Eye of Thundera

It's funny that lately I have noticed some of the ridiculous things I do when I am at home by myself. I haven't thought too much about them until I mentioned a few of the things I have done casually to one of my best friends on a morning commute to work.

He seemed to find them hilarious, if not a little odd, and so I thought I would put them into strips and upload them on here.

The strip above is just a typical morning for me while I am waiting for my toast to cook. I often relive my childhood and impersonate Thundercats whilst holding a butter knife waiting for my toast to pop up. I must admit I thought surely other people must do this too, but not according to my friend.

Any way, I also want to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas a Happy New Year.

Have a good one!

New Sketches

Hey,
I've been working on a couple of sketches lately and thought I would post them on here before I forget.

They will be available on iStock within the next few weeks to purchase.

The first sketch is of some little children about to embark on some cooking and the next is for the December iStock vector competition.

Each month, iStock has a different themed competition that you can enter and win some brilliant prizes. This months theme is 'Luxury' and my cartoon is based on the notion of someone living the life of luxury in his swimming pool filled with money.

Working from home... :)

This week I have had the pleasure of taking a weeks vacation from the hurly burly world of freelancing in London and managed to bag myself a week of working from home.

I was lucky enough to get approached about working on two illustrational projects and so decided to snap them up and leave the London rat race behind for a week.

The first project was for an award winning printer called Digital Studio. I have created their mascot and also a series of other illustrations, including staff members etc.

I have included one of the pics of their mascot above.

The next project is going to prove to be a bit longer then first expected, as the number of illustrations required has grown from the initial brief.

The current number stands at 32 different illustrations and hopefully it shouldn't rise any more as the timelines are pretty tight for this project.

The brief for this one involves me creating eight families each from different social backgrounds. The project is still in its very early stages, but here are some of the sketches.

New Sketches

Wow, sorry for not posting anything for what seems like an eternity. The freelance design world has been manic this last month to the say the least, but I finally got myself a little time to do some sketching and have uploaded them for you guys to look over.

I have only had time to work up one of them on my Mac, but hope to start the others later this month.

I know I also need to start uploading some of my Dan Hunt stuff as I promised last month but I just haven't had the time to finish any of it yet – sorry!!!

The christmas and new year period 'should' be quieter for me freelance-wise and so I hope to get a lot more done to showcase here on my blog.

I hope you like these sketches, have a great weekend people!

All designs and concepts are copyright of Dan Bailey. ©Dan Bailey 2009.

Ellerbisms 200th edition

Now, any one who visits my blog regularly will know how big a fan I am of the web comic Ellerbisms.

This weeks sees the 200th edition being posted and to celebrate this the creator, Marc Ellerby, has asked anyone and everyone to send in their works of art to help mark this momentus occasion.

I have posted my illustration above and hopefully it will be on his site at some point this week.

You can check out this amazing web comic by logging onto www.ellerbisms.com.

My Website

For those of you who have stumbled across my blog by pure chance, why not check out my website by visiting www.danbaileyonline.co.uk and let me know your thoughts.

New Stock Images available

Hey there,
I hope you are all enjoying the early days of October.

I thought I would just upload a couple of new royalty-free illustrations I have created for iStock.

They are available for review and purchase now!

Just visit my iStock portfolio by clicking here.

The Chosen One

Hey,

I thought I would just upload the final illustration of my latest iStock royalty free image available for purchase. It is entitled 'The Chosen One' and you can purchase or review the illustration now by clicking here.

Future projects

As I've been so slack of late, I thought I'd quickly upload this sketch to keep you all up-to-date as to some of the stuff I will be working on in the future.

The above sketch is a real rough at the moment, but I need to develop it and then get it drawn up on my Mac. It is a chap having a bit of religious moment.
This next sketch is a real sneak preview of some thing I will be publishing on here in the coming weeks.

I won't elaborate too much at the moment, but it is project I have worked on for a little while which I would LOVE to get published.

This character is the lead guy and is called Dan Hunt... For now, I'll leave it at that. But check back soon and all will be revealed.

Have a great weekend!

Dan

Web Comics

My attempts of writing a regular web comic are fast falling by the roadside, as the freelance design world is managing to keep me incredibly busy. As the design side of things is my main career and income I am not in the position to neglect this and so in the mean time, if you do crave some amazing web comics why not check out some of my favs:

Marc Ellerby's www.ellerbisms.com
The Everyday http://theeveryday.adamcadwell.com/
Sorry Comics http://sorrycomics.blogspot.com/

Happy reading, they are truly brilliant web comics!

