For the last six or seven years the vast majority of my illustration work has been created digitally. I made the jump to digital illustration for a few reasons, the main one being time. As a commercial illustrator with several dozen clients and often as many as ten or fifteen projects on the go at any one time, deadlines rapidly stack up and can very quickly start to loom over you like some terrifying gargoyle on your shoulder. The task of scanning, tidying up and editing every sketch and illustrations I produced simply got a little much to handle. So for me, 'going digital' made perfect sense. I've never had any hang up about 'keeping the art pure' or any of that nonsense. For me, drawing or illustration is about creating artwork in whatever form... whatever works. I sketch, I paint, I even tattoo. It's all illustration. So making the leap to working digitally was just another skill to learn and to master, and one I enjoyed doing. Initially I made mistakes with the tools I used. Or rather, the tools I attempted to use. Poor quality drawing tablets and low spec computers can quickly turn people away from digital illustration because they're often just not up to the job. I bought, and got rid of several drawing tablets before I found what worked for me. I also upgraded my PC to resemble something along the lines of the Terminator on steroids. It was expensive, there are no two ways around it. But the gamble was that it would eventually pay for itself, with my increased productivity. Luckily it did, and it has continued to. These days I use three drawing tablets, on three separate computers. The vast majority of my work is produced on the PC, using a Wacom Cintiq 24hd. It's a beautiful piece of kit. Certainly not the cheapest, but as far as getting towards the natural drawing feel, it is hands down the best bit of kit available. My 24hd was an upgrade to my Wacom Cintiq 21ux, which I still use on my second PC. Still a great drawing tablet, it's a little less flashy and slightly smaller (although still plenty big enough to draw on) than the 24hd. Finally I use a Bamboo drawing tablet with my laptop, for working when I'm out and about. It's a very different drawing experience to the Wacoms, but with practice it's a useful tool. I tend not to use it for any great detailed work, instead sketching and doing any general 'blocking in' of colour, producing toughs, etc. tidying up and finer detail is usually added when I get back to the more advanced Cintiq. In a pinch though, good quality work can be produced on the go and it has saved me more than a few times. Despite most of my work now being digital (I say most because I do still paint, I do sketch on paper and ink by hand, just not usually for clients). Despite all of this, my sketch pads are still key! Almost all of my ideas, my illustrations, my work generally begins on paper, in one of my sketchbooks. I have thousands of them. Some small, some large. Some cheap little 99p sketchbooks, some more expensive Moleskine sketchbooks. It doesn't really matter at the end of the day. A sketchbook is a beautiful thing. They're a place to keep ideas and thoughts, many of which may never even be used. Others may be developed and turned into books, comics or great pieces of art. For me it always has, and always will begin with a pencil and a sketchbook!

It's been a long time since I've kept a regular blog, mainly due to the fact that I'm so busy with illustration jobs, writing, teaching art to kids around the UK, running my publishing company, etc. but lately I've had a lot of requests from people who want to know more about what I do. So here it is.... I'm going to attempt to keep a regular blog right here on calvininnes.com, with my sketches, random news and updates about what I do, information about upcoming projects and whatever else I think of. A few years back I used to keep a regular blog, filled with all sorts of random stuff, ideas, scribbles and even short stories. iot always did well but as I have become busier I have had less and less time to spend on anything other than work. In an effort to stop myself loosing it, and forgetting some of the ideas I don't manage to get down on paper I'm kicking it all off again. I may not update every week, or I may update three or four times in a week, we'll see how it goes. More and more these days I find myself travelling around the country for book signings and school art sessions, so inevitably I end up having a bit of free time while stopping at service stations or taking short breaks, so whenever possible I will try to write a few words or upload a few of my sketches (again, there are a LOT of these). I hope you enjoy my ramblings or find them useful, even entertaining. As always, any feedback is always welcome and appreciated

An illustration I put together to be sold as a print and a desktop wallpaper. This one was a lot of fun to put together. I purposefully used bright/vivid colours to make the video work a little better. From time to time I record the illustration process (when I'm working on something digitally). This is one of the first illustrations I recorded.

I've been illustrating badges for the Girl guides, Rainbow Guides and Brownies for several years now. All told I've created upwards of one hundred badges as well as various other bit's and pieces. This is a particularly enjoyable project as I have nieces, and friends with children in the Brownies, Girl Guides and Rainbows, so they get to wear the badges I've designed. I designed my first set of badges back in 2007 and have have produced new designs every year since. The badges from 2009 have also featured original characters I designed for GGUK.   Each project begins, as most projects do, with a brief from the client. This can be a specific idea, or something more loose and open to a little more artistic flair. I take the brief and sketch up some rough ideas, which are then sent off for approval. Once any edits have been made to the sketches I apply rough colours to the designs. This is to get an idea of what the final badges will look like once produced. As each badge is limited to 12 colours this can sometimes be more tricky than others. The more complex the design, the more creativity is needed when selecting the pallet. These new colour sketches are sent for final approval. Once I get the go ahead I get to work. As with much of my design work for projects where a product will be produced, I put the design together digitally. Using a PC and drawing tablet I start by adding the basic blocks of colour. (over the years the designs have developed from having black outlines to most of the artwork having no outlines at all. This gives the finished badges a really nice, clean look). I then add another layer of colour and start adding in the detail. Text is layered over the top, and in many cases the Guides Tree-foil logo. The final artwork is then flattened and sent over to Sarah Fawkes, who turns my illustrations into print ready files. Usually a month or two later the badges are available to Guides and Brownies all across the land!