Jowybean shenanigans 10/12/15

Birmingham is a very unique city where arts, culture, music and history combine. It is a city built upon change-makers who have transformed the second-city over the decades.

This Jowybean unframed, exclusive print (also available as a tea towel) lovingly illustrates these points in the form of an arch celebrating the city and its heroes and heroines. Each print and tea towel purchased also contains a bespoke description of what makes up the arch.

Birmingham Arch 

This is a perfect gift for any Brummies’ living room, bedroom and kitchen. It also a great souvenir for visitors to the city.



BTW for all the non UK watchers out there Brummies is a slang term for a resident of the city. ^^;

The reason for this piece was inspired by an art exhibition I created this year in early october that celebrated my hometown of Bearwood's history and locations. It was called Bearwood art with History I have a retrospective on the event here.

until next post Laters :)

Bearwood Art with History Exhibition Retrospective 14/10/15

Hello all you might remember early last month I was advertising a local art show I was curating called Bearwood Art with History. Well it ended last Saturday and now its time to do a retrospective of the whole event. 

Bearwood Art with History : Introduction

The initial idea started from a submission I made to a Illustrated Birmingham art contest in early 2014. the goal was simple to advertise the city as a potential tourist  destination. my illustration was an arch shape juxtaposed by  buildings, people, businesses and culture related to the city I even tried to make reference to more obscure things to attract a bigger audience .

I entered this Illustration in to The RBSA open show and Did it again this year but with an illustration about the Jewellery Quarter using the same reparations as the Birmingham poster. Around this time I had discovered about the Ooops gallery and had an idea of creating a Bearwood poster in the same style as the pervious posters. However to make this one more special I wanted to 

include more about Bearwoods History. So I got in touch with Local Historian Mary Bodfish who has a huge collection of archive photos and documents on Bearwood’s early days seeing all this made me realise that using all the 

material on the poster would be a waste So my idea changed to creating a collection of art that talks about Bearwoods past while high lighting the many landmarks around the town that make it a unique place then and now. 

Below are scans and photos of the work and exhibition space. 

A2 town posters 

I had a collection of 3 framed illustrations that juxtaposed the different elements of the designated area. Famous/local people, Landmarks, Businesses even small objects that give the neighbourhood more character and uniqueness everything was covered. 

The top one was the bulk of the show: 

the Bearwood Poster. green pro marker and uni pin pens

To make it easier for visitors to understand who was on the posters I created a small guide next to the original So they could discover interesting things about the town and its community with out getting lost. 

Jewellery Quarter poster 

This is a famous district in Birmingham UK known for its huge jewellery industry and school.

The History Illustrations

These were the meat of the whole show, the descriptions were written by local historian Mary Bodfish. Each image has references to animation and links back to the description in a clever way. 

THE BEAKES 

Grey pro markers and uni pin pens

The origins of the Beakes were in a moated farmstead, with a large house of the same name being built nearby circa 1690.  The house’s entire contents, down to the mattresses off the beds and the last teaspoon, were put up for auction in 1825 when the occupant, banker William Smith, went bankrupt.  It was later the home of a succession of ironmasters  before being demolished in 1899.

ON BEARWOOD ROAD

Grey pro markers and uni pin pens

Bearwood Road Schools opened in 1882 and originally had a tall tower which was damaged in the war when a bomb fell on shops opposite.  It also housed the Bearwood Institute for adults in the 1880s, with magic lantern shows, musical evenings and lectures on popular science.   Services for Baptists were also held there until they opened their own church nearby in 1903; although only a small section was actually built of the very grandiose structure that the architect envisaged for them

THE THIMBLEMILL

Grey pro markers and uni pin pens

The origins of a watermill on the Thimblemill brook to grind grain probably go back to the Middle Ages when Smethwick belonged to Halesowen Abbey.  Its name comes from the small copper spirit measures shaped like a sewing thimble made using the water power In the 18^th century.  The  last mill was demolished in 1901;  and before they vanished in the late 1920s, the paths across the fields by the Thimblemill Brook were a favourite country stroll for Bearwood inhabitants.

THE WINDSOR

Grey pro markers and uni pin pens

Opened in 1930 as a “super picture and variety theatre” and replaced the nearby Coliseum.  During the Second World War a short-wave radio receiving station was installed in the roof  and all data received there from German signals was reported to the code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park.  The 1950s saw performances by popular singers as well a repertory company; later for 10 years it was a skating rink before a brief spell as a night club before becoming the Sandwell Snooker Centre in 1982.

