Judge Dredd

An A3 poster given away as a prize for the 2000AD competition that i ran on my Facebook page a few months back. A new competition will be going up for July (although i'm still deciding on the topic) so if you want a chance to win an A3 give away then get along to https://www.facebook.com/TMC.Illustration - make sure to 'like' the page and then just keep an eye out for the competition announcement and rules.

The Irons: Hybrids. Cover process.

Layout sketches. This first stage is the most important part of the process. All the ideas are put down quickly and instinctively and a composition is decided upon. Three versions generally provide choice for the client/editor to work with and Liam Sharp decided that having Leto front and centre worked best. We then moved on with background characters designs.

A more finished sketch this time to capture the vibe of the environment. Some more playful ideas were added in the background but they felt out of synch with the overall tone intended for the cover.

Another pass refines the background character details.

Leto and two or three additional principal characters are next. Layout sketches are always done in biro. Trying to keep an energy and spontaneity in the figures by keeping the size to A4.

Pencils. Still working in ink with a brushpen at A4 for keeping the proportions and composition right. An alien krishna and Bono help fill the background. A lot of extra details are added to the figures and background at this stage and to be honest it serves well enough.

Colour work follows by Yel Zamor. These characters are for the background only and Yel cleverly coloured them with minimum shading to allow them to remain in the background and not pop or distract from foreground characters. Since they will also be reduced in size, any over-rendered textures would be lost anyways.

An alternate version below where I played with colour coded regionalised lighting on the background crowds. The seperate layers in the Madefire tools enhance the effect by providing a parallax effect.

Sweep!

More portrait work from Victorian Lost. The sweep. Because of an artist error the final was adjusted for the glasses the brief required him to have (by me before sending it in) but I always kinda liked this version. ©Onyx Path Publishing 2012 (whit wolf imprint)

Sketched to death!

Convention sketch favourite, big old Judge Death head!

Jonday - waves or hills I'm not shore HA HA

A small thing.  Might polish it up into a bigger thing.  ArtRage.

Vlasta

This was a pre ordered commission for  next weeks Glasgow Con

This character is Vlasta, one of the bad guys from Vampire Vixens.

She's only appeared twice so far, on a promo poster and the comic cover art but she makes her presence known in the second of two Vixens stories appearing in the comic I'm working on.

Character Sketches

From something I'm working on. Though I notice that they're both datestamped 2007. So it's been a loooong damned time!

Madefire. Hybrids: The Irons by Haden Blackman.

Madefire released their app yesterday and I am delighted to be a part of the project. Dave Gibbons, Bill Seinkiewicz, Dougie Braithwaite, Liam Sharp, Robbie Morrison, Mike Carey and many more creators are involved and I am proud to be working with Haden Blackman (Batwoman) on our collaboration, Hybrids: The Irons. Here is a teaser of what to expect with our new world environment.

The Irons teaser formatted as a page. Viewing experience will be 1.85 landscape panels with 3:4 IMAX inspired fullscreen. The Madefire tools allow for parallax views (up to seven layers for city vistas) and pans/zooms/depth of field effects. The technical approach to starting a page is very different too. It's a new language of story-telling.

Colour as always by the talented Yel Zamor.

ODEON Avengers sketch 8: Iron-Man

Another Iron-Man sketch from the Avengers day at the ODEON.

Loathly Liz

More portrait work from Victorian Lost from White Wolf. M-m-m-mad bag woman, touched by fearie, Loathly Liz. © Onyx Path Publishing 2012

…I am definitely a mad man with a box.

Here's another one I draw all the time, the good Doctor but strangely its been a while since I drew this current version. Still chasing that elusive proper client hired 'Doctor Who' gig… I know after all these years of drawing him as well, where's the justice eh?

Two Lugers and a packet of crisps.

The second sketch for prize winner Sean Steele from the VVW Facebook art challenge.

The last page of Dante

So here it is, a detail from the very LAST page every of the Adventures of Nikolai Dante! Don't say I'm not good to you.

ODEON Avengers sketch 7: Hawkeye

Another Hawkeye sketch from the Avengers day at the ODEON.

Life Drawing. Offshore Coffee Gallery. Sandra.

