A Bat's Life

Who knew it would be so fun drawing bats! Here are three flappy guys, which I hope to finish off very soon. In the mean time I thought I'd bring them out of the dark cave of my hard drive and let them flap about for a while. If you want to find out more about these fascinating creatures head to the Bat Conservation website. 

Bird Spotting

Henry VIII

I love the details which are captured within the portraits of the Tudors and find them totally fascinating. I think it's nearly time for a trip to the National Portrait Gallery.

Sporty Kids

Autumn Time

Although it's still sunny outside, Autumn officially began yesterday, so here's an illustration to celebrate the start of cosy nights in, and windy walks in the park. The words come from a funny little song from my husbands childhood, which gets sung each year as the leaves start to change colour.

The Six Wives

I love the Tudors and have wanted to draw portraits of the six unfortunate wives for a while now. I wanted to experiment with some black and white techniques, and used a dip pen to create these drawings, colouring them using photoshop. I am trying to learn to create layouts with Adobe Indesign at the moment so this was a good chance for me to practice with a variety of new techniques!

Build a Canal Game

I have recently been working an exciting project for the Canal and Rivers Trust. Along with Muddy Publishing and Elizabeth Newbery we developed an interactive game which had to be completed within a month! It was a lot of hard work, but a really fun challenge. The game explores the idea of 'why' and 'how' canals were built in the UK. It is aimed at key stage 2 children, between the ages of 7 and 11.

I love the researching process involved with a project like this. It is very interesting to look back at the lives people who lived in Britain 300 years ago. I feel sorry for the poor navvies who had to work in such awful conditions to dig out the canals!

It was really nice to see my illustrations come to life through the animated sections of the game, there's a good bit where you get to poke a cow in the bum with a stick!

You can play the 'Build a Canal' game HERE, as well as lots of other fun interactive games too!

Frogs, Dragonflies and Newts

I recently worked on an illustration of a dragonfly lifecycle. These are a few of my sketches and character designs. I am going to use some of the plant and animals for a repeat pattern design - when I get around to it!

Love Fish

I was clearing out some old folders and came across this drawing I did for a friend a while ago. As valentines day is approaching and I was feeling soppy, I turned it into a card design on illustrator. 

Fish, Poultry and Pork