birmingham. I had abandoned the project because I had tons of information – photos, records, artwork, scraps of unfinished writing - scattered everywhere and it was proving more than a little unmanageable.

Everything can be added to reference folders.
Here's some of my artwork that I may include in the finished book.

Using Scrivener I am able to bring it all together and organise everything to make it totally accessible. Scrivener has two main panes – a binder on the left containing folders and text files and the main writing screen which doubles as a corkboard to show you the contents of each folder.  You can also add an information window on the right for keeping notes.

The corkboard  provides a useful overview of chapters,
characters, settings and scenes

It was easy importing my draft chapters and putting them into a folder. Then it was just a case of creating folders for all my research material – photos, maps, screengrabs images and webpages could just be dragged and dropped where I needed them.

 I was able to view each folder as an index card in corkboard mode – so draft chapters could be moved around into the order I wanted. This is also useful when planning plotlines for a novel or script, or creating characters or settings.

Photos and other images can be viewed in groups or individually. 

By splitting the screen I am able to view my research material as I write. So I can look at mind maps I have created around various topics and expand on these to create new sections of the book. The beauty of it is I am able to write as many documents as I like, then re-arrange them to make a chapter.

Scrivener also backs up my work automatically so I don’t have to worry about losing anything. There’s a snapshot feature too which keeps a copy of a draft that I can refer back to if things go haywire and I need a quick look at an earlier version.

When I finally finish my book – and it won’t be anytime soon, I can tell you because memories spark more memories – I can export my finished work to Word, or better still use the Compile feature which enables me to use one of the templates for exporting to eBook or Kindle.

Scrivener has loads more features – and it’s available for Mac or Windows as a 30 day free trial. Just click on the link below. I should add that I am in no way associated with the makers of Scrivener – just a keen fan of their product. It's a writing tool designed by writers for writers.

Download free trial of Scrivener here: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

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Creating 'The Hypochondriac' poster

In an age when you can download anything from the internet, copyright of images is always a problem. So when I designed the posters for Newport Playgoers' 88th Season (2011/12) I decided to create a series of posters that had a corporate look, each one featuring an original piece of artwork.

For some weird reason I actually designed the posters chronologically working my way through from the first to the last in the season. So the final one I did, with a sigh of relief, was for 'The Hypochondriac'. This was great fun to do - and not just because it was the last of nine posters. The play is a hilarious re-working by legendary Liverpool poet Roger McGough of Moliere's classic comedy. I knew it needed a caricature face - an anxious man suffering from 'le malade imaginaire' (that's your actual French).

I spent a long time drawing various pen and ink versions of the face until coming up with one that I was happy with, complete with worried expression and nightcap. After scanning it into my PC, I set about adding colour using a marvellous (free) program called Artweaver. Much like Photoshop, it enables you to work in layers and employ various brushes to get different styles.

Once the hypochondriac himself was finished I set about drawing various medicine and pill bottles - the shape of which I researched on the internet. Again these were scanned in and coloured. Finally I put all the artwork together using Adobe InDesign, jigging the ingredients around until I had the poster below.

For more information about 'The Hypochondriac' visit http://newportplaygoers.wordpress.com
If you want to try out Artweaver you can download it here: http://www.artweaver.de/

'Poor Yorick' Rides Again

Really looking forward to reprising my play 'Poor Yorick' at Blackwood Little Theatre as part of the Gwent Festival of One Act Plays. It proved successful when it was premièred at the No Holds Bard festival at the Dolman Theatre in mid-March.

Since then I have revised the play and re-cast two of the parts - my wife Caroline takes over from Clare Drewett as Yorick's lady friend Bess and David Eynon-Williams steps into the ghostly shoes of Hamlet's late father.

'Poor Yorick' tells how Hamlet’s jester tries to pioneer stand-up comedy but fails and is forced to return to Elsinore to get his old job back, only to become embroiled in Hamlet’s plans for revenge. Complete with busty tavern wenches, domineering mothers, ghosts and the invention of the exploding whoopee cushion, it promises to be a laughter-packed production.

Bruce Campbell, Sue Morgan, Chris Powell and Will Smith-Haddon
in the No Holds Bard production of 'Poor Yorick'

It was one of four one act plays that won a competition organised by Newport Playgoers as their contribution to the nationwide Royal Shakespeare Company’s Open Stages project. One of the plays that was a runner-up in the competition, 'In The Spirit Of Things' by Steven Quantick is being staged by Playgoers New Generation at Blackwood, while Dolman Youth Theatre present another Shakespeare-inspired play, 'Bottom's Dream'. Both of these are also being produced at the Studio Theatre at the Dolman from 12th - 14th April.

