Blue Gravy:Phase 9

Debbie Harry

2012-01-17T21:10:00.001Z

Click for bigger/flickr

Available as a print here: Debbie Harry Print

Roy Orbison

2012-01-08T17:10:00.000Z

Click for bigger/flickr

Available as a print here: Roy Orbison Print

2012: A prosperous year

2012-01-02T22:04:00.000Z

Well, 2011 is dead and buried, 2012 is here all new and smelling as fresh as newly cut grass.

I have been neglecting this Blog a great deal, and as a matter of fact illustration as a whole. I can only apologise to myself, as I need to motivate myself to create some work.

I'm still working on my main project, portraits of musicians that have influenced me and other artists. I'm aiming to get a lot more created and finished, at least aiming for a new portrait once a week. Once there's a good selection I have plans for an exhibition or two, plus possibly a book. It's all being worked on as we speak but I don't want to go into too much detail at the moment. Suffice to say, hopefully it will be a success.

I'm also working on some new music and I'm looking to record a better quality demo sometime this year. I'll be putting some stuff up on the internet once it's written to get some feedback, so look out for that at some point. I'm also working on some music reviews, I'm unsure what format they will take, either written or video, but I'd like to share music I love which some of you may not have heard before. Either that, or some awful music!

What else? Well, there's a trip to Japan to come around March time once that's booked. Also quitting smoking is up on the list, started today and will be updating on here with my progress as a sort of motivational tool.

I have a few other goals I'm working towards this year, but I'm keeping tight lipped about them as they are all very personal things I need to work on.

On a side note, I haven't really mentioned much about moving back to Norwich much. All I can say is that it has worked out better than I had expected so far, and it's been great reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. I need to work on my personal life to make it exactly where I want to be, but I think coming back here has been one of the best decisions I have made so far.

Well, that was a bit of a brain offload. To finish off, a great song.

I wish anyone reading this a happy and prosperous new year to come.

Bob Dylan

2011-10-30T18:50:00.002Z

Click for bigger/flickr

Available as a print on Society6:

http://society6.com/tomcolmans/Bob-Dylan-66e_Print

Artwork now for sale on Artflakes.com

2011-05-01T18:36:00.002+01:00

Long time no blog. I'm sorry, I've been neglecting you, but all shall change!

In illustration news, I now have some of my prints up for sale at artflakes.com which you can find at the following link:

http://www.artflakes.com/en/shop/tom-colmans

Have a look around, it's a good website and there's some neat work being posted by other members for sale there!

I'll have some more work for upload soon, and will be doing a few more music related posts in a short while, so look out for those!

Elvis Costello

2011-03-20T17:13:00.002Z

Click for bigger/flickr

Available as a print from society6, along with some of my other work here:

http://www.society6.com/studio/tomcolmans/store

Norwich Magazine Comission

2011-03-07T15:45:00.002Z

Click for bigger/flickr

Dave Edmunds and Rockpile - Girls Talk

2011-02-13T16:19:00.005Z

Found this song a while back, in my opinion better than the Elvis Costello version, but each has it merits

Robin

2010-12-15T18:03:00.003Z

Click for bigger/flickr

Tis the season, and all that jazz

As seen on illustration rally
http://illustrationrally.blogspot.com/

And Society6

http://www.society6.com/studio/tomcolmans/Robin

Czech Republic: Illustration Rally Part 2

2010-08-09T19:04:00.002+01:00

Image for Illustration Rally's European Countries Feature

Check the full blog out here,
illustrationrally.blogspot.com/

What is a lonely kitten to do on a day like this?

2010-08-08T18:59:00.002+01:00

Happy Birthday Ringo

2010-08-08T18:57:00.001+01:00

A Little Bit of Spring Cleaning....

2010-07-16T00:11:00.002+01:00

Just re-vamped the look of my blog, went from that horrid to read white text on black, to a nice cleaner black text on white. Also gave the whole blog a nice new template which seems to be working for the time being.

Some updates are forthcoming.

Be prepared!

Silversun Pickups

2010-07-16T00:06:00.001+01:00

I have become a little bit obsessed with this song, Though i'm not quite sure why. It's got such a nice rhythm to it, I think that might be it.

Favourites @ Perfect Pad Exhibition

2010-05-27T01:14:00.005+01:00

I will be displaying these two pieces of work at an exhibition in Norwich at the perfect pad.

