Duckboyz

Aurora

2011-05-29T13:06:00.004+10:00

What a busy couple of months it has been. I haven't had work in a while and when it comes it comes thick and fast. I'm working on an animated TV series in the city at the mo and have been doing some tattoo designs for friends as well as doing posters for the Aurora group.

This had a Gay Paris theme and went through various incarnations. I looked up old Paris posters online and tried to go for a Toulouse Lautrec /Mucha feel at the start with a modern twist.

It molded itself after a while to fit with the conventions of modern printing and the needs of the client to convey their information.

Here's some of the evolution.

Mark and Kym

2011-03-21T12:04:00.003+11:00

So our friends Mark and Kym came down for the Mardi Gras weekend and we spent a great Saturday with them. Mark had asked me a while ago to do a picture of the both of them and I thought this was a good time to get at it. Usually I try to make people look happy and big smiles and stuff but Mark and Kym have too much presence and character for the that. It was fun to do something with a bit more attitude. Not Snoopdog/M and M attitude ....just more than the usual.

Gladice and Buck

2011-03-11T17:35:00.003+11:00

I've been trying to think of design's for postcards to send out to people to get work. Apparently this is what's done in the Illustration industry and most people have mailing lists which I'm trying to collate. I drew some of my old characters Gladice and Buck and then put them in a Gunnedah shire background (being a Gunnedah boy).Odd twist but i guess it's the old saying of do what you know (not that i know hippo's). Maybe it'll just end up as a start for a story or if I change the wordings for a postcard. I like the texture on the Hippo.

Angel and the Astronaut

2011-03-01T14:52:00.003+11:00

I was trying to think up T-shirt ideas but i don't know if this one would read very well. It's an Astronaut and an Angel having a moment together. I don't know who found who or how you light a match in Space/heaven but hey, in either place you may just need to take 5 and have a chinwag...

2011-02-22T11:43:00.002+11:00

The Ginger Enigma.... I still haven't quite worked out why there is such a strong, mostly humorous, slight against the glorious world of redheads. I gather that it's just difference. As with all difference black, white, gay, straight, people from Dubbo. People just can't deal with the beauty...the fact that they have to rub paprika through their hair to catch up in the colour stakes. To be left with neutral coloured hair must be such an indignity. I am pained for the people with...Mousey... coloured... hair. Oh My.

2011-02-17T00:02:00.002+11:00

Ah It's the lovely Franka's Birthday... what a sparkler she is. I always find it harder to caricature women as there is a bit more....delicacy involved. I didn't really have a problem with Franka as she's such a strong character anyway. Love that girl.xx

Ghostly Angel

2011-02-10T11:54:00.002+11:00

This is the third in the short series I'm doing as a project of "The Red Shoes". This is the part where after dancing away from the ball and not being able to stop herself she dances into the forest and comes across a church which has a angel in front of it which tells her to repent but she says to him " Like...I can't talk right now...even..so like..I'm gonna keep dancing and stuff"...Then she dances off into the forest again.

I'm enjoying using the textures. It's producing some darker and different stuff than my usual linear drawing style.

Porcelain Dolls

2011-02-03T09:37:00.002+11:00

This is the second image that I've come up with for the sequence in "The Red Shoes". It's still a big departure from the linear work that I'm doing (and have an itching to get back to) but I'm enjoying the outcomes just the same. I'm realising the pictures are coming out as if everything is being played out on a theatre stage. That maybe because "The Red Shoes" the movie is on a stage most of the time but also because of an older influence from "Singing in the rain" where everything was sets and very front on. Onto the next one...

As for the porcelain dolls. I don't know why i though of them. I think they make the picture a bit more freaky but also because it's like the old lady kept the young girl as a doll instead of as a real person.

