That's a Super Suit

This is different. Am I now a fashion designer, or have I just insulted the world of fashion design with my flippancy? The answer of course is neither, please read on...

 A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be in the fairly unique position of creating the pattern for a super hero themed suit. This was for a company "Stag Suits" that makes fun outfits for, as you may have guessed, stag nights (or any occasion really). The pattern is made up of comic-book style super heroes all flying around doing their thing, complete with sound effects. My instruction was to make the characters look like they could come from the comic world without actually just drawing superman or spider-man for rights issues, however this made the project into much more of a creative process for me.

I think I would need a few drinks inside me already before going out wearing it, but it was a great project to work on.

HERE IS THE OFFICIAL SITE, GO THERE FOR ALL YOUR STAG SUITS (I'll stop shouting now): http://www.stagsuits.co.uk/product/patterned-suits/fun/super-hero-retro-comic-stag-suit/

Supergirl Pondering

...Images of Supergirl and other female superheroes posing or looking wistfully off into the distance are fine and dandy, until your mind starts to wander around the image and into what they might be thinking.

I like the idea of more than a pinup under the guise of "justice, justice and more justice" and instead into the realm of regular mundane thoughts... which in a sense makes it less. Does Supergirl not live on Earth afterall? ...I'm digressing there, basically I've broken the fourth wall, and once down, that's it; the floodgates are open! Just ask Ferris Bueller.

She shares my opinion on Richard Pryor

Who'd have thunk it?

Another Bloody Drawing of Bruce Lee

Every artist and his dog seem to draw Bruce Lee at some point; the internet is awash with pencilled or airbrushed pics of the guy and it's a mixed bag. So it was some retisence that I finally cracked and had a go.

Bruce Lee is still the definitive martial arts movie icon. He lived from 1940 to 1973 and was the founder of Jeet Kune Do (or, Way of the Intercepting Fist), which is a form of emtpy hand combat derived partly from Wing Chun. Although a child actor in Hong Kong, he only starred in four completed "kung-fu" movies. Game of Death was only partly shot when Bruce died at just 33 years old.

The yellow jumpsuit worn by Bruce for Game of Death has become something of an icon in it's own right and was more recently mimicked in the outfit worn by Uma Therman in Kill Bill.

A word from Mrs Uncle Sam

I'm creating; not prints, or digital but original ink-coloured pieces! Look here for more: facebook.com/Loudon.Illustrator. I am toying with the idea of crafting a series of pin-up images containing messages not usually associated with the "genre" and still influenced by the charming imagery of artists such as Gil Elvgren.

I am however, not 100% sold on my own ideas, and may be repulsed by them in a short space of time. For example, I am clearly objectifying women and therefore, you could be forgiven for questioning the whereabouts of my own critical judgement. At the same time, I feel if I question myself too much, then nothing will get done outside of commissions frome clients, which is essentially what this is.

 Mrs Uncle Sam is aware of the system 

espoused by her war mongering beau.

I predict a night on the sofa for him.

Sailor girl muttering under 

her breath presumably.

Paragraph Magazine with a Super Vibe

Towards the end of last year, I was asked to create the cover of "Paragraph Magazine." It is described as "A quarterly, award nominated magazine for Sappi employees across Europe." The publishing house is John Brown who also produce magazine for Waitrose, SKY, RBS and John Lewis ...not exactly lightweights!

This was one of those glorious commissions where the client knew of my penchant for all things comic and had something in mind of that vibe. ...With psuedo, robotic gremlins thrown into the mix.

The final cover went through some minor revisions, such as colour changes and deleting a gremlin or two. However, I do prefer my original version. Enjoy...

 Smash those gremlins Sappi Man! (that's 

what the "S" stands for).

Kung-Fu Art

A little thing I did in-between commissions:

Alexander Fu-Sheng and Ti Lung, as seen in Shaw Brothers classic Avenging Eagle (1978). Tools: brush pen and paper.

The A4 sized original is for sale on Ebay
http://ebay.eu/1Bdq80q

Microsoft "Cortana" (not a Ford Cortina).

I created storyboards for a Microsoft "Cortana" advert starring BMX ace Danny MacAskill. The final ad is available to watch right HERE (you tube). Once again, that's me creating images for Microsoft, a fairly big deal and hopefully a platform to get more storyboard work.

Cortana is described as "an intelligent personal assistant on Windows Phones, PC's and tablets." Conversely I used pretty much the oldest media in human civilization in order to help THEM visualise an advert that probably cost many £millions to make.

I don't use a smart phone or a tablet so this is was all news to me... nor have they sent me one for my efforts!

There are 15 frames in total, created with pencil and a brush pen. My preferred method is to fit three frames on one sheet of A4 paper with each frame at 16 x 9cm ...conforming to the now standard 16:9 ratio. This leaves room for any notes on the sides, for either the client or for me to clarify the action.

Got it? Good!