Life's a Long Song

From one of my favourite song's ever, 'life's a long song' and you can 'take stock of the new day' with good cheer... Happy New Year everyone! It's 2018, and if you actually don't know this song (Life's a Long Song from the album Living in the Past) by Jethro Tull I'm chuffed to be the one to introduce you to it. Listen to it here.

I hope you all had a wonderful year and are excited about 2018 and what you can get out of it and put into it.

As you must know by now, I start my new year by blogging about what went on last year and looking ahead to the next. So this post is purely about that. Stay tuned though as I'll have news and announcements coming soon which I'll blog about this week also.

In 2018 I had many private commissions I can't share on here unfortunately and it left me with time to make only two witches this year (yep...yikes!) and also a Captain Hook maquette. The year also saw magazine features about my work including an article on the Peninsular Press, a presence at the CTN Animation Expo, some fun YouTube videos, and trips to places such as Costa Rica where I got a tremendous amount of inspiration which I'll apply to new works.

I ended the year with a fantastic night out at the Ace Theater in Los Angeles where I saw Dita Von Teese's live performance. Whilst we're on the topic of this dynamic performer, I'd like to make a small shout out to someone I consider the most uniquely imaginative artist of our time. That is Franz Szony. His style has been described as bizarre and magical, his genre 'illustrative photography' and I love his work because each image is like a window into a familiar beautiful, ethereal world of the past yet it's so fresh and new, and like nothing I've ever seen before. You should take a look at his site here. He created this wonderful image of Dita Von Teese.



The year's round up....!

Some witchy sculptures / maquettes...

Other miniature and scale set work...

Captain Hook maquette...

Some publicity and events...

My re-vamped website (find it here at www.tall-tales.com)

Trips and travel... ;)

Start Before you're Ready!

Happy 2017 everyone! I hope that each and every one of you, whoever you are, whatever you do, and from whatever part of the world you're taking the trouble to check in at my blog.... I hope most of all that 2017 is a happy year for you.

It's not exactly a quote, but it is inspirational -  Richard Branson advised others to 'start before they're ready'. It's excellent advice and I myself am so looking forward to what can be accomplished in 2017. I hope some of you have plans to try something new, or find something new in life that makes you happy. And on that note, people often write and ask me for advice on starting a career as an artist, or simply for advice on a clay technique. I want to encourage more of you to do this. Your emails will always be answered and I am happy to help wherever I can. My email is here and my website contact page is here. :)

I flew in from Blighty the other day and am fast settling back into LA life, breakfast tacos, coffee and ready to hit those 15 hour work days again quite gladly! In fact, I am already starting on a new witch character...

...But first...  let's look back at 2016, with another of my annual 'year's round-ups'!

My year started with more witches for 'Good Witches Bad Witches TM', and these punctuated 2016 at regular intervals. At your request, I started creating some videos (at my Tall Tales Productions YouTube channel) of the behind the scenes, so you can see how they're made. In February I guest-starred in the Food Network's 'Cake Masters' as a miniature expert, and by June I'd worked with Buzzfeed to bring you a live miniature making demo and also a 'Tiny Tasty' parody (I shot two miniature recipes being assembled just like a Buzzfeed Tasty recipe), - one of these videos was the most watched Buzzfeed video of the week. I created new tutorials and my website was revamped and a web-store finally added. (Huge thanks to all who support my business by purchasing consumer products and prints from me). I started creating timelapse videos of me working which caught the attention of Instagram headquarters, who profiled me as one of their 3 top favourite picks out of 500 million unique users! Lucky me! I also put together my first book which most of you know will *finally* be available this Spring! I did some more illustrations, concept sketches, made more scale miniatures (some of which you'll see published in magazines this year) and some fun cartoons using Photoshop (disclaimer - the Trump / Bernie cartoon does not reflect political views at Tall Tales - see more here!). And in my personal adventures, I stayed at a chateau in France with my family, made mini trips to San Francisco, attended balls and other such silly LA events and felt like Dorothy in a surreal field of California poppies. 

Happy 2017 everyone - I value and appreciate you all. Thanks so much for taking an interest in my work, and please continue to be involved, leave comments, ask questions and share your work with us as well.

Some witches I created in 2016...

...and more witches...

...and more...

...and yes, more...

...finally, the final witch creations of 2016!

One of the behind the scenes videos at creating a witch

Guest starring on 'CakeMasters' Feb 2016

Buzzfeed Live demo, June 2016.

Tiny Tasty video parody created June 2016.

Some illustrations and sketches I did, 2016

Some cartoons I did, 2016.

Website re-design! 2016.

New webshop at www.tall-tales.com!

The new book and tutorials created, 2016.

Just some of the miniatures created in 2016.

Timelapse videos of 2016.

Trips and fun of 2016....!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

British comedian Michael McIntyre said something funny (which I've forgotten and Google wont help me) about when it becomes too late to say "Happy New Year". It probably is, but since I only just got back from my travels I'll say it anyway! Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and are starting 2016 off on the right foot.

I spent three weeks in England which is the longest I've spent in the UK in some time and it made me remember how wonderful the UK really is. I also realised, for perhaps the first time, how fantastic London is.

This is what I realised about London... wherever you turn it's like you stumbled onto the set of Harry Potter or some Charles Dickens adaptation. The London Underground looks like a series of tiled Hobbit holes and they'll take you anywhere you want to go with a 2 minute waiting time. The food is outstanding and hugely varied, the people are wonderful and the museums.... free entry and probably the best in the world. To sum up - London = fantastic. Who knew?!

Recommendation - if you're in London, go and see the Celts exhibition they have there until the end of Jan 2016. It's the most exciting, exhilarating thing since Neil Oliver. Details here.

iPhone snaps

The British Museum

The Natural History Museum

The year's round up - the highlights of my 2015. The year started in the US after I'd just returned from exhibiting some of my miniature sets in Shanghai, China. I started sculpting witch characters for  'Good Witches Bad Witches' and made a total of 10 whilst advancing the development of the project including concept sketches and a large illustration. More magazine features and an appearance in a book ('Curiouser & Curiouser' - published by CTN), Alice in Wonderland piece in exhibition at Center Stage Gallery, Burbank. I redesigned my Tall Tales Productions website (which you can see here) and joined Instagram to show my works in progress etc (here). I opened a print shop (here) and have sold many prints of my work including prints on T-shirts, tote bags and even iPhone cases. The year ended with a commission for a miniature model ark for a commercial, and this was something I worked on right up until I caught my plane home for Christmas! Shot to look like a 50 foot ark, I can't wait to share this project with you soon. In my personal life; a trip to the north of England for Easter, camping trips to Yosemite, breaks in Vegas and San Diego, Comic-Con, drawing cartoons about anything silly which comes to mind, and as you'd expect... more than one ball...!

Starting to sculpt characters for Good Witches Bad Witches

...and sculpting more characters for Good Witches Bad Witches

...and more...

...and more witches...

final witch of the year and set pieces to go with her

Illustration for Good Witches Bad Witches

Some general miniature work and one of the year's features

...more general miniature work / commissions

Exhibition, book signing, Burbank

Products, prints from Tall Tales Productions

Cartoons I started creating this year

Re-designed website - www.tall-tales.com

Some fabulous LA events, in costume

Vacations and events (Lincoln, UK / Renaissance Faire / Comic Con / Vegas)