MONSTER MOB pt1

From the depths of the BADA BLING back catalogue!!!

A while back I did a series of six paintings of silhoutetted monsters with vibrant coloured backgrounds, in direct response to folk asking if they could buy my artwork. The MONSTER MOB paintings as featured above were inspired by my love of colour and by my uncles, the first three here being Uncles Tony, Harry and Dave. They existed in their own little world for quite some time, although they've elbowed their way into the periphary of BITENECK BEATNIKS.

For those who are interested they're available as a series of limited edition (of 66) lithograph prints. Prices available upon request. Lordy, I sound like a bloomin' estate agent now, don't I???!!!

Stinky Cat shenanigans

Just got home from a couple of days spent in the seaside idyll that is Wallasey, near Liverpool, where a bunch of producers, writers and creatives got together at a castle to hold writers workshops for FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT. And tremendously successful I think the whole affair was. We had broadcaster presence in the form of Chris Rose and Nikki Chaplin from the BBC, writers included Ian Carney, Dave Ingham, Lee Pressman and Myles McLeod, producers included Sara Mullock and Jackie Edwards from Mackinnon & Saunders and Thierry Rivard from France's Kayenta, director/animator Ian Culbard and Script Editor Alan Gilbey, who was ringmaster of the whole affair.

We even did roleplaying, albeit without dice, dungeons, dragons or pointy eared elves. Lots of idea riffing and character play, all hugely beneficial to the actual show I'd hope.

WYRDWOOD: Next chapter up...

For those of you who are following BADABLINGTHING's sister site, WYRDWOOD, the next chapter of The Skinny Twig Man has been posted on there. If you've missed the first chapter, don't worry, it's early days, and even the most numptified of readers should be able to follow the rather sinister gothic tale. In this chapter we're introduced to the leads in the book, Emily and Casper, two well-meaning kids who can't help but attract trouble (like all the best leads should). Thanks to all of you who've already posted your thoughts on the WYRDWOOD site and even mailed me your comments- it's hugely appreciated.

The version of the story that I'm publishing on the blog is very close to the finished edit, with the odd typo alas I notice, but nothing that should detract from the story. Anyway, am going to shut up now. Hope you all like!

http://wyrdwood.blogspot.com/

Bada Bling!

Dead Red Ted & Ruby Red

Rather remiss of me but I noticed that there were two pieces from the BITENECK BEATNIKS that never made it to the pages of the blog, so for completism here's DEAD RED TED and RUBY RED. Like the other characters, they're a pair, and a more swingin' hepcat duo you'll struggle to find on this here blog. I'm not a cross-dresser by any means (cue a barrage of friendly catcalls) but if I had to wear a dress it'd be Ruby's chess patterned one. Swingin'!

With regards to the paintings from the art show, if anyone is interested in picking up one of the originals do feel free to contact me and we can have the talk about filthy cash. There are quite a few still available, but I can answer any queries if anyone has any.

Dug out one of my old sketchbooks from a few years back today that has all kinds of good stuff in, including my very first drawing of FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT. I'll try and get some pages scanned and whacked up onto Badablingthing asap.

Rabbit Rabbit Yap Yap Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit....

A rabbit walks into a pub and says to the barman "Can I have a pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie?". The barman is amazed but gives the rabbit a pint of beer and a ham and cheese toastie. The rabbit drinks the beer, eats the toastie and leaves.

The following night the rabbit returns and again asks for a Pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie. The barman, now intrigued by the rabbit and excited by the extra drinkers in the pub (because word gets round) gives the rabbit the pint and the toastie. The rabbit consumes them and leaves.

The next night, the pub is packed, in walks the rabbit and says "A pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie, please barman". The crowd is hushed as the barman gives the rabbit his pint and toastie and then burst into applause as the rabbit wolfs them down.

The next night there is standing room only in the pub, coaches have been laid on for the crowds attending and the barman is making more money in one week than he did all last year. In walks the rabbit and says "A Pint of Beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie, please barman" whilst smiling and acknowledging the tributes of the masses.