Colin's Wedding Part 2

Sorry for the delay in getting this one uploaded, but things have been pretty manic in the freelance world. It is usually busy this time of year, as whilst everyone is off sunning themselves in glorious sunny locations across the planet, I am the guy who comes in and covers their workload. That isn't a grip though, as I love doing it and it has given me some amazing experiences. Though I would say, it hasn't helped my tan though!

Anyway, here is the second part from my friend Colin's wedding earlier in the month. Now this was supposed to be a three-part strip, with the second part being the most important part of the day – the actual wedding. But at the last minute I was thrown into the deep end when I was asked to video the whole day for my friend. That doesn't seem so bad I hear you cry. Well, for someone who has never used a video camera before that is very daunting! I had these nightmares of me not taping anything and ruining the couples memories forever! With this in mind I was pretty nervous around the time of the wedding and have managed to forget most of what happened – sorry! I hope you enjoyed the other strips from the day though.

Hopefully I should have another uploaded within the next week or so.

Thanks for dropping by!

300 and counting...

I have just uploaded this little fella onto iStock and after 4 years of grafting, he is my 300th upload. I just wanted to say a quick thank you for everyone who has reviewed and purchased items from me in this time, I do really appreciate it.

Looking back over these fours years, I can really see an improvement in the illustrations I have produced in both the production and concept of the artwork.

Thanks again everyone, here's to the next 300...

Sid the Hamster Sketch

All illustrations, designs and concepts are copyright. ©Dan Bailey 2009.

Sid the Hamster

Just thought I'd quickly post my latest creation for my royalty-free portfolio. This should be available to purchase from iStockphoto.com within the next few days.

All illustrations, designs and concepts are copyright. ©Dan Bailey 2009.

Monster Bash

After a few weeks away, I have managed to get some time together to create this little illustration for iStockphoto.com.

Anyone who creates royalty-free illustrations for stock sites like istock know that the holiday seasons, like Christmas and Halloween, can be a bit of a money spinner. But with these sites now booming with contributors everyone seems to have the same idea - which can result in your work being pushed to the back of the queue as soon as it is uploaded. This is one of the reasons I don't concentrate too much on the seasonal stuff any more. Though I have had the idea for this illustration for a while and wanted to get it done for me more than anything. If it goes on and sells a few then that is an added bonus.

Let me know your thoughts, I'd love to hear from you!

Enjoy!

All illustrations, designs and concepts are copyright. ©Dan Bailey 2009.

Sorry for being slack...

Hey,

I just wanted to apologise for my lack of updates of late.

I have been really busy with my main occupation as a freelance designer, but hope to get my pencils back out in the next week or so once my work load is a little lighter.

Thanks for dropping by!

Dan

Colin's Wedding Part 1

Hunt Vs Hunt

As you probably know, in my spare time I produce royalty-free illustrations for the stock site iStockphoto.com.

I thought I would have some fun with this and set a little competition.

I have created illustrations of two of my close friends, (who are also brothers) and aim to see who sells the most (if any at all). The winner will get a special prize at Christmas.

To reflect just how bored I was tonight, I have also even set up a little poll which can be found on the right-hand side of this page, so you can even vote for who you think will be the winner!

Once (or should I say if) the illustrations have been accepted by iStock I will upload the link, just incase anyone takes a fancy to one of them and wants to purchase the illustrations.

So here they are... This first little guy is Kevin Hunt and he is the oldest of the two.

Next up is Tom Hunt. He is incredibly similar to Kev and like me, he loves the nerdy things in life!

So the competition starts here.

It is going to be game on in the Hunt house hold. I just hope this doesn't cause too much of a competitive edge in the family!

I'll keep you posted with how it all goes, plus I have also attached the sketches, just incase you're interested in seeing them!

A Dogs Life

Ok, this has no relevance to anything really... I just had an urge to draw it :)

I wish...

Comicon Strip

Caffeine fix

In between trying to work on some of my strips, I managed to get this illustration done.

It is another one for my iStock portfolio and as you can guess, this fella is in need of a caffeine hit. Well, actually he has had got his fix and way beyond, but some people just don't know when to stop.

I am hoping to get this uploaded onto iStock within the next few days and will post the link once it is up there. In the mean time, here is the original sketch and the final illustration!




