EMELBI, Author at EMELBI

Pleckgate High School – Digital Portrait Illustration Project

28th September 2022 By EMELBI

The illustrations that the year 11 students created at Pleckgate High School in Blackburn, are outstanding. I worked with them for a day looking at portrait illustration techniques using the iPad and the Procreate App. I often work with young people delivering creative workshops in order to inspire and share the skill set that I have acquired and developed over the years. The beauty in sharing is watching young people pick up those skills and do something completely different with them, often with brilliant and stunning outcomes. In turn, I end up learning a thing or two from them in the process.

This is the beauty of creative learning. Through the shared experience of creative exploration, so much is learned on a myriad of levels. I really enjoyed working with this school and the artwork that they produced in such a short space of time, was nothing short of brilliant. Check out some of their work below.

Making Layered Portraits – Horsington Church School

28th September 2022 By EMELBI

I got a lovely surprise in my inbox recently. A group of year 5 and year 6 pupils from Horsington Church School in Somerset, had been following my Drawable ‘Making Layered Portraits’ resource on the AccessArt website. They sent me a handful of the images that they had made. I was thrilled to receive these brilliant artworks. They’re so full of energy and character. Inspiring creativity in young people is one of the most rewarding aspects of my own creative journey. I love to see how young people respond to my own creative endeavours. The wonderful artwork that they produce in response to the things that I create, always makes me smile . Check out their images below. I think you will agree that they are fabulous.

Thank you so much for sharing these with me. You should be very proud of your work as these are fantastic.

See the resource that they followed here.

St Mary and St John Catholic Primary School

11th November 2021 By EMELBI

Procreate Portrait Workshops

I recently had the pleasure of running a weeks worth of workshops with all the children in St Mary and St John Catholic Primary School in Wigan. Working with Reception children, right through to Year 6, we used an app called ‘Procreate‘ on the Apple iPad. Many of the children had never seen or worked with Procreate before so there was a steep learning curve regarding some of the technical aspects of using the app. I am pleased to say that they all took to it like ducks to water and the strength of creativity speaks for itself.

The project was tailored to look at self portrait illustration, to think about the structure of the face and what it is that makes us look like us. Working form their own photographs that they took themselves, the children explored their face structure, examining strong lines and also the negative spaces in the construction of their imagery. Working over multiple layers they eventually finished off by delving into the world of colour where we discussed colour palettes and what sort of hues worked well together. The emphasis was always based around the notion that ‘less is more’. This was a deliberate exercise throughout the workshops, simplifying the process of the illustration in order that the students ended up with the strongest lines. There are key, dominant marks that are the critical elements that make up the character of the face. They inform the viewer about certain expressions and the overall personality of the portrait that they are viewing. The children went through the process of learning to identify these elements and incorporating them into their illustrations.

The students and staff at this school were a delight to work with. I was with them for a whole week and was able to work with every student in every class. The work that they produced is exemplary. Fun, bold, really exciting and full of energy.

Years 5 and 6 also got to work with me in the production of some hand drawn portrait illustrations. They photographed their finished line images on the iPad and worked into them digitally using and app called PIXLR.

Procreate is an app that runs on the Apple iPad. It is an exceptional bit of kit used by many illustrators working in the creative industry. It is intuitive, powerful and exciting to use.

Check out some of the work below from each of the year groups and also some photos of the children working.

RECEPTION

YEAR 1

YEAR 2

YEAR 3

YEAR 4

YEAR 5

YEAR 6

The Beautiful Mundane Project – Birkby Junior School

19th May 2021 By EMELBI

This was such a fun project with years 4 and 5 at Birkby Junior School. All the children were introduced to the process of making striking digital graphics from really basic digital photography.

STAGE ONE – THE PHOTOGRAPHY

Using iPads, the children were encouraged to take a series of photographs of every-day, mundane objects that would usually seem humdrum or of a dull subject matter. Things like light switches, radiators, air vents, skirting boards etc.

STAGE TWO – THE IMAGE TREATMENT

Using various apps on the iPad, the children then took the images through a series of treatments in order to enhance the imagery to make it a little less dull, introducing textures, colour overlays and light leaks to name but a few.

