Cool Surface Lite

SciFi Now - 101 Geekiest Clips you must see!

2011-11-28T13:58:00.001Z

Issue 61 of SciFi Now includes a feature of "The ultimate countdown to the 101 geekiest videos you must watch now!" showcasing some of the most unexpected and brilliant parodies, cinematics, short films and rare interviews from across the net. Any list that includes Nicolas Cages infamous "Not the Bees!" scene gets the thumbs up from us!

You can see more about SciFi Now on their website and follow SciFi Now on Twitter.

Have fun,

David

You should Followus!
Twitter - http://twitter.com/DavidCousens
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/DavidCousens
Tumblr - http://CoolSurface.tumblr.com/
DeviantArt - http://coolsurface.deviantart.com/

New! Playr 3: The world's bestnew webcomic based on Parenting and Gaming brought to you by the award-winningDavid and Sarah Cousens! http://playr3.tumblr.com/

Day Of The Tentacle - Animated Illustration

2011-10-25T18:17:00.002Z

As a kid I loved playing Graphic Adventures, especially those by LucasArts. Day of the Tentacle (or DOTT for short) was the sequel to Maniac Mansion and was the first "Talkie" game I played (this was the first game to have speech throughout which seems like a bizarre thing to mention in todays world, but back then it was a big deal!)

For those that don't know, the main characters in DOTT, Bernard, Hoagie and Laverne used the Chron-o-John to travel through time to prevent the evil Purple Tentacle from manipulating time to control the world! As you can probably guess, it was a very surreal and funny game!

This one was just begging to be animated! The image was featured on Kotaku, Little Chimp Society and the creator of Day Of The Tentacle, Tim Schafer liked it, and remarked "Nice! Probably more things moving there than in the actual game! :)"
As Bernard would say: "Neat!"

Have fun,

David

You should Followus!
Twitter - http://twitter.com/DavidCousens
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/DavidCousens
Tumblr - http://CoolSurface.tumblr.com/

DeviantArt - http://coolsurface.deviantart.com/

Websites
TheArt of David and Sarah Cousens - www.CoolSurface.com
CoolSurface Lite - The Art blog! http://coolsurface.blogspot.com

World of Warcraft illustration for PSD Tuts+

2011-10-11T17:27:00.001Z

We were recently asked to create a Photoshop illustration process tutorial for PSD Tuts+ based on Blizzard Entertainment's insanely large and addictive game, the World of Warcraft.

At the risk of polarizing our audience, although we've played numerous Alliance based characters, Sarah and I always had a soft spot for the Horde; the Undead quests were always much funnier! So naturally we chose to illustrate some of our personal favourite characters from the Horde side of the game including a Sporeling, Sylvanas Windrunner, Arthas, a Tuskarr and the Head of the Headless Horseman (don't ask, just trust me that he was funny!) and of course the World of Warcraft figurehead, the dreaded Murloc!

You can read the tutorial at PSD Tuts+ here

Have fun,

David

PS. "For the HORRRRRRRRRDE!"

You should Followus!
Twitter - http://twitter.com/DavidCousens
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/DavidCousens
Tumblr - http://CoolSurface.tumblr.com/

Websites
TheArt of David and Sarah Cousens - www.CoolSurface.com
CoolSurface Lite - The Art blog! http://coolsurface.blogspot.com

Drying Paint - illustration for the "Memories Project" Cancer charity art book

2011-09-27T15:03:00.001Z

The Memories Project is a charity art book, the proceeds go to Maggies Cancer caring centres. I drew this piece based on Antony Kitson's story based on his father's cancer inspiring him to launch OneTenElevenMedia. Since drawing this my own Gran, the lovely Tryphena Cousens, was diagnosed and subsequently has died of cancer very recently. One day I'll draw something as a tribute to her but right now it's too much of a fresh wound.

I'll leave you with this excerpt from the Memories Website describing the project. I promise the next post will return to our usual brand of light-hearted nonsense

Cancer is such a pervasive killer these days that few of us go through life untouched by the disease. We’ve decided to do something about it by launching the Memories project and the outcome will be a beautiful art book. Proceeds from the sales of Memories will go to the charity Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres.
Memories will look at the thoughts and experiences of individuals who have survived cancer, as well as those of people who have lost loved ones. There will be ten stories inside, each looking at one person’s recollection of a particular day in the struggle against cancer. For each of these ‘memories’ a dozen leading artists, illustrators and designers will be creating their own visual response. Two further stories will go ‘open brief’ and we’ll be inviting creatives worldwide to make their own images to accompany the text. The best submissions will go into the book.
That makes for 12 touching stories, and 144 smashing pieces of artwork

The cover price is £10 and you can pre-order the book now.

All the best,

David

You should Followus!
Twitter - http://twitter.com/DavidCousens
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/DavidCousens
Tumblr - http://CoolSurface.tumblr.com/

Websites
TheArt of David and Sarah Cousens - www.CoolSurface.com
CoolSurface Lite - The Art blog! http://coolsurface.blogspot.com

The Best TV Show Apps - editorial illustration for Apps Magazine

2011-09-22T09:24:00.000Z

Another editorial illustration for Apps Magazine, this time for a feature on the best TV Show related iOS Apps for the iPhone and iPad.

Proof that Jack Bauer is cool? He still looks like trouble even with an iPhone AppBlaster!

You can see more about Apps magazine on their website and follow Apps magazine on Twitter.

Have fun,

David

You should Followus!
Twitter - http://twitter.com/DavidCousens
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/DavidCousens
Tumblr - http://CoolSurface.tumblr.com/

Websites
TheArt of David and Sarah Cousens - www.CoolSurface.com
CoolSurface Lite - The Art blog! http://coolsurface.blogspot.com

Music Star! Editorial illustration for Apps Magazine

2011-09-15T14:58:00.000Z

This image was an editorial illustration for Apps Magazine for a feature on IOS Apps that can transform you into a music star! With the cool Transformers noise and everything!

Okay, not with the cool Transformers noise. Actually I can't guarantee that you'll become a star just by using an iPad or iPhone either, but then I'm not in the music business.I'm not even a good singer. In fact most cats and dogs tend to get quite angry if I start singing. I'm digressing aren't I?

I've done a few illustrations for Apps Magazine recently, but this is definitely one of my favourites. This image was the one that made us decide we really enjoy working in our "animated style".

You can see more about Apps magazine on their website and follow Apps magazine on Twitter.

Have fun,

David

You should Followus!
Twitter - http://twitter.com/DavidCousens
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/DavidCousens
Tumblr - http://CoolSurface.tumblr.com/

Websites
TheArt of David and Sarah Cousens - www.CoolSurface.com
CoolSurface Lite - The Art blog! http://coolsurface.blogspot.com

Shell Shock! Super Mario attacks!

2011-09-13T12:38:00.000Z

Super Mario showing a Koopa Trooper who is boss!

Have fun,

David

Websites
TheArt of David and Sarah Cousens - www.CoolSurface.com
CoolSurface Lite - The Art blog! http://coolsurface.blogspot.com

You should Followus!
Twitter - http://twitter.com/DavidCousens
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/DavidCousens
Tumblr - http://CoolSurface.tumblr.com/

Star Wars: "Unlikely Heroes" illustration for SciFi Now Magazine

2011-09-05T16:39:00.000Z

Issue 58 of SciFi Now has a huge feature on Star Wars that includes an article called "Unlikely Heroes" that looks at some of the best characters that may have only had small cameos onscreen but have developed a huge following since being looked at more closely in the Star Wars Extended Universe. I was asked to draw them in the style of the Trainspotting movie posters. Unsurprisingly, drawing Star Wars characters was great fun!

You can see more about SciFi Now on their website and follow SciFi Now on Twitter.

Have fun,

David

http://twitter.com/#!/DavidCousens

101 of the Best Geek-Out Moments illustration in SciFi Now

2011-08-11T10:43:00.000Z

If you pick up the latest issue of the excellent SciFi Now (issue 57) you can see the illustration we provided for their feature "101 of the Best Geek-Out Moments". It's a great article that looks at those excellent moments, in-jokes, easter egss and pop-culture references that really appeal to sci-fi and fantasy fans; including Stan Lee hulking out in the Incredible Hulk and the legendary Bruce Campbell getting the best of Spider-Man. "Groovy!"

You can see more about SciFi Now on their website and follow SciFi Now on Twitter. Seeing as we mentioned him, you can also follow Bruce Campbell on Twitter too!

Have fun,

David

http://twitter.com/#!/DavidCousens

The Line Up - editorial illustration for How It Works Magazine

2011-08-02T11:19:00.001Z

Issue 22 of the excellent How It Works magazine recently looked at "explaining the worlds's 100 Greatest Myths" which either verified or debunked some of the most commonly believed "facts". The feature looked at spurious claims like "A ducks quack cannot echo" and "a penny dropped from the Empire State building could kill you" which were both false, to proving things such as "Elephants are scared of mice" and "Metal explodes in a microwave".

In fact I accidentally proved that last one first hand once when I left a fork in a bowl once, you actually get these tiny mid-air sparks! Fortunately I stopped the microwave prior to it actually exploding! This is what happens when I'm left to cook for myself! And yes, I did just refer to using the microwave as cooking!

This is our editorial illustration to go alongside the wrongly-believed idea that "Napolean Bonaprte was incredibly short" which although he was 5'5'' at that time it was a fairly common height to be. Having to draw world leaders in an homage to The Usual Suspects was great fun, and Churchill really came out of it looking quite the bad-ass, which we're fairly sure he'd approve of!

You can read more about How It Works Magazine at their website and follow How It Works on Twitter

Have fun,

David

http://twitter.com/#!/DavidCousens

The Mighty Pencil - “A collection of contemporary illustration talent from around the globe” featuring "Sea Monkeys" by Cool Surface

2011-03-30T17:15:00.001Z

Here’s an image I've been waiting ages to show you all; a while ago the enigmatic illustration guru/organisation/oracle known only as The Mighty Pencil (@TheMightyPencil on Twitter) asked me to be in their first publication dedicated to championing quality illustrative talent across the UK and beyond . The book is “A collection of contemporary illustration talent from around the globe” and features a plethora of amazingly talented illustrators, such as Steven Bonner, Ben The Illustrator, Bex Glover, Stephen Chan, Julian James and many more, so I'm honoured to be involved.

The book is an industry only publication, so if you’re in a position to commission illustration, if you’re an art director, art buyer, magazine editor etc, then send an email to The Mighty Pencil and request a free copy! Copies are 68pp A5, full colour, printed by RipeDigital.Note: Please don't email if you aren't in a position to commission artists and you just want a freebie.

Have fun,
David
twitter.com/DavidCousens

Battle Books: Arnhem is available now!

2011-02-15T11:28:00.001Z

You can now buy: Arnhem, part of the Battle Books range from Franklin Watts/Hachette Publishing's Edge imprint. I've just recived my copy and it looks rather nice if I do say so myself. When I first received the commission I was concerned I was going to be asked to tone down the violence and make a sanitised version (as often happens in publishing), but thanks to the excellent senior editor Adrian Cole I was allowed to put in plenty of gore, blood and severed limbs. Drawing this book and it's sister title Iwo Jima was a real treat for my inner 14 year old.

We've provided the art for 2 books in the Battlebooks series, and the other 2 books have been illustrated by good friend of Cool Surface Ollie Cuthbertson go check out his blog to see more art from his Hastings book.

Buy Arnhem from Amazon.co.uk for the bargain price of £5.39 delivered now:

Have fun,

David

Preview Art for Battle Books: Arnhem by Gary Smailes & David Cousens from Franklin Watts/Hachette

2011-01-04T23:35:00.000Z

Happy New Year!

Here is our first official art preview of the upcoming book: Arnhem, part of the Battle Books range from Franklin Watts/Hachette Publishing's Edge imprint.

It's written by the excellent Gary Smailes and illustrated 100% by some handsome chap named David Cousens and will be released very soon.

We'll be posting some more preview art soon and will let you know as soon as the book is released.

Have fun,

David

twitter.com/DavidCousens

"Propaganda" - Digital PaintingTutorial for Digital Arts Magazine

2010-10-25T16:44:00.000Z

In the November 2010 issue of Digital Arts magazine (out now in the UK) you can find our digital painting tutorial inspired by early 20th Century Chinese Propaganda posters with a theme of "Inspiration".

One detail we didn't have the space to explain in the magazine was what the Chinese text says, which is a loosely translated quote from Jack London: "You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club"

Have fun,

David

twitter.com/DavidCousens

Scarecrow's Joyride - Digital Painting tutorial for PSDFan

2010-10-18T17:46:00.000Z

Excellent Photoshop site PSDFan has been relaunched this week, and we were asked to provide a brand new tutorial to help kick off the proceedings as part of their "7 tutorials in 7 days" theme.

You can see a sneak of the tutorial here and if you act quickly you can see the tutorial plus the full layered .PSD file and custom brushes (plus Premium membership to the website for a month) for just $1!

The tutorial covers a whole variety of things from Photoshop techniques to design theory with my trademark silly asides and random trivia to make it that bit more entertaining.

Have fun,

David

Twitter.com/DavidCousens

Guess Who’s coming to Dinner? A PSD Tuts+ tutorial

2010-09-27T13:40:00.000Z

We were pleased to hear the team at PSD Tuts+ really liked our last tutorial “The Monstrum Dichrous” and they asked us to make another one. We were asked to make the subject of our image an alien, but that was our only restriction, we we’re allowed to go any way we wanted with it.

I wanted to avoid any of the standard cliché’s (a space station corridor, space marines/explorers about to be ambushed, you get the idea). So I started to browse the web for something random to inspire me; when looking to avoid cliché’s it helps to completely avoid the subject you’re thinking about.

I always keep an eye on the photography of the excellent Marcus Ranum (http://mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/), as it turns out Marcus had recently posted a photo of a model dressed in camouflage sitting in an American diner and inspiration hit me! Why not draw a story about an alien that isn’t hell bent on destruction, abducting people or mutilating cattle, who instead is an incognito visitor that isn’t interested in humans at all, just our tasty pancakes! It’s obviously been a while since his last visit to Earth as he’s wearing old fashioned clothes to try to blend in.

You can see the tutorial over at PDSTuts+ now.

Have fun,
David
Twitter.com/DavidCousens

A tribute to Chris Bachalo’s “Death” plus WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE…

2010-09-13T18:09:00.000Z

In an unintentional theme this week, we’re featuring two fantasy based illustrations. First off we have my tribute to Chris Bachalo and Neil Gaiman’s “Death”, the star of the books ‘The High Cost of Living’ and ‘The Time of Your Life’. I’ve always been a huge fan of Bachalo’s work so this image was great fun to make.

Secondly, a long time ago we posted this image, but we couldn’t tell you what it was for…

We can now reveal that this image was made for the newly released “WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE: Vampire Hunters And Other Kick-Ass Enemies of Evil ” by Jonathan Maberry and Janice Gable Bashman.

