Wednesday 28 September 2016

Pet Portraits - Hawkeye

Morning Everyone!

Today I'm going to be sharing with you the last in the recent run of pet portraits I have been commissioned to draw. They have been portraits following a certain trend, each depict a pet as their namesake! (Something which I am no stranger to doing with my own pets.) There was The Goblin King, Batroc and Peckasus.

Today's portrait is no exception. So let me introduce you to Hawkeye the Hen!


This commission is A3 in size and coloured using Copic Markers, the text is also hand drawn and rendered.

If you'd like to see more pet portraits that I've been commissioned to do then please click here to see a range of caricatured and traditional illustrations of our furry (and feathered) friends.

If you'd like to commission me to draw your pet, then please get in touch: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com


Monday 26 September 2016

Pet Portraits - Peckasus

Hey Everyone,

I've had a couple more pet portrait requests following The Goblin King and Batroc commissions. 

This one is slightly different but no less ingenious in name and idea!

Peckasus is a feathery-footed cockerel with beautiful colouring. I was asked to blend his character with that of the mythical Pegasus to create something along the lines of a chicken Hippogriff… a Chickegriff? Hippochick? Either way, I really enjoyed exploring the details in the feathers for this one.




This commission is A3 in size and coloured using Copic Markers, the text is also hand drawn and rendered.


If you'd like to see more pet portraits that I have been commissioned to do then please click here to see a range of caricatured and traditional illustrations of our furry friends.

If you would like to commission me to draw your pet, then please get in touch: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Saturday 3 September 2016

Pet Portraits - Batroc the Leaper

I've another pet portrait to share with you!

This one is second in a series of portrait commissioned by Paul. The Goblin King, which I shared in my last post is accompanied by Batroc, a sly little silver tabby named after a Captain America villain, who has a missing tail and is an expert shrew hunter!

So here Batroc stands, proudly twirling his whistlers, over a pile of defeated shrews… poor things… I can't deny that seeing as my specially is rodents this was a little difficult, however cats will be cats!


This commission is A3 in size and coloured using Copic Markers, the text is also hand drawn and rendered.

If you'd like to see more pet portraits that I have been commissioned to do then please click here to see a range of caricatured and traditional illustrations of our furry friends.

If you would like to commission me to draw your pet, then please get in touch: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Wednesday 31 August 2016

Pet Portraits - The Goblin King

Morning Everyone!

This commission request came from someone who I met at Bristol Comic Expo back at the beginning of the month. Paul and his girlfriend Hannah are ruled by the benevolent Goblin King; a long haired, two-tone eyed cat. Called Gobby for short!

Being a fan of Labyrinth I leapt at the opportunity to anthropomorphise David Bowie's character to the likeness of this gorgeous cat!


This commission is A3 in size and coloured using Copic Markers, the text also is hand drawn and rendered.

Pet portraits are a specialty of mine, be they traditional or caricatured like this one.
Check them all out by clicking here!

If you'd like to commission me to draw your pet, please get in touch: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Tuesday 16 August 2016

Frome Comic Con 2016


On Sunday 14th august the unassuming Somerset town of Frome became the welcoming host for comic and film fans, a huge variety of Cosplay, the TARDIS, Delorean, Diagon Alley, BB-8 and the BatPod amongst other things!

After receiving a warm invite from Frome's own comic creators and all round awesome couple, Lizzie and Conor Boyle of Disconnected Press, I found myself at a table in the Black Swan Arts with MULP: Sceptre of the Sun and a selection of other amazing comic creators; Vince Hunt from The Awesome Comics podcast and The Red Mask from Mars. JP Bove and Jess Bradley with works from TMNT, Transformers and the Phoenix comic and baby Jake! The gang from Big Punch Studios, it was lovely to meet you all! And Owen and Jazz from The Psychedelic Journal of Time Travel!

Although this was my first time exhibiting at a convention solo, I found myself in the best company I could have ever asked for, thanks guys!!


Thank you also to everyone out enjoying the festivities who stopped by the Black Swan to chat!
It was awesome seeing so many young people and families out to experience something new and get involved with all that was going on.
The number of kids who stopped by the table to talk about how they love drawing and reading comics was fantastic! Athene and Pheonix, who I chatted with at length about My Little Pony and Attack on Titan! And the budding comic creator and moose enthusiast Xavi who likes to create stories with his moose characters. Not to mention Louis and his friend, a young writer and artist duo, who were out spending their birthday money on any and every comic in the hall!
It was a pleasure chatting with each and every one of you!

There was so much more going on outside of where I was in the Black Arts building though, I sent out my minions, Dan and Ian to explore the town. They came back with tales of a Superhero minifig scavenger hunt, a TARDIS up on Catherine Hill, the BatPod and Batman cosplay in the Archangel pub, Cheap Street dressed up like Diagon Alley, with House Sorting at the Leaky Cauldron and Wand Making all day. A Delorean and Back to the Future cosplay at The Cornerhouse, Pirates of the Caribbean at The Blue Boar, gaming and music at The Weatsheaves amongst movie memorabilia and traders at other venues! It was incredible to hear how the whole town got involved and embraced the multitude of things going on!

