Blah blah blah

Werewolf-Samurai

2012-01-27T23:22:00.001Z

Product of a silly twitter chat.

Halloween

2012-01-22T12:44:00.001Z

Here's a young Michael Myers. After sketching the rough I then started turning it something with correct perspective and light sources. Then I stopped because it wasn't working as well as the original sketch. I could have pushed the angles and light further to make it clear that rules are being bent, but thought that ran counter to the blank deadness you're supposed to get from Michael. Sometime you just have to go with what feels right, rather than what is right.

Star Wars

2012-01-11T23:41:00.000Z

Luke Skywalker finds 'Dirty' Ben Kenobi's secret stash of p0rn. This would be an Alan Partridge reference. Also, considering I did in about 45minutes on cheap/nasty watercolour paper I'm pretty happy with this one.

Coal

2012-01-03T16:57:00.000Z

Not posting about New Years resolutions. Last year was highs and lows, and I just want to get on with 2012. I've made a list of various projects, and am considering doing a comic about coal mining in the North East in the 50s. Publishers will be lining up for that one!

Christmas

2011-12-26T15:11:00.001Z

Hope you all had a great Christmas. Here's the card I did for my wife. It was a bit of a rush, but has been too well received by its audience for me to criticise it!

Hellboy..... and a dog.

2011-12-24T22:52:00.004Z

I'm going to assume Mike Mignola won't be dropping by to be less than amused by my messing with his much loved (especially by me) character's often used catch-phrase. The dog attempting a poo is my own dog, Boo.

Octonauts, with added Olivia

2011-12-18T12:49:00.002Z

Here's what I've drawn for my daughter for Christmas. She, no, WE, are all huge Octonauts fans in our house, the books and the cartoons, so hopefully this will go down well.

Superman process

2011-12-15T16:14:00.004Z

For anyone interested. I've added an extra stage to my drawing process. Here's how it all goes -
Various sketches. Final pencils, and then inks.....Here's where I've changed my process. I used to ink (on watercolour paper) then scan and add colour and tones on the computer. I convert the linework layer to multiply and colour underneath, adding tones on a separate layer. As I try to maintain a fairly organic look I decided to do more of the tonal work by hand with coloured ink. I think it worked out quite well, even though I still did additional toning on the computer. Hopefully as I practice I'll get better at the hand toning and maybe try more washes to eliminate as much computer toning as possible, making for a more streamlined process for me, something which I've been working towards. The other handy thing about hand tones is I plan to do some masking (solid colour shapes without outlines) and that should make it easier.
And here's that final piece again, if you compare the two, you might notice I wasn't happy with the head, and shrank it down slightly - I try not to do too much altering on the computer, but sometimes you just have to! I might do a few more superhero pics, as I've had an idea for another.

Superman

2011-12-13T23:18:00.003Z

Maybe it's because of Superman The Movie, maybe it's because I love straight up heroes, but there'll always be a place in my heart for Superman. Here's a pic I did, heavy on the Golden Age.

Hilda

2011-12-01T19:36:00.003Z

There's a new Hilda book out by Luke Pearson from Nobrow. The first Hilda story was wonderful, and Pearson gets better all the time, so the latest will be amazing - I'll confirm this if my Christmas wish list becomes a reality! In the meantime, a few folk on twitter drew their version of Hilda, so I joined in the fun.

Asterix

2011-11-26T18:23:00.003Z

....and Obelix, and Dogmatix. And some Roman. Here's another pic where I try and get a character out of my system.

The Wonderful thing about Tiggers....

2011-11-21T08:46:00.004Z

....is there's only one. And it's A.A. Milne's & E. H. Shepard's.
Here's my humble attempt to draw Tigger, who is not my favourite character (although they're all great!) from the books, so that means there should really be another picture. As soon as I get round to drawing it.
Eagle eyed regulars to this blog may see a resemblance to another piece I posted, purely intentional, as I liked the green and blue palette and wanted to try it again, and as several drawings on this blog show, I really like drawing characters in the sky!

The Leopard of Lime Street

2011-11-04T13:05:00.003Z

My updating of the UK classic, 'The Leopard of Lime Street'. One of things I loved about the strip was the working class grittiness, so I've pushed that a little further with use of council flats. From that it was easy to imagine a whole new 'Leopard' strip making used of parkour. I'd love to see that happen.
With me drawing it, of course:)

2011-11-03T16:53:00.011Z

Copies of Nelson have arrived at Blank Slate, so you can buy them!
You probably know the drill by now, it's an anthology with each chapter produced by some of the best and brightest creators in the UK, and all the chapters tell a story from a year in the life of the main character. My gushing about this wonderful project knows no bounds, and you can support the homeless charity Shelter by buying it!
Here's another sneak peak of my chapter, this is most of page one on display. It's a fairly low res scan, so I wouldn't click on.... why not just buy the book!
More info on Nelson, and buying power, here.
There's some events lined up too. I'll be at Thought Bubble, so say hello.
While I've got your attention I'm seriously considering doing commissions, but have no idea what level of interest there is out their, so let me know. Prints are a possibility too. See you at Thought Bubble!

Olivia the Witch

2011-10-29T14:08:00.002+01:00

As I'd already used the flying on a 'balloon'stick pose, I opted for something else witch-like for this halloween drawing of my little girl in a costume she bought.
She likes the drawing, but wants to know why she isn't wearing a black dress. Sorry, Olivia, artistic license.
I've posted the pencils as I was pleased with how loose and simple they were, and it's rare that I ever ink anything as loose, hopefully I didn't lose the liveliness in the inking.

RIP my Dad

2011-10-16T15:34:00.002+01:00

My dad died a few days ago. Very sudden, and I've not properly taken it in. No idea why I'm posting it here, but I wanted to mark it somehow.
Normal service will be resumed. Eventually.

