Jonday Interestink

So readers with incredible memories will remember me doing a film poster a while back. As so often happens with these indie things the company and guy running it vanished in a puff of smoke.

But it seems Applecloud Films as they were are back as Diamond Edge Productions.

Here's the poster I created that they're still using. If anyone sees them about do let me know, as I'd like a chat with them. No desperate wrong doing beyond vanishing.

Cover Pencils

The pencil underpinnings of a cover I did recently for the re-editioning of the first Nikolai Dante book in the USA. This would be the 3rd cover I've drawn for this book, one for each  printing.

D is for Doctor Doom

Marvel A - Z week 4: Doctor Doom

Click on the images for larger versions.

Thought i should start to throw some bad guys into the mix this week. Doom is one of Marvel's classic and longest running villians and probably one that most people will recognise or at least have heard of outside of comic geeks like myself. Looking at the list i've chosen for future weeks not many more will be familiar so this one is probably as mainstream as they will get.

Accidentally broke my own 'rules' this week - the plan was to do all of this set as full body shots, but i had started colouring this up before i even noticed - oops, ah well - he'll just have to be the odd one out.

Kate and William - Sketch.

Another sketch of William from the soon-to-be-released Kate and William: A Royal Wedding book. I focused on the Prince looking at his Mother's ring (for the proposal in Kenya, Africa) Went for a subtle almost pensive pose, underplaying the importance of the scene. I hope I caught it?

The Daily Mail and BILD (Germany) have an exclusive spread on the book this Saturday with new art. The finished version of this piece will feature in that article.

One of the first

This is an older piece of work, from 2005 or 2006 I think - one of the first images I did using a pencil underdrawing with digital tinting. Man, there is some solid drawing there especially in the totem pole (Today must be one of those days where I wonder how the heck I did something back then - maybe tomorrow will be the "My current skills are awesome!" day). I didn't post this late. it was a mere illusion that it wasn't here yesterday. Erm, today...?

D is for Darth Vader

"I find your lack of faith disturbing…"

Marvel Comics published 107 monthly issues of Star Wars starting in 1977 with the adaption of the first film 'A New Hope' written by Roy Thomas with art by Howard Chaykin. The series was immensely popular and has often been cited as 'saving' Marvel from dire finances and poor sales. As usual I've managed to not read a single issue but I'm guessing if you are a hard core Star Wars fan they're worth checking out.

This was done with my Pentel Brush pen for Vader, Staedtler Pigment Liners for the background and then out with the Promarker colour pens.

And again I've an old ink sketch that falls into the Marvel A-Z theme quite well…

D is for Death's Head



Created by Simon Fruman and Geoff Senior this 'freelance peace-keeping agent' first appeared in the comic Transformers before getting his own short lived series. He keeps reappearing from time to time in different guises.

Jonday - unfinished work

From last year some time.

Lilly Cover

Not coloured this up yet. It'll be part of some kind of promotional image when it's done.

C is for Cloak and Dagger

Marvel A-Z week 3: Cloak and Dagger

Click on the images for larger versions.

Always liked these characters since way back when they were introduced in the Spider-Man books - always seemed to work better as guest stars than in their own books though for some reason. Had good fun inking this one up in a grungier style than my norm - although i've still not got all the ink off my fingers yet.

Kate and William.

The official announcement - The Kate and William: A Royal wedding book from Markosia will be released first week of April. Written by Richard Johnston, my book will feature William's story and Mike Collins is handling the Kate Middleton edition. Here is an initial sketch from last year of William in his flight gear.

Dem redcoats again!

I thought I finished this last week, but it is still a WIP in some areas. Need a bit of shuffling of the dudes in the space I think, separate them a little from each other? Light infantrymen, sometime during the Peninsula War (1808? to 1814).

C is for Conan

Marvel produced Conan the Barbarian comics mostly during the 1970s, written (again mostly) by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala and a few others. I'll admit to having read none of those comics so I'm no judge if they are any good, certainly Savage Sword of Conan seems to have been a popular title and I did read one issue of that years ago as Scottish artist Colin MacNeil illustrated the story.

I know Conan the Cimmerian through the books of Robert E Howard which I read mostly in my teens and the two Schwarzenegger films 'Conan the Barbarian' (1982) and "Conan the Destroyer' (1984). So my rendition finished just today I feel leans more towards the fantasy look of the character rather than the comics version.

Just to add to the Marvel A-Z here's some older ink sketches.

C is for Captain…

Jonday - Cavern city

One from Paizo Publishing:


(c)2011 Paizo Publishing

prep work

I can't really say what this is for yet. It's part of a much larger piece that I've just finished. Yes I know the feet are a bit off...I fixed that in the final art.

B is for Beast

Marvel A-Z week 2: Beast

Click on the images for larger versions.

