Merry Christmas - I hope you have been good this year

I can hardly believe it is Christmas again already. I feel that I have just got over Halloween. Anyway to mark the occasion and get into the holiday spirit here is a festive karentoon!

I hope you all behaved and Santa gives you what you really want this Christmas...or I hope you had lots of fun being naughty! I'm sure it was worth it!

Merry Christmas!
Kx

HALLOWEEN / ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY : CREATURES

It's Halloween so here is something scary!!!!

I drew this 1. because its Halloween two 2.because CREATURE is this weeks illustration friday topic!! I'm not sure which creature is more scary...the monster or the spider......

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

More illustrations can be found at my website www.karentoons.co.uk

Glasgow - Weegie Street / Red sandstone tenements

Glasgow is many things to many people. According to the Commonwealth Games folks it's...

 "Historic and avant-garde, quirky and elegant, rainy and heartwarming - Glasgow is a city of opposites and of inspiration, dear to anyone who's lived here and unforgettable to any visitor. It's a city where people like to dress up and have fun, to party all night, to soak up culture and to have a bit of banter with the next person in the queue. It's a city where you'll see charity-shop hipsters rub shoulders with stylish high-flyers, where indulgence can mean cocktails and designer handbags or a stroll through a Victorian park. It's a city of underground music venues and architectural jewels, of art and music festivals, of lazy Sunday morning brunches. It has a vast cultural offering and it's like no other place in the world."

To me it's home. I do lots of different illustrations and some of them have focused on Glasgow. After completing this image, I really want to pursue some more Glasgow related projects. For those of you who live in Glasgow, Weegie Street will be a bit familiar with the iconic red stone tenement, the variety of characters and also the little neds stealing pizza. I wanted to create an snap shot of a tenement, full of life and also full of detail so that you always spot something different when you look at it.

Anyway, I present...Weegie Street!

UK Coffee Week / Coffee Art Project

It is nearly the end of UK Coffee Week 23rd-29th April. As part of the Coffee Art Project I created this illustration inspired by my experiences in coffee shops. It was displayed in London as part the Coffee Art Project exhibition.

Find out more about UK Coffee Week here and fundraising efforts taking place for Water Aid here:
http://www.ukcoffeeweek.com/

PET HATE *new* online cartoon series

I’ve just launched a new online cartoon "PET HATE", starring Dave as the owner and Not Garfield as the cat.

Quite frankly, it is a story about unrequited love between a man and his cat. ...will Dave ever do enough to impress his cat?...will Not Garfield ever love Dave back? It is an emotional roller coaster, but don’t take my word for it...follow the story on tumblr :
www.notgarfield.tumblr.com

and on twitter: @not_garfield  / www.twitter.com/not_garfield

illustration friday: New (year)

This week's theme is "new", so I have gone with the predictable "Happy New Year" illustration. Here is a little cartoon about the conversations we have on Hogmanay and the days that follow. It is also a warning. If someone asks you what your highlight of the year was STOP, THINK and answer CAREFULLY!

 

 

p.s. I think my highlight of the year might be a gig. Either Admiral Fallow or Mumford and Sons...or maybe it was was Hogmanay itself! Or maybe it was halloween or my birthday or visiting Rome or seeing Avenue Q or watching Kevin Bridges.......2012 was a good year when I think about it. Here's to 2013!!

p.s.p.s see more "new" illustrations at www.illustratonfriday.com

Illustration Friday : Glow

It has been far too long since I have joined in the Illustration Friday fun so I thought I would post something for the last one of 2012! This week the theme for illustration Friday is "Glow"! Here is an image from a children's book I've been working on recently. I hope you like it! To see more images on this theme go to www.illustrationfriday.com.

 

 

 

five stages of MAN flu

 

 

After sharing my last illutration of the five phases of flu...I was told by a male friend that for man flu there is only one phase - DEFEAT. So...that called for another karentoon. Enjoy.

 

ps it's not sexist if a man says it first! (or if it is factually correct)

 

Five Phases of Flu

It is the most wonderful time of the year.....festive parties, thoughtful gifts and ruddy flu. I love Christmas, but every year without fail I catch the dreaded flu bug. This year is no different.

Flu comes in five phases. I'm currently in phase five, I wish I had spent more time trying to master phase 1....maybe next year.

Vintage Karentoons - Great Ormond Street Hospital

I have just discovered, thanks to mumtoons, that a tile I designed in Primary School is still on display in Great Ormond Street Hospital in the hydrotherapy unit. 

The competition was to design a tile for to decorate the hospital with the theme "kids in space".
I was judged a winner by my childhood hero Neil Buchanan. At the time he was of course famous for his children's TV show "Art Attack" which I adored so you can imagine how exciting this was. Back then I wanted to be him when I grew up. I suppose in some respects I am - but without my own successful TV show.

It really has made my day knowing that is still on display in the children's hospital after all these years. I hope it still makes some little faces smile.