Astrodog round up

First off, Astrodog is on sale to buy on line here, so if you'd like a copy go ahead and order one.
At the moment it's only UK postage, but I do plan to fix that, it's simply a case of me sorting about pricing, so if you're anywhere other than the UK and would like a copy, let me know.
Secondly, I've received some lovely comments on twitter from happy Astrodog customers, but what's been particularly pleasing is how many people have told me their kids have enjoyed reading it, which is pretty much all I hoped for.
Lastly, I've been lucky enough to get some really nice reviews so I thought I'd link to them.
From back when Astrodog was appearing online Zainab Akhtar (do check out her site for some great reviews) wrote this on The Beat.
The excellent Too Busy Thinking About Comics blog review by Colin Smith here, and also a piece I wrote about some of the inspirations for Astrodog here.
Over at The Beat Laura Sneddon wrote this.
And finally here's Richard Bruton's review on Forbidden Planet's wonderfully comprehensive blog - I feel particularly honoured to feature in the wonderful library.

Astrodog comic, at last!

Hi everyone (anyone), I've finally started Astrodog as a webcomic. if you look over here you can see a teaser image but the comic starts proper tomorrow - that's Monday 1st of July.

More Astrodog

Here's a random panel. The Star Wars cantina influence is strong in this one.

Astrodog page 1

Here's an early showing for the revamped Astrodog comic. I've inked 10 pages, which means I'm 1/3rd of the way through.

Astrodog Meets Dune

Love Dune. Love it. Love the book, love the Lynch adaptation. Never seen the TV version. So why did I stick a dog on deckchair into it? Love.

Astrodog in Unusual Suspects

Astrodog meets.... well, quite a few folk. We've got Yoda, E.T, Wall-e, Vincent, Huey, Louie and Dewey (from the wonderful Silent Running). It's a bit of a Usual Suspects type line-up, but that's not an intentional reference.

Astrodog meeting these guys doesn't mean there won't be a more self contained pic later, I've got an idea for a Silent Running one, and I can't draw Vincent without wanting to draw Maximilian (who was, frankly, much cooler). Anyway, these will keep coming until I run out of ideas - or busy with other things.

The Dog Barks Back.

Episode 3 of Astrodog meets. This time it's Empire Strikes Back.

2001 A Space Odd-yssey

Number 2 in the 'Astrodog appears in sci-fi movies' series. Apologies for the terrible pun of a title for this post.

Astrodog

Here's the first in a series of 'Astrodog meets....' posts. Not only will there be more of these, but I'm probably going to do some prints of them.

More Astrodog redux

Still working out what colouring style works best. I think the last one works best. Anyone got an opinion?

Original colour version

Simplified colour test

Much simpler.

Not quite so simple, and probably the version I like most

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Astrodog Redux

SO, if you've been visiting for a while and have a long enough memory, you may remember the trials of a comic I came up with called Astrodog. If not, don't worry, I plan on bring him back. Astrodog was lined up to appear in The DFC, which sadly folded. By the time The Phoenix was launched there was apparently no place for Astrodog, and I must admit I felt like his time had passed. But I've always had a soft spot for him.
After digging out the work I'd done I decided to expand the (slight) storyline (still slight!) and have about 30 pages of pencils. The plan is to pootle away for a few more months on it and knuckle down in my Summer holidays. It'll be in a landscape format for computers and tablets and maybe about 40-odd pages long.
Here's the redesign roughs

 And pencil sketches

 And some colour tests.

I'm still of the mind that this colour style is the way to go, but that it might be a bit too fiddly. Hopefully I'll get it right when it comes to the final art.
In the meantime I also plan to resurrect a few old ideas. There may be more posts like this.

Astrodog at the cantina

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.

Warm glow, and more Astrodog

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

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.