STAGE THREE – THE TEXT LAYOUT and GRAPHIC DESIGN

The children were then asked to produce a poster for a mock local event using one of the images that they had made as the background. They were given the choice of either:

1. A Music Festival

2. A Technology Convention (Tech Con)

3. A Horticultural Show (Flower Show)

4. An Art Exhibition

Using the same apps that they had used in the creation of their graphics; but this time using a different set of tools within those apps, the children created some wonderful work based on these mock events.

The graphics that they produced and the subsequent posters are full of colour and energy. They have vibrancy, great structure and beautiful detail. The whole workshop was to show that you can create beautiful graphics from bland imagery with a bit of imagination and technical know-how. The workshops were a great success and the children really enjoyed that whole process.

Best comment: “I didn’t know that you could create amazing things from nothing!”

IMAGE MANIPULATION DAY

GRAPHIC DESIGN DAY

Ash Croft Primary Academy – Digital Lift Off Day

18th May 2021 By EMELBI

In this recent workshop, the year 5 and 6 children at Ash Croft Primary Academy made some strong graphics from hands on illustrative beginnings. Starting with their own portrait photographs as reference material, they made some detailed portrait illustrations of themselves using biro pens on heavy cartridge paper. Exploring a series of techniques, these images were then worked into with thicker pens honing the major detail. Special attention was paid to the areas that make characters and features stand out.

Once this stage was finished the pupils then photographed their images using an iPad and worked into them digitally using various creative apps, exploring and experimenting with textures, colour overlays, light bleeds and numerous other layers. The outcomes were a series of strong digital graphics based on their initial drawings.

The school and staff were fantastic and a pleasure to work with.

Jazz Pizzazz

13th April 2021 By EMELBI

This is a recent illustration created in Procreate on the ipad and finished in Photoshop on the iMac. I love working between these two platforms. It’s a real organic process much of the time and a slightly different way of working than I am used to. That said, it is quickly becoming one of my favourite ways of creating striking graphics and laying down ideas for numerous projects.

Here are a few different treatments of the same character. As I have mentioned many times before, I am fascinated by the infinite possibilities of how one image can be manipulated. The many different ways one can arrive at either a slightly different or vastly contrasting outcome. Something as simple as a subtle colour change can present a distinctive mood and change an overall feel to an image. The possibilities are literally endless. Exciting stuff.

The YouTube video at the bottom of the page shows how this character was put together.

Geoff McGeoff – Bodaciously Boho

24th February 2021 By EMELBI

This dude, who I have affectionately called Geoff McGeoff, was created on the iPad Pro using Procreate. I was messing around with just one brush. The ‘Syrup’ brush, under the ‘Inking’ menu of brushes. I love hard line illustrations. It’s probably because I have always drawn with pens and markers. This technique in Procreate, using two different colours for the hatching, reminds me a lot of wood cut work. Positive and negative space is apparent in this type of technique.

The beauty of doing this kind of work on the ipad using an Apple Pencil keeps it feeling really organic as if were created with pens on paper, even though it is completely digital. After drawing this BoHo dude I exported the file from Procreate as a PSD document from the iPad into Photoshop on my Mac to further work on the image.

I love the way these two platforms work so well together. It really suits my style and the way in which I work. Such great fun and simple yet bold results. Check out the YouTube video of this image being put together below.

Red Ed – Two Minute Time Lapse Illustration

9th February 2021 By EMELBI

This image was made as part of a new series of two minute time lapse illustrations that I am embarking on for my YouTube Channel. I’ve called this one Red Ed.

As part of this journey, I want to explore a variety of different mediums again and become a bit more exploratory concerning image making. Way back in 1994, I did my Art Foundation where we were encouraged to look at all aspects of creative processes and practices. From Fine Art, Printmaking, Photography, Costume Design, Sculpture…

The list is exhaustive. But it was brilliant and ridiculously informative in terms of enrichment and discovery. One process informed another and thus the understanding of materials became constantly enlightening and ideas flowed in abundance.

