Taking the pet for a slither.
The window cleaners assistant - new version
I thought I'd try a new version of the pic in a more dynamic pose.
High-rise cleaning
The window cleaner's assistant
The Big Catch
The Waiter
A picture I drew to practice getting a little more movement into my characters.
Lesser Known Dog Breeds - The Snorkeling Schnauzer
I revised the pictures featured In the story.
The Snorkeling Schnauzer is one of the most powerful swimmers on the canine world, it is also a good diver, capable of reaching depths of 30m and able to hold its breath for up to five minutes.
This most specialized of Schnauzers was bred by the Austro-Hungarian navy to help rescue submariners in peril. The dogs were trained to work either individually or with divers, and their capacity for hard work and tireless courage were respected far beyond the reaches of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Careful selective breeding gradually extended the length of the muzzle, until the dogs were able to swim fully underwater, using their unique doggy snorkels. Due to their size, the dogs were never carried on the submarines that they helped service, but they were taken to sea onboard regular warships, as well as being kennelled in ports. The dogs skill and bravery helped many submariners and sailors, even those of rival nations, as the dogs weren't trained to differentiate between friend and foe.
With the end of the First World War and the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the Snorkeling Schnauzer breeding program came to an end and it was left to enthusiasts to maintain the breed. The end of hostilities did result in the breed extending its reach beyond the confines of Austro-Hungary, and it soon began appearing in Western Europe and then later North America.
The breed later became popular with caving enthusiasts as its unique attributes lent themselves well to the subterranean world. It was because of this association with caving that the breed came to the attention of noted independent naturalist Lionel Peabody. Peabody was carrying out an expedition to see whether there was any truth to the reports of alligators in the sewer system of New York. For years there has been reports of sightings and much speculation as to what might be lurking in the tunnels beneath the streets, but no one was really sure whether there was anything to it or if it was simply an urban myth.
Peabody thought that a Snorkeling Schnauzer would be the ideal companion during his search, and so ended up borrowing Zoltan, a fine representative of the breed, from a friend of his. Peabody's pet honey badger, Reggie, initially disapproved and it was not until Reggie was rescued by Zoltan that he had cause to change his mind.
Peabody remained tight-slipped over whether he actually managed to find any alligators, rumor has it that he did indeed find some of the reptiles but as they were doing no harm, decided to leave them where they were. Zoltan, inspired by the experience went on to work with another noted naturalist, Hans Von Algae - Europe’s finest pond dipper. Zoltan accompanied Von Algae on many successful dips and was the co-discoverer of the many-legged purple swimming centipede.
The Slush Leopard - updated picture
A quick update to the recent 'Slush Leopards pic to make it a little more dynamic.
Lesser Known Dog Breeds - The Snorkeling Schnauzer
The Snorkeling Schnauzer is one of the most powerful swimmers on the canine world, it is also a good diver, capable of reaching depths of 30m and able to hold its breath for up to five minutes.
This most specialized of Schnauzers was bred by the Austro-Hungarian navy to help rescue submariners in peril. The dogs were trained to work either individually or with divers, and their capacity for hard work and tireless courage were respected far beyond the reaches of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Careful selective breeding gradually extended the length of the muzzle, until the dogs were able to swim fully underwater, using their unique doggy snorkels. Due to their size, the dogs were never carried on the submarines that they helped service, but they were taken to sea onboard regular warships, as well as being kennelled in ports. The dogs skill and bravery helped many submariners and sailors, even those of rival nations, as the dogs weren't trained to differentiate between friend and foe.
With the end of the First World War and the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the Snorkeling Schnauzer breeding program came to an end and it was left to enthusiasts to maintain the breed. The end of hostilities did result in the breed extending its reach beyond the confines of Austro-Hungary, and it soon began appearing in Western Europe and then later North America
The breed later became popular with caving enthusiasts as its unique attributes lent themselves well to the subterranean world. It was because of this association with caving that the breed came to the attention of noted independent naturalist Lionel Peabody. Peabody was carrying out an expedition to see whether there was any truth to the reports of alligators in the sewer system of New York. For years there has been reports of sightings and much speculation as to what might be lurking in the tunnels beneath the streets, but no one was really sure whether there was anything to it or if it was simply an urban myth.
Peabody thought that a Snorkeling Schnauzer would be the ideal companion during his search, and so ended up borrowing Zoltan, a fine representative of the breed, from a friend of his. Peabody's pet honey badger, Reggie, initially disapproved and it was not until Reggie was rescued by Zoltan that he had cause to change his mind.
Peabody remained tight-slipped over whether he actually managed to find any alligators, rumor has it that he did indeed find some of the reptiles but as they were doing no harm, decided to leave them where they were. Zoltan, inspired by the experience went on to work with another noted naturalist, Hans Von Algae - Europe’s finest pond dipper. Zoltan accompanied Von Algae on many successful dips and was the co-discoverer of the many-legged purple swimming centipede.
The doggy-snow ploughing - new version
A revised version of the cartoon from a couple of days before.
The Slush Leopard
Everyone has heard of the rare and elusive snow leopard, but almost no one heard of the even rarer and more elusive slush leopard.
