Those of you following this blog will know things have been a bit quiet on the reporting front lately - one of the reasons for that was the collapse of my main drawing easel as I finished the book. It's completely dead, in bits lol so it's time for a rebuild - which also gives me chance to upgrade other things such as my lighting setup. That is especially important as we head into winter, living where I do some days I have the inside lights on in the middle of the day just so I can see what I'm doing and when the days are shortest, I have very few hours of natural light even on a clear day. Which brings me neatly to a spot of fundraising I am doing to pay for that.
I've decided to release some of my early sketches of assorted monsters at entry level prices, using Kickstarter to create a pop up shop. It's 70% funded already but with 6 days to go, time to get more folks on board. The idea is simple enough - from as little as a tenner, I send you an original pencil sketch with a little note telling you all about it. A few are of creatures that haven't yet made it into a final drawing and these may be the only images ever created of them. Others are workings out, little details of the monsters as I get to know them better. A few larger pieces are final layouts, the last step before I commit to a composition.
For example, here we have the page from my sketchbook containing the initial doodle for Stephen Under the Bed (not to scale, edited so you can view both). By this point I knew Stephen and his habitat long enough, even his shadow, to have a pretty good idea but the rest of the process inevitably brought changes and so that little visual note I left myself is a unique image in it's own right. These drawings have had a personal significance since their creation but never see the light of day now. That seems like a shame so here we are, hopefully finding some of these a new home and putting any funds raised to a good use in my studio.
To get one of these curiosities for yourself, visit Doodles For Desks on Kickstarter - you can check out as a guest on there so you don't need an account to rehome one :)