July Guest – Dave Shelton!

1) What was your first published work?
An editorial illustration in a long defunct computing magazine called Program Now. This would have been in about 1990, I think. A watercolour piece of, if my failing memory serves, a man with a big hole in his head looking at a computer printout. Can't remember what it all meant. Though I do remember the arms were a bit dodgy.

2) Who or what inspires you?
Noir movies, Billy Wilder, P G Wodehouse, Tom Waits, Ivor Cutler, Radio 4, Ronald Searle, Posy Simmonds, Fritz Wegner, the main squeeze and her daughter, various cartoonist mates (Faz Choudhury, Roger Langridge, Jonathan Edwards, Mark Stafford, Warwick Johnson Cadwell, Woodrow Phoenix, Simon Gane, Tom Gauld), J H Buchanan and tea. Oh and Anon. I've always been amazed by his/her productivity and diversity of output...

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
Character design work for Pixar would be fabulous. Otherwise I seem to be ambling closer to my dream job anyway. I'm mostly working on writing and drawing stories of my own these days with pretty minimal editorial interference (but very good editorial support). I just want to get better at that, really. And faster. I don't really have any hankering to be let loose on some iconic Marvel superhero or anything. I wouldn't know what to do with them.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
This is a few years old now, and maybe rather unlike anything I've ever done professionally, but I always rather liked it. It was a character I drew for Sam Hiti's Fist A Cuffs site. Different cartoonists drew contestants for a mad wrestling tournament and each round was decided by voting in the comments section. I was really pleased with Bird Brain. Naturally he was knocked out in the first round. In retrospect, drawing him with a clearly injured knee probably wasn't doing his chances any favours...

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
Probably the next thing to come out will be my debut non-comics children's book A Boy and a Bear in a Boat. It's all done now (after a long while) and comes out in January. I'm currently working on Good Dog, Bad Dog Book 2 (working title: The Big Screen), my contribution to the multi-creator Nelson project, edited by Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix, and some strips for The Phoenix (no relation - the DFC's zombie offspring) when it launches in (probably) January.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I really don't know. I sometimes think that being a builder of drystone walls might have pleased me though. I worked part-time in a bookshop for nearly a decade and part of my job was sending returns back to the publishers. I got pretty darn good at fitting different-sized books together in the best possible fashion to fit them into the box. I figure dry stone walling would be the same kind of thing but on a bigger scale. With rocks. And outdoors. Probably in Scotland. Sounds all right.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
www.daveshelton.com and www.daveshelton.blogspot.com

July Guest – Roberto Zaghi!

1) What was your first published work?
it was an album of LEGS WEAVER, a sci-fi/humor italian series edited by Sergio Bonelli Editore, a spin-off of NATHAN NEVER. The issue was written by Michele Medda, there was a giant robot and it was great fun to draw!

2) Who or what inspires you?
In comics, of course a big number of artists, but I love Alex Toth's work above all. Jorge Zaffino at 2nd place. Speaking of people currently at work, Jose Garcia-Lopez and Goran Parlov are likely at the top of the list.
Also master illustrators of the 50s and 60s do inspire me a lot. Then Hitchcock, Altman, Lynch, W. Allen, Francesco Rosi, Joel & Ethan Coen....

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
Hmmm.... I'm always in trouble with this question. A romance story set during WWII, but tomorrow I may say a completely different thing.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
2 panels of Julia, the lady criminologist created by Giancarlo Berardi and published by Bonelli Editore, and 2 panels of Thomas SIlane, the journalist created by Patrice Buendia and Philippe Chanoinat for Bamboo Edition, beautifully colored by Cyril Saint-Blancat. It's all pen-brush/ink work... I'm still an analog artist.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
A new issue of JULIA for 2012. THOMAS SILANE #6 coming out in France/Belgium this fall.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I left the the faculty of Chemistry to draw comics, but well... I remember that it was a very interesting field!

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
On my blog: http://robertozaghi.blogspot.com/ and my Facebook profile!

Thank you SC and congrats for your 2nd anniversary!

July Guest – Roger Langridge!

1) What was your first published work?
My absolute first published work was a strip on the children's page of a Sunday newspaper - a fairly terrible superhero spoof called Captain Krimble, when I was 13 years old. My first published work as an adult (or somebody who could pass for one in a good light) was a cover for Auckland University's student newspaper in 1988, when I would have been 21 years old - I can't remember what the reason was, but the theme of the illustration was "20% extra", so I drew a lot of people with extra limbs, two heads etc.

