I've Moved!

The Hole Behind The Hedgerow is now here. See you there!

Exciting times!

Well, 2011 is turning out pretty good so far. I'm working on a couple of books, for REAL LIFE publishers who want me to draw pictures for them! It's been really exciting, and hopefully the start of a long and illustrious career drawing kids books in a shed at the bottom of the garden.

Here's a sneaky peek - the first is a book for Pearson, and it's being put together by the wonderful folks at Bigtop Design, who have been super friendly.




I'm also working on a series of books about a mystery-solving gang of mermaids for Boxer Books. It's really early days, but i'm excited about the characters. Here's a few of them...





This has all given me a really good excuse to buy lots of pens, which makes me very happy.

Books books books

The pile of unread and half read books by my bed is getting bigger. My long term concentration span is not what it was - maybe i'm getting alzheimers.

Resolution

So here's one of my New Years resolutions in a handy iPhone wallpaper format, so i can can remind myself everyday. Please feel free to download it and use it if you need a similar reminder.

It's ironic that it involved very little drawing though. I'm failing already!

This was part of a project by New York designer Chris Steger, whose set up the To Resolve Project. And he very kindly posted my wallpaper up there too. Cheers Chris!

Merry Crimble!

Have a wonderful Christmas everybody.

Love from Tom, Tabby, Archie and Seth x

Spent

This was going to be for Illustration Friday but i was too late. There was meant to be a bike in it too, but i thought it looked quite good without one.

Domestic Abuse Campaign

We are about to go live with a big domestic abuse campaign, so i thought i'd pop the artwork up here. I'm pleased with the result - it's the first time i'd actually had the budget to realise a concept properly. We hired actors, a brilliant photographer (my good pal and bandmate Anthony Jones) and a venue, and the photoshoot went really smoothly.

Unfourtunately, due to a bit of administrative oversight, the head of my department didnt see the images until the very last minute, and she didnt approve of the last poster with the domestic scene. She felt it was too violent and was worried we would get into trouble with the press. I understand her concern, but i still think that us showing a bit of bravery by putting this up would stand us in good stead with the public. For a change i felt that this was a project where we could make a bit of difference to people by putting out a thought provoking campaign, but alas fear won out in the end, as it so often does.

Afterwards

This weeks Illustration Friday entry is a slight cheat, as it is actually my wifes birthday present which happens to fit in with this weeks theme.

I was stomping up the hill after a particularly horrendous day at work, listening to Godspeed You Black Emporer and thinking about what i could do for Tabbys birthday, when my mind drifted to what we would do in the event of an apocolypse as a family. I decided that before we did anything else we would have to comandeer 3 dinosaurs and a Sabre Tooth tiger, and from there the world would be our oyster.

It's a bit of a risk posting this up for Illustration Friday though, as it's not my wifes birthday until Saturday! I'm fairly certain she wont see it though, so fingers crossed....

I tattooed my banjer

Here be dragons!

_G107621, originally uploaded by tombabylon.

It's always so lovely seeing your work in print....

Illustration Friday - Immovable

Well, last night we had a terrible nights sleep, but at least it resulted in a good idea for this weeks Illustration Friday theme, "Immovable".

And the little bugger certainly was. No matter how many times you turn them the right way they always seem to end up parallel to the headboard. Maybe he's pointing towards Mecca or something. Then he had the cheek to say that our bed smelled, and could i put him back in his straight away thankyou very much.

Illustration Friday - Atmosphere

Midnight Courtyard, originally uploaded by tombabylon.

This is my entry for this weeks Illustration Friday theme 'Atmosphere'. It was originally a spread for Teach Primary (hence the big space with not much going on it it) but i was pleased with the sense of atmosphere i manage to conjure up in this one.

sleepyheads

sleepyheads, originally uploaded by tombabylon.

Round the island race

_G106433, originally uploaded by tombabylon.

It was our annual round the island race on Wednesday, the midway point of Mersea week. I'm not quite ready for jumping in and out of boats yet so i sat it out this year, but had a great time watching the boats coming across the strood.

From the sketchbook

Here are some sketches of the boys doing what boys do best - looking under rocks and playing in the mud.

One massive ear

Poor old Seth got stung by a mosquito on the ear while he slept. Now it's gone mahoosive. Hard not to laugh at the poor little mite - he's walking around all unsymmetrical and flappy.

How to trap a dragon

Here's another spread for Teach Primary. My 3 year old son pointed out quite correctly that the men hiding behind the tree didnt dig the hole big enough. May have to go back to the drawing board...

Thankyou

I have no intention of covering anything personal in this blog, as it's purely a receptacle for silly drawings and pretty photos, which will no doubt be infrequently updated (i'm having a bit of a flurry today because I've only just worked out how to do it.)

However, I've been through the mill a bit medically speaking recently, and Tabby and i were completely overwhelmed by the support we received from our friends and family. It really did make this whole rum do so much easier to cope with. I am totally on the mend now so i am a bit embarrassed when people are still offering me their well wishes, but I wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks. It's pretty life affirming to know that we are surrounded by so many excellent and caring human beings.

I drew this drawing with the intention of making it into a card and sending it to all the doctors and nurses and everyone else who has been so supportive, but my printer is knackered. Therefore i am firing it into this virtual space where it can float around dishing out benevolent thanks until i buy a new ink cartridge.

Post it note policemen

postit policemen:Layout 1.qxd, originally uploaded by tombabylon.

Here are some drawings i did of policemen and women, taken from their ID badge photos and drawn on post it notes. I'm sure i am going to get in trouble for this sort of thing one day.

Vegetables

SG104434, originally uploaded by tombabylon.

I have been enjoying limping slowly round our vegetable patch in my convalescence.Now i just need to get an enormously brimmed straw hat and grow a long beard just like George Harrison.

The holes beneath the hedgerow

Here's an illustration I did for Primary Times magazine for a feature on underground habitats. I'm chuffed i managed to get the kids into the magazine! They gave me lots of encouragement when i was doing this one, which was a great help as i was losing faith in it. Archie stared at it for ages and tried to decide which hole he would live in, and Seth was just excited to see 'Artee' and 'Animalzh' in the same picture. I was pleased with how it came out.

Illustration Friday - POOF!

This should have been my first IF entry, but i was too darn tardy. Here is a down on his luck magician on his way back from a job interview. (He didnt get it.)

Illustration Friday - Detach

Resolutions

I hereby resolve to post a drawing to Illustration Friday every week.

This is the first thing that popped into my head for 'DETACH'. Actually, the dinosaur was originally a giraffe, but they turned out to be a little irksome to draw. Everything i did came out looking like horrible clip art. I made myself laugh with my drawing for last weeks 'POOF!', but i didnt get it finished in time - i'll try and finish that up and post it soon.

OZ

Baby Seth & the Little People

The Poachers

R-Chie

Limbs and Limbs

Safe in your hands

Muscles

Me and Tabby combat the ocean

Mia on the porch

Flood

Cannibubbles

My old man

The Doldrums

Brand new bear

Claire and the Kaleidosaurus

Aisha and the Rainbowpotomous