I Always Wanted To Be A Tenenbaum

This is one of my Top 5 favourite films of all time.  It was the first Wes Anderson film I saw, and I caught it at the cinema during it's initial release back in 2001.  This was before the hipster crowd held him up as their cinematic god.  It completely blew me away - I'd never seen anything like it.  I immediately went out and bought the soundtrack, then Rushmore on DVD (the Criterion Collection edition rules).  I've been a devotee ever since.  He's made some great films since (Fantastic Mr Fox, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel are up there) but I always come back to this one.

Come Out To Play-I-Ay

I only just realised that The Warriors turned 40 back in February, so this is a bit late.  It is truly one of the cultiest of cult movies and I'm ashamed that I didn't tackle it earlier.  On paper it shouldn't work - a gritty gang thriller where all the gangs have silly themed costumes, but it totally does.  I'm dying to have this on Blu-ray but the only one doing the rounds at the moment is the hideous Director's Cut version with comic book sequences added.  I would have hoped a spruced-up Theatrical Version would have made an appearance this year, but no such luck.

Little Portraits Compilation

I put together this compilation sheet of most of the Little Portrait sets I've created - I'll be popping this in with all orders from this point on.

Come With Me If You Want To Live

Another set that should have been tackled a long time ago.  I've been watching these movies since I was a kid.  I just screened the first one to my class and boy does it hold up.  The pacing is great, the action is fantastic and the practical effects are largely subtle and well integrated.  Oh, and that music is just wonderful.

I spent about as long on Sarah Connor's 1984 hair as I did every other character in this set combined.  It truly is a magnificent specimen of 80s coiffure.  I hope I have captured it's immensity and done it justice.

The full set of Little Portraits are now housed here.

Beware The Moon, Lads

It's taken me a shamefully-long time to get round to doing a Little Portraits set about An American Werewolf In London, which has long been one of my Top 5 favourite films.  It is as old as I am but, unlike me, hasn't aged a single bit.  It is still the dictionary definition of a perfect comedy-horror film.  This set was hugely enjoyable to draw, and getting the werewolf done correctly was particularly satisfying.

A Sadsack of Murrays (UPDATED)

I revised and updated the Bill Murray little portrait set to make it a little more personal to me and to expand it to the standard 12 format.  I was particularly pleased to be able to include Ghostbusters II, which is a particular favourite of mine.  Prints are currently being done for this Saturday's Self Publishing Artists Market at the BALTIC in Gateshead, where I have a table.  Remaining copies will be made available to purchase online shortly after.

Murrays & Aykroyds

I did these Little Portrait sets of Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd for a recent commission.  I don’t usually do Little Portraits as commissions as a rule but Murray and Aykroyd are two of my comedy heroes so I couldn’t resist. The response to them has been really good so I may revise the sets and add a few more to each to sell them as prints.

ADDITIONAL: The Dan Aykroyd set was re-posted on the official Blues Brothers Instagram feed, ran by John Belushi's widow Judy and Dan Aykroyd himself.  So, either one of my comedy heroes has seen and liked my work, or the wife of another has.  Either way, I'm stoked.

Further Rotoscoping Practice

One of my students couldn't complete their sequence in our collaborative rotoscoping animation, so I had to step in and complete it on their behalf.  This sequence occurs immediately before my previous sequence.  This one is a little more polished than the last one and a little more interesting in terms of what is going on.  It's laborious as techniques go, but if I were to work from specially-filmed footage I know how to make it more efficient.

Blackadder The Third Play

I allowed the Grantham Dramatic Society to use my Blackadder illustrations for their recent production of Curtis & Elton's Blackadder The Third.  I enjoyed doing these for Mustard magazine way back when and so it was nice to see them get another airing.

Rotoscoping Practice

In order to teach the practicalities of large scale animation productions, my Level 1 class have been doing a collaborative rotoscoping mini-project, where they've been animating a 2-second snippet from a longer scene from Return Of The Jedi.  When they're done I'll edit all the snippets back together to make a short animated film.  It's a bit of gamble, as this level of student can be fairly unreliable, so I'm hoping it will encourage them to pull together as a team.

I joined in myself very late in game, so here's my rough-and-ready contribution - a fairly dull shot of Luke looking pensive, post-battle.  The process can be a bit laborious but I've already figured out ways to improve and streamline my working methods, and so have got to thinking about doing a little project of my own.

Prospectus

I did this comic strip as a commission for a university five years ago to be used as part of their prospectus but they ended up going in another direction with it (*cough* photography *cough*).  There was some talk of it getting revisited later, but this has never come to fruition.  It has a horrendous title, but I still quite like the strip.

Yippee-Ki-Yay, Motherfucker

A Die Hard little portrait set to celebrate it's 30th anniversary.  This has been a firm favourite since I was little - 1980s action movies being a staple part of my adolescent viewing diet - and, as far as I am concerned, John McTiernan is the undisputed king of the genre.

Ghostbusters Digital

Wee Ghostbusters digital illustration.

Mulder & Scully

Wee digital illustration of The X-Files.

John Carpenter Movies

Digital illustrations of my favourite John Carpenter movies, framed in glorious 2.35:1 aspect ratio, as the master preferred.  (purists will note that he did not shoot Dark Star and some other films in this aspect ratio, but sod it)

This year I'm trying to do a mini-project every month to stretch and challenge myself.  This is May's.  I've been experimenting with this technique - a sort of scrappy low-poly illustration - in class for a wee while.  Not sure at this point if it is too much of a departure from my usual work to include on my website.

Night Terrors

For the BALTIC event the other week I put out a new wee comic - Night Terrors.  It is a little humorous short story about talking in your sleep.  It had been a while since I had done a comic just for myself, so I really wanted to put something out to break the tension.  I've got the urge to do something longer now.

Night Terrors is available to purchase here.

SPAM 2018

The Saturday before last I exhibited at SPAM, the BALTIC Self-Publishing Artist's Market in Gateshead.  It was a fantastic day - really nice to exhibit amongst print-makers and artists for a change, rather than all cartoonists and comic book creators.  The free event brought in a lot of curious passersby, making for a much broader clientele than most events I do - I feel I sell better to the comics-curious than 'proper' comics fans anyway, as there's very little action and superheroism in my work.

Handbook For The Recently Deceased

My first Little Portrait set of 2018.  Beetlejuice is a firm favourite in the Waugh household and has been hanging around on my LP to-do list for a while now.  It's 30 years old this year so there wasn't a better time to finally tackle it.

Monty Python

I created this print for the Gallery1988 official Monty Python art show, which opens tomorrow evening.  I was stoked to be invited to take part in this exhibition - Python has been a big part of my life since I can remember.  I decided to go with Dennis Moore in the end, as it's been a personal favourite ever since I got the Parrot Sketch Not Included video for my 9th birthday.  As this is an American exhibition, I'll be interested to see whether anyone ventures outside of Holy Grail for their inspiration.

Envelope Doodles

If you've ever bought something from my online shop, you'll have received a little doodle on the envelope.  Here are some of my favourites from the last couple of years...