THE BIGFOOT BLANKET

The Bigfoot Blog is moving!!

2010-10-02T21:22:00.004+01:00

In a bid to streamline my online venues the Bigfoot Blanket is finally being rolled up and all new posts, paper toy and illustration updates, will be published via my BIGFOOT STUDIO BLOG, link to the right >>>

This is after faffing about for ages trying to find economic (free!) solutions for a portfolio presence and a blathering presence online, and trying to run two blogs to cover both. But I've finally washed up on Weebly's shores and found useful and functional gallery features over there, as well as, oh joy of joys, the ability to post PDFs on the page! This has meant that I can post paper toys online as puckah files at last. Check out The Bigfoot Studio's new website!

So if you want to keep up with my latest 3D creations or illustration generally then hop over and subscribe to The Bigfoot Studio Blog. Thanks to you all for stopping by so far!

A boy and his pet...

2010-06-22T21:49:00.003+01:00

(Click image for larger view)

This is a piece created for a new artbook that my agent Advocate Art is releasing in a couple of weeks called 'Heads Up', featuring single characters from each of their artists. A little bit of "slugs and snails and puppy dog tails" from me this time. Thought it worth posting some rough/finished art samples just to give a bit of an idea of how I work...plus the fact my daughter always prefers my rough work to the finished article!

Old Cornwall remains:

2010-03-09T21:35:00.003Z

Had to post this...photo by my talented bro Justin The Frame. We were out bimbling on the moors the other weekend on Kilmar Tor near North Hill and were delighted to discover the remains of these recent roundhouses on an original archaeological site at the foot of the tor. Magical moment!!
CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW.

Farouk Ibn-Ignelh: Occult Angler of Old Cthornwall

2010-03-05T20:42:00.008Z

Apothecary and purveyor of occult fishing equipment to the alchymists, trawlerman and big-game anglers of Mevagissey, Farouk Ibn-Ignelh was a notorious seafront character of old Cthornwall in the first quarter of the 1900’s. Farouk’s ancestry in the county could be traced right back to the 1st century AD, when his illustrious forebear first landed on these shores as helmsman to Aramis of Josephathea, the noted Syrian perfumier and spice trader.

Originally apprenticed as a stockman and squid wrangler to Lord St Leviathan’s oceanic farm in Mound’s Bay, Farouk acquired much preternatural piscine learning and arcane mollusc law. Expert in the art of eldritch angling and sea husbandry at an early age, Farouk’s keen nose for business soon had him trading his skills independently to fishing communities the length and breadth of the Cthornish coast, eventually setting up his famed emporium in Mevagissey in 1924.

As well as selling equipment for the capture and netting of the vast range of monstrous and other-dimensional aquatic life in the county’s waters, he also became a noted specialist in the breeding of such creatures for alchymical rites and processes, as well as their preparation for medicinal and recreational purposes.

A seasoned and proficient angler in his own right he was often to be seen skilfully casting rod and line at the farthest reach of the Mevagissey harbour wall where, as an equally noted raconteur, he happily told strange and hair shrivelling tales of the deep to the village youngsters. It is believed that it was in this capacity that he was ‘rediscovered’ by the unsettling Dr Fostux, who it is likely he first encountered during their shared youthful employ in the service to Lord St Leviathan on St Michael’s Mound in the period 1907-13.

As a small historical footnote it was Farouk Ibn-Ignelh, through selective genetic crossbreeding, who first developed the notorious mind warming sea-tobacco which local fisherman came to refer to as ‘the Meva ciggy’.

Bigfoot paper Toy Freebie #6: Magick Money Pyramid

2010-03-04T22:09:00.010Z

For all you magicians out there, here is the latest free paper toy from Bigfoot...your very own Money Magick pyramid. Based on that classic eye in the triangle-cum-great seal of the US doo hickey....cut out and paste together with a little monetary offering inside for the household gods...great for attracting shiny metal and crinkly stuff when displayed on the family altar. Just click on the image for a fullsized downloadable jpeg.

Dr Fostux

2010-02-25T20:20:00.005Z

(Click image for a larger view)

Mad scientist and organ recitalist extraordinaire, Dr Fostux was a figure of some intrigue, scandal and notoriety in early 1900’s Cthornwall. He was rumoured by some to be the secret lovechild of Lord St Leviathan and an unnamed other. Raised by the family of one of the Lord’s boatmen, his stepfather was a keeper of the giant squid pool at St Michael’s Mound. It was here the young Fostux developed an early fascination and aptitude for all things monstrous and scientific, working as night-porter, and then later apprentice, in Lord St Leviathan’s oceanic genetic breeding programme.

