Miscellaneous Miscellany

You have come to the repository for all the pictures too miscellaneous even to have their own page in this haven of miscellany. Poor things. I hope you enjoy them, nonetheless.

Recent updates:
¤ 18 August 2007
¤ 15 July 2006

The Bartimaeus Trilogy
The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate
A recent series of books by Jonathan Stroud in which the British Empire is maintained by a ruling class of magicians who use spirits to ... well, do pretty much everything. Hijinks ensue; a Grand Time is Had by All. (Okay, not exactly, but to go any deeper would spoil it for you.) (All 2006)
¤Nathaniel - one of the central characters; he starts out as an apprentice magician and rises through the ranks of Government.
¤Nathaniel's Crossover - Early in his career, Nathaniel spends a night on the street, and the next morning has a head of very messy hair. The connection was inevitable.
¤Simon Lovelace - One of the more successfully power-mad magicians. (The Amulet of Samarkand)
¤Nathaniel v2.0 - As he appears in the second book, The Golem's Eye. Cocky and driven mad by fashion.
¤Nathaniel v3.1 - Gone nearly as high as he can go, Nathaniel begins to doubt himself ... (Ptolemy's Gate)
¤Ptolemy - Bartimaeus' favourite form, a Greco-Egyptian lad who was his former master.
¤Pyramid of Slime - Bartimaeus' least favourite form, which he takes in Ptolemy's Gate when he doesn't have enough energy to hold any other shape.
¤Quentin Makepeace - Mad playwright magician. Not a good combination.
¤Jane Farrar - Another young magician in the Government.
¤Kitty, Angry - She's angry a lot. Not without reason. This is Ptolemy's Gate Kitty, not Golem's Eye.
¤Kitty, Afraid - She's afraid a little less often than she is angry, also not without reason. (This was drawn over the gutter in my life drawing pad so it's got a funny line down it.)
¤Kitty, a Blob - At risk of giving away too much, let's just say this is a reflection of Kitty's self-image and lack of sculpting skill.
¤Kitty and Nathaniel - Nathaniel escorts Kitty to the waiting car, which takes them to that fateful evening at the theatre.

Sherlock Holmes
These are almost entirely based on the Bert Coules radio plays which were broadcast on BBC7 in the spring of 2007. Any deviation from canon is his fault!
¤ Noodling About - A handful of experimental Holmes designs. One of them looks rather like my new version of Snape.
¤ Watson - came much more easily than Holmes. I'm proud of this one; I feel like I've caught the canon Watson without too obediently parroting the film cliché, which is little like the real thing.
¤ Holmes Gets the Jitters - During 'The Final Problem' Holmes takes refuge in Watson's kitchen while being haunted by Moriarty's goons, and is uncharacteristically freaked out.
¤ See Above - an early study for that scene
¤ Moriarty - Trying to depict the high-domed, reptilian head ...
¤ Another Moriarty - trying again
¤ Mycroft - Sherlock's brother, who is quite his opposite in many ways. I was kind of giving up on nice drawings at this point and did this for a laugh.
¤ He Did It - In one of the stories, Holmes knocks over a table or something and blames it on Watson.
¤ Left-Handed Holmes (and Watson) - Whenever I'm frustratingly short on inspiration and/or need to fill up a sketchbook page, I toss off something with my left hand. It's usually pretty wacky. My left hand writes in netspeak, as well.
¤ The Engagement - in 'Charles Augustus Milverton,' Holmes (the inveterate bachelor) comes home and announces he's engaged. This picks up right after that bombshell.
¤ Watson and Mary Morstan - in a carriage ... ooooh, the undercurrents ... I'm very insecure when it comes to drawing trousers so I chickened out before finishing this one.
¤ Hello, Darling - Tim McInnery, who played the chief culprit in the TV series version of 'the Red-Headed League,' is more famous in my mind as various incarnations of a character with the surname of Darling in the Blackadder series.
¤ A Bicycle Built for Two - I don't remember the exact story behind this odd sketch (something to do with the Royal Society of Adventurology, likely) so you can just take it as your daily dose of surrealism.

H.P. Lovecraft
¤ Herbert West and his Unnamed Narrator - Yes yes, Dr West looks like a psychotic cross between Milo and Wiggins ... but he's fun.
I really like the Herbert West stories but can't help noticing they all follow a basic formula...
¤ Phase 1: Inspiration
¤ Phase 2: Opportunity
¤ Phase 3: Results
¤ Phase 4: Disposal
¤ Phase 5: Shock
¤ Phase 6: Back Where We Began
¤ The Innsmouth Look - An interesting challenge to any designer ... I'm afraid I made them more cute than creepy. Here's another. And some more.

Airborn
¤ Matt Cruse - cabin boy and protagonist
¤ Kate - Quite an entertaining character, though I don't remember her last name ...
¤ Szpirglas - Pirate of the Sky, and way more hardcore than the ones in Stardust.
¤ Matt's Dream - flying with the cloud cats
¤ Swashbuckling - Matt scrambles to ... I forget, repair the ship? Fight pirates? Something.
¤ Unloading the Aurora - Someday I'll remember I was going to make a nice coloured piece of concept art out of this.

