IF: Idle

Well I've certainly been idle with my illustration blog of late, so really had to play along with this weeks theme!

Hope you like my idle pair.

IF: Opinion (sought)

Would love your opinion on my new characters...(am I exploiting this weeks word?!)

IF: Clique

Left out of the clique :(

IF: Foggy

Quick sketch in my moleskine.

IF: Sour

How to create a sour puss!

I know our cats have their favourite spots, so I think this dog is pushing his luck...

IF: Hoard

'With the advantage of unusually long arms, Molly is able to hoard her favourite toys so that the other children don't get a look in!'

Another photoshop effort

IF: Worry

This fairy has every right to look worried....

IF: Fail (or...'If at first you don't succeed...')

A few failed attempts usually come before success, as is the case for the character above.
Another sketch and just in time this week as I've been away, back to colour next week! This is a study of a rather cute dinosaur toy, I think he makes for quite a nice character so might revisit him again.

IF: Homage to Pooh

A double homage, to the wonderful characters of A.A.Milne and inspiring illustrations of E.H. Shepard from Winnie-the-Pooh.

I wanted to interpret the characters and stories into my own style, but have found myself needing to study them a bit first, so for now I've included essentially a copy of one of Shepard's illustrations (above) and a couple of sketch studies (left). The wonderful thing about Shepard's simple, effective drawings is that you just can't capture the Pooh character making it even more special.
This weeks IF has inspired me to revisit these lovely stories and images, not least because they are loaded with lots of philosophical and zen thoughts too! (see 'Pooh and the Philosophers' by John Tyerman Williams and 'The Tao of Pooh & The Te of Piglet' by Benjamin Hoff).

IF: Multiple Bunnies

Couldn't resist doing this little sketch for this weeks theme!

IF: Choose

'She went into the pet shop to choose a puppy, but just had to have the elephant!'

The Blanket sketch origins

This is how the blanket sketch below started out, I've popped it in as I prefer it to the colour version.

IF: Blanket

The importance of a small blanket...

IF '...rains mainly on the plain.'