(one of my illustrations from Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince, Illustrated Book, 2006)

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. Antoine de Saint-Exupery 


This week I have been on a disability training course, learning all about conditions such as Autism, Aspergers and Dyslexia, visual impairment, physical disability, deafness, sign language and Deaf culture. It was really fascinating and I've learnt so much, so I'm planning to make some poster designs promoting awareness pretty soon.


The thing that surprised me most was discovering that sign language had once been banned worldwide (at the Second International Congress on the Education of the Deaf, Milan 1880).


Also, it was only as recently as 2003 that British Sign Language (BSL) was officially recognised as a language in Britain, and many countries still do not recognise their own native sign languages. 


I really want to make some posters to draw attention to this, and to encourage more people to learn sign language, because I can see the importance of learning it myself.

I've been trying to design the main character's house for my comic book. I want it to have an art nouveau appearance, to reflect the theme of nature throughout the story. This is one of the houses I've drawn in my sketchbook. It still needs some developing. The script is coming along nicely, so hopefully I'll be putting up a few more images soon!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."


- Mark Twain

Animal Masks

I'm trying to use more colour in my work. These are some animal masks which will feature in my comic book.

Setsuko

Meditations

I have a little book of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations and it always puts things in perspective. He was a Roman emperor at the height of its power but his philosophy is quite stoic, its about getting on with things and being true to your own nature and not letting bad things stop you from being a good person. I made this little book for my dad while I was in my 2nd year at Falmouth and I've just found it again. (Click on images to enlarge)

Blue Willow Alphabet

After drawing my china pig, I thought I'd try to make a willow pattern alphabet.

The pattern has quite a fascinating mythology behind it, containing varying stories about runaway lovers, an illegal society, and the burning of a monastery. (However, it is not clear whether these tales came from China or Staffordshire.)

Penny Pigglington

This is a little drawing I've just done of Penny Pigglington, the infamous moneybox pig. He lives in a cash register and jingles wherever he goes. Pip Chorley and I imagined him and his many follies during a conversation a while back and now he won't leave us alone.

from my sketchbook...

comic book front cover (development)

I've developed the front cover a bit, to relate more to the story. It still needs some tweaking, but I'm happy with the way its going. Any suggestions are welcome!

"If this isn't nice, I don't know what is"

And now I want to tell you about my late Uncle Alex. He was my father’s kid brother, a childless graduate of Harvard who was an honest life insurance salesman in Indianapolis. He was well-read and wise. And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy. So when we were drinking lemonade under an apple tree in the summer, say, and talking lazily about this and that, almost buzzing like honeybees, Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, ''If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.''

So I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ''If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.''

- Kurt Vonnegut