While it's still Valentine's, here's a comical sketch I did of Eros interacting with other figures of Greek Mythology.

Basically, it's Fairly Odd Parents in the Milo Coco style!

While we all wish that 'Fairly Odd Parents' didn't overstay its welcome, there was a time when we thought the show was more than "fairly" good. As a child, this Nickelodeon cartoon about average boy Timmy Turner and the magical adventures he has with his fairy godparents Cosmo and Wanda granted me a lot of enjoyment in its peak.

What worked about FOP was how it managed to put fantasy creatures into a contemporary setting, it was able to apply cartoon based humour to the cyclical structure of a fairy tale. The show followed its own formula, which Timmy would use wishing to improve his life. But these wishes would lead to certain consequences, that way, it would work morals into its stories. It really showed what type of wishes a child would make if they could happen in our world. It played around with tropes, as the depictions of mythological beings and wishes turned out differently than you'd expect.

Its use of gag-related humour was both sharp and funny. The show could get tongue-in-cheek with how characters referred to plot points, like how the opposite circumstances happen. The designs are formed from geometric shapes and bold outlines, they still have a distinctive flare. The animators were able to magically bring life to these ideas with snappy timing. 

The characters were able to pull off these goofy lines with sincerity. Timmy was one the younger viewers could sympathise with and learn from. Both Cosmo and Wanda worked well off each other, as the dim-witted comic relief and nagging voice of reason. The other characters managed to leave an impact with their exaggerated traits, like the conspiracy nut Crocker. Who pursuits to prove the existence of fairies. Yet he reacts and fails in an over the top manner. Sure the writing could be hokey and the characters would become victims of 'flanderization', it still made up for it with a good balance of humour and morals. 

But after a brief hiatus, FOP introduced the fourth wheel to the main cast. When Cosmo himself gave birth to the fairy baby, Poof (yes....really). For many fans, this was seen as the point where the show jumped the shark through a giant pair of scissors (so to speak). Something definitely felt 'odd', but we all thought what could possibly go wrong? Well, the writing was starting to become less witty and charming, often relying more on pop culture and sophomoric humour. The character's flanderization became more apparent, as they were reduced to their exaggerated traits. The supporting characters were put to the side; while more main characters were added as it went on. Now I for one don't blame Poof (as I like his character design), and I do think the second half of seasons do contain certain gems if you know where to look for them. But when Sparky was added, that's when I felt the show started to run on fumes. Did the last 2 seasons need to exist? I ask you.

If there's any point where FOP lost any dignity it still had, it would be the live-action movies. What could have been a funny/whimsical coming of age story that passes the wand to a new generation failed to utilise it's characters. The acting is ham and cheese, the production values are camp; what may have been funny in the original series does not translate to live-action. And for what, to completely contradict the ending that 'Channel Chasers' had set up. They're not the worst trilogy of films, but still, they’re not the conclusion viewers would’ve hoped for. When you put them together they leave you so disenchanted, you wonder if the show was ever good in the first place. For many fans, this made them realise that the show (for lack of a better term) lost its magic.

If 'A Fairly Odd Movie' was good (or at least decent) and the series ended right there and then; people would probably hold FOP in similar regard to 'Phineas and Ferb' and 'Futurama'. Not necessarily as one of the deepest shows or comedy gold, but the series had a charm that was all its own. But alas, it just became another children's franchise. But it no longer became what we remember it to be. Sadly, Cosmo and Wanda kept their incumbency, until it was eventually put out of its misery. Even though I still look back fondly on Timmy's earlier wishes, the reputation of them and their creator have been forever tarnished.

With the news of a live-action retelling, maybe Cosmo and Wanda's story could be told in a different timeline instead. It doesn't have to stay in Dimmsdale. But that's just wishful thinking. 

Fairly Odd Parents belongs to its respected owners and creators.

Here's a watercolour I did the last summer. Without any prior study, I just went with it as I would go. I just painted to vent out my emotions. 

Hola my fine feathered friends, it's with great pleasure to announce that my Etsy store is finally open for business. Be sure to spread the word about it and my site as well.

The design for my annual holiday card last year showcases some furry friends. Because we could all curl up with one for these uncertain times. Hope you've been safe and well this year, here's hoping things will go up, really. Keep the faith for these little faces!

A few more sketches from the past few years.

From 2017-2019

I'm back to posting on this page, sorry it's taken so long. But anyway, here are a few sketches I made from the last few years of the last decade.

Drawn in 2017-19

A few sketches from around 2015-2017

A little painting I made for the holidays. I actually started this back in 2012 with another picture I did, but because one of my mother's dogs teethed on the first canvas (as she was a puppy at the time). It wasn't until this year that I decided to use it for a newer present, and make the best with an unfortunate situation (I'm sure we've all been doing that all year). So I added a few cuts and scratches to it using a carving blade and some sandpaper, just to add to the worn and torn effect. I pasted bits of natural materials to cover some unflattery parts. Then I tied it with a stick mobile. Doing this put my mind at ease, but I hope you've kept yourself occupied. We might be worried of what's to come for this decade. But in the best and worse of times, I've always kept creating. So to you all, never stop making art, but never stop trying to make a difference. All we can do is keep the faith.