Copenhagen
I fell in love with the TV adaptation of Michal Frayn's play about the mysterious visit Werner Heisenberg made to Niels Bohr in 1941. You can learn more about it at PBS's Copenhagen site. I put these drawings up in the vain hope that one of the sixteen other people in the world who have seen the film will appreciate them. (All 2006)
¤Niels Bohr - Played by Stephen Rea and his Signature Expression.
¤Werner Heisenberg - Played by Daniel Craig (yes, that Daniel Craig). He has a very interesting head shape, which I kept trying to figure out.
¤Margrethe Bohr - Niels' wife, played by Francesca Annis.
¤A Gag Sketch - It seems I can find no better way to express my admiration for something than to exploit it for humour. Credit (or blame) for this goes to my sister, who came up with the idea; I just drew it.

Doctor Who
I have recently stumbled upon the Whoniverse and just barely scratched the surface, but the vast and sparkly cosmos awaits, to my unbounded delight.
¤ Are You My Mother? - The obvious crossover from that episode of the first new series. (2006)
¤ Doctor Happy - Watching Doctor Who makes a bad day better. He's magical. (2006)
¤ The Ninth Doctor - a caricature of Christopher Eccleston (2006)
These drawings are all from a radio adaptation of Shada:
¤Skagra - The baddie, if you couldn't tell. I was surprised how easily his design just sort of fell onto the page.
And now, a short skit:
SKAGRA: Give me the book.
DOCTOR: What book?
¤SKAGRA: The small green one, in your pocket, there.
¤DOCTOR: Oh, you mean this book. No, I'm sorry, I can't. (All 2006)

Narnia
I've never been a great fan of the books, but I tried out my new caricature skills on some of the actors in the movie. (All 2005)
¤Peter - oldest of the Pevensie children
¤Edmund - second-youngest and ooooh trouble
¤Lucy - youngest ... awwww.
Couldn't nail down Susan, unfortunately...

Les Miserables
All right, I confess, I've never read the book – these are from the musical. But oh, what a musical... (All 2005)
¤Cosette - 100% personality-free
¤Marius - I always thought he was just Annoying Male Lead but then I saw a production where he was played as a very young, dangerously naiive, and much more sympathetic character. Hooray for actors!
¤Eponine Pesters Marius - Whatcha readin'?
¤Eponine Delivers the Letter - So uncharacteristically meek ... I love her acting on the London Cast soundtrack.
¤Enjolras - I wanted to make him look like the jock rock star he seems to be so I learned how to draw big(ish) chins just for this.
¤Oh Crap - When Enjolras realises no one's coming to help.
¤A Student - I think he was supposed to have been Combeferre but he didn't turn out right. I like him anyway.

Cats
I think Cats would make a great animated movie, or more specifically a series of vignettes in different styles. Apparently Amblimation was going to do just this but then the project got nixed. Before I learned that, I had drawn these, though not in different styles because that would involve a lot more effort and reasearch than procrastinatory doodles allow for.
¤ Growltiger - ... was a Bravo Cat. This sequence, obviously, would have to be rather anthropomorphic.
¤ Growltiger woos the Lady Griddlebone - Sure, she looks sweet here, but she's also mentioned as an accomplice of Macavity's.
¤Bustopher Jones - ... is not skin and bones ... (All 2006)

Fly By Night
The first book in what promises to be a series by Frances Hardinge, about a plucky young orphan who becomes tangentially involved in the politics of a complicated and fairly corrupt government ... you never know who's on what side but it's all treated very well. (All 2005)
¤Mosca Mye - The plucky young orphan in question.
¤Hopewood Pertellis - A young tutor and would-be resistance fighter.
¤Lady Tamarind - The enigmatic eminence gris. Or blanc, as the case may be.

The Dark is Rising
Will - My most recent version of Will Stanton, last of the Old Ones. (2005)
Will - A full-body shot ... he looks a bit older than eleven, but I like the character of it. (2004)
Will - Just his head, this time. (2004)
The Rider - I have a very clear picture of him in my mind, but whenever I try to draw him, he either looks like a frightening woman or a mix of Sirius and Snape. This is the only rendition worth showing. (2005)
The Walker - Cursed to live through history the slow way ... one day at a time. (2003)
Merriman - Merriman Lyon, first of the Old Ones, has to be one of the very coolest fictional characters ever written. I really tried pushing the hair on this one; I fear I may have gone to far, but it looks nice in its own odd way. (2003)
Bran Davies - The Welsh albino lad (a.k.a. Boy of Destiny! just kidding) .. not too happy with it, design-wise, but it's got a bit of his sullen air. (2003)