The barman says, "I'm sorry rabbit, me old mate, old mucker but we are right out of them Ham and Cheese Toasties".

The rabbit looks aghast, the crowd goes silent as the the barman clears his throat nervously and says, "We do have a very nice Cheese and Onion Toastie".

The rabbit looks him in the eye and says "Are you sure I will like it?"

The masses await in stunned silence. The barman, with a roguish smile says "Do you think that I would let down one of my best friends, I know you'll love it".

"Ok" says the rabbit," I'll have a Pint of Beer and a Cheese and Onion Toastie".

The pub erupts with cheers as the rabbit quaffs the beer and guzzles the toastie, waves to the crowd and leaves....


...NEVER TO RETURN!!!!!!


One year later in the now impoverished public house, the barman (who had only served 4 drinks that night, 3 of which were his) calls time. As he is cleaning down the empty pub, he sees a small white form floating above the bar "Who are you" he queries

"I am the ghost of the rabbit that used to frequent your public house" comes the reply.

The barman says, "I remember you, you made me famous, you would come in every night and have a Pint of Beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie. Crowds came to see you and this place was famous"

The rabbit says, "Yes I know".

The barman says "On your last night we didn't have any Ham and Cheese Toasties, you had a Cheese and Onion one instead"

The rabbit said "Yes, you promised me that I would love it".

The barman said "You never returned - what happened?"

"I DIED", said the Rabbit.

"OH NO!" said the barman,"what from?"

After a short pause. The rabbit said...

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"MIXIN-ME-TOASTIES"

I apologise, it's an old joke but I'm a sucker for "Blah walks into a Bar" jokes, I have a whole raft of them that I promise not to bore you with (I'm sure you all have your favourites!). This particular wabbit is from a project Ian Culbard and I developed together, and proved to be a springboard for BOTH of our animation careers as creators/directors. We collaborated on it after leaving college and it's still very much our baby. It's still potentially an animated series, although it's transmogrified a little from it's earliest conception. A strong concept like (hopefully) the rest of our work. Still, hope you like these sketches of Rocky, our lead. I'd put more stuff up on here if I felt it was safe to do so.

Estate Agent Schmagent.....

So, here's our home in rural North Yorkshire, right on the village green. See the tree in the foreground? My son thinks that's his, complete with swing that lazily hangs from a bough. It's an unusual property insomuch as it's a converted church reading rooms (which, being a childrens author and all was an immediate draw when Emma and I first saw the property). We've lived here very happily for about four years but all good things have to come to an end - we're going to move to the North West for a couple of reasons, namely to be nearer to AJ, my son, and also closer to production of FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT, which will take place at Mackinnon & Saunders studio in Altrincham. Optimistic soul as I am I doubt even I could remain chipper if I knew I had to commute over the M62 from North Yorks.

I mention the house and the potential sale as we had two estate agents visit us today. I've heard of quotes differing slightly but £50,000???!!!?!?! That's the difference between the two and to say we were flabbergasted is an understatement. Have another visiting on Wednesday to give us some better indication but I think we've made out minds up already on who to go with, and no, not just because their quote was £50k higher! :-D

Tales from the Wyrdwood

Can I just direct anyone who is interested to my "twin" site that concentrates on my novel, The Skinny Twig Man, the first of the Tales from the Wyrdwood. It's a gothic children's fantasy that hopefully has resonance with the old Grimm tales but for a newer audience. Depending upon how it's received I'll see about putting the other chapters up.

http://wyrdwood.blogspot.com/

Bada Bling!

Biteneck Beatniks sketchbook 2

And here's some more of the same, featuring more of the early pencilwork including some rough thumbs for a comic that I still want to get off the ground in collaboration with Dark Horse newbie and all round talented egg Ian Culbard.

The characters up top are the Wererat Pack, a gaggle of lounge singing hoods who have yet to make it to the art show. Sammy, Frank and Peter are there - there's only Deano missing. He's probably in the bar...