However, following an unspecified splicing disaster involving a young child from the local foundling hospital in Penzance, and a rare strain of lobster discovered in a flooded pitchblende mine, Fostux was banished from his home in extremus opprobrium , and was not heard from again for some time.

It was not until 10 years later, in 1923, that vague stories began to circulate about late night deliveries and unsettling lights observed at an old lighthouse in Restormel Bay. Along with advertisements in the St Austell Gazette of that year, requesting “reminiscence, relics and old toenail clippings (cash price paid in genuine coinage on receipt)” it became evident that Dr Fostux had returned to the county and was embarked upon a new vein of scientific enquiry.

Within months the fashion for highly addictive distilled and bottled ‘narrative essences’ began to sweep the county, causing much social malaise and domestic strife among the general population. With much of the local workforce swiftly addicted to such “chymical experience and virtual living” the Stannary Parliament of the time demanded the source of the outbreak be quickly found and cauterised. Much suspicion automatically focused upon the activities of the newly returned Dr Fostux, but only circumstantial evidence was ever uncovered, and that in the form of a discarded packing case for Bunsen burners and a sea stained receipt from the Vatican, for the purchase of fifteen shin bones of St George and a pornographic snuff box once belonging to Pope Pious IX.

The Rainbow Stone

2010-02-21T15:25:00.003Z

My cover design and a selection of illustrations commissioned as chapter headings for Nan Rudden's children's book The Rainbow Stone, published by 'Palores Publications' in Redruth.

As well as the internal illustrations and the cover artwork I also provided the cover layout and the blurb for the back cover, as well as finally pinning down a format for the barcode and publisher's logo which Palores then adopted as a standard across their range of titles.

The tale itself is a marvellous story of dark ages adventure. This was Nan's first publication for children and she was a total joy to work for, displaying a wealth of charm, dignity and intellect that was a breath of fresh air to encounter in these bustling and technologically overwhelming times. A seriously recommended read!
'The Rainbow Stone' on Amazon

Click the images for a larger view.

Dusting off Drew

2010-02-11T15:57:00.001Z

I've been getting such a positive reaction from having posted samples of my kids' book 'Once Upon A Winter's Turning' online recently that I decided it was time to dust off the original black and white line art and give young Drew a new colourful lease of life. |It was originally published back in 2000 by Wooden Books Ltd, who are currently big in America right now and being handled by Walkers (...well done John!).

I'm in the midst of colouring up several samples prior to submitting it around various publishers both here and abroad, John Martineau's deal with his original authors and artists being that they maintained the copyright to their work. You can sample the first arc of the story over on my Red Bubble pages.

The Travels of Axel Pendogget, Science Ranger

2010-02-02T10:08:00.009Z

(Click the image for a larger view.)

Cornwall is a land of mystery and intrigue, big cats, sea beasties, weresheep, pasty spiders and giants…and cow eggs, those strange round black objects that appear mysteriously around the countryside at the end of the summer.

The Science Rangers are a select band of highly trained Fortean reasearchers and crypto-zoologists who brave the wilds of the Cornish moors and beaches, documenting these bizarre and often dangerous phenomena, keeping the countryside safe and quiet for the likes of you and I…

This image, as well as featuring Axel Pendogget, a true modern pioneer of the work of the rangers, also shows various aspects of Cornish fauna, including the pasty spider, described in the following extract.

Few reliable accounts of Cornish cryptozoology exist, but one of the less apocryphal is:
The Countrymans Guide to Moorland Fauna by Caractacus Shroom (1922 Blood Tor Press, Penzance).
"Pasty spiders:
These buggers are big. Rare but big. We’re talking boulder-sized big. Which is not an unfair analogy when one stops to consider that it is under boulders and rocks (big ones mind) that the pasty spider is want to lurk.
Named originally for their choice of diet, the pasty spider occupies a unique position in the Cornish food chain. The first reported encounters were in the deep shafts and addits of the county’s tin mines during the very early days of the Cornish tin trade. They could scuttle from dark side tunnels with enough speed and mass to bear a fully grown mature miner to the ground and make off with his crib-box. Many an unsuspecting worker at the tin-face lost his lunch, as well as the occassional eyeball and pit pony, to the pastix arachniae subterraneum.

With the decline of the tin industry over the 19th and 20th Centuries, the pasty spider is now increasingly rare. The few breeding pairs that are known to still exist now prey fairly exclusively upon lost ramblers, sheep and the occassional small dog.
The disused and largely unmapped shafts and addits of the county’s mining industry still provide its main abode and means of travel beneath the countryside, giving it access to the surface world and food sources in the remote moorland regions."

