Four Aces

The joke is that, in poker, any hand is a gamble. That's kind of the point.

Cat on record

f•r•i•e•n•d•s

This situation-comedy is going to be big. Come back soon for more piping-hot culture scoops!

Mirror image

Appy Memories

Here's a strip that's been buried in my sketchbook since a time when Instagram was relevant.

Life Drawing

This week I did two hours of Life Drawing. This takes my total number of hours spent Life Drawing in the last five years up to an impressive two hours, compared to about 20 hours of playing Draw Something in the last five days.

Sweet View: more Hammersmith & Fulham

Here be a little behind the scenes action on the colouring process for the Hammersmith & Fulham print.

Eventually it turned out like this:

Which then came back from the printers a bit like this:

Sweet View: Hammersmith & Fulham

This weekend we announced our newest Sweet View print: Hammersmith & Fulham. A view of the bridge from that nice bit outside the Blue Anchor and the Rutland Arms.

It's available to buy from the Sweet View site now.

I drew the scene back on a sunny October afternoon from what turned out to be one of the most pleasant of the Sweet spots to draw from: perched in the sun with a pint as opposed to the usual propped-against-a-bin or leaning-awkwardly-against-a-shop-window.

Here are some details:

See sweetview.co.uk for more information and our other 10 London prints.

Cross stitch saturday

A bit of a sketchbook page from last year, animated a bit.

Pomelo Heady

This is a drawing of a hot dog and a cold fish.

I drew these and a few other archetypal foodstuffs as buttons for Pomelo Head, Charlotte's new blog venture. A pomelo is a big citrus fruit, Charlotte is my girlfriend. Pomelo Head documents her culinary adventures. She's long been cooking up the things that normal people either just buy or don't want in the first place - potted crab, bresaola, ostrich egg omelettes - now she's documenting the process too. Once she made me a bag of chocolate raisins to take to the cinema. That was nice.

I even put in fiddly rollover graphics.

To celebrate I've repurposed the icons into a tiling wallpaper as a gift to you:

They all slot together neatly like this:

Do visit Pomelo Head for all the latest eccentric kitchen escapades.

MoS: Edward's Revenge

Recently I went to the Ministry of Stories and watched a gang from Jubilee Primary School make Edward's Revenge.

On this occasion the Minstry's projector - usually a focus for the start of the session - was out of action, so I stepped up to the A-board early on to doodle characters as they were being conjured up. Below is Edward the Magician. His traits were being thrown in mid-drawing: "He's really old" - add beard. "He's evil!" - arched eyebrows. "He's super powerful!" - lightning bolt emanata.

The story goes from Trafalgar Square up to the Ministry itself in Hoxton. Alongside the power-hungry Edward it stars dishevelled King tiger Robin and a werewolf. Here's how it all begins:

Food group

Ferment

I illustrated 'Character Building' by Anna Rowena Bowers, for Ferment Zine issue four.

I really liked the poem from the off, a sweeping amorphous aubade to creation, cosmetics and town-planning, but I did have to read it about nine times before I could glean a cohesive meaning. I also had to look-up most of its constituent words including auriferous (got gold in it), megalopolis (big city), aubade (am version of serenade) and omphalos (still not really sure).

Ferment is  a creative writing / illustration zine printed in a limited run like a nice newspaper and done up with a ribbon like a present. It's a proper thing to enjoy and holding it open before you makes you feel like a dad at the breakfast table. I like it.

Thanks to Sarah for inviting me on board!

Sweet Preview: H & F

Here's a slice of Sweet View #11: Hammersmith & Fulham, still warm from the scanner.

On the All Night Diner

I gave a framed print of this drawing of the All Night Diner to mother for Christmas. It's what she asked for, for some reason.

The All Night Diner is a nocturnal greasy-spoon much loved by Brighton residents since it opened in 1975 by one man with a dream:

The Market Diner, as it is almost never known, is all things to all men (all night). It will welcome you into its sticky embrace whether you are looking for a greasy-spoon after-party or to curtail your evening out with the humble solace of ham, 2 eggs and chips (£4.90).

It is home to the legendary Gut Buster (£5.90). Truly: legendary. There's even a song about it. 'Theme from Gutbuster' by Bentley Rhythm Ace rocked the UK charts in May 2000 - just pipped to the top slot by Billie Piper's 'Day and Night' (and 27 other songs). To this day it is probably the best bit of breakfast-based music ever made bar the Coco Pops theme tune and 'Golden Brown' by The Stranglers, which is about toast.

The Gut Buster basically a normal Full English made worse with the addition of a burger and chips.

They have recently tried to extend their Buster brand with the Mega Buster, which is probably the same but with yet another complete meal added into the mix.

And that is everything I have to say about the All Night Diner. Good night!