Thursday 23 February 2012

Belle Epoque: Red Coat version

Two years ago Eric, the owner of Belle Epoque (the amazingly good patisserie on Newington Green) commissioned me to draw his shop. Due to the lack of a deadline, I finally got around to finishing it last week and it arrived fresh from the printers this morning.

In total it took about eight solid days of drawing by hand, then digitally colouring and shading. I've just handed it to him and he's already talking about having it printed on postcards and mugs, so I'm incredibly relieved he liked it!


Belle Epoque print (Red Coat version, Artist's Proof), 2012

The illustration is based on source photos I took on a Monday, the one day of the week when the shop is closed. My thinking was that I wouldn't bother the customers that way and no one would notice what I was doing, but within about 10 seconds of getting my camera out I noticed a red blob out of the corner of my eye jumping up and down shouting "draw me! draw me!". It turned out to be Eric, so that's him you can see in the doorway.

If you're interested in buying a print of this, email me on microsketchdesign@gmail.com and let me know. It is available as an edition of 20 as an unframed A4 giclée print on finest Hahnemühle Photo Rag archival paper for £50 (+P&P or free hand delivery if you live in N16) and I've already had two orders, so don't leave it too late.


Belle Epoque (Red Coat version), 2012



Also available is the Pâtissier version of the print.

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Essaouira

Another previously unpublished drawing, this time from 2008. This was done on a holiday to Essaouira, Morocco. I don't think I'd considered this complete last time I worked on it, but I quite like it in this state.


Essaouira, 2008

My Old Desk

I've just had a rummage through the archives and found this drawing I did of the desk I used to work on a couple of years ago. (Things are a lot tidier in my current set up!).

Not the greatest drawing I've done by any means, but if nothing else it serves as a decent reminder to me of a scene I used to see every day.


My Desk, 2010

Friday 10 February 2012

microsketch in the media: Londonist (again)

On of my photos was used by Londonist a few weeks ago accompanying an article on Ken Livingstone's rail plans (if he wins the next mayoral election, that is).

I took the photo using a Lomography Supersampler, which takes four quarter-sized photos in quick succession, which get developed as one photo.

microsketch in the media: southbanklondon (again)

One of my photos has again been picked as Picture of the Week over at southbanklondon, which is once again an honour!



The previous time this happened can be found here.

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Like, Totally Random

This is my postcard for Random Project 2012, the topic I was given being 'Home'. I was keen to show the limits to my involvement in the Olympics with this drawing.*

As they were keen that I didn't draw it on a computer, I totally ruined it by trying to colour it with real pens, which resulted in me making a real mess, with the coloured ink going dark when I went over the black lines. Pretty awful; I wish I'd left it black. Oh well!


Home (black), 2012


Home (colour), 2012


*I'll probably turn over to something else when the Olympics are on T.V.

***Click to see the wonderful animated GIF of this created by the Random Project***