Sorry, the new characters are still sketchbook bound.

But as you may have guessed from the title, I have been reading a bit of G.K.Chesterton recently, 'What's Wrong With The World', to be precise, and enjoying some of his quotes that circulate through social media.

In that interesting book Chesterton writes about the completely different relationship that ordinary people have with their homes, compared to wealthy people. For ordinary people, anarchy is only possible at home, and that is a blessed thing. Because at home, if you want to, you can have pea-green walls with pink spots, carpet on the ceiling, slate tiles on the floor, a picnic on the floor if you feel like it, and the glorious comfort of getting around in dressing gown and slippers. 

Then on Twitter, @GKCdaily posted this quotation:
'Perhaps the real meaning of St George and the dragon is that an evil has to be about as big and ugly as a dragon before an Englishman even knows it is there.'

​Has anything of that truth changed since Chesterton's day?

Maybe next time I will regale you with submarines, frisbee-playing elephants and stir-frys. We'll see.

As promised, here are the images of religious inspiration from the past few months:
The first one came together in Holy Week, just after the Lenten 40 Days for Life novena ended.  

For this next one, my mother needed an image for an Instagram post, and described what was in her mind that would convey something of the relationship between sheep and the Good Shepherd.

Did you know that Twitter is full of very witty people? Well there's a bishop on there who inspired this image. It seems that he can misplace mitres and croziers and other items, but he can always post a fresh meme.

Said inspiration was heading off to Rome for an Ad Limina visit, and there was some very real concern that he might misplace something else. The feast of St Anthony of Padua, the patron Saint of finding lost objects, occurred around the same time. One thought led to another, and the thought of Frequent Loser points had the family in full blown mirth......

Then doing an image for the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus somehow seemed appropriate, and a good test for my widened collection of Copic markers.

There have been some new characters showing up in my sketchbook; a few of them may have graduated to finished artwork by next time. We'll see.

This first one came together from several drawings scattered throughout my sketch book. They were drawn in ink and then digitally coloured. Getting the right balance between the individual panels of insects interiorly and exteriorly took a lot longer than I expected it to take.

This second one should need no introduction. There was something inside nagging at me to produce a 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe' image, inspired by C.S.Lewis's classic story.

For something completely different, these birds of paradise were painted from life, with acrylic on paper and without my own brushes. That's what happens when you go down to your local library and attend an art workshop you haven't attended before.  

This last image, done with ink and Copic markers, was the result of finally getting some paper that the markers wouldn't bleed through, and going for a walk and seeing a most unusual tree.

There are several religious images I've completed, but they can wait until next time.

All heroes (and heroines) have unsung support people who keep them going between adventures. So hats off, hands on hearts, and thanks to the brave chiropractors and podiatrists in our lives.​

    

​You will be happy to hear that I have been doing some non-Socket Head artwork recently. But that's for sharing next time. 

Sometimes you just can't keep a good character down.
Socket Head has been out and about......

​First stop is playing board games with Sailor Jim:

Then someone, possibly you, left him at home, alone and unsupervised....

Then there was that time when Socket Head wanted to return a gift of inferior workmanship:

And that time when he went shopping:

He has also been to see the chiropractor and the podiatrist,
​but those adventures can be shared next time.

It has been an interesting week. Through Instagram I discovered www.projectportfolio.online and participated in the 7 days of inspiring video for illustrators (18 Mar - 24 Mar 2019). It was free, and the videos for each day never added up to more than an hour.

The videos will remain online and free until 8 Apr 2019. If you want a quick way to work out which ones you most need to watch, read the summaries from  @pcav3473 on Instagram for those days.

On Day 1 as part of a talk encouraging a daily sketchbook habit, we were invited to come up with a word or two about what we wanted to get out of the week, and then use a heart motif to illustrate it, and then post it to the Project Portfolio Facebook group.

​What I am seeking is direction and answers:

Did I find them? I don't know.

I appreciated the tips on how to write a professional one paragraph bio.

In someways it confirmed that picture book illustration isn't on my pathway because I am not naturally drawn to portraying 'realistic looking' people, a wide range of emotions and movement.

Those who have made it to the next level seem to be offering online art education/mentoring courses or have their work uploaded to Print On Demand websites or both.

You met Socket Head for the first time in the last blog-post.

He has been having a few adventures since then, that I hope you will enjoy.

First he got rescued by Sailor Jim from a shark. 

Then he had to take his miserable self somewhere to get patched up.

And now he has been iced (or fridged) by the mysterious Madame Ice.

While there are ideas for what he is likely to get up to sitting (waiting) in the sketch book, I am not sure which one will take on a life of its own next.

It has been some time since I shared the development of a final image.
So here it is..... 
​It started with some drawings in my visual diary. 

Then I started to re-draw my Sockethead character on A4 paper.

After that, the ink work began and resulted in this:

The ink work got scanned into the computer, and then the digital colouring began. And this part was the most time consuming, with many screen hours getting things 'just so'.
​But I think he was worth it.

And I can't end without the mini-story that goes with it.

​SOCKET-HEAD ! ! !
===============
"If you'll <sniff> notice
he isn't <snort> GROUNDED"
 
— Electrical Humour.

Ahhh...he 52 Week Illustration Challenge for 2018 is now complete....Ahhh...
And my Calendar for 2019 is done, printed and distributed except for a few left over that are available for purchase.

The theme for Week 48 was Rodent, and if you spent time watching the cartoons on TV in the 1990s you might remember Animaniacs and a show called 'Pinky and The Brain'. This image was inspired by one of those characters.

For Week 49 the theme was Abracadabra, which called forth memories of amazing things that come out of a magician's top hat.

Week 50's theme was Three, and since I had just finished doing a 'special request' pig illustration, the story of the Three Pigs going off to build their houses of straw, wood and brick before the Big Bad Wolf came along seemed to be appropriate. However, you must have land before you can build on it.

The person who put the themes together must have been prescient, because the week was full of storms, and hailstorms too. Week 51's theme was Storm. This image is a reminder that knowing how to read is rather important so that you buy what you actually want.

And the last one for the year, the theme for Week 52 was Bang! for which I drew on some classic imagery from classic comics, fan-art style.

And a sneak peek at some of my 2019 Calendar:

I think that means 2018 is wrapped up. For 2019 I have no idea what to do, and I am open to any reasonable opportunity that comes along. Please send any thoughts or suggestions to me via the Contact page.

Most of November wasn't spent at home, nor near a keyboard, so keeping up with the 52 Week Illustration Challenge required extra effort.

The theme for Week 43 was Slow, and who better to help us slow down and appreciate the finer things in life than Mr Snail?

For Week 44 the theme was Everyday Object, and I chose a lamp but reversed the usual black on white to be white on black.

With Week 45 we had the rather interesting theme of Moustache, and since there are so very many styles to choose from I used 4 of them to remind us of that diversity.

There was even more ideas to choose from when it came to the theme of Quirky for Week 46, however since I was feeling a bit like my brain was out to lunch (in a huff) this was the result. Maybe you can relate to it too?

The theme for Week 47 was Pinata, something you try and poke holes into to make the good stuff come out. Sometimes we poke holes into the windmills of our dreams too, but the results are not as sweet. 

Stay tuned to see if I make it to the end of this illustration challenge.
​I will need to do something completely different next year.....if you have any constructive suggestions send me a message via the Contact page.