My Christams Letter 2011

Dear Family and Friends.

What an incredible year this has been for me. There have been serious downs and equally high ups.

This year I think I’ve seen more of the UK than I had in previous years. To start I spent a lot of time visiting Newcastle in preparation for starting my PhD at Newcastle University. I made some great friends down Gateshead way (near Newcastle), finally got to Beamish (an open air museum) with my friend Rob. I’ve been to Bristol, London, Kirriemuir, York, Glamis Castle, Stirling and hiked to Loch Lomond.

My biggest trip of all came in February when I travelled to Amsterdam for three days. It was my first holiday on my own. Not only is Amsterdam an amazing place to visit but also travelling alone gave me such a sense of accomplishment. I realised how incredibly capable I am and there was no reason at all to be nervous. I got around just fine, never got (too) lost, had great food and saw fantastic sites. It also made me realise that I need to walk more which led to conquering Arthur Seat with Paul and Rachel and walking the entire water of Leith in search of the Antony Gormley (the artist who created the Angle of the North near Newcastle) statues there.

I’m still living and working in Edinburgh. As with everyone, we’re really feeling the hard economic times, but thankfully I still have a job. The departure of my boss meant an increased workload, however it has brought more autonomy to my work. Editing a magazine is tough, but having control of the reins is a great feeling. The magazine continues to get better and I think I’ve risen to the challenge at work. My visa is also being renewed so I get to stay in the UK for another two years, after which I can apply for permanent residency.

In other work news, I’ve had to put my PhD ambitions on hold. But academia still beckons so I’m going to be a guest lecturer at Napier University in 2012! I’m going to be giving lectures on design and magazine production! I’m crazy excited! I’m still writing my book of course (as you can see from my blog)

I’ve started back to rugby! I still can’t play full time because of my joints, but I’m still going along to training and helping out and playing as a substitute at matches. It’s great spending more time with the team again and being more active. My waistline whole-heartedly approves. We photographed a calendar (still available to purchase online – Mom, look away) to raise money for Waverley Care. The team also celebrates its 10^th Anniversary in 2012! I can’t believe I’ve been on the Thebans for five years!

This year I’ve taken up a new hobby; bookbinding. It’s so much fun and I’ve created some lovely journals and books already. But, I have to get a grip on my fetish for stationery. There’s really only so much paper you can buy before it becomes gratuitous! My sister, Love, got married to her high school sweetheart, Jason. I sadly couldn’t make it but was happy to make the wedding book. I’ve also taken up the piano again (yes, mom, you were right. I do regret giving it up). I’ve picked up where I left off at age eight. But, the man size hands and sligtly less trainable brain make it a very different experience. Needless to say, though, I’m not bored.

I’ve also continued performing with Showcase where he have concerts to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Since the group was founded in 1991 we’ve raised over £200k. I’m very proud to have been on the committee this year (though I wasn’t as active as I would have liked to have been). I also did something I never thought I’d do – a marathon! I was part of the Showcase relay team and it was awesome! In this year’s show I got to strut my stuff as Tom Jones and perform “Sexbomb”. Leather trousers, while something I wouldn’t normally wear, are surprisngly comfortable.

As the winter began I hit a very rough patch and had to take time off work. Never in my life have I known such kindness and support from friends. There are so many people I have to thank for their love and support. I hadn’t appreciated how much Scotland has become a home until, in my time of need, love and family in the modern sense came from every direction. Because of it I think I’ve come out the other end a much stronger and happier version of me.

Well, this letter has already tipped towards ‘sprawling’ so I will close. I’m lucky enough to have been invited to my mate Keir’s family home for Christmas in York. It promises plenty tidings of comfort and joy and I’m very much looking forward to it. I hope this letter find you all happy and healthy.

Lots of love from me to you for this holiday season and have a bigger and better 2012.

A new species

There are the three main species of Arbea. But who are these guys? I won't give too much away but they're character ideas for a later book. What do you think they should be called?

Card 2011

I've settled on a montage for my 2011 card - a combination of photo montage and hand drawn elements. Having fun doing some tests but here's the sketch and full colour version of the illustration for the final card. The idea is the characters are being squashed out by the photographic images from the real world.

You'll have to wait until December to see the completed card!

It's Christmas time

So, as I begin the search for an illustration for this year's Christmas card I'm trying to think of the thing I want the most for Christmas. No, no, not Santa wish-list style but what I want my Christmas to be like. I'm having a bit of trouble at the moment so I'm taking a quick look back at previous years to try and remember what I was doing at that type that inspired me.

My earliest cards are somewhere in boxes so I'll have to fish them out and scan them, but since 2003 I've been doing digital so here are some delights. You can see my 2010 card on here.