Biteneck Beatniks sketchbook 1

Some of the early concepts for the BB series of paintings and characters, complete with some that never made it (or haven't thus far) to the canvas, including MAGNO, THE GIANT PANTS ROBOT. Yeah, some should just stay consigned to the backburner... ;-)

Biteneck Beatinks article in DPI magazine

OK, so my french is conversational idiotic at best so whatever you do please don't ask for me to translate this article. I DO have my English interview that I supplied the lovely folk at Taiwan's DPI magazine, but even with no knowledge of Taiwanese whatsoever I still suspect that this is better reading than my English waffle!

DPI is a mag that specialises in illustrators, graphic designers, vinyl toy creators and the like. I got a couple of copies through in the post over the weekend and I have to say it blows most UK and US mags out of the water. A real hefty tome, something that you could brain and hospitalise an intruder with, no worries.

If anyone CAN read what this article says, do let me know. I especially dig the fact that certain words/phrases aren't even attempted as translations :-)

Thanks to Jasmin @ DPI for all her help

Spike n Mike's Wall of Shame

Was rather honoured while in Annecy to be asked by Craig "Spike" Decker to stick a doodle on his enormous mural, as seen here. My poxy scribbles appeared alongside such notaries and luminaries as Pete Doctor, Mike Judge, John Lasseter, Nick Park, Bill Plympton etc. Indeed it's a bit of a "Who's Who" of the animation industry - enormous sheet of paper. Apparently I'm the last person to put a dedication on it as he needs to start a new sheet now - this one has taken over 10 years to fill! I made sure I got in two, mind you - an established character in BOB THE BUILDER and hopefully one for the future in FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT.

Thanks to Martin Bell (NOT the war correspondent) for sending these pictures through- cheers, man!

Oh, Warry Warry Woe.......

Rather gutted as was supposed to be appearing at Borders Warrington to do book signings today. Set off in good time in my Polo only to have it break down every 2 minutes with the engine cutting out. End result was me cancelling the trip and now having to do it tomorrow from 12-2. Especially disappointing as it's Warrington, the town I grew up in, and I was looking forward to signing plenty of MY DADDY books ahead of Fathers Day tomorrow. Am sure it won't be as busy tomorrow but what can you do? Sod's law.

Above, by the way, are Warrington's Golden Gates, commissioned and subsequently turned down by Her Majesty Queen Victoria. The great (and dour) lady was a famously puritanical woman and it's clear that these gates were a bit too flash for her. Some smart-alec in Warry must have dived in. I can see it now: "Too klarty for her madge? GIVE 'EM 'ERE!"

Biteneck Beatniks Circus Punks

A while back I produced four hand-painted Circus Punks for an art show in NYC and I've returned from Annecy to discover someone wants to buy at least two of them. Brucie bonus! The Circus Punks series is based upon the knockdown skittles one used to see in fairgrounds many moons ago, more prevalant in the United States than Blighty I suspect, although I do remember skittle knock-downs. I think this wee fella was called PURPLE PAULIE.

Hope y'all bin checkin' out the BB trailer, now, y'hear?

BITENECK BEATNIKS teaser trailer online!

Click here to view the trailer.

Directed and animated by Ian Culbard so it's fair to say it's a bit smashing. Onwards and sideways with this one, baby, onwards and sideways....

Annecy Review

Back from overseas now and a very fruitful trip it was too. This was only my second trip to the Festival, having been before last year, and this time round I've been able to make more of the event, tying in lots of meetings. Got to meet JAKe at long last, who I seem to have been chatting with forever via my geeky email sewing circle. JAKe was one of the darlings of the festival as his Geekboy animations were in competition.

Met up with Spike & Mike from the Sick & Twisted Animation Festival once more, and they seem pretty determined to help some more with getting me speaking with the right people over in LA- I'd like to throw my hand into the fire and see what jobbing concept development work i can get Stateside so I just have to see what might come of that.

