Sam Hardacre (Page 7)

Re-thinking my podcast habit

I'd like to start by stating this is a very personal revelation. You're probably going to read this and think "Duh, you've only just got here?" so don't say I didn't warn you. I've been listening

Couch to 5K: about half way

Couch to 5K: about half way

Since we found out we were having a baby, fitness kind of fell of the radar a bit. When the baby came a long and we were sleep deprived zombies, doing exercise wasn't an attractive prospect when compared to a few quiet hours of rest. Fast-foward 4 years

3 pages inked!

My schedule doesn’t usually allow me time to smash out page after page of comics but having a week off work afforded me time to do just that. A comic I started weeks ago and decided to redraw the other day, is finally taking shape. 3 down, 2 to

It’s ok to start over

I’ve finally started work on a comic I’ve had bouncing around my head for years. The characters and story are starting to slot into place but there’s still a lot to do. The comic will be a fairly long story but broken down into smaller stories, which

Back to blogging

Back to blogging

It's been a while since I last tried to define what this blog is about. Going back through the archives, it's moved around in it's focus as my own focus and interests have shifted over the years. It's even fallen into neglect

The Horror

“The Horror” - quick sketchbook comic strip. Being English, this is the stuff of nightmares for me…

Lonely Moon

What's the right tool to use?

> there is no right tool in a general sense, only the right tool for you I don't get asked questions very often but when I do, it's often about the tools I use. Which pens? What type of paper? I will happily reel off the

Learnuary resources

I've not really had a chance to contribute any visual stuff to the Etherington Brothers #learnuary campaign yet but wanted to get something quick out there for people to start mulling over so I thought a short list of useful resources I find help me when drawing and

2018 Reading List

2017 has been a shocking year for my reading. Other than comics, I've not finished reading a single book this year and I'm not at all happy about that. Admittedly, I've been busier drawing commissions than previous years so I've not been

Reflecting on Inktober 2017

Reflecting on Inktober 2017

At the time of writing, I've yet to actually complete my Inktober project. I've got day 31 pencilled and partially inked but it's pretty much in the bag so I feel I can crack on with some thoughts on the project this year. A

Creative Spotting... erm redux?

Some of you may recall a blog post [https://blog.nocturnalmonkey.com/creative-spotting/] I wrote last year about taking the idea of spotting someone at the gym but for creative pursuits. I still really like the idea and wanted to bring it back up to see if there's

Inktober - A few tips

In a few weeks, I'll be taking part in my third Inktober project. I've learned a few things doing these projects so I thought I'd jot down a few tips. Official prompt list or going rogue? Each year, Jake Parker (the man behind the

My process

I’m nearing the end of a project for Bottleneck Gallery [https://bottleneckgallery.com/collections/sketch-booth/products/sam-hardacre-sketch-commission] to produce 50 illustrations for their customers. I’ve been posting photos and time-lapse videos to Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/skinnydrawnboy/] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/skinnydrawnboy/] along the way

Wrestling with character

Most people who know me will probably be sick of hearing me say that I’m working on a comic. Hell, I’m sick of telling people and not just getting on with it. I have a protagonist, some characters he meets along the way and an antagonist and his

Open .ai in Sketch

Open .ai in Sketch

Today I was sent an Illustrator (.ai) file from a client which I needed to use to output a .svg file. The only problem is I don't have Illustrator so I had to go searching for a solution. A quick google didn't offer much. Some solutions

Creative spotting

Creative spotting

When I draw, it's often in isolation. I don't have any friends nearby with whom I can just hang out with to shoot the shit about drawing cartoons and comics. I get really inspired by people I follow on Twitter and Instagram. Seeing the work they&

Killing in the name of (an icon)

Killing in the name of (an icon)

Yesterday Instagram released an update to their app which included some UI design changes and a new icon. When I checked out their video [https://www.instagram.com/p/BFRkl11hQV3/], one of the first comments I saw (sorry, I didn't get a screenshot, I was tired and not

3rd October 2004

3rd October 2004

This is an x-ray of my chest that day. Both my lungs collapsed to a very dangerous level - the small white parts either side of my spine are my lungs, the black space in the rest of the image is the pneumothorax. It really did nearly kill me. Thankfully,

Back to the conversation

I had a really random thought this afternoon about how socialising has changed over the years. Phone calls got replaced with text. Text morphed into tweets, direct messages, status updates and replies. It occurred to me that most of my day-to-day interactions happen through my keyboard. Aside from when I&

30 day writing challenge

For the last year or so, I've been pretty quiet on the blog front. Aside from Twitter and Instagram, I've been pretty quiet full stop. I've barely written anything, I've barely drawn anything, all the things I've planned to do

Lucky

Our son has had a temperature for the last few days. It's been up and down with assistance from the magical concoctions of paracetamol and ibuprofen. Last night, the magic wore off and his temperature just couldn't be controlled by our usual means. Cut a long

Civil War songs

I've been re-watching Ken Burns' Civil War series on Netflix this last couple of days and saw these lovely examples of type which appear to be the covers of sheet music. Sorry if the image quality isn't great, these are just screenshots taken on the

Audio fodder

I've been listening to podcasts pretty regularly recently so I figured I'd stick up a short list of my favourites: * Make It Then Tell Everybody [http://makeitthentelleverybody.com/] | Dan Berry interviews comics creators on their processes. Very interesting for comic geeks * Serial [http://serialpodcast.org/] | A

Short film // Home Sweet Home

I have a growing fondness of animated films whose characters are brought to life through normally inanimate objects. This short film is another favourite to add to the list: