Parrot!

An illo wot I drawed.

Huntress and Power Girl redesigns

Another quick sketch done for the superhero of the month blog, this time around it was redesigns for two of the Birds of Prey cast - i went with Huntress and Power Girl. I've always found the Huntress costumes to be overly fussy and bulky so i decided to simplify and streamline her look. I also decided to give her tech goggles (which would include H.U.D., night vision, infrared etc.) rather than a mask and the stylised H on her chest carries back over her shoulder to become the cape. I always liked the main Power Girl costume so didn't stray too far from the idea of that. I kept the colour scheme and decided to play with some 'fashion' aspects of it and give her some clothing that could relate back to her alien origin, whilst trying to keep it superhero-ish (rather than techie and futuristic) hence the gloves, scarf/shawl/cape and skirt that you wouldn't really get on 'Earth' superheroes. Also added the 'blue ribbing' detail as a nod to the new 52 designs for Superman etc.

Concept design. Hybrids.

Some lineart and concept work for Hybrids. This environment needed to evoke a certain dark and frightening atmosphere. Context is everything and the choices made on the decor, details on the walls and general mess of stacked magazines and canvases will explain itself when all is revealed.

Colour by Yel Zamor.

Victoriana Character work, again

Yet more character work for The Smoke. Another pencil/digital work of a victorian halfling barber this time. © Cubicle 7 2012.

Good luck at Hi-Ex this weekend, boys!

2000ad Sketchbook sketches

This weekend (31st March and 1st April) Gary and I will be at the Hi-Ex Comic Con in Inverness, Scotland. I've had a new sketchbook printed for the show and I planned to do 'on the day' sketches on the inside cover of these. But checking out the super smooth paper the cover was printed with I decided to do a test sketch and discovered that the pens and markers I use took an age to dry, in one case a whole day. So that plan was out the window but I did have enough time to do the sketches at home and let them dry, so I did. It was a touch tricky inking them and not smearing the ink all over the place and for that added 'drawn at a convention' feel I even sketched them on a flat table instead of my drawing board. Ten 2000ad related sketches, can you name them all?

JonDay - Tales from Wilderland

Hmmm. I was pondering whether strictly speaking I'm allowed to post an up coming cover.  Couple of reasons that are worth mentioning:  It's for the first full supplementary book for The One Ring rpg.  Which means I have to tread somewhat sensitively around the material since there's a chain of partner publishers and license holders to consider.  In that sense (and pun fully intended) this work is very "precious".  Second, and closer to home for me, this one was painted over a sketch by the mighty John Howe.  So it's a collaboration of sorts, and not just mine to post wherever I like.

That in mind it dawned on me that the officially sanctioned video is a happy compromise.  Plus I made the video and soundtrack, so that bit could be considered today's epistle for Jonday. I heartily recommend watching it over on youChoob itself in HD.

Days out in Glasgow

This  is the title page from Headbangers which was one of my favourite strips from my time at 2000ad.
Dredd brings the Mean Machine to a future Glasgow for a headbutting challenge against the natives and to rescue the Mega City ballet troupe who had crash landed there.

Looking at it now there is some terrible crossing of the line on this page alone, something I hope that I'm not as guilty of nowadays. You can be the judge of that.

I sometimes think about re-doing some of this old stuff but  using the work processes that I have now.
Purely for my own self satisfaction.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) I don't have the free time to self indulge just now.

Dante & Jena

A commission I did recently. I've still got a backlog of those, so anyone waiting....I'm really sorry about this...

Doctor Who crew

Hot off the presses (literally - i just smudged the scanner with ink/gouache - oops!) an A3 poster featuring Amy Pond, Doctor Who, River Song and Rory which will be up for auction at Hi-Ex next weekend - or you can bid online if you can't make it to the event. Loads of great art up for grabs and all for a good cause so get bidding for something.

See what's on auction here - Hi-EX 2012

Roller Grrrls. Process.

Rather than showing a sketch for this post, I considered instead to put up some of the early process work I do towards creating a page or cover. This is the most fun part for me as there are many ideas that come out of this stage of the process and you are free to experiment with more radical views or perspectives. For this cover, I wanted a Jammer's (player's) POV of the pack crossing over her (after her fall). Roller derby is a full-contact sport and that immediacy and chaos needed to be at the fore-front of the image.



I worked out a simple pack formation and tried some tumbles to best provide the Jammer's POV (looking back) of the mayhem! Skewed perspective, close-cropping of figures and a sense of tightness to the pack helped convey the 'carnage'. This kinda thing is difficult with a static image so every trick in the book is employed where necessary! Still lots to work out with this cover but the initial sketches from this week look promising. I will check over again at the weekend with a fresh eye after day job commitments and hopefully spark some more elements to add or tweak?