It’s extremely easy to get bogged down in one set of processes and stagnate. Due to the fact that I have been working with digital images for so long now, I feel that I need to get in touch with real hands on materials once again and explore mark making in a very real sense. Im looking forward to this journey of discovery and challenging myself to use materials I haven’t used before or indeed materials that I’ve not used for a long time. My aim is to explore a combination and variations of paints, inks, pens, collage, print and whatever other new and interesting materials I can get my hands on. I will still be working digitally and where applicable, I will incorporate the two processes.

Much of my digital artwork starts off as pen and ink drawings and many of the textures I use are hand produced and scanned before using them as part of the digital process. So I am used to creating with real hands on materials, but for many reasons I feel I want to delve a bit deeper into the word of illustration and image making by looking at new techniques and trying out varied approaches to creativity. All of which will hopefully inform and enrich my established creative process. Let face it, it can’t be a bad thing!

365 Sketchbook 2021

3rd February 2021 By EMELBI

I have decided to undertake a 365 sketchbook. An illustration/sketch a day for a whole year. No rules, multiple mediums and any subject. I will draw whatever comes into my head on each particular day. Just for the sheer love of drawing and for the exciting journey of exploration and discovery.

To challenge myself, my first sketchbook has got recycled paper that’s quite thin and acts a little bit like blotting paper. This makes for some interesting ink spreading. When that sketchbook gets filled I will chose something a little bit different to carry on the project.

I will add new images to the gallery as and when I get time to post them up. These are all rough ideas and not finished pieces by any stretch of the imagination, such is the nature of sketchbooking. Some of them may well get turned into artworks, or characters in artworks at some other time.

The Laughing Boy Project

22nd January 2021 By EMELBI

I was recently invited to collaborate on ‘The Laughing Boy Project’ by the artist and photographer Hersley Casero. Hersley-Ven Casero is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Dumaguete City, Philippines.

He and his partner Toulla contacted me through Instagram just before Christmas and asked if I would like to create my version of The Laughing Boy.
The invite came at a time when I was looking to get involved in more collaborations with other creatives, so the timing of this invite was spot on.

The Laughing Boy Project is a positive ongoing project that advocates the freedom of self expression through art. Art collaborations can be a powerful tool. Connecting people and ideas, towards positive change, on a global scale.

I really enjoyed making this image as my contribution to the project. You can see how it was made as I also put together a YouTube video of the digital illustration process, which you can see below.

To find out more information about The Laughing Boy Project, you can visit www.hersleycasero.com/ or check out the Instagram page to see all the collaborations so far instagram.com/laughingboyproject/

The image I made was hand drawn, scanned and then worked on in Adobe Photoshop adding textures, colour and other graphic elements to arrive at the finished outcome.

Below is the final digital illustration outcome along with the initial hand drawn illustration.

Hands Up For Equality – Silkstone Primary School

24th November 2020 By EMELBI

Here is an art project recently undertaken by the Year 3 children at Silkstone Primary School in Barnsley. They created some interesting illustrations based on ‘Equality’ using the outline of their own arms. The children made their images using words/text to form some strong detail for the inside of their arms. Adding various textures with pens, and colour from a limited colour palette, they came up with these striking graphics. The limited colour palette was used to form a modicum of uniformity throughout the images. The colours are also based on the school logo. This was a great project and I love the energy in the resulting imagery. They’re all so very unique.

Silkstone Primary School was a lovely school to work in. The staff and children were brilliant.

Unique and Equal – Silkstone Primary School

24th November 2020 By EMELBI

These self-portraits were made by the year 4 children at Silkstone Primary School in Barnsley. This project was a creative experience that brought about some inspiring results. Based on their own portrait images, the children explored the line and structure of their own faces, through a series of drawing techniques. These techniques were devised to examine parts of the face that form the true character of who they are. By paying careful attention to the dominant lines, shading and using a limited colour palette, they formed these portraits over the duration of the workshop. It was brilliant to see how these characters emerged over the course of the day. I was particularly impressed with the strong and bold marks made during the painting process. The best comment of the day: “I didn’t know that I was good at art until today.”

I had a great couple of days working at Silkstone Primary School. A smashing little school. The staff and children were fab.