If you haven’t already heard of the book (shame on you!) here’s the book’s description as kindly provided by Amazon.com:

These days you can’t swing an undead lycanthrope without hitting a Minion of Evil. They’re everywhere – TV, film, the basement-right behind you! It’s never been more important to know what you can do to keep them at bay. Garlic? silver bullets? holy water? torch-wielding mob?
From today’s foremost experts on nightmares-come-to-life, this indispensible guide identifies and describes mankind’s enemies – supernatural beasts, ghosts, vampires, serial killers, etc.-and unearths effective time-proven responses to each horrific threat.
* Separate fact from fiction, the deadly from the merely creepy.
* Learn when to stand your ground and when to run screaming for your life.
* Determine which monster-specific heroes to call and their likelihood of success.
* Consider your own potential as a Champion for Good, Conqueror of the Damned.
Whether we’re talking ancient vampire hunters or modern-day FBI profilers, it’s good to know someone’s got your back in the eternal struggle between Good and Evil. And this book, with over fifty illustrations, as well as commentary from luminaries like filmmaker John Carpenter, author Peter Straub, and the legendary Stan Lee, provides all the information and reassurance you need to sleep soundly at night. Just not too soundly.

I’ve just realised this is the second time we’ve worked alongside Stan Lee without him knowing (Stan was a big part of the UK’s “Who wants to be a Super-Hero?” TV show on the BBC which we provided most of the on-screen artwork for). It’s like we’re slightly illustration-stalking him!

“WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE: Vampire Hunters And Other Kick-Ass Enemies of Evil” is Published by Citadel and is available everywhere now, so what are you waiting for? Go hunt down your copy now!

Have fun,
David
Twitter.com/DavidCousens

Character Design for ‘Deseble Rising’: Xaisen & The ‘design a Minkee’ competition winner

2010-09-08T10:48:00.000Z

We’ve been lucky enough to have been asked by author Mark Saint (who has one of the coolest voices in the world!) to illustrate the character designs for his upcoming book “Deseble Rising”. Although we’ve got to keep quiet on the specifics, we are allowed to show you the very alluring Xaisen. Keep an eye out for more character designs showing up soon.

In other news, talented illustrator Louise Holden aka Minkee recently held a competition to design what sort of animal a Minkee actually is. It’s always nice to have a purpose when I draw my warm up image of the day so I couldn’t resist entering, and I won. We’re now the proud owners of a Limited edition Minkee Print that will adorn our soon to arrive baby’s newly decorated nursery. Go take a look at her site and get one of your own.

Have fun,
David
Twitter.com/DavidCousens

Angry Panda - now appearing in "European Panda"

2010-08-10T17:34:00.001Z

Joel Millerchip and Chris Nunn are starting a ZINE press specialising in black and white illustration, graphic design, and art, and are running an ongoing project on the website, where people design and create a European panda in any medium as long as its black and white, so I thought I'd make my warm up reference sketch fit their theme. Here is my somewhat "Angry Panda".

Have fun,

David

http://twitter.com/DavidCousens

"The Monstrum Dichrous - a Photoshop CS5 tutorial for PSDTuts+" PLUS an interview for "Gamers Dig Art" and Get "Bitten" for Charity!

2010-08-03T13:51:00.002Z

Prepare yourself for a big blog post. For those of you with short attention spans, I've put the key points in bold writing for you. I'm awesome, I know.

*****************
We were happy to be asked by the people running PSDTuts+ to write a tutorial that specifically covered Photoshop CS5's Mixer brush to create a fantasy painting.

Here we have "The Monstrum Dichrous" (loosely translated from Latin as "the Omen of 2 distinct colours") which is a bit of a spiritual successor to "Lovebirds". It seems we have a running theme of 2 spirits (one red and one blue) that take form of various animals that are mysteriously always present at times of destruction. The question is why are they always there? Are they merely observers or are they somehow responsible for the chaos around them...

To see how we made this image, go and see the tutorial on PSDTuts+ now!

*************************
When you're done with that you should go and visit Gamers Dig Art where I was interviewed by the excellent Ramel Hill. The interview is loads of fun and covers all manner of things including "How I'm going to survive to upcoming Zombie Apocalypse!". Read the Gamers Dig Art interview here

*************************
Now for something much more selfless, good friend of Cool Surface Tigz Rice (who we're making a book with btw) has an excellent new book out called "Bitten" which you can win by simply donating just £1 to Cancer Research UK. Here's more from Tigzy's site:

"Following the success of 'Wonderland' in 2009, this August sees the release of 'Bitten', a new picture book for adults from London based illustrator and photographer Tigz Rice. Adapted from the well-known classic 'Snow White', the book follows the story of a mistress so desperate to keep her beauty she will do anything to save them, including harming her own family. But is she really the one to blame?
The book features an all star cast including cabaret star Joe Black, model and The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts' student Emily Marshall, Burlesque performer Lily Belle as well as alternative models Kristina Frenchum and Sally Parkinson.
Printed by Ripe Digital, the book retails at £18 - however to say a massive thank you to Cancer Research Orpington for helping provide costumes for the book, Tigz will be holding a charity raffle to win a copy of Bitten, with the proceeds being donated to Cancer Research UK.
How to enter? Simply follow the link in the bar above to donate £1 to Cancer Research UK. You can enter as many times as you like to improve your chances of winning. One lucky donator will be named on August 14th 2010."

Right I'm off to donate now,
Have fun,
David
http://twitter.com/DavidCousens

Rack VS Cousens: Robot 27 Limited Edition Prints available now!

2010-07-13T16:14:00.001Z

I recently collaborated with Toe Fluff creator Steve Rack to invent Robot 27 - the best comic you never read! Starting with issue 187 (naturally) Steve worked on the left side of the image while I worked on the right. We than expanded the saga of Robot 27 vs Zapgirl by providing a cover each of our own with Steve handling art chores for issue 186 and I made issue 188 my homage to the famous Wolverine vs. the Hellfire Club moment from the X-Men's "Dark Phoenix" saga

Only 27 sets of these prints were made so get your hands on this limited edition artwork before they're all gone for good. Prints are A4 in size. Art image is 17 x 26 cm(indigo press on 250gsm Tintorreto gesso). Each set is signed and numbered.
Visit Steve Rack's online shop: steverack.bigcartel.com

Have fun,

David

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - an art tutorial for PSDFan

2010-07-05T16:53:00.000Z

When we were asked to write another tutorial for PSDFan we wanted to have another go at a video game character after the success of our previous Legend of Zelda inspired tutorial "Broken Link". As some of you will know, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Special Edition is out at the end of this week so I made an illustration to celebrate the game because I'm reaaaally looking forward to it (and I'm hoping somebody will take pity on me and send me one of thise lovely Guybrush Threepwood voodoo dolls they were giving away at E3).

To see the full tutorial head to PSDFan now.

Have fun,

David
http://twitter.com/DavidCousens

A little something we cooked up for SmART Car...

2010-06-28T15:57:00.001Z

Cool Surface was among a number of talented illustrators (including our good friends Stephen Chan from ThunderChunky and Ben The Illustrator) that were asked to design something for SmART car to hopefully go into The Smart Festival 2010. Here was what Sarah and I came up with.

Have fun,

David

Cool Surface joins "The Memories Project"

2010-06-16T16:31:00.000Z

When old friend of Cool Surface, Garrick Webster, approached us to join the Memories project we didn't hesitate to say yes. We're going to be creating an image for the Memories book, which will be sold to benefit Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres. This image will accompany the story Drying Paint by Antony Kitson.

For more information about the Memories project visit their website now. Here's the lowdown on the book and project:

Cancer is such a pervasive killer these days that few of us go through life untouched by the disease. We’ve decided to do something about it by launching the Memories project and the outcome will be a beautiful art book. Proceeds from the sales of Memories will go to the charity Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres.
Memories will look at the thoughts and experiences of individuals who have survived cancer, as well as those of people who have lost loved ones. There will be ten stories inside, each looking at one person’s recollection of a particular day in the struggle against cancer. For each of these ‘memories’ a dozen leading artists, illustrators and designers will be creating their own visual response. Two further stories will go ‘open brief’ and we’ll be inviting creatives worldwide to make their own images to accompany the text. The best submissions will go into the book.
That makes for 12 touching stories, and 144 smashing pieces of artwork
The project is being launched this summer by Designers Against Human Rights Abuse (DAHRA), Subism, OneTenEleven Media and editor Garrick Webster. Along with a number of writers and, of course, all the image contributors, they’ll be volunteering their time and skills to the project. We expect it will take a year to complete, culminating in the launch of Memories and an exhibition.

