Well, England did`nt quite do it in the World Cup, but these two sang them on anyway!! Hand drawn with Faber Castell brush pen, and colorized in Photoshop.

Maybe 2014 we may do a bit better!!

This shot was taken with the Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC. ISO 400 17mm S 1/10

This is a very good lens when working in low light, and a definite fav of mine.

It`s not very often we get fog like this these days, so I took the opportunity to get this shot while I had the chance.

The scene is Bootle town Hall, Oriel Road, Bootle Liverpool. 

Drinker with a Blank note..

This was hand-drawn using the Faber Castell brush pen a very versatile and dependable pen.It was colorized in photoshop.

Many artists choose to draw first with a lead pencil, then overdraw this with the marker, then use a eraser to rub out any visible pencil marks. If this method suits you...use it. I`d suggest trying a 2b pencil, and drawing in lightly, so you don`t have to rub too hard when it comes to rubbing out, and perhaps damaging the texture of your paper. The important thing is to keep up your practice whatever method suits you.

This was drawn with a 8b Faber Castell pencil.

These are quality pencils, which remain smooth `til the last stroke. No scratching the page at all with these.
 For the shading, I used the Lyra Graphite Stick, because this will cover a wider area much quicker.

I find the Graphite has a less dense tonal range than the charcoal, but then, sometimes, that`s what you need.

Drawn, again, with willow charcoal, using the edges, and the width of the stick.

The backgound is soft pastel, just to offset it.

Drawn with the willow charcoal and finished with a fixative

Drawn with the willow charcoal and finished with a fixative

The grandson, Kai.
Taken at the rear of the Malmaison Hotel, Liverpool with a Nikon 55-200mm VR lens.
I like this lens, it gives a nice blur to the background, providing you leave a suitable distance between it and your subject.

This was taken at 92mm ISO 100 f4.5 1/60s.

This was taken from Princes Parade, Liverpool, facing north.

It was taken with the Nikon 18-55 vr lens
with the VR on.

This was taken with the nikon 50mm 1.8 a cracking lens, very sharp, and really brings out the detail.

It`s taken at Marine Lake, Cambridge Road end in Waterloo, Liverpool.

Directly ahead is the beach, on the River Mersey, on it`s way out to the Irish Sea.

This is the Nikon F80 35mm SLR analogue camera. A truely excellent camera this. The two lenses here, are the Nikon 28-80mm kit lens, and the the other is the 70-300mm 5.6D zoom. I got some great photies with these lenses, but now that I have a Nikon digital..
and these don`t function fully on it..I don`t use either much at all.

To mount these on my current camera, I have no auto-focus, no light meter, and especially important for the 70-300mm....no vibration reduction. It` still a cracking lens with a tripod and self timer...so it does get some use...but not so much as it would.

The lady was drawn with the Letraset ProMarker, for the bold strokes, with minimal work with a 8b Faber Castell.
The double tip on the ProMarker is very handy for just turning it around, and using the bullet edge for more fine control

The next time your in Liverpool, looking for a taxi, you can`t do better than Seaforth Radio Cars.

You get a call back as the car arrives...so no hanging around in door ways, or outside bars, so some-one else does`nt pinch your cab.

All cars are regularly, randomly, checked by council officials, so they are all well maintained. And the fares are probably the keenest in the area.

There`s also lady drivers too.

How long do you normally wait for your taxi?
That depends on how busy the system is of course, but typically, no more than 15 minutes or so.

Drawn with willow charcoal . This is one of my favourite mediums for drawing. I`d definitely recommend trying it, if it is`nt something you usually use.

This was drawn with a Letraset ProMarker willow charcoal, and soft pastels I also used a  a fixative to prevent smudging once I`d finished the drawing.

The fixative is a must when using charcoal, pastels, or any medium that smudges easily. 

Another willow charcoal drawing, sketched in about 10 minutes.

I`ve used a soft pastel again in the back ground.

Changing the colour of this back ground can have completely different effects.....try a bit of experimenting.

Drawn with the charcoal willow stick with a soft pastel in the background to offset it slightly.

Drawn in about 10 minutes, and sprayed with a fixative to prevent smudging.

This was drawn with a 8b Faber Castell pencil, and the eyes were inked in with a Copic marker. I usually have two pencils, one with a sharpened tip, the other shaped with a craft knife  so that about half an inch of lead is usable to shade in with.

This enables me to work fluently.

I also use Blue Tac to lift off lead here and there as highlights. You can shape the Blue Tac to a fine point, or more broader, to suit your needs, and your not using it as a traditional eraser your lifting the lead, or charcoal, etc off the page, instead off rubbing it out.