Children of the Damned - background characters

Another snippet of a panel from Children of the Damned

Exalted - been a while!

I haven't worked on the Exalted RPG for a while, but here is some recent work done a few months ago for SHards © Onyx Path Publishing 2012

Neil Armstrong 1930-2012

This week a photograph and a repost of one of my first posts on Scotch Corner. You'll not have missed the news that Neil Armstrong passed away on the 25th and I had hoped to do an illustration of him as a small mark of respect for the man in time for todays post, but work and life have interceded once again and I will add his name to the growing list of those passed on that I will eventually draw a dedication to.

The photograph of the Moon I can lay claim to being my own, taken back in February. I have long envied those who can capture a decent shot of the Moon and having limited photographic resources to hand this effort is my best to date. The painting was done in 2009 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first Moon landing which the good Mission Commander Armstrong played such a World changing part of.

I've held a love for mankind's ventures into space from a very early age, I remember being taken into the primary school hall to watch the launch of the first Space Shuttle, Columbia back in 1981. It may very well have been a recording we watched but most of the school was there so I recall it as being shown live and from that point I was hooked. That fascination was doubled when I discovered I had a distant relative who was a NASA astronaut and flew in five shuttle missions, of course none of my school friends believed me about that :)

I shouldn't need to tell anyone about Neil Armstrong or what he did, surely he's just part of World culture like Elvis Presley, Albert Einstein, Muhammad Ali etc. just known and never ever to be forgotten. I'm pretty sure my middle name wasn't given to me for any other reason than my parents liked it but as a kid I used to hope it was because of the first man on the moon.

From the Armstrong family statement: "For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

Jonday - photo

Ah it's like being back at artschool, photographing gnarly trees in black and white for reference. I'll be in a graveyard next, mark my words!

School of the Damned

This is the cover painting for School of the Damned issue 5. The comic is published by Glasgow's Black Hearted Press and features some classic characters from horror literature and films. Have a look at their site to find out more. http://www.schoolofthedamned.com/
All the covers for School of the Damned are adaptions of classic comic book covers from the past. In this case the pose is based on an old 1970's edition of Wonder Woman 199. When painting it, I tried to echo the look of the Hammer House of Horror magazines also from the 1970's (The publisher price and issue number is a placeholder, I know it's the wrong number)

Children of the Damned - Vampire kiss

Another preview image from Children of the Damned as mentioned last week.

Sketchbook again

And more classical themed early pencil work.

Dan Tanna Junction must fall!

The recent Judge Dredd Chaos Day storyline in 2000ad is connected way back in Dredd's history to the Apocalypse War which ran in 1982, and man what a story with Carlos Ezquerra never missing a beat on art duties.

Jonday - elf

I'm filling a little sketchbook with these fellers.

Film 4 Frightfest, London 2012

From August 23rd-27th, Frightfest takes place at the Empire Cinema in London's Leicester Square.

http://www.frightfest.co.uk/

Outpost Black Sun gets it's big screen debut as part of the festival then on the 27th the film gets it's UK DVD release.

http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/31970612/0/Outpost-2-Black-Sun/ListingDetails.html

To tie in with the movie, the secret history of the Nazi's attempt to create an invincible army of the undead will be released as a digital comic on ipad and iphone formats.

Originally planned as the pre-title sequence to the movie, the WW2 based flashback was turned into a 24 page fully painted comic book by myself, the film writer Rae Brunton, Director Steve Barker and letterer Jim Campbell.

Check in at  the Outpost FB page for more info on the movie, the comic and the Iphone game.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/outpostthemovies

Mystique

Another commission. This time Mystique of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. I must admit I like this outfit. The halter neck and the skull belt say 'Evil', 'Bad Girl' and 'I will f#$ck you up and you will love ever minute of it as you die screaming in a state of pleasure/torment'.  ...cough, but maybe that's just me.

Children of the Damned - teaser

Just finished up a short strip for Children of the Damned - an anthology spin-off by way of The School of the Damned by Black Hearted Press - a small independent company based in Glasgow that are going great guns at the moment with School of the Damned already optioned as a movie - if you haven't already picked up a copy go do so - one of the best indies i have read in a while. In fact you can read the first issue for free online at The School of the Damned

No release date set for Children yet but i do have permission to show some artwork, so this is a bit of a panel showing Jean - the main character in the strip i worked on. Probably be a few more of these over the next few weeks.

More sketchbook archive

Another Sketchbook drawing from 2002. 'Ancient Greek' fellah (made with zero knowledge at the time of actual ancient Greece...) done as a bit of an anatomy study. I THINK the body was based on a shot from an athletic pose book I'd got. Yeah, I know he isn't athleticing....