Solipsistic Pop sneak peak

2011-09-26T22:23:00.004+01:00

Have I mentioned that I'm contribution to the excellent anthology Solipsistic Pop? well, I am, a two page strip for issue 4.
All the SP books are beautifully designed and SP4 will be on cream paper with an addition green tone.
The theme for this issue is 'maps', and I must admit I stretched that theme to fit my strip. But as it's the story that popped into my head after thinking of the theme I figure it's fair enough.
As SP is so beautifully designed I decided to attempt something I rarely do nowadays, which is the 'fancy-pants layout'. As much as I admire the likes of Chris Ware, when it comes to my own stuff that kind of layout just isn't for me.
The panel here probably gives a clue as to how I decided to tackle the layout, and really, it's not all that fancy - in fact, I went to a lot of effort to make sure actually looks as straightforward as possible.
One interesting thing, for me at least, is that it's almost a companion piece to my Nelson contribution, but in this instance I've not masked the autobiography with a fictional character and I've recalled something more specific to me.

Nelson

2011-09-01T20:34:00.004+01:00

As many of you may be aware Blank Slate will be publishing Nelson in November. Nelson is the brainchild of Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix. It's one story created Exquisite Corpse style by 54 creators. I've seen quite a bit of it, and it's amazing.
Nelson's mix of an amazing variety of talented creators not only manages to be cohesive, it shows us that one style is not 'better' than another, it shows us all are valid, and value of those styles is what they reveal about the creator. Nelson really is something far greater than the sum of it's individually incredible parts.
It's probably best if I don't say anything about the content of even my own contribution for now. I'll just say that I used nostalgia to attempt to tap into something that I hope many can relate. You shouldn't have to wait to long to see if I succeeded!
In the meantime here's two random panels, one of which will allow the eagle eyed 2000ad fan to pinpoint almost exactly when my contribution is set.

Cycling

2011-07-17T20:07:00.002+01:00

My daughter recently started cycling without stabilizers, and I was amazed how well she took to it. So I drew this.

Dr Seuss' House of Horrors!

2011-06-22T00:54:00.002+01:00

Oh, I may go to hell for these. Still, I absolutely adore Seuss, but, really, isn't the whole uninvited guest forces his way into a kid's house and causes chaos a wee bit.... odd? Also, shame on their folks for leaving them on their own. And.... and.... okay, I've run out of excuses.

Olivia's delivery service

2011-06-19T00:01:00.002+01:00

Been so busy lately it seems like ages since I had a chance to draw. My little girl was obsessed with Kiki's Delivery Service for a while, and struck a flying pose with a balloon on a stick. Seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up.

One that got away

2011-05-30T20:29:00.004+01:00

I recently pitched a comic called MCPD Blue (that's Monster City Police Department). Sadly the editor liked it, but didn't feel it was right. After a brief moment of panic where I thought all ideas had dried up and I'd never do anything, or find time for anything again, I came up with an idea that takes a lot of what I liked about MCPD Blue but hopefully presses the right buttons for the editor.
In the meantime, here's a couple of the MCPD Blue illustrations. Who knows, maybe I'll come back to it sometime.

Nelson

2011-05-08T13:20:00.003+01:00

Have you heard about Nelson yet? It was finally announced a few days ago, and is, frankly, amazing. I know this, because I've seen a lot of it. I've seen a lot of it, because I'm in it.
As an anthology it's pretty unusual, I think the tagline pretty much sums it up - 'Fifty Creators, Forty Three years, One narrative'. That's right, a whole lot of people all working on one story. But, thanks to the hard work of Rob Davis, Woodrow Phoenix and Kayla Hillier, not only is it cohesive, it adds up to far more than the sum of it's parts. And what 'parts' they are, not matter what kind of comics you read, I guarantee you'll have heard of some of the people involved. I'm still pinching myself that my contribution sits in their with the work of so many people I hugely admire.
Read more about it here.
As soon as I'm able to show something, I will.... but only a little bit!

The Octonauts

2011-04-24T14:51:00.003+01:00

The Octonauts is brilliant. Couldn't resist turning my daughter into Captain Barnacles.

Tom Hickathrift

2011-04-04T15:42:00.012+01:00

Poor Tom. Jason and I worked really hard to produce something we hoped publishers would appreciate. Sadly, so far, despite some lovely feedback it hasn't happened yet. We hope Tom will find a chance to rise, and take his place next to Asterix, or Bone, but we need a publisher for that. If anyone wants to contact us, please do. In the meantime, here's the first 10 pages and a cover.

Big Lebowski/Sesame Street

2011-03-03T14:32:00.001Z

Here's the pic I'll be giving to my wife for her birthday tomorrow.

Judge Death

2011-02-01T22:40:00.001Z

You know who this guy is, right?

'cover'

2011-01-23T18:05:00.001Z

Throwaway comment in a conversation and a friends asking for a picture combined in this picture.

Frankenfunnies

2011-01-16T08:56:00.004Z

This was an itch that needed scratching. I first came up with the idea for this strip almost five years ago, and posted a couple designs. Since then it's just sat in a dusty drawer in my brain.
As I never forgot the idea, I thought it deserved to be put to paper. The paper itself is pretty big, almost A2 as I saw this looking like a Sunday Comics page and wanted to try and capture some of that feel.
I had another idea for a second strip, hopefully it won't take five years this time.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-19T23:43:00.004Z

Here's the Christmas card I did for my wife, now I share it with all you out there. Merry Christmas!

Scooterdog

2010-11-23T20:04:00.002Z

Me and my four year old daughter too our dog, Boo, for a walk recently, and my little girl told me a story about Scooterdog. It involved penguins and a knitted jumper.
I couldn't resist drawing Scooterdog, and it will soon be on my daughter's wall.
No idea if there'll be any more Scooterdog, but there will be some more collaborations with my daughter. Keep watching.

stateboarding

2010-11-07T11:15:00.006Z

There's a story to go with this picture, based on a childhood memory.
There's a few memories I've considered turning into comics. I don't think they'll be rewarding reads, it's really just for me.
This, never really happened, of course, but it does try and capture a feeling I had about skateboarding, even if the actually skateboarding didn't work out so well.
I'm happy with the colour version, but think the b&w one might be more successful, so I'm posted it too.

Slaine & Judge Dredd

2010-11-04T10:58:00.005Z

Here's two quick sketches I did to get a feel for how I'd like to draw both characters.Dredd is fairly standard, but I've gone for the skinny menacing look rather than the steroid version that crept in during the late 80s. Not sure about the Eagle, here. My main problem is balancing simplifying parts and keeping the detail of others.Slaine is based on the look of his first year. Despite the skill of the people involved, I don't care for the more heavy metal Slaine.

