Images from here, here, here and here.

Richie

Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hello! My name is Shannon, but my nickname is Nan. I'm an illustrator living and working in Los Angeles. I live with my boyfriend and two cats in a cozy craftsman apartment that I like to decorate in my spare time.

When did you first decide to become an artist?
My first real decision to become an artist was when I was in college. I knew I wanted to create things. I studied film making there, which is a great way to learn how to write, act, and create visual art. My decision to become an illustrator came later when I was working a boring day job. I started my Etsy shop as a creative outlet and that's where my illustrating really took off.

What are a few of your favorite things?
I love to watch great movies and television shows. I am always inspired by the characters I see in them, and find myself drawing them more and more often. I also love great interior design. A clean and well decorated space is a beautiful thing to me.

Lizzie and Darcy

Who are your favourite artists at the moment?
I've always loved Ashley G's artwork, and I'm a big fan of Vera Brosgol and Emily Carroll. All three are great lady illustrators/cartoonists. I'm also pretty obsessed with anything by Jon Klassen.

What are your top five favourite movies at the moment?
The Royal Tenenbaums, In The Mood For Love, Moulin Rouge, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Harold and Maude


Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
I hope to still be illustrating and making a living off of it. That's the most important thing to me. Maybe I'll have branched out to do more editorial work and licensing at that point. I'd love to be living in a modest home with my boyfriend (perhaps husband by then?) in Los Angeles.

The Photographer

Thank you so much Nan! For more Nan Lawson loveliness, you can visit her Etsy shop here--> Nan Lawson and her website here---> Nan Lawson Illustration.

This is just a quick post to let you know about an enormous and utterly magnificent giveaway over at Shade of a Bonsai. One of my prints is also in the mix there too!

I hope everyone is having a terrific week! :0)

...and these two lads are the last cats I drew in 2011. They are Sunday Afternoon and Stretch respectively.

Happy new week to all!

This first image of his from a Vogue cover in the 20s is perhaps my all time favourite!

Happy Friday!

Images from here and here.

After a fairly cool start to summer, I think it's finally decided to be hot. Very hot. Here's hoping we don't have several days of 40 plus degree heat like we had last year. That sort of heat can really take it out of a person!

I hope everyone has a terrific week!

I'd also like to wish everyone a heartfelt Happy New Year! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog in 2011! I'd also like to thank all the wonderful people who have popped into my shop and bought prints this year too! Here's to a fabulous 2012! XOXO's

Image from here.

Part of my break has been spent watching "The Hour". "The Hour" is a period drama/ spy story set in Cold War 1956 London. The story revolves around a producer, a journalist and an anchor man who are working on a BBC investigative news programme called The Hour.  It's said to be the British Mad Men which it most certainly isn't! Actually, I found the first two episodes pretty infuriating for reasons I will explain later, but I perservered and found it improved somewhat with each episode.

These are my thoughts:

Pros

1. It is ravishing to look at. "The Hour" has very high production values. In fact, I think this is what kept me going past the first two eps. The costumes are gorgeous, paticularly Bel's wardrobe which is to die for lovely. The period detail and set designs are spot on. I love seeing bits and pieces from 1956 post war London. The cinematography is superb and the interiors which range from country piles and the  TV studio to modest flats in London are very well done.

2. The acting is very decent. The three main characters of producer, journalist and anchor man played by Romola Garai (Bel), Ben Wishaw (Freddy) and Dominic West (Hector) are well acted. The supporting cast is as equally solid as the leads.

3. The jazzy/ bebop theme music is great and the incidental music throughout the series compliments the action well.

Cons

1. Poor character development. For the first two episodes I felt like I was watching a stone skipping across the surface of a lake. I felt I wasn't given the opportunity to get to know the characters beyond the surface. This is largely due to the script which I find pretty thin at times and down right inappropriate at others.

2. The script! As already mentioned, it is pretty weak in parts and doesn't work hard enough to give  the charcaters a three dimensional feel. It is also very lumpy and jarringly modern. It pulls you out of the drama with its 2011 phrases and expressions. One glaring example is a scene between a distressed Freddy (the young journalist) and his superior, Clarence Fendley, who must be 60 plus years old. The superior takes a distraught Freddy by the shoulders, looks him in the eye and says soothingly "Just breathe". He says this about four times! Really? In 1956? A superior to a subordinate? I think such touchy feely modern ideas about how to relieve stress and the concept of a a caring workplace environment have no place in 1956!! 

3. The Cold War Suez Canal crisis which unfolds during the series is historically interesting up to a point, but quite frankly I found it a bit so what. We know how it worked out and we know it didn't result in World War Three, so how can we feel as anxious about it as the cast? The political scandal surrounding the crisis similarly seems a bit ho hum.

So, there are my pros and cons regarding this series. It did improve with each episode, so if you find it a bit heavy going for the first few, take heart : it does get marginally better.

What are your thoughts? Have you seen it and what did you think of it? Have I been too harsh here or not harsh enough? I'd love to hear your views! 

Images from here.

Sid

Hello! I hope everyone has had and is having a happy festive season! I have now sufficiently recovered from my Christmas Day feast and feel ready to start posting some drawings and interesting things I've stumbled across in the week since my last post. It's been a big week!

So, this is Sid, He is a crested pigeon. We have quite a lot of them here in Sydney. They are sweet because when they take off and fly, they make a wooden "tocking" sound like a mechanical toy. I thought Sid looked a bit New Wave/ Punk with his top knot. He did tell me his favourite band was Blondie so perhaps I wasn't too far off there...