Pastures New...ish.

Sun setting over Hampton court the first night we moved here

Well, it's been a while, that's for certain. The last couple of years have been busy to say the least. First a move from Ye Olde City of Bath where I had been happily living for over ten years, to a place I'd never visited until recently...Kingston upon Thames.

In Bath I was a Bath bun's throw from the river Avon but now I can look out of my window at Old Father Thames as he slowly winds his way through Kingston, then Teddington, Twickenham, Richmond, Kew, Barnes, Putney and on further through Central London which is now tantalisingly close and easy to get to. Waterloo Station is a mere 20 minute train ride away and yet I'm lucky enough to look out over the Thames and over fields and trees that are part of the Hampton Court Estate which is just down the road. I didn't mention the car wash in between me and the river but you can't have everything.

A view from The Tate Modern balcony looking towards St Pauls and the city

So, here we are, fairly well settled in but I still haven't settled into a permanent studio as we have major plans to rearrange our apartment. Part of those plans include creating a larger studio space where I can spread out a bit more. I have enough room at the moment for my drawing board, my Mac and Cintiq and a few shelves but I miss having my collection of books, magazines and comics etc. close at hand for inspiration and reference. (most of which are still boxed up in the garage waiting for a new home). I've managed to squeeze in a couple of my guitars and an amplifier so that's all right.

A smaller space than my garden studio in Bath but I'm back to work in a new space.

There's a lot to catch up on but I'm really just kickstarting this blog back into existence and there's some catching up to do. More to come soon...

Illustration Workshop 2 - February 2014

click on poster for full view

Please note new start dates and times below.

Following on from the successful workshops from 2013, I am planning another a 10 week illustration workshop starting in February 2014 in my home town of Bath for a small group of people who are interested in having some fun with their drawing and painting.  This will be aimed at individuals of all abilities so whether you are serious about pursuing illustration professionally or just want to develop your skills further then this workshop is definitely for you!

Each session will be designed to explore and develop your own image making skills in which ever medium you feel comfortable with. I will be available to talk with each individual before the workshop starts so I can make sure I can cover the aspects of illustration you are interested in.

These are some of the topics I am looking to explore through the 10 week period:

Media and Techniques

Environment

Character Design
Composition and Layout

Sketching and Visualising Ideas

Sequential Narrative

Research and Development
Portfolios and Self-Promotion

The course will run from Wednesday 26th February until Wednesday 7th May 2014. It will consist of 10 x 2.5 hour sessions.  There will be a break halfway through on Wednesday 2nd April. I am hoping there will be an option to join either a morning or an afternoon workshop which will be confirmed when I start enrolling. 

The workshop will run from 10.30am until 1.00pm. 

Students will be asked to provide their own art materials that they wish to work with and I will provide a checklist before the course starts to make sure that you will have everything you need for each session. I personally work with both traditional and digital media so can assist you with either of those...or both!

Sessions will all take place at The New Oriel Hall, Brookleaze buildings, Larkhall, Bath BA1 6RA 
(see map below for directions)
The cost for the 10 week workshop will be £180 with concessions for students and senior citizens and the payment structure for the workshop will be this:

£60 to be paid in advance to secure your place on the workshop.

£60 to be paid one week before the workshop commences.

£60 to be paid on week 6 of the workshop.

If for any reason that the course does not go ahead, I will fully refund any payments you have made to me.  I won’t be able to make any refunds if you decide to leave the workshop before it has run it’s 10 week course.

I hope this helps with spreading out the payments and also allows me to reserve the room at the Oriel Hall for our use.

Places will be limited to enable me to spend time talking to each of you individually about your work and what you would like to achieve over the 10 week period.  The last workshop proved very popular and unfortunately I had to turn several people away so it is advisable to reserve your place early to avoid disappointment.

Students will also receive a 10% discount card towards art materials courtesy of the kind people at FJ Harris and Son once they have enrolled and paid their deposit.

To book your place on the course and for further information please email me: stevecox.info@gmail.com

If you have any other questions or suggestions I would be very happy to hear from you. If these particular dates and times aren't possible then please let me know what would work for you as I am planning other courses.

Please check back for more details and information as things shape up.

In the meantime, if you want to see the creative process of a children's picture book (recently published by Hachette August 3013) you can have a look on my Behance Portfolio site.  

It's in three parts:
The Cat and The Mouse and the Runaway Train - Part1
The Cat and The Mouse and the Runaway Train - Part2
The Cat and The Mouse and the Runaway Train - Part3

View Larger Map

Lords of Awards

I was delighted to learn that the Lords of War strategic card game which I spent much of last year working on, in terms of design and illustration was very well received at the UK Games Expo last weekend. Furthermore it scooped up the award for 'Best Strategic Card Game', beating other more established contenders such as Wizards of the Coast to the top spot.  Positive reviews of the game are rolling in, including one from Beasts of War here.