Skull Fluff - for Steve Rack's "Toe Fluff" exhibition

2010-06-15T09:37:00.002Z

This is our submission for Steve Rack's "Toe Fluff" exhibition, where numerous artists have taken Steve's Toe Fluff template and created their own unique version.

The 'Toe Fluff' exhibition will run from the 27th July to the 11th August at the Post Modern Art Gallery in Swindon, UK. The private viewing will take place on the 30th July from 7:30pm until late. Swindon based producer, The Transitionist, has compiled a selection of tracks especially to accompany the show. Profits from the show will be donated to The Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. The show is being sponsored by Ripe Digital.For more details you can visit the Toe Fluff website.

Have fun,

David

Happy Little Trees: A Photoshop CS5 painting tutorial for Advanced Photoshop magazine

2010-06-01T13:08:00.000Z

You may have guessed by now that we're huge fans of Adobe Photoshop CS5 since we got to play around with the beta version, so we were more than happy when Advanced Photoshop magazine asked us to provide a tutorial to highlight how the new CS5 painting brushes work.

You can see the "Happy Little Trees" tutorial in Advanced Photoshop issue 70.

Have fun,
David

Creative Boom! Another week , another banner PLUS an interview!

2010-05-24T17:42:00.001Z

If you head over to Creative Boom this week you'll see that we're sneakily taking over the site as not only have we designed their latest banner (pictured here) but I was also interviewed by our good friend Tigz Rice which you can read here. First Topless Robot and now Creative Boom. Which website will we hijack next?

Have fun,

David

Competition winner: The new Topless Robot banner

2010-05-17T10:09:00.000Z

The top site for "nerd news, humour and self-loathing" Topless robot held a competition to redesign their banner. Being big fans of the site we felt compelled to enter and as the more astute of you may have guessed from the subject line, we won! The best part is that the prize money can only be spent on geeky stuff which gives me the perfect excuse to buy some graphic novels and games!

Have fun,

David

10 years of Dazed Magazine covers: A Decade Drawn Out - "Dazed & Illustrated"

2010-05-06T12:33:00.000Z

To celebrate Dazed magazine being around for a decade, the magazine picked out 10 of their favourite covers and asked artists to illustrate their own cover based on the existing covers. Always wanting to be a little bit different, I managed to get 3 covers into one image.

Have fun,

David

Bedroom - created with Adobe Photoshop CS5 and featured on Gizmag

2010-04-12T08:30:00.005Z

We've been keeping this under our hats for a while now (which is tricky as I don't think either of us actually owns a hat...) but we've been part of the Photoshop CS5 beta testing team for Adobe. We're still not allowed to talk about the details of it, but suffice it to say that it's a lot of fun to digitally paint with it.

This was a painting I made whilst playing with Photoshop CS5. To see a more detailed review of CS5, head over to Emma Davenport's feature for Gizmag: Is Photoshop CS5 worth the upgrade? New features and improvements unboxed!

Have fun,
David

Bowl o' Fruit

2010-02-15T16:30:00.004Z

And now for something completely different!
No attractive females or hairy creatures today, you get a lovely bowl of fruit instead. This still life study was drawn from reference using only the airbrush in Photoshop, and the latest issue of Photoshop Creative magazine (issue 58) takes you through step by step how we did it.
Mmm... juicy.

"Why won't they stop staring at me?!"

2010-01-28T12:03:00.005Z

If you've just tried to reach the official Cool Surface website and have been redirected here, there's a good reason. The Cool Surface website is currently under construction and will be revealed soon. To make up for any confusion caused, here's a picture of a cute puppy and kitten. Feeling better now? Good.

And what's more, the latest issue of Photoshop Creative (issue 57) features a tutorial which will take you through how we created this image.
Enjoy!

Merry Christmas from Krampus and Arisaema! It's the Cool Surface Christmas e-card

2009-12-23T15:24:00.002Z

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you have a great one!
See you all next year!

Have fun,
David

Animated Avatar tutorial for Advanced Photoshop magazine & The Roberto Blake interview

2009-12-10T11:38:00.004Z

This little guy is a Grogling, and he's the star of our latest tutorial for Advanced Photoshop magazine (issue #64) where we tell you how to make animations in Photoshop. It's really easy so it's well worth a look!

Also Roberto Blake's interview with me is on his website now. Go read it! :)

Have fun,
David

You should follow me on Twitter - it's official, Minervity.com says so!

2009-12-01T11:54:00.006Z

Just a quick post to say thank you to the lovely Karen Mc Dade who featured me on Minervity.com as the first on her list of "10 Fresh Digital Artists & Designers to Follow on Twitter" alongside other artists such as Henning Ludvigsen, Brand Nu and Roberto Blake.

So it's now official; you should follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/davidcousens
and while you're at it follow Karen too!

Have fun,
David

Appearances on other sites, a new image and go buy our wallet now!

2009-11-30T17:32:00.004Z

The image on the left was made for our good friends at Thunderchunky's Blog action Day: Creative climate change last month. (Actually, just the bottom right square was, the other three parts of the image were added afterwards.) We're just sharing it now because we realised we hadn't shown it on our blog yet!

Speaking of appearing on other sites, we're currently being featured in Creative Boom's latest Christmas themed gallery and my ramblings will soon be featured on Roberto Blake's website as I've just been interviewed by him.

Oh and did we mention you can go and buy our Boreal wallet NOW!

Have fun,
David

The latest Boreal wallet: Rexx Unleashed!

2009-11-09T19:54:00.005Z

Christmas is drawing near (or at least that's what the adverts on TV keep telling me) so to get with the spirit of the season (i.e. commercialism); we've teamed up with the people at Boreal to bring you the brand new "Rexx unleashed" wallet. Cheaper than buying an Xbox and much cooler than a pair of socks! Plus way more practical than socks; have you ever tried to keep your credit cards in your socks? Not comfortable in the slightest...

Have fun,
David

Painter X Sketch

2009-10-26T15:45:00.004Z

Another recent warm up sketch, created in Painter X and drawn from reference using an image from the superb photographer Marcus Ranum.

Have fun!

Sarah and David

Rom redesigned: A Tribute to Bill Mantlo

2009-10-21T08:55:00.004Z

This is my redesign of Rom for the upcoming charity tribute book for comic book writer Bill Mantlo.

Here's a bit more info about Bill Mantlo from Wikipedia:
"On July 17, 1992, Mantlo was struck by a car while rollerblading. (The driver of the car fled the scene and has never been identified.) Not wearing a helmet at the time, Mantlo suffered severe head trauma and spent over two weeks in a coma. He has since been institutionalized, and is not expected to fully recover.^[9] Mantlo now resides in the Queens Nassau Rehabilitation & Nursing Center,^[10] where he must have 24-hour assistance. His care has long since used up his health insurance. In 2007, cartoonist David Yurkovich released the benefit book Mantlo: A Life in Comics, with all proceeds from the book donated to Mantlo's brother and caregiver, Michael Mantlo, to help toward the costs of maintaining Mantlo's care. In addition, Floating World Comics sponsored Spacenight: A Tribute to Bill Mantlo, an art show made (almost) entirely of various artists' interpretations of ROM, to help raise funds for Mantlo's care."

