Doodle Advent Calendar Day 24

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 23

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 22

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 21

It's Mrs Christmas...

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 20

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Days 18 & 19

There was always something not quite right about that whole 'snowman' story,
if you ask me...

 

Okay, who's been at the Mulled Wine?

As I am away over this festive weekend, I thought I would treat you to two days of the Doodle Advent Calendar in one lovely installment. Enjoy and have fun this snowy weekend... Well, it is a snowy weekend if you live in the UK.

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 17

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 16

Always spare a thought for the tree decorations who suffer from vertigo... 

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 15

Okay, who's gone and annoyed the big guy?

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 14

Christmas Day...

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 13

Some Superheroes are just so ungrateful...

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 12

 

Don't play with fire kids... especially around Christmas Puddings.

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 11

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 10

It's a Christmas Robin...

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 9

 

 

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 8

Rudolph, you old smoothie you...

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 7

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 6

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 5

 

Just remember, presents have feelings too...

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 4

Has anyone seen the Cat... Oh no

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 3

An Awkward Christmas Pud...

Today's post is something more of a character design compared to the more humour-based characters of the last few days. In fact, I also produced this little guy as a colour vector illustration before realising that realistically I have no chance of producing all 24 illustrations as final colour images.

I will post the colour illustration below. Why not drop by again tomorrow for day four of the calendar, where we see a return of the more humorous posts.

Thanks for visiting.

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 2

Look, it's a 'mince' Mince Pie...

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Doodle Advent Calendar Day 1

Christmas Trees have feelings too...

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Update

Hey,  sorry it has been a while since the last update, but I have had a pretty hectic few months freelancing for a design agency which specialise in the home entertainment sector.

This agency works with a variety of huge entertainment companies and so you can imagine just how busy things get in the run up to Christmas.

This has restricted the amount of time I have had to dedicate to my drawing, though I have been able to do the odd piece here and there.

One of the projects I was able to work on was a character for the Dutch company 'TV Box'. They were looking to produce a character to represent their brand and to eventually be the face of the company.

The first illustration of the character has been created for use on a questionnaire, though eventually he will appear across all their media. I have posted the sketch and final illustration above.

As some of you know, I do rather like my Twitter and spend most days tweeting random things which I hope keep you entertained. Though in the build-up to Christmas I was hoping to produce a doodle a day to upload on their. It will be like a form of advent calendar... but without the chocolate.

I was hoping to produce a completed colour vector illustration each day, but with work so busy I am afraid all I can manage is a rough doodle.

If you don't have a Twitter account though, don't worry as I will be posting the illustrations on here too.

Make sure you come back on 1st December for the first one!

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Monster Feast

Hey,

Sorry for the lack of posts these last few weeks, but work really has got the better of
me lately.

I have been enduring a lot of late nights and early starts at work,  as well as having my brother's wedding last week (which was absolutely amazing!) and so I have had very little time to dedicate to my illustrations.

I had said that I won't be taking on any more commissions this year so I can dedicate my time to my design workload, but I have broken this rule for one project. I can't really talk about through the details yet, but will post up the sketches and final illustration once the character design has been agreed.

I did also find time to doodle this rather random alien creation whilst in a bit of a zombie state, but I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for your patience with me and I hope you pop by again soon.

Dan

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Ice cream Frenzy

Hey there,

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but things have been rather hectic for me.

I have taken on a block booking of work freelancing in a London agency for the next few months which will keep me very busy up until Christmas time. This has really restricted my drawing time, but I did do this little sketch the other day. It kind of sums up how I feel after a really bad day at work, when only a tub of ice-cream can help me beat my work day blues.

I do want to get this artworked, but it may be some time before I get the chance. As soon as I do I will post it up here.

I have my brother's wedding coming up in the next week and so I won't be able to update my blog until after this event, as there is still so much to do. But please do be patient, as I can promise you that I will start updating again soon.

Have a great weekend people!

Dan

Dan Hunt – Decorator

Private Study Illustration Update

A couple of days ago I mentioned in my blog that I had done some character fan art for the webcomic Private Study, which is created by Graham Johnson.

I had uploaded the sketch, but thought you may want to see the final digital version.

As Private Study is still in its early days, I am not that familiar with the characters yet and so in time the way I perceive them could well change. But for now, this is my take on them – I hope you like them.

If you're living in the UK, enjoy the long Bank Holiday weekend... I know I will be.

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

I love Twitter... Oh and I have some new sketches

Things have been quite busy this week, as I prepare to finish my recent stint at the London-based Marketing agency Hype.

I have worked here on and off for nearly 3 years, and after a bit of thought I have decided to take a break from working here. For the last few years I have worked 2 weeks per month here and have then spent the rest of the month working for other recruitment agencies, in the attempt to keep everyone happy.

This has meant that I have had little, if any, time to illustrate. Hopefully me leaving Hype will give me the opportunity to concentrate on producing more illustrations on a regular basis and hopefully it will let me finally produce the comic/cartoon that I have promised for so long.

After this week I have taken a block booking which will last until the end of the year, but then 2011 (fingers crossed) should let me spend a little more time drawing. If things go well, hopefully I will be able to make more of a career of it.

