Category: In the Style Of

This illustration is a 90s mash up. South Park was one of the most controversial animated tv shows of the late 90s. Mike Tyson had his infamous ear biting fight with Evander Holyfield in 1997.

South Park proves that you don’t necessarily need to be a skilled illustrator to create an iconic style.

Walt Disney is arguably the most important man in animation history and character design. His presence is inescapable and his influence is of Goliath proportions. It all started with a mouse.

This illustration was a challenge. Not because of the style, but because of the time. I’d have to spend quite a bit longer on it to get it to a place where I was happy with it. I don’t think it’s bad, but there’s so much that could be improved, so I may revisit it in the future.

I think my approach for more ambitious pieces might be to work on them a little every day when I get a spare few minutes over a week or two.

I remember the day when my big sister introduced me to Ren & Stimpy. It was the first time I realised that cartoons were more than just good guys and bad guys. It was full of the stuff that made you belly laugh when you were a kid. All the humour that you ‘shouldn’t’ find funny as an adult, but do.

Mario was one of my favourite game characters and games. The beautiful and challenging simplicity of a side scrolling platform game with a jumping plumber. What more do you need!

This illustration is what I imagine you’d get if you mashed the two together!

I’ve been a fan of Tim Burton’s style for a long time. I remember buying
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories and being enamoured with the crude sketches and characters. This is my version of Lady Gaga in the meat dress (it seemed to fit the theme!) in the style of the great Tim Burton.

Final Fantasy VII is my favourite game of all time. I used to play for hours on end when I was a kid and have played it through a couple of times since. I remember immediately falling in love with the character designs by
Tetsuya Nomura. The main character is an elite soldier called Cloud Strife.

An equally important part of my childhood was Dragon Ball Z. Akira Toriyama’s art style was fun and it was all about fighting and powering up to the next level to defeat whichever bad guy it was at the time.

This piece is dedicated to these two important Japanese exports. I drew this from start to finish in Sketchable on the Surface Pro with the Surface Pen. It was a challenge as I’m not used to creating finished works by digital painting, but it was time to push myself. I’m really pleased with how it came out! It’s a little rough in places, but I’m glad I put the extra time and effort in to completing it.

This was a really fun one to produce. I’ve watched some Adventure Time, but not a whole lot. What I did watch I really enjoyed, so I’ll have to pick it up again at some point.

The original sketch was drawn in Sketchable. I’m getting used to it now and really enjoying the process. I created the the final version in Illustrator and used the pen on tablet to do the pen tool work, which is completely new for me. Working on the Microsoft Surface Pro has really pushed me to try different workflows.

I need to push myself more to try different methods, tools and workflows.

Being of the generation that grew up with The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, I really enjoyed creating this. I was also a fan of Dexter’s Lab, so I had to do this mash up!

I’ve just bought the Sketchable app for my new Microsoft Surface Pro. I’m really enjoying both the Surface Pro and Sketchable, although I’m still trying to find my bearings a little being a mac user for the past fifteen years. I think being able to sketch straight into my main computer is going to be a game changer for me. I can do the rough sketches and the finished artwork anywhere, all on the same device!

I wasn’t sure about the initial sketch I did, but I’m really happy with the finished piece.

I have to admit, I like Harry Potter, but I’m not a die hard fan. I’ve read some of the books and have watched all the films, but I can take it or leave it. Don’t tell my wife, she may disown me!

I am however, a huge Teen Titans Go! fan. Both my daughters love the show, it’s full of tons of amazing childish humour, fart jokes and poking fun at Batman, all in a bright and bold cartoon style.

This mash up was my eldest daughter’s suggestion, so I was more than happy to produce it in honour of her. I don’t think it’s my best, but it’s not terrible.

When I started this ‘In the Style of’ series nearly three weeks ago as of this writing, I created an illustration on paper of John Wick in the the style of Samurai Jack. Since then, it’s the one that still has the most likes of the series on Instagram.

Every character I’ve done since then I’ve created a finished digital version, so I wanted to recreate a polished version of this! I did the initial sketch on my new Microsoft Surface Pro, drawing straight into Photoshop on the tablet. I then took it into illustrator to do the character and then into Photoshop to add a couple of finishing touches.