The view from the hill

Living Next Door to Alice!

grantwilson — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:55:32 +0000

I’ve recently been having a go at Illustrating Alice from the Lewis Carroll Books. I purchased a decidedly dog-eared copy so as I could spend time looking at John Tenniel’s fantastic illustrations again…

Click here for my Drawings of Alice so-far!!

Cartoon Calendar for 2012

grantwilson — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:21:33 +0000

Having been hard at work with new Caricatures and cartoons I thought I’d collect them in a Calendar so as to bring a smile to each month!

Find the Calendar here:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/grantwilson/calendars/8336139-grant-wilson-cartoon-calendar

Politics, music, gags, caricature, and more all drawn by moi!

Cartoon Caricatures: Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair and more…

grantwilson — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:28:36 +0000

Hello folks, I trust you had a good season of goodwill…if that makes sense!

The last couple of days I’ve been doing a bit of cartooning, the first for a while. Instead of drawing up my own gags I decided on a spot of Caricature, and as I’m an oldie I drew up some politicians from the past.

The clue to who they are is in the title of this post….

My latest Cartoon Caricatures!

Cartoon Caricature

New Year…New Year..

grantwilson — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 11:59:12 +0000

It’s almost upon us, saying goodbye to 2011 and bringing in 2012 in, without a doubt, a drunken glow.

This year has had a number of good points: the number of people visiting my gallery at Redbubble has increased 4 fold on the whole of last year..and according to my metrics the number of returning visitors has steadily increased to almost 50% of visitors.

I feel I have progressed drawing wise and hope to continue on the up into the new year.

Keeping my Facebook page fresh is another challenge as many of you will know, yet this alone has provided me with interested viewers which keeps the sketches coming!

Thanks, then, to all for your continued interest in my drawing out-put. From sketchpad to world-wide access the internet has brought me an expanding audience which wasn’t possible when I first dreamt of getting into Art in 1996 or thereabouts…

Back then, besides paying a lot more for materials at high street outlets, the only persons viewing my primitive doodles were easily counted on one hand!!! Coupled to this my reliance on 4p photo-copies and hand-colouring things have come along way…but my audience remains as important to me now as it did when tearing out a pleasing page and sticking it on my wall….ha ha!

Going to do some expanding in the waist-line area now and look out my Beer for the coming customary booze-up…

Happy New Year to all when it comes and thanks!

Grant…

Christmas Comes but once a Year…

grantwilson — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:01:25 +0000

A Merry Christmas to all readers of “The view from the Hill”!

A busy Year is Drawing to a close…no pun intended!
Here’s to a Long, relaxing kick back and blow out…yeeehaaa!

Merry Christmas..!

All Present and Correct!

grantwilson — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 07:55:37 +0000

Online shopping, you’ve got to love it. All my presents for Christmas just await the wrapping stage..currently sitting in a pile of Jiffy bags with packing slips.

Gone are the days of dashing around Edinburgh at 8.30pm on Christmas Eve!

Roll on Matter transportation when purchases can be beamed into your home to a device not unlike a bread-bin in the Kitchen.

Maybe that’ll happen before next year…

I’m Dreaming of a White…..

grantwilson — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 06:35:00 +0000

Snow has arrived in Edinburgh.

I know I’m getting older when this fact is accompanied by a groan or two..!

Everything is quiet and still and the smoke from a distant Chimney is freezing as it snakes into the Sky. Thankfully it’s not Snowing at the moment but we have a couple of inches blanketing the Gardens…

Better take evasive action, Mulled Wine anyone?!!

The Gallery!

grantwilson — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:37:35 +0000

My Redbubble Gallery is growing apace since my last post, filing up with a combination of Pencil and Digital sketches. The view rate is a very inspiring 1,000 views every 4.5 days and this year has seen the viewcount more than triple as has the number of available prints.

I’ve resisted the temptation to produce anything “Christmassy” instead focusing on improving my drawing, which, although many corners remain dark and inaccessible, has visible improved in terms of realism and composition….I think!

The Gallery!

I’ll be writing again before Christmas, at the moment occupied with keeping the gallery content fresh and appealing. I’ve also a number of Gifts to buy…..damn! Bah Humbug!

Power Windows!

grantwilson — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:31:48 +0000

Hello again all!

I’ve been drawing a lot again in pencil, going through about 2.5 HB pencils a week with sketching. My latest work is named after the Rush Album “Power Windows” and the link to view it is coming up….

Po wer Windows Fantasy image!

The figure in the Window is a pencil sketch coloured digitally. I was pleased with the result…there’s a lot going on.

Please have a look, I think this is a strong image!!

Until next time…cheerio.

Pencils! New Stuff Coming!

grantwilson — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:30:46 +0000

The last few days I’ve been using solely Pencil, sketching and trying to extend my technical reach. A few successes and a number of false starts! As I work what has become more apparent is that the old Maxim “Practice makes Perfect” is indeed true! I cannot imagine my younger self of 10-15 years ago having much affinity with this fact, but as the Art bug continues to bite..my 39 years on this planet stand by it resolutely.

For followers of my Facebook page…I’ve new stuff coming, for readers of this blog here is an example which can be found at my “fantasyart” page on Facebook.