I'm so excited!!

I have gone and spent money I don't have.

Now, I usually don't like doing this but I reeeallly wanted a drawing tablet and found a cheap one and well... one thing led to another...

I'm currently waiting for Thursday to come with anticipation as that's when it's supposed to be delivered! Eeeee!!
So here's hoping that many many pictures are on their way.

I have Friday off work to finish my university application, Saturday I will be in a day-long choir rehearsal with Imogen Heap(!), so that means that on Sunday I can draw!!

Hurrah! :-)

Larry The Litterbug

My first ever comic strip was a joint project with my friend Laura at primary school.

We used to draw things all the time and were at that time working on various projects for a school newsletter, such as interviews with the teachers, pupil's favourite school dinners and the new baby sister of a member of the class.
You know, the usual.

We decided we needed to come up with something a bit less serious and "newsy", so thought maybe a cartoon of some kind would lighten the formal journalistic tone..

Doodling away at random sketches, we somehow came up with a character that took our breath away with his awesomeness:
Larry The Litterbug

Larry would be a clean and conscientious bug who would take a firm stance on mess and the environmentally unfriendly.
He would go out of his way to admonish those who flaunted the rules (of litter-dropping).
He would be a force for good in this sinful litter-dropping world.

We wrote a fair few stories about Larry. We even developed a voice for him (obviously for when TV producers found our scribblings and demanded to buy the rights).

I'm not sure if he ever ended up in the newsletter, I have a feeling me and Laura found that we had stumbled into something too powerful for us to handle.. so Larry remained a relative secret to all but a few privileged souls..


Long live Larry the Litterbug: A hero to many, a friend to all and a slave to none.

Sketches and scribbles

ARGH! Don't you just hate it when you have the image in your mind of what your drawing will look like, then as soon as you put pencil to paper it just goes horribly wrong!!

I thought I'd try my hand at drawing my, frankly beautiful, Boyface, and he came out looking like a rather lopsided transvestite. And not a convincing transvestite (you know, the ones that it's only on the second take that you realise, "Hey, wait a minute that girl's a BOY!") but the kind towering above everyone with a deep voice and a 5 o'clock shadow...
 To allow you to appreciate the awfulness of this drawing, I felt I should post it- as this blog should be as much about the journey as anything.

In all fairness this was my first attempt at "proper" drawing, as opposed to cartoon types, for a very very long time. But still...

I may have to keep on practicing. And maybe not attempt to work from memory next time!!

I did doodle a couple of other pics I was a bit happier with late last night while half watching the TV, so I'll share those as well for good measure..

Fare thee well for now! xx

Introverted Ninja

When I was a child, I was a strange mix of introvert and extrovert.
On the one hand I loved drama, dancing, singing, making up plays and recording radio shows with my sisters.
On the other hand I loved reading, writing and drawing and just wanted to be left alone to do so.

These two sides of myself have, over the years, fought many a feud. I feel they have now reached some kind of middle ground:
i.e I avoid places involving PEOPLE and NOISES and DISTRACTIONS when needed but then occasionally go to a big party or sing onstage or join a dance group.

I would often feel agitated when my calm was disturbed. Whether in communal areas, where the blaring TV or inane chatter would feel like steady drilling to the brain.

Or in the kind concern of my mother (who must have been worried at her daughter voluntarily locking herself away..) when shut up alone in my room.

I would get into moods when all I truly wanted in the world was a book to whisk me off to magical lands or a pen and paper to create my own..

I soon found a couple of hiding places to exercise my creativity in peace.
There was a wall next to our shed. If I climbed onto this, I could easily climb onto the shed roof and avoid being seen by my siblings playing merrily in the garden.

This became one of my favourite spots; a place I could indulge in creativity while still able to run out and play on the swings if I felt the need.

It was also where I would run to if I felt sad or worried, a sanctuary for my imagination.