Notes from the sketch book

“I smoke, I snort, I killed and robbed,  I'm a man”.... It's the final week of 21st-century gangster flicks, and this is the best of the lot. This week see's two tees inspired by this weeks movie 'The City Of God'. The City of God is a Brazilian crime epic released in 2002, if you haven't seen it, you must. Co-directed by the team of  Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund its the adapted story from the novel of the same name. Set in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro spanning the 1960s and the 1970s, two young men choose different...

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”― Pablo Picasso A bit of a different throwback Thursday this week, instead of a sketch of something that happened on this day, I'm going to use a traditional block printing technique of Linocut or Lino printing. I've never done it before but I have had a fair few messages asking for the T-shirt designs to be made into prints. So after having a think about the way I design the art to go on the t-shirts lends itself to block printing, especially handmade block...

“I’d just as soon kiss a wookiee.”   Star Wars? but this week is Modern Gangsters? Jabba the Hutt was one of the galaxy's most powerful gangsters! Star Wars is a juggernaut, it's an industry in itself. Its went from a sci-fi movie based on cheesy serials of the 30s and 40s made by a then indie filmmaker to a cash cow. Film series, expanded universes, comics, video games, theme parks and not forgetting the toys. When aliens eventually visit the Earth long after we have gone they will find a hell of a lot of the 700 million action figures...

“I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me. .” The last week of Gangster fortnight, unsurprisingly features another Martin Scorsese feature on this weeks tee. In 2006 a mash-up of a remake of the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs and the real-life Boston Winter Hill Gang finally won Martin Scorsese his first Academy Award for Best Director. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and a surprising scene-stealing turn from Mark Wahlberg.  Boston cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes undercover to infiltrate the organisation of gangland chief Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson)....

Where I live it's another holiday weekend and a long weekend off, no throwback Thursday sketch today but a little fun tribute to Teddy Rocks music festival. It's a music festival that raises money for Teddy 20 a charity that helps families and children that have been affected by Cancer. It's a great weekend long event with great music and family friendly, which all proceeds go to charity. When we first moved to our house we went to Teddy Rocks and had a blast, it's now found a permanent home on local farmland and gets bigger and better every year,...