A NEW LOOK AND A NEW LINK

As you may have realised things are looking a little different here. The urge came upon me and this is the result. Very BLUE.


Also there's a link (on the right) to craftybugger.co.uk, my crafty site which at the moment has very little content but which will soon be swarming with curious examples, tips and insights into my other little world.

 HUZZAH!

MR MOFFAT'S MANTIS

Here are some photos of the final 3D mantis for your perusal.
He's roughly 10cm tall and very well behaved.

SKATING MANTIS - TAKE TWO

Mr Moffat has decided upon a more realistic look to his mantis... and no board!

SKATING MANTIS COMMISSION!

This is the rough for a crafty commission that has come my way. Mr Moffat, the mantis man, wants me to make a mantis-like creature to sit upon his desk. This came about through the window display I seem to be doing on an on-going basis for Creativity. Mr Moffat, yes the mantis man, saw my stuff there and spotted a link between his fascination for the insect world and my passion for anatomically dubious bugs of all kinds. I'll be making it from polymer clay, wire, rusty bits, glue and anything else close at hand... as usual, really!

I'll post a pic of the finished thing in due course.

WHAT'S THIS? ANOTHER POST ALREADY?!!

Here, for your perusal, is my submission to the CORE project that Katie told us about; a zine on the subject of " What would you do if the world was going to end in two days?". I'm not sure if I've really fulfilled the brief, but I had fun doing it anyway!!!

WORMCAST - BY APPLEJACK & REED

Here's the idea I put forward to Chantal's Comic project. It's all about bugs, aliens, imprisonment, slavery, freedom and recycling. Read on..

WHAT'S THIS? A NEW POST?!!!

Could this be the beginning of a concerted effort to blog more frequently? I must try.

These sketches are part of a pitch to become involved with a comic/magazine to go into schools here, there and everywhere. I was told about the project by fellow Brillustrator Chantal who seems to have all manner of contacts in a variety of worlds, some of which I am forbidden from mentioning. If it all flies it could lead to the rarest of beasts for an illustrator... a regular income!

Rather than tell you the plot of my tale here I shall post it here momentarily...

BRILLUSTRATORS' PROJECT: "WE FEEL FINE" (STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING!)

The latest Brillustrator project required us to visit "We Feel Fine", a website containing phrases and sentences relating to emotions that have been harvested from blogs the world over. Our task was to choose a piece that fired our imagination and to illustrate it one or more images.
As is probably apparent to anyone looking at these pictures, I've had personal experience of depression and as I trawled the website I kept noticing related statements and so it just seemed the obvious or even necessary route to take. I found it quite emotionally difficult to do this, but ultimately it has been something of a release; enabling me to express, understand and perhaps exorcise feelings that have been festering for a long time.
The aim for me was to show just how debilitating my depression was and how viciously unpleasant and unforgiving my "inner bully" could be, hence the strong language!
I'm feeling a lot better now, by the way, I might even go so far as to say that I feel fine!
Antidepressants, Brillustrators and Dr McG be praised...

RHYS HAS THIS TO SAY:

Firstly, a chance piece of eaves-dropping late last year led me to expose myself (in a non-arrestable fashion) to a slender young lady called Katie Green (yes, THE Katie Green!) as she stood behind the counter in CREATIVITY, the pre-eminent craft shop here in Bristol. She too is a crafty illustrator who had started a group of like-minded individuals going by the name of "BRILLUSTRATORS" and I'm pleased to say that I've been welcomed into the fold. It's been such a long time since I had regular contact with other creative creatures that I'd forgotten how interesting and inspirational it can be and with the added benefit of a comforting sense of being with "my kind of people"... it's really cool.
Secondly, next to Katie stood Sophie Swindells, internationally renouned cyclist, dancer, illustrator (we're everywhere!) and craft guru who just happens to be the daughter of Pip, the owner of the CREATIVITY empire! Through getting to know these lovely people I've realised that my passion for getting my fingers mucky could actually lead to a crafty source of income and in fact I've just been commissioned by Pip to produce a spring window display for Creativity!!
So, who knows where all this might lead, eh?
Keep your eyes peeled for www.craftybugger.co.uk