Graveyard diggers and ghost rising from grave

Graveyard diggers and ghost rising from grave

Another one of my 'pulp' horror images. Totally unoriginal but fun to do! Painted in photoshop in august 2010.

from website...
This digital illustration was painted in photoshop in 2010 at 10"x8" size. I do like Gothic horror and Hammer films and this painting of a ghost rising from the grave and frightening some grave workers/ robbers illustrates this. It is quite old fashioned in a way, much like the old book covers from decades ago I used to look at in shops. I posed for the 3 figures in the painting and took photographs, which were then used and traced within photoshop. An image like this is drawn on the computer, then painted in a traditional, layered way similar to conventional painting media. The rising spirit is the main source of light in within the image, the rest of the painting being quite dark and illuminated by the ghost's light. 

Front room bear family

Bear family in front room with son playing a computer game

Painted during august 2010 in photoshop. I wanted to have a go at painting 'nice' bears, and I also wanted to see what happens to the elements in a picture when I paint a 'tv' glow.

from website...
bear family in front room with son playing computer game
This image was painted in photoshop to a size of 8" x 10". It is a family of bears in their home but not in a cave, but in an every day human environment. The mother is ironing, the older son playing a computer game and the nipper balancing on a ball, circus fashion. I deliberately picked a very wide, impossible angle, but I cheated on the perspective, so that we get to see a lot of the room. I enjoyed painting the blue hue from the TV, and having it reflect in the characters eyes. 

Fabulous Creatures

Fabulous Creatures

Mermaid on rock with friends
King Kong plane swatter

'King Kong plane swatter' was painted in july 2005. I suppose if I was to do it now (2010) I might pick a more dramatic angle,more film like,but then this angle does show the empire state building and king kong on top of it very clearly. The joke is easily to read flat on I suppose! I would paint the clouds to a better standard though.

'Mermaid on rock' was painted in dec 2008. I had painted an earlier one about a year previously but was never happy with that one. I'm sure I will revisit this subject in time for a repaint!

from website...
King Kong plane swatter
This digital illustration shows the famous monster, King Kong up on the Empire State building. In the film he is in battle with a number of small Biplanes. Here I have added a fly swat for Kongs defence against the planes, that would seem like irritating flies to him. The fork of lighting adds some drama and helps to show his form against the dark clouds. Painted in 2007.  

Mermaid on rock with friends
A mermaid is pictured sitting on a rock in the sea in this digital illustration. She is brushing away her long, red hair away from her eyes so that she can see her other sea friends, a crab, a dolphin and a seagull. Painted in 2008.

Princesses in forest settings

Princesses in forest settings

Princess lost in the forest with cherubs looking on
Princess and the frog

'Lost princess' was painted in december 2008 in photoshop. It was quite a detailed image at the end of the day which is lost on the small version placed here on the blog. The trees and the horse both took some time to do!
'Princess and the frog' was painted slightly later in march 2009, and is based on the fairy tale of the same name.

more dinosaurs

more cartoon dinosaur paintings

Community dinosaur policeman

Dinosaur chasing jeep

Dinosaur chasing jeep was painted in September 2005, and is a comic reaction to the 'jurassic park' film a few years previously. It is painted, in photoshop at quite a small size. It was one of the first images I painted but now as a standard any image would be at least twice the size.
'Community dinosaur policeman' was painted in july 2010.

from website...
Dinosaur chasing jeep

This illustrates a cartoon cartoon tyrannosaurus rex chasing an escaping jeep with frightened occupant. The T rex has his tongue hanging out in anticipation of a meal. This painting is based on the film 'Jurassic Park'.
Painted in 2008. 