Poster & prints available over on Red Bubble.

The Call of Cthornwall

2010-01-28T17:18:00.002Z

"Lady Elizabeth Eldritch, displaying one of her discoveries on Bodmin Moor during her 1885 parabiology field trip. This little critter was harvested from an albumen sack found dangling from roof beams in the old pitchblende mine by Brimstone Tor..."

Been having fun with my latest steampunked views of Westcountry life under the growing umbrella notion of the Call of Cthornwall, where I can give free range to the pasty spiders and grockle mites of the county, with the safety of history between me and them! Publishing as posters, prints and cards over on Red Bubble, there may well be airships, test tubes and frock coats aplenty in the coming months...

Albert Cropper: Monster Stopper!

2010-01-28T17:03:00.007Z

During the late1800’s in Cthornwall, the ‘bug’ hunter Albert Cropper was a familiar figure tramping the byways and cliff paths of the county, peddling his services in much the same way as itinerant knife grinders or mole catchers of the time.

His father operated a night soil collection business in Redruth . As an offshoot to this already dangerous work, Albert became the family firm’s parabiologist, specialising after a couple of grim encounters on the early morning collection round involving a Devonian tape lizard and a couple of giant stool grubs.

Seeing the potential for travel and the occasional balloon ride out to the Scilly Isles, Albert went freelance in 1879 with the aid of a sponsorship deal from Sir Richard Trevithick , the famed Cthornish inventor, mining engineer and monster trap designer.

This particular image was made as part of the 1885 Eldritch Expedition to Bodmin Moor and its interior, to which Albert was co-opted by local magistrates as Lady Elizabeth’s native tracker. It shows Albert presenting a captive grockle mite after an emergency roadside extraction from a Belgian tourist who had visited the shire without first taking the right inoculations.

Poster and print available at Red Bubble.

More from the Corps:

2010-01-17T16:09:00.004Z

Another salvaged item of steam-memorabilia from the bottom of Great Uncle Norton's airman's chest. Dredd Bubblejet was first engineer aboard the H.M.A.S Jethro Tull when she was siezed upon by a visiting RSA: Air Corps publicity detachment, as the pin up girl for the services recruitment drive.
Poster available soon over on Red Bubble

New items from the coal bunker:

2010-01-15T02:59:00.009Z

In a steampunkish vein I've dug out some old memorabilia from my great uncle's days in the Steam Flying Corps, from out of his old airman's chest down in the cellar. After tidying and restoring I thought I'd release a few retro items as prints and t-shirts, etc. This is the first of several in the pipeline: recruitment poster for Her Majesty's Science Rangers: Flying Corps. It features Major Tennessee Orville Monkfish, commander of the H.M.A.S. Reckless Endeavour. My great-uncle apparently served as his cabin boy for several months on first joining the corps. There were rumours of a copy of this poster that my uncle got the old major to sign, but we think it probably ended up at the bottom of the budgie cage, along with a stack of old fliers for corrective galvanic corsets.
Available as prints, posters and tees over at Red Bubble.

Bigfoot Paper Toy Freebie #5: Pesky Pirate

2010-01-13T21:31:00.013Z

Splice the glue pot and shiver me scalpels; Pesky Pete Pascoe, the Pirate of Penzance prepares to have his swash buckled!
The latest free paper toy; CLICK ON THE TWO TEMPLATES BELOW for larger downloadable jpegs. Don't forget to get both parts...

New T-Shirt on Red Bubble

2010-01-10T21:47:00.003Z

Latest tee design on Red Bubble features Major Tennessee Orville-Monkfish, of Her Majesty's Flying Science Rangers, inveterate privateer and airship pilot.

Sketchbook: Bigfoot Banners

2010-01-10T20:55:00.002Z

Shop banner for Bigfoot Studio on Zazzle:

Shop banner for Bigfoot on Red Bubble:

Bigfoot Paper toy Freebie #4: Frankenstein's Monster

2010-01-06T21:51:00.003Z

Another one breaks out of the cage! I've always loved the old Universal monster movies; this is my tribute to Boris. Click on the model sheet below for a full downloadable jpeg. Don't forget to check out the building tips first.

Bigfoot Paper Toy Freebie #3

2010-01-06T15:30:00.006Z

Next in line for release in my occassional series of free paper toys is the ever charming and companionable Grim Reaper. Fitting for the season, being the official representative of endings and beginnings in the Major Arcana. Just click on the image for the full downloadable jpeg and get busy! Print off to the thickest paper or card your printer can manage. You'll also maybe want to check out my 'tips for building sheet' which you can find here, or click on the sheet below.

