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!

Creating Posters for Newport Playgoers - 'St Trinian's'

As well as designing the posters for all eight forthcoming productions by Newport Playgoers, I also agreed to do the one for Dolman Youth Theatre's 'St Trinian's' which is at the Dolman Theatre from 8 - 10 December.

My first attempt at re-creating
a Ronald Searle St Trinian's
schoolgirl

This was a joy to do as I've always loved the drawings of Ronald Searle who created the fiendish schoolgirls as cartoons for magazines and books before they were turned into a series of highly successful films.

One of my personal heroes, John Lennon said, "The two people who have probably had the greatest influence on my life are Lewis Carroll and Ronald Searle" and you can see that influence at work in Lennon's very loose, surreal drawings.

A hockey-wielding schoolgirl

Searle probably isn't as celebrated in the UK as he once was, but his influence has been immense - you only have to see his work to appreciate this. Another of my favourite artists, Quentin Blake, is clearly influenced by Searle.

Wouldn't want to meet her on a
dark night...

Among his other work, Searle created the images for films such as 'Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines' and 'The Lavender Hill Mob' as well as scores of illustrations for advertising campaigns, books and magazines. Some great examples of his work can be seen on this excellent blog dedicated to Searle:  http://ronaldsearle.blogspot.com/

A blonde bombshell - originally
drawn by Seale smoking a cigarette
which I omitted from my version

For the poster I decided to do my own versions of some of Searle's wildcat schoolgirls. However, his very free style is not easy to imitate - it takes years of practice to draw in a style that looks effortless - and it took me many attempts before I was happy with the results.

When I had five that I thought were good enough, I coloured them in - using a similar watercolour wash employed by Searle - then composed the poster using InDesign.