See Ya

 

Time for a family holiday to recharge the batteries. I'll be back to work on the 15th December. See ya on the flipside and watch out 2012 is going to be HOT.

BIG NEWS!

 

The time has come for a new chapter to start in my life, and it's BIG NEWS!

From 28th November I will be heading out of the corporate world of graphic design to start working for myself again, and it's going to be fun.

I've got lots of whopping projects with some really great artists lined up, so keep checking back for information as and when I can talk about it.

I'm also looking for COMMISIONS to help put food on the table at UME HQ, so if you’d like me to work on a project drop me an email (umetoys @ googlemail.com) My background is graphic design (major brands) offline and online, but I’m always up for sculpting, toy work and illustrations. I have some availability late December and the end of January – but if you fancy a chat, I am up for talking shop anytime.

Speaking of toy work – I’d love to get involved in more shows in 2012 – if you’ve got one or know of one coming up that you think I’d rock, let me know.

And last but no means least – I’ve also been known to snap a few photos from weddings to pet portraits and everything in-between, to have a look over my portfolio please visit www.umephotography.co.uk

So here’s to 2012 – exciting times indeed.

www.ume-toys.blogspot.com and www.rubberrodeo.blogspot.com

 

Iron Man needs a home

He came with us to 'thought bubble' and was a hit on the UME table. But it's time to offer him up to a new home, if your display cabinet/shelf would like a little Christmas present drop me a line.

Digital Artist

 

Nice surprise today - my tutorial for Digital Artist magazine has landed in the shops. If you fancy having a laugh at my copywriting skills and learn to draw a tiki in illustrator this 'cheats guide' is made for you.

It's been a while

It's been a few weeks since I posted much over here. I haven't been slacking but have been so busy with New York comic con, the icons show at the Hang Gang in Leeds and then prepping for Thought Bubble on the 19th. I squeezed in this little spider-man poster to keep the vectors going. If you'd like to keep an eye on my work come over to umetoys and have a look.

UME Store - Open now!

Fancy a pack of UME goodness? Go to the new UME Store and add some sticker happiness to your life - select here for the jump.http://umetoys.bigcartel.com/product/ume-sticker-pack

Here's a montage of my one off exclusive for NYCC this week - I'll be done at the Big Kev's Geek Stuff booth (E7) which is at the end of Artist Alley and part of the Podcasting/Show row and look for the strange dude with the facial hair - See you on Sat 5:00pm-7:00pm and Sunday 1:00pm-2:00pm

If you haven't seen the Tuttz and Pharaoh Hounds you're missing out, head on over and check them out.

Emily The Strange

If you're like us at our house then you'll be a fan of Emily - here's a little poster for my favorite fan - my daughter :-D

Bite me Edward!

Another little 'simple' style digital scribble for Society 6 - If you fancy owning a print select here.

Strangers In The Night

Here's something I haven't done a long time - a drawing for my Mum and Dad. My Mum's favorite song is Strangers in the night by Mr Sinatra so I thought I'd combine that with a Tuscanesque still retro landscape.

New York Comic Con

 

 We'll here's a few snaps of what I'll have with me next week at the Comic Con:

• Custom resins of the UME Kittens
• Custom sketch pads
• Stickers
• Art prints
• Postcards
• Zombie Bratz
• Original scribbles

It'd be great to say 'hi' so come on down to the Big Kev's Geek Stuff booth (E7) which is at the end of Artist Alley and part of the Podcasting/Show row and look for the strange dude with the facial hair - I'll be there Sat 5:00pm-7:00pm and Sunday 1:00pm-2:00pm for sure but put money on it I'll be there more. Look forward to seeing you.

For a map of the con select here.

Liar!

Smell burning? It's this chaps lederhosen on fire. If you'd like him smoking up your wall head on over to get a print here.

Lady

Don't tell anyone but I've drawn a lady - something I don't do very often ;-)

Fancy a print? Select here

Beauty And The Beast

Here's a negative space 'Beauty and the Beast' poster - haven't done one in a while.

Got some of these for sale now printed on matt 160gm A3 paper - £10 + £2.50 P&P - drop me a mail if you are interested.

Hi

Hi all - sorry for being a little on the quiet side of late, but things have been anything think from quiet over here (in a good way). Lot's of preparation for up and coming events (more over on UMETOYS) and other projects that I can hopefully share soon.

Also the above is a quick makeover to my 'richpage' landing page - trying to keep things simple.

New York Comic Con

Just a heads up as I'll be over in New York next month for all 4 days of the Comic Con. Come and say 'hello' I will post booth info etc ASAP.

Hi

 

It's offical I'll be going to New York Comic Con (13-16) for all 4 days with the fantastic Mr Argonauts Resins - If you fancy saying 'Hi' and maybe even getting your hand on some of my goodies let me know.

 

Working the Whistler up - nearly done - he's going to be a ltd edition print and sticker pack - Should have some with me at NY Comic Con (Oct) and also UK Leeds Thought Bubble (Nov).

