mini...

...update with a very sketchy sketch. i am here, making badges with left over supplies. i am still ill and have no time to speak of for much else other then making them cappuccino's and kanye west panini's. there has been i suppose, a little bit of free time and the story has reached spread planning stage and soon i shall be making dummy books. the above sketch is part of story two. i planned to do play with dummy books the other day but the to-do list decided not to work. christmas markets are next weekend. i have a lot of label making and packaging to do to put on the to-do do list.

as asked in a comment, a kanye west panini is a cajun chicken panini. a customer once asked for a kanye panini as they didn't know how to pronounce cajun.

excuse me love...

...where can i find a jar of strawberry jam without bits please? i reckon that is the first ever real book spread that i have done. you can click on it to see it bigger. i must say it was exciting and i was at one with the felt-tips the day i drew this. i think after the big clean, i must have cleaned out the brain of over thinking and must try to stay on this level of thinking. i am having fun and i cant wait to get back to the story. it doesn't have a title yet or any real words. it may stay without words but will feature colour in time. there is no rushing on this but there is a focus of imagination on this one.

like...

...i have been working on a very random, loose story featuring my lion character for about two weeks. i am drawing very roughly in a large square sketchbook that is quite difficult to scan in. to start it off there is lion, riding his bike around town. he sees many things on his travels like the reading bear and has to take shelter in a cafe when it rains. here he is trying to fix a puncture. i drew him on a park bench trying to fix his puncture but it was a very very small drawing. i am not sure what i am doing but i am enjoying drawing things that i cant rub out. next up is trying to decide how many pages and then work properly on some spreads as the ones in my sketchbook are rough rough like sandpaper.

hibernation...

...i have been hiding away since my last post as the weeks following that i have had, two power cuts, a broken boiler, cafe work to do (mega long days), no energy and i am still doing the last bits of the super mega clean. i have been drawing, i know results are yet to be seen but katieface can vouch for me. if i manage to make it to the drawing room tomorrow, i may try scan some felt-tip pen madness in. this weekend i have been mostly ill and finishing off half finished things in the hope that i will have stock to send out and sell at the christmas markets. overall i am just a little fed up and super mega tired.

hello...

...so here we are. the mister and i are now married and we had a lovely honeymoon in Keswick. aye, we did go to the pencil museum. the world's biggest pencil was amazing! since we returned, i have been doing a super mega clean in order to get rid of any art related distractions and just general flat distractions. i have thoroughly thought about what i want to do and still want to draw but just got bit side tracked by various things as you do or i do. i have cleared out various materials, wool, buttons, beads, sequins and other things of which will soon be going on ebay in order to help me raise funds for an A3 scanner. i have kept the pencils, paint and bits of craft fabric but there will be a systematic way of doing things from now on. the flat is clean and the office is cleaner.

thanks to all who visit my dear blog and i hope to post a picture this evening or sometime this week.

what i wore today...

...and nothing much else to report as the chance to draw is being pushed aside at the moment what with the wedding getting closer. there are things that i can and have drawn about it all, balloons, cakes, politicians visiting Manchester, florists and flowers, coffee shop visits, shoe hunting and what not. the list goes on and on, wedding and non-wedding related things. there are half filled pages in the sketchbook, not much done with the cycling lions or the owl and pussycat which i have decided is not such a good idea. so please stick with me while i having a bit of a break from illustration. i will be back in full force as and when.

to the brim...

...i do not think i could have fitted anything else into the last nine or so days. i have been at work, away from work, to Huddersfield here and there. there is to much to write about, most of it personal and half of it not so but the sketchbook speaks for itself these days. it is like a heartbeat that i carry around with me in my handbag. i think i have mastered Katie's glasses now so at least she looks more like a Katie Cat Lion now whereas Mark just looks like John.

mini cheddars...

...a lion with actual open eyes. scary looking and odd are what he looks like. not sure on that idea. may have to play around with eyes. there is another 'what i wore today' in this page. i don't like how i coloured in the trousers as the pencil was being rubbish at colouring in. today is a day off but i feel so ill. the nose is super blocked up, i cant breathe and have a deaf ear. i think i have caught a cold and that on to of my regular stupid nose illness is not helping. here is to a day of drawing and writing in the cosy office. i ain't going outside unless i really have to.

hello...

...is it me you're looking for? said Mr Colour to Debbie. i have tried a little bit of colouring-in this evening and am getting rather silly and excited but i now have to leave it to go eat an amazing Shepard's Pie. i am trying to combine the felt-tips, collage and digital colour to give what i draw that bit 'more' about them that they deserve. there is another 'what i wore today' on this page. i may have to make up some clothes to draw as i don't have that many. more like 'what i wish i wore today'. i heart the new laptop character.

what i wore today...

...is something i spotted on the web and so i have decided to throw in my two pence and join in the fun but in lion form. link. i think it may help me with colouring in as i will have to colour for the clothes to make sense. i have had a super weekend with in Sheffield and with thanks to ali, i now have a better, faster, stronger looking website. i keep drawing, giving it 100%. i really like the lion with the handbag and milkshake from the page up top. i think its the face and how it slants. did anyone see Sir David pretending to be a sloth on J Ross? made me smile. if i had a cat i would have to call it Sir David.

johnny...

...while i was over in Huddersfield last Friday, i went to see Dee, who is another Debbie not the one in Stoke but the one in Hudds and her dad. Her dad, Johnny is a rock and roll busker and i drew him while he sang and played. it was cool. i am planning to go again sometime soon, so i can sit and draw him again but many times over the course of a busking session - maybe as an actually person! other than that, i enjoyed a lot of tea last week, watched the telly, drew a skateboarder in Manchester and drew the Finland guy while sat on the train. he was a lion character asking to be drawn!

eyes...

