ATTENTION!!! Fall in, troops, fall in!

Permission to update my news, Sir!

Sir, I have recently finished a group caricature for the 'The Royal Welsh Officers Mess', Sir!

Commission for the Royal Welsh Officers.

These brave troops fought in Afghanistan last year. Some are family men, some are jokers, some have their interests and many have stories to tell. It was fun capturing their personalities and the in jokes that will only make sense to them.

Greetings! I come from a far, distance, futuristic, present day science fictiony place... Part 5

It's FRIDAAAYYY!!! 

I hope you have either exciting or relaxing plans for this weekend.

I hope you have enjoyed these updates of the character designs for Paradise Aliens and remember you can follow the film's updates via Twitter: @ParadiseAliens

What psychotic killing robot would be complete without some aliens body guards. (that No Rules is actually a delicate flower - but I didn't tell you that).

Both 'No Rules' and the 'Alien Bodyguards' went through a lot of designs until we nailed them. Again - the ALien bodyguards, like the robot, would need to be people in costumes so I had some restrictions to work around.

 

Very tall and sinister there are two identical alien bodyguards in this film who protect the 'No Rules' robot. Not much else is known about these guys other than they need special space suits to breath.

I hope you have enjoyed these character design updates. I do character and concept work for comics, film, animation or even logos so if you have a project I can help you with just give me a shout: mikeyb@theartyone.co.uk 

For further updates feel free to enter your email at the top of this post (you can unsubscribe at any time)

Greetings! I come from a far, distance, futuristic, present day science fictiony place... Part 4

Well well... just when you thought you were safe reading these updates a psychotic killer comes along!!!

*cue: girly scream*

This is 'No Rules'. An ex-militery robot who has gone while and has decided he loathes all humans and has made it his sole purpose to kill them all. ...and he does this in a very clever and original way (no spoilers from me - nuh uh!)

 

 As well as my soft spot for Sci Fi I also have a soft spot for robots. I was hoping to go all out with this robot design but as this is a low budget film I had to be sure a man could fit inside this robot. There is CGI planned for the film... but not enough to digitally create a robot unfortunately. ...but hey! I kind of miss those more hand made, none digital alien/robots of yesteryear.

The final part of this 5 part Paradise Aliens character design update will be up (or in your inbox) on Friday. Feel free to enter your email at the top of this post to subscribe to these and all other news updates of my work and projects. (you can unsubscribe any time)

Greetings! I come from a far, distance, futuristic, present day science fictiony place... Part 3

Happy Monday!

Oh dear... was that a groan? I best make this quick so you can grab another coffee and get on with this week.

Today's Paradise Aliens update is the geeky mechanic - 'Stella'.

 
There's not much to say about Stella other than things happen to her later in the film which will require a whole new design but you'll get no spoilers from me. Nuh uh! Chris Pinches wanted an "Oxfam Girl" look about her as well as a touch of the geek. She doesn't care too much what clothes matches as she's rather be under a hood of a car.
I enjoyed this character only because I have a soft spot for redheads with freckles. 

Look out for the next update on Wednesday (it's a KILLER!) and feel free to enter your email at the top of this post to subscribe to future news updates (you can unsubscribe any time)

Greetings! I come from a far, distance, futuristic, present day science fictiony place... Part 2

Greetings once again! I hope you are well in what ever you are doing and where ever you are.

Welcome to part two of the Paradise Aliens character design update. Incidently you can follow Paradise Aliens on Twitter: @ParadiseAliens

Let's meet another character from this movie. 'Erinyes' is a Bounty Hunter with a wild and somewhat unstable side. She rescues 'Hunter', from his old life and he becomes her butler as they do jobs together.

Unlike Hunter, who's look was already pre-designed, her concept was one that was done from scratch. There is some test footage of the movie out there and a photo of the current actress in a previous costume but Chris Pinches wanted her outfit to be a throw back to the 1950s Sci Fi films - minus the big glass bubble helmet.

 

Here is an alternative colour scheme for her outfit:

...and below is the test footage of the current actress and the original outfit.

 

Stay tuned for the next update on Monday. Remember you can subscribe to updates straight to your email but submitting your email at the top of this news update. (you can unsubscribe any time)

Greetings! I come from a far, distance, futuristic, present day science fictiony place... Part 1

As mentioned in a previous post I have been working for Entanglement Productions on some character designs for the pre-production movie: 'Paradise Aliens'. I was commissioned to create and draw 5 characters - A Bounty Hunter called 'Erinyes', her butler 'Hunter', a geeky girl mechanic called 'Stella', a psychotic killer robot called 'No Rules' and 1 one two Alien Bodyguards who protect 'No Rules'.

I have a big soft spot for Sci Fi so this commission was a joy to work on and challenging also. I couldn't go to town on the designs too much as this is (currently) a low budget production so people in suits and outfits that could be put together as cheap as possible but still look good were required.

