Subscribers free-Pack

 If you are reading this message via your email, then you're already a happy Subscriber to Doodling Jim's  News and therefore the following needn't concern you.  However if like my own brother, your previous subscription attempt was unsuccessful, please try again as I've now taken the precaution to delete those Unverified subscribers.  

 Here's my improved 3 step subscription process which i trust you'll find more straightforward ...

step 1,
 Click Email Subscription Request ..there (like before) you add your email address and type the squiggly word as shown - proving you are indeed human and not a tin of spam. 

step 2,
 Then click button that says: ''Complete Subscription Request'' which responds: ''Email Subscription Confirmed!'' (..misleading as it confirms only your 'request' however..) it also fires off the confirmation email to you.

step 3,
 That email (check your spam folder as it may have landed there instead of your Inbox) asks you to 'activate' Doodling Jim's News.  Open it to click the 'Confirm' link.  That's it!  Now you're ready to receive my latest news items whenever I publish from my end ..!

!.. the Prize
 now i wouldn't expect your subscription without a reward so i'm going to put together a zip package of free graphics in variously useful formats available only to listed subscribers soon! - watch out for a new post-label; free Pack! appearing on my blog to claim yours.

Thanks and a merry 2012 christmas jinglebells to all my Subscribers!

Pulp Detective #3

Some Illustrations completed for short-story feature in the 3rd issue of Pulp Detective magazine for boys -

Lovely job to work on,
wish there was more like it ..!

the Curse

My Ozy mate who happens to be a very good writer proposed i should illustrate his stuff.  After clearing my schedules i got busy and layed out his 40 finely crafted verses into a 32page dummy Picture-book pdf comprising a lot of pencils and this cover image in colour with endpaper pattern -

Just a question now of hawking the mockup to prospective publishers. Fat chance maybe of any inroads there so perhaps drift into eeepublished App thingy.  Anyway i do believe it illustrates quite a 'standout' story in verse form, ideal for performing story-tellers with young audiences.

A quicky update to blow some dust off this blog with news bits while getting on with summer time.

Pulp Detective magazine issue1 with my pics illustrating the short story The Runaround hits WHSmith and other outlets on 27th September! ..and they're new site is now up! ..although you won't see any of my pics there.

Also I'm at the storyboard stage with a kids book for an old friend and Australian author - just a speculative venture now but maybe next year it could be bigger than um.. er.  Anyway, doesn't time fly doing other graphic bits for local network clients? - though not worth crowing about but will back-out by saying.. finally built that shed on the allotment.

Pulp job #2

Dick for hire Henry Reed investigates heavyweight bribery in the fight game at a luxury hotel. No love interest gettin in the way for this 2nd story titled: A Boxer doesn't paint (for Pulp Detective,) just ugly murders, bullits and blood. Here's 6 (of 14) i illustrated -

Its a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it.

Biog done

Just done piled up my site with a bunch of new eyecandy. Long overdue updates are now viewable under 2 of the main nav' categories:-

 Commissioning me - now has my Biography! well.. more of a potted history really.  Once there, click the baby space-man takes you to it!

 Jim's prints - now groaning under its own weight with all my Posters artworks gathered and neatly hung in frames on proper wallpaper, also includes info on where one might come across them (in the real world) and info about size specifications, availabilities and prices.  My Greetings Cards are still in this category but now with updated link to availability.  And T-shirt stuff still needs some headscratching time on it but there it is, as is.

It all looks good from my end but can't be absolutely sure till somebody says '..hey this or that don't work when i click..' so do please go have a good rummage through www.doodlingjim.com and let me know if any glitchy bits.  You have my appreciations and thanks !

BIGsplash

Being a member of BIG I got the opportunity to contribute an image into their slideshow for the GLUG networking event evening on the 24th Feb' at New England House here in Brighton.  I'm guessing but thought what ever I choose, the image would probably be flashed up onto a wall as part of a rolling sequence of works from other members.  So I rummaged about and put together some previously saved elements to produce this splashy eyecandy ...

Engraved Barak Obama

Finished Copperplate Engraving (like on dollar bills depicting Presidents Lincoln, Jefferson etc)  This portrait of Barack Obama was quite a steep learning curve to create digitally.

I  tried the usual engraving plugins at first but these fell short of what I wanted to achieve.  However photoshop's own 'Liquidize' filter worked well once I got the hang of it, using its brushes I dragged parallel lines, drawing them over a template layer of Obama's image.  Once I got the hang of it I found this to be the best method for this authentic look of the genuine article. Not a bad effort.

Those plug-ins mimic only the photo-gravure affect so really won't do for copperplate style because they fall short where lines need to follow contours of Obama's face. (Photo-Gravure only lays a pre-defined pattern on top of light\dark areas, just too flat for what i had in mind.)

I could offer more detailed explanation as to why one doesn't come across 'Copperplate' as a digital style in today's graphics design world but for now I'll just say A~WHAMBAM~BOOM! is now available as a limited-edition of 200 signed prints, size: A3. Cost: £40 inc' post and packing in tube.

Ebook available free

My Ebook for kids: Hello, I'm the Wide Mouth Frog and I eat flies
Last month i got the great news that it's now out!  It's available free to download along with about 150 other titles from: uTales.com
You will need to Sign up there which gets you 15 days of free access to all titles (extendable by inviting others to join, or pay a monthly fee of just $9.99)  Then you'll need to download-install their App (it's optimized for the iPad, iPhone and iPod) I'm reliably informed it works on a laptop - i guess that means an imac computer and not a pc yet.  Still, early days, and uTales have plans to make this App run on other e-readers.
Once you're done, you can search my ebook's title or access it here!

Have a very merry and thrifty Christmas :)

Pulp Detective update1

Private Detective Henry Reed sits reading the newspaper's rising crime stats in his crummy little tenement office.  He's about to find a whole lotta bootlegging trouble that goes all the way to the crooked mayor of Baycity and other low-lifes on the take when he's hired by the voluptuous gangster's moll and wannabe movie-starlet Dorah Farr.

That's my opening pic to a well crafted short story titled: The Runaround (crime detective fiction aimed at boys reading age 9 to 16) and it was a most satisfying illustration job, not only for its detailed depictions of 1930's depression era America, but also for the minimal art direction from the editor who left me free to imagine which of the 12 key scenes required to make the plot pop off the pages - keeping in mind the appeal of the Horrible Histories series of books.  My loose pencil roughs were immediately approved before I worked them up in full colour at print size: A4 and uploaded the job in 3 parts as the work progressed.  He said "they're great, fantastic job and many thanks"  and promptly paid me in full with agreements in place, and also a firm promise of a 2nd assignment when this new venture is successful ( !.. Positive Mental Attitude.)
This project exceeded all my expectations, really it did (still does) and so now have a frustrating wait to see the first issue in print with my illustrations laid out on the pages.  I can't imagine exactly how they will look, no doubt they'll be re-sized with some cropping here and there.  Anyway, Pulp Detective issue 1 is expected sometime early in 2012.  I'll blog more when I know more.