Bits

2010-10-19T19:00:00.007+01:00

Here's the complete 'Bits' featuring Hugo (tangentially) I love his sad sack gormlessnesss, but it's even better when he reverts to type.
If you like this, why not have a look at the book it appears in here

The Return of Hugo

2010-09-27T22:16:00.004+01:00

Hugo the zombie, last seen in Zombie of the Great Unwashed, returns in 'Bits'. Sadly, he doesn't return on this page, and I can't really show the other pages because they're a bit spoiler-y, so you'll have to wait:) Or maybe you could just buy a copy of the comic it'll appear in when fine writer Jason Cobley puts it out.

Influence Map Meme

2010-09-08T14:29:00.012+01:00

For the sake of honesty I've lied on my map. Brian Bolland and Curt Swan should feature as I spent a lot of time as a kid copying their work. I haven't cared for Bolland since I was about 13, but has his influence has been erased?

There should be a lot more artists, TV shows, films etc. I realised I was equally inspired by 'waves' of creators, so I picked one - Walt Holcombe is an example of this, I could've just as easily picked Goodbye Chunky Rice era Craig Thompson, James Kochalka or Tom Hart. I did the same with British artists, it was a toss up between Paul Neary and Steve Parkhouse. Including McMahon was a given, but that kept out Kevin O'Neill and Ian Gibson.
Herge or Uderzo could've easily gone on the list, but Chaland and Trondheim scratches similar itches for me.
Does Richard Sala look like DavidB? Sort of, maybe, but putting B in seemed superfluous with Sala.
Feels disingenuous to only have David Law on the list, why not Ken Reid, Leo Baxendale or many other great UK kid's comic artist? It's the energy of Law's work that made me pick him.
It's not exactly accurate to put Matisse, or Van Gogh, but Expressionism/Fauvism/Impressionism is something I find interesting and needed to represent some of that.
It was quite hard for me not putting Rumiko Takeashi on the list, and there's not a similar artist on the list, but I left her out as much of her appeal, for me, lies in her writing.
Not having the Los Bros Hernandez, Peter Bagge, Dan Clowes etc seems criminal, but I love their work as a reader, and greatly admire their incredible skill and talent, and that's not the same as being influenced. There's quite a few creators who fall into that category.

New page

2010-09-07T20:05:00.004+01:00

This is the 2nd page of pitch art for Daversham Rex, with Mr Rex actually appearing on it.
Anachronisms are appearing now, with outfits and vehicles from whatever time I like. This is intentional. Honest. As well as using vague likenesses for the cast I decided to pick whatever reference felt right, whether accurate or not. Hopefully it'll achieve an internal consistency.

Daversham Rex page 1

2010-07-26T18:50:00.005+01:00

Here's page one of a pitch I'm working on with David Hailwood called Daversham Rex. It's a fairly 'raw' scan as I've not done much correcting - I'm leaving that for when all the pages are inked.
Like the stuff I've been doing recently it's brush work on watercolour paper, and I've been thinking of adding a light wash, not so much for tones, but to try and bring out the texture of the paper.
Don't know if it's easy to make out, but that's the Kraken from the original Clash of The Titans as a water fountain.

Revealed!

2010-06-28T23:01:00.006+01:00

Seeing as Jason Cobley, my partner in crime, has given me the go ahead, here's the super secret project we've been working on. Tom is based on a character from folklore, and Jason's script pushed so many buttons for me I tried to raise my game with the artwork.

Eleventh Doctor

2010-06-26T08:54:00.002+01:00

Ah, the pleasure of drawing for fun. Fast loose inking on watercolour paper is lots of fun, and it was nice to not worry if the end results worked. Fretting over artwork is what saps all the fun from drawing.

Tease

2010-06-02T21:53:00.003+01:00

Here's a non-spoiler panel from the pitch I've been working on with top fella Jason Cobley.

why no pictures?

2010-04-18T19:33:00.004+01:00

Sorry for the lack of art. I recently finished a book cover and am close to finishing a pitch with Jason Cobley, but nothing else worth posting. In all honesty I'm a bit burnt out on blogging, and have been finding some aspects of drawing a bit joyless.
It's my own fault, after getting a few things published I started to think all wrong about what I drew. I tried to force myself into doing things in a manner that just wasn't me. So I drew less and was unsatisfied with what I did.
Comics only pay great if you do a certain kind, and I'm not interested, or maybe even good enough for those. Truth is I have a limited amount of time (I work full time and my wife works full time. Days off work are most likely spent looking after my daughter, or it's a rare family day) any drawing I do should be self indulgent, not tampered with in the hope for a bit of cash. So, no more looking for a paying gig. If something comes up that I like, great. If not, I'll be pleasing myself.
I've no idea if this means less drawing as I focus on other things, or more as I rediscover what I like.
I came to this after feeling quite low, but once I decided to pull back from things I felt pretty good. That seems like a good sign.

Team Toxic redesigns

2010-03-20T21:03:00.004Z

This is artwork from a year or so ago. These were asked for by Egmont after I did two strips for the Toxic Free Comic. Egmont were considering revamping the characters and asked anyone who'd shown interest if they'd like to have a go. So I did.

Good Dog, Bad Dog

2010-03-09T03:05:00.005Z

Couldn't sleep so I decided to do some fan art for Dave Shelton's wonderful 'Good Dog, Bad Dog', collected from dear departed DFC, but resurrected in The DFC Library.

Dredd Head

2010-03-05T09:41:00.004Z

This is probably way to rough to post as it's nothing more than a quick doodle, but what the hell, might as well shown some drawings. Despite it's dodginess, this Dredd pic makes me wonder if I should do a sample. My only contact with Tharg made me suspect that I'm not right for (his) 2000ad and probably never will be. But, I have that nagging feeling a lot of readers my age probably have of wanting to have had a proper go at being in 2000ad. I've never drawn the Dredd I see in my head, but this is getting closer.

Medium Flake

2010-02-13T12:01:00.005Z

These were scripted by David Hailwood for an open sub thing Mad Magazine had a couple of years ago. It's early on in my days of photoshop, and I was shocked to see some weird laborious techniques. One page had to be relettered because of a mistake. David also sent them to Wasted, Alan Grant thought they were funny, but not 'adult' enough, he did say he liked the artwork though. Which is nice.