Favourites: An Exhibitition

A mixed arts exhibition featuring upcoming artists.
Each contributing artist has submitted work based around their favourite film, book & song

PRIVATE VIEW : THURSDAY JUNE 3RD 6PM

I have had a few prints done of these, as well as a couple of framed ones available to buy from the perfect pad. If they run out, they can also be boughts through Society6 here: www.society6.com/studio/tomcolmans/store

I'm sorry for the lack of updates at the moment, but I have some exciting new projects coming up that need to be finalised before I leak any details

Products Now Available!

2010-04-30T00:05:00.005+01:00

And here we go! Laptop skins, Iphone/Ipod Skins, T-shirts & Prints are available now!

http://www.society6.com/shop/product/23977/phone-skins?cl=3

http://www.society6.com/shop/product/24038/tshirts?cl=3

http://www.society6.com/shop/product/33148/phone-skins?cl=3

Click each link to find a selection products featuring each design

Olympus Trip Photography

2010-04-28T19:46:00.003+01:00

Scanned In some films I got developed from my trusty Olympus Trip! There's more on Flickr. Have a look around, stay a while, It's not so bad!

Click Here For A Link To The Flickr Set

More Illustration updates soon, I promise!

Manic Wolf

2010-04-26T22:45:00.002+01:00

Design for a T-shirt in aid of Manic Vision (pretty sure it wasn't used)

http://www.facebook.com/manicvision

New Society6 Print

2010-03-25T16:32:00.005Z

I decided to put all my alcoholic euphemisms together in one print so that you could see them all together.

Available to purchase here: http://www.society6.com/studio/tomcolmans/store

Creative Boom & Illustration Rally

2010-03-23T13:42:00.002Z

Illustration Rally has been featured on Creative Boom, and the image they're using is mine! Go check it out!

http://www.creativeboom.co.uk/lookbook/illustration-rally-is-like-a-b-c/

http://www.creativeboom.co.uk

http://www.illustrationrally.blogspot.com/

Modite

2010-03-22T21:49:00.002Z

Got a link from the site www.modite.com to my Giggle juice print on Society6

http://modite.com/blog/2010/03/04/giggle-juice/

It's quite a nice site, have a little explore around it!

Illustration Rally

2010-03-22T14:37:00.002Z

As seen on Illustration Rally:

http://illustrationrally.blogspot.com/2010/03/gaga-ooh-la-la.html

Huzzah!

A Hard Day's Night

2010-03-17T18:22:00.003Z

A Selection of collage and mixed media from a book I made in University

Click for bigger/flickr

Nuclear Family

2010-03-11T21:20:00.001Z

Click for bigger/flickr

The Flamin' Groovies

2010-03-11T15:50:00.004Z

Nostalgia. I has it.

I was trying to think of some of the music that I used to be obsessed with, and how much my music taste has changed since then. It turns out, quite a lot. I remembered (proudly) that the first cd that I ever bought for myself was the japanese version of Echo Park by Feeder. Brilliant album that it was, I have not listened to the warblings done by them inn quite a long time. anyway......moving on.

One of the albums that I remember I was obsessed with for a while was a compilation my Dad bought called Teenage Kicks. One side mainly punk, the other mainly new wave. Pretty good collection of hits, I suggest trying to get a copy if you can find it (there's a lot of albums like this with the same title, but it's the one with a Dr. Marten's boot smashing through the cover). This is one of my choice picks from the new wave side, Shake Some Action by The Flamin' Groovies

The Ink Spots

2010-03-01T19:17:00.002Z

Yes I do like Fallout 3. It's a fantastic game, mainly because the soundtrack is so superb and fitting for the atmosphere it provides. And this brings me onto The Ink Spots.

1940/50's vocal joyfulness. I've realised that I have a very eclectic music taste now, and I'm really getting into some of the classic Jazz and Blues, and The Ink Spots are just brilliant for their vocal harmony range. Granted, all their songs pretty much start the same with the thrademark 3-chord "dun-da-dun-dun", and most of their songs are based around the same formulas and chord structures, but still they have some classic songs that are perfect for listening to when relaxing or trying to think.

Here's one of my favourites by them, called "If I Didn't Care"

Society6

2010-01-18T16:13:00.002Z

I've just joined a website called Society 6, it's a good place to promote your work and find a lot of other good artists.

I've also got some prints for sale on there. Feel free to have a look

http://www.society6.com/studio/tomcolmans/store

As Seen on Creative Boom

2009-12-27T20:38:00.004Z

So I've just been featured on the creative boom lookbook!

http://www.creativeboom.co.uk/lookbook/designer-tom-colemans/

Yes, a slight spelling mistake in the title, but it's still awesome!