Jean Thoren from Animation magazine was a bonafide sweetheart and is looking to do a piece on BADA BLING for her mag. Also met Danny Antonucci, the creator of Ed, Edd & Eddy who was a tip top chap. Plus Heather Kenyon of Cartoon Network who I hope to be able to work with on future projects.

The BITENECK BEATNIKS teaser animation that Ian Culbard had put together went down a treat, and most all the people who saw it seemed keen to see more. On that front Ian and I are working further on the development of the project and seeing where we end up. We need story outlines to accompany quite a considerable catalogue of supporting artwork.

Pictures up top are some of the lovely sights of Annecy: great venue and a great festival.

Annecy Animation Festival

Yes, I know, the posts have been rather lacking this week but I have a valid excuse as I've been away on holiday with the family, to sunny scorchio Wales. Am now in Annecy, France, at the rather wonderful animation festival. Here wearing a number of hats, including my position as Entrepeneur in Residence at the University of Teesside, but also to promote BADA BLING and all that we're trying to do. There's also the joy of FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT business to attend to which is about as big a pleasure as you can (legally) get!

I'd post some pictures of the festival and Annecy if I wasn't such a muppet that I'd left my camera on the seashore in Wales to see it take a sorry dip in the Irish Sea... *sniff*

Mr Gardener

If you bend your ear you might just hear
The sound of something snipping
Who’s this here with a pair of shears
Cutting, chopping, clipping?

Pruning the bush in no great rush
Mr Gardener briefly paused
When summer nears you’ll find him here
Tending topiary dinosaurs

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With deep rumbling growls from its thick privet bowels
A mighty bush started to flex
Then it stirred into life, hell-bent on strife
A terrible topiary T Rex

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Mr Gardener ran out with a shriek and a shout
Bounding blindly into the blizzard
Wearing nowt but a frown and a tasteful nightgown
He faced up to the large leafy lizards

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These are excerpts from my "MR GARDENER" manuscript - I'd love to be able to print the whole thing but sadly I'd be afraid that it might get ripped-off (something that's happened before). Fear not, though, as I hope this tickles your proverbials anyway. The top painting is a rendition of a thumbnail the talented Ian Culbard did (do check out his blog via my links). From these early ideas Ian and I developed a show/series of stories that revolved around a street of weird inhabitants. One of the twists the show had was that each episode was written in rhyme.

Dropped at the Gates...

As per INJun's request, this is THE first painting I did after work on MARS ATTACKS that got me onto the path of doing what I really wanted to do ie: design and create/paint my on characters. Up to that point I'd been relatively content as a cog in a bigger machine, working as a trimmer/seamer, prop painter, modeller and the like. To be honest on feature film pay I was quite happy. But there was always a part of me that wanted to be doing the creative side myself rather than following the lead from another.

It used to look great on my business card, this image. Very spooky and slightly chilling. Shall see if I can get snaps of the other paintings from the CROMBIES series. They're all framed and on the wall at home so I'll get jiggy with the camera.

Street Bob

Just been sent this hilarious image by all round top bloke and groovy artist JAKe Steel. You can clearly see Bob brought to technicolour life by the magic of graffiti on a London street. You can even see Wendy round the corner holding her can like a lethal weapon. If I had any comments it'd be that Bob's ears are a little too jug-like but besides that, top of the class. I know I'm down with the kids when I see things like this..... ;-)

Bada Bling!

Crombies = Zombies

Naturally, so I thought at the time, any good kids book should feature zombies, regardless of what age group we're aiming at. Yes, I am a sucker for the walking dead. Well, the Crombies in my story were always going to be zombies. Remember I'd not long been off MARS ATTACKS when I did this work so there's probably a very heavy evident influence of Mr Burton on my paintings. Certainly in so far as the stripes, anyhoo. The red and green contrasting palette is something that I'm still drawn to in paintings to this day.

Looking back I feel these pieces are naive but I'm still really proud of them- they went a long way to dictating my work ethic and obviously helped me get commissions.

