Summer in the city

I'm part of a communal blog with a load of old college friends. Nothing much, just a bit of fun where a new topic is posted every fortnight and you're supposed to draw something relating to said topic. Supposed to being the operative word. I usually trawl through the sketchbooks to see if I have something relevant and then I post that. I know...I know...don't shout at me for being lazy.

Anyway, this fortnight the topic is summer, so seeing as I'd just been on a summer holiday I figured I'd post a picture of a surfer from Venice beach...which I found in my sketchbook...so I did just that. And then I felt bad because I'd done the same thing I always do and avoided taking part properly. So I sat down at my desk which had a copy of "Lifestyle Illustration of the 60's" lying on it (great book, highly recommend it...it's by Rian Hughes) so I decided to try a little homage to some old school illustration. (I recommend clicking to make it bigger...I don't usually, but this time I do)

I also tried to apply something which was told to me when I was over in the US...try to get some kind of story into the image. Originally, I had the girl lying back on the recliner, glasses on and not really doing anything apart from getting rid of those tan lines. There was a story there but the relationship between the two felt cold...like an unhappy marriage. This couple is rich enough to own a private roof top pool, but money can't fix everything. That isn't the type of thing you see in the old 60's stuff. For the most part it has some great positive engagement between the characters. So (in a nod to Playboy) I made them both naked (c'mon...if I had a roof top pool I would DEFINITELY skinny dip) and had her look over the top of her glasses and check out the guys tush...made me laugh and instantly puts a different (positive) take on what is going on between these two. Horny little minx.

So that is my own explanation. There is a big sway towards Chris Ware's New Yorker covers (the isometric ones he did for thanks giving a while back) which is why I put the spoof title cover on it.

In other news, scientists have discovered how to turn human excrement into beef substitute! Can we find another form of fuel besides petrol? No. Can we take our own poo and turn it into burgers? Yes. I'm never eating a McDonald's again.