The rest of the website is good, take a browse around and have a look at all the interesting stuff they've got on there!

2009

2009-12-26T20:35:00.002Z

So it's boxing day today. I hope everyone had a jolly good Christmas! I've been pretty lax on the illustration side of things, but I have a few bits and bobs in the pipeline, so expect some new projects in the new year! Here's a little something I've been experimenting with. Enjoy your holidays!

Click for bigger/flickr

Twitter: I've discovered it

2009-11-18T16:06:00.004Z

So I've finally got this thing that I believe they call Twitter. I know, late on the bandwagon or whatever. Anyway, if you are on there feel free to add me: Tom Colmans on Twitter

On the illustration front, I've been busy and lazy. I lost my creative spark for a while, but it's slowly ebbing back, so hopefully more work will be on the way! I've been doing quite a bit of random doodling, which I'm thinking of turning into a book. Also having a few ideas for projects to do to take up the spare time I have on my plate.

I've actually had my first bit of illustration work! Exciting times! I'm designing some t-shirts for a new record label in Norwich called Manic Vision. Their ethics and ideas are really up my street, and hopefully if they like my design it shall actually get printed up and sold. Check them out here: www.manicvision.co.uk (Since the launch date is not until later on, the website is not quite finished yet)

I'm not really sure what else to write about here. I've started driving lessons, and that's going well. Yet another thing to get through and tick off the list. I've got a small part time job in an off license to give me some spare cash, though I think I might lose my job their as the company is going down the pan.

Website News: I'm working on a new version of my site, as although I like it it's just not quite what I want now, plus I've seen some of my ex-classmate's websites (Yes I'm talking to you Jo and Natsuki!) and I really need to pick my game up.

Blog post over. Here's a little drawing I did to celebrate my 100th post on Twitter (lame I know). Click for bigger/flickr version

Website now up & more news

2009-06-21T15:30:00.003+01:00

My website is now up and running at a level i'm happy with for the time being.

Visit it here: www.tomcolmans.com or click the website link in the sidebar.

I've received my results from university, and i've passed the year with a 2.2 average. Graduation is soon, then into the real world as they say!

My end of year show is currently almost finished, the private view being on the 24th of june, and the show is open until the 2nd of July. If you're in the area, or wish to see some of the work my university is producing, feel free to come along. It's held at the Norwich University College of the Arts, and is open to the public from the 25th of June.

So that's about it for this update. I'm working on some downloads for my website, including some interesting comic/narrative/downloadable portfolio ideas, so once they're up I will divulge some more infromation.

Until then, check out some of my work on Flickr, and some new work on my website (links in the sidebar respectively.

Alcohol Euphemsims

2009-05-28T18:19:00.001+01:00

Click For Bigger/Flickr

Alcoholism and Lino Printing Part II

2009-05-26T18:44:00.004+01:00

The 4 wallpapers that aren't being hung in my end of year show:

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Peter Cook

Jim Morrison

Peter Cook

Website coming soon, once a few domain issues are sorted out. In the meantime I have a temporary host for my website available to see by clicking Here or on the Website (In Progress) link on the sidebar.

Soon updated to www.tomcolmans.com

Once totally set up and finished, I shall post an update on here

Alcoholism and lino printing

2009-04-01T00:34:00.001+01:00

Lino printing is great yet time consiming. 1 of 8/9 wallpapers done

Sketching

2009-03-22T22:12:00.003Z

Progression

2009-01-19T17:40:00.002Z

For one of my self initiated projects, I decided to tackle the subject of making tour posters in relation to music. I am going to see The Buzzcocks live soon, so I thought i'd choose them as they've always had a unique style associated with them. Obviously, I did not want to make a generic punk rawk poster for them, I wanted to base them on something to show their uniqueness in this musical landscape.

To help with this project, I researched and referenced poster work by different artists in relation to rock music. Whilst this helped, it also made me try to create some over-complicated work to reply to the brief I had set myself.

So, onto the progression.

(note: To not take up too much space on this blog, I'm using smaller thumbnails than I would like. Simply click on them to be taken to a larger version on flickr).

Poster No.1

This was my first attempt at seeing what I needed to put on the poster for it to work as a tour advertisement. Obviously, i've created a creative faux par by using a photocopier and adhering to the punk asthetic (which I am trying to avoid) but it did help me to see how I needed to layout my poster, and the information that would be stored on it.