Oh yeah, I should also have another strip uploaded over the weekend (I hope). I am just trying to squeeze it in between jobs.

New illustration

I have just had another illustration uploaded on to iStock. Well, it is one of many that I have completed this week. It is available to purchase by clicking here.

I have included the pencil sketch and the finished vector illustration.

Most of my work is vector* nowadays, but I am trying hard to go back to using good old pen and ink. I was massively tempted to produce the comic strips I have started working on as digital artwork, but wanted to have a crack at the hand drawn route for a bit. It may turn out that they do end up being done digitally in the end, but we will see. My pen work is still pretty rough as I have only just started using them again after about 10 years of ignoring my drawing talent. But you know what they say... Practice makes perfect (I hope)!

I think I must have stopped drawing when I was 14 and only started again 4 years ago (I am 28 now). In those four years all my work has been purely pencil sketches which I have then scanned and redrawn on my Mac. But now I want to do it old school for a while.

Any way, enough blabbering on from me...












*Incase you haven't come across the word vector before, it is a term used for illustrations or artwork created in programmes like Adobe Illustrator or FreeHand. This kind of artwork is made up of shapes which can be enlarged to any scale without the loss of quality, (which you would suffer from if you had a bitmap file, ie, a photograph or a scan). For a more indepth breakdown of the term vector click here... They can explain it better then me :)

London Comicon 2009

Tomorrow is the day when all nerds put down their X-Box controllers, don their Storm Trooper outfits and head out of the house for the first time in months as the London Comicon takes place in Earls Court.

I will be there without my normal group of friends as a mixture of the Swine Flu and the current recession have meant they will be forced to sit this one out. Still, me and my bro will be there nerding in up, but this geekfest won't be the same without them.

I'll be the obvious one in the Ninja Turtles T-Shirt, as I think I stand alone as probably the only Turtles fan left in the UK. Still, someone has to keep this franchise going huh?

Check out www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com for more info.

Web Comics

Over the next few months I am attempting (and I use this word loosely) to get a regular batch of web comics online on my blog.

It is something I have been trying to do for a long time now, but have always struggled to find the time. Feel free to comment on them and let me know your thoughts!

Losing my mind – final pic

Just thought I would add the link to my completed illustration 'Losing My Mind' which I mentioned earlier this week. Just click here to check it out and if you have and iStock account please feel free to rate this or any of my other illustrations and if you don't have an iStock account... Why not! :)

Losing my mind

Here is a quick sneak peak at a future iStock illustration which will soon be available to purchase.

It is called Losing My Mind and I hope to have it up on iStock within the next week or so. I'll make sure I post a link to the final illustration once it is done.

iStock

If you want to check out any more of my illustrations, then check out my portfolio on iStock which is full of royalty-free illustrations available for purchase. Just log-on to www.istockphoto.com/danbailey

This site is full of some of the worlds finest illustrators and so if you are looking for any style of illustration for a project or just looking for inspiration, then check out iStock.

You can also view my website at www.danbaileyonline.co.uk. I am just full of self promoting this morning :)

Ellerbisms

If anyone has any spare time on their hands, then I absolutely beg you to check out the comic diary of one of the UK's most talented comic book artists.

His name is Marc Ellerby and you can check out his work at www.ellerbisms.com.

Trust me, you will not be disappointed!

Did someone say biscuits?

Anyone who knows me, knows how fond I can be of food... Especially junk food!

From time to time this passion of mine creeps into my illustrational work and once again I have found myself drawing food, though this time (and not for first time) I have been working on these little critters.

They are of course biscuits. They came to life after months of listening to some friends at work babbling on about the possibilities of biscuits coming to life. After months of ignoring these random outbursts, I then found myself involved in them. I have been doodling ideas for these characters for months, but didn't really have the time to develop them much further, until today that is.

I have worked up a trio of characters and my long term goal is to get a little comic strip together and after that, who knows... World domination? Well, it is a nice thought. Knowing the way I am, I'll be lucky to finish it and it will join my ideas scrap heap.

Anyway, let me know your thoughts on them.

As of yet they are all nameless, though I was thinking of Jaffa for the Jaffa Cake and maybe Seth for the Custard Cream.

Before anyone asks about the Pink Wafer character, yes he is someone what camp – ha!

All designs and concepts are © Copyright Dan Bailey Ltd 2009.