LAYER? It's my party and I'll draw Leia if I want to.

Illustration Friday's topic this week is LAYER. I often just try to sketch the first thing that comes into my head and then evolve that into a final piece. Well, it is my birthday today (Happy Birthday Me!) and I might not have time this weekend to post anything. As it was I did this at 1am last night after cleaning for a party today. I then fell asleep before any "layer" pictures were born.

Having said that my wife noticed that the word LAYER and the Star Wars character's name (Princess) LEIA are quite similar ("exactly the same") to her American ears when I say them to her in my British accent.

So here is Princess Layer......um, sounds a bit wrong. Stick with Princess Leia. Sorry.

Little Big Tank

I always try to post at lest one thing in between Illustration Friday posts and realised that I didn't post this previously. I actually did a whole bunch of cartoons entitled "people i should have stayed in better contact with" at the start of the new year. This one is of my good friend and athlete/adventurer/developer, Alex Mccormick. You can thank him for the Baby Monkey riding backwards on a pig video I posted a few weeks ago and check out his blog Little Big Tank for more of the same genius and stories.

Alex just quite his job to go traveling around South America probably for the sole purpose of being able to take more photos of him posing in his "STRONG" stance and take some more snaps of fire hydrants. no, really.

Happy travels Mr Alex!

3 Illustrations for "SWEATER"

This weeks Illustration Friday topic was SWEATER. This sounded strangely to my ears, probably because they are British ears. Even though I know that it was referring to what I know as a "Jumper" there was still a slight nagging in my head when I drew thick woolen garments.


Y'see, what my brain (my English brain) was really trying to put onto paper was the fact that while my mum and my wife are usually complaining about the cold the males of the Powell family always run hot. As they turn up the heat: Myself, my nephew, my brother and my dad? We are SWEATERS!

ORANGE!

Could someone please remind me to pick this piece (titled "Band Of Orange") up from Altered Esthetics gallery? It was part of their Agents of Orange show in January. I am very much looking forward to their March "Fanboi!" show where I will have my "3G's" series. Three pieces depicting three different movie characters from three early 80's movies. I posted the first one here a few weeks ago, more to come later.This was a sketch I considered painting for the Orange show using my "Heaven's Little Reject" character (or "Devil"). It is Orange.

REVERSE!!!

Who here hasn't driven their tiny car into a dark villain and monster filled bar and just needed to...........reverse? Nobody! Exactly, we've all done it! Everyone has.

This wasn't the first thought I had for this week's Illustration Friday topic. Actually I had seen something a good few days before the topic of "Reverse" was revealed and I was determined to shoe horn in a picture of a baby monkey riding backwards on a pig......Luckily for me (and you....just wait!) "Reverse" sort of fit with the baby monkey. Why the topic though? It is because my good friend and Athlete, Adventurer, Designer, Mr Alex McCormick brought something into my life. Something that gave me words to live my life by.....

"You got to keep on keeping on,
get on that pig and hold on tight"

It was the greatest 59 second clip I have ever seen. You would not believe how happy this makes me. Just watch it, smile and understand....

Lost Labyrinth Picture.

This was the picture of Sir Diddymus that I was talking about in my previous post about Illustration Friday before I posted the paper-cut character.
I originally did this picture last year and thought I had a digital copy but it appears I don't. I think it sold. So I re-drew it this morning over breakfast.

The three original Ludo, Hoggle and SirDiddymus paper-cuts can be seen HERE.

SURRENDER!!!!

I asked my wife what springs to mind at hearing this weeks Illustration Friday topic word "Surrender" and to my shock and awe she said "Surrender Monkey". I thought she was just adding Monkey to any word I said (this is usually a complete winner with me) but I usually have heard of the term. This one I hadn't.Sounds derogatory and offensive doesn't it?

Turns out it is!

What was even more of a shock was that the phrase was coined in 2005 on The Simpsons. This is shocking as my wife has never seen an episode without switching it off.
The phrase first appeared in an episode of The Simpsons entitled "'Round Springfield" . Groundskeeper Willie, the school janitor, is teaching French due to budget cuts, dressed in a striped shirt and a beret. In a heavy Scottish accent, he greets the class with "Bonjourrr, yah cheese-eatin' surrender monkeys!" The "surrender" element of the phrase refers to the Anglo-American perception of the Battle of France as being virtually a "surrender" to Nazi Germany. The Cheese bit being self explanatory and the monkey bit being a comedy word.
This phrase was then picked up by other U.S. media outlets, such as the National Review Online, New York Post and commentator John Gibson of the Fox News Channel towards France who oppose the U.S. in international forums in particular, the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

(All of this info was stolen mercilessly from Wikipedia)

In short this was a huge turning point in my marriage. My wife gave me a an excuse to draw a monkey that was inspired by the Simpsons that might even raise a smile from my British ancestors. I have never been more in love.

ANYWAY - It's not really my thing to be posting stuff against the French so I went with my NO SURRENDER MONKEY. I hope I dodged the bullet of offending anyone.

I also had an idea for it but I had already done something similar before but here is Sir Diddymus from the movie Labyrinth done in paper cut -
Never Surrender!