Hello, my apologies for not getting any projects done and posted; I had to sort out plenty of things in my personal life that I won't go into detail here.  

Let's face it, this has been a hard start to the new decade, could we agree on that? I was hoping to keep myself stable and stimulated this year with a lot of projects, but it's been hard to get the drive in getting them done. I like to bet other artists have kept themselves more motivated with this period.  

As my way of getting people's spirits up, I made this for a greetings card illustration. I thought if I could use the star of Bethlehem as an 'anti-virus' symbol of hope. This was also part of a test of my skills, to see if I could create a piece in a certain amount of time. This resulted in me putting more thought into than I initally thought. Doing this could help get my creative juices flowing much more, I might even use the design of the star for a future project.  

I've stated before that I believe that the holidays should be a time for people to make others feel better, and even now I hope people can still do that in spite of the situation we're in. I hope that you all can celebrate the holidays and make memories this year, that you can still spread joy and hope in a safe manner. I believe it's important now more than ever to cherish whatever time you have with your loved ones. I pray that people will continue to shine through and that these pressing times won't be the common norm throughout the 2020s decade. All I ask for this Christmas is that things will improve for you all, and my condolences goes out to those who've lost the ones they care about deeply. We might never, ever see another year like 2020, just as long as we can survive through it.

My best wishes go out to my friends, family, those who have supported me and the people who helped me get to where I am today. Here's to a decade of much needed healing.  

I thought it would be good practice to take a piece of someone else's artwork and adapt it to my own style. So I took one by female illustrator Mabel Lucie Attwell, who's known for her cutesy drawings of children. I took it upon myself to capture what made the original picture effective while giving my own touch to it. I also used a photograph of Mabel's daughter, Peggy for reference. 

A watercolour piece that was commissioned for a special someone. To get back into the swing of painting regularly. It resulted in it feeling like a project from about a decade ago when I didn't put so much elaborate time and thought into. That's not to say I didn't put a lot of care into making this, I hope my care for you shines through here. In these times, we all miss it when we could hug the ones we love; but we can make up for it by cuddling a furry creature. If these rabbits can tolerate the presence of this dog, why can’t we accept those who are different?

At the middle of the last decade, I made an illustrated interpretation of the nursery rhyme ‘The House that Jack Built’ as part of an assesment. However, when I made that, I was young and inexperienced. My main piority was to develop stylised looking characters and my use of composition, more so than the preperation of the piece. From a narrative standpoint, I wanted to use the cumulative nature of the rhyme to have these events play out in a single image.

During the production, its where I learnt the importance of layout and planning out how to put each element together. Its where I come to understand that they’re essentally the blueprint in illustration. This had me thinking, while alot of detail went into the final piece, why weren’t people able to see the pattern of events. I seemed to have these characters and props together in one linear sequence, with the simple composition of the house as the backdrop. Looking back, I could have thought of a better way to play around with the continuous narrative while having characters be the main focus. 

While I’m stuck (not just in my home but creative wise), I thought why not do a reconstruction of one of my earlier works (figuratively speaking of course). I basically took the same illustration, but recontextulise it to resemble the blue prints of a house. I used the characters and objects in the rhyme and depicted them as the components in a diagram. That way, people could figure out the sequence, the character’s actions and how they connect to each other.

So while the original artwork was an exercise in characters and settings, I should have listened to my tutors’ advice. I went into this working the way I wanted to, but I wasn’t good at negotiating it with others. I did this as to take my style in a contemporary direction and breakdown the original narrative to be more clear. While I’m hoping to get to that ‘Nursery rhyme’ project some day, I’m going to take the experience of that project into building on it.

This assessment and the reconstruction of this piece could be considered the foundation of this project (figuaratively speaking of course).

Orginal illustrations made in 2015

Re-edited in 2020

Before, I knew little to nothing about the Irish rock band, The Cranberries. That was until the death of Dolores O'Riordan, where I decided to look more into them. Of the music videos I've seen from them, the one for the song 'I Can't Be With You' stood out to me. As someone who grew up listening to 90s music, surreal rock videos from that era have always been my thing. I admire the aesthetics of them, as well as how they embrace their concepts and reference their subject matter. And this video is no exception. I adore the warm, autumn colour scheme that's used throughout most of it. What also drew me in is the use of Christian iconography put into a modern Irish setting, which adds to its strange nature. I felt this video was so entwined with my visual sensibilities, that I wanted to give my own take on it. So I depicted the angel character with my own style, and put what I like about the video into it. I have no regrets finally looking into The Cranberries and their videos at all, I certainly took plenty from it as you can see. Take a look at the original video for yourself and see if it'll pique your interest in them too. It feels good to get back into working again, because in these times we need to use it to the better. Hopefully things will improve like they always do, and that the rest of the decade won't be filled with despair. I pray it will be so.

I decided to do a 2010 vs 2019 thing where I would compare how my artwork looked at the begining and end of the last decade. Be honest, do you think it’s changed much?

For the first Pancake Day of the decade, I cooked up this quick painting of Leonard flipping up a storm. For those who aren’t aware, we have this holiday in the UK where we make all the pancakes we can eat.