Toli

Moo Business Cards have arrived

2009-07-03T16:48:00.002+01:00

My Moo card order arrived today! Yippe!

I was concerned the colours in the artwork would come out different to what I've been seeing on my monitor but I am pleased to say they've come out very well and accurate. Overall I'm really happy with the print quality on the cards and will be definitely using Moo again in the near future for a few other things I have up my sleeve (watch this space for updates).

Apologise for the horrible quality in the photographs, but the only camera I had lying around was a very old Nokia N95 mobile phone that has seen better days. It's bottom has fallen off and the battery is being held in with bluetac.

Here, have a photo:

And another:

I love them so much I want to keep them all...

..but if you ask me very nicely you can have some.

Frankmusik

2009-05-31T19:05:00.003+01:00

I think it was around the summer of 2007 that I first stumbled upon Frankmusik. I streamed a couple of his tracks from his myspace and was instantly hooked. I remember being so excited and much to the annoyance of my online friends, decided to forward on the link to everyone who was logged in to messenger and insist they listen.

I don't think he was to everyone's taste but a couple of friends appreciated his hyper, super-happy, electro style. Since then Vince (aka Frankmusik) has been snapped up by a major record label and is due to release his debut album on 22nd June.

Sorry if this sounds like a plug at selling his music. It's not meant to be. I'm just a fan and he's a top bloke (I have met him a couple of times and he's even sent me free songs!). You should defintly check out his myspace if you're into electro music.

Much consuming.

2009-05-05T15:54:00.004+01:00

It has been a while since my last blog post. Not a massive 2-year-while like the site has been subject to before, but I have been aware of my neglect!

I've been on holiday since the last time we spoke! T'was a beautiful little get-a-way in sunny Brighton! It's the first time I've been on an official holiday in around 4 years and it was sorely needed.

However- it's back to work, as usual, but I've been spending a lot of lunch breaks taking a short trip in to the city centre to rummage through the arts, graphic design, graffiti and graphic novels sections of the major booksellers in Oxford.

I've surprised myself with this newly realised fascination for hunting out new inspiration. It's so easy to get swept up with what's current, new and fresh in the illustration world. Especially with the help of Twitter (which I will mention later) and it's very easy to get lazy. To stick with what you know. What is safe.

I think I'm at a little crossroad in my head in terms of what I want to express in my art. Everything from the subject and content, to the style and execution. That's not to say I'm turning my back on what I've been doing the past 5 years or so. I just feel I've been quite easy on myself. What I draw (primarily) has been a pastime. Something to enjoy, and therefor I've been seeing it as something I don't want to "read up on" or "educate" myself in.

So for the past month or so I've been reading, and browsing, and buying books! There's some really fantastic stuff out there! For instance, R.Crumb. I've probably come way late to the party but his style, detail, humour is.. amazing. I can read his stuff for hours, re-read and examine each picture in great detail.

Joe Matt who was someone else who caught my eye. Quite different in style to Crumb, much cleaner lines, more simplistic, but I love the content and execution of his sense of humour. Very addictive.

I've also order a Scott McCloud book, and been reading up on the likes of modern day greats such as Keith Harring. And this is only scratching the surface of what's out there...

My mind is quite a big scrambled mess. I look at all this stuff, and it's so easy to get overwhelmed by it all. Where do I fit in? What can I offer that's not already been done a thousand times over? And that's what I'm still thinking about.

I've been spending most of this weekend (the first in *ages* where I've had time to spend on myself) on just sketching and reading. And it's been great!

I know I say it over and over, but my day job saps the energy out of me. Where do people have the time to have a full-time job, a life and then fit in their Hobby? I can't seem to concentrate on one without neglecting the others.

BAH.

I have managed to complete one picture since we last chatted though.

I don't think there's much to explain about this. It was a sketch I thought looked cool and a bit messed up so decided to draw it up on the computer.

Oh. Almost forgot. Twitter. It's bloody addictive. If you don't already have an account, sign up, and then follow me! I'm tolii on there (with two Is - toli was already taken by some French guy).

Done! I need to go now. Speak soon!

The Scribble Project

2009-03-29T15:22:00.002+01:00

The Scribble Project
Originally uploaded by T0LI

Here's my submission to the Scribbler project. I hope people like it! I've been away from the computer for the most of the weekend so my only choice was to sketch the ol' fashioned way.

It makes a nice change from having to sit as a desk staring at a glaring monitor and makes for good practice trying to acquire a steady hand. I really enjoyed doing it and found it very relaxing. I totally zoned out at times which is something that seems to be harder to do when drawing at the computer.

