It's cool how the internet can bring people together from far away places to make things. "Graham's Up the Tree" is based on a true story from the life of author mbpardy ... He's in Australia - I'm in Seattle area. When he posts these images at his page I see comments from people who grew up with real life versions of these characters I drew -- People that actually looked out the window and saw this little guy high up at the top of a tree... where no one else could go.
Graham's Up the Tree! ("and there's nowhere else he can go!") - my 4 year old ran around the house for weeks misquoting the story with his own interpretation of an Australian accent. Calling it out over, and over, and over again.
Watercolour crayon, crayon, fineliner and acrylic paint... . . . . . .. ... . ... .. ... . .. ... .. ............ . ... . . The tree is weary crying for some help, its roots are drowning and the taps on full pelt. Its head cant speak the evil, hear the evil, see it. Whilst its occupiers point the fingers at each other and dont even believe it... .. ... . .... . .. .
"Billy gets there last, wiggles up a spot..." from the Graham's Up the Tree book. I grew to love these kids after drawing them so much. They sort of became real to me.
For these Grahams Up the Tree drawings I used a Pilot Custom 823 with FA nib. This pen is legendary. It has a very soft nib and a giant vacuum filled tank of ink so you can write and draw for days.
It was supposed to be a blooming cherry tree but somewhere in the proccess it turned toward a scary dead tree like from Sleepy Hollow of Tim Robbins ;)
"At 6 o'clock the window squeaks and mum calls time" from Graham's Up the Tree. It must have been strange for mbpardy to see his his story interpreted through my illustrations... but page by page these characters came to life, with both of our contributions somehow adding up to something bigger.
Watercolour crayon, crayon, fineliner and acrylic paint.. . . . . ... . .... . ... . . . ... . . .. . . . . . . Just your run of the mill tree bearing owl with a pipe in hand and a story to tell. .... . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. ... ... ......... ... .. A3 prints for sale ( 12 left out of 20 at the time of going to press )
Australian author mbpardy & I have a children's book coming out soon called "Graham's Up the Tree." This illustration from the book makes a good countdown to release.
There is an old children song in my language talking about a little girl that his grandpa have a stars tree.. I heard yesterday and just had to draw it!
"The Explorers" 14ft tall by 48ft long mural painting in Vienna, Austria alongside my friend Dead Beat Hero this past weekend. His comic book style robot characters emerging from the river into my crazy cartoon world.