While trying to nail the perfect composition for the client or project, there will be many initially discarded layouts (for a variety of reasons) but these will eventually be recycled back into other books or projects. Nothing is ever wasted (not even your time!) Roller Grrrls for example, was originally born out of an idea for an all-female Serenity spin-off called Helles Belles that went as far as layouts, but the cold hard realisation of doing a lot of concept design and character developement really put that project on hold (an overly complex idea for a personal project ) and sadly meant it was shelved for a couple of years until Mhairi and I realised that major elements of the concept could be fashioned into Roller Grrrls. A lot of the characters and personal relationships and social dynamics stayed. The girls camaradre too. All good! The laser guns and hyperspace ideas were grudgingly jettisoned! ;)



Helles Belles will still be something to look over again at some stage but right now the contemporary setting of Roller Grrrls is proving 'easier' to work with and more immediately enjoyable. It also proves instantly loved by fans who 'get' the concept quickly. No genre to confuse or distract. Just roller derby action and real lives. Eastenders on skates? Or Love and Rockets on flat track! You decide!

You can see more roller derby work by visiting our hub at www.rollergrrrls.com

Bulldogman

Another portrait from Victoriana's The Smoke. © Cubicle 7 2012

Johnny Veird Eyes!

Lots of Strontium Dog love around here recently with Simon and Tom drawing Johnny Alpha so I thought I'd join in.

Jonday: something a bit different

So my plans for showing some new work haven't quite materialised this week (stay tuned) so instead I thought I'd do something a little different and share something I wrote.

A very nice person contacted me via DeviantArt to request an interview for their site. I duly obliged and you can read the full thing here:  http://www.artfreck.com/wp/interview/interview-with-jon-hodgson

But the bit I thought I would post here is from the last question I was asked about advice for aspiring illustrators.

Achtung Baby!

A Pantone sketch of Vampire Vixen Libyehnah. for Hi Ex

Johnny Alpha

A Johnny Alpha doodle - i promised to do a strip for Zarjaz a while back so just playing about a bit with the costume a wee bit in order to decide how i will draw him when i get around to it - will probably do something like this, but maybe not with such huge boots.

Catwoman.

Catwoman continues to be a popular sketch. This one is from Leeds Thought Bubble last year.

More Smoke, more Victoriana

One of several portraits I did for Victoriana. I was not late this week. I totally got this before Thursday Business ;)

10th Doctor

Many thanks to Jon for stepping into post last week, I'm suffering the effects of the flu and spent last week in bed while this week I just feel like someone has broken my back.

Jonday - Depths

Football Crazy

This sketch was done many years ago for a fanzine or magazine article. It was a satirical piece relating to Latin American footballers getting bumped off for losing a game, possibly at the World Cup? I think there must have been some high stakes money placed by some very dangerous people.

UPDATE Wild Thing?

So apparently Wolverine has a daughter? I didn't know this, but nevertheless I have been asked to draw her for a commission. This is the pencil. Maybe I'll post the final inks if you're VERY good boys.

So I inked it this morning...

You're welcome

UKcac jam

Not around much this week so another pencil version of a UKcac auction poster out of the archive - hopefully this will appear here while i'm heading up to Aberdeen for a friends wedding (if not i'll sort it on Saturday when i recover)

Terminator. Sketch. 2009.

Terminator. From the archives.

Victorian London

An illo from Victoriana's The Smoke, by Cubicle 7. There will be a string of pics from that book over the next few weeks, I imagine, as I done a bunch for it and for a change they are something quite recent which isn't NDA'd. ;)

©C7 2012

Jonday Tuesday

I'm not posting this today because I missed my slot yesterday. No. I'm posting it because our gracious leader Graeme is teh poorly, and I got his back.

A cover from a couple of months back:

Children of Wyrms by *JonHodgson on deviantART

Dredd Head

A digital sketchy Dredd head from a few years back

Battleweary

Poor old Nikolai, life has been hard these last few years.

Flashback

My home scanner has passed away so an excuse to rake through my archive files (which are in desperate need of cleansing anyway) so will probably post a few older bits and bobs for the next few weeks - depending on when i get round to buying a new scanner.

This is the pencil version for a Flash poster (Wally West, Jay Garrick and Impulse) that appeared in one of the old UKcac convention booklets (the finished original art from all of the booklet pages were auctioned off for charity each year) - i did a few of these while UKcac was in existence so a few more may appear here.

Roller Grrrl. Inside Line magazine.

Jessica Ali from Inside Line magazine asked Roller Grrrls to contribute a couple of illustrations for an article regarding roller derby injuries to be included in the third edition. Yel Zamor did the colour and Anna Malady worked on the lineart. We are very pleased with the end result and one of the smaller images is included here.



For more information and ordering the magazine (with stickers) you can contact Inside Line magazine direct by email at info@insidelinemagazine.co.uk or visit their site here. They also have a Facebook site here. Go buy a copy now! ;)

For more Roller Grrrls action please visit our hub at www.rollergrrrls.com