The Red Shoes

2011-01-31T13:25:00.003+11:00

After Listening to a podcast from the website www.escapefromillustationisland.com and having someone mention it's sometimes better to do a project than just one drawing i decided to do some images from the story "The Red Shoes" by Hans Christian Anderson. It must have been a week for ballet last week as I watched the 1948 version of the movie with Moira Shearer and then went out and watched "The Black Swan". The two movies run very parallel to each other with both heroines killing themselves at the end after being pushed over the edge by their respective ballet directors.

I went back and read the original tale which only partly represents the 1948 film. At least they didn't hack off Moira's feet which continued to pester her, while she's on crutches and having wooden feet, until the day she dies and goes off with an Angel. Can't think why Disney has never turned it into a film???

The artwork here is also a bit of a departure for me as it isn't very linear but has used a lot of the textures that i got on Cockatoo Island last week. I think it's o.k. for a first go...

Cockatoo Island

2011-01-29T18:03:00.005+11:00

I just spent a great night out camping with friends on Cockatoo island in the middle of Sydney harbour. It's a great place to spend and evening in such an industrial space, the Island having been a naval repair yard and many other things before that back to Colonial times. It was also a great place to get some texture photos for some work that I've been doing lately with layering in photoshop. I hope to create some images with them today.

Xander

2011-01-27T17:02:00.003+11:00

Well my new picture of Xander went over well. I think I'll have to make a couple more images in the same style to make a series. I'm also thinking of doing some images from the Hans Christian Anderson tale "The Red Shoes". Just to show some range. I'll see how that goes in the next few days. That's if i can keep drawing in this heat...Phew!

Twitter

2011-01-26T09:36:00.002+11:00

So spent last night dreaming about getting stuff ready on my portfolio, changing images for the title page and also figuring out how to use twitter as I joined that yesterday too. All to get some work by joining the "E" community. Going O.k. so far.

I did stay up late finishing a drawing of a friend for his birthday which is also a good folio piece. Now back to those portfolio headers which aren't going so well. Time to try a new design...

New Day

2011-01-25T14:52:00.003+11:00

So I think that I am going to change gears a little and see how Illustration goes as far as work is concerned. I am not ruling out any animation work in the future if it comes along but I'm going to try Illustration/comic books for a while. I'll have to do some research and see what's going on out there which i already have done. So I'm joining twitter, updating my blog and maybe will get a website up and running in the near future. I'm still drawing everyday, I'm just aiming it at a a different audience. let's see how it goes. :)

The Girlz

2010-06-30T16:28:00.000+10:00

From bottom, Tanya, Heather and Tiffany.

Boyz

2010-06-30T16:22:00.000+10:00

From the bottom up...Nick,Tony, Gary and Marv

Miss Kathleen

2010-06-30T16:20:00.000+10:00

Caricatures

2010-06-30T16:17:00.003+10:00

I've been doing a lot of friends caricatures as birthday presents recently. Here's a selection...

First one is Joseph.xx

Rat Catcher

2009-08-31T17:56:00.002+10:00

Another picture for Duck-Turpin. Something a little bit darker. The background lights are inspired from some great Josh Middleton pictures.

Off the Trolley

2009-08-12T12:34:00.002+10:00

Just more Duck Turpin drawings. This one has a scratchier feel as i bought a new computer and CS4 and uploaded a new wacom driver and as i hadn't figured out all the settings couldn't get my usual line. I kinda like it so may stick with it for a while.

Uniform Designs

2009-07-06T18:05:00.005+10:00

Just some design sketches for some new and one not so new characters and ideas

New Yorker

2009-06-23T09:03:00.002+10:00

I was asked recently to do some New Yorker like cartoons for a booklet to hand out at the latest Aurora dinner, a charity group that raises money for the gay community. Their theme for the night was New York, New York and so wanted a New Yorker magazine like pamphlet to hand out.
The first ones a bit of an in joke as the Imperial hotel, the Jewel of the Inner West, hasn't opepned for a long time and is one of the only gay venues left on our side of the city. The other is self explanatory. I think they turned out well.

