Art by-Hudson
Inspired by Devon, Cornwall and Penguins
Inside A Mooks Mind
The ideas you can see here have been buzzing around my mind since I was young. For years now I have made sketches and notes when I have had these thoughts. Creatures, critters and stories in lands that would form in my mind at any time of the night or day. A mishmash of jumbled chaos it might have seemed.
But it was always connected. And I would find that I would be at my most creative at times of deep relaxation. And always at times of exploration when I traveled or journeid from home. This was often at its peak when I took trips down to the Southwest of England. A place I have felt at one with since I was a young lad.
Photography is still an art form that I love, and is close to my heart. Penguins are also a constant theme throughout my artwork as you will see. And since moving to Cornwall, close to the boarder of Devon and with the change of lifestyle that came with such a move, I have found that my daily direction was now so far removed from my old life up in the midlands, that I began to breath again. And also to draw again.
I have been fortunate enough to be able to take the time needed and once again look at things with childlike wonder. A skill that we often forget we have as adult life takes hold. This does not mean I am not busy. Far from it - I am likely busier now than I ever was. But since the move here with my wife Ana, and our boy growing up fast, creativity is flowing again.
The Adventures of Little Mook
The tale of a little blue penguin on the adventure of a lifetime.
Initially a series of concepts and spoken stories. Inspired by, and told to my son Jude. Ever since he was born and from the moment Ana and myself brought him home, I would tell him tails of a blue penguin by the name of Little Mook.
The idea blossomed and story after story was told, but after hitting an initial stumbling block with Little Mooks design, with me having a concept but being unable to fully realise my idea on paper, I was then assisted by the wonderful artist Ellise Jay Wilkinson, who helped me fully bring Little Mook to life and make him into the penguin he was always meant to be. But Life being what it so often is and us as a family having real life adventures of our own, Little Mook lay dormant. Then as a family we made the move to Cornwall and this is when Little Mook really started to come alive with more stories and then finally in print, with me picking up my pen again and taking Little Mook’s design a step further and finally pulling the other characters and creatures from my mind and onto the page before me.
These little critters live off the coast of Cornwall in a parallel universe.
A distant evolutionary offshoot of the Cornish Pixie. They left blue piskie life behind and now live a life of sun, surf and sand, as they catch the choice waves off Nabotoo and pop over to Cornwall for a Cornish pasty, clotted cream fudge and ice cream, which are of course a Gromlings favourite food!
The Gromlings were found by Little Mook on one of his adventures. And as they were forming in my mind and coming to life on my sketch pad, my lad Jude, nearly 5 at the time was wondering what I was up to! He asked me as I was sketching the outline of the first Gromling, if I was drawing a mango? And So Mango the Gromling was born. And in the process the colour of the Gromlings decided.
From these humble beginnings, sketching in the crisp early part of 2021, life on hold due to an ongoing pandemic, taking a break from homeschooling as my lad ran around me, playing in the garden overlooking Lanson Castle, they have since been an ever present part of our life and part of the stories we tell and learn through.
Meet the Gromlings
Inspiration comes from all over. From the places and people we interact with. The lives we live and the struggles we face. And often the natural beauty of the world is a source of infinite creativity. One of the things in that world that I find so fascinating is the Penguin.
Little Mook was inspired by the small blue Penguins I saw in the wild of New Zealand. His ‘big brother’ so to speak was inspired by more than just the adorable penguin. And was part of my imagination long before I ever saw penguins in the wild.
The Mook is the embodiment of a feeling that I have felt since I could feel. But have never fully been able to explain it. So this Penguin and the story that goes with it, is in part a way of me telling my own story. And not just mine - but a story of so many around me. It Is a very real imaginary portrait.
I remember coming across something that Neil Gaiman said while discussing and giving insight on the creative process - ‘Fiction gives us empathy: it puts us inside the minds of other people, gives us the gifts of seeing the world through their eyes. Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.’
The Mook as a story to tell, first came about from my time working in and managing pubs, which I started doing from the age of 17. And the art work goes hand in hand with this story. They feed of each other and are part of each other. But now the story of The Mook, and of the Lost Penguin Pub, (that you can find somewhere between Cornwall and the moon), is so much more. It is a book and show, (currently a work in progress), and a story that a lot of my friends still talk to me about. Imparting a bit of themselves in its telling, as every tale worth its salt should do. The Mook: a story 20 years in the making and one that likely took route even further back that is at its heart the story of a lost soul. A lost penguin who is on a journey to find his way home. This lost penguin could be any of us!
All you need to ask yourself is: Do you believe in The Mook?
Penguintastic Mook Art
It isn’t all Penguins, Gromlings and Fey folk in this parts.
Here is a selection of other art.