Dinosaur Community Policeman helping youngster
This illustration of a Dinosaur as a community police man is again the idea of changing a human, in a mundane activity and replacing them with a animal, or in this case a dinosaur. The species in this case is a Triceratops, and is comforting a young biped dinosaur over its broken toy, in an urban setting. Of course some is spent on reference for the clothing that a typical community policeman would wear. The illustration is painted in photoshop to a 8" x 10" format. These types of images are not drawn on paper first, but sketched out on the computer until a refined drawing is produced. The painting, using traditional methods of painting, in a virtual enviroment, are painted underneath the drawing on a separate photoshop layer, until such time the drawing can be abandoned. Other similar dinosaur paintings can be see on this site. Painted in 2010. 

http://martin-davey.pixels.com/featured/dinosaur-community-policeman-helping-youngster-martin-davey.html

news at bedtime BBC animation artwork

news at bedtime BBC animation artwork
humpty dumpty/ princess Di sketch
news at bed time main news desk. The animated characters heads, sitting up in bed, would be added in later.
Humpy dumpty death location This is a collection of artwork created for the BBC comedy 'news at bedtime' animated sketch, that can be seen here..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMXENnwd-hE. It was written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, and stars the voices of Jack Dee and Peter Capaldi, and was based on a audio recording for BBCradio 4. This animation was done during late 2009 and early 2010. The basis of the sketch is a news programe,with all the current contempory issues we see every day, but presented visually in a fairytale setting, based on old labybird book illustrations. It has been animated to the existing recording using 'flash' to move pieces of artwork. The artwork itself was created in photoshop by me, a selection of which you can see here. This artwork is production artwork as supplied to Kate, and so it is missing animation elements, which is why some images seem 'empty'. The animated sequence itself was cleverly directed and animated by Kate Sullivan, and you can see her own web site here http://www.katesullivan.co.uk/, which contains other great work done by her for the BBC as well as 'News at bedtime'.. For this project she would import artwork of a character for example, prepared by myself which would have a body with seperate arms and head. She would then join the individual limbs to the body in the 'flash' programe, and then animate the character to the BBC audio, bringing the visuals and humour to life!
I supplied a few 'bits and pieces' for some of the other projects Kate has done as well that can be see on her site.It is hoped that this 'news at bedtime' small movie will get the go ahead to be made in to a proper pilot for TV, which in turn might become a series.


unused artwork for title (lady godiva),with a nod to the carry on film type poster artwork.this is for a joke (unused) about micheal jackson as peter pan. The head is missing as it would be added in the animation.
A selection of items that would be animated. Many other pieces were provided for the animation, not shown here.

Jack and the beanstalk

Jack and the bean stalk

Painted in photoshop june 2010. I tried to get a wide angle view with the perspective lines going up to the top of the beanstalk, and where it meets the cloud.

Tea time space walk

Tea time space walk

This is one of my more unusual pieces of artwork as it was created in illustrator, a vector based drawing programe. It is also quite old and dates from june 2005. It has a bit of a retro feel to it but producing work in illustrator, or the similar vector 'flash' programe, can dictate the style you work in.

from website...
This is one of the very few vector based illustrations I have done. Using a vector based drawing program does impose a certain style on the look of the artwork. The idea of a happily married pair of astronauts, enjoying a cup of tea in space seemed a nice, quirky idea to portray, and the vector based program gives it a flat, neat style. But using a pixel based drawing program like photoshop may have produced a richer image.....or perhaps not. 

Animal sport events

Animal sport events

crocodile tennis
elephants leaping
Dinosaur football
A collection of animals in sporting scenarios. Tennis crocodile was painted april 2010. Leaping elephants may 2010 and dinosaur football march 2010. I don't have any interest in any sport whatsoever, but it can provide some interesting visuals to reinterpret.


from website....
Crocodiles playing tennis
This was painted in photoshop to a 8" x 10" format. It is changing a common human sporting activity in to one using animals, which is reflected in other examples of my work as seen on this site. The composition is something that I wanted to be dynamic for this image of crocodiles playing tennis, so I took this viewpoint almost to an impossible, but unusual point. The whites that the distant crocodile is wearing automatically make him the centre of the image tonally, the darker tone of the foreground opponent creating a framing arch. Digitally painted in 2010.  

Racing Running Elephants In Athletic Stadium
I have painted a number of animals involved in sporting activities. Other examples can be seen on this site. This digital illustration shows a heavy, but athletic elephant jumping hurdles in a track event. I like showing large elephants doing activities that would normally be reserved for more lightweight persons. The tilted angle of the horizon helps to give action and dynamics to the illustration.
Painted in 2010. 