As beautiful as it's more well-known cousin, the slush leopard is smaller in stature while retaining similar markings.
Completely comfortable in the most frigid and wet of conditions, these leopards can be found in small pockets in remote areas in Eurasia and even in North America. It was previously thought that there were no leopards naturally found in North America, which just goes to so show how secretive these cats really are. Due to human encroachment on their natural habitat they have even been known to enter urban areas relying on their stealthiness to remain unnoticed.
This particular individual was observed lurking in the large slush puddles that New York becomes notorious for during the winter. Choosing the deepest of puddles that even a person with the tallest of boots dare not risk stepping into, the leopard floats patiently, partially covered by slush and newly fallen snow, waiting.
Finally the patience is rewarded when a passing pedestrian leaps over the puddle, accidentally dislodging from her shopping bag a pastrami on rye sandwich, which is pounced upon moments later.
Great Snooker Players of Yesteryear
The doggy-snow plough
To enable shorter-legged breeds to cope with snowy conditions.
Practicing Assymmetry - Blanche the Lion Tamer
I'm currently doing a cartoon course to learn some new ideas and work on my technique.
This week one of the things we're working on is assymmetry. Here is Blanche the lion tamer.
A close encounter...
A close enounter...
The Super-Bunny
Percy the Greyhound encounters a bigger bunny than usual...
I'd drawn Percy before a couple of times, one delivering a letter at high speed, the other time carrying a packet of biscuits which he somehow managed to resist the temptation of eating.
For this cartoon I thought I'd try a more rural setting, and so the Super-Bunny appeared....
It's always fun to draw Greyhound cartoons. If you're a fan of Greyhounds yourself, drop me a mail to say hi, I'd be happy to draw a Greyhound for you.
Golden Retriever Cartoons
Surprise someone you love with a Golden Retriever cartoon!
- Are you a lover of Golden Retrievers?
- Are you looking for a unique momento of your pet? A reminder of the love of your life?
- Perhaps you're looking for a gift for a fellow retriever-lover, perhaps even someone else in your family
Finding a good gift for someone can be a bit of a treadmill....you keep going round and round looking....and not quite finding....
Simplify things by ordering a unique picture drawn just for you or your loved one
Custon-drawn pictures have a huge Wow! factor....imagine the brownie points you'll receive...not that you're thinking along those lines I'm sure!
Imagine the surprise they will feel when they get the picture!
Whether you or your loved one owns a retriever big or small; I can draw it for you. Perhaps you have an in-joke you'd like including to make it super-personalised.
- Will I get it on time?
- No worries! You get it on time or you don't pay
- What if I want it revised?
- I'll do up to two revisions for you. However, I won't redraw the entire picture.
- What if I don't have any ideas?
- No problem! I'm happy to think up some ideas for you
Here's what you need to do:
- Mail me now to get your name on the list
- Include the following:
- photo of your pet
- name of pet
- quirks/personaily of your pet
- name of the recipient of the cartoon if not you
- anything else you think would be helpful.
So contact me today and I can get started on your Golden Retriever cartoon
cartoon process - the headless spider
This process features a pair of drawings that show a scene from both a first and a third person perspective. I'll concentrate on the third person perspective drawing when showing the process.
Here is the spider's view of the computer.
Sample computer pic used to trace from.
The completed tracing of the computer.
Now coloured in.
This rather splendid chap was the model for the next step.
Tracing.
I pasted a pic of the earlier first person perspective so that I could match the colours up.
Here's the completed first person (spider) perspective again...
...and the completed third person perspective.
As ever, I'm happy to draw for you.
Drop me a mail and we'll have a chat. Cheers!
cartoon process - the dog bath
This cartoon ended up being change quite a bit during the process. It started off originally with a completely different dog and owner.
Here is the first version with a Red Setter and with the owner behind the bath.
It was then suggested that it might be more amusing to have the owner in the bath with the dog outside.
Although I was pleased with the Red Setter, as I was drawing a lot of Golden Retrievers, I decided to do a new version swapping dog breeds. Also, as the Golden Retriever cartoons were featuring a reoccuring character as the owner, I swapped owners as well.
A friend who used to keep a Golden Retriever pointed out that the dog I had drawn earlier didn't actually resemble a retriever, so I did the new version above.
Finally, I decided that the dog looked a bit on the dry side for such a water-loving breed, so I added the water effect above.
Ducktor Who
Time for something a little bit different from cartoons. My brother asked me to decorate Beccles town council's duck for the annual duck race. As The new Doctor Who had just been announced, the idea of 'DucktorWho' came to mind.
The idea was to decorate the duck with various iconic images from the series. I opted for the Tardis, a cyberman head, a darlek, and Tom Baker's scarf. I also intended to use question marks to fill up any leftover space.
Here's the duck before painting began.
The grey/silver for the cyberman's head has just been applied.
The dark blue for the Tardis, and ligher blue for the darlek have now been applied, along with a white body. I decided to add the darlek design at the back, rather than along the base as originally intended.
Here's the finished duck from the front. You can now see the Tom Baker scarf, along with the question mark motif.
I forgot to take a photo from the back, but you can just about make out the darlek design.
Report to follow after the duck race!