You can see more artists renditions of ROM at the SpaceNite 2 blog
Have fun,
David

More Mosh

2009-10-12T13:38:00.005Z

Unless we're on a deadline day, I normally try to make a warm-up image before work starts. I'll vary what I'm getting from the warm up; sometimes it will be some quick pose sketches, sometimes concepts and occasionally it will be a ref study. Here I've once again been inspired by a photo from a good friend of Cool Surface; Marcus Ranum and the amazingly versatile Mosh.

Unlike our previous work for Digital Arts that featured Mosh, I wasn't going for an exact likeness, this was more just for the fun of painting.

A shout out also goes to Caleb Kimbrough who runs the excellent Lost and Taken a great royalty free texture resource for supplying the wallpaper for the background. Thanks Caleb!

Have fun,
David

Passengers- Advanced Photoshop Tutorial

2009-09-21T13:28:00.004Z

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a woman perched precariously atop a balloon-suspended, rocket-propelled tortoise? Erm, well yes actually, it is...

And if you pick up issue 61 of Advanced Photoshop Magazine you'll find our most recent tutorial on how to colour this image yourself, with some free custom brushes and the image lines to start you off.

Enjoy! :)

Cool Surface Shop Open for Business!

2009-09-14T13:44:00.004Z

At long, long last we have finally opened the Cool Surface Shop, where you can purchase your very own Cool Surface prints. Hooray!

We've started off with a small selection of limited supply prints, so you'll need to move quickly. And keep checking back, as we will be changing the prints that are available from time to time! So go to http://coolsurface.bigcartel.com now to see what we have on offer at the moment...

Or, if there's an image of ours that you'd love to own that isn't available at the shop, just let us know and we'll see what we can do!

Painter Reference Study

2009-09-03T15:08:00.005Z

It's both busy and exciting here at Cool Surface Towers, with several interesting projects on the go...
Unfortunately we aren't allowed to show you any of it! Well, not yet at least. So in the mean time, here's a reference study that David did in his spare time using Painter X.

Now, back to top secret Cool Surface activities...

Anna Character Concept Design

2009-07-20T10:11:00.004Z

Way back in March we posted a character concept design; a lovely female called Tricia. Now we have another concept design from the series. We still can't give you any more details on this project, other than to say that this character's name is Anna and she's a bit of a bad ass. If we tell you anything more we'd have to kill you... ;)

"Broken Link" slideshow

2009-07-10T16:34:00.007Z

For those of you who didn't see our Broken Link tutorial over at PSDfan (shame on you...), here is a nifty little slideshow for you so you can see how the image was taken from sketch to finished artwork. Enjoy!

"Broken Link" - A Photoshop tutorial based on the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

2009-07-08T09:28:00.005Z

If you head over to PSDFAN right now you'll be able to see our brand new Photoshop tutorial: "Broken Link" where we take you through the steps of how to make the image in this post based on the Nintendo game "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask".

You may already know that we're big fans of The Legend of Zelda series (I even made a Zelda themed birthday card for Sarah a while back) so when PSDFAN asked us to make a character based tutorial for them, the idea of redesigning Deku Link and pushing his mutated tree form even further jumped straight into my head.

Plus it's not just the tutorial files you can see there, you can also download some free custom brushes too!

Have fun,
David

"The Dogs"

2009-06-29T15:07:00.004Z

Welcome to the slightly re-vamped blog; now with added blue! Next in line for an upgrade is the official Cool Surface website; we'll keep you informed of when that will be launching. There have also been murmurings of a Cool Surface shop appearing in the not too distant future, so you could soon be able to adorn your walls with prints of sexy ladies, flying rats and more sexy ladies (we like sexy ladies). Hooray!

If the excitement hasn't all been too much for you, take a peek at this latest image, imaginatively titled "The Dogs"...

"Rising Starr", Advanced Photoshop Tutorial

2009-06-22T11:21:00.003Z

Issue 58 of Advanced Photoshop Magazine is out now, and in it you will find a tutorial which will take you through how we created this image, called "Rising Starr". It starts off a little differently from our usual method, using photo reference to help generate an initial sketch, to help readers who aren't that confident with their drawing skills.

"Fractured Beauty"

2009-06-15T13:12:00.003Z

We're not yet able to show you some of our recent artwork until it's been published, so for this week's post here's a personal piece that David made whilst playing around with Painter and Photoshop.

Enjoy! :)

Graffiti Tutorial in Photoshop Creative, "First Dance"

2009-06-11T09:33:00.003Z

We've had to sit on this image for a while, until the current issue of Photoshop Creative Magazine was released. But now it's out we can show you "First Dance", starring your 2 favourite illustrators! ;)

If you want to find out how we created this graffiti effect, pick up issue 49 of Photoshop Creative.

Enjoy!

Sarah

"Photoshoot" Digital Arts tutorial out now!

2009-06-01T11:35:00.003Z

The current issue of Digital Arts magazine has just been released, so we're now able to show you this tutorial image, called "Photoshoot". It was drawn from reference using a stock photo by Marcus Ranum of the lovely Mosh (be careful if you're little faint-hearted; her images can be a little racy!).

Pick up a copy of the mag to see how we made it!

But why is the rum gone?

2009-05-26T15:17:00.005Z

Well, we promised you a while ago that there would be more pretty ladies again soon, but we've gone one better and have a pretty pirate lady.

This is a quick sketch from reference (a lovely photo by the talented Marcus J Ranum), made using Manga Studio 4 Debut and little bit of Photoshop too.

Have fun,

Sarah

PS. Speaking of pirates, have you tried changing the language to "pirate" in your Facebook options...?

10 Kings and Queens; a preview

2009-05-19T09:19:00.005Z

A slightly older image today; this is one of the illustrations which we provided for "Ten Kings and Queens who Changed the World". It seems like so long ago that we made this, but the book has only just been released!

Oh yeah, did we mention that you can buy it from Amazon by clicking on the book cover in the sidebar? We did? Oh ok...

Love Birds

2009-05-11T15:19:00.003Z

Wow, yet more animal artwork! Seriously, what's going on? This week it is the feathered variety, and it's called "Love Birds". Don't worry, I'm sure there will be some pretty ladies on the way soon!

Enjoy!

Shiver

2009-05-04T15:51:00.003Z

It might seem like we've gone a bit animal crazy here at Cool Surface what with all the animal themed art we've been posting lately. This weeks blog post is an image we made for our very good friend Carol, with the aim of capturing her eclectic style and bright personality, and also immortalising the lovely Shiver, who sadly passed away recently.

Sarah

Tilly Tag

2009-04-27T12:27:00.004Z

Well, it's been a bit busy here at Cool Surface; we've just finished a few fun commissions for some international magazines. Keep an eye out for the next issues of Digital Arts and Photoshop Creative for some Cool Surface tutorials, but in case you miss them we will of course be posting the results on here once they're released into the big wide art world.
For now, here's a work in progress which we've been playing around with in our spare time, featuring the adorable "Tilly".

Have fun!
Sarah

10 Kings and Queens is Out Now!

2009-04-24T13:07:00.012Z

Last week we received our complimentary copies of the 3rd installment in the "Ten" series of books which we illustrated for Kingfisher/ Macmillan Publishing.

Go to the sidebar and click the book cover to buy "10 Kings and Queens who Changed the World" from Amazon. We think it's the best one yet! ;)

Sarah

Advanced Photoshop's latest website wallpaper is..."Dark!"

2009-04-17T08:22:00.003Z

...that is to say "Dark"- the tutorial we did for the magazine over Christmas, not just the absensce of light! Forgive the awful joke, I'm just very tired this morning!

It was a very pleasant surprise to log on and see our art staring us in the face! Looks like it will be there for around a month or so. Thanks to the AP team for choosing our art ot represent the magazine, we're very flattered.

