8th July 2008 It's been a long time coming, but i finally got myself on the 'Imagine FX' cover! Hoorah! The latest issue features a wraparound cover with the rather lovely Misty (the barbarian), applying her freshly sourced dragon's blood lipstick. Inside there's a workshop which explains how i went about creating the image, with some high-res photoshop files on the accompanying DVD. Along with my piece of nonsense, there's also lots of great work by other fantasy and sci-fi illustrators and artists... Buy it now from your local newsagent!

7th July 2008 It feels like a very busy winter and springtime are suddenly filling the bookshops, and every week i'm receiving copies of a new book that's ready for the public to enjoy. And this week it's the turn of 'An Awfully Beastly Business' written by the Beastly Boys, and following the adventures of a young werewolf, called Ulf. The first two books 'Werewolf vs Dragon' and 'Sea Monsters and Other Delicacies' are published today by Simon and Schuster, with swanky hologramatic covers that change as you tilt them around (see below!), and fifteen black and white illustrations in each. This will be a series of six books, and i'm actually working on the cover of the third book this week. They're a gruesome read.....

3rd July 2008 'Olaf the Viking', written by Martin Conway and published by Oxford University Press should be hitting the stores today. This was actually the first book cover I painted, after Arena took me on as an illustrator last summer. I was pretty happy with this one, especially the ravens flying ahead of the ship (on the back cover). I'm going to be working on a second book cover in the series later this month.

19th May 2008 It was my birthday this week (I'm not telling anyone how old I am anymore), and also time for another book publication! 'You Wish: The Misadventures of Benjamin Piff' is a story about a boy who makes a wish that changes his life forever. It's a funny fantasy adventure, with dragons, flying chairs and funny 'spidermonkey' creatures, and is the first in a series. It was written by a former Hollywood storyboard artist called Jason lethcoe, and published by Stripes Publishing. This one is a bit different, because it's my first published book with black and white interior illustrations. There's fifteen illustrations inside (drawn in photoshop, but in a 'pen and ink' style), as well as the cover art.

3rd April 2008 Random House asked me to do another cover, for a great story called 'Nest of Vipers' about a gang of young fraudsters in 18th century London, written by Catherine Johnson. I had fun designing the characters for this one. It's a time period that I really enjoy illustrating, whether it's pirates, highwaymen or sneaky pick-pocketing kids.

2nd March 2008 Another month, another book... But this time it's full of lots of other people's art! A good friend of mine, Aly Fell, was invited to put together a book of 'Erotic Fantasy Art' by the UK publisher, the Ilex Press. Aly didn't think he'd have time to do it all himself, so he very kindly asked me to help him out. We spent most of last summer emailing artists all over the world, who contributed an amazing collection of fantasy art, and you can now purchase the fruits of our labour. But be careful, there's some saucy ladies in this one... Here's the cover by Henning Ludvigsen:

7th February 2008 My first published book cover! Hoorah! Well, actually there are two of them. There's the paperback version of 'Sebastian Darke: Prince of Fools', and the paperback and hardback versions of 'Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates'. They follow the fantasy adventures of Sebastian Darke and his friends Max (a Buffalope) and the diminutive warrior Cornelius. Both are written by Philip Caveney, with interior illustrations by Julek Heller, and are published by Random House. Here are the two covers minus titles,and there are higher-res versions in the Gumpf section...

31st December 2007 This time last year, i said i wouldn't be updating this version of my website again. I'd planned to do an almighty update over my Christmas holidays, but that update became so 'almighty' that i never got it done amongst festive celebrations and more pressing 'proper' work. So here I am with the same old website a whole year later. And it's been one hell of a year. Over the past twelve months i've enjoyed some of the loftiest highs and the deepest lows in my both my professional and personal life. In January, I speculatively entered some images into Spectrum, the annual for 'Fantastic Art', and came away with a 'Silver Award' in their new 'Concept Art' category. I even received a real, physical award thingy-ma-bob through my letterbox! It was a wonderful surprise!

In January and February I continued with some freelance work for SCEE and their Eyetoy department, and some of this work is now in the 'Games' gallery. Unfortunately I don't think i can show the mass of character concepts I produced for Sony's 'Eight Days' project, but maybe i'll be able to add them in 2008.