I did pitch THE CROMBIES to a publishing house or two, and was told in no uncertain terms to "lighten" my work- as much as the art directors loved my stuff they couldn't use it as it was simply too dark. I stubbornly stuck at the dark stuff and it was only when I tried lightning my work a good while later that I started to pick up commissions.

TIP= Always take the advice of editors and publishers. They're in those positions for a reason, 9 times out of 10!

Pre-Bob portfolio

Did some signings at Birstall Borders in Leeds yesterday, and fielded a query from one book-buyer as to whether I based my book characters on BOB THE BUILDER - I guess this is reflects on the character of the boy Bobby in DINOSAURS AFTER DARK, and maybe even the girls in MY DADDY. In answer, if he does check out this site, here's a character I designed and painted for a story called THE CROMBIES from way back when. It was during my "lean period" between having finished on MARS ATTACKS and searching for the next gig. Obviously, wanting to do character design and also break into publishing, illustrating a text of my own seemed like the most sensible thing. As you can see in the picture the character of Simon looks VERY like Bob (well, he does to me anyway, with the beady eyes for starters).

So yeah, I have a folio style that's recognisably "me" which certainly helps my work get noticed I suppose. The same question usually pops up re: similarities between Pilchard and FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT, but in truth my style of drawing animals like cats and dogs has been consistent for many years previous to Bob. I think I've posted FISHBONE the cat on here before now, do let me know if I haven't and I'll whack him up here as he's a good example of a pre-Bob cat that should put any queries to bed once and for all!

More pictures from THE CROMBIES to follow. For the purpose of explanation THE CROMBIES revolves around a boy who stays with the Crombies for a week in summer and all the terrible things that happen to him there...

Jo Bling the Dog Faced Boy

OK, so, thanks to a slightly unrelated prompt from Mr Culbard I feel it's my duty to relay this story to you.

The school that I was at on Thursday, Spennithorne in Wensleydale, was a very sweet little school in a very sweet little village full of very sweet little children. In the most part. There's always one, isn't there?

I'd done my storytelling and sketching for all the school, and it was getting towards the end of the day. All the kids were buzzing after the workshops - as one teacher has said before now it'd save a lot of time if I just injected pure sugar into the kids' brains instead of spending the full forty minutes with each class - it'd create an identical effect! Anyway, there's just the one wee class to see last of all and that's about 8 or 9 reception kids, little ones with the archetypal streams of candlewax snot and wandering fingers, you've seen them I'm sure.

I introduce myself and before I can say anything more one kid shouts out a line that'll probably make it to my gravestone, one that I never expected to hear (like a fool) but shall henceforth expect when working with kids:

"You're really hairy!!!"

Arthur was his name, 3ft of cockiness and honesty rolled into a bundle of mischief. Admittedly I had a shortsleeved shirt on and the old chestwig was rather erupting from it's housing. Well, young Arthur only said it as he saw it without the shackles of decorum and decency that stop you or I shouting things out at strangers in the street. Suffice to say I buckled up in kinks along with the teacher who didn't know WHAT to say or WHERE to look - she was crimson! I don't usually get stumped but on this occasion young Arthur had me for a duck!

Certainly beats "Where do you get your ideas from?" or "How much money do you make?"

PS: Thanks to Mr Culbard for generously lending me this snapshot from his passport...... ;-)

Monkey Business in Birmingham

Just returned from trip to Birmingham for the Book Week, putting in a couple of appearances at some of the city's libraries, and very well looked after I was indeed. OUP had organised my involvement in order to promote CHEEKY MONKEY, and I must have shifted about 40 copies to the school children who came from Coppice Green School and St Dunstan's School. What a bunch of kids- very engaging, polite, and great fun. Completely dispelled the idea for me that inner city kids lack respect. Just some of them, it'd appear.

Thanks to Angela King from Birmingham City Council library services for looking after me and making me feel at home, and all the support staff who helped make it such a great event. I hope to return next year, maybe with all my books in tow.

La bella Igora!

