a Confederacy of Crows - Mark Sosbe illustration

vigilante

2010-10-19T06:20:00.000-07:00

an edited sketch of a masked vigilante.

this is only a modification of an original piece of concept art by http://www.inkertone.blogspot.com/

I added the coat, the gloves and the mask. the rest is all down to the amazing Bruno Gauthier Leblanc.

I don't own this, nor do I claim to.

my postcards on sale at Frank

2010-09-13T06:40:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased to announce that some of my work has just gone on sale at Frank in Whitstable.

I have long been a fan of Frank, which describes itself as a 'space for British designers and makers selling handmade products, craft, decorative pieces and artworks'.
Frank is the place where I discovered some of my favourite illustrators (such as Tom Gould and John Dilnot), and I am thrilled that some of my work is being sold there.

visit the Frank website here

the work that is being sold is a postcard from this series:

my girlfriend on Folksy

2010-08-16T06:09:00.001-07:00

please take time to take a look at my girlfriend's excellant work on folksy.com

http://www.folksy.com/shops/pipsqueek

thankyou kindly

a couple of head sketches

2010-07-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

i drew a few heads in photoshop. nothing amazing, just a bit of practice, thought i'd throw them up here

character concept

2010-07-20T13:47:00.001-07:00

an illustration of a character concept. Victorian styled alchemist living in the modern world.

Scotland 2010

2010-07-17T03:57:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from the Highlands of Scotland. was a wonderful holiday, saw much wild life (first ever wild eagle and wild otter: I was most thrilled).

I also took some photographs while I was there. these are a few of them, I'm sure more will be added later on.

these are all taken on the Isle of Skye.

the sky genuinely was like that in the last 2 images. that is the view from the front door of the house where we stayed.

edit: added another image

mammoths

2010-07-04T05:26:00.000-07:00

a couple of mammoths I drew with fine liner

Illustration Friday: Giant

2010-07-03T07:36:00.000-07:00

so this is what I did for this week's illustration friday, the topic being the word 'Giant'.

so I did this in tribute to one of my favourite films.

started off as a pencil sketch, which I inked over, then imported into photoshop to colour. used a starfield and planet that I had made for another image as the background.

and here is the pencil sketch (I changed the pose of the legs in photoshop because it looked like he was favouring one leg more than the other).

alignment

2010-07-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

new space piece.

Illustration Friday: Satellite

2010-06-27T03:50:00.000-07:00

the topic for this weeks Illustration Friday is 'Satellite', as I mentioned in a previous post.

I was originally going to draw a man-made satellite, but it soon dawned on me that I couldn't create anything remotely as beautiful as natural satellites.

two moons orbit a gas giant

space

2010-06-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

the topic for this weeks Illustration Friday is the word 'Satellite'.

I thought I would do a literal translation of that and draw a satellite in space.

have been wanting to do a space image for a while, and this has given me the impetus to actually do it.
this isn't my submission, but rather the test images of various scenes before I settle down and finalise the actual piece.

all created entirely in photoshop:

Whitstable Biennale report

2010-06-26T03:05:00.000-07:00

The two shows in which I participated at the Whitstable Biennale were both resounding successes, due in no small part to the wonderful Nicole Mollett and all the hard work she put into the Kent Cultural Baton

as I have mentioned previously, monday the 21st of June was a solo show, and friday the 25th I exhibited as part of Swale Arty Folk, a newly formed group of artists from the area surrouding the Isle of Sheppey.

lots of visitors, lots of interest, lots of nice comments. extremely succesful and I enjoyed every minute of it. thanks to everyone who came down and saw it, very much appreciated.

======

also met some cool people and saw some great work.

check out TOM SWIFT's exhibition if you get chance, it's directly opposite the Kent Cultural Baton, in a great space under an old beach house. extremely well lit and atmospheric.
check out Tom's blog here: http://tomswift76.blogspot.com/

also if you are in Whitstable before the 29th of June I impore you to go and see DOLORES DE SADE's work at the Show Off Gallery in Harbour Street. absolutely wonderful prints. I am truly jealous of anyone who can produce wonderful etchings like that. utterly gorgeous work, check her out at www.doloresdesade.com

======

some pictures from our exhibitions:

Illustration Friday: Paisley

2010-06-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

my submission for illustration friday

I always saw paisley as looking a lot like bacteria and other microscopic organisms, so I thought I'd attempt to put that across.

two new pieces

2010-06-21T14:31:00.001-07:00

have been holding off posting these until after my exhibition, as why by the cow when you can get the milk for free.

exhibition was very successful, had lots of lovely comments on my work and spoke to many nice people. I am very happy with how it went.

Exhibition and BBC Wildlife Fund.