It's the weekend the clocks go forward. So everything in my world is messed up. I hate it. Daylight saving time is rubbish. And I'm always right, so the above statement is fact.

OLD MAN RANT: I don't really like flickr. I just seems messy that it's bolted on to the back of yahoo's account system. I had to spend 20 minutes trying to find a decent login name, then having to create another unique flickr username. What's the point in that? I also resent that there's a cap to the amount of photos you can upload. I resent having to pay for space to store images when there's 1000s of free places to do so. I have all the space I need on toli.co.uk anyway, but for the occasion of the scribbler project, I thought I'd may as well sign up.

Marshall came!

2009-03-23T17:28:00.004Z

I order him some time last week after spotting him on a blog post over at Vinyl Abuse and instantly thought "WANT". I've not bought a vinyl/"designer" toy since I went a little overboard a few years ago on a particular series of key chain based collectibles. I shan't go in to details... that part of my life is behind me.

Designed by the very talented duo that is 64colors. I highly recommend you check out their website and online store and consider buying some of their artwork. It's all very ace.

As customary with pre-opening of package rituals, all stages of the opening of the parcel have been photographed in detail. I will just save you the time and show you my favourite photos from the collection:

This is the box. Notice the Abe Lincoln logo? Yup, I bought it from Rotofugi. Apparently only 500 of the "vintage" version have been released, so if like me you WANT, you better GET, quick.

This are the polystyrene S things. These aren't as great as you might think. I threw these away straight away.

And this is Marshall! He's a bit bigger than I anticipated, but looks just as great in the flesh. He will keep me company under the computer monitor while I'm busy coming up with disturbing new ideas for illustrating. Marshall may look innocent to you, but behind that classic smile is a perverted and twisted mind. I like him.

Can't wait for the rest of the designs to be released, digging the "Injured" version!

TOLI.CO.UK - UPDATED

2009-03-16T12:25:00.004Z

Hey all 3 of my visitors,

I've refreshed the TOLI.co.uk homepage. A nice fresh overhaul. As mentione in my previous blog I've gone for a simplistic layout. I think it works well, let me know what you think. Just go there to check it out, or click this link as, if like me, you're too lazy to type it in to the address bar of your browser manually.

Glad the bulk of the work for the site is out of the way as I can now focus back on the drawings!!

See you soon.

Todd

Out with the old site...

2009-03-05T10:55:00.006Z

Why hello there. You may be wondering what I'm getting up to. You may not. I'm guessing probably the latter, but either way I'm going to tell you. Work is still very much going on in the world of Toli.

Plenty of sleep deprived nights, brainstorming sessions with... with myself, re-teaching myself the mechanics of web page programming, PHP and all that other malarkey. It's all quite boring stuff, but necessary in the process of overhauling my little home page here - which is what I'm keeping myself busy with at the mo'.

I think simplicity is key. I know it is. Plus, with my little technical know-how, it's not really a choice. Toli.co.uk is going to have to be about simplicity.

Please don't be scared about all this technical talk - I'm not changing this blog from being about me talking about my drawings to my latest IT accomplishments, it's just at the moment the art is second priority to getting this web page overhauled. It can't look too enticing to visitors having news updates from 2006 on the main page. I think lack of activity will pretty much kill a web page. People want to know you're there, and you're current. If not, they piss off.

I intend to update the main layout, totally simplify the gallery as there is too much fancy code on there at the moment and I've forgotten how to update! I used to be a wiz with the PHP coding, but these days I cannot be bothered with it. I'd rather draw.

I will keep this blog here. Same url, same purpose: to update you, informally, with my what's going on in regards to my artistic creations, but please embrace yourself for a new toli.co.uk with a BIG FAT GALLERY full of my more recent work. I AM EXCITED FOR MYSELF!

I won't say it's going to happen in the near future as things never do whenever I promise that.

But it will be happening. Probably in bits. Most evenings, after work. :)

Balloon ride

2009-02-22T16:51:00.003Z

It's been a while in updating. Nothing too much to report just yet. I'm currently working on a drawing for a friend which has been taking up most of my recent spare time. I will post more as I get nearer to finishing it, but for now this is a little snipping:

Talk to you soon and enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!!

Garbage Pail Kids

2009-02-08T20:29:00.002Z

It's Sunday. I think. This week has been hectic. If you live anywhere in the UK, you'll already know about the weather problems we've been having. If not, then let me explain. Snow. In the middle of going to work, surving the snow, and eating, I've managed to get a bit more drawing done.