This is the remaining "Frankenpet" to accompany Nine, Fifi and Heidi. Igora (started out life as Igor) is the vainest bird in the world, though admittedly she's clearly damaged in many ways. Again, lots of fun to design and has turned out to be a terrific character in the show who makes a great nemesis for Nine. I'd love to see all the gang as plushies with detachable limbs and body parts- kids could make their own Frankenpets from the collected bunch of parts. My producer's mother made a hand-stiched Nine which I'd post on here to show you if I had the darn image.

Off to Birmingham for the Book Day on Friday, promoting reading to kids and doing some storytelling spots in the city. Then I'm doing signings in Borders Leeds Birstall this Sunday. Both should be a hoot, though I'm slightly wary of how I get from venue to venue at present in Brom. Birmingham is a city that I know about as well as Nantucket. That isn't a lot. At all.

Luckily I know a girl from Nantucket...

Hyde the Hamster

Not a game Richard Gere plays, contrary to popular belief...

This was the character I originally designed for the sequel to Frankenstein's Cat, as mentioned in a previous post. As it happened we incorporated Hyde into the animated series proposal, and he's changed a bit along the way. As one of the other "Frankenpets", Hyde's special ability (as if ANY of them are remotely special) is that he's a lycanthropic werehamster, able to turn into a hairy rampaging monster at the drop of a hat. This, by the way, was created long ago, before the Wererabbit hit the screens by a long shot.

As it happened, we decided to make the other Frankenpets all girls, so giving Nine a real outsider's point of view- he didn't fit in remotely. This combined with his friend Lottie's unfotunate predicament of being the only girl in the village left the two of them as a real buddy-buddy act that is the at the core of the show. So Hyde became Heidi. Not too difficult a jump methinks.

Plus I love the design of Heidi, she's a real toerag bruiser who looks like she'd bite your ankles in a fight as a first resort!

"What you get isn't always what you ask for...

... just bear that in mind when you ask for a puppy next Christmas"

And that's the last piece of original artwork from FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT that I'm going to whack up onto the blog. Like the previous three it's one of my favourite images and was a lot of fun to do (hope that shows in the painting). Yet again the green and red stripe obsession appears. I know. I'm sorry. Whoever said "red and green should never be seen" was clearly talking out of their patootie! Shame I never got to do the sequel book I had planned for FC: HAMSTER & HYDE - it culminated in a giant 60ft hamster riding a fairground bigwheel!

Been hard to find time to work up posts on the blog, you might have noticed, due to having been making lots of appearances at schools holding various workshops. As much as I love working with kids (and I sincerely do, believe me) I'm hankering to get my teeth stuck into some writing. Time for more time juggling!

Blogtastic disaster!

Anybody who called by the blog over the weekend will have noticed that things were pretty blitzed- we don't know how but after much bug searching and rifling through problem pages on blogger groups we (or should I say Emma) finally sussed that we needed to republish a fresh template. So that's what we did and normal service has now, sort of, resumed. Apologies to anyone whose link is missing from the navigation bar- I tried to remember everyone but no doubt I've forgotten someone- just gimme a mail and remind me. I'll put it up if it's appropriate although, with kids reading this, anything that involved activity more risque than baked bean wrestling had best not bother!

Busy weekend decorating the house, as Mrs Bling stated in the previous post. All hunky dorey now and proper show home like!

Attached is another piece of original art from FC, another of the double page spreads that I was so fond of. The image of Nine exploding like that is a real springboard for where we want to go with the animated show- lots of Tex Avery-esque splits and the like. We could have done it in stop motion, which is my first love, but it would have been a nightmare in post with all the wires and the like that we'd have needed to suspend those flying limbs and eyeballs. The finished thing in flash does look a bit awesome mind you!

Frankenfun!

Along with the picture of Nine charging through the castle towards the kitchens, this particular piece is another of my favourites from the "Frankenstein's Cat" picture book. I was mighty pleased with the paint job in general on the book, but for some reason this particular "shot" was the most fun. Don't know whether it was the playing around with the stormcloud effects or just the fact that the drybrushing built up so easily. Composition as much as anything worked well- within the picture book the Monster is reaching over the spine and into the text on the opposite page, a brain in a jar just out of reach!