2) Who or what inspires you?
My biggest single inspiration is probably The Goon Show, closely followed by the work of Carl Barks (creator of Uncle Scrooge) and E.C. Segar (cartoonist of the original Popeye strips). I've stolen tics and flourishes from dozens of artists that I like, though, everyone from Will Eisner to Edward Gorey to Ken Reid - hopefully assimilating them into my own style for the most part. You shouldn't be able to see the joins if I'm doing it right.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
I prefer drawing stuff I've come up with myself, but if I had to choose something that's already out there, I'd love to have a crack at writing and drawing Popeye. (Or Plastic Man. Or Metamorpho, the Element Man...)

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
This was an early version of the illustration that eventually became the cover for my first self-published comic, Fred the Clown #1, in 2001 - I drew this version in (I think) 2000, originally with the intention of releasing a collection of my web strips featuring the character with these illustrations as chapter headings. I redrew the picture from scratch for the eventual comic.

The Fred the Clown character was something of a blank slate upon whom I could throw various styles or formal experiments - the picture itself is heavily inspired by the early animated cartoons by Walt Disney, Max Fleischer and others. I really love the aesthetic of those old, relatively plotless cartoons where the characters essentially just bounced around and suffered pratfalls for seven music-filled minutes.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
Coming up: in August, my new series for Boom! Studios, Snarked!, kicks off with a preview issue. This is a Lewis Carroll-inspired comedy adventure which I'm writing and drawing. Then, in September, a few things: a 220-page collection from Boom! of previously uncollected material called The Show Must Go On, collecting work I've drawn and (mostly) written myself over the past 20-odd years; the first issue of an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter: A Princess of Mars, which I'm writing (but not drawing - that responsibility falls to Filipe Andrade); and a contribution to Archaia's Jim Henson's Storyteller anthology, in which I've adapted a Scandinavian folk tale called "Old Nick and the Peddler". Last but not least, in November I'm one of the contributors to Nelson, a graphic novel from Blank Slate Books in which fifty cartoonists each contribute a chapter describing one day in the year of the life of a single person, building her life story over the course of the book. I'm inking that one right now.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I may have ended up a performer of some kind - I used to dabble in amateur theatricals and really enjoyed it, but I realised I couldn't do both that and cartooning simultaneously and be really good at both things - so cartooning it was. These days, though, I think if I couldn't draw for whatever reason, writing would be the next most natural thing to pursue.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
There are links to everything I do at www.hotelfred.com - everybody's welcome!

July Guest - Garen Ewing!

1) What was your first published work?
I published my first fanzine, Demon Issue, in March 1985 when I was 15. I think my first professionally published drawings were for a book called 'The Good Skin Doctor' by Anne Lovell and Dr Anthony Chu, published by Thorsens (1999).

2) Who or what inspires you?
Glorious adventure stories, whether in comic or film; Franco-Belgian albums full of sumptuous art and captivating tales; history and the natural world. All that!

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
I'd love to have my own comic adventure series in the European album format - that's been my ambition since I was a kid. Oh, wait - that's what I do - hooray!

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
Back in 2008 I drew an A-Z of comic characters, each letter being voted for by the members of a specially set up Facebook group. Judge Death came up for the letter J. You can see the full A-Z here: http://www.rainboworchid.co.uk/blog/az.php

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
I'm currently finishing off volume 3 - the final volume - of my Julius Chancer adventure, The Rainbow Orchid. It will be published in the UK in April 2012.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
Well, I am a writer as well, so without the drawing I'd like to think I would still have the writing. Failing that, probably a hotel porter or a fork lift truck driver - I was quite good at that.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
Come on over to www.rainboworchid.co.uk and www.garenewing.co.uk

July Guest - Jon Haward!

1) What was your first published work?
A mag called preview published by Terry Hooper in 1987 I drew a strip called Deman written by my friend Steven Branson.