DAve McAleavy invited me along to Thursday's two hour class at the Offshore Coffee Gallery in Gibson Street, Glasgow. Our model Sandra was a delight and we talked briefly about Dali and Figueres during her break. My first life drawing class was a modest success, although I need to be less harsh with the line next time.

Initial five minute poses by Sandra. Finding the line here was the trickiest part. Biro. A4 xerox paper.

Some really intersting poses from Sandra and Dave and I lucked out with our seating position (to the right) and lighting. Another 30 minute sketch. Wasn't pleased with the face and redrew it. Still not got the likeness right. Her expression was rather interesting and I loved working the face and eyes especially. Quite an intimate sitting, only feet from her. Tired several times to get her eyes just right.

  

Last sketch of the day. About 30 minutes or so. Over-worked it and with too many lines around the face. Sandra deserved a cleaner approach. She was much prettier than my harsh line shows.

Head Shot

A quick head-shot from White Wolf's 'Victorian Lost' book, released last week. © Onyx Path Publishing 2012

Heads up!

Another nice set of 'headshots' for Cubicle 7 this time for the Laundry Files: Agent's Handbook.

 ©Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd

Jonday - Origins

Something a bit different.  So last weekend I was in Columbus, Ohio to attend the Origins Game Fair.  At this show one of the most prestigious hobby game awards are handed out - The Origins Awards.  The company I art direct for were nominated in two categories - best rpg and best rpg supplement.

We won best rpg supplement for Shadows over Scotland, which had some art from Scotch Cornerers Graeme and Andy, as well as being art directed by meself.  Here's a video about it.

Run n' Gun

This was a sketch done for Stephanie of Horror Cult Films who entered an art challenge recently on the VVW facebook page. Inks and Pantone grey.

HULK

From a few years ago. Pencil by my studio mate Tim Hamilton and Inks by yours truly.
I'm up to my neck in Dante right now, so there isn't going to be much new stuff until I put that sucker to bed.

ODEON Avengers sketch 5: Iron Man

Another Iron Man sketch from the Avengers day at the ODEON.

Batman. Sketch. Bristol. May 2012.

One of my favourite sketches from Bristol Comic expo last month was this Batman. I normally sketch a profile of the Caped Crusader but was asked for a full figure instead and really concentrated on the cape this time. Worked up the texture hoping for a leather effect and fairly pleased with the end result. Added a quick background for some depth to the piece. Another satisfied fan.

Courtier

A snippet of the cover art to Courtier, by and © AEG.

Kerrang!- Introducing

Here's a fun commission from the rock music magazine of choice, Kerrang! The regular feature 'Introducing' by Katie Parsons asked me to add a bit of life (and a giant octopus) to some stock shots they'd received for French-Canadian band 'Skip the Foreplay'. The brief really was: "We would like a giant octopus coming down from above with its tentacles wrapping around members of the band." Cool, can do!

I was supplied three different shots of the band (I'd love to credit the bands photographer but I've no idea who it was and I don't think Kerrang! knew either having had them supplied by the bands PR) and I quickly worked up a design using these and playing to the layout of the feature. My many years of working in advertising and design has seen me do a lot of work 'photoshopping' images and so working with the photographs was no new thing for me but a lot of fun to add in my illustration of the deep sea leviathan into that mix.

Jonday - Rafters

One from Tales from Wilderland, the first supplement for The One Ring rpg:


©2012 Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd

"At twilight, a trio of rafts emerge from the mists on the river. Green-cloaked figures punt these rafts to the shore. The Elves greet Baldor and the company warmly – the merchant is well known to them. The Elves are amused and fascinated by Belgo; they say there are few children among them in these days.
The ponies are unloaded and their burdens transferred to the rafts. The animals are initially wary about getting onto the rafts, but one of the Elves whispers in the ponies’ ears, and instantly all four of the animals become perfectly calm, happily trot onto the rafts and stand stock-still in the middle."

Artrage.

The One Ring, Middle-earth, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises and are used under license by Sophisticated Games Ltd and their respective licensees.

Look out behind you!

A recent panel fromVampire vixens of the Wehrmacht.

Doodling

Drawn on the back of a Dante script....the last Dante script in fact.

ODEON Avengers sketch 5: Hawkeye

Hawkeye sketch from the Avengers day at the ODEON.