Chikket Imps

20th November 2020 By EMELBI

This scrumptious bunch of impish lovelies are part of an ongoing illustrative project. I am interested in the uniformity of the illustrations. I follow a particular set of rules in the creation of each of the characters so that they relate to each other in a very particular way. Also in the way in which they have been placed in the exact same environment. That said, my aim is to make them as different to each other as possible without straying too far from the set of rules I have imposed upon the process. They are a lot of fun to create.

I will be adding more imps as they are created, so check back here for updates, and see how this little family is grow. Each initial drawing gets cleaned up in Adobe Photoshop and converted to an .eps vector file in Adobe Illustrator, after which they all get coloured on Adobe Photoshop. I have made three videos showing the colouring process. These are up on my YouTube Channel. You can find them at the bottom of this page.

The Christmas Imp

Super Quick Illustration

9th July 2020 By EMELBI

My wife asked me to do a quick continuous line illustration for a presentation she’s doing over Zoom. It had to be a self portrait and done quickly, almost without thinking. (Fig 1) She then asked me to take that initial drawing and embellish it with texture shading and form etc. Again, I had to make these graphic additions really quickly. (Fig 2) I then photographed the resulting image on my iPhone 11 Pro, sent it to my iMac and ran it through the usual clean up process eventually converting it to a vector graphic so that the line was nice and clean. (Fig 3)

Then in record time gave it my usual graphic, texture and colour treatment to get a finished outcome. Very rough, and extremely quickly. I quite like the outcome. (Fig 4)

This whole process was done in about 40 minutes.

What I most love about the creative process though, is that fact that this image didn’t exist when I woke up this morning. Out of necessity; helping my wife out with a graphic she needed, I now have this little illustration. I love what I do.

Here are some other versions of the finished image after having run them through the filters in the app RNI Films on my iPhone 11 Pro. Just for a bit of variety.

Created with RNI Films app. Preset 'Kodak Gold 200 v.4'

Created with RNI Films app. Preset 'Agfa RSX II v.2'

Created with RNI Films app. Preset 'Agfa Optima 200 v.3 Faded'

Created with RNI Films app. Preset 'Agfa Vista 100'

The Unusual Suspects – Nous Trois

9th July 2020 By EMELBI

During this lockdown period I have been getting around to one or two things that I have been meaning to do for ages. There seems to be a lot of stuff that one puts on the back burner until there is time to address whatever it is that needs addressing. Some of it is house maintenance, of which I have done a fair share of late, but also there is always a backlog of things that build up where graphics and file maintenance is concerned. This set of images being one of those jobs that I have eventually got around to doing.

These three characters were images that I painted on large panels of hardboard about 16 years ago. They were about two meters high. The paintings unfortunately are long gone. I don’t even remember what happened to them or whether they still exist in the world? Over the years I have sold stuff and given stuff away. I know these weren’t sold, but where they went is a mystery. Anyway, I only had a set of low quality .jpeg photographs to prove they ever existed at all. (Fig 1).

I have always loved these three characters. Individually and together as a triptych, as they were meant to be at the very start. I have taken those low quality jpeg images and cleaning them up, running the graphics through Adobe Photoshop and then Adobe Illustrator, using the image trace function to bring them back into the fold so to speak (Fig 2). Now I have got high resolution digital versions of the very same images as they were painted all that time ago.

Not a big job, but time consuming nonetheless. But I’m glad that I got around to doing it.

‘The Unusual Suspects – Nous Trois’ – In Digital (Fig 3).

(Fig 1).

(Fig 2).

(Fig 3).

Symmetry and Negative Space

9th July 2020 By EMELBI

A quick exploration of negative space and assumed negative space within this symmetrical image of a dude on a BMX. I love how art and design can take you on a journey beyond the obvious just by using colour and form. I’ve always been fascinated in the exploration of colour relationships and how colour can completely change to mood of an image, while fundamentally, the structure of the image or graphic stays exactly the same. Of course playing with these structure and exploring their dynamics usually leads to new and fresh ideas and keeps the creative juices flowing.