2010-02-05T19:10:00.007Z

This was painful.
I roughed it out fairly quickly and blundered into the final pencils. Then realised I'd done a terrible job.
So I started again, got as far as colouring and as the page was nearly done when my laptop went dark. The battery doesn't work and I'd accidentally pulled the power supply out. In my haste to make up for lost time I hadn't saved any of the colour work. Deciding that the day was a dud I figured I should go to bed, emailed the other Huzzah guys.... then decided to block in some colour, and that blocking in led to finishing it up. Thankfully.

New Year post

2009-12-29T17:33:00.006Z

This is the 3rd go at writing, the previous two were too negative. 2009 was a pain in the arse for many reasons, but I have done stuff. I spent time with my family, I drew, and I honestly think I got better.
So, 2009 was a sod, but I won, I beat you '09, screw you!
Here's what I'll be doing in 2010.
1. Getting off my fattening arse. I've just moved into 36inch waist jeans and am none too happy about it. The day's of 32inch are gone, and I can't be arse with them, but 34 sounds about right.
2. Super secret project with Jason Cobley. I think the plan is to keep it under wraps and see if any publishers bite. If they don't we'll release it ourselves. It's awesome!
3. Astro Dog. This poor fella has sat around since the untimely demise of The DFC, I had some lovely feedback when I posted about him earlier, but nothing much seems to have come of that. The plan now is to turn it into a fresher pitch and send it out again.
4. My webcomic. This one probably won't start until April. It's too early to say much about it, but I will be looking at a weekly updated self contained story, that'll run to book length. I'll post more about this as it gets closer.
5. Odds n sods. I'll still be contributing to the two Huzzah strips. I've sat on a few bits of samples I intend to send off soon, and there's a couple of other commitments.
6. Keep up that family time.
7. Less internet. I've slowed down posting, and I've cut down tweeting, but I still spend a lot of time looking at nonsense online. Best to knock a lot of that on the head. I'll still be about, but in a more worthwhile less time sapping way.
And that's it, hope you all have a fantastic New Year!

New noir art

2009-11-27T00:34:00.002Z

Just posted this page on the huzzahnoir blog. First huzzah I've done in a while, and if you were checking my blog it looks like the first art in while. Not true, I'm working on a secret project with Jason Cobley, and I'm really enjoying it, wish I could show something, but we've decided to keep it under wraps for now. Sorry!

Hugo the Zombie

2009-10-30T18:12:00.006Z

Here's my entry into the Observer/Jonathan Cape Comica competition. It's a rework of an old strip written by fine writer, and friend, Jason Cobley.

Brrrrrmmmmmm!

2009-10-13T22:01:00.003+01:00

Incase you don't visit the Groovy Age of Horror blog (and you should), or follow me on twitter (and, well, you can, but should? Not essential), here's sketch I did for it. Psychomania is a strange film I've mentioned on this blog before, Beryl Reid as a devil worshipping mam and Nicky Henson as her Hell's Angel immortal son.... what's not to like?

Beryl the Peril

2009-10-11T21:06:00.004+01:00

After Shane Oakley's excellent post about sketching I thought I'd post my Beryl the Peril scribbles. Should be finishing my DCThompson samples soon. Been painfully slow in coming, the day job's been wearing me out the last few months and hit my productivity, but after going to BICS last weekend I really want to get back into the swing of things.

2009-10-08T16:58:00.003+01:00

I could post about why I've not posted any artwork, I could moan about my job, or I could post a picture of my little girl in a Cat in the Hat outfit I made*. Easy choice.

*ok, just the bow tie, hat and make up, my wife bought the cat outfit when she couldn't find black leggings and top.

Pictures!

2009-09-15T20:38:00.005+01:00

Hi Folks. After another absense here's a cropped and edited couple of sneak peaks of what I've been working on. These are samples I've been cooking up with the fine writer, Dave Hailwood.

Dennis the Menace

2009-08-27T08:42:00.003+01:00

Seeing as you all, well, Shane, asked for more, here's a sketch I stuck up on twitter a couple of days ago. It's a very quick scribble I did of Dennis the Menace, totally off model (although inspired by Davy Law's original version), that I found myself liking. Sometimes the scribbles are just more fun and capture something a 'proper' bit of drawing can't.

Not much drawing going on

2009-08-23T18:49:00.004+01:00

Please accept these old scribbles as the shameless filler that they are.
This was for a pin up for The Shootist I never got round to doing, and probably never will, I'm posting it because although it's barely legible, I think it looks like John Wayne.Here's a scribble of the Hulk. It was sitting in a corner of my sketchbook, I don't remember drawing it, but I quite like it for some reason. It's scribbles like this that made me start experimenting with just pencilling and not inking it, although I'm wondering if it's time to go back to the brush.

Fairy

2009-07-31T22:27:00.003+01:00

Never managed to get to Caption, the small press comic convention, but I've always wanted to. This year's theme is 'away with the fairies' and in lieu of going to the con I've contributed a pic. Only just sent it, right at the very end of the deadline, so I've no idea if it's gone down well, bnut I'm quite pleased with it.

Some noir

2009-07-29T12:16:00.007+01:00

Finally done some drawing! It was definitely a struggle to start with, but Huzzah has a deadline and that helps focus your mind, and I did learn a few things - mainly that I should block in shapes and compose before I start drawing.

This is for the Huzzahnoir blog, which I hope everyone is following. It's taken a move into slightly different territory recently with a time and location change to WWII Paris, looking at the story so far it seems inevitable and planned, and expands things nicely. I also got a chance to dig through some holiday snaps for reference.

Rough times over

2009-07-16T19:27:00.003+01:00

No idea if anyone's interested, but I've felt bad about not posting anything lately.
About a month ago my wife had a routine scan as part of her post cancer check ups, and 'something' was spotted. Due to a few bits of nonsense we've had to wait from then until now to find out that it's benign.
Suffice to say, it's been hard to concentrate on anything, and I just couldn't focus on drawing.
But it's all better now, so there'll be a new pic up in at least a week, and I'll feel much better for it. In the meantime my wife and I are going to eat some cake.

