Travel Sketchbook: Scotland, Edinburgh Oct 08

In October 2008, my friend Paddy and I went to Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland (home to the Haggis, the kilt, Whiskey, Lochs, mountains and...well Scots...) and one of my favourite cities in the world. This was my second time in Edinburgh, for Paddy, it was his first. The last time I visited this city, I was 18, and that was 7 years ago. Now a little older, and a little wiser, I decided to do some sketching in and around the city. The architecture blew me away! What a magical city! These sketches show how I got on...

Paddy on Arthur's seat. This was the first sketch I did, an extreme sketch on top of Arthur's seat the extinct volcano, situated in Holyrood park, at the bottom of the Royal Mile. It was blowing 70 mph winds on top and I was only wearing a t-shirt, scarf and fingerless gloves...

The ruins of St Anthony's chapel, situated 1/3 of the way up Arthur's seat...

Whilst in Edinburgh Castle, I saw a few parts of the building I wanted to sketch. The image above is of the castle book shop. Edinburgh Castle, wasn't really a Norman castle, it looks more residential.



Detail of the National Monument, Edinburgh Castle. This was the first attempt at sketching the National Monument at Edinburgh Castle. The monument commemorates the young men who gave up their lives in the world wars. This was a detailed sketch as I wasn't used to scaling down. I wasn't happy about this sketch. But Paddy was with me and a load of 6-7 year old school kids were watching me draw. They were mesmorised. Paddy asked them if they thought my drawing was good and they all shouted "YES!" I felt likeI was in Playbus/days...



The National Monument, Edinburgh Castle. This was the second attempt at the National Monument, and thankfully i'd scaled it down! So here is the vision I had in the first place...

St Giles Cathedral (on the Royal Mile). This was my favourite drawing. I sat on the side of the road, on the Royal Mile sketching the cathedral and tourists and locals alike came and watched me draw and asked me questions about my sketches. That was great. This sketch took me 45 mins to an hour. I'm very proud of this picture and is one of my best...

Pipe Organ, St Giles Cathedral. Inside the cathedral was this magnificent modern pipe organ. I decided to sketch it as it was a strong image. I know some organists who would cream their pants for a chance to see this, let alone play it...

Scot's Monument, Princes Street. This was the last sketch I did. i sat in the park sketching this, with the wind blowing about me and people going about their business. I also heard a bagpiper collaborate with an African drummer. The pipe was playing traditional Scottish pipe tunes, whilst the African drummer, was providing a rhythmic beat. I would call it Scottish Fusion... But Scot's monument (devoted to Sir Walter Scott, Scotland's national writer, Rob Roy and Ivanhoe are amongst his works) was very detailed. There were so many inticate carvings, so i simplified it. It was also nicknamed Thunderbird 3, because it looks like the rocket. Here is the end result.

So here are my Highland adventures told in sketches. I'm proud of this series as my work gets better everytime I draw. Enjoy...

Gav, Nov 08.

I am Gavin! Hear me ROOOOAAAAARRRR!!!!!

This image I did for my 25th birthday and also imagery for the start of my band. I have now started a 80's Rock cover band. As I am a Leo and i feel my temperament is that of a lion, I drew this, scanned it and digitally coloured it. ROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!

Travel Sketchbook: Portugal, Cascais Sept 08

In September 08, I went to Cascais in Portugal with my marching band. What a great long weekend. The weather was beautiful beautiful and the temperature was cooler like the U.K. I decided to do a travel sketchbook after the success of my cathedral sketches. So Portugal was my first attempt at capturing the foreign surroundings.

I did a few warm-up sketches, the statue of the soldier and the medieval wall. the last picture is of a hotel on the beach of Cascais. The best drawing i've done and it will be hard to better it. I'm very proud of the hotel sketch and the building itself is beautiful, we marched on the plaza near the building. Portugal was fantastic!

Dover Pharoas

On a trip to Dover to visit an old uni friend, we went for a day out to Dover Castle, a majestic example of Norman dominance. The castle was brilliant, I managed to do a sketch of the Roman lighthouse known as a Pharoas...

The day was mix of cloud and sunlight, the clouds give the drawing more atmosphere as do the people, who were standing chatting by the flagpole. They talked for ages, very professional models... :) The sketch also reminds me of Victorian renderings, like the ones at the beginning of the Cheers credits..."Where everybody knows your name!"...

Lucie's Guardfrog...

A dear friend of mine from my foundation course, who I reconnected with after going to seperate universities.

Anyways i digress...

Lucie and I are bus buddies now and get on the same morning bus & we chat about life and it's realities. Lucie has a fear of frogs and hates the thought of them hopping towards her. She told me she thought of a Guardfrog that would protect her from danger...and other frogs...

We discussed what it would look like, and that it would be like a tribal frog with grass skirt and spear.

So Gav's blog proudly presents...

...Fresenius the frog!

Jade dragon

A colleague of mine who has become a good friend, asked me to draw her a Chinese dragon as she was born in the chinese year of the dragon. I love chinese dragons, because they aren't just a big lizard like the european dragons. They are an amalgamation of many animals, including the deer, tiger and fish. Eastern dragons tend to be good. Here is my dragon, a jade dragon to be precise...

No Cheese!

Another work inspired piece, this time in the canteen... My mates Nish and Gav asked for cheese sarnies, and they had run out! So after two days and no cheese, i decided to do a comic strip about my theory of why there isn;t anymore cheese! The dinner lady is real and she is that stern looking, but she is very funny! Wallace and Gromit, eat your cheddar heart out! :D

The Wicked Nish of the west!

Whilst working in my admin nightmare, after so much data entry, there is only so much you can take, so to relax i do a few sketches! This pic was inspired by my mate Nish! He had a desk plant which we called Marge! Anyways, he used to water Marge with rain water from a bottle. The bottle contained Mozquito larvae and i told him to kill them otherwise the will become mozzies! two weeks later, he told me one actually flew out when he opened the bottle! It reminded me of the Wicked witch of the west and her "pretties!" Here is my homage!...

Heads...or Heads? (The fall of the White Knight)

The second image of my Dark Knight series...Harvey Dent aka Two-face...

Why...so serious?...

Just saw the new Batman movie:The Dark Knight. Heathe Ledger was a legend! The film was so brilliant, i was inspired the next day to draw the two villains: The Joker and Two-face...

Cathedral sketches

I'm a big fan of all things medieval...except the toilets...But castles, weapons, cathedrals...I'm a big fan.

I have been visiting a load of cathedrals recently. My favourite is Winchester Cathedral and recently, whilst visiting with my best mate, i decided to sketch the front, whilst sitting on the lawn! It was lovely and sunny, and i had time to kill!

This led to me later visiting Chichester cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London, home to the Royal coronation.

Here are my sketches...

Rock Troll

You wouldn't want to meet this badboy in a dark alley...

Demon design

I love drawing monsters and demons and sometimes I like to go into that twisted place in my mind and pull these ugly mofos out...So prepare to meet my creations! MWAHAHA!!!!

Hello and welcome!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my Blog! I will be putting a lot of my artwork up here as I feel it's time to show the world my artwork! Some of you may have seen my work on Facebook. Well I will put work (including sketches, work in progress and random ideas) up. If there is anything I wanna share with you, it will be posted on here. Bare with me whilst i get the hang of the layouts on here! But im sure this will be a brilliant way of me bringing my work to you. Please feel free to browse and comment! No de-constructive criticism...otherwise i'll find out where you live and have to come and end you!...Sorry about that, i had a psycho moment then! ;D

Enjoy people!

Gav :D