The drawing was done in Illustrator using pictures from a variety of sources as reference. It’s a bit wobbly in the edges but is reasonably accurate in the middle.
It took about three weeks on and off to draw. Initially it looked like it would be fairly quick, but once started I soon became bogged down in detail and lack of knowledge. If I were ever to do something like this again I would commission some photographs or go up in a balloon and take my own. I also think I would hand-draw it and colour it.
The image of the mincer at the side of this page is one of a series of illustrations of DNA. This one is a take on DNA engineering or something like that. They have been used on used on http://www.genome-engineering.com/ , http://geeksciencefactoftheday.wordpress.com/ and http://www.genome-engineering.com/mutations-linked-to-aggressive-childhood-brain-tumours.html
Meat, although it could be plant matter if Stephen drew another version, is fed in at the top, fresh extracted DNA comes out the front. Meat was chosen because it was (!) more gory that plant matter and (2) the red/orange/brown contrasted nicely with the blues.
Drawing the helix presented a minor challenge as getting the twists right was somewhat more tricky than expected. Stephen could have use all sorts of computer voodoo to simplify that part, but the challenge is to draw it freehand and bring the qualities that only freehand drawing will bring.
The picture of Santa (actually Stephen) on a rocket was 2011’s Christmas card, there’s a link on the picture if you would like to see the large version, this really doesn’t do it justice.
Also in the picture are Stephen’s wife, Ruth, their cat, Ruth’s Teddy Bear and his three sons. One of the sons did a charity walk and is represented by a couple of feet in the air.
The image with all the little people in it is one of many done for MissInformation’s Festival Spotter’s Guide, clicking the image will show the full illustration. You can find out more about this at the MissInformation website.
Stephen trained at Chelsea School of Art and have been a professional artist for over 20 years. If you want to find out more about me click here. I have exhibited rarely, although I have work on permanent show in Swansea and have many magazine, annual report and other publications that have used my work. I have also done large scale community art pieces, notably for the Greenbelt festival in Cheltenham.
He is based in Bath, England. Send Stephen an email if you would like to see more or just say hi!
Stephen has two other websites, one is built specifically for his training business and this is about the installation Mechanisms. Steve’s current work is around the themes of devices and mechanisms. Machines have been a constant source of inspiration, from Heath Robinson type devices he drew many years ago (and still is) to the steampunk images that now delight him. He is interested in technology, and has been a regular visitor to science and industrial museums for many years. He’s also excited alternate technologies, what if so and so had been invented years before - for example, what if people had taken a longer look at crystals in radio we might have been spared the thermonic valve.
Some of the pictures that have been done are hard to put in one slot or the other, so do make sure that you’ve looked everywhere here, however, the main areas are:
These are pictures that have been published in magazines or used in similar publications.
Instructional and Maps
Steve’s done a lot of instructional images. These are just a very small selection.
Social
This category has some of Steve’s personal Christmas cards - all of which feature him somewhere on them, (As do many other illustrations - Steve likes it when people put cameos of them self or other people) along with party invitations and other work like that.
Advertising
These are illustrations that were used in adverts, or the whole advert themselves. Steve’s designed adverts and direct mail for many people as well, those will be on the graphic design website in due course.
Graphic Design
Here some of the many design projects that Stephen’s done over the years.
Cartoons
A lot of Steve’s work can be considered cartooning, although he doesn’t always consider himself a cartoonist. A lot of the images have humour in them, although sometime it is very black and there have been several images that caused at the time some great upsets. Hovering over the image will tell the story - if there’s one to be told. Steve considers that cartoons shouldn’t just be funny. They should be capable of making a point.
Stephen is a sculptor, and has exhibited in a number of exhibitions. Work is on permanent show at Swansea and some will be travelling to Canterbury in 2012.
Painting
Stephen also paints, and his tree paintings are popular. Some of them can be seen here as well as some of the other paintings.
Stations (of the cross)
This is a series of drawings that Stephen did for Easter. They are postcard sized, and are available as unframed prints from the artist, priced £160+VAT for the set.
Blog
An occasional way of telling you what’s happening.
Other
Here’s the rest. There’s a section showing some of the graphic design projects Stephen has done, a section showing some of the sculpture projects as well. In particular, I’ve done several very successful large scale clay sculptures that were community/group activities.
One early and continued passion is stereoscopic imaging. I have written about this and created images, if you are looking for the 3D stuff, you'll find it here. If you want to contact me the email address is at the bottom and on this page. Also you’ll find Stephen’s CV and pictures here.
All images copyright.