A poster illustration of the Westgarth Cinema

I saw two people outside a cinema lean over a motor scooter to kiss and I knew had to make an artwork of it.

In this drawing, behind the kissing couple, is a building based on the Westgarth Cinema in Northcote, Melbourne. It used to be called the Valhalla, a fondly remembered arthouse cinema. I have watched hundreds of films in this place, but haven’t kissed anyone here while on a movie date… yet.

Visit my shop on Redbubble to buy Meeting at the Cinema on posters, art prints and other gift items

The artwork was hand drawn in pen and ink and coloured digitally. If you are familiar with the Westgarth Cinema you will probably notice I changed a few details. For instance you can't really park a motor scooter on that corner, and I removed a power pole because it looked visually odd and distracting imbedded in the awning as it actually is in real life.

I created the artwork as an entry to Illustrators Australia's art exhibition Paper to Pixel. So if you went to the exhibition this artwork will probably (hopefully) be familiar to you.

Look at that big menacing ink blob right under the couple. Gaaagh!

Good thing there is digital editing.

To show some of the process here's the pencil rough and the ink drawing before I coloured it.

Book illustration - Aliens Ghosts and Vanishings

 

Aliens Ghosts and Vanishings Strange and Possibly True Australian Stories Written by Stella Tarakson illustrated by Richard Morden Penguin Random House Australia

In store November 2016!!

http://pen.gy/2eHiWnI

A year ago I was approached to illustrate Aliens Ghosts and Vanishings a book examining the most bizarre stories from Australia’s culture and history. It is a joyride of Australian gothic weirdness written for 10 to 15 year olds, however I enjoyed reading it and I’m quite a bit older than that.

Did a UFO drag a family’s car off the road in the middle of the outback? How did rocks rain from the sky in WA? And what became of the prime minister who went into the surf and was never seen again?

Explore the strangest tales, most incredible encounters and creepiest urban legends in Australia’s history. Read about the investigations and weigh up the facts – do you believe the official explanations for these weird and wonderful events?

Here's a few examples of the strange tales it examines...

Mythical creatures! This particular beastie is the Hawkesbury River monster, illustrated with the appearance of a plesiosaur. Next time you’re dabbling your toes in a river look carefully to be sure there is not one of these lurking in the deep. Chomp chomp!

Haunted places! Some ghost hunters believe haunting spirits can be located with an electromagnetic field detector. Well I'm not so sure about that, but you can decide for yourself.

Mysterious locations! Have you heard of the falling stones of Mayanup, Western Australia? This is Audrey of Mayanup in the 1950s, around whom things would move strangely and rocks would appear, slowly falling to the ground. I'm not sure if she could actually levitate, but it felt appropriately telekinetic and spooky, so thats how I illustrated her. 

UFO Sightings! In 1966 in the Melbourne suburb of Westall more than 200 students and teachers from two schools saw a mysterious object land in a nearby grassy field. I was delighted when I learned I was to be illustrating a scene form the Westal UFO sighting. I had heard some of the witnesses speak at a convention and personally asked them to describe what they remember seeing and feeling when they approached the object. Best illustration reference ever.

Bizarre disappearances! What was behind the disappearance of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt? The conspiracy theories speak of a shark attack, CIA intervention, eloping with a love interest, UFO abduction, and even a Chinese submarine waiting to take him away! 

This was the first illustration completed for Aliens Ghosts and Vanishings, setting the style for the rest of the images. The plan was to create dark, mysterious illustrations with simple line work and lots of texture. I was also keen not to patronise the teenage readers with twee illustrations, instead aiming high and assuming an audience of sophistication.

Strange happenings! Does the existence of the Gosford Glyphs prove ancient Egyptians travelled to Australia, or are the markings simply a prank by some cheeky school children? Hmmm, what would be more likely... let me think. Ancient Egyptians, obviously!

So many wonderfully strange tales. A book I thoroughly enjoyed illustrating. 

Aliens Ghosts and Vanishings is available in stores and on-line November 2016.

Celebration Sunfish, probably a Christmas card

Celebration Sunfish
The Ocean Sunfish, also known as a Mola Mola, loves a reason to celebrate. Christmas, holidays, birthdays, whatever the occasion it will be there dressed as a present with a big bow on its head.

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Celebration Sunfish on gift cards and lots of other stuff like t-shirts and mugs

Not quite sure why those jellyfish look so happy. Sunfish eat jellyfish.

When I drew this I had it in mind that it was to be for Christmas card. Now that I look at it I can see it would work equally well as a card for birthdays or in fact any celebration. A versatile sunfish!

lace monitor makes lace

Lace Monitor crochets lace underwear.
Her name is Anna. Go Anna!