2) Who or what inspires you?
Frank Bellamy he never handed in a rubbish job, his work still looks cool today just check out the reprints of Garth in the Mirror newspaper, he had a great sense of design in his work plus power and drama, so many artists copied him but he was a one off a total original. I heard Heros the Spartan was being published by Titan, I hope so as this work deserves to be seen.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
Batman with Alan Grant, Conan with Roy Thomas, Hellboy with Mike Mignola and Thor with Stan Lee.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
It's a pin up of the Mighty Thor I drew for the Glasgow Comic Con booklet 2011 as the movie has just broke big at the box office I thought it would be cool to draw him, he's always been in my top ten Marvel characters and I've read his adventures since I was a boy. The colour version was coloured by Sha Nazir.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
Still art directing Hamlet for Classical Comics although the layouts have all been completed, I'm working on a few projects that I can't talk about just yet but I'm pleased to be drawing them, I also have a load of pitches being looked at by Print Media for Strip Magazine.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
Be a cook, I love cooking and it's also a creative trade.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
http://www.jonhawardart.com/
http://hawardarthouse.blogspot.com/
http://jon-haward.blogspot.com/
http://hamletroughcut.blogspot.com/

Spirit of Hope Signing
Jon dropped us this excellent image of his contribution to the charity book Spirit of Hope and a note to say that he'll be signing at the Spirit of Hope launch on the 23rd July, 1pm-2pm at Forbidden Planet, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London.

July Guest – Stuart Kolakovic!

1) What was your first published work?
Not 100% sure; I think it was a boring editorial illustration for some Pharmaceuticals magazine in America.

2) Who or what inspires you?
Black Sabbath, Thrasher, my friends.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" or Stoker's "Dracula" for a solid publisher, like The Folio Society or something like that. That'd be pretty cool.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
Most of my illustration work is deliberately quite "Kitsch", flat and graphic (and is usually influenced by my interest in Eastern European folk art) in the hope of trying to make a living drawing commercial illustration. But I feel quite disconnected to my work. When my friends that aren't "artists" see my work, they usually say "That's gay". So I took a few months off to draw a bunch of pictures that I think are a bit more, er, "me". I've drawn them under a pseudonym, "Herman Inclusus", so as not to get people confused with this new body of work and my illustration portfolio and not to scare any Art Directors away. The work was on show installed in a wooden church at London's Nobrow gallery until 22nd June. The work is also available to view and buy online at www.hermaninclusus.co.uk.

It's all pretty dark stuff, inspired by my love for Metal, my interest in the occult and folklore and generally just an excuse to draw gnarly old monk dudes and naked chicks being burnt at the stake. I enjoy playing around with type, but I didn't feel comfortable writing some of the stuff I wanted to say out right. So I wrote everything out in a type of really primitive anagram/code. It's definitely not a complex Tolkien-esque language, but I dig that a lot of people aren't going to bother wasting their time trying to read it. I suppose it's the opposite from what I'm meant to do as an illustrator, ie, draw everything as obvious and as easy to read as possible.

It's still got that eastern european aesthetic though; unashamedly ripping off bits of Eastern/Greek Orthodoxy and Iconography that I've infused with a gothic/occult outlook. I remember being pretty freaked out by the chanting and chalices and beards at my Grandad's funeral. I'm an atheist, so I'm waiting for a bunch of Russian Orthodox fanatics to send me a bunch of hate emails. I quite like the idea of some sort of medieval, traveling, illiterate Monk wandering the vast plains of Russia who created his own religion; stealing bits of folklore and copying the Byzantine style from the few churches he's wandered past.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
I'm meant to be working on a comic book called "Lichen" which will be published by Blankslate books. I'm finding it pretty difficult to make time to work on it though. I haven't worked on it in a good few months and every-time I look at it, I cringe. If that ever gets finished, I want to continue festering over my own personal projects and develop the Herman Inclusus stuff.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I'd be a Serial Killer.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
www.stuartkolakovic.co.uk
www.hermaninclusus.co.uk
http://www.heartagency.com/artist/StuartKolakovic/gallery/1

July Guest - Curt Sibling!

1) What was your first published work?
I self-published the 1st Total Fear comic back in 1991. As for pro publishers, I had a strip in the "Big Book of Urban Legends" around the same time.

2) Who or what inspires you?
I am inspired by the great (and small) events of history, human weirdness and the amazing ideas and works of various singular minds.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
Oh...Possibly a comic adaptation of a Russ Meyer movie, or a series of Hammer girl comic pin-ups...Paid work of course! :D

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
It's of a female warrior called Hakati, from my fantasy comic "King Evil". Giant monsters and little lizards are a regular feature in this strip!