...observational drawing is cool. while out in the sun last week, i sat in st. peters square or thereabouts and drew some people. the best ones to draw are the suits. they are always dressed, carrying something or other, talking on a phone and just talking in general in 'suit talk' which can be funny to listen to. they use words to baffle people and half the time, none of it ever makes sense. there were plenty of pigeons to draw and i should have drawn the trees and other things around me but i think the bigger sketchbook would have been better for that so next time i will be taking it with me. i am gearing myself to have a go at drawing actual people as i know the lions, minus there features, pretty much look like people now anyway and it is time to move on with my drawing.

white rabbits...

...no it is not the first of the month but there is a trend in Manchester it seems, to carry a white rabbit with you or have one on a lead. so as we can see, here is a page from the sketchbook. the printing plans of last week did not come to bare fruit as the wedding plans got in the way. lets see what happens this week now that most of them have been dealt with. the drawing room is all tidy and i have some website work to be getting on with this evening. it is a day off tomorrow so hopefully the weather will be nice for me to go and draw outside. i am itching to draw some buildings and shop fronts.

spiders...

...are everywhere! in the bathroom, in the living room and sneaking up on you when you are least expecting them. according to the sketchbook and i have been to the mister's work, watching films, re-potting cacti, spider hunting, making coffees and the like. pretty much what you see is what i have been doing. i ain't played no footie though. i used to. i used to play five-a-side and i was often the goalkeeper.

football...

...i love the newspapers for footy pull out sections. i have been collecting a right pile of them these past weeks or so. i may even have to start supporting a team! there is nowt much on this page as i once i started filling in after the footballers it didn't look right so there are some blank areas.

two fifths...

...of my way through the sketchbook, which can not be bad. the sketching and ideas seem to be picking up. it always to seems to be that i have moan when i shouldn't really be moaning (see previous entry). things are not that bad. i am on track to creating at least one new print this week and five robber bird purses. a drawing of a story is what i would love to do most of all and so i will keep working at it. thanks must go to those who keep buying my work. the print studio fund is growing. so i am popping in tomorrow to make a new screen.

brain freeze...

...i can not seem to think straight. i keep drawing and sewing. slowly i am getting somewhere but frustrated with a load of things. i don't think i am cut out for story writing. it is hard work so i keep leaving the book and story ideas to go back to playing with the sewing machine and lions. the website now needs my attention and so does etsy and plans for christmas drawings and things.

new season...

...a lot of new things have started this September. we are in the early stages of the football season and as i continue to draw, a few more lions doing actual things (drawn from reference) may now start to appear more frequently. i am a whirlwind at making purses now and am still deciding what to print next onto calico. i only have one screen until i pick my other one up from Preston so am phaffing with the designs. i hope to go to the print studio Monday to make a new screen. fingers crossed for the phaffing.

actual work...

...here are the purses that i have been making for the past couple of weeks or so. i am using the old octopus screen prints that i did on calico in 2008. i have also used a friend's old pyjama bottoms to line the purses - recycling in action! i have made about sixteen of these so far and some are in PAD right now as for etsy - they will be online in the shop as soon as i take some decent photos.

back to oliver jeffers...

...as asked by Jen, here is the owl that Oliver drew and the other picture that I was given by the lady who was handing out his drawings from the 'read and draw' session that he did. it is a tad crumpled as the wind got it that day but as soon as i can - it is going in a frame! i am not very good at taking photos and so my etsy shop listings have come to a standstill for the moment.

new friend...

...here we have another cacti in the drawing room. one that likes to wear pins. i found him at the Craft Shop in the Royal Exchange Theatre and he was made by Andrea Lord. I am unable to find any internet links for her. he will be my new little helper while i am phaffing around with fabrics and the sewing machine.

back...

...to the same game. here we have a page from aye you guessed it - the sketchbook. from when i went to Stoke at the end of July. one evening we went to gala bingo. we had fun. we didn't win but i got to draw many bingo lions. the second job i ever had was working in a bingo hall. i used to call the table top bingo out but sometimes would laugh and get the giggles. i have been working on a new batch of purses and the screen pattern designs but all is going tad slow at the moment. i have just finished a batch of five days straight at the cafe.

where am i...

...i have been busy busy busy is all i can say. doing various different things, most are not illustration related. there is some new stock of mine at PAD in Preston. the cafe keeps getting in the way at the moment as i do need the pennies to pay for print studio hours etc. i will return as i can. thank you for staying along with me.

oliver jeffers...

...yesterday i went to a special event that was at the Waterstone's in Manchester Arndale Centre. Mister Oliver Jeffers was there, drawing pictures while a lady read from two of his books! he showed us all how to make a paper plane and then held a paper plane flying competition. he did a bit of book signing and so i took along my copy of The Great Paper Caper for him to sign and he drew me an owl. in return I gave him a pirate lion postcard and a bird and button print. i also got one of the pictures that he drew whilst the lady was reading! the afternoon was super cool and it was amazing to meet and speak with Mr Jeffers as is one of my all time top illustrators! what a great day. i was tempted to draw a lion on the board before he arrived as he was a tad late but i didn't dare. maybe next time.

another page...

...while i try and do twenty million things at once, i am still finding the time to sit down and draw. most of this was drawn at the mister's place of work. i also took some photos of his work area and the lab so that i have some reference later for proper background work. the sewing machine is calling me and so is mike the pencil. i need to work on some screen print designs.