Postcards 

The third big part of my exhibition was a series of 8 colourful postcards that featured local buildings with cute cartoon bears to emphasise the significance of each landmark. 

samples of the 8 designs I made.

My sister Faith was a big help in promoting the exhibition on social media and giving me ideas of what I could sell, Thanks Sis :)

A couple other things I was selling were Tea Towels based on the Bearwood poster (which have been very popular with the local community). A2 prints of my older artwork, canvas bags and small coloured promarker canvases of various areas in Bearwood.

On the opening day it was really packed and I was in my element with visitors. 

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at how the art show went and I want to  

 Thank all who came and supported the exhibition especially Ooops gallery ,Mary Bodfish Jonny Mellor and my Sister Faith Whitehouse for making this all possible , I hope I can do a show like this again soon.

I already have plans for other local areas I would love to illustrate next year. 

Until next post LATERS ;)

Birmingham's Jewellery Quatar then and now illustration 13/6/15

sorry It was too big to scan, but i got a decent photo of it framed.  

This is my newest Illustration that has been submitted for The RBSA (Royal Society of Birmingham Artists) upcoming friends exhibition.
It is of a place in Birmingham called the Jewellery Quarter a famous place where a lot jewellery is made. 
This is my interpretation of the area that features its landmarks. businesses, and historical figures that founded the area. 

The illustration was coloured with pro markers and uni pin pens. and took about 15 hours over a period of a few weeks. 

I am quite proud of this illustration and hope to do more of this type of work in the future.

Until next post Laters :)

Jowy shenaggins/ update 20/5/15

Hello All this is a bit of a general update about the blog as well.

I have noticed my blog updates have been a little less regular the last few months. I think this is mostly due to a lack of content with my original work. The fan art I do practically in the Brony fandom has been bringing me in a lot more exposure and money and because I have a genuine passion for MLP I have been relying on that a lot. And now with vendoring at the convention Bronycon in the sates this august I have dedicated my spare time to getting a lot of pony art done for that con.  Do not worry I am still going to be working on the comic Humanisation.com  and my own original characters and worlds. But sometimes you just have to go with the thing that is giving you some income and creative inspiration. I hope to keep posting on here more often with sketchdumps and updates to personal projects. But because of the convention season kicking in I am not promising there will be a lot of big updates.

Still I do have some art to show you.

below are samples of sketches and illustrations I have done over the last 4 years that started out as potential finished pieces but ended up being archived on my harddrive. I have come a long way since then.

until next post LATERS :)

Humanization.com project update 30/4/15

Hello all 

This is a Preview of the first page of the next issue of Humanisation.com  which is a personal comic project i am currently working on. 

If your new to this project heres the story Synopsis.1000 years ago earth is wiped out by war of neutral bombs. At this time the Internet, as we know it was been updated and had began to think independently. Now 1000 years later the Internet has transformed in to a virtual reality where severs websites and programs of all kinds have become living breathing beings connecting together to from a thriving metropolis. Our two main protagonists CADRA the normal farm girl working in the code fields and Mutt her pet dragon suddenly embark on an epic quest to find the code that could bring down the controlling powers of the big bosses Google Apple and many others but what is this mysterious code you say?

Until next post laters :)

Now for Something Completely Different 4/2/15

For the last few days i have had the inspiration to create traditional illustrations that reflect the juxtaposing of two different countries to crate one massive metropolis.

In this case its  the UK and Japan.

I used some obvious tropes to represent both nations examples being the old pub for the UK and the narrow streets for Japan. 

Until next post Laters :)

Now for Something Completely Different 14/1/15

Architecture and city environments have always been a big inspiration and fascination in my art since I was 10 years old. A lot of my early work that I became known for was to do with buildings and modern city planning. these types of illustrations usually ended up having a fantastical approach to their architectural designs some that mimic what we have today.

examples of old work below  

Despite how busy I am with commissions and other projects on my DA account I have found myself longing for the old days. I set aside time to have a go at drawing my fictional architecture/ landscapes,while putting in to practice everything I have leaned and improved on, from perceptive to line thickness. 

the difference is amazing but my loose style of sketching is still visible. 

until next post LATERS