The Anatomy of Jessicat Fletcher

As many of you will know, I have a cat called Jessicat Fletcher. She is adorable and I love her, despite the many cat lady jokes I’ve received (thanks guys, love you too). 

I’ve not done any posts specifically on her before, mainly because I was worried that once I started I'd be unlikely to stop. Only time will tell.

Although I’m technically her owner, I feel that Jess has given me an insight on what it would be like to have a sibling. Basically, my mum feeds us and gets our names mixed up, and, in between short bouts of cuddling, we try to see how much we can irritate each other before the other one snaps.

Please let me know if my only-child conclusions are accurate.

Whilst drawing her it kind of turned into a homage to Sophie Corrigan, who does a lovely series of anatomy images you should check out. So this one's for you, Sophie C.

Finally, my Window Shopper Christmas cards sold out in 5 days! Holy crap! Thanks to everyone who bought some, I hope they get you in the festive spirit.

H

Christmas Cards!

It's that time again, people!

My Christmas cards have just arrived from the printers, and once their cellophane wrappings have arrived (so they don't get damaged in the post) they will be ready to purchase!

The cards are A5, with crisp white envelopes. After much debate with myself, others and the printers, the inside of the cards are blank, so you can write your Christmassy messages to all and sundry.

There will be options to buy single cards for £1.50, packs of 6 for £5.50 and packs of 10 for £8.50 (plus postage).

(All cards are kitty approved)

And now for something completely different...

My halloween costume!

In honour of both Halloween and the fact that Hurdy Gurdy are doing a Sherlock themed event at the Museum of London in November I give you my high-fuctioning sociopath...

(Guest appearance from J Furriarty)

(my normal face)

The workshop at the Museum of London is making paper disguises so come along if you can and become your own Master of Disguise!

H

The Feminist Bee

I often have incredibly detailed and bizarre dreams. I spend a great deal of my time asleep battling the forces of evil, and at 28 I still have flying dreams on a fairly regular basis. I once had a dream that I was on a guided boat tour of a city where every massive building was supported by intricately carved giant elephants doing circus tricks. I was accompanied on the boat trip by several Chinese tourists and David Bowie. We bonded over lost camera batteries. Silly David. He always loses his camera batteries.

Although I can usually guarantee that my dreams are completely weird I can’t always remember all of them, and the other morning I woke up only remembering that I was telling someone, entirely in earnest, that bees needed to be introduced to feminism.

I do consider myself a feminist, simply because I firmly believe that a person’s genitalia has no bearing whatsoever on their worth as a person. I am aware, however, that bees probably don’t need feminism. They’re matriarchal. But I like to think that if bees and humans understood each other better, or perhaps if bees were a little more politically active, they would be our allies. 

On discussing this with my dear friend, and awesome poet, Leanne Moden, she decided that the world should be informed of the feminist bee and her plight. So here are the bees.

(P.S. I went on to worry that maybe male bees were oppressed in bee society and they suffered from terrible misandry (misanbee?) on a regular basis. But then I figured I was probably getting a bit carried away.

That being said if you know of a male bee being oppressed, please don’t stand idly by and let it happen.)

Post Art

Every now and again I send my friends in America parcels full of British goodies (it's mostly tea) and I decided to jazz this box up a bit.

Enjoy!

H

The Boardmans

Hello!
Here's a little portrait I did for a friend - of him and his family.
Nicky's been going through the ringer with that-there-bastard cancer and writes the most incredible blog about it called Too Upbeat for Cancer. It hilarious and heartbreaking and wonderful so if you haven't read it already I really recommend you check it out here.

You can also buy Too Upbeat for Cancer merchandise here (30% goes to cancer research) or give money on his lady wife's just giving page here.

See you soon!

H

Mermaid vs Merjim

I drew this little sailor/mermaid combo and then realised that I had accidentally drawn Matt Baynton (of Horrible Histories, The Wrong Mans, Yonderland etc). 

So, naturally, I decided to change the mermaid's face to Jim Howick's; who is also of Horrible Histories and Yonderland fame. (I checked with him first on twitter. He was cool with it.)

Then there was a really bizarre moment where I was googling "Jim Howick in drag" to try and work out his best flirty mermaid face. I love my job.

Here's the result.

Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake (plus noses)

Hello again! Two posts in one week, my goodness. 

For your Saturday viewing pleasure I give you my version of Fionna and Cake (plus friends/enemies). 

I'm completely addicted to Adventure Time (and if you don't know what that is go look it up immediately) and I've been wanting to pay homage for a while.

I could've done the normal non-gender-swapped characters but I was swayed by the fact that I really want to be Fionna. She's awesome.

See you soon!

H

Pretty Nostalgic Magazine

Hello all!

Here's one of the things I've been working on in the last few months... some images for Pretty Nostalgic magazine!
As some of you may know, I love all things retro, so I jumped at the chance to work with Nic Dorman, illustrating her article on the vintage delights of my home county, Norfolk.

You can buy this issue (and others) at www.prettynostalgic.co.uk

Subscribers (like myself) can also submit content to the magazine by getting in touch with the Pretty Nostalgic team.

See you soon!

H

Hand doodles

Part of new side project I've got on the go! (And yes, that is my hand I'm drawing on - it's for a good reason!)

I've been feeling pretty terrible with the ME/CFS over the last couple of months, but still working on commissions, so there hasn't been much spare energy for blogging (or anything lol). There'll be some returns on that work fairly soon though, and a slightly calmer period, so hopefully I'll be able to post again soon!

H

Editorial good times

Hello all! I am doing work, honest! I've got a couple of commissions on at the mo that are sucking up all my time, so it's been a while since I managed to actually post anything. But here's a little sneaky peek at what I've been up to.

H

Suffragette Scooter Gang

First I saw this...

(“Lady Florence Norman, a suffragette, on her motor-scooter in 1916")

And then I did this...

Because naturally this is how the girls got around. Although I can't decide if the soundtrack is "Sister's are doing it for themselves" or "Born to be Wild".

Dilemma.

H

So Shit Sherlock #5

The final instalment of So Shit Sherlock; the many reasons why I would make a terrible detective.

See you soon!

H

Happy Valentine's Day!

Courtesy for my fantastic friend Jake's brain and my trusty graphic tablet I bring you a Valentine's treat.

In other news, Hurdy Gurdy are running a workshop over the Museum of London tonight with their City of Seduction spectacular. Head over to make things, do some absinth tasting and look at awesome old things.

See you soon!

H

So Shit Sherlock #4

Yup. There's a reason I went into the arts.

The penultimate reason why I would be a terrible, terrible Sherlock.

So Shit Sherlock #3

It's that time again, folks! The third reason I don't fight crime.

(Also, yay more gifs!)


H

So Shit Sherlock #2

The second reason I'd be a terrible detective.

Not a gif this time, but stay tuned.

H

So Shit Sherlock

The first of many reasons why I would be terrible at solving crime.

(You asked for gifs, so here you are)

Bad hair day

How my hair gets dried when my ME/CFS is playing up. Good ol' mum.
And hooray for learning how to do GIFs!

H