Have fun,
David
http://twitter.com/DavidCousens

Reg the Cat

2009-04-06T08:26:00.003Z

Yesterday was the Birthday of a friend of ours, Clive Gifford. Clive is a fantastic author who we had the pleasure of working with on the "Ten" series of books for Kingfisher Publishing. As a birthday surprise, we drew this portrait of his lovely cat, Reg. Reg has his own web pages on Clive's website here.

Have fun,
Sarah

More Cool Surface artwork on the Beeb!

2009-04-01T13:13:00.004Z

If you tuned in to "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" on BBC2 last Saturday morning, you will have seen these 4 posters (created by your friendly neighbourhood art duo, Cool Surface!) presented to the kids. We were really pleased to see how thrilled the kids were with their posters, and even more pleased by how much screen time our artwork got! ;)

Have fun,
Sarah

All artwork Copyright of BBC

Create your own handwriting font and follow us on Twitter!

2009-03-27T19:40:00.003Z

To read this blog post, just click the image, then come follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/DavidCousens !

Happy 4th Birthday WoW!

2009-03-23T14:13:00.004Z

Fans of the wonderful World of Warcraft should recognise this cute little fella. "Murky" is the star of this image which we created to celebrate WoW's 4th birthday.

Have fun,
Sarah

Comic concept sketches

2009-03-17T16:34:00.003Z

Concept sketches for a comic book proposal written by a good friend of ours. Unfortunately, other than telling you this character's first name, that's literally all we can say about this for now as it's far too early to start spilling any beans just yet!

Have fun,
David

Hyde in the Shadows

2009-03-09T13:28:00.006Z

This is an image that we produced for an upcoming book about all things monster related, which is due to be released in 2010. We can't really say much more on it, but once the book is released we'll be revealing more details!

For now, enjoy...

Sarah

Cool Surface Hits the Small Screen!

2009-03-02T09:29:00.007Z

Currently showing on Saturdays at 9am on BBC2 is a brilliant series called “Who Wants to be a Superhero?”, featuring a group of children who are competing as their self-invented superhero characters to win the opportunity to star in their very own comic book, written by the legendary Stan Lee. And if you tune in and watch carefully, you’ll see some of Cool Surface’s artwork popping up every now and again! We’re really pleased that we were able to contribute to this show, as we have great fun watching it. But secretly we wish that it could have been made about 15 years ago so that we could have been on it ourselves!

Have fun,

Sarah

A sketch from reference

2009-02-23T13:26:00.004Z

It's been a busy couple of months working on the "10" series for Macmillan publishing (see the "Highly recommended" section in the sidebar for current releases!). But now that we have book number 4 under our belts, there is some free time for random scribblings and the like. Here's a sketch David has drawn from a reference photo. Can you guess who it is yet...?

Sarah

"Dark" Advanced Photoshop Tutorial

2009-01-05T15:39:00.003Z

If you happen to pick up a copy of Advanced Photoshop Magazine this month you'll find our in depth tutorial on creating depth in a 2D image, and you can have a go at colouring the image opposite. We've created several Photoshop tutorials over the past few years, and we always like to see what other artists' versions of our artwork turn out like. So if you've had a go at the "Dark" tutorial and wish to share your work, head to the Advanced Photoshop forum and post your artwork here. We've provided the lines there, in case you don't have a copy of the magazine (aren't we thoughtful!). We'll be keeping a close eye, and are always happy to give feedback, so get colouring!

Sarah

An important thing to remember this Christmas...

2008-12-19T10:57:00.006Z

It's been an insanely busy month for us with commissions turning up all over the place (hence the lack of blog posts recently), however we're here to make it up to you with our 2008 Christmas card.` Incidentally, you know you may be a work-aholic when you've worked without a day off for a month and you still feel compelled to make a Christmas card at 9pm after you started work at 8am...

I really had an urge to do something traditionally Christmassy this year, but as always, a little bit of humour had to sneak in there because after all, it is us!

Hope you have a great Christmas, we'll see you all next year!

All the best,
David and Sarah

Advanced Photoshop's 50th issue - 50 covers by 50 artists!

2008-11-17T17:34:00.006Z

You can now pick up the big 50th issue spectacular of Advanced Photoshop, where we took part in their lead feature "50 Covers by 50 Artists". The jpeg here is a tad small, but if you look carefully you can see we included a film strip featuring our long history with Advanced Photoshop magazine: our winning Peer Pressure appearance (remember that?), our first ever tutorial, the first ever winning monthly competition image and our most recent tutorial for Advanced Photoshop!

Have fun,
David

10 Leaders- haven't you bought it yet?

2008-11-11T15:01:00.007Z

If not, here's what you're missing out on...

So what are you waiting for? Click on the link in our sidebar to buy it from Amazon!

10 Leaders who Changed the World
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

Buy our books!

2008-11-03T11:09:00.003Z

For those of you who haven't snapped up your copy of 10 Explorers and 10 Leaders, well now's your chance. Our more observant followers may have noticed a few changes to the blog, including an exciting new carousel in the sidebar with highly recommended books. Simply click on the book of your choice to be taken to amazon.co.uk; we're very selective about which books we recommend, so you know it'll be a cracker. Go on, give it a whirl! (See what I did there?).

And if you still need some persuading, here's another sample image from 10 Leaders to whet your appetite...

10 Leaders who Changed the World
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

"10 Leaders who Changed the World" sneak peek #7

2008-10-28T10:00:00.003Z

It's time for another image from the book "Ten Leaders who Changed the World", and today Hitler is in the spotlight...

10 Leaders who Changed the World
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

We're in ImagineFX again!

2008-10-20T18:15:00.005Z

If you pick up this month's issue of ImagineFX (#37-The December issue!) You can see my advice on good forum crit etiquette! As well as learning how to point out what needs improving in a pic without making a new enemy, it also features the revamped version of our 'Mechanic girl'. You can see how the older version below stacks up against the new version,which was largely based on forum feedback.

Have fun,
David

Tiki and Mambo: When hamsters get drunk! (with a little Monkey Island influence)

2008-10-13T18:32:00.005Z

These little Roborovski hamsters were commissioned for a very good friend of ours who is really into Tiki culture. After doing a bit of research into all things Tiki, everything kept reminding me of the Lucas Arts "Secret of Monkey Island" games which I still love to this day. As a result, the eagle eyed amongst you will notice that a few Monkey Island easter eggs got thrown into the mix for this image, plus one completely unrelated game just for fun. Which ones can you spot?

After studying his work, I have a whole new respect for Bill Tiller who inspired a lot of the Monkey Island aesthetics. His take on clouds inspired me a lot for this image. I really enjoyed making this, so thanks for the inspiration Bill!

Have fun,
David

"10 Leaders who Changed the World" sneak peek #6

2008-10-06T13:18:00.004Z

Monday again already?! Okay then, here's the latest 10 Leaders image depicting Stalin's victory at Reichstag...

10 Leaders who Changed the World
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

"10 Leaders who Changed the World" sneak peek #5

2008-09-29T10:28:00.004Z

It's Monday, which means it's time for another preview image from the Ten Leaders book.
Hitler's idea of "care in the community" left a little to be desired....

10 Leaders who Changed the World
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

"10 Leaders who Changed the World" sneak peek #4

2008-09-22T10:59:00.004Z

Today's offering from "10 Leaders" depicts the momentous falling of the Berlin wall. If you look closely you might spot some familiar faces in the crowd...

10 Leaders who Changed the World
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

Margaret Thatcher - The Iron Lady

2008-09-15T07:25:00.004Z

Back in July, we announced a competition that we were holding with "Do You Remember?" where one lucky winner would end up with their very own extremely limited edition Cool Surface artwork created just for them! As you can see the winner went with a very definitive (albeit unexpected) icon from the 80's, UK Prime minister Margaret Thatcher. It was a bit of a different topic from Superted, He-Man or Barbie as we expected, but proved to be interesting subject matter nonetheless.

