Failure

This is a woodcut I've created that will eventually be part of a series. The set of images were inspired by the sprinter Asafa Powell who holds the mens 100m record at an incredible 9.74. Yet despite being the fastest man in the world, also the only sprinter to legally run the 100 in under 9.80 more than once (he's done it 5 times), his list of medals is far shorter than it should be. He finished 5th at the Athens Olympics and third at last years World Championships. I wanted to do a series that described the emotions of an athlete finishing a race and knowing that he had the potential to do better. Anyone who has competed at a high level in any sport can empathise with the disappointment and agony that failure brings.

Illustration Friday Wrinkles

This illustration was inspired by Hemingways noella- The Old Man and the Sea, the story of a battle between an old fisherman (Santiago) and a giant marlin. I chose to create the image as a woodcut partly because I thought the media would best reflect Hemingways raw writing style, and partly because I love working in print. I wanted my character to represent the worn, determined and slightly tragic figure of the fisherman preparing to set sail. For inspiration I studied the etchings of Gustav Dore, some of Peter Howsons prints and the graphics of the German expressionists.

This was a spot illustration for an animal rights article about bear cruelty. As it was a piece of writing raising some serious issues I wanted my image to be equally emotive and powerful. I used a mixture of charcoal and pencil to draw the bear and white acrylic to highlight and texture areas of the drawing.