Over the course of 2007 I took a big step away from the Games industry, and have made some great strides into the world of books and publishing, with the wonderful support of my new illustration agents at Arena. I'm working on my first picture book for Templar Publishing, which is a lifelong dream for me. Arena have also found me lots of work illustrating covers and interiors for young fiction, for major publishers such as Random House, Simon and Schuster, Oxford University Press and Stripes. There are some bits and bobs of recent illustration work in the 'Gumpf' section, and there'll be lots more coming over the coming months as books get published. Arena now represent me for the majority of my work and it already looks like 2008 is filling up, but i can still be contacted directly for possible freelance concept jobs.

Most of my illustration work is for the children's market, but earlier this year I helped put together a collection of artists' work for an anthology called 'Erotic Fantasy Art Now!' for Ilex Press. They originally approached my good friend Aly Fell, and he kindly asked me to help him out with the project. The book is part of a series, following 'Fantasy Art Now!' and 'Comic Art Now!', and features the work of almost 100 international artists, working digitally and in traditional media, and is full to the brim with fantasy art with a sensual or erotic element. I received a preview copy a couple of weeks ago and it looks fantastic! The book is due this springtime in the UK published by Ilex Press, and in the United States published by Harper Collins. It's already listed on Amazon!

And I've also kept busy with some more workshops for ImagineFX, including a back cover for their pin-up issue. Maybe 2008 will bring me a front cover...

'The Siren' featured in ImagineFX issue 22 (October 2007)

My personal life has also seen some big changes, most notably my wedding to my long-term partner, Jane, in May. Our daughter, Daisy, was a flower girl (both my 'ladies' looked stunning!) and it was easily the happiest day of my life! We were surrounded by close friends and family, and were married in an ancient and tiny village church. We followed the service with a chilled evening in a beautiful Cotswold barn, with a Welsh Ceilidh band and copious amounts of good food, good wine and organic ale. Here's Daisy Duddle looking very cute indeed.

But after the highs of our wedding and my first picture book contract, 2007 ended on a tragic note. My Dad died at the end of October, three weeks after being knocked off his motorbike on his way to work. The other driver didn't see him coming and pulled across the carriageway directly in front of Dad, who hit the car at almost 50mph. Dad suffered two broken legs, a fractured vertebra and a serious head injury, but we thought he was going to be OK and really believed that he had miraculously survived a horrific crash. The day after the accident, Dad was in good spirits in his hospital bed, joking with us about his plastered legs. But a week later, Dad was moved to intensive care and suffered a cardiac arrest and irreversible brain damage. He died two weeks later surrounded by his family. This isn't the place to explain how I feel about my Dad's passing away, but i miss him terribly. He's always been a role model for me in his selflessness, his resourcefulness, his generosity and the love he had for his family.

Dad and Daisy take Basil and Humphrey for a walk, August 2007.

These few months have been the most difficult period of my life, but i've been overwhelmed by the support i've received from friends, colleagues and particularly clients, who have been patient with me and shifted deadlines to accomodate me and the time i've spent at my parents' house in Wales. So i'd just like to finish off with a big THANK YOU.

Hopefully 2008 will be an uneventful year at home, and i'll be able to funnel all of my energy into the exciting projects that are lining up for the coming months!

There will be a new site coming in early 2008, and to make quick updates easier, I'm going to start a blog for sketches, news and works-in-progress. I'll post a link here very soon......

15th December 2006 This will probably be my last update on this version of this website. I've got plans for a major overhaul before the end of the year after more than two years with this layout! A lot has changed since September 2004, not least the big move to becoming a freelance artist. I've had another busy couple of months, working for Imagine FX and a new, and different, contract with Sony. Here's a detail from my most recent piece for 'Imagine FX', a line-up of Circus Folk:

There's also a bunch of miscellaneous stuff in the GuMPF section, including more experimentation with Painter IX. I've also managed to get involved with some of my favourite forums a little more than i have been, including working up a piece for a UK vs. Scandinavia 'Thunderdome' conceptart.org called 'Erik the Hungry Viking'.

25th September 2006 There's been another big gap between updates, but my leap into freelance has been going well and i've been snowed under with Imagine FX workshops and a freelance contract with SCEE. Here's a recent Chimpski image for Imagine FX:

Obviously, it's fantastic that i've been keeping myself busy with proper work, but it's left little time for my personal work, or even personal projects that i'm hoping to see in print. And one of the few drawbacks with producing concept art for computer games is that, with NDA's and long development cycles, i can't show work here until it's a year or two old! I've got a ton of stuff that i'd love to post from the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' (which i was working on at Eurocom), but the game's still in development and the concept art remains hush hush. For Sony Computer Entertainment, i've been working on a huge PS3 game called 'Eight Days'. There's a fantastic team at Sony, and i've been producing hundreds of character concepts along with an old friend, John Clark.