2003

2003 was my last Christmas at University and all I wanted was to stay in college forever! So, here's Opeel having a white Christmas out in the snow wearing a big cosy Yale jumper. And there's Wishmaker, the mascot for my greeting cards, on the back working his magic.

2004

This was my first year out of Uni, away from home, out in the big bad world waiting for my next big adventure - moving to Scotland. So, the card is a bit etherial. It's actually my least favourite card, but looking back I realise how relevant it was to my current situation. And there's Wishmaker, stuck out in the cold looking in through a stained-glass window - psychoanalysts eat your heart out!

2005
I missed my 2005 card because that was the year I first moved abroad so I was a bit preoccupied. But, I came back with a sufficiently Scottish themed card the following year.

2006

I took a trip to the Isle of Skye in early 2006 so wanted to treat family and friends back home to one of the idyllic views that I witnessed on the trip. It was amazing!

2007

2007 I got into collage. So, all of the textures of the characters clothing are actually images of clothing photoshopped in beneath the drawing. This was the first year I switched to postcards because the cost of postage on top of printing a 3-sided printed card was getting higher and higher. And, I wanted to be able to still send cards across the waves. So, sadly, my little greeting card mascot Wishmaker did not actually make it to the final print but here's the sketch of his swan song.

2008

2008 I was keen to create a new character for Opeel's universe so meet Lautza, a wish dragon. He makes Arbeas (Christmas) wishes come true. This is actually a predecessor of the creation of Arbea so, hats off to Lautza for being the first bit of Arbea folklore.

2009

2009 was my first venture into reality with my card. I envisioned that the only thing I really wanted for Christmas was to have a nice family Christmas with my then partner. I have to say, 2009 turned out to be everything I wanted it to be and fantasy became reality. See if you can spot my parnter's dad peeking out from behind the door with cups of tea!

Ships ahoy

I designed a book for a Naval oriented friend of mine and spent some time sketching ships. Well, one ship in particular - the HMS York. It was good fun. The ship is inscribed on the inside page of the book and worked really well with the 'ocean' theme. Still one of my favourite books to date.

Themo Peel!

I don't know why it took me so long to develop my own logo. I've recently finished a book binding course and was so enthused with learning to finish books with embossed letters. I thought, 'I need to develop my own mark so that whenever I create a book I can tag it.' So, the idea train got on the tracks.

I've long since loved exclamation points. Often when I'm sending emails or writing articles I'm always asked 'Why so many exclamation marks?!!!!' The answer is simple, because I'm usually excited!

Of course my initials had to be part of it as well. I tried to get the 'T', 'H' and 'P' into it similar to my signature which actually looks like a giant 'H' and 'Peel'. However, I feel in some way the '!' has become my signature, another part of me just as much as the 'H'. '!' is what I stand for. So, what you get is T!P. And, I think it will look pretty swish as an embossed stamp on a book cover. It's easily simplified to about three or four quick lines.
So Themo H Peel has officially made his mark!

Dragged into the 21st century

I've succumbed to pressure as I'm working towards getting my book business started and have finally set up a twitter account. It's all about have a presence on the web these days, eh?

http://twitter.com/#!/ThemoHPeel

Musings on Gemmy

So, I'm back on the book trail again. Having taken some time to work on other projects, take a book binding class and do a lot of reading, I've recharged my creative juices and ready to explore the world of Arbea once again with fresh eyes.

To get back into things I realised I'd not actually given enough thought to what Gemmy looks like as a whole person. Lots of head shots and his face was clear as a bell. But, who is this boy who shrugs off having fruit thrown at his head as just a nuisance?

Physicality plays a lot into who a person is. How you stand, how you smile, the way you walk all tell a story about you. And what story does Gemmy tell? Taking the time to analyse and visualise who he is physically has given me a bit more depth into how a guy like him would react and interact with his world.

Partially planned, partially revealed while drawing, here is Gemmy in his school uniform. What sort of person do you see standing before you? What story does his posture, his smile, his dress tell you?


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Ears looking at you

I spent an afternoon drawing ears, trying to find the most appropriate lines to make a convincing simplified ear. And then my brain wondered how would the cartilage in an elf's ear work? Here's my best guess.

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Journal entry

I have lots of new drawings to share I just haven't been very diligent about posting. So, to kick off the deluge of posts a pictorial journal entry from my sketch book.

Some days a picture really is worth a thousand words. A stressful day in the office led to two very descriptive drawings of exactly how I felt about a colleague and how I felt about the day in general!

More comics

I'm currently working on another side project to produce customised children's books. It's consuming a lot of free time, but I'm still gather feedback and editing of the Mighty Orange-Peel at the same time.