Man of Steel

I've probably only read a couple of Superman comics in my life so the 1978 Richard Donner film and the subsequent sequels all staring Christopher Reeve would be my childhood connection with the character. I certainly prefer the 70s style of Superman comic art and often can't stand the way artists draw him these days. I think Gary Frank sets out to draw him with a nod towards the look of Reeve which I like.

Last few weeks have been all about superhero sketches from me and that's for me to tempt people to buy them at Megacon in Carlisle this Saturday. I'll have my usual selection of sketches, sketchbooks, art and prints for sale so if you are in the area drop by and if you are not set off early and come along anyway :) Info about the convention can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/megaconcarlisle and an interview with the organisers can be read over on the Down The Tubes website.

Jonday - moar sketching

Elf door with lantern from me hols up in the highlands.

One two Freddy's coming for you.

Another raid on the back catalogue. The dream killer Freddy Kreuger.
The original film was an inspired concept and genuinely scary at the time. Unfortunately the sequels descended into farce although they are still enjoyable. I had high hopes for the remake but somehow it just didn't work.

Daredevil redesign

Oops - forgot to post yesterday - completely lost track of the days of the week this week. Another redesign for the superheroofthemonth website - Daredevil this time. As well as the costume change, I've given him fingerless gloves so that when 'reading' things with his fingers it makes a bit more sense practically and removed the eyeholes since he is blind and doesn't actually need them. 'Nightime' version included too.

Quick Anderson

This is a very quick drawing of Judge Cassandra Anderson, soon to be immortalised by Olivia Thirlby in the DREDD 3D movie. I like Anderson, I like that she's go some seniority. Supposedly she's in her 50s now. I like the idea of boys adventure comics starring a 50 year old woman. I know that Dredd himself is pretty much an OAP , but when Clint Eastwood and Sean Connery were still doing action rolls into their 70s that doesn't seem so radical an idea.
Anyway I did this as a warm up with the limitation that I had to draw it in 10 minutes or less. Which I did.

Roller derby MCs.

A roller derby sketch of local Glasgow MC Gerry Helliverance Fog and GRDs Haberbashery who helps out in Edinburgh. Fairly pleased with this sketch. This image along with many others will soon appear in print when Roller Grrrls release their first sketchbook magazine in a couple of weeks!

Pop by theRoller Grrrls Facebook page and keep up to date with the launch and other exciting RGs news!

Grail knight

An old sketch of a knight I found in a sketchbook the other day in the studio clean-up and move. Not sure the armour and sword meet in a time period, but hey ho.

Spins a web, any size, catches thieves just like flies!

I watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight at the weekend in preparation to go see Dark Knight Rises and of course while doing so it seemed appropriate to draw… Spider-Man. Unlike most other US superhero comics I can actually say I used to read Spider-Man when I was younger, Spider-Man, The Hulk and Batman where pretty much the US comics I read as a kid and the fact that these characters where on TV in ready supply helped that a lot. I haven't read Spider-Man for a few years now and I haven't seen the latest film adaption yet so I can't comment on that but I'm sure he does pretty much whatever a spider can.

Jonday - Middle-earth sketching

A recent one from the sketchbook. I've been making a LOT of drawings with the aim of clarifying some stylistic differences between the visual cultures of Thranduil's Northern Mirkwood elves, and those living in Rivendell.   Why yes, I am a painful, painful Tolkien nerd, for why do you ask?

First Dredd

My wife bough me a shiny new scanner/printer recently so I've gone a bit daft digitising a lot of my old comic art. One of the pages I unearthed was this first sample sent to Fleetway away back in 1994.This was done at the same time I did my first photocopied small press mag Red Sands and sports the same scratchy inking style.

Dante, Katarina & Lulu

I'm working on some more commissions. This time using 3 of my favourite Dante characters in a scene that didn't take place, but easily could have. Seriously what are the odds of Katarina and Lulu ever being more than reluctant allies? I'll ink this up sometime this week. Oh and if you are interested in me doing a commission for you , now would be a good time to ask.

Fantastic Four redesign

Fantastic Four costume redesigns done for the project rooftop website.

Scroobius Hip t-shirt design.

Roller Grrrls were asked to design four t-shirt designs for online derby store Roller Bootique

Here is a version of the Scroobius Hip character playing the Joker card (literally). Really pleased with this lineart. I have also included the pencils for the dancing version. The girls at Roller Bootique went for the kneeling pose and it works better for the design.

 Check out the Roller Bootique Facebook page here!

Studio move, work surfaces

Moving my studio today into a new room, and inevitably finding all sorts that I did a decade plus ago. This was a magazine illustration (I can't remember the mag, I think it was an RPG title which was doing an article on a Harry Potter card game). Bit washed-out flesh wise in the scan. This is "Squib", according to my scrawl across the back... Pre 2000... Oil on watercolour board