PS. Apologies for not updating the blog last week, we were relocating to our new home. Don't worry though, we're settled into the brand new Cool Surface towers and normal service has been resumed!

"10 Leaders who Changed the World" sneak peek #3

2008-09-02T09:58:00.003Z

Here's your weekly Leaders preview image. And today we have a scene from the steelworks during Stalin's reign. Don't ask me what the steelworks have to do with Stalin; we don't write the books, we just draw the pictures. So I suppose you'll just have to buy a copy and find out [/end shameless plug]

10 Leaders who Changed the World
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

Buy this book: “Fantasy Artist's Figure Drawing Bible” by Matt Dixon!

2008-08-29T16:15:00.005Z

Not only is he one of the nicest guys in this business, Matt Dixon is just damned talented. Those 2 reasons are enough to pick up “The Fantasy Artist's Figure Drawing Bible” by Matt Dixon, but if you need more convincing, here's a quick rundown of the book.
It's 256 pages on fantasy character design, from the basics of drawing the figure through costume and prop design, characterisation and rendering. Containing 30 example characters which are included, each showing progression from first doodle to finished artwork.

Matt's characters are brilliant, and his artwork always shows through a great sense of humour, so what are you waiting for? Click on the link in our carousel in the sidebar and buy it now!

Out now in the UK through A&C Black. Published later this month in the USA through Barron's Educational.

Have fun,
David

PS. Come back Monday for another "10 Leaders..." Preview!

"10 Leaders who Changed the World" sneak peek #2

2008-08-26T10:12:00.004Z

Here's the second Leaders image. It's a day late, but let's just blame that on the Bank Holiday!
This is Hitler, enduring a bitter winter roughing it on the streets...

10 Leaders who Changed the World
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

"10 Leaders who Changed the World" sneak peek #1

2008-08-18T18:15:00.006Z

Here it is! The first preview image for the upcoming book "10 Leaders who Changed the World".
And an exciting piece to start off with; a WW2 dogfight from the chapter devoted to the great Winston Churchill...

10 Leaders who Changed the World
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

"10 Explorers who Changed the World" sneak peek #6

2008-08-11T17:06:00.005Z

It's a sad day today, as this is the last Explorers sneak peek that we'll be showing you... But, don't despair! Soon you'll be treated to some select images from the next book in the series; "10 Leaders who Changed the World". For now, here's one of Magellan's men trying to catch a tasty penguin (not the chocolatey kind, though)...

10 Explorers Who Changed the World
Publishing 4 August 2008
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

"10 Explorers who Changed the World" sneak peek #5

2008-08-04T15:05:00.005Z

Last Monday we showed you ships in a stormy sea. This week's image shows how Columbus' men would tie themselves securely to the ship during stormy weather to avoid falling overboard...

10 Explorers Who Changed the World
Publishing 4 August 2008
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

"10 Explorers who Changed the World" sneak peek #4

2008-07-28T16:05:00.003Z

Here's our regular Monday afternoon Explorers sneak peek. Has it really been a whole week since the last one? Things have been so busy at Cool Surface Towers that the time has really been flying by...

10 Explorers Who Changed the World
Publishing 4 August 2008
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

"10 Explorers who Changed the World" sneak peek #3

2008-07-21T15:23:00.006Z

As promised, here's the next Explorers Day (formerly known as Monday) sneak peek installment. Here, Jacques-Yves Cousteau uses his trusty underwater camera to fend off sharks...

10 Explorers Who Changed the World
Publishing 4 August 2008
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

Increase your karma: help Matthew Woodson!

2008-07-16T08:27:00.005Z

Here at Cool Surface towers, we're big fans of Ghostco's Matthew Woodson. Not only is he an amazingly talented artist, but he writes a very honest and entertaining blog "With hands and hair..." which you should bookmark for reading immediately after your done with your regular visit here.

Now to the crux of this post, unlike here in England where the spiders are just things that I have to get out of the room because Sarah is scared of them, in America the spiders mean business.

I'll let Matthew elaborate: "On Monday of last week I was bitten by a yet unknown poisonous spider on my right knee. By Tuesday I was running a high fever and unable to walk. On Friday evening I collapsed and was rushed to the ER. After a series of x-rays and a whole lot of examination, I was informed that I had a rather large abscess and cellulitis due to the spider's bite. I was sent home early Saturday morning after having my knee surgically "drained", and in more pain than I have ever been in. After a doctor's appointment this Monday, another abscess was drained and I was informed that I would need to see a doctor weekly until the wound had healed, which could possibly take up to 8 months. Within these 8 months there will remain the very real threat of the infection spreading into the bone of my knee, as well as the possibility of blood poisoning."

Because Matthew lives in America, there's no NHS, so this is going to cost him. A lot. So we're asking you to go and visit his site and maybe buy a print from him, or even better, commission him to draw something. It's the first time he's ever taken on commssions, and you couldn't ask for a more talented artist to draw something for you, and even better, you'd get a great piece of art while helping him out financially. And if you need more convincing, here's a sample of his work here:Well, what are you waiting for? go visit his site and blog now! If you're lucky, he may even be persuaded to email you the pics of his knee hole!

"10 Explorers who Changed the World" sneak peek #2

2008-07-14T16:22:00.007Z

It's Monday, so here's another taster from the upcoming book "10 Explorers who Changed the World".

Every Monday we'll treat you to another preview image from the series, so come back next week to see a unique method of shark repellent...

10 Explorers Who Changed the World
Publishing 4 August 2008
By Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.uk

Win some Cool Surface Art at "Do You Remember.co.uk"!

2008-07-06T18:46:00.004Z

Who wants some art for free? (Actually, I do, but nobody ever sends me any...*sniff*) Enough about my lack of free stuff, this is all about free stuff for you!

Our good friends at "Do You Remember?" (probably the world's number one retro website for everything that was cool in the the 70's and 80's) are currently holding a competition for one lucky winner to have their very own extremely limited edition Cool Surface artwork created just for them! Now, this could go to anyone on the site, but we'd like it even more if somebody who regularly views this blog wins, so go enter now!

All you have to do is let them know which 80's character you would most like to adorn your wall - this could be anything from Transformers to Barbie or even Spotty and Superted! Sarah wants Superted, but personally, I'm thinking that "Blues" here looks pretty good, nudge nudge...

Sneak Peek from the Upcoming "10 Explorers who Changed the World"

2008-06-30T16:27:00.005Z

We've been teasing you for over a year now about these mysterious books we've been working on, but as the release date approaches we can finally begin to show you a few images from the upcoming book "10 Explorers who Changed the World". This is the first in a new and exciting series for younger readers. Due to be released on the 4th August 2008 by Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Books, this new and innovative series of books will use Cool Surface's animated art style to attract more reluctant readers and teach History in an exciting and engaging way. Here's a glimpse of Magellan's employee appraisal system...

For more information about the books, visit www.panmacmillan.co.uk

Summer's here!

2008-06-18T14:34:00.006Z

Here's our latest commission from Imagine Publishing. A summer themed tutorial imaginatively titled "Summer". If you want to find out how we created this image using a variety of textures from real-life hair to a pair of bikini bottoms, then pick up a copy of Advanced Photoshop Magazine issue 45, on the shelves now! There are also some of our very own custom brushes supplied on the accompanying CD. What more could you ask for?!

SC

Shiny Pink Top!

2008-06-01T18:13:00.003Z

This lovely lady was drawn for a limited series of promotional mini-prints that Sarah and I made. For lack of a better title, we call this one "Shiny Pink Top"!

