Mani

Gary 'Mani' Mounfield - bass maestro of The Stone Roses

Lee Westwood

Stan Lee

Stan the Man. Done in Sketchbook Pro.

Karl Bartos

Man - machine - caricature

Beady Liam

Liam always gives good face (flicked v-sign just out of shot). Next time with Lennon glasses, I think...

Alice Cooper

Alice executed in Sketchbook Pro + Photoshop

Frank 1

Drawing in Sketchbook Pro.

Magnus Carlsen

Norwegian chess champ, Magnus. A grandmaster at thirteen! - Blimey.

Paul Pope

The mighty Paul Pope of NYC: comic artist extraordinaire (amongst other things). If you like your comic art vivid, animated and loose, then check him out.

Just remembered - he's left handed, ha, ha!

Stylin' with Mean

Ah, Mean - my favourite buttist. I was thinking recently about how squeamish current film makers and image creators are about showing the head-butt due to censors applying a more restrictive certficate. No doubt because - as Martin Amis writes in his great book 'Money' - it's a very intimate way of fighting and it appalls and shocks. I remember reading elsewhere about some apparent controversy in the the Lord of the Rings films where there's the odd 'Bok' between Aragorn and the Uruk-Hai. Funny what gets people's danders up when you consider what else is shown on screen. Didn't seem an issue for the creators of 2000AD where, for many characters, it was their preferred method of settling a dispute.
Anyway, I've been trying to nail some sequential styles - with varying results. I've been going back through back-issues of 2000AD to use their story-lines to test some styles - a deadly thing to do as the artwork is so great and can't help but influence my easily malleable approach - not a good thing. The above frame is one of a very few that came out OK - taken from the Dredd storyline 'Dredd Angel' and found in Prog 380 (should you want to see the original frame). That's going back some, citizen.

Harry Styles

The wonderously coiffed - but dubiously inked - Harry Styles. Cintiq + Sketchbook Pro

Christine Lagarde

Grande dame, big boss woman - over at that International Monetary Fund place.
Haven't done a detailed drawing for a while so...Voilà!

Stuart Freeborn RIP

Here's a quick sketch of another person intimately linked with the Star Wars universe who has finally passed over and become one with the force. Stuart Freeborn, a make-up artist,  may not be instantly recognisable by name but his creations are globally familiar - his most iconic being Yoda (the pea-green, pint size, sith-botherer from the Star Wars films, in case you didn't know). Apparently, Yoda was based on himself - fair play!

Must Watch! Artists' Advice - From Stephen Silver

Are you a creative who earns money from your work or, perhaps more relevantly, a young artist just starting out in the commercial world? Then check out the above vid (some mild language - but nothing that'll make your ears burn off).
Stephen Silver tells you why he thinks you shouldn't waste your hard-learned skills with free hand-outs for an empty promise. I think he's nailed it - do you agree? Let me know in a comment...

Death Makes You Live (Wilko Johnson)

 Wilko

I try and keep this blog art-related but in this post I wanted to highlight a recent BBC story about the musician Wilko Johnson who, at the time of writing, has very recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Sadly, too many people get diagnosed with this but it was Wilko's reaction to the news which caught my interest: his was extremely interesting, profound and refreshingly untypical compared to some people's ruminations on the condition - especially in regard to how diagnosis actually lifted his life-long depression. Check this link here for the BBC's report.

Jack

Here's a fairly quick re-working of an old pencil sketch of Hollywood fav' Mr Jack Lemmon. I wanted to do a b&w painting just to concentrate on form and shade. There wasn't a lot of detail in the reference photo so I had to fill in the blanks. It's very rare I do a side-on portrait and, like anything, it's tricky if you're not used to it - you have to go about things in a slightly different way... good fun.

Brand new colour study of a silver screen actor coming soon...ish.

You Drive Me Ape!

It's a right old chimps' republican tea-party. Here's American right-winger, Paul Broun, who's currently entertaining the thinking world with his views on the source of his policies - and suggesting where his diabolical opponents derive theirs...

Tony Blackburn

Tonytastic.

Oh yeah...

...just noticed; I just managed to post more uploads last year in 2012 than I did in 2011. By two. Which is pretty poor, I have to admit, so I'm going to try and post in excess of that this year. By more than two. That's the plan, wish me luck.

Mario Monti

...and we're off. It's Mario, mopping up in the wake of all that Bunga.

2013 - here we go!

Happy new year, everyone! Hope the hangover's worn off and those new pencils that Santa brought are now being put to good use. My new year's resolution is the same as ever - and that's to keep busting through the ceiling; raising the floor; taking the window of opportunity; as well as applying a whole bunch of other building-related clichés to cement success. Posts coming soon...

Good Christmas for Ducks

That's me done for 2012. Many thanks to anyone who has checked in throughout the year to see the latest posts and especially to those who've taken the time to drop in a comment - always welcome. Stay hip and see you in 2013.

Pat.

No Moore.
OK, bad joke, but every line of the above scribble was delivered with a fondness associated with those whose memory make up the fibre of one's past. Can't imagine someone of his English eccentricities being allowed a break in front of the BBC's cameras today. Heard a magnificent poem on the radio this evening  by the great Murray Lachlan Young, eulogising Patrick Moore. Very funny. If I discover a link to it then I'll post it here...

Kenneth Kendall

Gone today. Remember him well for his news-reading back in my youth.

Triple Cowpoke

Strange folk abroad in the misty swamps...
Patterns in photoshop are great to add time saving details and effects. I pulled this old drawing from the virtual sketchpad to try some pattern making in the shirt, face, hat and neckerchief. Also added a bit of shadow to help create some volume...good fun.