Paper Froggo in Ballpoint Pen

I’ve never recorded the process of a ballpoint pen drawing from start to finish before, and I thought it might be satisfying to watch…

I didn’t know much about the SS Sirius until recently, despite seeing its legacy all over Cork. If you visit Cobh today, you might pass the Sirius Arts Centre; if you wander around Passage West you might see a paddle shaft from the ship on display; it's even the reason Ballycotton has a lighthouse now!

I'll share its story below if you're curious, but the reason I researched and drew it in the first place was as part of an advert in my Scarlet project. I've used artistic license obviously, but it's a self-indulgent project anyway, so I drew my favourite instead of a more accurate ship 🤷 It felt like a good time to share the story too, as Sirius made its most famous journey in April. I’ve also been playing AC Black Flag lately, humming sea shanties while sailing around in my virtual ship. So, here's the (shortened!) story of a historic Cork ship!

A while back, I started listening to Sherlock Holmes stories while I worked. One idea led to another, and soon enough, I found myself researching early 1900s typography, advertising and newspapers, so that I could redesign the first Sherlock Holmes story, "A Study in Scarlet," as an issue of The Illustrated Police News, full of illustrations and advertisements that support the story. For many reasons, this is perhaps the most self-indulgent personal project I've taken on lately, and one of my favourite portfolio pieces to date. ️️

I plan to talk about some of the individual elements later on - this project gave me an excuse to draw steam ships and violins and portraits and hats! - but for now I just want to share the project as a whole. A fun little adventure through history and storytelling via graphic design. ️

I'm a little late with this, but thought I'd add to the #DrawTheOceans tag created by @greenpeaceuk with a little origami drawing. Last month the theme was Dolphins, highlighting the work they're doing to help protect ocean life in India.

I’ve picked up plenty of odd hobbies and fascinations during lockdown, and penmanship is one of them. I was at a virtual class late last year and the designer mentioned Shakespeare’s handwriting, which sparked my curiosity. I ended up falling down a rabbit hole exploring the handwriting and signatures of historical figures, taking an interest in all the little quirks that can reveal a lot about someone’s character. Long story short: here’s a handful of quotes I liked, in handwriting I found interesting. (This isn’t a serious project btw; just a fun little dalliance through history via handwriting. So these are more approximations than exact replicas of each handwriting style.)

I’ve been thinking about music, Lou Ottens, and analog tech lately. Click through for playlists and stuff!

Part of my ballpoint origami series! As per usual, click through for extras if you’re curious!

These days, I just want to focus on the little things that make me happy. Like ballpoint pens and sketchbooks and origami animals. 🧡

I had a lot of fun designing and illustrating these! I've loved the Wooden Overcoats podcast for years, and recently started listening from the beginning again. I really wanted to bring a little piece of Piffling Vale to life, so just for fun, I made myself a little bottle of Antigone Funn's Embalming Fluid - with a fresh Clementine and Cinnamon scent of course! - and a few little Funn Funerals business cards.