Released this Halloween, the witch spell will change you into whatever your heart desires.
Again, it uses the spring and slide style that the witch animations are known for.
Next year, I’m hoping for some witchy goodness to go into other areas.
Enjoy.
Some time ago I was asked from a builder friend to supply some artwork for his house in Tasmania. They wanted some art for the walls ready for the final reveal on Grand Designs Australia.
You’ll find them in season 9, episode 3, TAMAR “Stepped” TASMANIA.
Prints are available of any of the images seen in the show.
See below for details or email me info@the7thworld.com
I emailed some bits and pieces that I already had, but I wanted to create something special for them too.
As I partially live in Tasmania, it was a case of chatting over wine to discuss the images and also what colours the couple had in mind for the bathroom, which is where he wanted a special, large piece of artwork.
Here’s the funny part, I asked what size he had in mind, he said ‘Oh, about 1.5mtrs’.
‘That’s pretty big, are you sure?’
‘Yeah, larger the better’
He’s a builder and kinda knows sizes, right. So, I created a piece that belonged in the bathroom and made statements about being yourself and not pretending to be like others. Stripping back everything and not pretending. I’ll go into more detail later, but when I delivered the piece all neatly rolled up, he said ‘Wow that’s big!’. I just laughed.
We rolled it out and he said ‘I can’t believe how big it is.’
‘About 1.5mtrs square’
We both laughed as he looked over the detail of the piece. He panicked a little at how he was going to frame it but luckily he had a framer just down the road. The framer also panicked at the shear size of it and I heard later that she would never do another that size. She did a great though with the gold frame that highlighted elements within the image.
The images were printed and framed in Hobart, where I picked them up in a ute. It was a stressful travel from Hobart to Deviot, which is just outside of Launceston. Stopping constantly for checking, tightening ropes and that the ute hadn’t bounce too much to shatter the glass. The trip took a lot longer heading back.
The image in the bathroom sparked me to do a mini series of them. I’ll keep doing them when I have time.
I don’t have any images of the pictures in place in the house, which is a shame as they worked really well. The views are spectacular and the beautiful house just sits perfectly into the block of land. The design is so well thought out from every angle. The pitch of the roofs to not spoil views from bedrooms etc. The fireplace is extra special and one I was looking at for my place in Tassie, sadly we couldn’t make it work with my listed building, which has 1800s features.
Some of the images were created for a project with Tiny Owl Workshop (Small press in Brisbane) titled Unfettered. The horses were part of an exhibition in Brisbane and were titled ‘Four Horses of the Apocalypse’.
Below are the artworks and a little bit about them.
Veil
This piece is a statement about not pretending to be someone else. The slightly battered masculine paper mask is pulled up to see the real face underneath. The locusts being a pest, will eat you away if you are not true to yourself. The blackberry are considered weed that can overcome the situation if you let it, although can seduce you with its sweet berries.
Horses of the Apocalypse
These horses were part of an exhibition. More can be read about them in a previous post here.
White Deer
Who doesn’t love a white deer. They are so magical and cunjure up fantasies of long lost lands. The child in the image pretends to be a deer spreading their hands like antlers. Is the child imagening the deer with flower tip antlers or actually with the deer wanting to be part of its world.
Bees
This is an ink painting which was scanned and cleaned up to be able to be printed large. I love to escape into worlds from time to time and this piece inspired a story called ‘Little Lucy’. As a TV kid, I grew up watching films based on Roald Dahl stories and stopmotion films, where I think my imagination was born. To escape this world for a while to wander through a world of make believe is something I do often.
Skin
This piece was an experiment really. During Autumn I went out and collected various pieces around the area I live. I found the Galah skull first and it quickly built from there as it sparked an idea. It was done placing the elements onto a scanner and in one scan capturing what was on the glass. It was created in one scan with no photo editing. I simply cleaned some of the annoying dust particles. I called it skin as the elements were things that shed from plants as they go into Winter, ready to regenerate for Spring, a kind of rebirth from a natural perspective. And also being that the scan only has the very top layer in focus which is what we see in life.
Sleeping
This piece has a few meanings. Protection for animals, should we let it happen by closing our eyes to it. Or do certain species need to be culled in order to keep balance. The small game image is reminiscent of the period paintings of hunting game, although beautiful they envoke many questions. The girl in the centre holds arrows as a guard but also can be translated to mean she is the hunter.