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
Having just released the new "Hiss" comic, I'm now working on the latest issue of "Total Fear".

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
As a teeb, I was going to join the RAF, so I might now have been attaching missiles to Tornado fighters in some hot, horrible part of the world.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
I have the inevitable Deviant Art Gallery. It can bee seen here: http://curtsibling.deviantart.com/gallery/

July Guest - Nelson Evergreen!

1) What was your first published work?
Well, my first paying job was some Robin Hood illustrations for a school textbook. I drew Robin as a cross between Errol Flynn and Jimmy Hill, but was instructed to de-lengthen his face so he looked more like Kevin Costner. Grrr. By rights though, my first actual published work was in computer games mag Zzap! 64 a few years earlier. They ran this great competition: draw a picture of a cyborg on his day off. First prize was a tiny Toshiba CD player. I won!

2) Who or what inspires you?
My girlfriend has a fantastic brain, and comes up with all sorts of great off-the-cuff stuff which helps fill in the blanks as well as setting me off in interesting new directions.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
An illustrated collection of fairy tales for kids who think they've grown out of fairy tales. There's so much more meat in those stories when you can really let rip with them. Either that or a mad, inventive, funny sci-fi romp.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
The closing pages from 'Damienne Hobbs Reflects', a nonsensical wordless comic strip produced for the first issue of New British Comics ( http://newbritishcomics.blogspot.com - it's onto issue 3 now, and going from strength to strength). Basically a long, time consuming experiment that was slightly brain-melty but a lot of fun!

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
Currently working on b&w interior illustrations for several teenage books, all of which happen to be very ghostly and/or very creepy, which means I'm happy as a pig in the proverbial. Just finishing off a promotional poster for Scholastic, too. Plus lots of personal projects/pitches that I'm dying to get stuck back into as and when.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
Something equally precarious! I'd say a musician if I wasn't already a failed one.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
http://www.nelson-evergreen.com
http://nelson-evergreen.blogspot.com/

July Guest - Anton Emdin!

1) What was your first published work?
Well, that would be the school newspaper. But my first paid piece was for a weekly local paper called the Sydney City Hub. I had my own little regular spot on the back page in which I could draw a comic strip or single panel gag.

2) Who or what inspires you?
I have my old favourite artists - many of the old MAD Magazine guys like Elder, Kurtzman and Davis - but I'm constantly being blown away by a lot of stuff on the web. My favourite Aussie illustrator at the moment would be Eamo - his work is so fresh and uniquely Aussie.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
I'd love a TIME cover. That would be pretty cool.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
Strip Club - This is a full pager for Australian People magazine for a semi-regular spot called "DIY: How To". It's packed with little gags, and the mag runs some funny copy letting readers know the best way to negotiate certain situations. There's more info here http://www.antonemdin.com/blog/2011/05/strip-club/

Don's Party - This is a Spectator cover featuring Australian playwright David Williamson with the cast of his play, 'Don's Party'. International audiences may not recognise the personalities, but I really like the way this one turned out - composition, colour... sometimes it all just works.

Snail Rider - This is just a quick brush and ink drawing for my own enjoyment, but I love doing looser art when I can. A lot of my paid work is done digitally these days, so I relax and quick back with the brush.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
I'm finishing off a double-pager for MAD today. Next week, another big crazy scene for People.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
Wasn't an option not to draw, but I used to enjoy playing in bands too. I've always fantasised about doing gardening or something manual, but I'd probably miss the mental stimulation.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
You can see a lot of my work at www.antonemdin.com and at the blog: www.blog.antonemdin.com. I also have portfolios at my agency: www.drawingbook.com.au/anton_emdin and at behance: www.behance.net/antonemdin

July Guest - Manoel Magalhães!

1) What was your first published work?
It was an ilustration called "Puma Shaman", for an RPG magazine from Issaries Inc., back in 2003, I guess...

2) Who or what inspires you?
Well, it´s a long list... Moebius, Al Williamson, Alex Toth, Roy Crane, Alfonso Font, Corrado Mastantuono, Duncan Fegredo, Joe Kubert, Will Eisner, Pierre Alary, Denis Bodart... I better stop here, it would take many lines to point them all!

