Thursday 30 June 2011

Miracle Fortress giving away 2 free tracks...

If you've never heard of Miracle Fortress you are like most people, as MF are a band lacking the exposure they so rightly deserve. Miracle Fortress are a Canadian band at the forefront of the Brian Wilson inspired indie scene and are based in Montreal.

They are giving away two tracks at THIS location.

Click through and get some free goodness why don't you!

Patrick's Sketchbook Diary 37 ... I am a portrait Ninja.

The best time to draw someone is when they don't know it's happening. This is because:

a) It tests your speed skills.
b) They won't get bored and ask to see how it's going etc.
c) It makes you feel like a right proper spy.

Much of my observational work is done whilst on the train. Quite fitting really.

I train. Eye train. I train. Eye train. I train. Eye train. I train. Eye train. I train. Eye train. I train. Eye train. I train. Eye train. I train. Eye train. I train. Eye train. STRAIN.

Met a man called Stewart Lee...

You may have seen him... that Stewart Lee. He's one of those things that they have these days... those comedians. You know, the comedian men that they have these days... they go up onto a sort of... raised platform and they look down at you, and tell you inane things about your life that you find hilarious and you agree with your laughter.

You know, the men with the sort of... big sticks that stick up from the platform that they are standing on... and they have a sort of device protruding from the stick. A kind of... a device that you see that all the kids use, and it makes the comedian man's voice that bit louder so you can hear them over the sound of the laughter that is coming out of your mouth hole.

You've seen them right? The comedian men... the ones on the platforms with the sticks and the devices that the kids use, and they speak in a loud voice about all the inane things that happen in your life, and you laugh out of your face and they keep talking and talking and making noises about appliances that aren't made very well and drawers with all bits of stuff in them and you feel that somehow they know things that you don't.

Yeah well, I met one of those. His name was Stewart Lee.

Wednesday 29 June 2011

Something for the superhero who has everything...

I love that the company is called PaddiMac. It's like an Irish version of Kriss Kross.

Patrick's Sketchbook Diary 36... The "Sleepy on Trains" Edition.

I travel around a lot and quite often I have late night train journeys home. I'm not very good at sleeping whilst sat up (and in front of people) but I still worry about missing my stop by dozing off, so I usually draw to stay awake. When I get right to my limit, the kinda of drawings I do are usually incredibly rubbish and odd. Below are 4 examples of my sleepy train artwork:

Mr. Laserwheel

Arangipan Slamma Lamma Ding Dong!

Boy Shadow How

Wormy Mean Guy

I'll post up more of these some other time. But you get the idea.

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Mashup Animal Commission Fun-Times. The Girelephant.

Here's a fun little commission I did a while back for a friend of mine.

I was asked to paint my idea of a cross between an Elephant and a Giraffe and this is what I came up with. The Olifant-Camelopardis:


The picture was framed up and given as a Birthday present and very well received.

(and For anyone interested it was done in various inks.)

Anyone interested in commissioning me for a personal comic, drawing or painting can contact me on: patrickc@hotmail.co.uk

Etch-A-Sketch self-portrait

Decided late last night to try and attempt a realistic drawing on my Etch-A-Sketch. Here's how far I got last night:

And I worked on it further this morning:
I still may well put a background etc in if I feel the need.

It's really fun approaching traditional styles in uncustomary ways. Tests your skills.

Monday 27 June 2011

Patrick's Sketchbook Diary 35... Random 2 page sketch

So I'm aware that one of the more popular features of my blog was always my sketch Diary, and I've kinda fallen off of updating it. So I'm gonna try to make it more regular. Here's a drawing to get it started back up again. I believe I was sat on a train when I jammed this fairy tale scene.


Family portrait...

This year for my sister's Birthday I painted her a picture of herself and our lovely little niece Imogen. Here is the result:


I took a bit of artistic licence on the colours as I wanted the vibe to be a little bit Disney.

Sunday 26 June 2011

"Local Family Seek Death Ray For Destruction Of Village." was too many letters.

My Everyday Art Comic Panels (A Quick Catch Up - PART 2)

So here's the second instalment of our little catch up of the kind of stupid things that get me through a work day. After this I will try and get back on top of my updates, so that the jokes can be a bit more timely to you readers.....

Example 2.j - Where The Wild Things Are

Example 2.k - Dear John

Example 2.l - Prophet, A

Example 2.m - Did You Hear About The Morgans

Example 2.m - Nine Dead

Example 2.n - Go Diego, Go

Example 2.o - Season of the Witch

Example 2.p - Bad Lieutenant

Example 2.q - King's Speech, The

Example 2.r - Love & Other Drugs

Example 2.s - True Grit

Example 2.t - Just go With It

Example 2.u - I Am Number Four

Feel free to comment on these posts by the way about any of the gags you like, go ahead and repost them elsewhere as long as you credit the source as well. Peace.

Shabazz Palaces carve new Earspace for the Hip Hop head.

One of the greatest things about Hip Hop is it's ability to change and adapt. That's one of the main reasons why it consistently reaches new listeners and tops charts all over the world. The kind of Hip Hop I am bringing to you attention today is not the sort that will ever top charts. but it is the sort that's exploring the cutting edge of Hip Hop.


Shabazz Palaces is a Sub Pop signing of the ex-Digable Planet's rapper Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler. It is a departure from the positive jazz influenced vibe of his previous band, treading new sonic ground entirely.


It's not very often that new acts come along like this, but the first time I heard a Shabazz Palaces track really sent my mind back to the first AntiPop Consortium record. Just unabashedly forward thinking HipHop. Very exciting... Please check it.

Saturday 25 June 2011

My Everyday Art Comic Panels (A Quick Catch Up - PART 1!)

It is likely that readers of my blog will have no Idea that I've been continuing with my Quick Comic Panels at work, because I have entirely failed to update it with the new work! (Sorry... eeep.) I've had a couple of emails about it so I thought I would drop a "catch up" in 2 parts, reminding you why you bother even following my all-over-the-place blog of nothingness.

Example 1.z - Paranormal Activity

Example 2.a - x-Men Origins: Wolverine

Example 2.b - Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The

Example 2.c - Astro Boy

Example 2.d - Dead Man Running

Example 2.e - Robin Hood

Example 2.f - Triangle

Example 2.g - Shrek

Example 2.h - Whip It

Example 2.i - Winter's Bone

Stay Tuned for the next quick Catch-up tomorrow!.

Friday 24 June 2011

Free Hip-Hop from one of the world's greatest emcees! Jean Grae

Jean Grae (A.K.A. Jean Greasy) released her new FREE mixtape "Cookies or Comas" yesterday and if you like Hip Hop and you DON'T download it, you are stupid. IT'S FREE and AWESOME!

For those of you don't know, Jean Grae is a Hip-Hop wordsmith of the highest order, simultaneously mixing humour, thought-provoking social commentary and personal confessional style raps. Somehow balancing an extensive knowledge of geekdom (Her name is a reference to an X-Men character.) and a New York street-cool that you just can't fake.

This release is a precursor to Her upcoming album on Talib Kweli's indie label Blacksmith which will be called "Cake or Death". (Again, a geeky reference to the British cross-dressing comedian Eddie Izzard.) I implore you to download this mixtape and be converted.

http://www.djbooth.net/index/mixtapes/entry/jean-grae-cookies-comas