You can buy prints and have them printed smaller if needed. Just let me know and I can organise print and shipping to anywhere in the world. They will be printed by the same company who are specialists in their field and supply to MONA art gallery in Tasmania. They will be printed using archival inks and paper. The same company also frame the artworks if you wish to have it all done in one place.
Email if you like to know any other details and or other images you see on the site.
The O-OH! series of books were great to work on. Such a great message for kids that are scared of the dark and the unknown. My work normally has a slight dark edge, so it was kind of interesting to flip that, and give an illusion of dark things from every day life, which often happens in a child’s mind.
The illustrations were sketched out first for approval by the publisher and then were digitally coloured and textured. I designed the titles and colours for each book, which were then handed over to the book designer.
Wild Orange is publishing this series of “reveal” picture books, O-OH! Dinosaurs, O-OH! Witches, and O-OH! Monsters for early learner readers. The stories are in Chinese, English and soon to be French. They are for children aged between 2 and 6 years to encourage children and their wild imagination as well as their fear of the dark.
Found out more here at Wild Orange Publishing, where you can read a few of the pages from each book. They are available in both soft and hard cover.
Some time ago, I did some illustrations to go with some disturbing nursery rhymes. These were put together by the Spectre Collector and now available on bandcamp. Here’s the link to listen and get creeped out. It also comes with a booklet of images.
I had a listen to the tracks and then created an image for each Cursery Rhyme. These were hand done using dip pen and pencil. The rest was put in later in the computer.
Here’s some low res thumbnails of the set.
Hardcover version is now available!
Band in Melbourne are still conjuring up music for the album. In the meantime here’s a little lookie at the cover.
160pg soft cover graphic novel available through:
Shops
Online
Finally I’ve been able to finish the graphic novel. It’s been a while.
It’s available through selected stores and download via Apple Books, Comixology and Drivethroughcomics. Just click on the badges below and they’ll take you to the page. A hardcopy version will be available soon.
It’s 160pgs of full colour illustrations and story. The main illustration is simple line work with flat colour. This is broken up with full detailed illustrations and the odd photography of puppets. I wanted an eclectic feel to the book with a slight disjointed edge.
I wanted everything in the publication to be as unique as possible.
The puppet heads were made from sculpey, baked then painted. I then made the clothing which were based on old puppets from the Edwardian era.
Fonts used in the publication were all hand built. I bought an old remington typewriter and bashed out the alphabet, then converted the keystrokes into a font. The main dialogue font was hand done scanned and adjusted to read easily. The main logo font was also created, I wanted everything in the publication to be as unique as possible.
The elevator pitch:
While struggling in Edwardian London, a Punch & Judy busker and his Haitian wife, have their lives thrown into turmoil.
After arriving home, the busker finds his lifeless wife’s body on the ground clutching a crucifix. Her life has been taken by an evil force, but the busker has been told from his Black Edwardian neighbours, that she’s not dead.
They tell him he needs to enter the Limbo world via an ancient lock, to save her from the evil clutches of a voodoo god.
But first he needs to transform and to do that he needs to die.
Some page examples.
A little trailer for the book. This was fun to work on. I used some music from a band in Melbourne who are looking at doing a soundtrack for the comic in 2021.
I’m working on some posters, which is a great way to broaden the brand of the product. These will be available too. Pop me an email if you are interested.
I’ve put together some social post images to help push the publication. Here are a couple.
Other extensions are being worked on in the background. More to come soon.
After completing the last image titled ‘Veil’, it shouted at me to create more. So, over the rest of the year I’ll be doing just that. Keep watching this space.
This is the next one in the series. Some close ups of the detail.
UPDATE
Next one in the Big Face Series.
The first one was for a client. They wanted a piece for their bathroom. The piece has lots of symbolism. I’ll let you work out what’s what;)
The second is one for fun. The bees are carpenter bees, which are native to Australia. The lady in the center is the protector.
My apologies for the watermarks. I’ve seen too many cases of images being ripped.
I have so many illustrations that have built up over the years. Some are from pitches for books, some have been created to help others get their projects off the ground. This card range began its life helping a friend for a film script. That’s the reason why they all have a slight character put into the designs.
You’ll notice the Wombat has glasses, that is because they are myopic. Nice little touch for that character.
Because of the Tasmanian animals, I’m trialing the range of cards in Hobart for now. If they do well, I’ll be looking to expand the range and sell into other shops around Australia.