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
My dream job? My own projects being published by some major house! And I´m almost there...

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
Well, one of them is the page of a comisson job I´ve been working for some time. It´s a graphic novel about the great british explorer Colonel Fawcett. The other one is when I started trying out my tablet and the use of colors. The other one is when I woke up one day and wondered: "how´s my work with pencils? Let´s check it out!"

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
I´ve got a sci-fi project called COLONEL, which´s about to be published by Blackline Comics, and I am finishing a new one called SYNCHRONICITY, another sci-fi.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I´d be a very unhappy person...

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
Take a look at my blog: www.blogmanoel.blogspot.com

July Guest – Les Edwards!

1) What was your first published work?
A cover for a book called Satanic Omnibus by Kurt Singer. It was a sample piece that I’d done depicting a skull with a lizard inside. I think it was done in coloured ink. The publisher decided it was appropriate for this book so I’d suddenly done my first horror cover and the first of many skull paintings. It was subsequently used on Demons by Daylight by Ramsey Campbell who is one of my favourite authors so I was chuffed to pieces.

2)Who or what inspires you?
Almost anything. I’m a bit of a sponge when it comes to influences. Books, movies, paintings, photos; you name it. Most things get stored away in some obscure vault in my brain for future reference but an idea can be kicked off by anything I see or read. What you hope for as an illustrator is a story that will get your juices flowing but if that’s not the case then you have to resort to scribbling down ideas in the hope that your subconscious will allow something to pop to the surface. I have to say that the process gets slower the older I get but strangely my brain works better with a pencil in my hand.

3)What would be your dream job?
Actually there are several. I’ve always wanted a bash at Michael Moorcock’s Elric. Unfortunately for me John Picacio has done a really fine version which would be hard to top. I hate that guy! Only joking. John’s a really nice chap. Still it would be good to give it a go, even though it would mean annoying legions of fans who think their image of Elric is the only possible one. Like painting Conan.
I’ve always fancied the idea of an illustrated Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde but I’ve read the book loads of times and I just can’t get a handle on how to approach it. The big question is what do you do with Hyde? He’s not really described but it’s made clear that he’s not a monster in the visual sense, so how do you depict him as evil and repellent and stay true to the text? The old subconscious is still working on that one.
Luckily another dream job is one I’m currently working on, but I can’t tell you about it.

4)Tell us about the illustration you’ve sent.
It may seem a slightly strange choice. It’s not a commissioned piece but a personal painting called Remote Control. It’s based on an old movie serial. When I was a kid I was a big fan of the serials and I would rush home from the cinema and frantically try to draw scenes that I’d just seen on the screen. They often had a Science Fiction theme or a masked villain and I lapped them up. I’ve been meaning to do a series of paintings based on the serials for a long time but this is only the third one I’ve got round to. It’s probably not of much interest to anyone who doesn’t recall those movies but I’m very fond of them and they’re finally finding an expression in paint. Also it’s in black and white which I’ve recently found I thoroughly enjoy working in. Now the question is; Is there anyone out there sad enough to be able to identify the serial this painting is derived from?

5)What can we expect from you next?
I’ve just delivered the cover for A Book of Horrors edited by Steven Jones and published by Jo Fletcher Books an imprint of Quercus. Next up on the drawing board is a cover for the new Anne and Todd McCaffrey book, Dragon’s Time, which will be published in the USA by Del-Rey.

6)If you hadn’t been an artist what do you think you’d have ended up doing?
Who knows? At school I was into Science as well as Art, particularly Physics. Unfortunately, under our bizarre education system, I couldn’t study both and the truth is I didn’t have the necessary ability at maths to be a physicist. This was a time before calculators or computers. It would be nice to think I might have ended up working on the Large Hadron Collider but these days I barely know what a Hadron is. I really can’t imagine not drawing or painting in some way or other.

7)Where can we see more of your work?
At www.lesedwards.com and www.edwardmiller.co.uk

July Guest - Siku!

1) What was your first published work?
A Judge Dredd Megazine episode about two young disillusioned lovers living in Megacity. Can’t remember what it was called.