I think the idea occured to me on Monday of last week. I was searching eBay for Garbage Pail Kids. If you were born in the early ish 80's or before then you might know about them. If not, I'll explain very briefly. They were a series of stickers originally released in the US in 1985. They were a parody of the Cabbage Patch Dolls which were the current craze at the time, but with a twist. That twist being very sick humour.

...you might be noticing a pattern with things I take an interest in, first Little Dracula, now Garabage Pail Kids...

Back to my idea. When I was little, I remember drawing my own additions to the GPK stickers, but none of them matched even closely to the original style of John Pound's (the guy responsible for drawing a large portion of the GPK stickers). I tried, and tried... and gave up. But now, a good 15 years later I thought, why not just create one in my own style?

It was a small project. 2-3 evenings worth of work. The finished product being below. I've printed and cut a few out and I'm currently using them as business cards. Might print a few off as stickers too.

Please note I take no credit for the orignal concept of the picture. It's a straight up copy of this sticker.

Uncut sheets.

Individual cards.

The finished product!!

Overall I'm pretty happy with it. I've been trying different shading techiniques with this drawing. The hardest part of the picture was getting the colouring in the mushroom cloud right. I tried following the original closely at first, but it didn't look right with my simplistic style. It was far too realistic, so I toned it down a bit, simplyfied it, and voila.

Hope you enjoy it!

If you know me and want a copy, just ask. If you don't know me, and want a copy, just email me! todd at toli.co.uk if you're wondering.

Little Dracula

2009-02-01T13:04:00.002Z

The past week I've been making several purchases off of Amazon's marketplace. I've been tracking down a series of book I read when I was an ickle kiddy called "Little Dracula".

Currently I have Little Dracula's First Bite and Little Dracula Goes to School in my possesion (still waiting for the other two). Both of these books have this amazingly detailed artwork with so much going on - stuff I love. Not only that but the subject of the images and the morbid ideas used I find absolutely amazing. As a kid I would look through Little Dracula at the Seaside and notice all little details the illustrator had included. The fact that quite often, the pictures were pretty disgusting, made it even more of a treat to find the extra detail!

The illustrator's name (if you're wondering) Joseph Wright. I also spent a bit of time in the second hand department in Blackwells bookstore yesterday and found another book featuring Joseph's artwork too - "What-a-Mess Goes on Television". I've not read the book yet, just looked at the pictures. Again, I love the details!

I highly reccommend you check them out. They can be bought for as little as 70p! Bargains!

Ideas and inspiration

2009-01-21T17:46:00.003Z

Ideas for pictures hit me at the funniest times. Sometimes when they're not really appropriate - such as at work. But unless it's a very busy day, I try not to let that bother me! Here's a sketch that I started at work, in my office notepad no less (hence the lovely horizontal lines). You can see that a few of the original ideas have made their way to the final artwork. Some have not.

I would say that sketching, for me, is the most important stage of creating a picture. If an idea in a sketch looks bad, it's very likely to look bad as finished art. No matter how polished. It's also the quickest way of putting down the ideas that lurk in your head on to a tangable medium which means you prevent much of the initial idea being lost in the translation.

Anyway - there's no much meaning behind this post other than "here's a sketch, and he's the final artwork".

Sorry if I sound so brief, but life had been very hectic recently and I've not had time to turn the computer on in the past few weeks (I mean my home computer, not my work one) let alone get anything drawn or blogged.

Anyway - I hope you enjoy my art!

The Ideas Factory

2009-01-08T16:35:00.002Z

Dating back from June 2007 I completed this piece of artwork commissioned for Monarch books titled "The Ideas Factory". You can buy it here! I had a very tight deadline to get this finished, what with juggling full-time work, I only had evenings to get it done! The cover completely drained me.. for the time spent on this, I think it turned out pretty okay.

HTM-HELL

2009-01-08T16:30:00.003Z

Coding really sucks. I used to be pretty adept at the old HTML coding back in the day (about 8 years ag0) but time has moved on and coding practices seem to have done so too. I've just wasted the past 2 hours customising my blog, trying to port it over to my toli.co.uk domain only for blogger.com to tell me it can't update page profiles.

I'm sure you care even less than I do about coding a website so I shall stop moaning about my experiences with customising this page. What you see now is what you'll have to put up with.

Content to follow...

New Years Resolutions (work in progress)

2009-01-07T15:38:00.005Z

1. Keep up with drawing more regularly.

2. Make a calandar for 2010. Start this ASAP!
3. Go on holiday. Preferably somewhere warm.
4. Do more exercise. Very cliche but very neces!
5. Be a little bit more productive in my spare time.
6. Draw more regularly -noted twice due to importance.
7. Keep motivated no matter what.
8. Update my website at least once every 2 years.

I think these are all pretty realistic.