Poster No.2

This was the next version I created. I was interested in the idea of 3d pictures, and even though it wouldn't work as a proper 3d picture, I liked the bold colours so I knocked together a drawing of the bandmembers and used a free version of Helvetica as a basis for the text. It is a bit bland, and to quote my tutor "I love The Buzzcocks, but you'v emade a poster that makes me NOT want to see them!". It needed a lot of work.

Poster No.3

This was the third revision. I had a book about arial photography, and I wanted to use it in my work somehow so that is what the background collage is based around. I also added the figures in to add another dynamic to the image, and went for a plain set of colours to tie the whole thing together. Whilst I think it's a vast improvement on the first set of posters, It was becoming too overcomplicated with all the elements vying for dominance. I decided at this point to spend some time away from this project, and focus on something else so that I could come back with some fresh ideas.

Poster No. 4 & 5

When I returned back to the project, I had found a new idea when talking to one of my tutors in a crit. The idea was simple: since this tour is about the band playing their first 2 albums, why not make small graphic elements of some of the songs that were in the setlist. I dug out the lino cutter and printed some small graphical representations of the songs, and then came up with this poster idea. It's simple, get's the message across and it's not overcomplicated. I'm yet to decide on a background colour, but yellow is favoring me at the moment so I think I shall utilize it in some sense.

I hope this was an insight into the method of working I use, and hopefully the choices that need to be made when revising designs

Xmas Cards

2008-12-25T19:30:00.001Z

Click for bigger/Flickr

Re-format

2008-12-13T21:43:00.002Z

I've just had a bit of a re-arrangement of my blog, so i've got rid of a lot of the clutter that wasn't helping out or that I was not using. I'm also trying out a new tagging method, tagging each blog under a singular category for ease of archiving/documenting. There's now a way of sorting by tags on the right, so that you can bunch posts by what is contained in them. I'm not sure how useful this will be, but I thought i'd give it a go for a while to see what happens.

Student Union

2008-12-13T20:46:00.002Z

Click for flickr/bigger

Quick Update

2008-12-06T18:03:00.005Z

Not much to report at the moment, i'm a bit snowed under with preparing to go home for the holidays. Just a quick update to let you know that i've gone through my blog and updated all my pictures with flickr links, so now the images should link directly to there so that they can be viewed larger. The old way of loading images took far too long and took up too much space, so i've tried to update it as uniformly as possible. Plus, then you can check out some of the work that i've not uploaded on this blog, along with some photography.

To sedate you till I upload some new work, here's a 3 part narrative that I did a few weeks back. Enjoy, and I hope to post some new work fairly soon.

Drawing Practice: Fawn

2008-11-28T16:44:00.003Z

Click for bigger/flickr

Status Update

2008-11-25T18:44:00.007Z

So I haven't updated this in a long time, be it due to working hard or laziness (you decide!) so I thought i'd post a general update about what's been happening with my work and this blog.

This blog is going to be staying here for a while, but i'm currently in the process of setting myself up a website with a proper blog and a portfolio in preparation for the inevitable end of university and the plunge headfirst into freelancing. No official details to report yet, i've got a temporary host at the moment with little to show (as i'm waiting for a chance t

o create a website as part of my course/final major) so i've not got anything to link to as of right now (except an empty page with nothing on it). Stay tuned for more information on that once I finalize what is going to happen with that.

As of uni work, i've been steadily working through that on some pretty good briefs that i've adapted from the standard ones we have been given (it's third year, it's allowed)

. Currently i'm working on a poster for the Buzzcocks tour in january, which hopefully i'll get to go to, a couple of editorials, and a book cover project about music genres. I've also made a narrative for a fundraising book that my year are releasing to get some funds for our end of year show, which should be good.

I'll post a couple of pieces of work on here, as per usual more work can probably be found on my flickr and deviantart (which are linked on the right).

The first piece is a 24 hour editorial project, whereby I had to illustrate an article on dressage. The second piece is part of the buzzcocks poster project, and is a rough sketch I was working on. Experimenting with flickr links this time, so click on the images to see them bigger/links to flickr (I think)

Life On Mars

2008-04-24T23:07:00.007+01:00

So i'm a bit of an addict when it comes to certain things. I'm addicted to the band Snuff, so I own almost everything by them and by bands involving the member/related to them. I'm addicted to shoes, and as such I own several pairs that I hardly ever wear. And the last thing is by films and telelvision series.
I love british comedy and drama. Scour through my dvd collection and you'll see some examples of great television that's been out for the past few years. My latest addiction is to the series Life On Mars, and to a latter extent Ashes To Ashes. My mates bought me the 2 series box set of Life On Mars for my birthday, and it's been watched ever since.