New Astrodog pic

2009-07-08T23:36:00.006+01:00

Here's an anniversary of the moon landing site that John Freeman's set up. I'm not a terribly patriotic person, so I dunno what compelled my to add the Union Jack - consider it my nod to The Spy Who Loved Me.

Happy Birthday Garen!

2009-06-04T09:34:00.003+01:00

Why not join in the celebrations of Garen's 40th birthday by checking out Rainbow Orchid? It's bloomin' brilliant! Go here for a preview.

That S-L-A-Y-E-D to you!!

2009-06-01T00:12:00.005+01:00

I've been on a Robo-Hunter kick lately, plowing through Verdus, Day of The Droids, all the way up to Football Crazy and felt inspired to do a doodle. I've tried to be true to Ian Gibson but do my own version of Sam Slade, Hoagy is unapologetically Gibson - I mean, come on, Hoagy's a design classic.

My latest Huzzah

2009-05-26T22:47:00.003+01:00

I did these last week, really enjoyed doing them, and I think it shows.

Bristol

2009-05-11T21:26:00.004+01:00

Bristol came and went, and was pretty good thank you, I got to meet loads of really nice people, including most of the Huzzah boys, and a fine bunch they were too.
Anyway, I managed to show a few very talented people my work and got some good feedback. Sadly Tharg was unreceptive, proving that I should've finished those Dredd pages. Here's the Dredd I didn't finish, I've not bothered fixing mistakes here, Dredds gun boot's missing, there's a few other things, but really, I didn't finish it cos I wasn't 'feeling it'. Back to the drawing board. Literally.

Off to Bristol

2009-05-08T09:27:00.005+01:00

Like the title says I'm going to the Bristol Comic Con, it's been years since I've been and I'm a little nervous. Showing an artist, or editor, work and asking for feedback face to face isn't fun when you're lacking in confidence.
Originally I'd intended to queue in the 2000ad line with some Dredd samples but I still need to get to grips with the rest of his world. So, instead of killing myself to finish the pages, I've decided to do the Dredd strip after the convention, and just take my recent work.

Noir

2009-04-17T00:45:00.006+01:00

Think I've hit a personal best for speed with my latest contribution to Huzzahnoir. Missed deadline by 15 minutes, but managed 2 pages. It's a little cramped in places to fit in the dialogue and I had to trim some of it, but apart from that I think it's an improvement on the first page I did. Scribbling very rough pencils then using a chunky marker to pick out the key bits is very satisfying, the really trick is learning how to refine those initial pieces without losing what makes them work in the first place.

Yay!!

2009-04-14T18:01:00.004+01:00

I seem to have stopped getting gushy about books that are coming out, but holy f*cking shit, IDW are collection Jack Kent's King Aroo!!! I've tried to hunt down 2nd hand copies of a collection put out 30 years ago in the US, and oddly have had no luck. This is brilliant news, so far I've only seen what was reprinted in an article in The Comics Journal (which was my introduction to Kent), and adored it. Much seems to have been made about the debt to Walt Kelly, which is fair enough, but I think the work stands on it's own. Well done IDW, who are also collecting Torpedo and Rocketeer, making them very lovely indeed. Now, if they'd only discover, and collect Flook.

Huzzahnoir

2009-04-09T01:43:00.008+01:00

There's a new Huzzah in town, this one's Huzzahnoir, and I think the title's a fair clue to the subject matter.
Crime is one of my favourite genres (the other is horror), and I lean towards the hard boiled crime of Hammett and Chandler (although my favourite crime writer is Jim Thompson), although there's plenty of later authors I like very much, Ross Macdonald springs to mind, and Richard (Donald E. Westlake) Stark. And I've mentioned a fair bit of the Hard Case Crime line in this blog before.
Anyway, Huzzahnoir is right up the lonely street that this man must walk.
I wanted something that combined loose brush solid black inky areas with lines picking out and implying detail.
Here's the rough sketches of three of the plates, as usual I prefer them to the finished art, sadly they were too rough to use.

Huzzahing

2009-04-05T15:37:00.003+01:00

Been a while since I did anything for Huzzah, partly because of busy, a little drawer's block, and a fair bit of being at work and missing a chance at putting my name down for the next bit.
Huzzah's had a new start of sorts and it's such a strong one that when I saw I had the chance of going next I jumped at it, despite not having a clue what I was going to do. As soon as I commented 'huzzah' to take my turn an idea came to me with the images popped into my head straight after and requiring very little redrawing and refining. It didn't end up being the action packed scene I promised myself, but I have learned that if you get an idea you like then it's best to go for it.
Here's the rough inks I drew the final version from, there's very little changes from this to the finished pencils, but I like to know where everything's at before the final stage. Most people leave a lot out for the final stage to keep things from looking too stiff and overworked. Frankly, I'm not that good and I need to know it works before commiting to finished pencils, or inks. I'm sure it'd drive some people insane and it does mean extra work, but it helps me refine certain details, I find that bits get simplified, and I start 'pushing' the proportions of things and discovering shapes and interesting lines and patterns. Those happy accidents keep it interesting, and without them I think my work can look a bit bland... at least that's how I justify it all to myself.Here's a scrapped version of the first plate, it's a bit too obvious and cliched. All it suggests is menace, mystery and an attempt at looking cool. Big deal. Then I scribbled a bit of dialogue based on the relationship suggest by Colin's wonderful previous plate and I knew there should be real affection shown between the two characters. This turned out well for two reasons - when sinster folks show love it can seem all the more unsettling, and it gave me the idea of having the globe be a bit more glowing with the light coming through the fingers to suggest a feeling of emotion coming from it. The other change from initial idea was that the bottom plate was not divided into two panels, the second eye socket simply had the second bit of dialogue and a bit of background. It just didn't balance right, so I decided the second socket could be another panel, which was lucky because I think the Munoz-esque shadow looks quite nifty and gives the dialogue more weight.

Toxic comic

2009-04-01T19:18:00.003+01:00

Today is the day that Toxic went on the shelves in newsagents and supermarkets throughout the land. I've got two strips in it, Bad Robots and The Hoaxers. Toxic are taking votes on the various strips and the one with the most votes is in with a chance of a regular gig..... you can see where I'm going with this can't you:) Anyone who wants to check Toxic out and vote here should absolutely vote for their favourite strip, hopefully you'll think that's one of mine:)
Here's the cover and a peak at my two strips. You get to vote here.

