Joker. Are you serious?

Another Joker sketch. This character is becoming a favourite on the convention circuit. The straggly hair from the first version has been replaced by a more Elvis inspired haircut. Well, huh!

Really need to put up the Harley sketch soon.

face WIP

A crop of a larger image, the face of a more cartoony character than usual. More than a little bit influenced by the work I did and was exposed to while working on Exalted, the RPG from White Wolf. I usually find it difficult to depart from standard flesh tones, so this is partly an exercise in something a bit off-colour. It is work for myself, so it is almost certainly doomed to never be finished.

Halloween

It is a couple of days since October 31st but I couldn't resist sketching Michael Myers from the 1978 John Carpenter film 'Halloween'. This is another franchise that has diluted the original horror but the first and second films are well worth watching. As is so often with my posts I'll also point out that for UK readers you can catch the first film right now on the BBC iPlayer (I should start getting sponsor money for all the shout outs I do) for what is left of the week.

Jonday snow orc

45 mins speedpaint.

And the dirty vy-do:

Sketchbook

Something from my sketchbook this week, a naked lady! I just drew this...because....I felt like it. This sketchbook is filling up fast because of all the stuff I'm drawing as part of the DrawBridge Blog with my studio mates. Check it out , there's some amazing stuff on there even though we've only been going for 2 months.
 This drawing has a forced perspective achieved by making her neck too long and her head too small. If you look closely you can see a pencil drawing showing through this page that I drew on the other side. ( Note to self, buy a better sketchbook next time )

More Slaine

On holiday with the family just now and staying computer/internet free, so fingers crossed this will appear ok on Friday. Anyhoo, here are a few more panels as per my previous post. Click on the images to view larger versions.

More Angels

Part two of my t-shirt work this week, with the back print of last week's image. Initially this wasn't done as the back - this illo was done first as part of Spiral's range of gender specific ladies tops. They liked the one-off image so much they decided to use it across the broader span of garments along with a front design.

Dracula

Over the last three weeks on BBC4 Mark Gatiss has been treating us to the three part series 'A History of Horror' which for the next week you'll still be able to see in the UK via the BBC iPlayer. It has been a great programme and the second episode featured a lot of Hammer films which reminded me of this Dracula piece I started about two years ago. I don't often show unfinished work as I always figure I will eventually return to them but as time goes on I can't help but feel that if I do find time to do a Hammer Dracula illustration I'd most likely start again either way. So here is the partial pencils to my Dracula homage showing Christopher Lee as the Count and below him is Michael Gough as Arthur Holmwood.

Jonday - Errr

Man, so much of what I'm doing is under wraps. I know, I know, I'm supposed to do sketching specifically for Scotch Corner, but be realistic for goodness sake. I only have so many hours in the day. It's not like all these other Scotch Cornerers manage it.


What?

Here's a picture of Prince Charles I did when I was 3.



Normal service will be resumed next week. Maybe!

Judge Anderson - then & now

2 drawings of Judge Cassandra Anderson drawn 19 years apart.

Slaine and Ukko

A few panels featuring Slaine and Ukko from some submission pages done for 2000AD a good few years back - i did the pencils, inks and some digital colour adjustments and effects but someone else painted the initial colours over my inks (unfortunately none of it was done via email and i seem to have lost paperwork during a house move so can't give proper credit as i've lost the colourist's details - if anyone recognises the work feel free to shout out here). Will probably post a few more actiony panels over the next few weeks.

Jack Cross. Banner.

Last week saw the re-release of my series Jack Cross by DC Comics (presumably to tie-in with Warren Ellis' movie RED?) In part response to that book and also the desire to have another banner to chose from for forthcoming events, I mocked up this image for the printers. It mirrors the last cover of the series and beautifully reproduces Brain Reber's wondeful colours on the series. Always loved the work Brian did for the book. This particular edition has better printing than the original release. Check for yourself.

Delighted with the finished product. First showing of the banner will be at the London MCM Expo and Leeds Thought Bubble to follow. Getting the thing on a plane to Lille is a possibility.

Thanks to Joey Cavalieri, Kenny Lopez and the DC promotions' department for allowing me to produce this exclusive banner.

Enslaved Angel 1

More T-shirt work for Spiral Direct again this week. The management had a very strong idea of what they wanted for this one and were able to provide their own rough of what they wanted, so much so that I felt I had little input into the process at all beyond the actual painting of the image. Sometimes that's our job and I try to not be too precious about "My art". I try.

© Spiral Direct 2010

Can you dig it?

I know I drew this but my memory is so bad I can hardly remember what it was for. These two where character designs for 'Dig' (can't remember what that was) and all I can recall about the brief was that the client wanted a 'Manga' look. This would have been about ten years ago? Who knows :)

Jonday - Pathfinder

One for Paizo's Adventure Path "Serpent's Skull"
(c)2010 Paizo Publishing

Repeat Offender Post - Kevin Levell + Guest!