Maza and James

2009-06-01T17:24:00.002+10:00

This is some work that i've done with Joseph. It's for our friends Maza and James' wedding. We wanted to have a pop culture/Japanese feel to it as this seemed to represent them both well. Joseph and i discussed it a lot after seeing some Genji prints at the Art gallery of NSW which influenced the design quite strongly. Elements of the pictures were also taken from photos that Maza and James had taken in Japan. Maza's picture was done quite easily but the background for James was a lot more difficult to come by as Joseph was going for a miniature-Godzilla set look that we had to abandon due to time constraints. Hopefully they will be part of a larger series of work of circular portraits. Two others can be seen on this blog of Francesca and Joseph separately.

Nick's Legion group

2009-04-09T09:42:00.003+10:00

This is a Legion of Superheroes picture i did for my friend Nick about a month ago. He chose all of his favourite characters from the series, from over the last 20 or so years, meaning that some of their costumes aren't from the same period/artists. It took a while but i think it's one of my better superhero ones.
You'll also notice that some of them are a bit more well endowed than for normal comic book characters. It wasn't a request but I'm sure it was appreciated.:)

Glass

2009-02-04T16:13:00.002+11:00

This is something i did at work instead of doing what i should have been doing. Nobody will find out....

Chilhuly

2009-01-21T13:40:00.004+11:00

When Joseph and I were in the fabbo city of San Francisco last year we went to the new De young Museum which had an exhibition of work by a glass blower named Chihuly. The first two rooms of his glass blown artistry was amazing, it sort of started to peter out after that when it just kept going and going and going. The beauty of the separate blown pieces was diminished by mass production. Unfortunately it didn't stop there as we saw his work over the next 4 weeks, the glass chandeliers, vases, flowers and odd shapes popping up everywhere as we traveled in America.

Cosmic Boy

2008-12-01T13:27:00.003+11:00

Wow two pictures within a couple of days... I drew this one as my friend Nick is very much into the Legion of Super Heroes and wants me to draw a group shot so i thought I'd have a go at something simpler first...

Li'l Joseph

2008-11-28T09:29:00.002+11:00

This was just a test to draw in the Adobe Illustrator programme. It turned out o.k. So hopefully I will try a few other things.

Saint Francesca. Patron Saint of the Broken Hearted

2008-08-13T13:22:00.004+10:00

Have been quite busy at a new job doing 2D Prop design for an animation company in Sydney as well as Some flash animation and posters, tattoo's and the like which has meant that my own work has grinded to a halt.

So I've chosen to put in this picture of Franka which was done for her birthday earlier this year. It was recently put into the Blake prize in Sydney but we (Joseph and I, as he was artistic director on this and his earlier work of himself as a Communist guard, see earlier) didn't place but was told "thankyou for your high quality of work".
One of the main reasons for the picture choice of theme is that Franka is usually placed in a bondage/dominatrix roll in other photo's/portraits/images of her and Joseph wanted to flip that. Make sure you look at the symbols in the halo.
And thanks to the lovely Franka for posing. Mwah!

The Hat.

2008-07-03T00:00:00.003+10:00

I was hoping to do a series of works of the same size for a group gallery showing at the beginning of next year. I haven't gotten far because of a new job and being fairly busy but I did get this one done. Some friends the other day thought that the lady coming down the stairs was going to do something to stop the wicked monkeys but in actual fact i drew it that she was coming down the stairs to give the flying monkeys back the hat that controls them ( you get three wishes to control the monkeys if you get the hat) and so granting their freedom and their leaving of Oz and going to my Duck world. Talking to my friend Nick we decided that wasn't good for the story, too much baggage, and so this picture is now on it's own.

From the top right down is Tik Tok the wind -up soldier, The wooden horse (brought to life with "come to life powder" of course), Dorothy(dress in 2001 Mui Mui), Bilina the chicken, Princess Ozma on the stairs (who was once a boy dressed in Galiano and then the flying Monkeys updated by moi.

Looking back I think it's a picture about letting go and forgiveness. It's one of my favourites from this year. I also tried out some different line colours and I think it worked. it makes the picture look older.

