EMELBI

Digital Artist and Illustrator

Red Ed – Two Minute Time Lapse Illustration

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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

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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

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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.

Chikket Imps

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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.

 

 

 

Super Quick Illustration

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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.

The Unusual Suspects – Nous Trois

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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

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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.

The Day I was Vincent van Gogh

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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

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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

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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.

All Stars Performing Arts Presents ANNIE 2017

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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!

Sketchbook Images – December 2016

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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

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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

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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.

Beardyman - God Damn I Look Fresh

Story Time

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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.

Story Time

Story Time

Story Time

Story Time

Story Time

Story Time

Story Time

Mr. Scoper

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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.

Scoper

Nous Trois

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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.

Acrylic, Emulsion and Permanent Marker on Board

Hue Too

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

THE GIFt 2

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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.

EMELBI_THeGIFt

EMELBI_BETSIE

Hero Boy

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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!

Hero Boy

Pen and Red Crayon

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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.

EMELBI - Sketches and Doodles

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