Astrodog at the cantina

2009-03-22T09:52:00.007Z

Anyone who has been reading The DFC, or not, and thinks it's being cancelled too soon might want to go here. Nice to see a bit of fan support similar to that received by shows like Firefly.
Seems like a good time to show another Astrodog pic. This one was to pad out the three comic pages, and show Astro with aliens, which would have taken several more pages to happen.
Mr Postman delivered a couple of comp copies of the Toxic Comic extra with two strips drawn by me, and they've come out really well. The whole comic looks excellent and I hope there'll be more like it. The issue will be out soon and I'll post some artwork from it then.

Again with the Huzzah

2009-03-08T11:14:00.007Z

Seems to be a pattern forming to my Huzzah contributions - I've been doing 'inbetween' bits, sort of character stuff, no plot. Nothing wrong with that, I hope, but I should challenge myself a little..
I love how contributors each develop a character based on how we each see them, because we see them from slightly different angles. We all respond to the different facets we each see in the characters, as Rob did with his powerful portrayal of the witchy character recently. I think it's making for some well rounded characters,
This page has been in my head since Ian introduced Khadari, inspired by one of my favourite comics (gets better with each reading), Nexus. One issue featured a back up with the character 'Dave' in prison that has always stuck with me. There's another influence, but I can't say as I'm trying to keep things vague and implied because there's no fun us giving each other a map for the story.

Warm glow, and more Astrodog

2009-03-06T18:32:00.003Z

Thanks to everyone who commented on the last post, it's much appreciated, and cheering, with some helpful ideas about what to do with Astrodog. Once I know where things stand with The DFC I'll start putting something into action. A few people have mentioned Top Shelf, and I'd love to give them a go, but there's other places too, and in a turn of events that really made my day I received a lovely email from a small, but very good, publisher wishing me luck and showing interest in Astrodog. Whatever happens Astrodog won't just roll over, he'll find somewhere.
In the meantime, here's page 2 of the early version.

Bugger

2009-03-03T19:21:00.005Z

Just seen that Random House has decided to pull the plug, so unless someone decides to buy it The DFC will be no more. The DFC was a wonderful comic, getting in from work on a Friday and seeing it on my table gave me a nice comfortable feeling that I'm really going to miss.
On a personal level this sucks as I had a strip, Astrodog, ready to go with them, it's pretty much fully penciled and I'm incredibly proud of it.
I don't suppose it'd hurt now to post some of the older version of Astrodog. Here's page one from when I'd been asked do do it as a half page comic. I don't usually pimp myself on here, but if anyone likes it and has any ideas who'd be interested in publishing it let me know.

I huzzah therefore I am

2009-02-20T18:04:00.004Z

After what seems like a while I contributed some more work to Huzzah.
I was really pleased with how the Blue Devil pic I did came out, and what I felt worked was the lose and rough quality, so I thought I'd pursue that. Getting the balance between solid drawing and something more personal is tricky, and I'm not sure I'm there yet, this page looks a little too rough to be 'proper' drawing, and a little too restrained to be as expressive as I'd like. This is where the 'Covered' and 'Huzzah' really compliment each other for me, one encourages me to just have fun and mess about because a much better artist has done the hard work, the other forces me to work to bring my drawing up to the standard of everyone else involved. Reminds me of reading how Moebius liked how his work under that nom de plume informed his work as Jean Giraud and vicey versey.

I do love classic look Iron Man

2009-02-17T19:44:00.004Z

Not been able to post much of what I've been working on lately. But here's a blast from the past, I was asked by John Freeman to draw a strip with a tight deadline for Comics International. Unfortunately the strip, as asked for, was based on some comic news of the time, since the magazine's late, the strip isn't relevant. Oh well.

It's Covered

2009-02-06T22:46:00.008Z

Covered is a blog where people redraw comic covers, I like that idea, so I decided to bang this one out for the hell of it, it's so nice to draw and not worry about composition, perspective all that proper stuff, because someone else has done the work for you, and just push a pencil round like you did when you were a kid copying favourite pictures. I'd like to (re)draw some UK comic covers and maybe a few other things. For those that don't know Blue Devil came out in the mid-80s as part of DC's 'we're making comics fun again' idea, that I guess must've included 'Mazin' Man, it was created by Dan Mishkin and Gary Chon with art by Paris Cullens - who drew the better version on the left. Blue Devil started out as a quirky adventure romp with funny dialogue and moved further into humour and came up with the idea that the main character was a 'weirdness magnet', which meant general high jinx that included DC mystery stuff. Anyway, I was about 15 going on 11 and having a day out with the family in Marsden Grotto picked up Blue Devil 29 in a paper shop, and loved it, no idea if it still holds up, but I still have it and don't want to spoil the happy nostalgia.

Toxic

2009-02-05T18:16:00.003Z

Seeing as it's already been reported on Down the Tubes I guess it's ok to post about.
Emont's kid comic/mag Toxic is to feature a 16 page comic free with the April 1st (no foolin') issue, and 2 of the strips will be drawn by me, I know this, cos I finished them a couple of days ago! I'm chuffed to bits to feature in a kid's humour comic, I'll be going out buying a copy along with a bag of pic 'n' mix and fizzy pop.
Readers get to vote on their favorite strips which could lead to the more stories in the regular comic. There's a cracking line up of creators, for more detail on who's doing what, here's the down the tubes link.

Hurray for snow

2009-02-02T10:04:00.001Z

Yes, it's cold, cause traffic problems and turns to slush, but c'mon, it's SNOWING!