2010-06-20T11:11:00.001-07:00

it is the eve of my exhibition as part of the Kent Cultural Baton and the Whitstable Biennale Satellite.
very excited but also quite nervous.

on the Kent Cultural Baton website, when asked to give an overview of my exhibition, this was my response:

"'A Confederacy of Crows' is a series of works by young artist and illustrator Mark Sosbe. An exploration of his lifelong fascination with birds and nature, the work takes the form of a series of digital paintings which seek to combine the imagery of vintage bird illustrations with art nouveau inspired patterns."
http://www.kentculturalbaton.com/artists/marksosbe.html

The part about the life long fascination with birds and nature is particularly true, for I grew up watching David Attenborough programmes which fostered in me, and so many others, a love and respect for the natural world.

it is in light of this that I have decided to donate any profit made from my exhibition to the extremely important BBC Wildlife Fund (link here)

The BBC Wildlife Fund distributes money to conservation projects the world over. Every pound donated makes a difference, and if I'm lucky enough to sell any work or postcards, I can't think of a more worthy charity to pass it on to.

great tit

2010-06-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue

Whitstable Biennale again

2010-06-15T09:03:00.001-07:00

Swale Arty Folk is a group of young artists from Swale and the surrounding area. Their aim is to provide a showcase for up and coming artists and illustrators to exhibit their work.

Swale Arty Folk are delighted to have been granted the opportunity to exhibit as part of the Kent Cultural Baton, at the internationally renowned Whitstable Biennale festival of Contemporary Arts.

the exhibition is set to take place at a prime location on the beautiful Whitstable beach, the work being shown inside a wonderful 1950's Airstream Bubble caravan

entry is free, and the exhibition is for one day only.

--

also be sure to check out this site, 'DRAWING WHITSTABLE BIENNALE' sounds like a very interesting project and surely worth checking out

--

Whitstable Biennale

2010-06-13T03:13:00.000-07:00

The Whitstable Biennale draws ever closer.

A few friends and I, as I have alluded to before, are exhibiting as part of the Kent Cultural Baton, organised by the wonderful Nicole Mollett

"One Day Interventions, Whitstable Satellite Biennale 19^th June- 2^nd July 2010

To celebrate the beginning of the Kent Cultural Baton’s journey a special series of one day interventions will take place during the Baton’s stay in Whitstable. The artists invited include John Adams, Rosa Ainsley, Bridgette Ashton, Erin Newell, Kiki Taira, Duncan Ward, Charlotte Warne Thomas and many more. Projects include animation workshops using sand, site-specific performance, sculpture and film, phonetic sound art inspired by local bird song and a monkey puzzle tree club"

--

The Baton takes the form of a beautifully retro metallic caravan, which will be positioned at a prime location on Whitstable beach (near the world renowned Whitstable Oyster Company).

19th June I am the Watchtower Erin Newell

20th June Lost - Song Steve Mc Pherson

21st June A Confederacy of Crows Mark Sosbe <------------

22nd June Bridging the Way Daniel Nash

23rd June The Old Joys Duncan Ward

23rd June Charlotte Warne Thomas

24th June Whitstable is where i… Workers of Art

24th June The Incredible Hulks Big Fish Theatre Group

25th June Swale Arty Folk Swale Arty Folk <------------

26th June Monkey Puzzle Tree Club Bridgette Ashton

27th June Dysarticulate Jon Adams

28th June The Summer and the Seaside UCA students. <------------

29th June From Real to Reel Animate and Create

30th June Hairy Breath Kiki Taira

1st July Q+A,A+Q Rosa Ainsley

2nd July F’lutter-ances Jane Pitt

2nd July Borders of the Visible Gabriela Stellino

for more information go to the Kent Cultural Baton Website

or the Whitstable Satellite Website

or the Whitstable Biennale Main Site

Whitstable Biennale postcards

2010-06-10T06:09:00.000-07:00

some of my friends and I are exhibiting our work at the Whitstable Biennale this year, and this is an image showing the postcard designs we're getting printed

Amy Curtis, Jacqueline Marie, Vicky Webb, Amy Bernard, Sophie Denny & Mark Sosbe.

bird pattern poster

2010-06-10T02:47:00.000-07:00

This is an A1 image, so loses a lot of detail being shown on here.

foxes killing for fun

2010-06-07T14:02:00.001-07:00

With the recent news story of children, reportedly, being attack in their bedroom by a fox

(this news story)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8726282.stm

I feel it is extremely important to get to the truth about the myth that foxes kill out of spite, or for fun. No doubt this story will cause a lot of discussion, and this so called 'fact' about foxes will be spread around, possibly leading to further persecution, and, heaven forbid, a repeal of the fox hunting ban.

So I say now is the time to educate people.