Scissor Sisters

2008-04-02T00:19:00.005+11:00

Hi. back again. Haven't really done much arty farty stuff lately. Have been "trying" to learn new animation software, which has been stopping lots of things. May have some work doing caricatures for the ABC so have been practicing using the Scissor Sisters. So this will have to do for now...

Bronzed Hippo's

2008-02-13T14:50:00.002+11:00

Hi all back again. Seems like I have monthly intervals. This piccie is the one that i did for the lovely Miss Kathleens mum for Christmas. It was a commissioned piece and if anyone else would like one let me know :) It also seems that the Hippo theme is taking over. Which really can't be a bad thing.

40th Bash

2008-01-15T09:35:00.001+11:00

It was my boyfirend's 40th Birthday last December (the lovely Jospeh) and he asked me to help him out with some artwork for his party. He had a "Communist Party" theme, poking fun at communism and dictators in general. It was one of the best laid out private parties that i have been too. Nearly everyone who went dressed in costume (which should always happen at costumed events) and had a great time on the balcony overlooking the city of Sydney. Here's some of the artwork done for the pre-invite, the invite, posters, badges and mostly Jospeh's 40th Birthday portait. I had a geat time doing it all and I learnt a lot in Photoshop and Illustrator because of it but mostly it was great because i got to look at Joseph's handsome mug everyday. x

2007-11-01T12:13:00.000+11:00

So I've been trying out some Photoshop tutorials to "Bone up" (my high usage word of the moment) on some photoshop skills. The first picture is a vespa so i can do some more interesting hippo pictures and the second is of my friends Oliver and Charlotte who are in Edinburgh at the mo. More to come...

Cobra

2007-10-09T16:17:00.000+10:00

There was this one time when my sister asked for a picture for her boyfriends birthday, he has a cobra and she wanted a drawing of him with it and some other things as well but eventually i thought screw that and went for the hippo again. At least he got the cobra.

2007-09-15T09:23:00.000+10:00

I've had a few work commitmens over the past month so I'm putting up some pictures i did for an art exhibition. The exhibition was called 'dead still' so thats why these are a bit more gruesome than I would normally do. They didn't make it into the exhibit because i ran out of time so showing them her is the alternate. The first one is of my boyfriend Jospeh and the other is of me. I think his worked better. Mine still has some lighting problems.....

Thin on the inside

2007-08-14T09:48:00.000+10:00

I've just spent the last week and a half in Melbourne for a trade fair and to spend some time with the wonderful Joseph and some of his friends. Had this idea while down there and once I'd finished the picture I saw so many people walking around with skeleton t-shirts on. I must have manifested them. I have to stop watching my "The Secret" video......... spooky

Core World

2007-07-18T16:09:00.000+10:00

Yes it's about that time of the month again... This is more work on my Duck Turpin stuff. I'm just trying to get some pictures together to get my writing going. This ones set in the future aways And yes the background veers off to the left. It's a story point. I think i got the idea from Greg Bears book "Eon". I love that book.

Poster

2007-07-03T10:52:00.000+10:00

I have been talking to a lot of people about trying to get my Duck Turpin story up and running. Either in comic book form or as an animated t.v. series. It's gonna take a loooooot of work. And here's a picture......

Ms Liberty

2007-06-16T17:02:00.000+10:00

My Flatmate Robert just got back from being in New York for three months and so as not to lose his N.Y. momentum I did a chalk drawing on the chalk board at home. Chalk is fun but tastes funny....

MAN MAN

2007-05-21T12:01:00.000+10:00

There's a rash of Gay Superhero comics out at the moment. Joseph, my boyfriend and I have come up with a new one. MAN MAN! Bum-ba-ba-da-dum... A bit fruity no?

"That's Mr Hippo to you"

2007-05-15T12:53:00.000+10:00

Oh God I think the Hippo's taking over........