I am obviously quite chuffed with the reviewer's comments: 

"I can quite honestly say this is one of the best looking games you’ll ever play. The artwork for each of the factions is utterly astounding with character filled and colourful portraits staring up at you at every moment."

It's so nice to read something like that after so much hard work! The guys at Black Box were also working hard at the Games Expo and obviously over the moon when the awards were announced. Orders have started to flood in which is fantastic news.

click on image to read read article without a microscope.

The next game 'Elves versus Lizardmen is going to print as we speak and you can catch up with other breaking news on the Lords of War Facebook page.

Lost In Space

Suddenly...I seem to be working on several space/alien based projects at the moment. It's a bit like the comment Captain Kirk made to me about UFOs a long time ago... "You sit up all night waiting to spot one and then three turn up at the same time". How do they do that? Expect to see more bug-eye monsters and strange craft appearing over the coming weeks...

This was a quickie I knocked out in a couple of hours for my American agent for a promotional themed catalogue she does every quarter. The theme for this quarter was 'Family'. I wish I'd put a pet or something in there now as well...never mind.

Below are some quick sketch ideas for another project involving kid's alien/monster masks...some more successful than others.

Illustration Workshop

click on poster for full view

Website

I'm running a 10 week illustration workshop starting in September in my home town of Bath for a small group of people who are interested in having some fun with their drawing and painting.  This will be aimed at individuals of all abilities so whether you are serious about pursuing illustration professionally or just want to develop your skills further then this workshop is definitely for you!

Each session will be designed to explore and develop your own image making skills in which ever medium you feel comfortable with. I will be available to talk with each individual before the workshop starts so I can make sure I can cover the aspects of illustration you are interested in.

These are some of the topics I am looking to explore through the 10 week period:

Media and Techniques

Environment

Character Design
Composition and Layout

Sketching and Visualising Ideas

Sequential Narrative

Research and Development
Portfolios and Self-Promotion

The course will start on Wednesday 18th September 2013 and will run for 10 weeks in total. Each session will last two hours on Wednesday mornings from 11am until 1pm. Students will be asked to provide their own art materials that they wish to work with and I will provide a checklist before the course starts to make sure that you will have everything you need for each session. I personally work with both traditional and digital media so can assist you with either of those...or both!

Sessions will all take place at The New Oriel Hall, Brookleaze buildings, Larkhall, Bath BA1 6RA 
(see map below for directions)
The cost for the 10 week workshop will be £180 with concessions for students and senior citizens and the payment structure for the workshop will be this:

£60 to be paid in advance to secure your place on the workshop.

£60 to be paid one week before the workshop commences.

£60 to be paid on week 6 of the workshop.

I hope this helps with spreading out the payments and also allows me to reserve the room at the Oriel Hall for our use.

Places will be limited to enable me to spend time talking to each of you individually about your work and what you would like to achieve over the 10 week period. I have already started taking deposits to secure places on the workshop so hurry if you want to secure a place!

Students will also receive a 10% discount card towards art materials courtesy of the kind people at FJ Harris and Son once they have enrolled and paid their deposit.

To book your place on the course and for further information please email me: stevecox.info@gmail.com

If you have any other questions or suggestions I would be very happy to hear from you. If these particular dates and times aren't possible then please let me know what would work for you as I am planning other courses.

Please check back for more details and information as things shape up.

In the meantime, if you want to see the creative process of a children's picture book (due to be published by Hachette in August 3013) you can have a look on my Behance Portfolio site.  It's in three parts:
The Cat and The Mouse and the Runaway Train - Part1
The Cat and The Mouse and the Runaway Train - Part2
The Cat and The Mouse and the Runaway Train - Part3

View Larger Map

The Hunt For Smeagol

Final version 2013 - click on image for closer look

I drew the first version of this in 1983 with a biro in a sketch pad and have only just got around to doing something with it (where does the time go?). Of course Peter Jackson has embedded his own ideas of what Gollum and Gandalf should look like in his films. It's always tricky drawing stuff when you're up against that kind of thing. Anyway, I did the basis of this many, many years before the film was even conceived and based on my ideas I'd visualised when reading Lord of The Rings in my teens.  I might have to do a few more...

Biro version 1983 - click on image for closer look

There Be Dragons

Every 3 months this year my New York agent has been sending out promotional sheets in a catalogue for each illustrator she represents. Each one is themed and this one is simply called 'Movement'. As I'm up to my armpits in lizardmen for the Lords of War cards I thought it might be nice to keep things reptillian but go for a more classic children's book dragon with this. My rough sketch below the finished illustration shows the movement dynamic I was trying to get into the piece. The shape and size I had to work in was dictated to me so I had to fit everything into that shape. You can be the judge as to how successful I was! Always hard to know when to stop with this kind of thing but other jobs beckon so I guess I'm done on this one.

