Germaine Greer

Here's a pencil sketch of the feminist firebrand and cultural commentator Germaine Greer...or is it?!
It's Germaine, alright, but it ain't done with no pencil, brother. Reason? I finally got round to placing the order and I'm know the proud owner of a Wacom Cintiq ux21 - good times! I've got to admit I was a bit unsure about it when I first started out as it was a bit like slipping around on ice but with lots of practise I started to get the hang of it. I'm sure the eagle-eyed amongst you can tell the above pic's not the real deal but I'm amazed at how close it can come. Like a lot of modern technologies it won't abolish what's gone before but just sit happily alongside, offering some great advantages to creative art not to be found elsewhere. So thanks again to all those who gave their comments on their tablet experiences; the above caricature's for you.

Michael Foot

Michael Foot: 'Old Labour' politician who died yesterday aged 96. The obvious detail would have been to have him in his famous 'donkey jacket' (which was apparently in actuality a duffel coat) but I didn't want too much black, so I used a lighter coloured suit jacket from an online picture.

Nat King Cole

Back to the pencils as it's been a while.

Johnny Cash

Done.

Tom Waits

I'm a fan of Tom Waits but I've got a mate who's been a bigger fan for far longer so the above image was a natural choice to become his birthday card. Happy Birthday, Mr Stokes! Below it is the scribble I used to get going alongside an early stage outline.Kommienezuspadt!

Christian Poulsen

A recent commission of the Danish Soccer star

Alexander McQueen

A quick-ish one to mark the passing of the 'bad boy' of British fashion.

J.D. Salinger - Digi Paint

OK so I've been a little side-tracked as I was inspired to muck around with some brushes in photoshop and see if I couldn't work up something from the pencil sketch I did last post. It's all mouse work and I can't help thinking it would have been done faster and easier with a tablet. If anybody's got any experience of a Wacom Cintiq and they want to take the time to email/comment me on their experiences (good and bad) then I'd really appreciate it. I've been thinking of getting one for a while; mainly for my day job, but I would certainly incorporate it into caricature if I ended up with one.
Anyway, better get back to a neglected (but very vector rendered) Mr Cash while I chew over this one.

J.D. Salinger

A quick sketch of J.D. Salinger who died today.

Sneeky-Peek Johnny Cash

Er, can I take back my new year's resolution?! It's been slow for the old caricatures round here as paying work has been taking my attention but I've managed to grab an hour here and there to plug away at Ol' JC; so I thought I'd show a little bit of some of the detail.
I'm having good fun working out some of the available (but unknown) fx that have been buried in my software, and I spent a lot of yesterday just experimenting with brushes and filters which I'll no doubt be using in the final stages. Stay tooned!

Johnny Cash - line rough

Here's a first stage WIP of the late, great Johnny Cash. Just getting the general shape sorted out. It's showing him in his early career but hard life and pills are already being written into his face. Gonna be fun to sculpt those lines and sunken cheeks.

Darren Fletcher

At last; 2010 has started with Man U's mid-fielder Darren Fletcher. I can't explain why only it had been knocking about as an experiment since last year so I thought I'd better do something with it and finish it off.

Happy New Year!

Hope y'all had a great break and got lots of time off to get some serious artwork done - ha! ha!
I stumbled out of the blocks with a sick computer so I haven't managed to roar into twenty-ten with anything like the gusto I intended. Fortunately, equilibrium and equanimity have now returned to Cook Towers and I intend to make good on my perennial new year's resolution. New drawings and artwork up soon - promise!

T.S Eliot (inked)

Managed to just get this done in time before battening down the hatches. It started life as a very simple heavily blocked image with only two or three colours but it very quickly expanded into the above. It just so happens that it has quite a seasonal feel - so it'll do the job! It's basically an inked version of the pencil sketch I did back in November which can be seen here if you wanna compare and contrast.

Anyway, that'll be it until the very beginning of the new year. Hopefully I'll have some sketches to upload when I get back but there won't, in all likelihood, be any posts until 2010. My motto for next year is (the same as last year): Bigger, Better, Faster, More!

A big thanks to all of you who check in here regularly and especially those who left comments/critiques. They're all very welcome and sorry if I didn't answer all the questions that were put my way.

Have a festive Yule if you're celebrating it and best for 2010.

Russ!

Wanna be a Deviant?

There may just be a few of you out there who haven't stumbled across DeviantART yet so I wanted to give it a plug in case you were seeking some more exposure for your artwork. It's a massive site based on the west coast of the USA and has profiles of some of the best artists working in the world today.

There are over 11million members and over 100,000 uploads per day! If you're familiar with sites like Toonpool or Wittygraphy then DeviantART works on a similar basis - just more so! It's for any creative outlet: video, photography, sculpts/modelling, all forms of illustration and even writing. The site is free to join and create a profile but if you want to improve your site you can pay subscriptions in slightly increasing increments to adapt and expand your options. Check it out! I've got my own Russ Cook account on the site though it's pretty much most of the stuff that's posted here; but drop by and write a sarky comment if ya wanna!

Aaaaaanyway, I'm going to get at least one more image posted up here before Christmas then it'll be turkey and Her Maj' all the way.

You want Zola...?

...I give ya Zola! (There you go, Stevie C - it finally happened!)

El Nino!

Signor Torres for ya.

Iris Murdoch

Frankie Boyle

He said Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??? This guy delivers savage wit shod in size ten hob-nailed boots so you'd better duck if you think 'Miranda' is the last word in comedy. Probably not on Rebecca Adlington's Christmas card list this year.

David James

Portsmouth and England Goalkeeper David James who is Beck's only serious rival in the national squad for extremely changable (and sometimes questionable) coiffures. I went for the 'fro as it's always fun to draw.

Jack Dee

It's the comedic crosspatch Mr Dee; this time in colour!

Alan Bennett

Quick sketch of Alan Bennett as a change from all those footie fizzogs

Wayne Rooney

Cristiano Ronaldo

Gary Neville