So where were we... Right, I'd finished the sketches, got the idea together and mocked up what I wanted the painting to look like. Time to get painting!

Step 1 - Buy a canvas.

I wanted to try and get a canvas with an A4 ratio, but I couldn't find one in the shop (Jaks stationers, Narborough Rd leicester - little plug for the lovely fellas in there!) so I settled for this beast...

Step 2 - Background

With a little masking tape, a scalpel, luck and a few cut fingers I managed to spray up the canvas. I had to spray it a couple of times to get the colours to look right, but eventually, BOOM. The background was done!

Step 3 - Block colour.
This stage is exactly as it sounds, first I pencilled on the design and worked out what colours were going where. Then, using Posca paint pens and  brush I slapped on 2 coats of colour.

 Step 4 - Outlines
To make the drawing pop I added some outlines to the painting. I generally work using 3 different line weights, thinnest for the lines on the arms and legs, thicker on the outside of the limbs and thickest as the external line. When all these were done I added a thin white power line to make the drawing pop properly.

 Step 5 - Detailing

Screw heads, eyes mouth and the floating brain and bubbles were all added... I also slapped on the popbot logo and some extra details to the limbs.

Step 6 - Shading and highlights
I used tombo brush pens and white poscas to add the lighting details, using an imaginary light source from the top left of the image. 

 aaaand DONE! Just need to get it photographed by a professional photographer! When they get done I'll slap them up here! I'll add some pics of the finished magazine front cover as well!

In the meantime, I hope I didn't bore you too much!



Evolution!

Sometimes I get asked about how I come up with the ideas for my drawings. I usually give the same answer, "a family history of mental health issues and the correct ratio of illegal narcotics and coca cola"which usually get me a smile from the person that asked the question and the opportunity to change the subjest. To be honest, I don't  really have a good answer. I just doodle and stuff comes together.

But, since I'm supposed to be an artist, and this is supposed to bea blog I thought I'd show you guys (at the time of writing this I have 2 people subscribed to my blog - Stephen Fry eat your heart out) how a I produce a painting.

Here's the background to the piece...

I'd been asked by FD2D magazine (http://www.fd2d.com/) to do the front cover for their next issue. This particular issue was to feature what is known as a gatefold cover. A gatefold cover, as I understand it, is a magazine cover that folds out to create a double sized page thus giving the reader a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately for me I'd spent so long on the actual main illustration that with 2 days to go I had absolutely nothing for the inside page.

I had to create a whole new painting that matched the theme and the colours of the other image and I had to get this done in about 10 hours total (I work a full time job - this art thing is a sideline). I knew that I would never have enough time to create a character from scratch so I started trawling through my old work.
After rooting through countless old sketchbooks I eventually found the following image on my facebook page (I'm on there as Uh Oh in case you're interested). I carried on looking but kept finding myself coming back to this particular painting.

I decided this would be the basis for the new piece but that it would need some serious alterations to make it work. So I grabbed my trusty sketch book and best stolen ikea pencil, made a cup of tea and started scribbling...

The next few pics are snapped off the pages of my sketchbook and hopefully show the progression of the idea...

After a promising start, I'd found myself at a standstill. I had the basic idea but I couldn't seem to get it to work,  I was stuggling with the idea, I knew it had to be a long armed robot with a brain in a jar and really flexible arms but I couldn't get it to all tie together...

I figured that the caterpillar legs weren't working and I just needed to make it simpler. I decided to stop whining about it, so I pressed on and after a couple of hours and several cups of tea, I cracked it...

Simple is beautiful! I settled on a rounded jar top and simple legs. Course, it needed some refining...

Eventually I remembered a similar picture by an INCREDIBLE artist and someone who I am constantly in awe of Jeff Soto (http://www.jeffsoto.com/). The arms in his picture sparked my brain off again and in no time at all I'd cracked the arms and legs!

Ta Daa!
This was the finished sketch. I know it doesn't look like much here, but the point is to create an image for me to use as a rough template for the painting, so it doesn't need to be perfect. To have an idea of what this would look like with the matching background from the front page I knocked up a quick mock up...

It was at this point that I realised that I'd finished. I had a creature, a pose and a background that I liked and that was ready to get painted.

The hard part was done and now all I had to do was to was to actually paint it up...

I'll show you all that in the next thrilling installment of (drumroll...) "Uh oh Artwork!"

Another satisfied customer...

Here's the lovely Mr Dyson showing off the present he had comissioned for his boss.

Think he likes it...

Well hello there...

Hello,

Welcome to my new blog... I guess I'll mainly be posting new artwork, dates of places I'll be painting, friends work and other things that they're up to and random pictures I like.

If you like anything here and want to enquire about buying feel free to drop me an email. My contact details are listed below or somewhere on this page... maybe...
email me at uh-oh@live.co.uk
facebook me at facebook.com/uh-oh
check out my website at http://www.uh-oh-art.co.uk/
follow my twitter account at twitter.com/thetrueuhoh

Right, I guess I'd better go paint something to show you!

See you in a sec...

Uh Oh