Grindhouse cover design.

For my final Scotch Corner post for Blogger [before our move to the new Tumblr account] I thought another process post was welcome. The Grindhouse series written by Alex De Campi for Dark Horse Comics is a homage to the pulp 70-80s movies of the VHS era. Flesh Feast of the Devil Doll is a two part story featuring a group of teenagers trying to survive the night against zombified truckers and the Devil Doll and very much in the John Carpenter vein. Here's how I approached the NYCC promotional cover for Alex.

Colour work by the talented Yel Zamor.

A bunch of dirty truckers.

Some character designs for secondary background figures. Mostly an assortment of checked shirts, denim, beards, hats and leathers. What's not to like?

Sketching.

Most weekends are spent sketching or plotting: trying out ideas, concepts and designs. Here's some rough ideas from last weekend's session. Future themed work is always fun and this character's development is already showing promise.

Convention banners!

Convention banners are getting more popular these days at events. The bold 2 metre monolithic displays help to identify each artist and allow for a more visible presence of the talent and artwork. They also provide a helpful marker for when you get lost at the larger events ['you're next to Ben Templesmith's red T banner'] I have a small collection now ranging from project to project. Jack Cross, Dan Dare and Kinghts of Pendragon ALL worked well for me at previous shows but have been retired mostly [except for nostalgic MARVEL UK specific events or personal appearances]

The current banners are near always Roller Grrrls now as I am very proud of this creator-owned project [written with Anna Malady] and they work well at events. With Leeds Thought Bubble fast approaching I realised that I needed to push my other personal projects Incendiary.US, Zachariah Gunn:Dakota, Daenna and Island Life. I sketch out the ideas quickly as shown below. This year I am experimenting with a horizontal table skirt. The dimensions of a normal banner work very well and provide a lip to attach to the table top too.

 

So... after working out the best designs and deciding which images work best for a landscape and/or portrait orientation I then play with some already drawn artwork. The four panel skirt seemed to be the right choice for my own work as I could promote more projects and display in a conventional portrait form. Here's the Gary Erskine table skirt.

[From the left] Leto, The Irons:Hybrids for Madefire/ City of Silence/Boba Fett/Transformers. Very proud of ALL these images. Colours 1, 2 & 3 by Yel Zamor. Transformers colour by Chris Sotomayor

Here's the Roller Grrrls table skirt. Colour by Yel Zamor!

The single landscape banner/table skirt works very well too and packs a visual punch but it only serves the one project. Even though I like the designs they would probably be better served for a specific launch or promotion instead. Here are the Incendiary.US and Zachariah Gunn:DAkota designs.

The final banner design is for City of Silence [creator-owned with Warren Ellis] This was a three issue series from 93 [originally for MARVEL EPIC] that was eventually published seven years later by Image. A wonderfully eccentric story pre-dating Transmetropolitan and a personal favourite. The lineart is new and colours by Yel Zamor over the original D'Israeli/ Laura De Puy version. Who knows what will happen with this project in the future?

Crowd scene.

There are few pleasures for me in comics and storytelling than working on crowd scenes. The variety of characters and situations are always a challenge. Mostly pleased with this panel. No reference. Some minor scale issues but the panel just works anyways.

Batman. Commission. NarniaFumetto, Italy.

One of my favourite commissions from last weekend's trip to the NarniaFumetto event in Italy. Used the hotel room window as a lightbox and photo paper. A couple of opportunities to tweak perspectives and scale but seriously missed my Photoshop step. Legs look a wee bit large.

My Little Hybrids Pony.

Here is my contribution to the gallery of Madefire artists and creators celebrating the My Little Pony release. A fusion of the HASBRO property and our own The Irons:Hybrids characters.  Really pleased with this. Pencils, lineart and then colour by Yel Zamor.

Evaki Nott. The Irons:Hybrids. Character study.

Evaki Nott. Character study from the Madefire series The Irons:Hybrids.

Roller Grrrls cover sketch.

Still undecided as to how best approach the final cover design for Roller Grrrls. A more dynamic image would mean cropping in closer to the figures [Jammers] but removing the skates would lose context. Lots to decide.

Andy Murray cover for the Sunday Mail.

On Tuesday last week I was asked by editor Jim Wilson of the Sunday Mail to contribute a cover for the Sunday Mail. He wanted an inspiring image of Andy Murray before the Wimbledon final. Of course, he still had the quarter and semi-finals to win but that was a sure thing, wasn't it? I called my colourist Yel Zamor and explained the opportunity we had for some seriously national [Scottish] mainstream exposure!

Well, the Wednesday quarter final proved a close and bitterly fought game to the end with Andy just winning in the last game. Were we going to be paid if he lost? It was best not to think about that. The London Film and Comic Con loomed ever closer and we had a Friday morning deadline. I woul dbe at the event from ten that morning with little access to internet to do any corrections.