Character Model Sheet:

2010-01-05T16:08:00.010Z

Another version of Fleur (commissioned by Australian writer and artist, Dilettanto, for his graphic novel, Nemesis ).Softened up a little from the first draught, less butch, more Mom-like...
Click the image for a larger view:

More comic book work on The Bigfoot Studio blog.

Character Studies:

2010-01-03T17:55:00.001Z

Preliminary ideas for a character commissioned by Australian author and artist, Dilettanto, for his graphic novel, Nemesis .
More comic book work on The Bigfoot Studio blog.

Angels on the loose!:

2010-01-02T21:57:00.005Z

Thought it would be fun to share some pics of The Angel of the Morning after as he travelled around the globe during the Christmas festivities for 2009....apparently he got about quite a bit. Here he is after taking one too many with Margot & Matt in Arlington in the US (cheers for the photos and keeping an eye on him!):

New Year's Resolution 2010

2010-01-02T17:42:00.001Z

For one to put one's hammer away and to remember one's breathing...

Finks of Inks!!

2009-12-30T13:51:00.000Z

My entry for a group challenge in the Finks of Inks group over on Red Bubble....go take a peek; there's some seriously knock out work being shown there!

Bigfoot Paper Toy Freebie #2: The i-Bug

2009-12-29T23:04:00.023Z

After being spectacularly let down by two local firms in one year, I've decided to release a few of my paper toys here as freebies over the next few months. Be sure to check back every once in a while to see what's happening....Several were built with a trial version of Flash, but I'm hoping to get up to speed with Inkspace soon and see what crazed buddies I can come up with in the future.

First off the cutting blocks is the i-Bug. Designed to perch on an open laptop he fits quite inconspicuously on the curtain rail! Click here or on the image below for a large resolution jpeg. ...then right click and download in the usual manner. Have fun :-D

Odin spies the runes...

2009-12-28T18:44:00.004Z

Just completed a 'new' design for sale over on Red Bubble & Zazzle.

Featuring Odin on Yggdrasil, the World Tree, this is a pencil piece from years ago, which I later used as the basis for a bookshop series of signage in Somerset (some of you may recognise it!).

Another wher I've been really enjoying the way that working digitally with channels allows me to work on the laptop and still retain all the hand drawn quality of linework that I love so much.

The Pellar & The Raven

2009-12-26T21:05:00.006Z

A new work posted to Red Bubble today, a tribute to the tradition of Cornish Pellars....Pellar is an old Cornish dialect term for cunning-men and women, wise folk or conjurors. This is my modern take on the likes of Thomasina Blight a witch/conjuror of West Cornwall who lived and practised her craft during the early 19th Century.

Wee little freature...

2009-12-23T19:39:00.004Z

Had a neat little feature/mention over on ThINK this week, a blog publication from Earth Monsters Incorporated which spreads the news on the Music Inspired by Art group over on Red Bubble. Working a lot in isolation here in Cornwall, it's been great to connect and share work and feedback with a gobble of great artists and illustrators from around the globe. This week I was the artist of the week in the M.I.A. group. Cheers guys :-))

Bigfoot Freebie #1: Happy Solstice to all Red Bubblers!

2009-12-20T14:25:00.007Z

I've recently discovered the joys of Red Bubble and the talented community of folk who help make it such a great place to visit and hang out. I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has commented on my work there and been so incredibly welcoming and encouraging. You're a fantastic bunch and have totally restored my faith in online communities and I've been more inspired than you can imagine. So as a wee thank you and Solstice present I'm posting a seasonal paper toy for folk to download and make, and for any other kindred souls I've pointed in this direction!

So allow me to present my "Angel of the Morning After"...he's a friendly little soul but has a tendency to rather over do it on the sherry at this time of year, so please treat him gently.

Clicking on the model sheet below should give a view of a larger jpeg which you can right click and save in the usual manner. Print off to a reasonably thick paper or card (180gsm-ish) then grab your scissors, scalpel and glue of your choice...I find the stick varieties work best.

Best wishes for the Solstice to you all...look forward to chatting and raving over more of your exceptional talents in the New Year.

Ed, Will & Ginger Animation!!

2009-12-17T00:54:00.005Z

Designed some paper toys for and of these guys a while back...in celebration of their epic treks around Britain. Just had an email to say their CD is finally out....and along the way I discovered this gem of a piece of animation of their fantastic singing. Thought I'd post it here to share. Go check their site....you'll be stuck there for a good while. Fab stuff guys!