1 Second Photoshop Tutorial

8th July 2020 By EMELBI

I’ve been having a bit of fun with editing today and I had an idea to make the shortest Photoshop, time lapse, illustration tutorial ever! This is an image of mine called Street Angel. I took 30 snap shot images in Photoshop at various stages of the image build and imported them into DaVinci Resolve and set the project frame rate at 30 frames per second. I had to find a real short audio stab too. The result is this one second time lapse tutorial of the build process of this image. All very tongue in cheek obviously! It was fun to do though. Enjoy!

The Day I was Vincent van Gogh

29th August 2019 By EMELBI

Yesterday, I was mostly being Van Gogh. I created this version of Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ for my wife’s art classroom doors, ready for the new school year to start. It was a lot of fun to do. In doing so I felt that I got a taste of the energy and vibrancy that Van Gogh painted with. The mimicking of the technique and style was a lot of fun and it was interesting trying to interpret such a masterpiece. Certainly a lot of energy and verve within each brush stroke. Quite a limited palette too. That said, there is a lot of warm colours that aren’t immediately apparent when you gaze upon the actual painting. Anyway, I hope that I did it some justice. The funny thing is, I can also see my own style in there too. Hard to avoid to a certain extent. It’s amazing how much you can learn through the exploration of someone else’s technique. All good fun.

Codsall Middle School – Portrait Illustration Workshop 2018

7th December 2018 By EMELBI

Here are some of the images that the pupils at Codsall Middle School in Wolverhampton produced during a recent portrait illustration workshop. The images are derived from their own portrait photographs. They learned to look for dominant parts of their features to pull out their true character. These are a handful of the images that were produced on the day. It was hard to pick the images for this blog as they were all so very good. There were 138 year 6 pupils that I worked with on the day. The workshops were a lot of fun and I always love to see young people creating great imagery and learning new skills. I’m sure you will agree that these images are just fab.

A Carton Full of Creativity

6th June 2017 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

A gif animation of the EMELBI Boi Carton. I love animated gifs. They’re great things to play with in terms of a quick bit of animated creativity. They make brilliant little adverts too.

Art is a Human Right

15th May 2017 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

It absolutely is. Everybody has the ability to create and make art. Exercise your right to be creative. Exercise your right to make art.

All Stars Performing Arts Presents ANNIE 2017

7th March 2017 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

I recently designed the ANNIE posters, flyers and social media promotional material for the forthcoming summer show by the All Stars Performing Arts school based in West Yorkshire. The show will take place at the Bradford Play House where tickets can be purchased via the Box Office.

Set in 1930s New York during the Great Depression, brave young Annie is forced to live a life of misery and torment at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage. Annie’s luck changes when she is chosen to spend Christmas with the famous billionaire Oliver Warbucks, at his grand Manhattan residence. Mr Warbucks is determined to find Annie’s parents. However, the spiteful Miss Hannigan has other ideas and hatches a plan to spoil Annie’s search… With its multiple Tony winning book and score, this stunning new production includes the unforgettable songs Hard Knock Life, Easy Street, and Tomorrow. Annie is a show for all the family to enjoy! So don’t miss the All Stars perform it! You can bet your bottom dollar you’ll love it!

Gomersal Primary School – Creative Workshop 2016 #2

16th December 2016 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

This has been a wonderful project where the children have explored a wide range of mediums including photography, pen line portrait illustration, textured mark making with a variety of tools, paint blending experimentation on canvas, digital illustration and layering techniques and then bringing all these things together for the final pieces. The finished artworks are absolutely fabulous and so wonderfully individual. It was a pleasure to work with such a great bunch of talented young artists.

Sketchbook Images – December 2016

12th December 2016 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Some quick sketches from a recent sketchbook. Number six was drawn by my 4 year old daughter. I added the kiss speech bubble. We work collaboratively some times. Children’s unbound creativity is a wonder to behold most of the time.

Gomersal Primary School – Creative Workshop 2016

12th December 2016 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Here are some of the images that have been created by the children at Gomersal Primary School in recent creative workshops. These will be added to the canvases that they have been working on for the last few weeks. Can’t wait to see the finished items.