(Photos below by Dan and Ian)






Big big big thanks to Lizzie and Conor for inviting me and for doing such a great job in organising us all at the Black Swan. Here's hoping that Frome continues to host this awesome event next year!

Bristol Comic Expo 2016


Back in May 2014, MULP: Sceptre of the Sun launched at Bristol Comic Expo. Though the convention saw a bit of a hiatus last year, on Saturday 6th August 2016 I am delighted to say that my home convention and the first con I ever exhibited at, returned to it's full glory!


This time round I was accompanied by the wonderful Dani Abram!

Dani brought with her copies of Razarhawk #1 and #2 which follow the adventures of the kick ass Kitty Hawk and her team of simian scientists as they save the world.
And Worry Wart, the book collecting her renowned autobiographical webcomic about the struggle of dealing with anxiety.



I of course had MULP #1 and #2 with me, along with my portfolio containing the original illustrations for the covers and splash pages from the two issues.

 Dani and I had an amazing time chatting with everyone who stopped by our table; the super cute mini-Supergirl and her dad. David and his friends, who bought MULP #1 and then came back after lunch for #2! Mike, who told us all about his independent art school (the Riverbank Art Centre) in Kingswood. Darren, who was able to stall his young son long enough from dragging him towards the star wars stuff to buy him a copy of MULP, and then mention it in his review! (Read the review here!)
And all the animal lovers, per rat owners and appreciators of all things small and furry who stopped by to chat!

Thank you, every one of you, for coming and making the return of Bristol Expo a success!

Also I'd like to thank that Miss Abram for hopping on a train all the way to Bristol, on a rather last minute decision, ON HER BIRTHDAY to spend all day sat at a table with me! 
You, my dear, are a legend! Love ya loads!


Being Bristol based I really do hope that this year sees the beginning of a full return of Bristol Comic Expo as it used to be, and that MULP will be there next year for a whole weekend of awesomeness!

Thursday 23 June 2016

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents poster commission

Hey Everyone,

Apologies for being quiet on the blogging front. However in the time since my last post I have not only completed all 23 pages for MULP issue 3 (of which you can see sneak peeks on my Tumblr or Instagram), but have also been working on this rather awesome commission which I am now very excited to be able to share with you!


A representative of Leeds Children's Theatre got in touch a while ago about commissioning an illustration for a poster publicising their production of Terry Pratchett's The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. Considering rodents are kinda my thing I leapt at the opportunity to contribute to this project!

So here is a look at the final illustration without the text.


 

If anyone has read the book you will recognise Maurice the cat, Dangerous Beans the albino rat, Darktan with his belts and sword, Sardines with his hat and tap dancing feet, Peaches who carries their beloved book and Hamnpork the leader of the clan.

I very much enjoyed my involvement on this project, although it was a squeeze to work on this alongside deadlines for MULP I am very glad that I made the effort to do so!

If you would like to learn more about Leeds Children's Theatre or this production, please visit these websites:
http://www.leeds-childrens-theatre.co.uk
http://www.amazingmaurice.info

Monday 9 May 2016

Mother and Daughter Pen and Ink Portrait

Morning Everyone!

The Blog has been a bit quiet while I've been working feverishly on MULP: Sceptre of the Sun issue #3, which is coming along nicely with about half of the pages left to colour!

Today though I wanted to share with you a commission that I was asked to do a few months back as a present for a friend's mum. She's recently had her birthday so I am now able to post it up here.

This is probably one of my favourite pen and ink portraits to date; Lucy and her mum.


This commission is A4 sized and done using a traditional pen and ink outline with tonal wash.

If you know a family member or a friend who'd like a black and white portrait like this do get in touch, however as I am currently working to finish issue #3 of MULP I will not be taking commission requests until mid-June!!

Wednesday 2 March 2016

Themed Portraits - Minion Love

Hey Everyone!

I've been a tad quiet on the blogging front lately, mostly due to work on MULP #3 being in full swing!
Check out my Tumblr, Instagram and the Improper Books twitter feed for sneak peeks at the next issue and other projects.

For now though I'm gonna share with you a sweet little portrait commissioned for Valentine's day.

Zoe and her partner are mad about Minions and breed show rabbits! So when asked to produce a present for Valentine's Day, what better than to combine these two things that they share and caricature them as Minions surrounded by rabbits!



This commission was coloured using Copic Markers.

If you have a special occasion coming up and would like to commission me to create an original piece of artwork for a loved one, then please place your request with plenty of time in advance. While I am working on MULP, work on commissions are restricted and any requests placed with too short notice will sadly be declined.

sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Wednesday 20 January 2016

Pet Portraits - Ace the Rat!

Yesterday I posted up a portrait of my Siamese rat, Romana as her Doctor Who namesake, just as I'd previously done for my other rats River and Kaylee.