I've also been working on some new King of Space images and assembling content and comic strips for the upcoming website. I'm hoping to get it all online before Christmas.... 2006.... I'll upload some of the concept art and sketches here soon!

14th June 2006 I think this has been the longest gap between updates since i launched my website! But i've had SO much going on! In the middle of March i left Eurocom, where I'd been working for 15 months on a next generation 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Game, but i was tempted away by the lure of the life as a freelance artist. Here's my latest published piece for ‘Imagine FX’.

I've done a few more workshops for Imagine FX (i finished my 8th piece last week!), and some of those images can be linked from the 'What's New?' section below, or from the 'Gumpf' gallery. Imagine FX commissions are always great fun to produce, because there's a degree of freedom that i don't always get producing concept art. And i'm allowed to waffle on a bit about how i produced the image. I think i've learnt a lot about my own working process by writing the articles. And the rest of the magazine is an entertaining read and has featured some fantastic artists such as Aly Fell, Jason Chan and Linda Bergkvist... So go out and buy a copy!

The other grrrreat bit of news is that i landed a freelance contract with a major publisher to join their concept team on a (very) high profile next-gen project. Obviously, i won't be posting work here for a long time, but it's a different style to my personal work and a mouth-watering challenge! It's also kept me shackled to my Wacom since March which means that personal projects (such as the 'King of Space' and 'The Firewood Flute') have been put on the back burner for a little while longer... Although i have set another personal plate spinning with my 'Chimpski' workshops for 'Imagine FX'. I'll be posting more Chimpski images over the next couple of months...

31st January 2006 It’s been a long time since the last update and such a lot has happened! I’ve posted new images all over the place, but I’ve linked most of them from the ‘What’s New?’ thumbnails below. I’m gonna waffle for a bit so bear with me…

I’ve had two tutorials published in the first issue of a new ‘Sci-Fi and Fantasy Art’ magazine called ‘Imagine FX’. The magazine, by Future Publishing, includes work by some big names in the digital art community and is a great read, so go out and buy a copy! The first article is an explanation of how I do character ‘turnarounds’ which make up a huge chunk of my day job. There’s also an article by me entitled ‘Anatomy for Beginners’, so I’ve included some sketches and posted the ‘Bjorn the Berzerker’ turnaround in the ‘Gumpf’ section with some close up JPGs.

I mentioned CGsociety’s ‘Spectacular’ challenge in my last update and was lucky enough to be placed 4th, winning a copy of Corel’s Painter IX and a super-dooper graphics card from ATi. Which was splendid. My finished piece was inspired by my Granddad’s childhood in Manchester, if you find time to read the accompanying text. Finishing the challenge was a struggle because I had a painful bout of RSI, but support from the CGtalk community and a diagnosis of Cancer for my Granddad inspired me to get it finished in the last couple of weeks before the deadline. I wanted to show the finished piece to my Granddad, Joe, but unfortunately he passed away in November. I’ve included a short obituary below, if anyone’s interested in a bit of Duddle history. He was a wonderful man and I’m sure he’d have laughed at the ‘Joseph Duddle’ story. My finished entry for the ‘Spectacular’ challenge is in the ‘Stories’ section and I’ve added some step-by-step images in the ‘How?’ section.

I’ve (at long last) got started on more ‘King of Space’ material and finally got together a website to publish the strips, which should be properly online in the next few weeks. There are some new designs for Rex (King of Space) and a revised version of my original strip. I’ve got big plans for ‘the King of Space’ this year, time permitting (??) so keep an eye on www.thekingofspace.com for images, strips and updates.

I’ve added step-by-step images of the ‘Pirate Muncher’ in the ‘How?’ Section. I’ve not found the time to include any text this week, but hopefully the images are self-explanatory.

There are some ‘A to Z’ animal images in the ‘Gumpf’ section, which you may notice spell the name ‘EVA’. These were printed and framed as a 1st birthday present for my Goddaughter Eva Lee-Smith. I’ve started on ‘DAISY’ too, and then I’ll be hitting the middle names!

There’s also a couple of new links. Celia Calle is one of my favourite illustrators (her motorbike image was my desktop for a long time) and Andy Hickingbottom has been a great support to me online and produces wonderful stylised 3D characters.