Lord of the Rings
Upon first viewing The Fellowship of the Ring I was filled with a desire to draw each of the characters as they appeared in the movie, but in my own style. I was miserable at caricature at the time, so this is as far as I got. Now that I have teethed myself on Master & Commander I may come back and attempt it agian.
¤ Eowyn - Miranda Otto ought to be easy to caricature, but ... not for me. (2007)
¤ Rohan/Utah - Rohan (or the place in New Zealand where they shot it, anyway) is how I like to remember Utah, but whenever I go back I'm reminded how little it actually looks that way. I tried manipulating a screen capture to reconcile the two. (2007)
¤ Minas Morgul/Utah - On a slightly more sinister note, Minas Morgul looks oddly reminiscent of the Jordan LDS Temple.
Frodo - With his default expression (not without reason!) of distress. (2003)
Sam - Sam was very hard. I'm still not happy with it. (2003)
Arwen - Before she turned into Miss Soppy Elf. (2002)
Boromir - This may possibly be the most successful of the lot. (2002)
Galadriel - I can never get the lower half of her face right. (2002)
Merry - Urgh. Must try again. (2002)

Artemis Fowl
I don't know why, but whenever I read these books, I cast them with established cartoon characters. These two drawings represent a major effort to create images for myself.
Artemis - The underage Irish criminal mastermind himself. (2004)
Juliet Butler - I liked her much more in The Eternity Code, probably because she wasn't just a plot device who watched pro wrestling for comic relief. (2004)

Cowboy Bebop
I am not crazy about the series or the movie, but my sister is, so I've gotten some good material out of it.
Hairspray Accident - In The Cowboy Bebop Movie, Rashid's lighter gets awfully close to Spike's hair. I'm talking millimeters. Something like this is bound to happen sooner or later... (2004)
Spike's Product Endorsement - Apparently the guy who did the voice of Spike also did the voiceover for a Slurpee commercial. (2004)

. . .

¤ Happy Radio Me - the BBC (which I listen to online) is capable of making me very, very happy.
¤ Rutherford Lodge and Irish - from Colin and Fergus' Digi Radio; offensive historical stereotypes 100% intended.
¤ Jack Amuck - I love surrealist humour, and that bit of Pirates 3 was just begging for a crossover...
¤ Army Strong - It used to be 'Be All That You Can Be.' Then it was 'Go Army.' Now the US Armed Forces seems to have abandoned grammar altogether. This was drawn in reaction to what the phrase sounds like.
¤ The Dragon Cavalry - I don't remember why I drew this, but it's funny. Or maybe I'm just insane.
¤ Christmas Kuzco - The studio I worked at, on a different project, also did a Chrstmas special that had John Goodman doing a voice. The default image for John Goodman's voice, in my head, is Pacha, and he said a line something like 'of course he's a reindeer, see his antlers?' This is funnier than the actual show, even if you don't find it funny at all.
¤ The Chicken Matrix - There was a show on Radio 4 called Genius on which someone suggested chickens be given virtual-reality headsets to make them virtually free range, which of course led to the obvious conclusion that you'd get a chicken version of The Matrix happening. This poster was inevitable.
¤ The Legionnaire - From 'The Legionnaire's Lament' by the Decemberists (possibly one of the best songs ever). (2006)
¤ Snow White - From Tanith Lee's Red as Blood, where she's more than a little creepy. A good short story (if a little weird towards the end) but I warn you: you will never be able to think of Snow White the same way again. (2006)
¤ We Have Everything - A mock ad drawn in response to my slow uptake on the copy for a local mall's advertising campaign. (2006)
¤ Like Pretty, You Know? - I noticed that one of the 'looks' for fashionable young women in warm climates bears an uncanny resemblance to Incan ice mummies. (2006)
¤ Gordon Brown - Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer ... the man's a walking caricature. This practically drew itself. (2006)
¤ Evey Takes a Call - A gag sketch for V for Vendetta. (2006)
¤ Kong's New Groove - Drawn after seeing King Kong and wondering how Kong and Ann got out of that canyon they fell into ... (2006)
¤ French Canadian Vampire - 'Nuff said. Stereotypes are fun.
¤... In his Native Habitat - More fun with stereotypes. (2006)
¤ Childermass - From Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. The only character to leave a strong (if unoriginal) visual impression on me. (line version) (2005)
¤ Penguin Pirate - I ... I think this was my sister's idea ... (2005)
Bigwig - from Watership Down. The strong, sensible type. (2004)
The Abhorsen House - from Garth Nix's Sabriel trilogy ... It stood out very clearly in my mind, possibly because of a childhood surrounded by that sort of architecture. This is an early attempt to capture atmosphere in hue. (2004)
John Kerry - An actual living person, imagine that. I decided to exercise my weak, piddly little caricature muscles while watching the Democtratic National Convention at my cousins' house.(2004)
Evil Lilo - Daveigh Chase was the voice of Lilo, and played the creepy Samara in The Ring. Naturally, a sort of conjunction of the two was inevitable. (2004)
Kevin - from Kate Thompson's Switchers series (2003)
Natural Gargoyle - This is a real growth on a tree in a park near my home. No exaggeration. (2003)
Not A Hobbit - Everyone says he looks like one, but he's not. Just some random character I drew, who looks like he has a cold. (2002)
A Parrot - Another random design, which I rather like. (2002)
Value Sketch - A small drawing indicating the values (lightness and darkness) for a painting ... this was an assignment for my colour theory class in college.(2002)

If, for some reason, you wish to use one of these ... please adhere to the guidelines.

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