This particularly ugly and harmful myth has already raised its head in the comments on that news article:

"My uncle lives in Yorkshire and raises chicken. He tells me that a fox will break into the chicken pen, kill one chicken for food and then slaughter all the rest out of sheer spite."

and

"Without getting into the rights and wrongs of fox-hunting, the reason that rural people started population control in the first place was to manage a species that will kill not just enough chickens than is necessary to feed themselves, but the rest of the coop as well."

This is a pernicious rumour which is spread by the ignorant.

Evolution does not create animals that kill for spite. Rather, when a fox finds a source of plentiful food (such as a chicken coup) they will kill with a view to CACHING the food.
This is a very successful survival strategy. It ensures that the fox, and other animals that share this strategy, will have enough food should the hunting for food become tough and their supply become less readily available. They will make several trips, to and fro, carrying their pray to a point where they will store food for later.
If it looks like the fox has abandoned the carcasses, seemingly uninterested in them, it HASN'T. it has simply been disturbed before it could finish caching.

Now, I know that it must be extremely upseting to find a coup of chickens or ducks slaughtered, but please do remember, the fox is not doing it out of spite. It is doing it to survive. Nothing more.

I know this is a long shot, but is there anywhere that I can direct people to who believe this myth? as I fear my word alone might not be convincing.
I would love to see a statement by an RSPCA spokesperson, or one of the Springwatch Presenters.

I feel that if we could get a statement out there quickly, and spread it around, we could nip any harmful repercussions of this isolated incident in the bud before the occur.

Pattern 5

2010-06-07T08:05:00.001-07:00

a conclusion.

last image I am going to do like this for a while.

and all the images together.

Illustration Friday: Trail

2010-06-07T04:54:00.001-07:00

my first sumbission to Illustration Friday (http://www.illustrationfriday.com)

the subject being the word 'trail'.

I can't rationalise this image in any way. it just came into my head as soon as I heard the topic.

Pattern 4

2010-06-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

a further further continuation

Pattern 3

2010-06-03T05:42:00.000-07:00

a further continuation

Pattern 2

2010-06-02T05:05:00.001-07:00

a continuation

Pattern 1

2010-06-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

been working on a new image.

slightly different than what has come before. hoping to get this as a small run of screen prints.

old envelope security patterns, from http://www.workofwaves.com used with permision.

mallards

2010-05-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

an image I've been working on for the last few days.

Nuthatch

2010-05-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

first piece of work in a while.

Nuthatch

tree sparrow

2010-05-07T07:39:00.000-07:00

continuing with the direction first forged by the dunnock image.

drawn entirely with pen, the coloured in photoshop.

reworking an old image

2010-05-07T03:25:00.001-07:00

a rework of my cormorant

old one can be found here:

link

Dunnock

2010-04-25T05:20:00.000-07:00

latest bird illustration.

trying a slightly different technique. much prefer how this came out to the other ones.

Dunnock

imminent deadline - 30th April, Whitstable Biennale Opportunity

2010-04-25T01:35:00.000-07:00

just reposting this so that those it affects can see it.

whirlygig, I'm looking at you. I know you may not have chance to exhibit, with your final year stuff and everything, but hoping that you might.

Whitstable Biennale, June 19th- July 4th 2010

This exciting opportunity offers artists a day to showcase their work at the internationally renowned contemporary art Biennale in Whitstable, and to contribute to Kent Cultural Baton, a mobile artwork which will result in an ...alternative map of Kent.
The Kent Baton is a high profile KCC commission, which aims to celebrate cultural excellence in the lead up to London 2012.

The space is constructed of a converted Airstream trailer (370x215 x202cm internal space),and has a side opening which acts as a stage. The external surface of the space is highly reflective polished aluminium, and there is a periscope, generator and speakers.
The use of the space is free, there is no materials budget, but there is assistance in opening and safe usage of the space, and free marketing of the proposed intervention. The most innovative proposals will be given preference.

There are roughly two weeks available. Artists can collaborate in groups to use the space for one day, e.g. film screening, performance line up, group show etc

Submissions should include;
- Concept (no more than 1 side of A4)
- Website address of artist /CV
- Five images of previous work if not on website ( no more than 72dpi if emailing)
- Preferred date of intervention.

Send submissions to; nicole@nicolemollett.co.uk
Deadline; April 30th 2010

second and third sculptures

2010-04-24T04:55:00.000-07:00

my second sculpture.

attempting to give the impression of a proper bone and facial structure.

the original concept was supposed to be based on king kong, but my friend said it is also reminiscent of an orc, which I feel is quite apt.

edit:

another sculpture, this time of the Cave Troll from The Lord of the Rings

oh and what the hey, here's a painting of it too

first ever sculpture

2010-04-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

thought I'd try doing a few 3d pieces. never done anything like this before, so I gave it a shot.