Ed, Will and Ginge-a-walking - Animation from awalkaroundbritain on Vimeo.

Here's my paper version of the chaps (before they shaved!!):

Red Bubble rising...

2009-12-05T22:28:00.000Z

Finally got around to taking out a Red Bubble account in order to make some of my work available online. I'll be posting a heap of goodies up there which will be available to buy as greetings cards and posters etc, with T-shirt designs in the pipeline too....and hopefully towards the middle of 2010 a calendar marking the pagan wheel of the seasons. Go check out my Bigfoot Bubblesite
...

Phew!

2009-12-04T13:43:00.001Z

Yay! Just completed the colours for Hairy Pothead #1. Been a bit of a marathon but it's been fun. Time to go to bed for a week I reckon...well maybe after I've finished off the text and cover!

Where are they now?

2009-11-30T23:07:00.004Z

A sad fact of life is you tend to do a lot of speculative stuff for free to tender for jobs or pitch ideas and then never hear from the parties concerned again, never knowing whether they went bust, died, got arrested or just pinched a good idea and went to someone cheaper...here's one such I was pleased with recently. It's all good exercise tho...this one was when I finally cracked working with the pentool in PS, just prior to rendering the pages for Hairy Pothead.

Latest Hairy artwork

2009-11-19T20:09:00.008Z

Learning a lot on this job...first mammoth digitally rendered project I've tackled and am pretty happy with the coloured results. Though pentool and cell-shading aren't my forte; I've always preferred to go badger trapping to make my own brushes, and mix my own paints up from roadkill and roasted beetles. But the world is off to CGI hell in a vector-based handbag...so if I want to eat...I'll save the paint brushes for the next time the world goes retro.

Latest comic page...

2009-11-07T19:30:00.007Z

...and so the work continues. I've been spending the last 3 months pencilling and inking Dan Larsen's 32 page script adapted from his own novel, Hairy Pothead & The Marijuana Stone. Currently half way through colouring the final art pages I'm getting excited about seeing the whole thing layered up with all the speech and sound fx....so fingers crossed I'm hoping to have it all wrapped up for the publishers by Christmas!

Thought I'd post a link to some previews on Flickr. They're not particularly high resolution but give a good idea of how things are shaping up.

er...it was I that drew it...

2009-09-03T23:01:00.001+01:00

Dig in...
Originally uploaded by Bigfoot Studio

This is really by way of leaving elcrificated bread crumbs on the e-waves. Occassionally I get a 6-degree forwarded email via a friend or contact from an academic in a dusty loft publishing a tome on the environmental movement, or the subversion of cultural archetypes (as you do) or such some...looking for the artist responsible for this rejigging of the WWII poster campaign.

So I'm happy admitting to it as mine own painted child...and gratified to have seen it emerge occassionally as an image of the moment, that seems to have meant enough to a significant amount of peope that it got used and remembered around and a-when the place.

I painted it some time in the middle of my years living up at King's Hill in Somerset, living in what was then an open windswept hilltop paddock, in my Flash Gordon rocket ship shaped bender. Now it is a forest with it's own clearing on the internet and as busy and thriving a hub of life and alternatives as ever.

So ... the breadcrumbs bit...for the mysterious Prester Michael who has been seeking me these past two years...and others who may come straying up my cob-webbed stairy-case in the ages to come....some fly-tied worming hooks of words for Google's remorseless mighty enjuns: "Trystan Mitchell" "Dig in for victory" poster "King's Hill"....

A Pipe Dream Come True....

2009-09-03T22:08:00.003+01:00

I can now declare that I've been lucky enough to be commissioned as the artist on a new 32 page American format comic book, that should see production at the beginning of 2010. It's the serialised adaptation of Dana Larsen's cannabinated hempen pastiche "Hairy Pothead & The Marijuana Stone". His original novel has been a great hit, here in the UK and in his native Canadia, graced with the brilliant artwork of Gary Wintle.

There's a few early sketches I did at the beginning of the year to secure the job posted on Flickr, that I'm already pretty certain will bear little resemblance to the finished article....merely warming up. It's a big exciting chunk of work to swallow and will be my first 'proper' comic gig....I'll post occassional samples as tasters now and then

In the meantime, if you're any kind of comic or illustration fan then check out the free PDF edition of Wasted, a grand and worthy new comic helmed by Alan Grant of 2000 AD fame and general all round Comic Allumni. It's a crying shame that there are so few mainstream British comics alive (tho' the independent realm is strong as ever)...this is a step in the right direction.

Cornish Giants are in the air...