I really love their use of blended digital textures incorporating their hand drawn portraits. Brilliant creativity.

Beardyman – God Damn I Look Fresh

16th November 2016 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

A quick sketch of the Vocal Beatbox and Musical Noise genius Beardyman.
He posted a video this morning on his Facebook page running a little competition for fans like myself to get involved with. I freeze framed the video and made this image from the freeze frame.

Never heard of Beardyman. Why the chuff not? Check him out here… www.beardyman.co.uk

Art and creativity is everywhere. You just need to look for it.

Amazing Disgrace

9th November 2016 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

It’s not united, but this is the state of America.

Birkby Junior School – Personal Story Telling Project

22nd September 2016 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

This was a super day long project working with a group of talented creative children on a personal story telling project. The artwork produced was towards part of a community art exhibition with many other schools being involved. The children rolled out a large piece of paper across the school hall floor and each of them worked on multiple areas of the paper creating illustrative self portraits of themselves and embellishing the portraits with images that related to them and their lives.

Afterwards the children extensively photographed the images that they had made using ipads. That done, they further worked on their imagery digitally manipulating the images using specific apps in the ipad until they had a made a large amount of usable media. The resulting posters were the results of their hard work. A super project with a fab bunch of children.

Here are some photographs from the workshop.

Story Time

11th July 2016 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

I did a little illustration of my daughter having a hot chocolate before bedtime. We like a good bedtime story in our house. My wife and I collect children’s books, so there is always a good story to hand.

Sketch It!

22nd June 2016 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Here are a recent collection of images. They are a mixture of hand drawn and digital art play.

Gomersal Primary School – Experimental Portrait Workshop

10th December 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

This was a really fun and creative art club. From large A2 printed portrait photographs the children traced their own images paying particular attention to the shapes that exist within the human face. This made for some really lovely and unusual drawings. The second stage was to make another tracing, but this time from the initial line drawing so that there was some extra degradation of form though this process.

Using a limited palette of colours, the children then inked the second drawing by almost block filling the shapes that they had discovered within the lines of their drawings.

I love how these beautiful images started to appear on the paper. We later scanned the images and went on to do some digital image manipulation with them. Great fun.

Line and Ink Work

DIGITAL MANIPULATION

WORKSHOP PHOTOS

Mr. Scoper

18th November 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

His name is Scoper.
He has just been hit by cupid’s arrow and is about to fall in love.
Maybe he will fall over first.
It’s hard to know.

Nimble Line Bimble – 09.11.15

9th November 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Nimble Line Bimbles

Taking the pen for a walk.

Shelly First School – Digital Urban Mural – Digital Illustration Workshops.

5th November 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Using Dazzle 03 pupils created funky character designs to use in the production of a Digital Urban Mural. Further graphic experimentation had them exploring various tools within the Dazzle 03 software package where they used multiple layers and learned to transfer images from one document to another. The pupils then combined many graphic elements to form the finished artwork exploring colour, texture, image placement, small graphic additions and much more. I love how busy these images are and how they have come together as a group of images.

Audio Cassette

19th October 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Bag Bandit B Boy

21st August 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Sketchbook image and some iPhone app trickery.

Nous Trois

21st August 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Found this the other day. It’s a triptych of characters painted on board that I did back in 2007.
I’m not actually sure what happened to them or where they ended up, but I have always loved these characters.

Hue Too

21st August 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Face illustration on A2 cartridge paper.
Berol Pen, Quink Ink, Posca Pen & Biro.

Berol Broad Pen, Quink Ink, Posca Pen and Biro Pen face illustration on A2 cartridge paper.

FeistY

21st August 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Illustration Concept for a poster.

THE GIFt 2

21st August 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Been mucking around with a couple more GIF experiments.
They are always fun to put together. These ones are probably too image heavy, but I quite like them all the same.
They may take a while to load due to this.

Coffee Morning Sketch

21st August 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Earth Spirit

6th August 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Pen drawing, digitally edited and coloured.

Shelly First School – IF I WERE KING OR QUEEN – Digital Illustration Workshops.