Zombie Overpaint

Here's a little project for a Sunday - overpainted an old picture to give it some zombie love :-D Also aged the shiny gold frame.

Fan Art

Here's one of a series of illustrations I did using the great 'Happy Beaver' toy as fan art for Jeff Pidgeon. If you'd like to see the rest of them select here.

Cranston

Here's my prize winning Cranston Fellows Jr illustration :-)

TOYSREVIL

Great news - I got a little write up over on the fantastic TOYSREVIL blog. If you fancy having a read select here, and treat yourdelf TOYSREVIL is the got to toy blog and Andy is ace!

Bat Shirt...

Not my work but the talented Mr Farnell - if you'd like to help him out and vote for him select here :-) Cheers

If you are like me then your be a lover of Disney – not so much the monster company that exists today, more so of the theme parks and cool stuff.

I like to do is keep an ear on what’s happening over in the parks by listening to Disney podcasts. One of the best around is the Dis Unplugged. A weekly bunch of shows brought to you from the guys over at wdwinfo. 

It’s their 5th anniversary this month so to celebrate I designed a ‘retro’ poster promoting a favourite sign off saying from the show. If you want to find out what it means visit here and listen to the show.

One question I get asked is how do I keep creative? The long and short of it is I always carry a sketchpad. This is something I started a few years ago and am glad I did. Looking back over the books is a great way to see how my work and style has changed and hopefully improved. 

Recently I’ve been spending a lot of time in and out of hospital with my wife so having my pad with me to kill the time when sat alone in the waiting room has been a godsend.

One thing I’ve noticed over the last year is that I now favour scribbling in pencil – I love how my shading work has come on and also the effects you can get from the simplest of drawing tools.

Another way I like to keep my work fresh is never over think it – these scribbles are meant to be fun, not work related. So I like to go with the flow and usually start a scribble by just drawing a simple shape and taking it from there.

If you’d like to check out some more of my sketchpad scribbles select here.

Smee!

Today's poster is brought to you by courtesy of Captain James Hook. I can't say I've seen the film recently, but love the ride. Even though it's corny it's a must do, the scene when you fly over London is one of my favorite dark ride moments. If you've not been on the ride, grab yourself a fast pass and hop onboard your own flying galleon.

Well OK I lied. I just HAD to do this poster. I really can't remember much of the movie apart from it had an old truck full of a Brontosaurus being chased around a very foggy London.

This was another Disney classic that I hadn't watched in years (if at all) - we got a copy and sat down for an afternoon watch. Verdict? Great songs from the Sherman brothers, but the dancing on the roof scene could have been a little shorter - all in all though we liked it.

I think this is going to be the last of these retro style posters as I need to concentrate on the Tiki stuff...

Time for a change

 

The time has come for a little change in life and the web. Thanks to all you guys that follow me on here and pop in on a daily basis to check up on things. Of late this site has been a mix of my design work and also the adventures of Kevin photography. Going forward I am going to keep this blog just for my design work, don't worry all the other goodness will keep on happening but over on my other sites.

If you want to see what I've got going in the world of toymaking and sculpting head on over to UMETOYS (I'm really happy how it's looking after a fresh lick of Tiki paint). For my photography site thats still on UMEPHOTOGRAPHY.

What about all the daily scribbles and nonsense? Well I'll still be uploading to FLICKR or for a smaller selection of work head on over to the TUMBLR site.

Thanks again for all the support.

Cheers

[rich]

The Cat From Outer Space

After drawing the 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' poster yesterday I got to thinking about all the films I saw from Disney when I was a kid. So here's another 'retro' poster - I remember going to see the film at the cinema but honestly can't remember anything about the movie. Next on the poster hit-list is going to be 'One of our dinosaurs is missing'.

Tattoo Gun

A while back Zook and The Justified Sinner set out on a collab project 'Beneath The Skin' together combining their skills to make some lovely art and custom metalwork - the results were awesome. I thought I'd add to the pot by producing a vector version of the gun. To view more of the project select here.

Bedknobs and broomsticks

I Got a copy of this movie the other day from the carboot sale. It's one of those films that I have never watched all the way through and neither had the wife and kid, so we sat down to watch it as a family together.

All-in-all it's a good movie, some classic effects and bloopers and could have done with some tighter editing, but well worth the money spent.

So I had a little time on my hands and thought I'd make a retro style poster for it as I love the look of the ones I've seen for other movies popping up all over the internet.

Zombie T-Shirt...

The man from Threadless says 'YES' so if you like the design could you give my shirt a vote by going over here please...

Two Faced

A happy coincidence happened when I put my pad away upside down and noticed this sketch looked kind of cool from both ways.

Kev catch-up

It's been a while - here's what the little chap has been up to of late.

Win a Zombie

If you fancy winning this scribble follow me over on twitter @umetoys and RT