I decided to draw the four main characters of the series mainly through watching the series and wanting to draw some costume/people from different eras. Though they're not the best drawings I admit, I quite like them as i've tried to make them bear at least a slight resemblance to the actors. Anyway, as usual check out my flickr for other drawings, and these as well, and hopefully i'll be updating my blog a bit more now since it seems to have been on hiatus for a while.

Software vs. Hand Rendering

2008-03-27T17:23:00.006Z

I've always been a bit of a digital junkie. In my years at college I mainly did most of my work using photoshop and illustrator, until I found out how much I enjoyed using the printmaking facilities. One of the choices that i'm trying to decide at the moment is whether I want to go back and pursue my digital roots, or if I should keep up with the hand rendered styles i'm developing at the moment. Obviously, depending on the brief that i'm set will depend on the outcome, but i'd like to develop my digital skills along with my traditional ones.

Anyway, on with the post. I've been trying out a program called Sketchbook Pro, which I found out through Stephen Silver's blog (Artist from Ren & Stimpy). I've only done a few images using it, but to be honest it's brilliant. The pencil and pen effects are much better than most of the photoshop or illustrator defaults, and when using a graphics tablet it feels much more like traditional drawing on paper rather than digital. Here's an experiment i've done on this using layers, and copying from a photo. I think this program is something i'm going to explore more with my work, as I find it so useful and simple to draw with.

One More Day

2008-03-23T00:04:00.004Z

I've been trying to come up with different techniques with my drawing, and to make a theme in my current personal sketchbook that I can explore. I suppose I should explain what i'm doing in my sketch books......well, I have 2 sketchbooks at the moment that are, I suppose, a place to escape from projects and work on things I need to improve on, and styles i'd like to work in. One of them is involving collage, and the other one that i'm focusing on is one in which I only draw faces and people in. Most of the pages that i'll be putting on here and flickr are in this latter sketchbook, as the collage one is a bit more personal and so i'd like to keep that one under wraps until it is nearly finished. That said, here's a page I did literally about 3 minutes before I wrote this blog, just a quick self portrait in a style that i'm enjoying at the moment, with the thin and thick pens on a roughly painted background. Oh, and I never use yellow, so this is interesting in that respect. As always, check out my flickr page (accessed through the links section) and have a look around my work.

Be-Bop Deluxe

2008-03-19T18:41:00.006Z

I've been on a bit of a music binge the past two weeks, listening to a lot of the older records i've got in my collection. I'm really getting back into Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark, and seeing as their album Dazzle Ships has just been re-released with bonus tracks I think that will be the next cd i'll add to my collection.

Another band i've been listening to greatly is Be-Bop Deluxe. I have to thank my Dad for getting me into them, as he is a big fan and has most of their albums that i've copied for my listening pleasure. There's something about the guitar style of Bill Nelson that makes me wish I was better in my own attempt at playing, but it's just so nice to listen to. A mixture of rock and roll, reggae, and low tempo numbers shows their diversity, and I never tire of listening to them. Here's a video of them playing the fantastic 'Ships in the Night':

Listening to this music has made me quite interested in the 1970's, plus my obsession with the tv series Life on Mars, and recently Ashes to Ashes, has made me think of some personal projects that I may undertake soon.

Random Sketchbook

2008-03-16T18:18:00.005Z

So i've got a couple of sketchbooks that I like to do work in that's not related to my uni work, to try and work on things that I need to improve on. One of these sketchbooks I use to mainly draw faces and portraits from images/films, and I thought i'd share a few of the images from it. These are ongoing projects that I plan to continue until the sketchbooks are filled up, or I lose interest, but i'm quite happy with what i'm producing in these books.
Remember, all these images and more can be found through my Flickr account, which you can get to through the links section.

First Post Nightmare

2008-03-15T18:41:00.005Z

Blogs. Whatever. I'm an illustration student currently studying in the 2nd year at The Norwich School of Art & Design. I've set up this blog to put up some work, write down my ideas and theories, and to have a bit of fun I guess. I'm going to try and keep this updated pretty regularly with work and such, just to see where my work takes me, and hopefully to show some people what I am working on at the moment. To start, here's a self portrait that I drew for a project quite a while ago. New work shall follow soon.