3rd July 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

This was a fun project with Shelly First School where the children got to make King and Queen portraits out of their own faces as part of a whole schools creative arts week. The theme for the art produced during the weeks creative activities was all based around and celebrating the fact that Queen Elizabeth II will become our longest-reigning British monarch on 9 September 2015. A massive amount of artwork was produced during the workshops and a lot of fun was had along the way. Here are a few from the pile. I think they all look positively regal.

Rage Head

15th June 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Illustrative play – Texture versions

Endless Running Games – Gareth Durasow

11th June 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Yes, I am responsible for the cover design, but the real genius is on the inside.

‘Endless Running Games’ is a collection of poems by Gareth Durasow.

Gareth isn’t at all reluctant about eloquently sketching out the grit and feculence of the human condition. He does it with an almost tongue in cheek poignancy. His observations of light juxtaposed by dark are formed anew as if one had never known the two before.
In essence: refined, brilliant, witty and challenging word journeys.

My personal favourites are PRAYERS FOR CAPTAIN AHAB and FOR THE LAST FLAT CAPPER.

Definitely worth a punt but don’t take my word for it, find out for yourself here… http://inpressbooks.co.uk/products/endless-running-games
or here… http://www.amazon.co.uk/Endless-Running-Games-Fruit-Bruise/dp/1907133909/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434056268&sr=1-1&keywords=endless+running+games

Gomersal Primary School – Digital Portrait and Digital Urban Graphics Workshop

10th May 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Working with KS2 art club I did a quick photo shoot with the children during their first session to get some source material for their illustrations.

Once that was done we loaded all the images into the computer and started the creative process.
Using Dazzle 3 the children were shown how to use the different layers to derive illustrated images from the photographs. They were then encouraged to experimented with colour to create their finished portraits.

Once these initial images had been finished I wanted the children to do something different with their portrait images. We looked at further developing the children’s ability to manipulate their original images in Dazzle 3. Using different layering techniques and a bank of texture images, the children added experimental textures and
graphics to form their final piece of work, inspired by the urban graphics that are akin to my style of work. Here are some of the final images…
Wonderful work I’m sure you will agree!

Digital Urban Graphics

A mixture of photographic and illustrated materials.

The Butterfly Effect

29th March 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

The truth is, one thing leads to another.

Hero Boy

29th March 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

New Illustration

Cartoon line boy, a super hero boy, equipped with a cape he’s a gold tooth boy.
He’s an out there boy, a real hero boy, a fine and dandy do it well and for the people boy!

Gomersal Primary School – Funky Character Designs

19th March 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

A fun workshop working with Key Stage 2 children exploring drawing skills and character development. The children got to try many new drawing skills and techniques before starting on their final images. They were also able to experimented with vibrant coloured inks trying out different mark making techniques before adding the fine detail with POSCA pens once the ink had dried. I love the energy in the finished artworks. They are all very bold, bright and a lot of fun.

Rowley Lane JIN School : Digital Urban Illustration Workshop

15th March 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Using Dazzle 3, the children at Rowley Lane JIN School explored portrait illustration using multiple digital layers. When they had finished their main images derived from their own photo’s, they made tome funky textured canvases in which to place their illustrated selves. The workshop was a lot of fun and their finished artwork is just super. I love the expressions and colour work.

Self Portrait

5th March 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Yep. That is the shape of my head. From a certain angle of course.

Spectrum

2nd March 2015 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

SPECTRUM

The trick is to be one!

Into the Matrix

28th November 2014 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Pencil drawing and a little iPhone trickery via a couple of apps.
A nod toward the Wachowski Brothers trilogy of films.

Pen and Red Crayon

28th November 2014 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Development of some ideas.

My 2 year old daughter decided to add a few of her own lines with red crayon.
I think it adds a certain jenesequa.
I love it when she joins in with the creativity.

Salendine Nook High School – ‘I CAN’ Street Graphics Project.

7th August 2014 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

In 2013, Salendine Nook High School won the Guardian Newspaper’s ‘School We’d Like’ competition and was awarded £5000 in prize money to revamp the Blue Tunnel, which is a key linking walkway between different buildings in the school. See the initial post from The Guardian… The Guardian – Salendine Nook: graffiti art project transforms old walkway.