Today I'm going to introduce you to the other half of the terrible two, this is Ace!


Ace is a dumbo eared Husky/Badger and about 9 months old in this photo. She is named after the 7th Doctor's companion played by Sophie Aldred. Ace in Doctor Who was regularly seen to lob grenades, fire bazookas and even give a Dalek a whack with a baseball bat!

My Ace is very much the rodent embodiment of her namesake. She's a little rascal!! She's outgoing, and will poke her nose into everything, including in your mouth if you're eating. She's jumped between sofas and has enforced drastic measures to ensure no rats venture onto the bookcase since ruining some of my comics…

So without further ado, here is Ace!
 


This illustrations was coloured using Copic Markers.
If like me you have pets named after characters or people, and you'd like to see them as their namesake, then please get in touch: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Tuesday 19 January 2016

Pet Portraits - Romana the Rat!

Since I'd made it a bit of a trend to draw my pet rats as their namesakes with River and Kaylee previously, I thought it was high time I drew my new girls!

Let me introduce Romana!


Romana is a ruby eyed, Siamese dumbo rat, and is only 7 or 8 weeks old in this photo! She's the sweetest and most friendly rat I've ever owned, even at this age she would come to the cage door and lick your fingers!

She is named after the 4th Doctor's companion in Doctor Who. Romana in Doctor Who was also a Time Lord (or Time Lady) and appeared as two incarnations when she regenerated. Because of Romana's sweet and friendly nature I have named her after Romana's second incarnation, played by Lalla Ward.

So here she is wearing her pink coat and long white scarf, mimicking the 4th Doctor's outfit, sat on a jelly baby!
 

This illustration was coloured using Copic Markers.
I have so much fun doing pet portraits, and am always happy for people to get in touch with requests! So if you'd like a portrait of your pet like this then drop me an email: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Wednesday 13 January 2016

Typewriter Girl

From my latest run of blog posts you can see that Christmas was a busy time for me, which is absolutely fantastic!

I hope that everyone enjoyed their presents and thank you so much to those who thought some original art would be the perfect gift! :)

Today I'll be posting the final christmas commission request of 2015, it's Ruby with her typewriter coloured using pencil colours.

I am open to commission requests for all occasions, if you know someone who'd love a piece of personalised original art then drop me an email: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Jack the Mouse, and Fin the Human

The Christmas commissions are still going!

This one was quite a lovely request from Emily to her boyfriend Fin, who had previously visited our table and picked up a copy of MULP at Nottingham.

Emily got in touch in time for christmas to commission something special with his favourite character! So this is Fin and Jack Redpath coloured using Copic Markers.




If you would like to commission a portrait like this then please get in touch: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Monday 11 January 2016

Themed Portrait - Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind

I'd lost count of how many commissions I'd actually done for people over the christmas period!

Here's another requested by Lizzie for her sister Esther, who still adores the first Studio Ghibli film she ever saw. I rally enjoyed doing this one, the colours were an absolute delight to play with. This is Esther in the style of Studio Ghibli as Nausicaa coloured using Copic Markers.

 

If you or a friend are a fan of the wonderful Studio Ghibli and would like a portrait like this, then please get in touch: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Thursday 7 January 2016

Pen and Ink Group Portrait

Today I'm sharing another traditional black and white portrait that was commissioned for christmas.

The original artwork is A4 sized and done using pen and ink outline with tonal wash.



If you would like a traditional portrait like this of your friend or family, then please get in touch: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Wednesday 6 January 2016

Pen and Ink Portrait

Here's another christmas commission for you, this time a more traditional black and white portrait of a friend's late father. 

This commission was done using only a digital photo of a framed photo on their wall as reference! I'm pretty pleased with the result.


This commission is A4 sized and used pen and ink outline with ink tonal wash.

If you would like a traditional portrait of a member of your family, then please get in touch: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Tuesday 5 January 2016

Themed Portraits - A Tale as Old as Time

This Copic Marker coloured Themed Portrait was inspired by Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Some of you may remember that I had already done a Beauty and the Beast themed portrait, so I wanted to make this one as different as I could but still be recognisable as a scene from the film.

So in this version the couple, Allan and Abby are re-enacting the reading scene with their dog Stevie as Cogsworth. Though if you take a closer look, there is a nod to the fact that Abby is expecting twins in the book that she's reading!



To check out all of the various commissions I have done for people click here!

If you know someone who would like something like this as a gift then please drop me an email: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com

Monday 4 January 2016

Themed Portraits - Batman and Catwoman

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and a great New Year!!
But now that the holidays are over I can begin posting up the portraits that were commissioned as presents!

Such as this themed portrait commissioned by Rose for John of the two of them as Batman and Catwoman from The Dark Knight Rises. This commission was coloured using Ciao Copic Markers.


 

To check out all of the various commissions I have done for people click here!

If you know someone who would like something like this as a gift then please drop me an email: sara-dunkerton@hotmail.com