Lizardmen

© Steve Cox 2011

Here's a few Lizardmen character sketches I've been designing for the Lords of War game cards. I'm getting closer to finishing all of the characters for the game now. The whole thing has got to go to print in a couple of months time for the game launch in late Autumn.

Elves

Here's a preview of some of the Elves I've been amassing for the soon to be released Lords of War trading card game. Lizardmen next...

Monstrum

I'm not sure who this fellow is but sketching is a good way of getting things going on this damp and windy June morning.

Greyscaling an Elf

Second attempt with this...

Well, this is not for the faint-hearted. Having just invested in a new iMac workstation, I thought I'd try the QuickTime screen recording feature. So...not entirely successful and without boring you with details this is a bit of a fudge to get it speeded up. I could tell you that I work this fast on a good day but then I would be lying.

Ideally there would have been proper editing to make more flash with some suitably ambient elfish music, opening title sequence, fancy annotations, popcorn, B movie slot etc etc etc. Ho hum, never mind.  Just make yourself a coffee, put your own elf music on and sit back to be numbed senseless.

Bear in mind this is just a base painting for a figure that will be printed pretty small (playing card size).  All tidying up etc will be done at the next colouring stage.  Hopefully by then I will have worked out how to use Apple's new iMovie to edit it into a more viewer-friendly package.

Elvishness

Orcs and Dwarves are mostly completed so it's time for a few Elves.

I'm enjoying the opportunity to do a lot of figure sketching and also trying out a few new painting techniques with these.

No Elf puns today but I might not be able to contain myself next time around.

Krod Klouthammer & Gordona Ironhelm

Two more characters from the Lords of War game.

Rock On

One of the joys of working on a project like this is the input from a creative client. It feels much more like a collaboration when you know the person who is commissioning you has spent time thinking about how things might look. It can make the process a lot more interesting when I can take someone's concept and develop it visually, rather than having a vague idea to work with. I also know that with this particular project I can do pretty much what I want around the description. This is just a great way to work and I wish all projects could be like this.

Here's the client's brief/description...

Rock Hounds: These are massive dogs that the Dwarves use underground, in their dark, twisting mines, to smell out minerals. They should be slightly calcified, and on their backs some small stalactites should be forming. They need quite large, round eyes for seeing in the dark, probably yellow, and generally need to look tough, scarred and growling.

More like this please.

Dwarfed

Still amassing the dwarf army in the studio allowing me an opportunity to try out a few different painting techniques I'm currently experimenting with...and which explains a few inconsistencies here and there. I'll sort those out later. I feel like I've learned so much recently whilst working on these but I'm also having to remind myself that these characters are only going to be about 6cm high when printed on the game cards so I'm probably already putting in too much detail. I'll probably have to beef the outlines a bit up to kick them off the background as well but we'll see when I assemble the final artwork.

The intention originally was to just colour my rough sketches with a bit of tidying up here and there but it's hard not to get carried away. In any case, it will be good to work some them up to a higher standard at some point so they can be used in a larger format elsewhere. I'm enjoying creating these a lot.

Dwarf Sharpshooter

Started colouring Dwarves today. How many shades of brown can be achieved I am wondering...

Dwarvish

click on pic for less dwarf-like sized image

Hot on the ironclad-orc-heels come the Dwarves...

These are my first few Dwarf sketches for a set of 20 gaming cards. This whole series is going to be fun to work on.

Goblin Before Breakfast

click image for bigger goblin

Up early again and drawing goblins before I even have a mug of tea as I am having to assemble an Orc army in a short space of time. Goblins are small, annoying and just plain nasty. Don't invite one into your home for breakfast.

Keeping It Green and Mean

click image for bigger Orc

From a green skinned frog to a green skinned thing. Another project I'm working on at the moment involves a bunch of Orcs who will form one quarter of a games concept I am not at liberty to go into detail about just yet. This is a very exciting venture and a lot of fun to work on. I'll post the odd piece now and again but the whole project should be in production later this year.

Boris The Boastful Frog

Click on images for a closer look

Ok, things have been a little slack on the old blog front recently. Not because I've been idle, far from it in fact. Several fun projects have come my way recently and I've been busy beavering away on those, some of which are starting to take shape nicely. Boris the Boastful Frog is one of them and I'm hopefully just about to sign off on the artwork bar a few tweaks here and there. Hot on the flippers of the sketches I posted back in November, here a few more finished images which made it into the book. I'm not sure about publication dates yet but will put those up when I know. Hoppy Mondays.