A nice surprise to see this cover I worked on at the start of the year for t.iss.one/TheBizarchives reprint of George O. Smith's Hellflower has just been published.

There were a few bureaucratic cyber barriers stopping this being released at the time, but it's out now and you can read about it and purchase it here - https://open.substack.com/pub/theobelisk/p/new-book-c3d?r=18err2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Thanks to all the recent subscribers to this channel, and all the old ones for sticking around despite my lacking posting schedule. I very much appreciate all the support. I've got a few projects in the works that I will be able to share in the not too distant future. Be well!

Some studies of old master drawings in a new A6 sketchbook. Pen and ink.

Two studies after Luca Cambiaso. Diluted my ink with a little too much water here and it bled, ruining a lot of the line work and I had to work back over it. Mistakes were made, lessons learnt.

Two studies today after Salvator Rosa, the Italian artist from the Baroque period. I went back to the A5 sketchbook for these full figures, as I found the A6 a little cramped for them last time.

Here's a very simple process video showing the three stages.

Pencil drawing to get the forms more or less there, lines with water resistant ink, and then diluted ink washes for value. Both the lines and washes were drawn with a fine brush.

My book cover design and illustration for Skirmishes in the Atrium: A poetry chapbook for the age of strife, by Arthur Powell - t.iss.one/atopthecliffs

A challenging but highly enjoyable project to bring together modern and ancient aesthetics into a symbolic whole.

Purchase the book here:

Britain: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Skirmishes-Atrium-poetry-chapbook-strife/dp/B0CT64TKJM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3W0MUT99UEPFA&keywords=Skirmishes+in+the+Atrium&qid=1706981598&sprefix=skirmishes+in+the+atrium%2Caps%2C295&sr=8-1

America: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CT64TKJM?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_46J7MSJ8Z8TZBWHVW9G9_1

Underpainting done, colour next

Studies of various gargoyles and grotesques in the A5 sketchbook, drawn with ink and brush.

Bit of an experiment to draw some master studies on photoshop using custom brushes to make them look like ink drawings.

Study in gouache on a piece of A3 paper after Rubens' Hercules as Heroic Virtue Overcoming Discord. First time painting in gouache for over a year now, very fun, but life is a little too short to take this any further so I will leave it a little rough around the edges and move onto the next one.