I was approached by the school in the summer of 2013 and was asked to facilitate a creative project consisting of a series of workshops based around the title ‘I CAN’. These workshops began in autumn term 2013 and ran through to March 2014.

The initial workshops explored the history and culture of street art and graffiti and looked at the myriad of artists whose work adorns the street of the world’s urban spaces. Particular focus was placed upon methods, techniques, colour use, image placement and characteristics concerning each individual artist’s approach and style.
We looked at everything from the huge typographic scrawls and intricate lettering styles of graffiti and the continued development and evolution of graffiti culture, to Wheat Paste posting, the Knit The City phenomenon, Banksy, The London Police, Shepard Fairey and many more.

The creative workshops were designed to produce a range of strong graphics, which were either hand drawn, painted, developed from photographic elements, made using collage techniques and indeed a mixture of all these modes. Strong emphasis was placed on different drawing techniques designed to loosen up the creative process and produce an unexpected quirkiness in the resulting graphics.

Students also explored the use of the light box to trace images in order to develop quick and strong graphic styles and to experiment with composition. There was also an emphasis on the significance of mark making, constructing textures using paint splats, printing with inked bubble wrap and other interesting found materials.

Sponged ink marks and small hand drawn elements like arrows, swirls, cross-hatching and all sorts of shapes and patterns were created in the exploratory process.

Out of the mass of graphics that were produced in the workshops, the students started to get a real and definite idea about which images they wanted to use in their final artworks.

The imagery was then scanned at high resolution and prepared for layering and colouring using Photoshop CS6. This allowed the creative process to be further investigated resulting in the impacting and beautiful graphics that were produced in the student’s final pieces.

The project was a wonderful journey of creativity from beginning to end and a lot of fun was had along the way.

I think the resulting artworks speak for themselves.

Check out the Guardian article here… The Guardian – How street art can boost learning and community engagement in schools.

This was a super project commissioned by the Guardian and funded by Zurich Municipal.

Daisy Daisy

4th July 2014 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

iPhoneography and added digital graphic elements.

Rowley Lane JIN School : Drawing – Digital Illustration – Image Manipulation – App Creativity

20th June 2014 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

This was a lovely project at Rowley Lane. The children got to create lots of different illustrations using portrait photography as their starting point. Using textures, graphics and creative tablet apps to further manipulate the images, the year 2 – 6 children had some really brilliant ideas and moved between the creative platforms as if it were second nature.
The staff were really friendly and helpful too. I have always enjoyed working with this school.

Check out some of their artwork below.

Bradford Academy – Hometeam (AVC) Graphics Project

13th June 2014 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

Working as Artist in Residence with young people at Bradford Academy recently in the production of funky graphics across four large circular boards. The design challenge was based on the Academy Value Contract (AVC) that students agree to adhere to. It is always great fun working at this school. Both staff and Students are equally enthusiastic for the creative process. All artwork has been digitally reproduced and is now displayed in the school.

Academy Value Contract

What will it look like, sound like and feel like if all learners from BA work/play safe physically?

We will have the maturity to self evaluate our actions. We will not discriminate against other members of the Academy and we will be responsible for our actions emotionally and physically.

What will it look like, sound like and feel like if all learners from BA work/play fair?

We will be fair, respectful and make sure everyone is valued in the school community. We will ensure everyone is motivated and be part of a team. We will also be given opportunities and be equally supported.

What will it look like, sound like and feel like if all learners from BA work/play safe emotionally?

We will not judge others for their individuality and we will respect everyone’s opinions and thoughts by treating everyone how we would like to be treated.

What will it look like, sound like and feel like if all learners from BA work/play hard?

We will, to the best of our ability, give 100% effort with pride and enthusiasm. This will help us to find our personal balance between working, playing and relaxing in order to reach our full potential.

The Finished Graphics

Beep Beep

26th March 2014 By EMELBI Leave a Comment

I want one of these little cars.

They look like they might be quite a lot of fun to drive.

The GIFt

25th March 2014 By