It's a Frozen World

Pitons

These pins were found at the base of The Little Tower (Tancul Mic), Bucegi National Park, Romania. The rock had obviously recently been dislodged. I don't know the story with the pins, only that they are home-made, from pipes hammered flat at the ends.

Sketch to Final

I was recently asked to create a few illustrations for Mountain Intelligence, a new mountaineering store that is opening in the Peak District in the UK. The illustrations were to be used on the store's website (www.mountain-intelligence.co.uk) and hung in the store. So far two have been completed, one showing climbers on Ben Nevis, and the other showing boulderers in the Peak District. The owner wanted to represent local climbing venues. I have included a few preliminary sketches of the alpinists to show the development process.


These illustrations were hand inked with a brush and Speedball Super Black india ink on hot-press illustration board, then shaded with an ink wash. Both of these illustrations are available as prints at jamiegivens.com



Sketch 1

The sketches are done in pencil, then scanned and shaded in Photoshop with my Wacom drawing tablet.

Sketch 2


Sketch 3 (final pick)

Appeared in Alpinist 24

Appeared in Alpinist 24

Appeared in Alpinist 24

Appeared in Alpinist 20

I was surprised to find this picture in my in-box. An Alpinist reader saw my cartoon in number 16, and decided to get it tattooed on his back.

Appeared in Alpinist 16

Appeared in Alpinist 9. Anyone who has been to Arches National Park can attest to the phallic nature of a lot of the rock there.

This was my first cartoon to be published in Alpinist Magazine, number 8. The idea came from a day climbing the Bastille Crack in Eldorado Canyon, Colorado. I reached into the crack and was squawked at by a nest of baby birds.