There were two sketched versions. Both made reference to Superman and in particular, Alex Ross' classic imagery [including his homage to Joe Schuster's classic cover] I preferred the aerial shot of Andy Murray serving over Wimbledon but Jim went for the Saltire reveal, and I understand why. It was ALL about Andy and we needed to focus on that.

Below are some of the images and sketches for the piece. Yel Zamor did a wonderful colouring job [as always] considering the win/lose nature of Andy's games till the final. In the end the Sunday Mail ran with our cover and also made a double-page spread of the image as a pull out poster. We heard of fans posting them up on walls and fridges on the Sunday Finals Day! It was a real treat to work on the cover and the 285, 000 circulation [even seen in London City airport on my return from LFCC] was better than most comics.

Some more Roller Grrrls character trailers.

The Roller Grrrls project that I am working on with Anna Malady has been unfortunately postponed over the last few months due to work and schedule commitments and personal distractions. Back on the series for a July release of the first episode. Here are some new teaser trailers for the characters. We have around thirty principal and secondary characters in the story and this format is proving to be a good way of introducing them to a new audience.

Life Drawing: Under The Skin [Perfect Spiral]

When I am not drawing comics or working on storyboards for the film and games industry I can also be found teaching with my wife Dr. Mhairi Stewart as part of our Perfect Spiral venture. We have both had experiences holding independently run workshops at schools, libraries and universities, and hosting public events but decided to bring our skills together as a team. Mhairi brings the science and I bring the creative and arty side to the lessons. The cross curricular aspect to the Perfect Spiral classes are definitely proving popular and we have already worked with the Glasgow Science Festival, Scottish Book Trust, Bute Astronomical Society and many other bodies.

Last weekend we ran our new favourite class Life Drawing: Under The Skin for the Glasgow Science Festival. It was a free event held at the Hunterian Zoology, Glasgow University and even with the draw of the West End Festival parade and the sunny weather outside, our workshops were filled with children and parents/guardians all excited about drawing and learning. The demand for the classes had been so great that we were encouraged to offer a follow-up evening class on Tuesday and decided to make that an adults only night. Some of the specimens were more graphic than the public event at the weekend and other items were especially fragile [over a hundred years old and rarely put out on show] Most of the specimens are also unable to be put on display as there are so many of them archived in the building. Maggie Reilly, the curator of Zoology at the Hunterian, Glasgow University was especially generous with her time and allowed us access to some amazing pieces.

I have included some of my own photos of the evening and a link to the Life Drawing: Under The Skin specimens [photos taken by Timothy Drysdale] which I hope you will enjoy and be inspired by. The cuttlefish and Hammerhead shark skeleton specimens are my favourite and I will no doubt be referencing them for future horror or sci-fi work.

For details about the Perfect Spiral please click here.

Roller Grrrls cover and spread sketches.

Been a while since I posted any Roller Grrrls work. Here are some sketched ideas for the cover and a double-page spread. The main concern for both layouts was the number of Grrrls in the series. Each team has fourteen characters and we have three teams. Only George Perez could pull off such a cast heavy group shot. I decided to split the characters over the two images instead. Tiered levels [either from physical steps or perspective] helps to make the scene less of a line-up. Prioritising main primary characters over secondary ones is a wee trick too. Overall I am pleased with this initial pass but it needs more tweaking before committing to inks.

You can see more progress on Roller Grrrls on our Facebook page

Retro Post_Batman.

A cover for Batman:Legends of the Dark Knight from a few years ago. Very pleased with this image and continues my focus on headshots and faces as the primary element of the cover. It's an approach that is also seen in my Dredd pics too.

The Halifax Bruising Banditas logo design

 And now for something a little bit different...

I was asked by Liz Markey of the Halifax Bruising Banditas to design a new team logo for them [incorporating the original brand logo] for their new bout strips. We decided on a masked derby player in the style of my Roller Grrrls project and making it fun. The target was a late addition in the day as we needed a background and it kinda made sense and made for a great design element. The fist tattoo is another nod to the original logo design and works very well in the context of our character.

Overall I am delighted to be part of the team bout design process. Taut Clothing did an amazing job finishing off the tops and Sue Perman is seen here modelling the finished design.  The group shot also shows how Bad-Ass the girls look when they are bouting together!

Han Solo

Incendiary.US. Sketch+colour

Monster designs.

The Devil Doll_Sneak peek!

 The Devil Doll. First draft concept design work of the character for the Grindhouse series written by Alex De Campi [for Dark Horse Comics] Having a lot of fun with this book already. The head twists {exorcist style] to reveal the teeth and mouth of the Devil Doll. A truly twisted (sic) creation by Alex and I love her for it.

An Old-school approach to the character was decided upon as the Devil Doll's mouth had to look proportionate to the girl's head [hidden under the hair] None of that liberal Get Out Of Jail For Free CGI nonsense where anything goes [an easier chosen route as there are no boundaries to restrict design, size or shape] We had to consider a make-up and prosthetic aesthetic [with accompanying limitations] similar to Rob Bottin's wonderful work on The Thing and it seems scarier that way somehow.

Leto. Sketch.