I have enclosed a couple of illustrations I have been working on lately. One is obviously a sketch for the next Dan Hunt panel and the other is an illustration (that I will be producing digitally) which is in the same vein as 'The Fear of the Custard Cream'. I am really looking forward to artworking this, and will post the finished image as soon as it is done.

On a slightly different note, I know I have rambled on about Twitter before in the past, but if you haven't signed up for it before, I really do suggest you go do it... NOW! I would be the first to admit that I was completely against joining Twitter, as I couldn't see the fuss about seeing random thoughts/comments from a bunch of people, most of whom I didn't know. But after realising that most of my close friends were now using this, rather then Facebook, I reluctantly joined.

I was a little cautious when I first joined, but once you get into it, you really can appreciate just how much Twitter offers. Being a freelancer, this has opened a whole new avenue of showcasing myself as well as giving me the opportunity to make new contacts and speak to some incredible people.

I have met so many outstanding people on there, including the likes of Graham Johnson, Lizz Lunney, Philippa Rice and Timothy Winchester. The reason these guys impress me so much, is that not only do they all produce stunning webcomics which never fail to not only make me laugh (and also leave me feeling pretty darn jealous of their talent), but they are also just genuinely nice & funny people. If you do have a Twitter account, I suggest you start following these guys.

Actually speaking of Graham Johnson, he is a young illustrator I met on Twitter a few months back when I came across some fan art he produced for Marc Ellerby. I have been really impressed with the quality of Graham's work and his utter dedication to his art, especially for someone who is still only 18 years old.

Graham has recently started a webcomic called Private Study and to congratulate him, I produced some fan art of two of the characters. Below is an ink drawing of the characters (please ignore some of the shading. Magic Markers never scan well for me), but I do hope to get this artworked into a digital file in the near future.

So to sum up, if you do anything today... Please check out Graham, Lizz, Philippa and Timothy on Twitter and their respective webcomics.

Right, that is enough of my waffling! Thanks

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Update...

This character is for a website called 'Hop-It'

This little guy is for a company called 'Discount Dino', which is a website
which offers discount codes for a variety of items online.

Things have been quite busy with me lately, and I haven't had as much time as I wanted to update my blog. So I thought I would just post a couple of the commissions I have been working on in the last few weeks.

For the next few months I will be quite busy freelancing and so I won't be able to take on many, if any, commissions. It will give me the opportunity to hopefully work on more of my own projects and also a little bit more of my iStock portfolio. I will keep you updated and will upload any sketches/illustrations that I produce.

Next year I am hoping to attempt to create some kind of online illustration/comic which I will try to update weekly (or as frequently as I can). This is something I have tried to do before, but my main occupation as a freelance Graphic Designer often scuppers it. But I am trying to cut down my time I spend doing this in order to dedicate more time to my illustration.

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Dan Hunt – Office Environment

 ©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Dan Hunt

 

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Check mate

You may remember I posted the sketch of this character a while ago, but I finally managed to get it artworked over the weekend. I went for a more loose style to the background, as I felt it sat a little better with my style compared to a more regimented look.

It will be available to purchase as a royalty-free image from iStockphoto in the next few days.

If you want to keep up-to-date with more of the sketches that I produce, I have started uploading them onto my Twitter account. My username is @RubberPenguin, so feel free to follow me.

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Dan Hunt – Military Clothing

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Care Bear Stare

You may have noticed the theme of 80's cartoon-based doodles appearing on my blog lately. I am not 100% sure what has inspired this, but I thought I would continue this trend with my latest take on the 80's with a Care Bear themed doodle.

I hope to have some more digital art done soon and so I will get that uploaded, as well as another Dan Hunt.

Thanks for stopping by.

From time to time, people have asked me how I go about transferring my sketches into digital art.

I try to explain it, but I don't think I ever make that much sense and so I have scraped together a very basic visual guide to how it's done. There are so many different ways to approach this though, this way is just the way I feel most comfortable.

Step 1: I start my placing my sketch in Adobe illustrator.

Step 2: I then create the outline to the character and then duplicate it, offsetting this by about 2mm to give me a nice thick edge.

Step 3: After we have our edge, I go about drawing in the main detail of the character.

Step 4: Once I am happy with my lines, I then dissect the image and add the colour.

Step 5: The final stage is to add a few shadows and highlights. I try not to go overkill on this, but like to add a little here and there to give it some depth.

Ta da... We are finished.

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

Dan Hunt – Hide & Seek

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

He-man

 
(Click to enlarge)

To follow on from my Thundercats doodle I thought I would have a go at doing a He-Man one.

If you have trouble reading my awful writing, click here to see a version I put on Twitter which I ending up typing the text on. 

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.

What is the Ninja Turtles were rubbish Ninjas?

I've always wondered what would have happened if the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had discovered that they weren't actually any good as ninjas... What use would they have been for society then? From time-to-time I'll post some sketches with possible ideas. Today's idea is a Foot Stool.

©Dan Bailey 2010. All designs and concepts are strictly copyright of Dan Bailey Ltd. Do not attempt to use anything on this site without the authors permission first.