Stuff to look at and read

2009-01-28T11:13:00.010Z

It seems like it's been ages since I mentioned other people's work. So here's a brief list -
I'm two thirds through Gus and His Gang by Chris Blain and thoroughly enjoying it, perhaps more than Isaac the Pirate.
I reread Ian Edginton and D'Israeli's Stickleback recently in collected form and got more out of it. Reading it in 2000ad was fine, and I liked it, but felt it didn't match the creative teams previous work (Leviathan and the War of the Worlds trilogy, or even Kingdom of the Wicked), turns out I was wrong, it's a fine addition, and I'm looking forward to the plot thickening and the mystery deepening.
Also from 2000ad I picked up the collection of Judge Dredd: The Pit. Rock solid Dredd story, and when he's done well, usually by Wagner, he's great.
On a Wagner kick I'm also reread The Bogie Man, surely this title is due another collection.
By the time I came to Scalped it was already up to two collections, this was fine as it meant I got to read a big chunk and not wait too long for the third collection. I do like a good crime comic, and that's what Scalped is, the grimness is a little too constant it's pretty compelling stuff.
Northlanders was a title I figured I'd wait too see collected (Vertigo have a policy of cheaply priced first collections, which seems like a smart move) and pick it up when I was in mood. I'm glad I did.

Online I recently discovered Rip Haywire, which is still in it's early days, and a great throwback to classic US adventure strips like Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy and Steve Canyon for the Dilbert generation.

The wonderful Phantom Skull's been going for a few months now and is up to episode 13, it's a lot of fun.

Tom Spurgeon, I think, mentioned Covered a few weeks ago, and it's utter genius. Simple premise, artists redraw old comic covers. Rene french draws Wolverine!?! Stepehen Wiessman draw Hulk!?! See? Genius.

One of the best covereds sadly isn't on there, Chris "Elio" Elopoulos , inspired by the blog, did his version of X-Men, and it's awesome. I'm gonna redraw some covers for fun for sure.

More Huzzah

2009-01-26T19:08:00.002Z

Feeling bold I decided to do two 'plates' for my turn at Huzzah. An interesting one this time round, I made a lot of mistakes drawing these, but found it to be such a positive experience that I'm not sure 'mistakes' is fair. So, here they are - don't forget to look at the strip so far.

Groovy

2009-01-14T19:35:00.005Z

My book project revealed, it's the UK edition of Bruce Campbell's autobiography 'If Chins Could Kill'! There's a new intro by Mr Campbell for this edition, and here's the full wraparound cover I drew for it.

Dumb luck that I got the chance to do this, and nothing like my original idea, but the chance to do it even if it was a very definite brief was too hard to pass up.
Art style was done as requested, the look is supposed to somehow be a cross between the classic EC sensibility and a more modern take a la Bryan Hitch.
The book is being published by Aurum and will be available fairly soon at Amazon, Waterstones and Bookdepository and loads of places, even ones on streets.
And for anyone interested, here's my first idea, it's rough, and based on a fairly recognisable Evil Dead still, but my take was to make the cover look like an issue of Famous Monsters.

Huzzah!

2009-01-10T09:57:00.004Z

Just finished and posted my first contribution to Huzzah, if you want to see the story so far, and you really should, go here.
In the meantime here's the finished pencils and final colour version. I've been wanting to skip the inking stage for a while, as much as I like chunky fluid brush lines I've always felt my stuff loses something in the process.

Big Jobs!

2009-01-07T18:53:00.003Z

and those jobs are......
1. Book cover. Pencils are finished. It's a very 'kewl' thing, I hope to share something soon..
2. Comic strip that I've sort of kept secret, well, ok, I blabbed whenever I could, but I didn't mention it on this blog. Ok, maybe once or twice. Pencils are waiting on approval and hopefully it'll be finished in the next few months.
3. I've also got a chance to do 2 short strips, I'll post the when and where as soon as I can.
4. Daversham Rex, written by David Hailwood. I've had the script for a while and the plan is to draw a few pages, do a few pin ups and see if we can drum up some interest. I posted some art for it here, I plan to get the pitch ready over the next few months.
5. Jellybean. Not the full title, another script from David. This one hasn't been stewing for as long as Daversham, but I'm really excited by the possibilities for it and have done some scribbling, I'll be posting some designs soon.
6. A few personal strips. I've got three ideas I'd like to get down on paper this year, no idea how long they'll be.
7. Late, and very welcome edition, is my inclusion in Huzzah!, the follow up to the frankly fantastic Who Killed Round Robin? I'm really chuffed to be part of this, and as soon as I get no 1 in the list done will be chipping in. Until then gaze upon it's wonderfulness here.... before I eff it up:)
8. Who knows what else, but definitely more.

Bye '08

2008-12-27T21:34:00.005Z

Another weird old year. 2008 taught me a pretty harsh lesson, after a terrible 07 I thought I'd just walk into a wonderful year where I got everything I wanted. Turns out it's not that easy.
Not that it's been a gloomy year, my beautiful wife and incredible daughter made sure that was never going to be the case, and I've also had a few opportunities to draw come my way that I'm incredibly grateful for. But if I'm being honest, I should have made more time for my family and worked harder. It's crazy that I thought I could lounge around and take it easy, yet hold down a full time job, be a dad and a husband and still turn myself into a cartoonist.
So, '09 will be better not just cos I think I deserve it, but because I'm going to work at it.
All the best for the New Year to all of you!

Pressies

2008-12-26T16:40:00.003Z

My list-
Creepy Archives Vol1
Strange & Stranger The World of Steve Ditko
Laurel & Hardy 'Way Out West'
Moonlighting Season 1&2
Housecoat
Chocs
oh, and I got 2 games for MY NEW Wii!!! result.
My inner balance was sore tested by this abundance of consumer goodness!
Hope Santa brought you all just what you wanted.

Christmas

2008-12-26T10:01:00.001Z

I took the bold move of staying away from the computer to this year, so belated Merry Christmas to everyone!

Valhalla up to 11

2008-12-15T20:15:00.002Z

Another lovely animated music video, except this time I even liked the music.

Turn the sound down, but do watch.

2008-12-13T23:28:00.002Z

Ok, the song's rubbish, well, I think it's pretty lame anyway, but come on, Dave Cooper animation??!?!?!?! Oh why don't you draw more comics Mr Cooper?!

I'm not 2, my blog's not 2, so who was 2?

2008-12-04T19:14:00.003Z

It was my daughter's second birthday a few weeks ago, and it was a fine old day, helping unwrap presents and generating the required vomit inducing level of excitement for such an occurance. Then it was off to Old Holly Farm, where calves, goats, chicks (they're the vaguely yellowish blur sunning themselves under a lightbulb), piglets, rabbits and a pot bellied pig had no privacy but did provide an awful lot of entertainment before we went to the 'play barn', which would have made Pat Sharpe jealous with it's amazing Fun House proportions.

