Mike Smith (Illustrator)

Tag Archives: drawing

Olkhon Island

We spent 4th-7th October on this island, which was a detour off the train line. It’s in the middle of Lake Baikal, which is the deepest lake in the world and supposedly contains 20% of the world’s freshwater.

(I decided to crop out the text on grounds of pointlessness, and just put some of the pictures up.)

Travel sketchbook diary, London-Singapore by train: Russia: Olkhon Island, Khuzhir

Travel sketchbook diary, London-Singapore by train: Russia: Olkhon Island, banya on the beach

Travel sketchbook diary, London-Singapore by train: Russia: Olkhon Island, fishing boat

Taiga Forest

In Tomsk we met someone called Gregory who got together some of his mates with carrier bags full of vodka bottles, and took us into the Taiga Forest to murder us for a barbecue.

Travel sketchbook diary, London-Singapore by train: Russia: Taiga forest

Gregory turned out to be the perfect host, guiding us back out of the forest in the small hours.

Travel sketchbook diary, London-Singapore by train: Russia: Tomsk

The trouble with staying in hostels is that you get on a kind of treadmill, meeting only other tourists. (We tried to correct this by using the couchsurfing website.) I wish I’d done more cartoons like the one below, but the trains and buses were too clattery to draw in.

Travel sketchbook diary, London-Singapore by train: cartoon of international hostellers

More Telegraph Poles

Talking about messy telegraph poles at Dungeness made me think of these biro sketches I did in a Beijing back street about four years ago. Every time I see one I get an ache to draw it. I dread to think why.

Sketch: telegraph poles in Beijing street

What this reminds me of more than anything is the sound of people hacking and gobbing in the street.

Dungeness

Dungeness lighthouse painting

Pencil sketch of a house at Dungeness

Dungeness lighthouse and nuclear power station painting

While we were on the south coast I did some sketching at Dungeness. It’s got to be one of the best places in the UK to go with a pad and pencil. It’s got everything, including loads of messy telegraph poles, which I particularly love drawing.

Caz’s dad is responsible for the design of part of the nuclear power station, but I can’t remember which bit.

First birthday card

First birthday card=

I couldn’t resist posting this birthday card for Rowan, from his cousins.

Happy ex-mouse

Poor mouse - a casualty of the Futility Room.

Hospital bed

Sketch of Caz recovering from tonsillitis.

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