anna akhmatova

I didn’t do a morning sketch today and I could really tell. So here’s a late one, I feel better for having done it. Anna Akhmatova is one of Russia’s greatest poets, and a famous beauty in her day; photographed, drawn and painted by several of the great masters. I loved her work when I was doing my Russian lit degree and I keep meaning to go back and have another read. [Note to self.]

I originally thought I was going to draw Anna Chancellor, since I mentioned her in the last post, but I did a quick web search and notice the web mysteriously bereft of any profile shots of her. That made me wonder if her publicists prefer straight-on pictures because she does have rather a large nose, in a cool way. And it made me think of Akhmatova, who got to revel in her striking appearance, so I decided to draw her instead.

Events update!
Sadly, I’m not going to get to speak on the DFC panel at the Edinburgh Literary Festival in August, boo.
BUT! The good thing about this being cancelled is that I can go to Oxford’s Caption festival on 15 & 16 August. Hooray! I had such a brilliant time there last year; you can see pics and a comic I drew about it. One of the coordinators, Selina Lock (girlycomic) has asked me to give a talk, so I’ll let you know when I get the details. Garen Ewing is also going to give a talk on the Sunday about his amazing book coming out about then, The Rainbow Orchid. So put those dates in your diary!

I’ll be doing some drawing at Gary Northfield‘s table this Saturday at London’s MCM Expo. I’ll aim to be there from 2pm for an hour or so, do stop by if you want a doodle and to say hi.

Cool link: boygirlparty has just posted a great step-by-step tutorial about how to make a quick and easy sketchbook. Have a look!