I can't believe it's August already. 2016 seems to be rushing past at record pace! It's going to be a crazy busy few weeks though, with a few adventures and projects I've been very excited about for some time now! :)

Click to play! This project has been a long time coming (you can read about Update 01 and Update 02, if you like), but I'm finally sharing the final render. It was something of an experiment, which meant it came and went with a whole bunch of challenges, but I did have a lot of fun with it! 

For the past three weeks, I've been kept busy with full time work placement in an animation studio in Dublin. It was fun, I was able to develop my skills, and I met a few wonderful people along the way. I gained so much more from the experience too; discovering what it was like to live and work in the biggest city in Ireland. I'm incredibly thankful to have had that opportunity, but it did take some getting used to... and I was exhausted from it. When I got home, I spent an entire day just sleeping, thinking, writing, and drawing in an effort to get my energy levels back up to usual. So, to kick this blog into its usual routine again, I thought I'd share one of the pieces I did that day, which helped me get back to my usual self again. :)

It's been a long time coming, but The Chicken Song is finally here! Ruth Butler and I have been working on this project for a few months now, and we're both incredibly excited to be able to share it! Ruth, always a treasure trove of ideas, developed the story and song, while I've been busy developing the visuals and animation. The journey has been a fun-filled one, so do please press play, check it out, and subscribe to Ruth's YouTube channel or my Facebook Page or other social accounts to keep up-to-date on our musical adventures! And be sure to have a very happy Easter too!

For some time now, I've been thinking about my little pocket watch logo, wondering whether or not I should update that as my icon across social media. I had a few good brainstorming conversations too, which made me wonder if it was time to start using something digital, something more characterful, and/or something closer to a visual representative of me as an artist. With all that in mind, I decided to draw up this little stylised version of myself as a character. I'm not 100% sure that I'll use it as planned (I'm pretty attached to my pocket watch!) but it was a fun little experiment all the same. :)

And so, as promised, here's the full and final piece! I had a whole lot of fun with this, and hopefully I'll be able to do more work like it soon. I've also entered this and two other pieces (this and this set) into the LSAD Drawing Awards this year, so if anyone is intending to go to that exhibition, keep an eye out for it! 

A few weeks ago, I shared a little collection cats  I'd been drawing as practice. Today; I'm sharing the canine equivalent.  (I'm also playing around with monotone palettes too!) 

I've been thinking a lot about music lately. Craving new music, falling in love with old favorites again, and working with music in a lot of my art and design work too. I realized the other day that of the four projects for/with other people that I've got in the works; half of them are for musicians, directly related to their music. That, together with the news of Bowie's death, I couldn't help but draw inspiration from the great joy that there is in listening. 

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year! For my part, it felt good to chill out, watch movies, and catch up with friends, new and old. It was also a pure delight to draw whatever I felt like for a change! The second half of last year got pretty intense in terms of creating for other people, so it felt good to draw just because I wanted to.  

After the VFX Summit last week, I was chatting with a new friend who had volunteered at the event (check out his work here!). He told me about Virtual Plein Air; drawing or painting a real scene - as though you were there - using photography or Google Maps as reference. The idea appealed to me, and I immediately wanted to give it a go! All throughout my childhood, my family would go for a walk on Sundays, and when I'm not too busy, I still like to go on little adventures like that. These days, I don't have a lot of free time to go exploring, so I figured I'd draw one of the places I've explored many times before; Roches Point, in Cork (with some artistic license). It's a speedpainting, but it's definitely a project I want to do again!