Tickets are available online at http://gwentdrama.weebly.com/ or  http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/blt. Alternatively, customers can phone 01495 223485.

Countdown begins to No Holds Bard!

So we’re a mere 13 days away from the opening of the No Holds Bard festival, which features my one act play ‘Poor Yorick’ – and panic has begun to set in as we’ve yet to run the play all the way through..

Yorick (Will Smith-Haddon) makes himself at
home in Hamlet's (Chris Powell) room
at Elsinore

 Focusing on Hamlet’s story as seen through the eyes of his court jester who has gone on tour pioneering stand-up comedy, the play is at least getting plenty of laughs from the cast during rehearsals.

It’s quite a cast too! Will Smith-Haddon is great as Yorick, the clown who’s ahead of his time with his observational humour – “What is it with the Black Death? That's a bit depressing isn't it?” 

Yorick (Will Smith-Haddon) and Bess
(Clare Drewett) may not have much but at least
they have each other

Clare Drewett plays his bawdy wench girlfriend Bess who specialises in knocking back ale and making rat stew. Chris Powell excels as a whinging Hamlet who is fed up of his moaning mother, Gertrude – played to perfection by Sue Morgan in a glittering gown, tiara and Marigold gloves. Bruce Campbell makes a brief appearance as a surprisingly chirpy ghost of Hamlet’s father, offering words of advice such as "Don't drink the wine".

Yorick and Hamlet discuss vacancies for court jester
while Queen Gertrude (Sue Morgan) attempts to
clean the room

The festival is Newport Playgoers’ contribution to the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Open Stages project which aims to reunite the worlds of amateur and professional theatre. With four plays offering a mixture of slapstick, bloody sword fights and romantic mix-ups it promises to be an evening of lively entertainment that gives a thoroughly modern take on Shakespeare and turns his plots into plays for today. For more information check out http://newportplaygoers.wordpress.com/

We're all really excited that our local newspaper, the South Wales Argus, is sponsoring the festival.  Please come along and support us from 15 – 17 March at the Dolman Theatre, Newport. Tickets, which are just £5 and £7, can be booked by phoning the box office on 01633 263670 or visiting www.dolmantheatre.co.uk.

Flickering images from the past

The past is a very surreal country. Just going through old cine film taken at Handsworth Grammar School in 1967. It's so grainy and black and white that lunch hour in the quad looks more like newsreel footage of recreation time in a POW camp. 

School quad or POW camp?

Suddenly there's me in the back streets of Brum wearing a houndstooth jacket, a fez and looking at the world through a tennis racket.There's Lew firing a fishing net from a bow. Scenes of a schoolmate being ambushed and beaten up, the masters versus the boys football match - referee 'Bing' Crosby. Bing again secretly filmed teaching us, and behind him on the blackboard what looks like Arabic but is some weird equation.

Looking at the world through a tennis racket

A passing parade of other masters - 'Winky' Watson, Froggy Knight, Mary Barber, Browning,  World Cup Willy Watton, Ken Doney, 'Gobby' Gilbert - all of them on their way home after a hard day's teaching. An old-fashioned number 70 bus floats down Grove Lane followed by a white-haired old man on a bicycle, me zooming past on the back of Lawrence's scooter, Jimmy Hinks silhouetted in the door of the butcher's shop, and all those young, familar faces: 'Eggy' Eggington, Billy Jackson, Gary Mills, Alan 'Gilligan's Island' Griffiths, Grant, the only black face to be seen. 

The number 70 bus floats down Grove Lane

And spliced into all this are scenes from 'Rodan', a Japanese monster film featuring a giant flying lizard. Thousands of fleeing Japanese and me, 40 years younger and none the wiser. It makes you think.

Rodan, star of Japanese B-movies

Revenge of the Three Stooges

People have always tended to look down their nose at the Three Stooges. Larry, Curly and Moe were never exactly subtle and their comedy was pure slapstick which revolved around poking each other in the eye and handing out a good slap in the face.

Moe, Curly and Larry in typical slapstick action

I’ve always had a soft spot for them, mainly because of an afternoon spent in a cartoon cinema in London with my mate Dancin’ Jones and a fellow film student called Scouse Annie. After spending lunchtime in a pub downing a few pints of Fuller’s London Pride we were up for a good time and found it  in the rolling programme of cartoons and short films.  