As I find the other images of my fave pics from the book I'll put them up.

In Other News...

Just spoken with the delightful Harry Saylor, owner of Orbit Gallery in NJ, who has sold another BITENECK BEATNIKS painting, "Bad Madam" I believe. Plus apparently someone has snaffled a set of MONSTER MOB lithographs. Good on you, Harry! Hope we can get more paintings through Orbit, as we're looking to try and arrange a solo show there sometime Spring/Summer next year. It's in a terrific location, overlooking Manhattan from the Jersey docks.

Meow!

Here's the flipside of the Bob Yard sheet as promised, the first and only design I did for Pilchard. It was based upon a cat I'd already designed by way of a series of prospective greetings cards, "FISHBONE", but i tweaked the colour and shape of the head and "bingo", there was Pilchard. Again, if I hadn't bothered to do the Fishbone character I possibly may never have been asked to design Bob. As it happened, the producer on Bob, Jackie Cockle, loved my cats and once she saw what I could do she wanted me on board, God bless her.

I had my first "tinker" on Flash today and actually produced a piece of animation. Well, a hopping pig anyway. Was much much fun and although it was as basic as a very basic thing with no bells and ribbons on it, I still had a feeling of achievement! Just need to be able to play with it enough to oversee the kids who I'm currently mentoring on a Youth Film Project in Middlesbrough, funded by First Light. We've done two films already, one claymation, one cut out paper characters, so to move onto computer is a departure for all involved.

Bada Bling!


PS: You might also notice the sellotape/slash mark at the bottom of the picture, too. Yep, that's where I went and chopped clean through like a cowboy electrician through cabling...

Dusting down Bob

Further to yesterday's posting of the original Bob sketch, I've had a rummage through what images I have from earliest development of the show. This is still one of my favourites and is, as you see it here, on a sheet of A1 from a whopping old sketchbook I had. Again, as with the Bob sketch, this is my first submission for Bob's Building Yard and, as anyone who is aware of the show through having young kids, is pretty much the one that we ended up running with. Designing Bob was, on the whole, a bit of a dream whereby very little needed changing. Sure, Bob had to be tweaked, but that was no big. The yard was accepted as is, as was Pilchard the Cat (which I'll post later).

I was stoney broke at the time I did this artwork and couldn't afford a second sketchbook. I kid you not. As such, I used the back of this page to sketch another Bob design, that of Pilchard. Then, unaware of future value of said artwork, I set about cutting the Pilcard picture out of this page! I had to fax the image to my producer and couldn't be chewed with getting a copy of it- it was urgent. Bottom right you'll probably see where I started to cut through before stopping, thinking twice and fortunately seeing sense.

You'll also see here my first design submission of Scoop here. I went for a more bulldoggish, trapjawed character, with that whole underbite going on. As we played with the designs, this changed into a more faithful adaptation of a JCB. Bottom picture is of Bob's house in a little greater detail. Again, all pictures copyright HIT Entertainment PLC/Keith Chapman.

Mrs Bling expects...

It is with a huge dollop of pleasure that I proudly announce that Mrs Bling and I are expecting another addition to the Family Bling. Should be arriving on earth sometime towards the end of September, beginning of October, and is a welcome addition to the dynamic duo of Andrew and Evie. We went for our first scan this morning, what would ordinarily be the 12 week one, only to find out we're actually 18 weeks along! Baby had a nice strong heartbeat and was very mellow, unlike it's sister, Evie, who danced and jigged like a proper nutter when she had her first scan. I'm quite surprised at how mellow the bump was, to be fair, as mother did a good job of demolishing oodles of fizzy sweet goodness over the weekend which were a gift from our mate Daisy...

All very happy!

