Aye Aye Captain

' AAAaaaargh'. That is all.

Nobody calls me Chicken

Despite the paroxysms of fear and self doubt that would normally curtail such a venture, I have actually submitted my entry to the Nobrow competition. And here he is, the filthy beast. (He reminds me a little of those ads from the 50's, the ones for skinny men who want to look more manly, it's the dodgey skin tone and camp stance that does it). This act marks quite a significant milestone for me. I have a long history of creating images for specific competitions, only to wimp out at the last minute citing some feeble excuse to mask the yellow-bellied truth.

Here is an image which never made it into the pool of submissions for Amelia's Magazine's 'Shelter' competition last year, though it was finished well before the deadline. I think I blamed a lack of quality scanning equipment for that particular non-act of cowardice. But all this is now over, what with me being a newly reformed character and all. I am channelling the spirit of Marty McFly and renouncing my cowardly ways, and who knows what opportunities such a change will bring.

Soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside

Its been a tough old week for your hunched little scribbler. Beset by migraines and confronted by arrogant morons at every turn, its been a case of batten down the hatches and ride out the storm.

The weather is doing nothing to help my less than jubilant mood. It's currently so cold in my attic room that the fingerless gloves, which these days might as well be surgically attached, are doing little to calm my shaking hands (something of a worry when weilding pointy scissors).

So here is a teeny beastling to brighten up this dark February. I envy him his tough outer casing. Sometimes a full suit of armour seems pretty appealing, although in reality it takes more than that to protect against the painted jaguars of the world.

New scanner, new start

It's official, Jennie the procrastination queen, filled with excuses and self doubt is no more, for here is shiny new post on a blog which has been lying barren and dormant for over a year. (Although whether I pluck up the courage to actually tell anyone about it is another matter entirely).

For a first post it's not particularly jazzy, just a spot of idle lunch time doodling which was mainly cast into digital form in order to test the skills of my spanking new scanner (for we all know that pencil can be troublesome to such devices). My trusty old HP beaut finally gave up the ghost back in April (that bad boy could pick up white oil bar on white paper without breaking a sweat) and though I mourn it still, I feel that it is finally time to move on. The full capabilities of the newbie are yet to be seen, but for now at least I am content with it's performance. 

So, in line with this new 'carpe diem' attitude that I seem to have acquired along with the scanner, I have decided to enter the Nobrow open competition. The title 'People I've Never Met and Conversations I've Never Had', was inspired by Nick White's beautious book of the same name, which is currently nestling snugly on my bookshelf. Here are the first random scrawlings of ideas. Am slightly concerned that the werewolf obsession that has gripped me since uni has gotten out of control, making yet another unbidden appearance here. But hey, why fight against it? After all, who doesn't like a wolf in pink Y-fronts?!