here comes the blind commissioner

...and here comes some sketches of Professor Stephen Hawking on the opposite page along with a recent quote from him:

'Black holes ain't as black as they're painted. They are not the eternal prisons they were once thought. Things can get out of a black hole on the outside and possibly to another universe so if you feel you are in a black hole, don't give up – there's a way out.'

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

(the beauty parlour is filled with) sailors

Body of the blind commissioner (with one hand in his pants) and some sailors...

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

jealous monk

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

monkman goldman sketches

And also the body for Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood...

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

fighting poses (desolation row)

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

desolation row sketches

Sketches for Einstein (dressed as Robin Hood), and Ezra Pound and T.S.Eliot (fighting in the captain's tower).

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

desolation row

I haven't posted anything for a while. I took a couple of weeks off work at Easter and therefore didn't have access to the A3 scanners which I use to scan double spreads from my sketchbook. I've been busy drawing though and have embarked on a rather ambitious project – an illustrated version of Bob Dylan's Desolation Row. My plan is to draw all the different characters mentioned in the song – about thirty in all. The final image will be one long horizontal piece which I might turn into a concertina book or one of those boxes with a window and handles which you can turn to scroll through the image. The quick sketch I've posted here is a rough guide to remind me what each of the characters is doing and I'm also using this as a checklist as I work my way through the illustration. More soon...

TWSBI Diamond 580 on photocopier paper.