To celebrate our news I'm posting this image on here which has never been on the net before- it's my earliest sketch submission for BOB THE BUILDER, and as you can see, he's changed a little along the way.

There were a number of tweaks I was forced to make:

1. Bigger feet. He'd have wobbled and fallen over like an old lady on those spindly pins. After all, this is a puppet show, we can't defy gravity with melon-headed lead characters...

2. Bigger hands. No way was he holding tools with those little flippers!

3. I thought it would be tremendously funny to give him no hair, bar the sideburns. Ergo, he takes his helmet off to reveal a baldy bonce to hilarious comic effect. The producers said no, give him hair. I insisted it was funny. They asked if I wanted to work on the show. I decided to give him hair...

4. I had to lose the 'tache! Apparently preschool kids don't like their characters to have facial hair. How they discovered this, I don't know. I like to think a team of producers wearing fake beards and moustaches hid in some bushes outside a primary school before waiting until hometime and leaping out of the bushes and yelling BOO at the poor wee ones... that's what I like to think, anyway...

So there you have it. Bob Mk One. A rare sneak peek from my folio. Image copyright of HIT Entertainment PLC/Keith Chapman.

Bada Bling!

PS: I still think he should have been a slaphead...

Appearing at a school near YOU!

Break in transmission has been down to a busy week appearing at schools in North Yorkshire. Had a turn at Boroughbridge school on Wednesday where I was special guest for their new library opening day- I know it doesn't sound initially spectacular but a library to kids is a pretty cool place, as I recall from my own childhood, so it was lovely to get to speak to all the children in the school. As one teacher commented after I'd wound up her class and left them bouncing off the walls for her to pick up the pieces- "It'd be easier if you just injected sugar straight into their bloodstream!"

Then yesterday, thursday, I was at the smallest school I've ever seen, West Burton in Wensleydale. There must have been about 40/50 children and just two teachers, with the receptionist taking classes for science and French. One teacher had "The Infants" and one had "The Juniors"- as such, each group of kids was made up of widely carying age ranges. Cracking bunch they were too- the Year 5/6 were all working on their own animated films which I got to advise them on. They had this great software called Digital Blue which came with a digital camera that allowed all kinds of groovy programmes. Very impressive.

The infants I took in the afternoon, playing episodes of Bob to them, drawing characters like Curious Cow and Frankenstein's Cat, then encouraging them to draw their own "Frankenpets". One group of Y1 boys got stuck in drawing what first appeared fantastic beasts- lots of heads, tentacles, etc. I noticed one boy had drawn udders under his monster, to which I said they looked cool. I was corrected:

"They're not udders. I've stitched three willies on underneath."

Then his mate popped up by his side:

"Look at mine- it's doing multicoloured wee-wee!"

... and it was...

UN-seasonal greetings!

Have posted these images following a "request" from the nice fella I met at the Red Stick Festival (yes, he does seem a little bit too "into" mooses, I noticed that as well). Santa's Hapless Helpers was a greeting card/animation project I developed which revolved around the concept of Santa being poorly one Xmas so he gets these hapless helpers to run the show for him in his absence. Naturally, they mess things up in many ways, shapes and forms. I would send the card to friends, family and business contacts- workwise, it helped to remind folks that I existed, be they animation companies, broadcasters or publishing houses. As such, I'd reccommend to anyone the idea of having a series of character led pieces they can send out each year to let people see their work. It's a great way of networking in a familiar fashion as a freelancer (that's enough alliteration for one day!)

These are the only images I could really show as this site is open to kids as well and to be honest, some of the other images are unsuitable for minors (yeah, like severed fingers aren't, I hear you say!) But take my word, these are the cleanest images I have! We have "Slice to Meet You", "Greetings" (done back when the XFiles was still a popular show) and "The Proof is in The Pudding". Again, a bit like other work I did at the time, these pieces also served to help me get my first design job in animation on Bob The Builder, and again helped with getting me my first book deals, I don't doubt it for a moment. Although the subject matter isn't appropriate for either fields, it let people know my style and ability.

Bada Bling!