This lace monitor was originally one half of a spot-the-difference puzzle in a book of Aussie Puzzle Adventures. I think she is sweet enough to be crocheting out in the big wide world on her own merit. So now she is on Redbubble and Society 6 as prints, gift cards, t shirts and the like. Long may she craft!

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Lace Monitor makes lace on gift cards, carry bags, t-shirts and stuff

Puzzle illustration - Collect Ten Flowers for a Pavlova Picnic

 

Handsome Yowie has a Flower. Beautiful Bunyip has a Pavlova.

Collect Ten Flowers for a Pavlova Picnic!
Help the handsome Yowie find his way through the maze to a picnic with the beautiful Bunyip. If he collects 10 flowers along the way she will give him a great big slice of pavlova. Yum. This is another of my Aussie Puzzle Adventures

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Collect Ten Flowers for a Pavlova Picnic, Handsome Yowie and Beautiful Bunyip on gift cards, posters, t-shirts and stuff

What are these strange beasties?

Yowies and Bunyips are Australian mythical animals or cryptids.

Yowies live in the darkest unexplored reaches of the Australian bush. They are big hairy ape-like beings similar to a Sasquatch or Yeti. Bunyips are dangerous magical creatures that inhabit isolated rivers and billabongs.

Both are to be feared and treated with the utmost caution, unless you are have brought flowers or pavlova.

Puzzle illustration - Who threw which boomerang?

Today the boomerang testing range is a whirl of confusion.
Can you tell who has thrown which boomerang?
Here’s a hint, the patterns on their helmets are coded to the boomerangs.
Who threw which Boomerang is another Aussie Puzzle Adventure

Thorny Devil

The Thorny Devil is available on its very own range of gifty items.
Also known as the Moloch or Thorny Dragon, these little lizards live in the Australian desert.
They are covered with spikes.
They are super cute.

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Who Threw Which Boomerang and for the Thorny Devil on great things like tshirts, cushions, posters, gift cards, and lots of other stuff.

It's a stick.
And when you throw it... it comes back!

Despite the old stereotypes most Australians live in cities not in the outback, we almost never ride to work on kangaroos and most of us are not expert boomerang throwers. Though as it happens I actually do have a collection of returning boomerangs, some of which seem to be missing. I must have thrown them away. I wonder if they will come back?

R :)

Puzzle illustration - Spot the Tawny Frogmouths

Can you find all five Tawny Frogmouths?
Of course you can, but you have to admit they are pretty good at hiding.

Tawny Frogmouths are birds found (or not found) hiding in trees throughout Australia. They look like owls, but are actually more closely related to nightjars. Experts at camouflage they can look just like a tree stump, even up close! That is, until they open their big yellow eyes.

Spot the Tawny Frogmouths is one of my series of Aussie Puzzle Adventures.

It was originally in of a puzzle book of mine called Puzzles Down Under, published by Black Dog Books in 2009. The publisher has since reverted the rights, allowing me to make the puzzles available as beautifully printed posters gift cards, art prints and t-shirts. So you can expect a lot more of these puzzles very soon.

Visit Pixbyrichard on Redbubble to shop for Spot the Tawny Frogmouths on gift cards, posters, cushions and stuff

Christmas aardvark

Cover art for another Ethel zine. This one features an aardvark in a Santa hat, packing a box of books.

Ethel the Aardvark is the bi monthly fan-zine which goes out to members of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club. I am one of the two editors.

It is by far the nerdiest publication I have ever had anything to do with, which I have to say is something I enjoy.

fan-zine artwork

Well that's the fanzine for my sci-fi club sorted for a couple of months.
Phew! *wipes sweat from brow*

This issue featured many wonderful contributions of images and articles by talented Melbourne Science Fiction Club members. Good content certainly makes for a good zine. Alas the contributors' artworks are not mine to show you here, however I can show you the few pieces I did for the issue - the cover illustration and a couple of author portraits.

As the current graphic editor/designer of Ethel the Aardvark, the bi monthly fan-zine of the MSFC, I regularly need to quickly create visual content to accompany articles. So I have been using the zine as a bit of an experimental playground to tinker with illustration styles and techniques.

The cover for this issue has a faux aged paper texture with corner creases incorporated into the artwork. The aged texture is a scan of an old book's plain back cover and the illustrated elements are derived from old artworks of mine. The theme of this issue was Space Opera. I wanted the cover illustration to evoke the look of a well used, dog-eared novel of space faring sci-fi drama.

The portraits are of two well revered science fiction authors who recently passed away, Jack Vance and Iain M Banks, both of whom are the subject of tribute articles in this issue.

vigilant panda

Vigilant panda possesses incredible powers of vision and insight. It is ever alert and prepared for adventures and mighty deeds. An unusual commission from a few months ago.