The other annoying bit of news is that i've had all sorts of problems with my hands! I had all sorts of pain in my right hand in November which was some kind of repetitive strain injury. Thankfully it seems to have cleared up after i rearranged my office space at Eurocom. And just when my right hand seemed to be working properly again, i managed to snap the tendon on my ring finger on my left hand! It's still in a splint but doesn't bother me too much except when i'm reaching for keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop. Only four more weeks before it comes off... I can't wait...

Phew! That’s about it for now!!

Joseph Duddle (1919-2005) My granddad passed away at the end of 2005 and I couldn’t type an update without saying something about him. Joe lived all of his life in Salford, Manchester, with my grandmother Emma Duddle. Gran died three years ago and my Granddad never really adjusted to life without her. They married in 1939 at the outbreak of WW2, before Joe went overseas with the British Army. He spent six years fighting, including long periods in North Africa, Italy and Austria. Over the years Joe told me some great stories of being shot at whilst putting out smoke generators on the River Po, frying eggs on tanks and crashing motorbikes. He worked on the spotlights over Sheffield during the Battle of Britain and also spent some time on anti-aircraft guns at a Spitfire factory near the south coast (my dad tells me that the actual gun he operated is in the entrance hall of the Imperial War Museum in Salford). When he returned to Manchester in 1946, his eldest son was six years old and had only met his dad a couple of times and in 1947 my dad was born. Joe spent the rest of his working career as a bus mechanic in Manchester, and had an incredible mechanical knowledge, which was great when I had a bunch of rusty old ‘classic’ cars. Except when we rebuilt the engine of my Morris Minor and the engine blew up three weeks later. Luckily, he never had me as an assistant when he was fixing stuff in the Army…

Me and Granddad on holiday in Cornwall in 1971

We took his great-granddaughter, Daisy, to see him about once a month last year and she always put a smile on his face, even when we saw him in Hope Hospital two days before he died and he could barely lift his arm to touch her. She was all smiles and blew a few raspberries in his direction before dribbling her dinner all over his hospital sheets. We feel lucky that Daisy met her Great Granddad, even if she never remembers him, and that Granddad saw us together as a family. We’ve been shopping and visiting friends in Manchester a few times since Joe died and it feels weird not to pop by his terrace for one of his industrial strength cuppas and some fantastic stories. He was a brave, funny, kind, warm and fascinating man. We miss him.

08th October 2005 It's been a hectic couple of months with babies, DIY, freelance work and the day job at Eurocom. So i'm late again with my update. But that does mean that i've got some stuff to post! Most of it is in the 'Gumpf' section, but i've also started another CGtalk challenge. This time the theme is 'Spectacular', and i've started a circus story. So i'll be putting some of the WIP in the 'Story' section from now until the 3rd December deadline.

The stuff in the 'Gumpf' section, includes a portrait of my friend Aly Fell (aka Poshspice!), a 'Gorillaz-style' self portrait i did for a thread over at the fantastic 'Drawing Board', and some rough gladiator sketches... more stuff coming soon!!

06th August 2005 Another month of changing nappies... But i did manage to finish my 'Master and Servant' image, 'The Firewood Flute'. Here's a close up:

'Master and Servant' was the theme of the recent challenge on CGtalk. Daisy Duddle arrived two weeks before the deadline so i had to prioritise a bit and, unfortunatley, didn't finish the image for judging. But i've written a kids' book called 'The Firewood Flute' based on the ideas i had for the challenge. This picture is the first visualisation of that story. You can visit the CGtalk thread here (and leave a comment if you're feeling generous!), or have a look in the 'Stories' section above for more scribbles. I'll upload more in the next couple of weeks and try and include a step-by-step in the 'How?' section.

The CGsociety also posted a reader project of mine, based on my 'Monkey Girl: The Chase' image. It's a fairly in-depth description of how i went about producing that image. Read it here!

I also posted a step-by-step of my Romanes Eunt Domus on CGtalk... i'll post the same images in the 'How?' section soon, but meanwhile go here for a read!! And let me know what you think on the thread!

04th July 2005 There's not much happening at the moment. I've just been changing nappies and drawing loads of concepts at Eurocom. I've done a few bits and bobs for fun in the last month or so. Here's a detail from a quick-ish piece i did for the UK vs. Washington 'Thunderdome' on www.conceptart.org. Hopefully we'll whip 'em...

09th June 2005 OK... This time i really am late with an update. But this time i've got the best excuse ever!! On 25th April 2005 a little girl called Daisy Duddle arrived pink and screaming... Here she is during a slightly calmer moment in May.

Daisy's taken over our lives over the last couple of months, but things are starting to get a little closer to (a whole new) 'normal'. She's a little bit skinny at the moment but very alert and gives her daddy a big grin every night when he arrives home from work. I can't imagine life without her.

