Alice and the Invaders, front cover!

The time has come to put a cover all up on this thing!

Essentially a summing up of "Alice and the Invaders From Wonderland" issue #1, a large part of which is set in the woods where our heroes go up against some vicious "Bandersnaches." Alice's action pose was something sketched several years ago, which author Bret M. Herholz dug out and suggested for a cover. I came up with the idea of adding the rest of the crew. Framing from inside the creature's mouth was a last minute thing, just to fill the top and bottom of the page.

Remember that bit in Jaws III where the camera is in the shark's mouth, looking out? Nope? Oh c'mon! Well, I won't force you to go through that shit again.

 This is the original, which exists on paper,

in a drawer, in the shed ...on planet Earth,

somewhere in the universe.

 Colour, based on the interior scene in question

but brightened up. For reasons that felt logical.

The text, also dug out from years ago, 

still works. Final one is cropped from the 

bottom. But that's my contribution done!

Mixing Children and Animals...

For those that don't know, I often create portraits based on photographs. The customer then gets an original piece of art posted to their door! (Framing optional).

 My own incredible kids!

A happy customer!

 ...can't tell if cats are happy. "Paul Draws Pets" 

is also my Facebook page, found here: 

https://www.facebook.com/pg/pauldrawspets

My own children again!!!

The Little Mermaid 2018

I heard that Hollywood are planning a live action remake of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, so I was inspired to create my own image of how it should look.

Given that humans deposit tons of plastic into the ocean every year, it no longer seems fitting that the villain of the movie should be an octopus sea-witch named Ursula. Let’s face it, this no longer cuts it as a viable threat to the main character or her lobster buddy Sebastian, whom I have cynically done away with. Furthermore, Ariel strives to become human in the story and I wonder if she still feel this way given that we are the enemy.

On a side note, those bikini-shells are probably a bit small now that she’s older.

Plastic soup, humans suck.

Three Lions

It's a blisteringly hot summer and England are smashing their way through the World Cup. Like planets in alignment (which presumably are not usually aligned) this is nice, rare and people seem to be pleased.

I feel like I am now playing a very small part in this national fervour; I was hired by BBC Sport again - this time to create a bombastic image of England as they clambered dramatically into the quarter finals.

Commissioning of the image was dependent on England beating Columbia in the last 16, so I had a lot riding on that game. ...Yes, for the usual reasons; I need the work, I need the exposure, but it was more than that. I was gripped and I wanted England to win, just as I want them to beat Croatia in the semi final. This is like 1990 again, a rap is needed, someone wheel out New Order!

So for any fellow illustrators out there, or anyone interested in the process, here goes...

 I was asked to depict Harry Kane, Gareth Southgate

and Jordan Pickford, riding lions. The background

was not really envisioned by this point, so I'd get to that later. First thing 

was this sketch. ^

 The nice folks at BBC Sport suggested they should look

as if going into battle, which is why alongside adding the England

 banner, my original "happy" Harry Kane head had to be ditched...

 In favour of this one! For the record, drawn by hand, scanned

and then photoshopped into place. Despite the extra time taken,

I fully agree with the change. 

I'm also not a massive football nut, "Kane" is still totally

the bad guy from Robocop 2.

 That's the final square-format version. you can see it 

on the BBC Sport Instagram HERE

 Here's a close up. Big heads retain a cartoon, caricature "carry on" vibe.

Well otherwise it's all snarls, war and plumes of smoke, got to have a bit of fun.

Plus it gives me more canvas space to get the looks right. 

Here's a snapshot of the BBC Sport England V Sweden

live web thing. That's the 16x9 version of the image.

Oh go on then, "it's coming home". 

Alice and the Invaders from Wonderland, continues...

More images from the upcoming comic. Really pleased with how it's looking and how it pushes me to get creative in ways that I don't usually get from clients. Big shout out of course to author (and talented scribbler in his own right) Bret M. Herholz.

These images are pre-lettering, basically continues the story the Queen of Hearts invading our dimension and taking over. She's evil like that. Featuring The Mad hatter, The Cheshire Cat, The March Hare, The Dormouse and a "bandersnatch". Lots of "The's" ...I want to be a "The."

Enjoy...!

Spock

A picture of Spock for a friend of mine on his birthday. Everyone and his grandmother knows about Spock, so on with the post...

Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end. 

From Star Trek VI, which is in my top two

Star Trek films.

Quite pleased with it, I've become a fan of just black and grey ink. 

Paul Draws Pets

Check the facebook page for details: HERE

Basically, you send me pics, I send you original art. With a little bit of money in-between.

 Dogs...

 cats...

 all the animals...

even more dogs! 

Comic Madness!!

I was commissioned by, let's say, an office worker to create a couple of comic pages for a colleague who was leaving. The details don't matter.

 Featuring flying monkeys, a robotic hive-mind

Angela Merkel, The Queen, Brussels and stuff that 

doesn't make a load of sense unless you're one of those pictured.

If I can blow my own trumpet for a second; I'm pleased with how I interpreted the script and how much I was able to cram into single A3 sheets of paper. ...Yep, it was all drawn by hand just as you see it. colouring and text was done in Photoshop though, I'm not a total Luddite.  

Fancy the Queen!

I doodled over a fiver as part of a project called "fiversforartistic". Why? Not entirely sure, but I was approached to do so and some really famous artists were also in on this.

In their own words... (LINK)

"The aim of “FIVERSFORARTISTIC” is to collect 200 old fivers and convince important contemporary artists to sign and then decorate the fiver in any way they wish making the note completely original. Artistic will then auction the collection of fivers to raise enough money to launch Artistic as a CIO charity. We have had a great response so far  from some amazing artists ranging from Peter Blake to Mason Storm and the wonderful duos of Gilbert and George and the Chapman Brothers. We have now collected 57 completed fivers but we desperately need more . Where is the BANKSY fiver ? We have a wonderful note from the incredibly lovely Damien Hirst. Come on let’s make this happen in 2018 ? We know it can be done!"

Here's my effort:

On the £5 note I received, I noticed the letters "MD" - if you look closely you can see MD circled on the note itself. Now consider the following: I'm a fan of the Sega Megadrive (or Genesis if you're in the US) often, particularly in Japan, abbreviated to "MD". I am also a fan of thrash band Megadeth. 

So I decided to aim for an early 90s "radical" queen. There is something deeper here though: the reduction and distillation of the 60s counter cultural rebellion into marketing tools geared solely towards making money. Hence rebellion as "illusion" rather than as reality. 

Umm, the end.

Many Mel Smiths

Author and film nut Jon Spira hired me to create 36 portraits of late comedian and actor Mel Smith. The images were created to go alongside the launch of Book #1 of the Forgotten Film Club Series, which focuses on Smith's "unremembered" classic Morons From Outer Space.

Go and order it TODAY!!!

A great little project, for which I am thankful. HERE is a link to Jon's Kickstarter.

 Smith of course is the legand from 

Not The Nine O'clock News, Alas Smith and Jones...

...directed The Tall Guy, rocked around the

Christmas tree with Kim Wilde...

The BBC and the World Cup

Good news! I was lucky enough to create several 2018 FIFA World Cup images for BBC Sport. These pics get posted online when they become relevant (sort of).

On the downside, the two images posted so far are tragic reminders that you can't always predict the winners.

The first one is "King Salah"; a depiction of Mohammed Salah taking his place as one of the world's top three football players currently, much to the annoyance of the other two: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Of course the image may still hold true, however neither Salah nor Lionel Messi have had a great tournament to say the least, with Egypt most definitely out and Argentina on the brink.

 Salah takes centre stage, Messi trying to reach a golden ball

from under Salah's boot. Made sense when I drew it. 

Here's a link to the BBC Sport post on Instagram: MO SALAH

 Salah has been given the "Egyptian King" moniker by 

Liverpool fans (Salah plays for Liverpool). ...Hence the crown.

At least he scored a penalty against hosts Russia.

Moving on to the second image, which depicts Lionel Messi carrying the squad through the tournament. This could still be a thing if Argentina can beat Nigeria and if Iceland can win against Croatia. I hope I've got that right.

We know it's in Russia because of St Basil's Cathdral 

Here's a link to the BBC Sport Instagram IMAGE

Here's a close-up! Perhaps I'll end up making one 

of these for England and Harry Kane