2009-01-30T20:37:00.016Z

...in that I seem to have encountered numerous mentions of such beasties recently, or had mail from 3 tale tellers to whom they are staple and discussed a paper toy range of same, all in the last three weeks. Not unusual, one might think, considering I live in Cornwall. But giants are increasingly rare these days, I kid you not...I've hung around for days waiting for one to amble along without hope, sighting or packed lunch...and then you get three come barreling along all at once.

Posted here is a newly finished page submission towards a possible kids' book on the theme. I've posted a full gallery of the Evolution Of A Page from first rough pencils to painted artwork as a bit of a demo of how I work.

Maybe I'll tuck the year of the Ox in me back pocket and declare this the Cornish Year of The Giant...if you're going to take new steps, might as well make 'em big ones!

The Proliferating Pyxis...

2009-01-20T00:00:00.010Z

Meet the Pyxis (or rather 'pyxides' plural!). The latest peculiarities from the Bigfoot parallel paper dimension.

Pixys: (piksis) Latin - small box or casket. And a suitably impish or hobbish name to boot; equally fitting for their Cornish origins. Also where the word 'pixel' has its root.

Pyxis is also a charming constellation of ancient stripe, originally known as Pyxis Nauticus, the Mariner's Compass (a ship's compass in them days was housed in a chamber, or said 'box', and often fitted, with not insignificant reverance), traditionally placed at the base of the ships's mast (malus).

The wonderful site Constellations Of Words.com, carries some enticing and almost free-form riffing on the etymology and symbolism of the constellations. With a dash of the history and archaeology of astrology/onomy along the way, it will keep the most palsied and tangential of auto-didacts amused and off of the streets.

(For instance: Habitare comes from the Indo-European root *ghabh- Also *ghebh-. 'To give or receive'. An interesting nugget where the concept of 'home' is bound up with the concepts of conscious giving and conscious receiving...)

I'd like to offer some of these online for folks to grab, print & build for themselves, but I'm struggling to know how to publish them myself without the hassle of waking the (only occassionly available) webgoblin who valiantly built my website. If there's anyone who feels charitable enough to point me to a good free, online storage site where I could upload & link to PDFs, then you would be favoured among the firmament indeed.

Paperbag Boy & The Manikin March Against Mammon

2009-01-13T17:02:00.011Z

Latest figure template based on the traditional pillow box... and Paperbag Boy is born! One small muffled voice in the wilderness of retail monopoly monsters and high-street community munching super-hyper-mega-marts. Also the first completely 'on-screen' designed toy I've created....no preliminary drawings or artwork, save a doodle in the sketchbook. Full gallery on Flickr

Paperbag Boy & The Manikin March Against Mammon
Originally uploaded by Bigfoot Studio

Oliver's Army

2008-12-24T21:06:00.010Z

Ed' Will & Ginger enquired a while back about a custom paper toy commission, and then Oliver Postgate passed away a few days back, and things sort of gelled on the drawing board all of a sudden. So this one is dedicated to Mr Postgate for all the wonderful memes and ideas and tales he layed down in my soul....and thousands more like me....Oliver's Army is here to stay. Thank you Mr P!

New illustrative work

2008-12-21T21:07:00.021Z

A Walk Around Britain is the My Space page and online point of reference for Ed, Will an Ginger. If you've not met or heard of these guys then it's well worth a call for a taste of their ethos and incredible singing.

I lived outdoors for 12 years of my life (albeit under canvas, with a much cherished wood-burner), but these guys are are uber-hedgers in my book...often foraging as they go, undertaking great meandering voyages through the British landscape, connecting and enheartening most of the folk of they meet with songs and stories and favours bartered.

I really do believe that walking the footpaths and trails of the land as they do, that these guys are maintaining some vital function in the Great Matter of Albion....and their renditions of The Grey Funnel Line and John Barleycorn do raise hairs in that way that thunderstorms are wont to do......elemental and then some.

I was really flattered recently to be asked to contribute to the artwork for their forthcoming CD.

New pencil, gouache & Flash portraits at my galleries on Flickr.

Flip Your Lid With The ...

2008-11-11T15:10:00.034Z

Sadly due to the vagaries of human whimsy, these little critters were a victim of the times and the range was never produced. I leave them here as reference...you never know!!

There's a range of 11 Hobnoggin novelty stash boxes at present, intended to be packaged as cut and make paper toys on 350g board;they make great toys, gift boxes, mascots, shelf buddies etc and take about 20 minutes to make.