Dinosaurs playing football
This illustration was painted in photoshop to a size of 10" x 8". The two animals playing football are replacements for humans but the animals this time are dinosaurs. They are not any type of Dinosaur in particular but are biped. I suppose I was thinking in terms of T-rex or so such species. It is funny to think of such large, heavy creatures heaping around! The football shirts or strip colours do not refer to any teams in particular but are just chosen because they work. I have done, and will continue doing more dinosaur substitute illustrations as can be seen elsewhere on this site. Painted in 2010.  

ghosts and spirits

ghosts and spirits

mummy awakes
dungeon ghost chasing princess
haunted house couple

The oldest image in this collection is 'The mummy awakes' and was painted in march 2009.'Haunted house couple' was done in june 2010, followed closely by 'dungeon ghost chasing princess' in july 2010. Each one is of course very cheesy. The mummy one was actually a redone version of one done back in the mid1990s. It was then done again in acrylic paint in the late 1990s, so this is the third version,so far. The perspective in the 'house' one is completely cheated!

from website...
mummy awakes
This 'tongue in cheek' horror illustration shows two archaeologists studying an egyptian tomb. One of them has been reading an ancient scroll which was a curse. A mummy has now appeared in the shadows at the back of the tomb.
Most of the ilumination is generated from the lamp that is held in the center of the painting. The light is just starting to fall on to the ancient Egyptian mummy. The design of the characters are slightly stylized. Painted in 2009. 

witches

witches

wicked witch and cat
wicked witch casting spell

The first image,with the cat was done in 2007. It was created in illustrator (vector) rather than photoshop.
The second,photoshop painted witch was done in feb 2009. Quite a difference in styles, although the figure is basically the same!

from website...
wicked witch casting spell
The green, wicked witch casting a spell was painted in photoshop to a size of 10" x 8". The drawing uses a wide angle view with distorted perspective, and a general tilting of the image to add drama. You would not really see the top of the witches caudron if it was a photograph, but here the cheated perspective is not noticable. The viewer needs to see inside the caudron as well to see the creature forming/ cooking! It was fun to work out the upward lighting, coming from the flames, affecting everything in the coven.
Digitally painted in 2009. 

farmers

farmers

Robin in field
Southampton cow flight
pig farmer
'Pig farmer' was painted april 2009.The farmer is a mixture of american and european looking. 'Robin in field' painted feb 2010. 'Southampton flight' was also painted the same time and features the clock tower of the local southampton civic centre.

from the website...
pig farmer
A small, cute piglett is held by a farmer. In the farmyard can be seen two cows in a barn. Digitally painted in 2009.  

Southampton cow flight
This illustration features a cow sitting atop a tall clock tower, with some home made wings attached. The farmer, its owner, is persuading it to become the first fly cow.
The clock tower is a real one attached to the Civic Centre building in Southampton, UK. An oil painting of mine of the tower itself can be seen here. For this illustration I took a number of pictures from ground level of the tower, and redrew it for the angle required here.
The image is painted in photoshop to a size of 8" x 10". Painted in 2010.

Dragons and knights in armour

Dragons and knights in armour

Knight riding dragon in flight
Dragon with next meal

The top one was painted in november 2008. The lower one was march 2007. They are unconnected except they have a dragon, knight in armour and a castle. They are also both humour based. You can just make out a leg bone sticking out of the 'armour' shoe. The fire really helps to bring out the image with out being to distracting.


from the website...
Dragon with next meal
The illustration depicts a large cartoon dragon looking at its next meal, a knight in armour. The knight is dwarfed by the dragon and probably quite worried at his outcome, based on the skeletons lying around of previous brave knights.
The digital painting is quite dark (colourwise) but the red fire in the background is is placed there to add form to the picture and make the situation more intense. Painted in 2008. 

fairy story type thing!

fairy story type thing!

Water bucket maid

Princess and Prince and friends

Princess and prince and friends was painted in photoshop in may 2010, with water bucket maid painted a month earlier in april. I tried to avoid a direct copy of 'seven dwarfs', by having six!