2) Who or what inspires you?
Several people really. Michelangelo for starters, then Moebius/Bisely. I am also influenced by writers like C.S Lewis/Isaac Asimov, film makers like Tarantino, musicians like D’angelo/MJ, scientists like Hawkins, theologians like Augustine/Barth. Beyond all these, the bible provides the most sustaining inspiration.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
I already did that! My latest book is The Manga Jesus. I wrote and illustrated a 300 page epic on his life. The best job I ever did. It will be hard to top it!

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
Ichabod is the most recent cover I did for 2000AD. It seemed to go down well with the readers.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
Several projects really. But outstanding out of the pack is the work on the life of Jesus in anime. We are currently raising the investments to produce the movie.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I would be doing any other thing in the arts- music, history, philosophy, literature or theology.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
www.theartofsiku.com
www.themangabible.com

July Guest - Chris Weston!

1) What was your first published work?
A Judge Dredd pin-up on the back of 2000ad Prog 589, the one where he's bursting out of the book. I never got the original art for this back, and it is something I'd dearly love to have possession of, for sentimental reasons. If anyone knows where it is or can facilitate its return, please do get in touch. I'm sure we could come to some kind of mutually agreeable exchange.

2) Who or what inspires you?
The success of my peers... all of whom seem to have accelerated past me in terms of career and talent. Bastards, the lot of them... with their film deals, paid convention appearances, awards and superior drawing skills. I've seen what they've got and I won't rest until I've prised it from their cold, dead hands.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
I have thousands of dream jobs... and not enough life left to complete them all. There are specific characters I'd like to draw, but I'm buggered if I'm gonna name them 'cos I don't want to give anyone good ideas. I've given enough good ideas away to writers in the past... without any credit or reward. So from here on, it's all mine. MINE, I tell you!

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
It was a rejected cover for a Superman comic, I don't know what issue. They wanted something with bit more action in it. I did another version showing Superman punching out a Brainiac Drone, but it wasn't that good, and I'm not sure if it ever got used. I've never seen a copy anyway.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
God knows. I've still got one issue left of The Twelve to draw. Beyond that I've got nothing lined up... and that's the way I like it. I want to go away, recharge the batteries and come back with something new and exciting. Preferably something self-written and creator-owned. There are a couple of film projects that might come my way that sound exciting: one featuring a classic comic-strip character, the other considered the best unfilmed action movie script on the block. But you never know how it will pan out. I spent a year working on the live-action adaptation of "Akira" and I was literally two weeks away from going out to The States to begin production when it all fell apart.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
Any job that involves scraping. I love scraping. Archeology or paleontology; removing the crud off dinosaur bones or old pots. Dentistry would be cool; scouring the plaque from people's teeth. Maybe restoring furniture, perhaps. Anything that requires an autistic level of attention, repetitive motion and abrasive materials.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
For a long time my website had been a bloody disgrace... out of date in style and content. Eventually, the professional in me grabbed hold of my testicles and demanded that I get it sorted out... and on this occasion he couldn't be ignored. Being a notorious control freak (just ask my inkers) I quickly came to the conclusion that the only way to get it how I liked it was to build the damned thing myself. This entailed an intense crash course in Wordpress, not to mention much wailing and the gnashing of teeth. Finally, with the assistance of Jason Brice (of Comic Bulletin) fame, my work was done... and now, behold: I can exclusively reveal the majesty of http://chrisweston.co.uk/!

July Guest - James Ryman!

1) What was your first published work?
I did a cover for Marvel UK’s ‘Overkill’ back in 1993. It was pre-email and internet and I remember that I sent the original off in the mail and they sent it back for revisions, and then I had to send it back again. The approval process is a little more streamlined these days. I never did get the original back either, the bastards.

2) Who or what inspires you?
Most days I check out what’s new on sites like CGHub, Deviant Art, people I’m connnected with on Facebook etc and there’s always new and exciting work to see. I’m also inspired by a deep fear of not being able to pay my mortgage, I find that a great motivator.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
A project that I could personally conceive and fund.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
This illustration is one of my favourites from the last batch I did for Sony Onlines PoxNora. It’s a straight forward composition and pose, but I enjoy painting demons and evil stuff in general.

5) What can he expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
I’m currently working on some Magic the Gathering illustartions and more stuff for the World of Warcraft TCG. I‘m also just finishing off another set of Zombie illustrations for a 2012 calendar.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I really don’t know, I’ve only ever wanted to draw stuff for a living.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
http://jamesryman.blogspot.com/
http://namesjames.deviantart.com/
http://namesjames.cghub.com/

July Guest - Jimmy Broxton!

