Last week, on March 5th, I held my first ever market stall, selling my illustrated wares, at the Bradford Steampunk Market, ably assisted by Jess and Justin.

Having never held a stall before, I was a little nervous beforehand: Would I have enough stuff to sell? Would anyone want to buy it? What if I got there and I was missing crucial?!

My stall was upstairs (reached by means of a wonderfully clunky old-fashioned lift with manual doors).

As I arrived at my pitch, I was at first a little worried. I was up on the first floor and in the corner. I was thinking I wouldn't get a lot of footfall, but I needn't have worried. As the morning went on, I started getting a fair bit of interest - not least of all from The Captain of the Lost Waves, who came up to the first floor and improvised, on the spot, a song for each of the stalls. I only wish I'd had the presence of mind to record him doing it, instead of standing there beaming at him!

The setting was great: the archaic industrial machines of the Bradford Industrial Museum suited the steampunkery down to the ground! As expected, there were some fantastic clothes on display on both the stallholders and the visitors to the fair!

I only have a few photos - I didn't leave my stall all that often - , but Lady Cumberpatch (the organiser) has added some great photos to a Facebook album if you want to see some more of the fun!​

It's late and I'm tired.

I'm a bit low on dosh and despite having worked all the hours my bank care job can offer, plus other bits and pieces of work, payday is quite some time off and the bastard car keeps springing problems that need money splashed on them.

I could do with selling some more of my illustration work but sales are slower than I'd like at the moment.

I've spent quite a while this evening trying to figure out how to have more of an online presence - or at least a more appealing one, and how to extend my reach in order to get my work in front of more people and I'm feeling a little baffled, a little stuck, and a little overwhelmed.

I'm not drawing often enough.

I think I should resolve to draw more often. It really should be a daily thing as much as possible.
It would help me improve and help with my peace of mind I think. Help me focus. Help me remember that that is the part of illustrating I actually like.

I want to draw something beautiful rather than purposeful.

This I shall endeavor to do.

​Curt -xXx-

A recent portrait/caricature commission for the dad's 70th birthday.

This was a lot of fun to do, incorporating his work in IT, his love of travel, and his love of bridge, as well as his immediate and extended family.

You can commission your own here: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/495733654/steampunk-portrait-customised-portrait

Last night, I wanted to see if a concept I had for making an object appear in mid-air in stop motion animation (to look like it's falling, flying, or floating) would work.

I'm imagining it's a pretty standard way of doing it, but I wanted to see if I could do it.

After the break, I've included a step by step "How-To" guide for how I got the ball to look like it was in the air. Click "Read More" to... read more.

Here's the video:

 I've been playing with the stop motion editor again...

Having made one claymation video, months ago, I was initially just messing about to re-familiarise myself with the controls of it. The photograpy took around half an hour. Then I ended up getting quite involved in adding titles and redoing the sound and so on.

​More on how I did it, after the vid:

Here's a heads-up: I will have a stall at the Bradford  Steampunk Market.

It's part of the Leeds Steampunk Market, which I visited a couple of months ago at Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills.

This time, it's at the Bradford Industrial Museum in... Bradford! Click here for details of where to find them. 

It runs from 10 - 4 on the 4th and 5th of March and I will be selling on the 5th.

​The last one was a great event with lots of great stalls and steampunk merchandise on sale from illustrations, to jewellery, to LARP props and more. Plus, there were some really fun things happening such as Coffee Jousting! Yep - that was a new one to me!

​I'm entirely sure this one will be too! Plus, I will be there!

If you come, don't be at all afraid to dress up for it! You won't be alone in it.