Not the current version of the Beast but by far and away my preferred version - both in look and personality, but then for some reason i always preferred him in the Avengers books rather than the X-Men too.

Still a few characters i'm deliberating over (some more than others), so any more suggestions for the letters K, O, X and Z would be great.

Sketch.

Sorry. No idea who the main character is or book he was from. A fan at Lille provided me with a Marvel comic and asked me to draw the tree guy. I couldn't resist adding his little racoon friend. Please let me know who this is so I can tag this post properly.

rough it up!

The quartet of simple roughs I did for last week's card art post from AEG's Nightfall game. It was a basic concept and although they went with what became a powerful image, I kind of liked the one with a myriad of spooky eyes in there, even though it turned out to be a little inappropriate for the image in the end and the snarling vampire has a lot more 'punch' on the card itself.

©Alderac Entertainment 2010

Jelly Baby Doctor?

Just before Christmas I got a commission for a Doctor Who illustration from a satisfied customer who had hired me the previous year. This time around we went a bit further back down the regeneration line to the fourth Doctor holding a much loved sweet. I've cropped off the right hand side of the illustration as it features the person who the illustration was commissioned for as their Christmas present, hope they liked it?

Jonday Jungliser

Hey all, in my continuing quest to never produce anything new specifically for Scotch Corner - never have, never will, pretending I don't have to - Here is a very recent cover for my German friends at Uhrwerk Verlag. Pulpy action with a templar mausoleum deep in the Amazon:

Dredd + &derson

Ok I raided my massive drawer of crap...(cough ) I mean old classic artwork for this one. I have no idea when I drew it. At least 5 years ago. Maybe I'll finish inking it someday.

A is for Ant-Man (and the Wasp)

Marvel A-Z week 1: Ant-man and the Wasp

Click on the images for larger versions.

BACKGROUND:
When i started with Scotch Corner i planned on only ever putting up new material created specifically for the site (even if it was only a post-it pad sketch or the like) and hopefully play about with my inking and digital colouring etc., but over time i lapsed into posting old work. I think it was John who said something recently that drew my attention to the fact that we had all gone in that direction- so, New Year's resolution starts here this week.

I'm aiming to put up a new sketch or finished illustration every week this year and in order to motivate me and keep me on track i'm going to try to work through various themes. We had discussed theme weeks way back at the start of Scotch Corner but they never really took off due to worries over paying work deadlines - so see the Eclectic Micks recent posts over the last month or so to see what i mean.

So the first 26 weeks the theme set is Marvel A-Z. Unlikely to be any pencils for this set as i'm only doing rough block bodies in pencil and doing most of the work at the ink stage -if time allows i'll also digitally colour each image. I've already decided what quite a few of these will be, but if any body has suggestions for the letters I, K, O, U, X, Y and Z i'd love to hear them as i am still swithering or just can't think of characters for those letters.

But more importantly i'd love to hear suggestions for the follow up themes (which will probably be a months worth at a time rather than half a year - although an A-Z of DC is the obvious choice, i might leave that for a bit.) So a few initial ideas i've had are: Horror film characters, characters from Star Wars, characters done in the style of artist X, etc. - really willing to consider anything on this so look forward to hearing some ideas. Might put it to the vote closer to the time if a few strong contenders appear.

Batmobile. Sketch. Lille.

This rather whimsical sketch of Frank Quitely's version of the Batmobile (from his All Star Batman series) was a request by a fan at Le Furet du Norde de Lille signing in France, last year. Drawn from memory and apologies for the lack of reference. The wheel clamp was a jokey addition.

Rush post!

Better get it posted! This is card art for the Nightfall deck building card game soon to be realesed by Alderac Entertainment Group. This image is up on their webpage, so it is good to show. © Alderac 2010

'See a Penny' strip inside FREE issue of Violent

Back in 2006 I drew an eleven page story called 'See a Penny, Pick it Up' which appeared in the comic anthology magazine 'Negative Burn' by Caliber and Image Comics. The writer of the strip, Jay Eales, produces a range of very fine comics of which Violent, currently hitting issue 19, happens to contain a reprint of our strip and you lucky reader can download this issue for free over at the Factor Fiction website! Go on then, I did say it was FREE!

Jonday Happy New Year

Welcome to 2011. Please pop your things on the stool.

Ok here's me dodging making or showing some art - a photo of some complimentary books what I have been sent over the new year period, what feature my covers, innit?

New Dante Cover

Not much going on right now, for obvious reasons, but one of the things that's most urgent is a new cover for the American edition of the first Dante collection. This is now the 3rd cover I've drawn for this book over the years! I'll write a big post about the various stories behind that once I'm finished. In the mean time here's a small part of the new cover. The lower left hand corner to be exact.
Happy New Year to all of you.
Be good.