1) What was your first published work?

The Unwriten issue 10 for DC/Vertigo, where I did finished art from Peter Gross's thumbnail layouts.

2) Who or what inspires you?

I think I'm inspired by anything that takes my fancy, from comics, illustration, movies to industrial design. If I had to name names, they would include in no particular order: Noel Sickles, Milton Caniff, Alex Toth, Richard Corben, Frank Robbins, Hugo Pratt, Crepax, Howard Chaykin, Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Herge, Rene Gruau, Jean Giraud, Dave Gibbons, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles, Kurosawa, Hitchcock, to name but a few.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?

My dream job would be wirting and drawing a daily newspaper adventure strip featuring my own characters, but alas I was born about 40 years too late. I can dream can't I? You did say dream job?

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?

What can I say, big gorilla, cool architecture, bi-planes, it's a win/win situation subject matter wise. The other pic is Daredevil, the only marvel Comics character I have any real interest in.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?

Right now I'm working on my tan on the adriatic coast in Italy, work-wise I have a number of projects on the go, all a bit hush/hush, some, I hope, will see the light of day.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?

I would have liked to practiced law, but I suspect I don't have the memory for all the facts, or the wig for that matter.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?

No web links as yet, I'm not one for self promotion, should have some new stuff out soon though, I'll keep you posted.

July Guest – Bob Eggleton!

1) What was your first published work?
Back in the early 80's, I did alot of cartoons for papers and so forth. Fun stuff. First bookcover was a re-use of an existing piece for a book.

2) Who or what inspires you?
Great master artists and nature and outdoors. My favorite artists are Turner, John Martin, Ivan Aivazovsky, John Constable, John Frederick Kensitt, and Arnold Bocklin.Ostensibly landscape artists when you get right down to it. I am drawn to the natural world first and the supernatural as an offshoot.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
Anything by HP Lovecraft like AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
Sent you a variety of pieces. One-Raindbow Dragon is a massive 30x40 dragon painting I did for the sheer fun of it and doing something big in oils. The second large 30x40 was a commission called "The Gathering Dragons". Also some(3) concept art I did for the film The Ant Bully. And some small "nature" studies done very small, 8x10 inches, some sketches of my favorite monsters,and a drawing of a mammoth for a prehistoric book.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
A number of things. I just finished the cover art to the novel version of THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, and am working on a few covers. I want to take a sabbatical and do the things that I want to do for me.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I really don't know. It scares me to think about it.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
My best communication area is my blog. http://bobsartdujour.blogspot.com/

July Guest - Mick McMahon!

1) What was your first published work?
'Geoff Gimp Private Investigator' in 'It's All Lies' circa 1974.

2) Who or what inspires you?
My determination not to repeat the mistakes in my previous work.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
I would love to draw 'The Saga of Burnt Njal'.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you've sent?
This is a splash page from my Tank Girl series. She has just discovered that revenge does not taste sweet.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
I'm just starting a series called 'Kestrels', written by Ben Dickson and drawn by me. It's about children and their adventures in World War Two.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
When I was little I always wanted to join the Navy, I had been told that 'all the nice girls love a sailor'...

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
http://tuggingyourcoat.blogspot.com
http://mickmcmahon.onlinefolio.biz

Happy 2nd Birthday Scotch Corner!

Richard III - Thursday Guest: Rob Moran

I am currently illustrating the graphic novel of RICHARD III for Classical Comics, 176 plus pages of Shakespearian goodness, or badness, since it is Richard; an epic task for an epic tale but one I am adoring… I get to draw things I love to draw, like horses, ravens, crumbly old castles, armour and devious doings amongst the dastardly dukes. Great stuff!

And with that we finish our June Thursday Guest Post. What a month, many thanks to Rob for sharing his fantastic work with us. Remember to check out his website for more!

Out with the old...

A double post today to celebrate the impending Scotch Corner day At Kingdom of Adventure in Fife on Saturday, and the month of July featuring a stellar list of awesome lining up here every day until August. An old oil from 2002 done in Japan for practice, and an RPG illustration from Medieval France, by and © Morrigan Press 2006. Cripes, how time flies, eh?

A massive thank you to those contributing over the next few weeks - I'm humbled by the company. Cheers all!