Bible Stories

I have been working on two religious themed illustrations for my portfolio this week. I found some great reference material online, in the form of 14th - 15th century medieval paintings and bible illuminations, which are the kind of thing which I love to reference in my work. I find old paintings to be a great source of inspiration for costume and character. 

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.

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!