Can't believe I forgot to put this on my blog :). Sycra on youtube drew a caricature of me!

On the 4th of November Codeine Velvet Club played an exclusive, invite only, live show for fans at Oran Mor in Glasgow, UK. The entire show was filmed to give fans a taste of what to expect on the band's forthcoming debut UK tour, which begins next week.

Two songs from this show, Time and Little Sister, are now online at the band's official YouTube channel.

So, judging by the new comments I've recently received, there might be some new people looking at my blog. And they've requested more art. I've done some art recently, but there arent celebrity portraits. Oh except Zac Efron.

I often wonder if blogs can survive on irregular posts that seem to focus on a person's life rather than an informational topic. That said, I do plan on discussing informational subjects as that is kind of my thing. I like research and I like to give my opinions, and all that.

Today though, there is just going to be an update on me, because I realise that I haven't written anything on here in over two months. Tomorrow I'm off to the hospital to get surgery on my left hand. This is actually the second time I'm going in, because the first time, about two weeks ago, I got sent home because of a couple of cases of flu had been determined amongst the anaesthesiologists. I do appreciate the hospital's care about flu, of course, but at the time I felt pretty pissed.

So, see you all later.

Sometimes, as an artist, you want to do certain things, but you realise they are possibly too big for you to do all by yourself. Today is one of those times for me. Or really, the last couple of weeks have been like that.

I want to start an online graphic novel, but I realise that this project is too big for me to take on by myself. I have some very basic ideas for it storywise, but nothing is set, yet.

I was wondering if there are any of you who want to take on a (relatively) non-profit project like this one. I'd need help on storywriting as well as the art.

Though I think it's best that there is only one person who draws the lineart and only one that paints, for consistency reasons, there can of course be multiple storywriters, or people working on concept art, etc.

This could be a very nice collaborative project. I am a wishful thinker, and insanely proud of that. Without wishful thinking there would be no dreams.

The concept that I am thinking about, is fantasy, and something steampunk-esque. A title I've come up with is THE KEYMAKER.

Strike your fancy?

Let me know if you want to be involved in anyway, and spread the word!

So I've done another painting. This time of Canadian actor/singer/dancer Drew Seeley who currently plays Prince Eric on Broadway's The Little Mermaid, but was previously in a movie (chick/dance flick) called Another Cinderella Story and has toured with the cast of High School Musical on tour as Troy Bolton.

I was really just inspired by the absolutely genuine way he interacts with his fans. It should be an example to many.


I have sent him a message on his myspace, but have little hope for him seeing it there, so Drew, if you ever for whatever reason Google yourself, thanks for inspiring!

I feel strangely out of place doing anything creative nowadays. Pretty much since my graduation, I feel like I have to find myself again. Personally and professionally. It's like having to find my place all over again, while I was hoping that my education would have placed me somewhere by the time I finished. Maybe I'm not finished learning yet.

Anyway, even though I haven't been feeling my usual self and haven't been entirely at my creative best, doesn't mean I've been sitting around not drawing. In fact I was looking for 1950-60s pinup art to practise my anatomy skills. I ended up looking at actresses and actors from that time period and then decided I needed to draw James Dean.

So, today, I did a three hour speedpainting in greyscale. I couldn't be bothered with his hair much though.

For those of you who've been wondering where I've been, I've been on holiday to the UK for a total of nine days. I flew into Manchester Airport on Thursday last week, where I was met by my friend Steve who lives about 20 minutes from the airport in a town called Wilmslow. Wilmslow is a characteristic town in which you find a lot of BMWs, because the general population is quite well off. A lot of famous football players inhabit this town and the neighbouring town called Alderly Edge. Both towns belong to the county Cheshire. Nice and green.

Anyway, on the Friday we (the friend I was on holiday with and I, Steve was working) went into Wilmslow and did some general grocery shopping, so we could make Steve dinner later that night. It's about the least you can do if said person lets you stay in their house for nine days, no charge.

The weekend was spent in a themepark called Alton Towers. I haven't been on many rides because I'm not a big fan of rollercoasters, the G-forces are just not for me. Still, it was a nice weekend with some adventures and a ridiculously bad film on the Saturday night. Don't ever watch The Guardian (unless you're into predictable, sappy stories).

On Monday we went to a city called Chester. Here we visited my friend Tobias, who showed us around the historical city. He told us that Chester is only a city because of the Cathedral. It's a Roman city. You can see the influences clearly in the buildings, most of which seem to have been preserved pretty well. After seeing the sights and having lunch, we went to meet his friends who lived in very typical student accommodation and were on the brink of moving elsewhere. It was a comfortable mess in their place. There we met their lovely snakes and then went to a reptile shop in the neighbouring town called Blacon. Here we saw awesome poisonous frogs, but we were really there (well, Tobias' friends were) to inform about geckos. Once back we hung out at their house again and then (sad) we caught the train back to Wilmslow.

Tuesday was spent in Manchester, shopping gifts for Steve. I bought a Last Shadow Puppets CD for myself, and we met Steve for lunch. The evening was spent watching a good film (No Country For Old Men).

Wednesday we went into London, where unfortunately I didn't get to meet any of you nice people from DeviantArt. We came into Euston Station, and grabbed a bus (cheap!) to Victoria Station, which took a long time. From there, we walked to Westminster Abbey. Didn't go in, though, because it was as busy as I've ever seen it (I've been to London four times). We spent the rest of the day just walking around London, instead of going into anything, because we knew we had to get back in time and that that meant loads of time would have to be spent on public transport. Interesting things happened when we got back to Euston Station, because we were invited to sit in first class. This meant free drinks and dinner. Haha.

Thursday I stayed in and my friend went to explore the Peaks. I watched two films (Rockstar and Pulp Fiction) and cleaned up around the house and did loads of napping.

Friday we spent in again, and we baked a Chocolate Swirl Cake, made chocolate and strawberry smoothies and went to the pictures at night to see Harry Potter 6 (second time for me).

Saturday we went into Wilmslow and then hoooommmeee! I was both sad and happy about that.

In other words, I'm back.