I am a huge fan of Ray Harryhausen and his monster work so that is the main inspiration for this. some sort of aquatic humanoid water beast creature.

edit:

I decided to quickly colour it in photoshop:

Cormorant

2010-04-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

first drawing with my new graphics tablet.

cormorant. part of my ongoing series of bird drawings.

science is interesting

2010-04-16T15:38:00.001-07:00

I watched that 'Insane Clown Posse' - "Miracles" video tonight and I found it depressing.

also, hilarious. of course. so, so ridiculous. but the ignorance on display depressed me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-agl0pOQfs

the most famous line from the video is: "fucking magnets, how do they work?" which is shortly followed by "I don't wanna talk to a scientist, motherfuckers all lying, and getting me pissed" (or something to that effect).

of course, this immediately brings the following to mind: "don't ask a scientific question, then say you don't want to talk to a scientist".

'how does this stair lift work? i don't wanna talk to someone who knows about stair lifts!"

I can forgive people for being ignorant, but to rejoice in it, to actually be proud of not only being ignorant, but to actually not want to learn is mindnumbingly depressing.

and it got me thinking about science, as most things do, and the fact that some people hold the erroneous belief that science is dull.

so I dug up this passage which I thought I'd share with you;

"''I have a friend who's an artist and he's sometimes taken a view which I don't agree with very well. He'll hold up a flower and say, 'Look how beautiful it is,' and I'll agree, I think. And he says, 'You see, I as an artist can see how beautiful this is, but you, as a scientist, you take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing.

And I think that he's kind of nutty. First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me, too, I believe, although I might not be quite as refined aesthetically as he is. But I can appreciate the beauty of a flower. At the same time I see much more about the flower that he sees. I can imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside which also have a beauty...

Also, the processes, the fact that the colors in the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting - it means that insects can see the color. It adds a question: Does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms? Why is it aesthetic? All kinds of interesting questions which shows that a scientific knowledge only adds to the excitement and mystery and the awe of a flower. It only adds; I don't understand how it can subtract.''

- Richard Feynman

far more marvelous is the truth

2010-04-16T15:15:00.000-07:00

"Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars — mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is "mere". I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination — stuck on this carousel my little eye can catch one-million-year-old light. A vast pattern — of which I am a part... What is the pattern or the meaning or the why? It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little more about it. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?" -Richard Feynman

new toy

2010-04-15T10:56:00.001-07:00

after working with a wacom graphire 3 for the last 8 or so years, a tiny one at that, only about 6"x4", I finally managed to get my hands on a Intuos4.

I am happy about this :)

crow (again)

2010-04-15T01:54:00.001-07:00

new version of recent drawing. better colours: more detail.

One Day Intervention Brief - Kent Cultural Baton

2010-04-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

Whitstable Biennale, June 19th- July 4th 2010

This exciting opportunity offers artists a day to showcase their work at the internationally renowned contemporary art Biennale in Whitstable, and to contribute to Kent Cultural Baton, a mobile artwork which will result in an ...alternative map of Kent.
The Kent Baton is a high profile KCC commission, which aims to celebrate cultural excellence in the lead up to London 2012.

The space is constructed of a converted Airstream trailer (370x215 x202cm internal space),and has a side opening which acts as a stage. The external surface of the space is highly reflective polished aluminium, and there is a periscope, generator and speakers.
The use of the space is free, there is no materials budget, but there is assistance in opening and safe usage of the space, and free marketing of the proposed intervention. The most innovative proposals will be given preference.

There are roughly two weeks available. Artists can collaborate in groups to use the space for one day, e.g. film screening, performance line up, group show etc

Submissions should include;
- Concept (no more than 1 side of A4)
- Website address of artist /CV
- Five images of previous work if not on website ( no more than 72dpi if emailing)
- Preferred date of intervention.

Send submissions to; nicole@nicolemollett.co.uk
Deadline; April 30th 2010

sky

2010-04-12T03:48:00.000-07:00

the sky is nice and I took this photo of the sky which I think shows how nice it is.

first tentative steps

2010-04-12T03:37:00.000-07:00

it had been a long time since I had done any work. in January I rediscovered my drive. after a long hiatus from work, my skills were a bit rusty, so I picked up a book called 'Bold Visions' by Gary Tonge. in order to reacquaint myself with the processes involved with working again, I attempted to recreate two of his pieces. these are those two works:

Sentinel

2010-04-12T03:33:00.000-07:00

my most ambitious work to date. completely painted in photoshop.

Tripod

2010-04-12T03:25:00.000-07:00

War of the Worlds inspired illustration

making up for lost time

2010-04-12T03:13:00.000-07:00

my first post. some pictures from a series I have been working on.