Kids love Lovecraft

2008-11-20T18:23:00.004Z

Back to the to the fun cartooning for a bit. This is a bit of art for a pitch, the scene doesn't appear in the comic but when I was told the idea, kid's perform cover-ups for weird going's on, I got this image of Lovecraftian horrors hidden in a phone-box.

Now it can be told

2008-11-15T17:12:00.005Z

A few months ago I promised a sneak peak of a comic I was working on before finding out sneak peaks were not allowed. Well, the comic's out so I guess I can talk about it. The story is called 'Etc' and it's in Boom Studio's Zombie Tales no. 7. The script was written by Shane Oakley and I was happy to find Shane's scripts have the same dark over the top humour as his awesome artwork.
I made a bit of a mistake and missed something from the script, so I've added it in for this post, sorry Shane, hope this makes up for it a bit.

Money Shot by Christa Faust

2008-11-15T11:10:00.003Z

Been a long time since I posted any sort of review, no idea why, I just stopped. I also stopped reading for a while, a few months in fact. This happens to me every now and then, I can't get inspired by novels, even books I'd normally like. About this time I usually reread a lot of favourite comics.
Anyway, finally felt like reading something, and Hard Case Crime are always worth a look, so I went with Money Shot by Christa Faust, which turned out to be exactly what I needed to get me back into books. Not because it's such a good book, but because it was an easy read. There's very little surprises in the plot and even the characters strike no new notes, but it's perfectly paced and the authors love of the genre and her characters drive the book forward and make up for the straightforward plot.
The setting also helps Money Shot's likability, using the porn industry as a backdrop could've just been an excuse to shock, and then maybe slide into some easy psychology and cheap moralising, instead Faust goes down a similar route to Boogie Nights with the porn industry portrayed as a dysfunctional family, some times it's sordid and depressing, other times it's silly and loving.

Hoo boy

2008-11-02T15:14:00.007Z

Bit of a shocker art wise this time round. This piece is for the fine chaps at Massacre For Boys, and I decided to be obvious and go for the whole expoitation route. Have to say my initial idea stuck me as all jolly nasty fun, but drawing it became increasingly uncomfortable - but I guess that's the point. The original art minus the book cover style additions feels even more tough to look at, the schlock title and lurid tag-line actually manages to tame it a little by making it look campy and silly I think..... but then I think I've just shown how questionable my taste is.

Ooooh

2008-10-28T21:48:00.000Z

This is just astonishing.

Western

2008-10-09T08:41:00.001+01:00

Here's the final black & white version of my contribution to AccentUK's upcoming Western anthology. Compare it to the different colour version and you'll see that, apart from the horse, I've not really changed anything, mainly just a simplification of the rendering . I'm not sure about the soundfx, Dave, the author, was happy for me to drop them, but I decided they added to the timing and tone of the story. Luckily I think it works fine in B&W, maybe even better than the colour version. I've even added pages 2 and 3 for you, but you'll have to wait until the comic comes out to see the final 3.

BICS

2008-10-05T12:41:00.002+01:00

Due to last minute bad luck, a bit of poor planning and a whole lot of 'out side' influences, I couldn't make it to the Birmingham comic convention this weekend. I'm more than a little annoyed as I had hoped to put faces to a couple of internet names. Still, it, and a few other things this last week, has been a valuable lesson, and one one I intend to act upon for the scarily near new year. In my home life I'm not terribly well organized and can lack focus, I've also let various events of the last couple of years weigh far too heavily, and have seen getting over them as a huge obstacle instead of simply putting it all aside and moving on.
Aaaaanyway, pretty pictures to resume soon, the new version of my cowboy comic is coming along and I'll post some of that soon.

Life, lots of it

2008-09-24T18:09:00.002+01:00

Well, it's been a sucky time of late with the day job getting strange and unhelpful, so yesterday's drama was wonderfully timed. My little girl took a tumble and managed to bit through her lip, which was bad enough, but having to hold her down whilst she got stitches was just horrible, being the 'having to deal with it' parent is not pleasant. Luckily it was only a couple of stitches and my daughter's Wolverine like resilience and recuperative powers apart from a bit of a trout pout every thing's back to normal, and the sedative kids get also means they don't remember things like needles and thread in their lips.
On the more pleasant side of things I got my advance copy of Best New Manga 3, and it's a cracking looking book, the best volume by far, and gets a big thumbs up for it's beautiful colour reprint of a Skeleton Key one off. It's weird seeing a piece of work I did almost a year ago, luckily the other work in the book makes up my short comings, so you've all got no excuse, go out and buy a copy!

Western

2008-09-19T21:12:00.003+01:00

So, after the Eastwood pic, I moved onto the Western comic, and yesterday decided to start again. Bit of a pain, but hopefully for the best, I'm happy enough with the results, but it's a bit too far removed from my normal style and I'm wishing I'd stuck closer to my usual 'look'. It's fun drawing in different ways, but it's important to stick with what you like. Anyway, it's unfinished (there's an element missing from all 3 panels, even if it's not noticable), but I thought I might as well show some of my first crack at it. I''ve done it in colour despite it being for a b&w book (AccentUK's Western, go see Dribb's blog for some ace upcoming work from it), more work for me but nice to have a swanky version.

Eastwood

2008-09-10T16:24:00.004+01:00

Ages ago, back when I had more pin up drawing time, I promised I'd draw a Clint Eastwood pic. I still don't have time, but I do have to draw a western comic strip and I fancied doing it in digital paints, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone. It's a bit of a mixed bag I'm afraid, the sketch was a quickie as it was the paints I wanted to spend time figuring out, so the basic drawing's off, but what the hell, it's ages since I posted artwork regular like. Sorry it's a pretty obvious Clint ref too, but it's such a cool still I had to go with it.
I did enjoy this technique, it's an extention of my Daversham Rex style, and throws in some other influences, such as animator production art, and vintage covers by the likes of McGinnis and Bonfils - I love Robert Bonfils, the Sin-A-Rama chock full of great work by him and others..... and a lotta skin:)