Duck Turpin

2007-05-11T18:05:00.000+10:00

And so I am finally trying to get around to fleshing out some characters that have been around for quite a while. Tryig to write plot is a bother but hey what else am I doing? right? Here's the group. I'm thinking of adding the Hippo...... Oh and I won the competition with the flamingos. Hurrah!

Potatoshop

2007-05-02T12:40:00.000+10:00

Am learning some new tecniques in Photoshop at the mo so am playing around with some old photos like this one at New Years eve 2006/2007 of Crysten and Myself. Oh the fun......

2007-04-19T20:20:00.000+10:00

A friend of mine, Brett Edwards,the little red one, asked if I could do a drawing for him with no agenda to it just that it should be my work and that's all. So i did. I haven't given it to him yet but I think it's a good picture and it's definitely one of mine. And yes, the Hippo returns....

Comp Entry

2007-04-16T09:37:00.000+10:00

Tried my had at a competition for a company named Ikaboo. The brief was to create some characters for 2-5 year olds to use for their merchandising as they are moving from homewares to kids ware. Results come in at the end of the week. My entry was "Alexander Flamingo". I had a lot of fun with him and the flamingos and their Leunig eyes.

Old duck stuff

2007-03-30T20:19:00.000+10:00

And other stuff. Put the Old duck character in as well. Good to see him again. Space stuff always fun.

2007-03-28T10:48:00.000+10:00

And some times i just draw for fun. I Love the clean lines on Illustator.

Mum's 60th

2007-03-26T10:49:00.000+10:00

My mum had just turned 60 last weekend so I made a drawing for her. It continues in the vein of Mucha influenced drawing s that I have been doing. I added an orange tint at the the end to give it a more aged feel. I like everything about the drawing but I might tinker with the wording at the top later.

Concept Art

2007-02-28T13:52:00.000+11:00

Here are some of the concept art for "Daniel Dives".

Work, work ,work

2007-02-28T13:35:00.000+11:00

I've had a little bit of freelamce work over the last couple of weeks. One of the jobs has been to create some characterdesigns and concept art for a short film that is trying to get funded. It's called "Daniel Dives" and is by Edmund Jory and Michael Chrisoulakis. I thought that I would post the process of beginning pictures to end pictures. It was a good learning process to get to a stage where the director thought the character should be and what stlye it would like to go in. I started of a little bit to Disney but as we progressed it gained a nice emotional edge through some different illustration tecniques. The top one is the end version

2007-01-22T09:45:00.000+11:00

While I'm here I'm also adding this drawing that I did in a cafe in Greenwich village, New York last November. I could stay in New york for ages. I wasn't there for very long but it made ones drawing bubble boil. yoiks!

2007-01-22T09:41:00.000+11:00

Was learning Illustator (and still am), last week so i was practicing on this picture that Kathleen took of David, Cristyn and Robert. I like the effect but might go a bit further artistically with it later.

Baldwin Boys

2007-01-10T11:52:00.000+11:00

Then there are days when you go home for Christmas and someone asks you to do portraits of their kids. These are the Baldwin boys. It's quite a large drawing so I had to take it with a digital camera. It soooo was not going to scan.

Amalfi mix up

2006-12-20T16:17:00.000+11:00

This is a picture that I did earlier this year. I put it on the website drawingboard.org to be seen and got some different reactions to it that made me think about changing it. It had my duck character Tolliver in it but I 've taken him out and just had the background which was suggested to me. I think in hindsight it was a good idea. The picture flows better.

Starting Off

2006-12-18T17:45:00.000+11:00

Well I guess I have to start of with this somewhere. First Post and all. I'm mostly going to use this so my friends can view my work as a cartoonist / Illustrator. I'll try to get to it most days and update on work that I am doing for myself and maybe have a rant about comic books, movies and the like. Any comments would be appreciated on work posted.
Ta heaps
Darren.

Mucha Girls

2006-12-18T11:10:00.000+11:00

This is something that I finished yesterday. I had done another poster for the Imperial hotel in Erskineville, The home of Priscilla, which I wasn't very happy with so I did this one at the same time which took ages but I'm happy with the result.