I shall break this update into 5 parts for easy digest and to start with I shall introduce you to: Hunter

 This character originates from the WIld West era which is why he is dressed the way he is as well as why he carries an old fashioned pistol. Don't be fooled by the umbrella though - since he was picked up by Erinyes and gotten involved in a more technological environment not all is what it seems.

Stay tuned for the next update on Thursday. Type your email above to subscribe to updates on my news (you can unsubscribe anytime)

Green fingers (and no not from picking your nose)

I recently did a caricature commission for someone's birthday present. A yoga loving Rock Chick!

Birthday present commission - "Yoga loving Rock Chick"

After this had made it's rounds on Facebook (ain't social networking great!) I was emailed by a lady who works as a Garden Landscaper who wanted a caricature of herself for a logo for her business which would also but put on the side of her van.

How could I say no?

So I set to work and made this little jem:

"Thank you so much for your hard work and will pass your number on and tell lots of my customers all about you and your website.

Best Wishes Jayne x"

There will be text added to this by someone else but I look forward to seeing a photo of said logo very soon.

For further news updates on my commissions and projects feel free to enter your email at the top of this post and subscribe. You will receive these updates straight to your inbox. (you can unsubscribe at any time)

Perks of my job #1:

Visiting unopened premises.

The premises in question - the new Library Of Birmingham. Due to open in September 2013.

The new Library Of Birmingham.

I've seen the outside already, today I saw the inside and wandered about the two terraces and peeked in the Shakespere room. 

One word - FANTASTIC!

Took photos for inspiration - but am not allowed to share them.  Stay tuned for updates on this project at a later date.

For this an other updates on my work sent straight to your email please feel free to subscribe by entering your email above (you can unsubscribe at any time)

Dr Frog I presume?

I have just finished a commission for an image for a logo for a Science Lab based in the University Of Birmingham.

The lab deals with DNA replication using frogs as tool (Xenopus laevis frogs to be precise).

After a few rough sketches an image was decided and below is the product. I look forward to seeing it on their posters and Lab/office doors. ...and I really hope they give him a name. :o)

Frog and DNA logo image.

Well... I can't sit about updating my news feed all day as I have some other work to finish. I best hop to it! What? I thought that pun was ribbiting!

A quick write up... pass me that Paper Mate Flexi Grip pen!

On Thursday I finished the Paper Mate Facebook Campaign (as mentioned in my previous blog post) where I caricature people who uploaded their photo to the Paper Mate Facebook Page by using a Flexi Grip pen. Below is a screen grab of the album on my Facebook Page of the full collection of caricatures and other images I did.

To see the full collection click HERE! (Also feel free to 'Like' my page and share on Facebook)

More news coming soon! 

Add your email address into the box below where it says "TheArtyONE! News" at the top of this post and press "Submit" to get these news updates straight to your email. See you soon!

Penning a new post... Penning many caricatures

Today, on the 15 April, I am starting a 9 day campaign for Paper Mate on Facebook.

What does that involve I hear you cry? Well... I'm glad you asked!

It involves taking their 'FlexGrips' pen and using it to draw caricatures of people with it. 
People of Facebook can like their page, upload their photo and get a free caricature drawn my me with this pen and then can use it as a Facebook profile picture.

Above is a test video I made for them to use as a promotion for this campaign. (I have added music to my version.)

This campaign started on the 12 April and will run until 25th April (although images will be uploaded to Facebook some time after that I am guessing).

Fancy another video? Oh go on then...

You can find their Facebook page HERE should you want your caricature doing. 

Nice end to a busy and stressful week

I got an email from a client today that read:

"Yilin loved her caricature! (see attached)"*

*I was just sent the photo - I added the image of the caricature on top for social network and blog posting purposes

 The nature of my job, as with many other jobs, is that the work is done and clients disappear. So it is always a wonderful and humbling surprise to receive such personal feedback.

----------------------------

 Now you may have noticed my lack of updates recently. This is due to how busy I have been with work as well as moving house (and don't even mention the broken boiler and a freezing cold house for 4-5 days - BRRR!!). 
When I get a few momentS to catch my breath I hope to share with you some more work I have done.

Stay "tooned"!

Creating some celestial character concepts

Science Fiction is one of my favourite genres. It was Star Wars then Star Trek that got me into the wonders of fantastical futures of our world, Space and the possibilities of life and Planets beyond our solar system and into the seemingly infinite Universe beyond.

(technically Star Wars is not the future but set "A long time a go in a galaxy far far away..." but it's still futuristic to us I guess)

So when I was approached by Chris Pinches of Entanglement Productions to do some character designs and concept art for his company's new SciFi production 'Paradise Aliens' I jumped at the chance. It features a bounty hunter, a geek, a psychopathic robot, alien body guards and a butler.

Below are some finished and some sketches of the concepts of a character called Erinyes

Erinyes from Paradise Aliens - A pre-production project by Chris Pinches.