Dissertation? What dissertation?

At the start of the summer, I vowed to be organised with my dissertation and not leave it until last minute. .
I tried, am still trying but in the meantime here are some illustrations i've been working on . . . ah the art of procrastination!

Experimenting with graphic linework an watercolour.

Wizard of Oz inspired illustration - continuing experiments with linework and limited colour.

Latest illustration Chief of Fun.

Definitely becoming more comfortable and happy in my style of work ... or maybe i'm just telling myself that to make up for the lack of dissertation I have! Any feedback welcome!

*Sidenote*:

I also completed my first (sort of) real world commission, a good friend of mine is aiming to complete a 7 day trek in aid of Parkinsons UK this October. I've done the poster for him and would be incredibly grateful to anyone who could help him along on this incredible journey for an extremely worthy cause. Simply visit rjhughes.co.uk/ to find out more or donate.

Summer style

So since I last blogged, we had second year assessments (I passed) and am now an official third year student! SCARY!
As well as my dissertation (which I'll be blogging about at a later date) I have dedicated this free time to starting some personal projects and working on my "style". So here's a little update of what I've being doing with all this time off so far. . .

I started by looking around for some inspiration as to how I wanted to work. Primarily working in linocut I liked the idea of using patterns because I think that it shows up well in the print media but also has the ability to work in pen and ink for finer detail or shorter deadlines.
I drew inspiration from the likes of Swoon and Lynd Ward (who I've blogged about previously) as they work in the same media, but here are some other artists whose style I particularly like and want to try to draw from:

Kakofonia

Andreas Preis

Si Scott

Luke Dixon

So with these artists and styles in mind I began to sketch a few things like birds, other animals and tried some portraits to improve in that area too:

Crow study style test

James Dean Style test

Tiger style test

 I liked the way that these initial sketches had turned out and couldn't wait to try print in this way as I haven't really done anything particularly detailed with linocut. So with this in mind I began to do some more sketches and doodles with the possibility of taking it into print in mind whilst drawing it. This meant working at a slightly bigger scale, considering where bold black areas are and the contrast of the image, something I need to get into the habit of when working in linocut!

Skull style test

Owl style test in linocut

 I finally took one into lino, experimenting with different papers and colours and combining the dark lines of lino with adding white in certain areas. I'm quite pleased with how it came out and can't wait to continue to experiment with other images.

Magpie Colour style test

Red Panda Colour style test

So I've moved onto looking at how to use the patterns and bold blocks of dark lines that you get in print with a watercolour finish. Like I said I'm pleased with where my style is going and look forward to pushing it further throughout summer.
I'm currently turning my focus away from an animal subject to figurative and portraits in this style to see how it works and will post my results at some point! (Really this is just a procrastination exercise away from the dreaded dissertation but shhhh it's still productive!!)
Hope everyone's having a lovely summer! and any feedback etc. is always appreciated . .