Kevin Levell returns to the Guest Post this week with not only a lovely rendition of Catwoman but also a plug for comic lettering guru Jim Campbell. Jim has a new blog site where he's sharing his considerable knowledge about the art of lettering. As Kevin says:

Jim has tirelessly supported and helped many artists (myself included), lettering their samples, pitches and non-profit projects. Add to this his willingness to share the secrets of his art in helpful and informative tutorials, so honestly I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't mind highlighting the efforts of one of the most under-appreciated exponents of comics' most under-appreciated disciplines.

It's a pleasure to highlight not only the work of Kevin this Sunday but of Jim too, go and check out his blog here and remember to drop by Kevin's own site as well.

The Guest Post on Sunday is open to all who wish to take part, so click here and join in!

Aphrodite Goddess of Lurvvve

The brief was to interpret the greek gods in a modern-ish way. So my reference point for Aphrodite Goddess of Love was Anna-Nicole Smith (deceased). I don't do much colour pencil stuff because it's quite labour intensive.

Forgotten Memories

This design was for a book cover about a survivor's story of time spent in a German WWII prison camp. The image was initially created from a physical montage made on an old art-board with thick paint (hot air-dried to give lumpy texture), spray paint, chicken wire mesh and burnt/melted coloured acetate. The montage was photographed and then colour adjusted in photoshop to create the finished art. A photo of the original 'artboard' is below. Click on the pics for larger images.

Malta Comic Con.

Unfortunately there was no post yesterday (or today) as I will be heading to Malta Comic Con. Apologies for this. Schedule conflicts are a constant problem and unfortunately the late arrival of pages means I will be taking work with me again to an event. I will double post next week when this hectic travelling life and work settles.

Edinburgh Riding

It was the "Edinburgh Riding" a few weeks ago (Ok, prolly a month ago), and I took the opportunity to shoot dozens of photos of horses and riders for reference purposes because horses and people are right hard to draw. I wish I knew more about equestrian stuff. More to the point I wish I was better at drawing them. No excuses now eh?

What was frustrating after shooting the horses was that I shoulda done it from more angles - I could have gotten on my belly to replicate the same eye-level shots I was taking. Maybe next year.

Hello, Sarah Jane...

The fourth series of the Sarah Jane Adventures started on CBBC yesterday and apart from being a brilliant Doctor Who filler while that series is off air its also very good in its own right. Sarah Jane has to be one of the best companions the Doctor ever had and she first teamed up with the third Doctor in 'The Time Warrior' back in 1973.

This drawing was done for a charity book but I'm uncertain if it ever saw the light of day, I can't even remember what the book was for or who was organising it? Anyway, its a normal pencil drawing but some reason I drew it onto a textured surface, I think it was one of those pads you get for using paints quickly.

If you are a UK resident you can check out the new series of the Sarah Jane Adventures on the BBC iPlayer.

JonDay - Battles of Azuran Banner

Just finished just now.


(c)2010 Project Quest Ltd

Probably best to click it to see it a bit bigger.

NU BLKYN - finished

After last weeks pencil layout, this week I'm posting the final art. Some editorial changes have been made and I had a few more ideas while working on it. So it looks a wee bit different from the sketch.

Trading up

Oops - last minute post this week as i got caught up with a complete new rebuild of my own site and just realised the time. I'll hopefully have the new site populated with content and finish the design etc over the next week or so. Anyhoo - the images above were from a trading card set given away by Marvel UK's Exploits of Spider-Man title a looooong time ago - click on 'em for larger versions. Think i did twelve in total and if memory serves, i think they were inked by Rod Ramos - i just remember they were supposed to be inked by Cam Smith but he ended up inking cards for some bloke called Gary Frank - who's he? :)

Bleedout. NYCC Exclusive!

Today my post is featuring artwork for Bleedout. This is an exclusive blog post for this project as the BIG announcement for the book will be at NYCC over the weekend. Other contributing artists include Howard Chaykin, Tim Bradstreet, Glenn Fabry, Ben Templesmith, Trevor Hairsine and Nathan Fox. My chapter is mainly flashback filling in story and characters. More news available at http://www.whatisthebleedout.com/

Enjoy the sample pages. I will sort out a Breakdown of a Page for this post soon.

The Vault

An old image from the vault, set in the vault. Perhaps. 2001 saw me working for Games Workshop's Black Library, providing illustrations for Inferno (now defunct, a small comic-sized magazine) and if I recall correctly, the Games Workshop comic (Did a couple of 5-page comics for them, but I can't recall where they appeared exactly). This was one of the full page illos I did for Inferno, done in oil on watercolour board. And I clearly didn't know how to use a scanner (The original was sent in, so they didn't have to print it with a scan line!)

©Games Workshop 2001

Back soon...

Pencils from 2004 when I was going to work on an ongoing strip I did this 'Back Soon' image to promote the strip. Apart from one page it was the most I ever did on the strip and through various reasons I then dropped out of it.

JonDay - Jon doesn't really sound like the Mon of Monday

Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhqLOFnsFbo