Dr. Who-oo, and the Tardis

Actually this is just the aliens for the Dr. Who 60th Anniversary Starburst Magazine #483

FTG Logo Animation

 So I animated a logo...

...Using Photoshop frames

No luck with GIFs so here's youtube upload. 

Here's the final logo, I actually worked backwards,

animating the little people running out and then 

played in reverse.

.

Looks okay though, it worked. Each character was given the illusion of speed by adding a blur. I enjoyed this a lot but really need to get my hands on After Effects or some other animation package.

Massive thanks to Liz for hiring and to Frenkel Topping Group.

Starburst Magazine #479

 With halloween quickly aproaching, we are reminded of the blah blah blah... intro platitude. 

I was hired to create the cover of Manchester's very own Starburst Magazine. Several years ago I made four covers back-to-back and now I have returned to this lovely publication.

Well, I say lovely. The theme of this particular cover is horror. Featuring a host of horror icons, this cover was as much about layout trickery as drawing because the characters are all crammed in tighter than a mall full of zombies.

Bruce Campbell, synonymous with cult,

horror; Evil Dead, practically a shoe-in.

And the final cover with adjustments

Alien, Dracula (Christopher Lee), Buffy, Eleven (Stranger Things) and The Creature from the Black Lagoon are all strutting their stuff, but if Texas Chainsaw Massacre-ing isn't your thing, order the magazine anyway. It's full of reviews, articles and all sorts. Stay in the loop with Starburst, order yours today!! 

Reel Britannia

I illustrated a couple of episodes of "Reel Britannia" currently screening on Britbox; about the British film industry, featuring the likes of director Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I). 

#film #withnailandI #britbox #paulmcgann #richardegrant #wine #lighterfluid #drink

Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I)

Joan Littlewood (Oh, What a Lovely War - theatre)

Pets again, sorry (not sorry).

I'm thankful to all who hired me. I enjoy it and they're pretty nice and straight forward: I get photo, I return drawing. bish bash bosh. 

Photos I get are usually low-res, sometimes a couch or chair leg might be obscuring the animal, which if not too obstructing can be removed by me. Sometimes the lighting is poor, sometimes a background too distracting. My job therefore is to use that imperfect spur-of-the-moment photo, remove the background (though not necessarily) and turn it into something more permanent, more focused. Pretentious diatribe over, just look at the friggin' dogs. 

 Dawg 1.

 Dawg 2.

Dawg 3.

Just a quick portrait comparison

A couple of portraits from last year, both in black and grey ink. One cartoony in style and one a bit more straight laced, though faces weren't exaggerated at all in either. Something to think about for yourselves.

Two good friends of ours, from 

Chorlton Runners' running club! 

They run in lots of different countries,

and have two cats. Also, he turned 40

and she bought this for him. 

INSTAGRAM

Follow me on Instagram, it's practically the law.

@loudonillustrator https://www.instagram.com/loudonillustrator

This image is from the "Mr. Alzheimer's" activity pack. It's a precursor to the children's school book created earlier this year: http://p-loudon.blogspot.com/2019/06/mr-alzheimers-goes-to-toyland.html 

Courtesy of creators Emma Smith (AgeUK Salford) and Joy Watson (campaigner).  

Paul Draws Pets: Updates

There are a few things that I can't show yet, but here's a quick blast of recent activity carried out under my "Paul Draws Pets" side-project. https://www.facebook.com/pauldrawspets/

So, a quick run through of how it works. You, the customer message me with an image, I use it to create a fabulous pet portrait and send it to you through the post. The portraits are made with black and grey ink, sometimes pencil.

Email requests to root@paulloudon.com

Price guide:

Unused "England Won!" image for BBC Sport

This image was to be published online by BBC Sport if England won the 2019 Rugby World Cup, sadly this was not to be because as you all know, England unfortunately failed to beat South Africa in the final.

...And even more sadly for me, the image remains irrelevant. Thankfully I can show it off regardless.

The current squad roll up to an exclusive nightclub 

for previous winners. Waiting at the door is the 

2003 World Cup-winning squad, with expressions
ranging from bemused to whatever-I-
could-find-on-the-internet. 

The image features current head coach Eddie Jones, eyeballing the 2003 coach Clive Woodward who is posing as a doorman alongside Martin Johnson. Mike Tindall and Jony Wilkinson pause from cocktail slurping to gape from the doorway at the (not) new champions headed by Owen Farrell holding the Webb Ellis Cup. Behind Owen you should, if I've done my job correctly, be able to spot Harlequin star Kyle Sinckler and Sale Shark's Tom Curry ...Sale is just down the road from my house, where I drew this. So there's that.  

Oh, and before I go: the original ink-on-paper

drawing. I added the VIP sign later and changed

Eddie's flag from Japan to an England one. 

I should point out that most of the ideas came from Nick at BBC Sport and his crew. Good eggs.

Up the Irons!

Manchester United: Treble Quest - Part 1

Fuzzy Duck, a Media City (Salford, UK) - based design house hired me to work on a project for Manchester United Football Club. Exciting, not only because my hastily-typed stream of emails actually yielded a client, but of course Manchester United probably rank in the top 3 of organisations that I can now claim on my CV. ...The other two being Microsoft and Huawei, however whilst those two global giants got unpolished, scribbly storyboards, (the Microsoft one's in particular being mostly unused by the client) this footy project is something I can show off without cringing.

 The final product is an interactive 

touch-screen game located on a 

large display in the Manchester 

United Store, Old Trafford. 

Think of it as Football Manager-lite. The player has to guide Man U through to winning the treble cups in the year 1999. The three cups being The Champion's League, FA Cup and Premier League trophy.

Essentially you get to be Sir Alex Ferguson; 

chewing gum and po-face, not essential. 

His image is all over this game.

Assistant Manager Steve McClaren also turns up

to blow his whistle in your face.

This is what happens if you completely screw it up.

Seaman is from South Yorkshire, where I once lived.

I know this because drunken knobs were chanting it

back in the summer of Euro '96. 

From left to right: Peter Schmiechel, Jaap Stam, 

Dwight Yorke, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, 

Denis Irwin (sorry Denis, but it is you honest), 

Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, 

Andy Cole, David Beckham 

...plus the arm and legs of some other guy. 

I won't spoil the ending just yet, you have to go and play it, score some goals and whatnot. Go, now!

Mr. Alzheimer's Goes To Toyland

It's not what you know, it's who (whom?). Last year, a good friend of mine passed my details on to his mother Joy, who is very active in raising awareness of the infamous neurodegenereative disease, Alzheimer's as well as being afflicted herself. Looking for someone to redesign a character, yours truly was drafted in.

One of my original interpretations

of Joy's funky yellow character.

Since then it's been a gloriously wild ride at Paul Loudon Illustration, with postcards, a children's school book and an activity pack to work on. The opportunity to collaborate with Emma Smith (age UK Salford) and Dr. Joy Watson has been a true highlight of my career, culminating in a book launch in which I felt like a minor celebrity. Kids from local schools were there and did a great job entertaining the crowd with shadow puppets. LINK

The book cover. Carbon Creative

worked their magic on one of my

interior illustrations, I like it! 

Furthermore my illustrations for the book were passed on to Carbon Creative LINK, who did a grand old job compiling the thing and making it look proper. So, a shout out to them. 

One of the more complex images, shows "Mr. A"

looking a bit lost and confused, before a young girl 

asks him where he's going. ...Mr Alzheimer's turns

blue when in distress. 

Book launch!

More images to follow...

The Fab Four

I created the "Fab Four" for BBC Sport and the Champions League Final. Depicts the four Liverpool managers that have won over the years. #liverpool 

So from left to right: Bob Paisley - who brought the team to victory in 1977, 78 and 81. Joe Fagan - 1984. Raphael Benitez - 2005. Jurgen Klopp - 2019.