Mid-Life Crisis Files: Document 1

2008-11-11T14:35:00.021Z

ITEM 1: 16 year old student overheard in WH Smiths last Christmas:
"Look Dad! They've got a book of Lord Of The Rings..."

ITEM 2: Conversation with 24 year old youth-worker colleague as we work with a primary school on a video of their theatre show:
ME: ...aww...it's JUST like the 'King and I'...
COLLEAGUE: What?
ME: The King and I..
COLLEAGUE: What's that?
ME: You KNOW...Julie Andrews....
COLLEAGUE: Who?
ME: Julie ANDREWS....and Yul Brynner...
COLLEAGUE: WHO??
ME: You know...Yul BRYNNER...bald guy....bit like Telly Savalas...
COLLEAGUE: WHO????
ME: ... Jeez...YOU know...Telly Savalas?..with the lollipop?..used to play Kojak on the telly.
COLLEAGUE: ...WHO....the fuck...is Kojak??
ME: Darren! If you're going to beat Emily with the video camera can you please put the cover back on so you don't get the lens all greasy?

The Countrymans Guide to Moorland Fauna by Caractacus Shroom

2008-08-09T20:57:00.026+01:00

Sadly out of print for several years...one of the most useful guidebooks ever about the Westcountry. A couple of extracts:

Were-sheep:
No-one is completely sure of the primary origins of the were-sheep. It is presumed that isolated rural practises involving oversize wellies, something ovine and woolly, attractive enough in the tail department to resemble one's cousin, coupled with confused pagan sexuality on a baleful full moon come the end of October, are all probably implicated somewhere down the line.

Evidence is sparse for their continuing existence in these days of ever encroaching human populations. However, enough chewed and bloody carcasses of farm labourers and big wild cats are found dragged into the higher branches of trees to suppose that the genus ovis sapien is still active in the wilder and more remote moorland regions.

Pasty Spiders:
These buggers are rare but big. We're talking boulder-sized big. Not an unfair analogy considering it is under boulders and rocks (big ones mind) that the pasty spider is want to lurk.

Named for their choice of diet, the pasty spider occupies a unique position in the Cornish food chain. Early encounters were in the deep shafts and addits of medieval tin mines. They would scuttle from a side tunnel with enough speed and mass to bear a fully grown miner to the ground and make off with his crib-box. Many an unsuspecting worker at the tin-face lost his lunch, as well as the occassional eyeball and pit pony to the pastix arachnis subterraeniae.

With the decline of the tin industry the pasty spider is now increasingly rare. The few breeding pairs that are known to exist prey fairly exclusively upon lost ramblers, sheep and the occassional small dog. The disused and often unmapped addits of the mines still provide their main abode and means of travel beneath the countryside, giving access to surface food sources in the remote moorland regions.

Bigfoot Prints

2008-08-09T18:03:00.006+01:00

The March of The Noggins Continues

Originally uploaded by Bigfoot StudioGreat excitement in the Bigfoot burrow... and as plans coalesce, a little bit more can be revealed. Bigfoot Studio paper toys are about to appear as a mass production funky eco-toy, produced on highest quality hemp paper, and distributed around the UK with the very likely possibilities of some European distribution too.

This has been a great whirlwind of a sea change (to mix my meteorological metaphors) over a very short number of weeks, from touting my hand finished prototype stock around venues in Cornwall, to being invited to collaborate with a paper goods manufacturer in the South West to relaunch under their banner. A lot of plans are pinned to the wall at the moment, but things are going to be grown slow and steady to see how this new business relationship goes; so far my experience has been one of working with someone and a business that have a depth and quality of integrity and character that I thought extinct long ago. No names at the moment as there is a whole bunch of legal trademarky stuff to be locked down first, and it seems the world of paper goods is as fraught with shades and hues of industrial espionage as much as any other trade.

So keep an eye out on the shelves, folks...or check back here from time to time. Plenty more freebies to come to complement the range!!

Cornish Noggin

2008-08-09T16:35:00.008+01:00

Cornish NogginOriginally uploaded by Bigfoot Studio
In this particular neck of Ruralshire the local Gorsedd have been fending off criticism of wafflerey and plain bloody lack of gumption; it does strike me as odd that a gathering of bards should gather once a year to be bag-piped into their ceremonial circle, sky blue robes all a flap and a flurry, only to reverently sing their great cultural anthem accompanied by the strains of a wobbly C60 cassette whistling through an agricultural show PA system. But then, pride in your roots and your heritage has got to be a good thing in any form where the intent is positive. So just to whip up the national spirit a little more, Bigfoot Studio proudly present your genyooine tartan kilted Cornish Noggin, great for the dashboard of the ex-pat's old jallopy, or a perfect Kernewek diva for the family altar. Download your Cornish Noggin here, fire it off your printer and make yourself a new friend from Kernow today.