Have fun,
David

Sneak Peak!

2008-05-22T16:45:00.002Z

After a very long 3 weeks without having my own computer to use (my laptop's video card fried itself!) I'm finally back online with a brand new PC! (I can't tell you how much I've missed using my own setup, borrowing Sarah's system and checking email remotely just wasn't the same!) If you've emailed me over the last 3 weeks and haven't heard from me, that's why! I'll be in touch soon, promise.

Anyway, before I get to my mountain of emails, here's a sneak peak of an upcoming magazine commission. We don't normally show you images from magazines before they see print, but the final image went in a very different direction from this initial concept sketch, so we thought we'd share it with you to show how differently the colour scheme and painting style could've been...

We'll post the actual image when it's published later this month.

Have fun,
David

"Adrenaline"- Digital Arts Magazine Tutorial

2008-05-02T12:17:00.004Z

Introducing "Gayle Forzz", the star of our latest commission for IDG.
You can find out how to create this image by checking out our tutorial in Digital Arts Magazine, out now!

Enjoy!
SC

A book to buy and another one to avoid!

2008-04-23T06:43:00.005Z

It's shameless self-promotion time again (when isn't it?)! You may remember a while ago I posted the Djinn as a sample of two pieces of art I submitted to an upcoming anthology by the good people (A special nod to Chris Gatcum) of Ilex Press?
Well, Erotic Fantasy Art is now available! It's doesn't just feature yours truly, it's got loads of excellent talent, including Billy Nunez, Martin Abel, Cool Surface's good friend Steph Laberis, the sorely missed Glen Angus and wonderful pieces from the authors Aly Fell and Jonny Duddle! This must be a record for the most links in a post ever...

Synopsis (from Amazon)
"Erotic Fantasy Art" is a unique showcase of today's very best erotic art. Drawing on a wide variety of work by traditional and digital painters and illustrators from all over the world, it comprises a sourcebook of ideas and inspiration guaranteed to stimulate the imagination of all artists who strive to give their artwork an erotic edge. In this book you will find superlative examples of a wide variety of erotic styles and genres. The authors are on hand to guide you through the selection, revealing the background behind the images, sharing anecdotes drawn from interviews with the artists, and sharing practical tips and tricks on how the works have been created.

*******
And now, from something you should definitely buy to something you should stay well away from! We were informed by illustrator Darren Di Lieto, who runs the Little Chimp Society illustration site, that the work of loads of illustrators, and his interviews with them for the LCS, have been plagiarized in a 350-page book being sold online for $100!

None of the people whose work is represented have received anything from this book. You can read more about it at Darren's Blog where he has scans of everyone that has had work stolen. Please help spread the word and
Please DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!

Thanks everyone,
David

It's not just filler, honest....

2008-04-09T14:58:00.005Z

It's been a little while since our last update, but there's lots of new artwork on it's way from magazine tutorials due out this month and next. To keep you happy until then, here's another quick study from reference by David. The first person to guess who the image is based on wins a great, big...... "Well done!"

Enjoy!
SC

Second post of the week- we're spoiling you!

2008-03-13T11:00:00.003Z

Here's a quick reference study that David knocked up yesterday morning (not in THAT way!)...

Enjoy!

SC

As promised...

2008-03-11T16:58:00.003Z

Well, it's been an insane amount of work, but our second book for Macmillan is now finished, which must mean it's time to update the blog. First things first, here's the coloured version of Sarah and I. Come back later this week for more new pics! Yes, that's right, this week! We spoil you don't we?

More soon,
David

Cool Surface Lite

SciFi Now - 101 Geekiest Clips you must see!

Day Of The Tentacle - Animated Illustration

World of Warcraft illustration for PSD Tuts+

Drying Paint - illustration for the "Memories Project" Cancer charity art book

The Best TV Show Apps - editorial illustration for Apps Magazine

Music Star! Editorial illustration for Apps Magazine

Shell Shock! Super Mario attacks!

Star Wars: "Unlikely Heroes" illustration for SciFi Now Magazine

101 of the Best Geek-Out Moments illustration in SciFi Now

The Line Up - editorial illustration for How It Works Magazine

The Mighty Pencil - “A collection of contemporary illustration talent from around the globe” featuring "Sea Monkeys" by Cool Surface

Battle Books: Arnhem is available now!

Preview Art for Battle Books: Arnhem by Gary Smailes & David Cousens from Franklin Watts/Hachette

"Propaganda" - Digital PaintingTutorial for Digital Arts Magazine

Scarecrow's Joyride - Digital Painting tutorial for PSDFan

Guess Who’s coming to Dinner? A PSD Tuts+ tutorial

A tribute to Chris Bachalo’s “Death” plus WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE…

Character Design for ‘Deseble Rising’: Xaisen & The ‘design a Minkee’ competition winner

Angry Panda - now appearing in "European Panda"

"The Monstrum Dichrous - a Photoshop CS5 tutorial for PSDTuts+" PLUS an interview for "Gamers Dig Art" and Get "Bitten" for Charity!

Rack VS Cousens: Robot 27 Limited Edition Prints available now!

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - an art tutorial for PSDFan

A little something we cooked up for SmART Car...

Cool Surface joins "The Memories Project"

Skull Fluff - for Steve Rack's "Toe Fluff" exhibition

Happy Little Trees: A Photoshop CS5 painting tutorial for Advanced Photoshop magazine

Recommended Reading: "The Pirate Cruncher" by Jonny Duddle

Creative Boom! Another week , another banner PLUS an interview!

Competition winner: The new Topless Robot banner

10 years of Dazed Magazine covers: A Decade Drawn Out - "Dazed & Illustrated"

Bedroom - created with Adobe Photoshop CS5 and featured on Gizmag

Bowl o' Fruit

"Why won't they stop staring at me?!"

Merry Christmas from Krampus and Arisaema! It's the Cool Surface Christmas e-card

Animated Avatar tutorial for Advanced Photoshop magazine & The Roberto Blake interview

You should follow me on Twitter - it's official, Minervity.com says so!

Appearances on other sites, a new image and go buy our wallet now!

The latest Boreal wallet: Rexx Unleashed!

Painter X Sketch

Rom redesigned: A Tribute to Bill Mantlo

More Mosh

Passengers- Advanced Photoshop Tutorial

Cool Surface Shop Open for Business!

Painter Reference Study

Anna Character Concept Design

"Broken Link" slideshow

"Broken Link" - A Photoshop tutorial based on the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

"The Dogs"

"Rising Starr", Advanced Photoshop Tutorial

"Fractured Beauty"

Graffiti Tutorial in Photoshop Creative, "First Dance"

"Photoshoot" Digital Arts tutorial out now!

But why is the rum gone?

10 Kings and Queens; a preview

Love Birds

Shiver

Tilly Tag

10 Kings and Queens is Out Now!

Advanced Photoshop's latest website wallpaper is..."Dark!"

Reg the Cat

More Cool Surface artwork on the Beeb!

Create your own handwriting font and follow us on Twitter!

Happy 4th Birthday WoW!

Comic concept sketches

Hyde in the Shadows

Cool Surface Hits the Small Screen!

A sketch from reference

"Dark" Advanced Photoshop Tutorial

An important thing to remember this Christmas...

Advanced Photoshop's 50th issue - 50 covers by 50 artists!

10 Leaders- haven't you bought it yet?

Buy our books!

"10 Leaders who Changed the World" sneak peek #7

We're in ImagineFX again!

Tiki and Mambo: When hamsters get drunk! (with a little Monkey Island influence)

"10 Leaders who Changed the World" sneak peek #6

"10 Leaders who Changed the World" sneak peek #5

"10 Leaders who Changed the World" sneak peek #4

Margaret Thatcher - The Iron Lady