Winter Solstice...

I trust you all have your winter solstice / Xmas costumes ready? I know I have!

Happy monster!

Thee Lobotomised Sh*tlarks

Culled from a rather wonderful insult in a Tweet by @anandamide - I want to be in this band!

Festive animated greetings!

A festive animated non-denominational animated greeting (nb may contain unicorns)
You can see it BIGGER here -

Dejected unicorn

Even mythical beasties get the blues...

Johnny Danger - Lie Another Day

Forget your Spectre nonsense! Here's my cover illustration for Peter Millet's second Johnny Danger book, 'Lie Another Day'
It features 'death-defying bungee bogeys, Big Andy the killer anaconda, despicable G.R.O.S.S. agents, and a gassy evil villain known as The Blank Space.' - out in 2016

Make mine a "99"

Nope, I have no idea why the '99' flake was called thus. Anyway, we all love cats & ice cream don't we...?

Doctor Menace!

As it's Doctor Who's 52nd birthday today. I sometimes like to sneak the odd extraneous detail into book illustrations for the eagle eyed... (& slightly geeky) This is from The Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage

Whales, wine, spacehoppers & unicorns...

Some images I produced for an animation pitch recently - I rather liked them...

...they didn't call back.

(am guessing they didn't like them)

This is very often the way.

Reinventing the Deal - Economist 24th October

Some new illustrations for The Economist magazine issue dated 24th October where I'm attempting to illustrate how newer companies are outpacing older more traditional ones with new business approaches

You can read the article here

More postcards

Oh my!

Postcard from the Oz...

Snow bound

More sketchbook bits & pieces.

(insert your own subtext)

Daemon with a balloon.

Sketchbook things.

Facing my Daemons...

Guardian Childrens Books published a lovely article based on the daemons from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy with various illustrators drawing theirs.
Here's my quick sketch, my daemon being an alarmingly permed yeti armed with a carrot & stick & a book marked 'Good Intentions'.

(psst! I have plenty more daemons I feel! Watch this space...)

Zoldar - 'devourer of worlds' takes a rare day off.

Then there were six!

I've illustrated six Diary of Dennis the Menace so far - nice to see them all lined up together!

The Diary Of Dennis The Menace: The Great Escape! - cover!

Pssst! Here's a sneak preview of the cover for the new Diary of Dennis the Menace - The Great Escape - written by Steven Butler with illustrations by me - afraid you're going to have to wait for 4th February 2016 until you can get your grubby paws on it!

Felix Frost Time Detective: Roman Riddle

Felix Frost - Time Detective - Roman Riddle by Eleanor Hawken which I illustrated recently has just been published by Quercus books.

"Join Felix Frost, secret boy genius, his chameleon Einstein and his classmate Missy as they travel back in time to Ancient Rome, where terrifying danger and embarrassing togas await."

(as well as chameleons & embarassing togas I also get to draw a toy Yoda, a smattering of chickens & indulge my 'inner Asterix' by drawing some Roman soldiers too! I'm also responsible for all hair styling in the book)

You can get hold of a copy here or better still get off the internet & support your local bookshop & buy it there

#nameourstorms

There's been a recent idea from the Met Office who are suggesting 'Members of the public are to be given the opportunity to name storms affecting the UK and Ireland.' with the Twitter hashtag #nameourstorms

Surely being British deserves something more...well, underwhelming? A squally shower called Derek? "Nigel' the disappointingly grey August bank holiday?

Cigarette dreams

This blog's been rather quiet while I've been working on the 6th Dennis the Menace book so I thought I'd enlighten you with an extract from a recent rather 'colourful' series of dreams over the last few nights. Among other things I dreamed of 'human finger pepperami' & last night a woman who was in the middle of attempting to smoke as many cigarettes as possible(!)

Over & out.

Monster facts #15

Monster fact: Most nocturnal chocolate eating is down to monsters - but fret not, they NEVER touch the orange creams*

*insert any other flavour you despise - somehow they KNOW!

More monster facts? Go here

cats & laptops

Some recent character designs

More cats?

Pool Party

No running, no diving, no petting, no spitting etc.

Unicorn tantrum!

(who doesn't?)

*I realise that if there was any justice Unicorn Tantrum really ought to be the name a '70s prog rock / psych group

Doomed Franchises #1 Wilbur the Friendly Toast Boy™

Wilbur's exciting adventures were slightly limited by his lack of discernible limbs & tendency to get cold & soggy rather quickly!

You can't do that sort of thing any more!

A Compendium of Unwise Pursuits. 

NB Smoking & fighting is NOT big or clever kids!

(part of the 'Steve May rather hinders his career as a children's illustrator by drawing fighting & smoking' series - I may be a bit of an idiot! ; )

The Fine British Art of Queuing.

Dennis & friends demonstrating the fine British art of queuing.

From the latest Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage written by Steven Butler & published by Puffin

(see also 'passive aggressive tutting' & Britishness)

©DC Thomson and Co. Ltd

Hot sauce!

When breakfast goes BAD!

More breakfast here

Lion on a bike!

Just because.

Leather Amphitheatre

During the recent rather sultry nights my subconscious has been rather errmmm, 'fruity'!
In response to a dream about a leather amphitheatre (yes, call my therapist etc.) I decided this would make a great name for a fictional metal band so here's a couple of sketches of the members of aforementioned outfit.

Best band in the world! (as the NME would hyperbolize)

See also Klöwnfingerr & other imaginary musical genres

Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage

The new Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage written by Steven Butler & illustrated by my good self is published today!

Mighty menaces, disaster has struck! Gnasher's got himself into REAL trouble this time.

If he's not careful, DENNIS AND THE DINMAKERS are going to be kicked out of THE FAME FACTOR competition. And with our rockin' tunes, we're guaranteed winners!

I have to do something to help Gnasher out - before he ends up in the doghouse for good!

So who's the 'Greatest rockstar on the planet' huh?

(I had a lot of fun with this one - hope you enjoy it)

Klöwnfingerr - Master of Muppets

Unfortunately the rumours that Klöwnfingerr have been lined up as a replacement for the Foo Fighters at Glastonbury 2015 were generally 'made up nonsense' according to band spokesman Jonathan Madeupname who also claims they had 'categorically NOTHING whatsoever to do with Dave Grohl's leg getting broken'
The legendary Moldovan death metal / gabba combo - have been described as ‘a special needs Limp Bizkit minus the intellectual heft with the 'dolt’ knob turned up to 12’

Their classic album Master of Muppets comprising of 137 tracks including classics like 'Brainclot', 'Klöwngäsmm' & 'MMMNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGHH!!!!!' is a must for any music collection.

They are available for weddings, children's parties & light gardening work.

Cushion envy...

Various permutations of cat comfort.

Cereal Killer

Combining a couple of my favourite things, monsters & breakfast!  More 'Fearsome Foodstuffs'™making breakfast go with an AAAAARRRGGGGGHHH...SQUELCH!

Warning! Contains additives!*

*& an extremely poor pun, sorry...

(...not that sorry)

Theology corner #1 What synth did Jesus use?

Answers on a postcard to the usual address

Yeti in a Tutu

I'm supposed to be counting receipts today. This was more fun!

(Apologies to Morrissey*)

(*not really, especially after reading that appallingly turgid autobiography & your recent UKIP supporting antics)