NB: You'll need to open the jpg file in a publishing package once it's downloaded, and then drag out the file to A4 or size of choice. It's a reasonable res' on the image...but if anyone can advise me how to use Google Docs to share PDFs via public links I'd be really grateful :)

My Brother Be A Lensman With A Dark Adapted Eye...

2008-07-26T21:08:00.001+01:00

Holywell Bay
Originally uploaded by justintheframe

If you like GOOD photography, then meander over to my bro's photostream on Flickr.com. A picture framer par excellence to the discerning, he's had a keen eye for composition all his life. Now, after years of framing other people's work, he's flourished into an ace lensman with his own unique eye; this chap can witness a moment and by confining it within a narrow border still make the world feel a bigger, breath taking and more captivating place. His prize camera is one year old today, so I thought I'd post this recent shot as a celebration. This is a favourite...one of those images where you can almost hear the roar of the silence...

Cracking stuff Chas!

We Three Free Wee Men

2008-07-15T22:40:00.005+01:00

Is it a bird?
Originally uploaded by Bigfoot Studio

Nimrod, Bob & Commander Zap....3 seems a good number to start the first on-line sharing of Bigfoot Studio paper toys.

Commander Zap comes from my boyhood loves of the old Flash Gordon cinema serials, Michael Moorcock's Martian series and Hawkwind of the Bob Calvert era.

Greasy Bob is a nod to the incredible Japanese Rock-a-Billy, Teddy Boy tribes that pose in the parks on the weekends...as well as an homage to all the surviving Brylliantined, Triumph polishing, oily fingered bad boys who survive in the corners of transport cafs, where the cobwebs hang so thickly they make that 'shoo-wop-shoo-wop' sound that brings an achey breaky feeling to the heart.

Nimrod Jones - Circus Strongman: Once shared a farmhouse with a bunch of likely types, as you do, when one dark & stormy night, Ian shared tales of his grandfather: a fairground strongman in the 1900's....take on all comers in the ring. Men paid to see how many rounds they could go with him; not many. He was 'chapel' and his name was Nimrod...my tribute to a lost world of mad Victorian gentlemen. Surnames have been changed to protect the innocent.

So out with the sharp implements and stikcy things, bosh some card in the printer & build away!!

School's Out! It must be time for... The Gerbil Warning

2008-07-15T20:44:00.005+01:00

As the Summer Holiday season in the UK rolls around once more, and all the local youth and tackers go free range and feral again, many parents struggle to balance their family & work commitments.How long can little Tarquin, Wayne, Zack, Connor, Kylie, Kaylee, Kali, Kelly, Jocasta be safely trusted, left alone, self-supervised, otherwise occupied, locked in, left, stashed, or dealt with humanely for those endless, drawn out, honey-coloured sunlight days?

As well as the endless high brow forums down the local Spar shop (Serious Debate - 8 Til Late) on whether Grand Theft Auto is either an enriching or dehumanising experience for a seven year old home alone all day (just him, the fridge and the PS2.Quark), there is also the school of thought that a pet provides company, entertainment and responsibility for a listless, holiday wracked child....

DON'T be fooled.....if you're one of those parents who thinks they can just wander out the door and leave little Ben, Den, Len, Ken, Heathcote, Hannah, Shanna, Lavanna, Deanna, & Venetia on their tod with a lap full of rodents for chaperone.....then this poster from the Public Information Desk of Bigfoot Studio's Militant Com's dept is a timely reminder for YOU!

gerbil warning
Originally uploaded by Bigfoot Studio

Big Celebratory Push...

2008-07-10T22:10:00.005+01:00

Nimrod Jones (2)
Originally uploaded by Bigfoot Studio

To mark the beginning of new collaborations and employ, along with a whole new bunch of obsessions and projects, I'm getting to grips with uploading and sharing files so that, hopefully, others can have as much fun building some of the new paper projects as I have designing 'em. Things have been seemingly quiet from Bigfoot Land over the last 6 months...and though the thunder clouds may have been rolling over head, there has been lots of hammering, sawing, folding, gluing and scribbling going on in the Bigfoot Studio shed.

Links to the right for downloadable fun stuff...hope to update with new freebies regularly if not semi-frequently(!!).

2008-06-21T20:45:00.002+01:00

Solstice Greetings...

Holding space...

2007-12-20T00:30:00.006Z

2004-01-10T20:02:00.036Z

2001-01-01T21:42:00.005Z