My new-ish job at Eurocom is still going just dandy. I wish i could post some work but it's all very hush hush, so i'll have to wait a year or two until the game's released. The style is so different to what i've been doing, but i'm enjoying the challenge. I might do some personal pieces in a similar style just so i've got something to post!!

I've started to tackle the 'KiNG of SPaCe' with an ongoing comic strip in mind. I've started a thread on CGtalk and another on the Drawing Board for feedback and support. Post me some comments if you've got any suggestions. I'm still looking at a developing this idea into a newspaper-syndicate-style strip. And i'm not going to rest until i can pop down to my local comic shop and buy a 'KiNG of SPaCe' vinyl figure!! And a cuddly toy!! And a bumper sticker!! And i settled on a name for him. He's now called 'Rex'.

I've added a couple of new links. The first two thumbnails in the 'new links' section below link to my new buddies Matt Dixon and Aly Fell (Poshspice). I work with Matt at Eurocom and i share lifts to the office with Aly. They are both great concept artists and actually quite pleasant to talk to. They've also inspired me to get more personal work done, so i think they're both splendid fellas.

That's it... Time for a beer and a cuddle with Daisy...

09th March 2005

Oooops... I'm reeeeally late on this update!! But everything's been hectic with changing jobs and DIY and the baby on the way'n'all...

I had a bit of time today, because on the way to work... i... um...er... i... um... well... i...

Crashed my car...

Because i'm a muppet.

It was my beloved 924-S and i'm absolutely gutted!! Have a look in News section for the gory details...

But the good news is that i got a CGtalk Choice Award for another Monkey Girl image ("The Chase"), our baby's doing great in it's nice warm womb (i'll be a dad within the next two months... aAAaAaaarGGhh!!?) and my new job at Eurocom seems to be going swimmingly...

I've also managed to finally get something in the 'How?' section of my site... Check it out!!

12th December 2004

I'm a bit late on this update... but hey!!

There's been lots going on in the last month or so...

I've changed jobs after four and a half years at Warthog!! Warthog were bought by Gizmondo (developers of a new handheld console) and i didn't really feel that i fitted in with the handheld scene. I've still got some good friends at Warthog and hope everything pans out for them and Gizmondo!!

I've started a new job at Eurocom in Derby. They've got some fantastic projects in development and i'm really excited about my new role. It'll be a long long time before i post any work from my current project but it'll hopefully be worth the wait...

I will carry on posting personal work though!! I've posted a new 'Monkey Girl' sketch and an image for another website which will hopefully include a bunch of my comic stuff in a month or two... click on the 'What's New?' icons for more information...

Unfortunately, with my crazy past month and my commitments over the next month or so, i've had to pull out of the CGtalk Space Opera challenge. I'm still super keen on the King of Space idea and i've bought the www.kingofspace.co.uk domain, to hopefully develop an ongoing web comic. It'll be a project for 2005 so don't expect too much too soon!! It just points to my homepage at the moment, but I'll get a placeholder couple of pages online in the next couple of weeks.

And on a slightly different creative level... i'm gonna be a dad!! Woohoo!! Have a look in the 'news' section!!

21st October 2004

I've actually got around to an update... blimey!! I'll make a big effort to post at least monthly...

I've had some great feedback on my site from people who've followed links from CGtalk and the Drawing Board. These are both fantastic forums and if you never visited, have a look!!!

I've entered the new challenge at CGtalk, 'A Grand Space Opera', so go and have a look at my thread, 'the King of Space'... add a comment if you're feeling particularly generous... or maybe even enter..?

I've posted a few new pictures... see 'What's New?' below...

17th Sept 2004

Woohoo!! I've got the new site up and running!!

The old site was assembled over a long weekend last autumn, and gradually added to and added to...and i've been getting more and more annoyed with it's structure... so over the last couple of weeks i've assembled this new layout. Most of the work is the same, but i'm a lot happier with the layout. It's using 'frames', so if it buggers up i'll apologise now... it all works fine here... :)

There's still various pages which aren't complete, but it'll be all working by the end of next week. So here's the basics... for my mum and anyone who gets lost...

If you ever want to get back here... Press my face in the top left...

The top bar is to get to the section you're interested in. Just click.

The bottom bar has links to images which will appear in this window. Use the bar to scroll left and right, and click on the thumbnails to get a big image. Keep an eye out for scroll bars...

And that's it... Hope you like it!!