As always, we found the RoadRunner  particularly funny but were in hysterics when the Three Stooges flickered onscreen in a grainy old black and white movie called ‘Fifi Blows Her Top’.  I can’t remember a thing about the film except laughing until the tears rolled down my face.

All of this was brought to mind when reading Denis Norden’s book ‘Clips from a Life’ in which he recalls that at an American auction in November 1993 a signed group photo of Larry, Curly and Moe went for $1,820 while a signed group photo of Presidents  Nixon, Ford and Carter fetched $275. Quite right too. The Stooges churned out 200 films - 190 of them shorts - during their prolific career and probably brought more fun and laughter into the world than any President.

Who writes this stuff?

There are several things I find annoying about daytime TV and they’re all to do with the commercials. There are too many of them and often they’re just plonked willy-nilly into the programmes without any thought whatsoever – sometimes in the middle of a scene.

But my other gripe concerns the sponsors of these programmes whose mini-movies pop up at the beginning and end of each over-long commercial break. There's a company called Furniture Village who sponsor a load of recycled TV on channels like ITV10 and their strapline is 'You're in safe hands'. What the hell has that got to do with selling furniture? They’re not offering healthcare or insurance. They sell armchairs. Why shouldn't you be in safe hands when buying a beige sofa? Unless you're buying it in downtown Kabul. 

Why shouldn't you be safe buying a coffee table?

 Another ridiculous strapline comes courtesy of Wickes, the DIY outlet, who proudly proclaim  'It's got our name on it'. Not ‘Great tools for every job’ or ‘We can help you fix that shelf’ – but ‘It’s got our name on it’. What's so reassuring about that? This must be a dependable high-powered chainsaw  – it’s got Wickes written on it.

As for Simply Health with ‘We can be bothered’ well I should hope so. If you couldn’t be bothered I wouldn’t get my health insurance from you. 

Welcome to the Palace Flophouse Grill

John Steinbeck

Finally watched the BBC4 programme on one of my favourite authors, John Steinbeck. It was good despite Melvyn Bragg who insisted on quoting from 'The Grapes of Wrath' and 'Cannery Row'. Big mistake. He sounded nothing like Henry Fonda - he was all nasal and South Bank Show.

Back in our carefree student days, my mate Dancin' Jones and I had several ambitions - including writing a hit musical about the plumbers of Balham - but chief among them was going to live with Mack and the Boys at their doss-house shack which they called the Palace Flophouse Grill. Nothing to do all day but laze around in the California sun, drinking cheap whisky and scavenging food from Lee Chong's grocery store. It's all in 'Cannery Row'. Here's the beginning:

Mack and the Boys

"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky-tonks, restaurants and whore-houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flop-houses."

Now we need a decent documentary about Ernie Hemingway. He was once challenged to write a novel in 6 words and came up with "Baby shoes for sale. Never used."  So much for his tough, grizzled old git image. Of course writing all those Mills & Boon romances didn't help him any either.

Did either Stenibeck or Hemingway write the Great American Novel? Possibly. Melville's 'Moby Dick' is supposed to be up there as a contender but I must confess I've never read it. I only know the first line ("Pardon me, boy, is that the Chatanooga choo-choo?" Later a hit song for Glenn Miller not to mention his orchestra.) According to Seinfeld, the second time you read 'Moby Dick'  Ahab and the whale become great friends.

Creating Posters for Newport Playgoers - 'Humble Boy'

First attempt at drawing the title character

I had never heard of the play 'Humble Boy' by Charlotte Jones when I began the task of creating a poster for it.

Once again the internet came to my rescue, providing examples of other posters and various synopses. Apparently it's a re-working of 'Hamlet' - and bees and bee-keeping play a big part.



Second attempt at drawing Felix



I decided that I needed to draw the title character, Felix Humble. He's a lecturer at Cambridge University so I added glasses to make him look academic.

The action of the play takes place in a garden so that's where I wanted to put him, surrounded by bees - possibly with a bee landing on his nose.



Coloured version



The cartoon bee





I wasn't happy with my first attempt at drawing him, so started again. I knew I wanted to create the face and the bee separately and then put them together when I composed the final poster.



For the second drawing of the face I added more detail and once happy with it, used Photoshop to add basic colours. I then drew a large cartoon-style bee and coloured that. After that, I drew some flowers and a swarm of bees; then put the whole lot together to make the poster below.