2000ad meets Mad Max Fury Road

Did this for fun.

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.

BOO!

BOO! is a comic Andy Waugh and myself came up with as we wanted to make a horror comic for kids. It somehow grew to include 6 other brilliant creators (Warwick Johnson Cadwell, Rob Davis, Jonathan Edwards, James Howard, Gary Northfield and Jamie Smart) that I feel privileged to be working with and Andy does a great job of outlining the, uh, 'organic' development here.
I won't be starting my strip for a few months, however I'm using the time to indulge my finger painting obsession and mess around with ideas. The following pictures are not really roughs or thumbnails for my strip, these scenes may never appear, but they're to get me in the mood and inspire me.

 

Here's the BOO! tumblr page, and you can follow us on twitter at BOOcomic

Some PaintGirl

I'm not quite ready to start my PaintGirl comic but I decided to ease into it by practicing drawing her. These are not meant to be studies of the character and her proportions, they are just playful doodles to help me get comfortable drawing her and trying to capture a mood.
Of course I've ended up liking them more than any 'finished' work, they're not slaves to things like perspective or reference, they just exist and make no apologies for it. I'm hoping that this attitude and approach will bleed over into my non-finger-painted work, and I'll take steps to support that.

Judge Dredd

I've always struggled drawing Dredd. It's a great design, but it's not one I have any affinity with, I just can't make the eagle and shoulder pad work. I've faked the odd Dredd, and I could probably do a passable pastiche of other people's interpretation, but I've never managed 'my' version. I also have a fondness for the early design, the 70s biker/punk ethic, that I feel is lost nowadays. I also like the rounder elements of the original helmet, back when it made the Judges look more skull like, rather than the stylised look that I think loses that. None of this is criticism, I think many other artists (McMahon being the obvious example) make it work brilliantly, just not me. Anyway, I tried to have another go at doing my version, and these are what I came up with. They're doodles really, the B&W is a fingerpainting (my first) done on an iPad, and the colour one was done on a scrap of paper and probably half the size it is on screen. But, they're actually quite close to how I'd like to draw Dredd.

Kids, snow and a robot?

This is for a thing that might happen.

Balloon

This is the first page of a strip that will be appearing in ink+Paper #2. The first issue was excellent so I'm really pleased to have something for the upcoming one. This was based on a conversation with my daughter about a year ago and it feels nice to turn it into something concrete.

More Paintgirl

Here's another Paintgirl pic. Within 10 minutes of posting it on twitter I was getting replies wanting to know when the comic would be coming out. So I guess Paintgirl will definitely be a comic, it'll have to get in line right behind Astrodog though!

Paintgirl

After explaining to my daughter what a utility belt was, she told me if she had a utility belt it would be full of different coloured paint that she'd shoot out of wrist bands. That way she could colour all the things the baddies made look miserable. And so 'Paint Girl' was born. And I had to draw her.

Felt like drawing Thor. Thor was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. Kirby designed, drew, did the storytelling and original dialogue. Lee did some stuff too.

Sneak peak

This is a rough(ish) colour test using the first panel of a strip for the 2nd issue of Ink+Paper.

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.

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.

Eisner nominated Nelson

Blank Slate's Nelson has nominated for best anthology in the Eisners. As a contributor I hope you don't mind if I consider myself 'The Eisner Nominated Paul Harrison-Davies' now!
It's wonderful to see Nelson nominated, whether I was in it or not, I think it's an important book purely for showcasing 54 fantastic artists with a broad range of styles, all coming together to tell a coherent story. Honestly, that's a pretty impressive trick, and one Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix pulled off remarkably.
Kenny Penman sums up why Nelson should win here.
My own contribution is below, in full. Typical for me, there's no text. I love 'silent' comics, but the truth is, I think it's important that visuals tell the story, so I work with that in mind, then when I intend to add dialogue, it feels redundant. I love reading good dialogue, and think it can really develop a character, yet I often find myself not using it which tends to mean I don't really write 'stories', just little flights of fancy. I don't mind this, in fact, I quite like it, but I suspect that whereas most people would consider silent comics a challenge, I'm using them as a crutch to avoid writing the kind of dialogue I enjoy reading. As it happens the next two comics I'm working on were 'silent', but I've decided to add dialogue to certain parts where I think it works.

Halo Jones pic in honour of 2000ad's 35th birthday. I tried to post earlier but the colours came out a bit 'off'. I'm a huge fan of Halo Jones, going as far to considering life changing for me. I read it an an impressionable age and Moore and Gibson did such a good job of making the the characters live and breathe.

Coal

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!