He wears an Inverness cape, in homage to the super sleuth Sherlock Holmes. Prior to this commission I would not have known what an Inverness cape was. Oh the things you learn as an illustrator.

Dinosaurs asleep - poster illustration

Dinosaurs Asleep is available as poster art via my Redbubble shop

The Illustrators Australia A3 print show is over and I have picked up my prints.

And a big surprise, I recieved the A3 Show Peoples Choice Award with my print 'Dinosaurs Asleep' :)

There was a little box people could drop their People's Choice votes into and somehow an image of sleeping dinosaurs under a city caught enough peoples attention.

So thank you to Illustrators Australia for organising the fine event, and thank you to fine art printers Image Science for sponsoring the award - the print voucher and monitor calibrator will both be very handy. I had Image Science print my A3 artwork for the show - they did a high quality, fast and friendly job, as always.

My Peoples Choice vote actually went towards Gregory Roberts' piece Life in the paddock. A clever beautiful image and totally right-now.

At the opening I found an abundance of excellent work to admire and loads of friendly, talented illustrators to talk to and be quietly in awe of. In particular I had a great time chatting to fellow illustrators Tali Gal-on and Nicole Onslow.

So if you did not catch the fun this year then make sure you drop in for a wine and a squiz next year!

R :)

narrative illustrations for a school reader

 

Just finished the illustrations for a school reader.

It was a narrative of hardship, cunning, triumph, kooky parents, and running shoes.

Here's a couple of samples.

R :)

Puzzle illustration - bush rangers in the fish and chip shop

These puzzled bushrangers are from Puzzles Down Under, a book of mine which was published long, long ago in 2008. It featured puzzles, spot-the-items and mazes with an Australian theme and was written for 6 to 10 year old children.

Recently the rights for this book were reverted back to me. This is quite exciting as it means I can republish the book or publish individual images from the book without treading on the original publisher's toes. The artwork and text are once again mine to do with as I choose - I can sell the images as prints, put them on t shirts or post them on-line. 

Obviously there is the potential to use the existing artwork to make a fun puzzle ebook. 

Now it is my turn to be puzzled! I have never made an interactive ebook before so I am a little unsure where to start. I am hoping I can do most of it with Flash and Indesign.

Does anybody have suggestions, tips or thoughts about how to make an interactive ebook out of existing art? Any and all ideas are welcome!

R :)

map of the supercontinent Pangaea

"Our world long ago, all the lands joined together

When first appeared beasties of fur and of feather"

This is a map of the world as it may have looked around 240 million years ago in the middle of the Triassic period. Drawn with pen and ink, coloured and textured digitally.

Two massive lands Gondwana and Laurasia had just bumped into each other, creating the Appelation Mountains and forming the supercontinent Pangaea.

Although there are other maps of Pangaea around, I could not find any illustrated in an old world style with monsters roaming the land and seas. So I just had to have a go at making one myself. Yep... nerd. I know.

Please note, I am an artist not a scientist. Although I did a fair bit of research to get it as right as I could, there is still plenty of artistic license. For instance, I made up all the rivers - sorry, I just couldn't find reference which told me where the real ones were. A few of the mountains could well be wrong too. And that volcano in between South America and Africa, well it just looked good there. So to any time travellers out there, this map is not to be used for navigation, it is decoration only!

This artwork is available to buy as poster art via Redbubble.

Meet the beasties...

The animals featured are all carefully based on life that would have been kicking around within ten million years or so of that time. I intentionally didn't label them on the map, as I think leaving the creatures a little vague and generic aids imagination. Further more, when these creatures actually existed they didn't have titles such as Saurisichisan or Amonite, instead they would have thought of each other as 'the scaley thing with big teeth it is better not to go near' or 'the tasty little furred critter' or maybe 'the giant winged one who poos from the sky'.

But for the curious, and for a closer look at all the detail going on, here is a list of what the beasties are meant to represent. (You are allowed to scroll quickly through this bit. I am being a little self indulgent)

Cynodont

Eoraptor

Nothosaur

Stagonolepis

Coelophysis

Placodont

Pterorynchus

Thalattosaur

Rutiodon

Panphagia

Cynognathian

Ichtheosaur

Eudimorphodon

Amonite

Eoraptor

Rauisuchus

Dicynodont

Helicoprion - alas I drew its mouth
swirl upside down. Whoops!

Temnospondyl

The Triassic plants featured are fern trees, ferns, conifers, giant club mosses, quillworts and cycads.

As you can see this artwork has an extraordinary amount of texture and detail. It is designed to look its best when printed at poster sizes. It would be ideal educational artwork for a classroom or decoration for a kids room.

R :)