This was a bit of a big deal for me because it was really high profile, with Liverpool legends such as Jamie Carragher using this image as his Twitter banner. 

Obviously this is also a reference to The Beatles' Abbey road album, featuring songs such as "I want You (she's So Heavy)" and "Carry That Weight".

Paul Draws more Pets

Quite like doing these, get you requests in today... here's the page https://www.facebook.com/pauldrawspets/

Other pets that I could potentially draw: Mouse, Reptiles, Horse (already done one), Parrot and other birds, pigs ?!

Alice on Comixology

Stop the press! Our comic is now available as a tablet/phone-read from Comixology. Get it here: LINK

Get it today!

"When Alice adventures through Wonderland ended... WONDERLAND CAME TO ALICE!!" - co creator, Bret M Herholz 

#aliceandtheinvadersfromwonderland Alice and the Invaders from Wonderland.

Banners for Devil & Co

A homepage, spooky churchyard themed banner AND Alice (as in Alice In Wonderland) specifically for Alice themed merchandise. What am I talking about? Devil & Co. of course! Go there: LINK

Also, if you like H.P. Lovecraft, this should be your Graceland.

Luke Behind You

STAR WARS!! ...Elements used in a poster for "Boro Fondo 2018" the Murfreesboro music festival, Tenessee, USA

Storyboarding Horror!

I was hired by the hottest talent in horror film-making Bob Pipe to create storyboards for "A Christmas Pardon." One of 24 short "Deathcember" horror flicks due to be unleashed this year in the run up to Christmas.

From the official page (LINK):

"Advent – the season of joyous anticipation. Remember the excitement you felt as a kid every December, being allowed to open up a new door of your Advent calendar 24 mornings in a row, eagerly awaiting the surprise that would be in store for you that day? 

The anthology DEATHCEMBER aims at bringing such memories back to life and making them a part of today‘s genre legacy, but with a twisted edge; serving as a cinematic Advent calendar full of horror, thrills and black humor. 

A collection of 24 short films that take a look at the dark side of the festive season. 24 films by international directors with the most diverse ideas, styles and narrative formats; linked by short animated segments that deal with the Advent calendar itself. Behind each door, a new, viciously entertaining story awaits... 

Will you dare to open the doors?"

Bob's film is a particularly grim medieval affair depicting the pitiful town ogre as he is lead to the stake for a good old fashioned burning, in front of the baying unwashed masses.

Director Bob Pipe won critical acclaim a couple of years ago with The Monster, a short horror flick choc full of style and wit; a show stopper at several major festivals including Frightfest, London. So it was with huge gratitude that I took on this project for him, plus I know the guy ...so there's that. Have a look at his other projects: LINK.

Aside from simply following the script, this was also an opportunity for me to add some comic style fancy angles and flare.

Jackie Chan Punching Through Wood

Jackie Chan is great. So it was with no small pleasure that I created these for "Films and Swearing" - the movie podcast. Go there...


http://filmsandswearing.com/

These people are also great: Andy Lau, Jackie Cheung, Chow Yun-Fat, Sammo Hung, Nora Miao, Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Khan, David Chiang, James Tien and Yuen Biao

Thunder, Thunder, regular cats.

A couple of cats from my "Paul Draws Pets" facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/pauldrawspets/ Go there, my rates are good.

I also made that of course ^

Dance Yourself Dizzy

A small in-between project carried out last year. Just wanted to get the name out there: https://www.facebook.com/Danceyourselfdizzyinsalford/

After all, the blurb on the facebook ^ page tells me to share:

"A group of women got together to dance, dance, dance! Supported with some funding from Ambition for Ageing! Join us. Share it."

So, below in descending order: The final image, the unused image and the sketch.

Go there if you fancy that and can get to Liverpool Street. Salford, UK.