Hi guys, I hope everyone is having a really great festive season. It's been a very challenging month for my family, and as a result I've not been at the drawing table much since the beginning of November. But as things settle down a bit, I've started working on some stuff. This is a work in progress of a painting I'm doing of The Luggage from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. For 2024 I'm planning to double down on my fantasy illustrations, as I think I was starting to spread myself too thin by trying to do EVERY type of artwork.
This is a rough composition sketch I'm working on for my first book dummy (text goes in the blank area at the top).
Hopefully you can tell that it's a birds-eye view of an Indian marketplace.
I've still got to work on the character design for the woman and the cow, who are main characters in the story.
Taking reference from Pinterest and creating some character study
More drawings!
Filling the last page of my sketchbook at a rather chilly café in Glastonbury. The woman on the left with the glasses was very loud and had a vocabulary consisting mainly of swearwords, but the guy with the plait in his beard was having an interesting conversation about Japan.
I think I should go to cafés with worse acoustics from now on.
I'm participating in a monthly challenge with friends on Instagram. Here's an endangered bird : a Bali Starling. It was a timed drawing, but I quite liked drawing him, using negative space.
@julie_rossini_lib
@Robyn-Hepburn Eavesdropping and drawing is definitely one of my favourite activities. Crossed conversations are so funny, aren't they ? I am currently going quite often to the same cafe at the same time of the day just to get a chance to "catch up" on a local group of retired people and they crack me up ! Plus, the ladies often wear hats, so they're good practice.
@julie_rossini_lib
This is very lovely @Robyn-Hepburn. I can’t believe the lady was swearing with a kid at the table!
This looks like a full spread in a Picturebook! Well done ensuring nothing was lost in the gutter.
Hi @Adam-Thornton-0 , looking good! I can tell it’s top down view; however, I’m sure the colors and rendering will highlight that bits an Indian market place.
@Julie 
i would love to see their sketch
@Julie Haha! That's a brilliant idea. I do know of a café nearby that's frequented by retired folk - I do hope they wear hats!
I love your negative-space bird. Timed drawings are great, hey? Especially together with other people.
@Jeremy-Ross Thanks! I was trying to just ignore the gutter, but then that lady was slipping into it too much so I did scooch her over a little bit. 
Ah, no, thankfully there were no kids around - that tiny human was just from a table further on the left but I wanted to squeeze her in! (I liked her hat.) 
@jvartandillustration Beautiful! I love how you've drawn the village, and how tired Joseph looks.
@Robyn-Hepburn Thank you!
@Ayesha-Masood Here goes !
Those two are from last week. Funny because it's quite the fancy side of the neighbourhood, and it's a betting place as well, so I get it all : workers having a beer - or two, or three - instead of a lunch, old men who have better days who come and bet on horses, people coming in for a chat, and those posh ladies who come for a very proper coffee, or a glass of wine. It makes for fun eavesdropping. Boy, these ladies are fierce. I wouldn't like to be one of their friends and be talked about when I leave !
@julie_rossini_lib
@Robyn-Hepburn Thanks, Yes, I've learnt a lot by doing that ! and everyday too. @blueshineart has a live everyday and it's definitely made me realise that I "can" draw even if I can't, you know... I'm fearless now 
No matter how bad the result is. I'm still having fun.
@julie_rossini_lib
@Julie awesome sketches Julie. Hahaha… staying clear of these ladies would be the best
Filling the last page of my sketchbook at a rather chilly café in Glastonbury. The woman on the left with the glasses was very loud and had a vocabulary consisting mainly of swearwords, but the guy with the plait in his beard was having an interesting conversation about Japan.
I think I should go to cafés with worse acoustics from now on.