In the mean time, here are two more of my University comic that I failed to post last time. These are actually two of my favourites (one being quite personal and the other being quite topical at the time at Yale).

Enjoy!

A budding cartoonist

My favourite comic strip of all time is Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson - the collections of which I've read and reread many times since I was young. After taking an animation class I abandoned my dreams of being an animator (I didn't have the patience to draw the same thing over and over again) I decided that I wanted to be a cartoonist just like Bill Watterson. I made several false starts at representing the Mighty Orange-Peel in graphic novel form. Then I realised that I didn't really have the inclination for telling stories through pictures. I had too many words in my head. And, eventually, I came to the acceptance that I'm an illustrator. I enjoy pouring detail into one image that tells a story and then creating pictures with words.

However, at University, I made a brief foray into the world of comics again. I decided I had a voice/a unique perspective/a cynicism that my peers would appreciate. 'Back of the Queue' was born.

It was conceived as a comic that described how every Yalie felt. We'd all been top of the class, cocks of the walks in in respective home towns. Suddenly we were thrust into an environment where no matter what amazing thing you'd done, someone else had done it better. So, while we found camaraderie, we were suddenly thrust to the bottom of the heap in our struggles to find our 'specialness' that had once defined us.

It started out snappy and topical enough, but, eventually as sleepless nights and stress took over a sinister humour began to leak onto the pages. What resulted was a representation of my id (Angry Harry) torturing a caricature of myself. I think they worried other people. But even today they still appeal to the darker side of my sense of humour.

I made a few attempts at political statements in 'Queue' (which are not shown here because they're awful) to try and divert my attention, but ultimately, the comic ended. I finished with a dramatic flourish which can only be described as an artist's tantrum, and 'Back of the Queue' closed by running into a brick wall of my own self absorbtion.

A new book for Ollie

A friend of mine is about to have her second baby, a little girl. Her son, Ollie is now five years old and is bracing himself to have a little sister. So, as a small present I've created a small book for Ollie introducing him to the wonders of having a younger sibling.


I've done the book in pen and ink mostly because I wanted to finish it as soon as possible (my friend looks about ready to pop) so Ollie could read it before he's shocked by a new crying screaming thing in the house.


I prefer to draw from life, but as it was a surprise I worked from photos. And, because I know them it wasn't too hard to fill in some of the 'real life' information that I have in my head.

To create the drawings I did many many sketches of the family to create suitable cartoon likenesses.

The key to a good caricature isn't being the best drawer or recording every detail. It's about finding the 'defining' lines of a person's face. When you see someone you see their 'main' features, not every single wrinkle and crack. So, when sketching I'm working to find the lines that make the person look like themselves. This is why it's better to sketch from real life. But, when you know them you know what features are their most prominent. Amy (above) for instance is all eyes and teeth like a movie star!

Here are some of the sketches.

I draw the image in bits and pieces. Picking out the best bits, define the caricature and then draw and redrawn until I can create the person's look from memory. However, when I go to do the final drawing I keep the photographs hand to make reference to them if I need. Because I was trying to produce this quickly and edit in photoshop I actually created the image below in separate pieces and put them together digitally from the skectches above. Introducing the Fox family with the new (to be expected) baby.

Drawings from Amsterdam

I went on a short holiday to Amsterdam to get away and write and draw. I spent a lot of time going over the first 5 chapters and checking character consistency and also produced some lovely ink drawings of the characters and finally did a nice redesign of Gemmy's mom, Nareth. I hate this drawing of Sem. She looks like some evil fairy.

Arbea babies, vol 1 - Kittens

I've been reediting the first few chapters to simplify them. So, in order to make my writing more suitable for a younger crowd time to start thinking like a tiny tot! So, this is me kicking off my kids illustration series. I need to have a bit more fun with my writing and nothing puts a smile on my face like remembering the good times as a kid.

First up, baby Rhe'zans. Who doesn't love kittens?! These ferocious felines start out as big-eyed frisky furballs. What do you think? I kind of want one.

Rhe'zans on the loose

My first illustration of the year, my new favourite thing to draw... Rhe'zans (pronounce Rey-hay-zahn). They're the feral species that also share the world with humanecs (humans). This is Ream'l (pronounced Reem-hel). He's the outcast prince of the Rhe'zan ruling family. He's a bit spoiled, and a bit angry that he's been made to make his own way in the world as part of becoming the king.

I enjoy drawing Rhe'zans because there's lots of scope for good motion. They have hair everywhere so it's a chance to create lots of flowing bits .

If you want to check out the size scale, see my post from last last July, 'We are not alone'

Enjoy,

Themo