Joker_sketch.

A wee sketch of the Joker from Paris Manga. I loved doing the shirt pattern but reckon that  this texture is not going to appear again. Too fiddly!

Tempestuous Priest

I've posted the Sergeant-at-arms for the guard-arm of Tempest's religion, and with all the news and whatnot, it is perhaps inevitable that I post another clergyman.  © AEG 2010

Mail Me Art

I've often quickly sketched something onto the outside of an envelope and stuck it in the post but I've never done a finished illustration stuck a stamp on it and hoped it gets to its destination in one hopefully fine piece, however having been invited to take part in the third Mail Me Art project that is exactly what I had to do.

Mail Me Art was started by Darren Di Lieto of The Little Chimp Society back in 2006, he invited artists from all over the World to create unique pieces of art on envelopes and post them off. A bit of a risk you may think and yes it is, trusting that the weather, postal services and the postman take care of these unique items but then again they are just envelopes. As the instructions sent out by Darren stated:

Take it to the post office, buy some stamps, stick them to the top-right of the back of the envelope (the side with the address). It can be first or second class post, but do not send it recorded or signed for. Also at this point it has no value and is just a very nice envelope and not a piece of Art. If you have to fill in a customs form, please put zero value. Do not wrap your mail art in another envelope and do not worry about any damage or scratches that may occur while the work is in transit. We want you to send it as-is. In the past, some work has been damaged, drawn on by the post office workers or not even made it to the destination, but this is a risk we hope you're willing to take.

I had several ideas in mind that would have suited this project but I wanted to produce something that would appeal to a larger audience and I believe there are not many people who don't enjoy checking out a treasure map. Having to send the original piece through the post I knew I wanted to try and make sure that the materials I used would be waterproof giving the illustration a fighting chance if it encountered rain on its journey and I also wanted to return to using 'real' (no digital) paints and brushes as it had been some time since I had used them. I also quickly decided to make the envelope myself and therefore could use a preferred stock of paper for the work, much easier when you know how a surface normally reacts than trying an untested bought envelope for the first time.

And then it was time to enjoy myself! A C5 envelope is quite small so the drawing area (229mm wide by 162mm high) was pretty restrictive but I still wanted to pack a lot detail in. The map was inked with my trusted brush pen and then tone was added with Copic markers and some acrylic inks. The golden coin and gecko where done entirely in acrylic paints and as usual when working with paints again I set myself the promise of returning to the medium soon as I always enjoy the process. A few tweaks here and there and the illustration was finished and scanned in, then the paper cut from the board and transformed into an envelope (my many years of producing 'mock ups' for printers always a help). Then my brush pen came out again to add the relevant address details to the other side with an 'X' marks the spot for good luck, on with a stamp and into the post box!

Having scanned in the image I couldn't help myself from doing a 'remastered' digital version, where I tidied up a few elements, adjusted the overall colouring of the map and added in some crease lines that I had intended to add on the original but had completely failed to do. Now all I have to do is await an email from Darren telling me the envelope has arrived and what state it has made it in, fingers crossed. Later in the year all the work posted off will be on show at a few exhibitions and you'll be able to purchase the accompanying book to the project, I will keep you informed of details and also check out the website for updates at: http://www.mailmeart.com/

Jonday - Moar ArtRage

So my weapon of choice ArtRage has a new version out.  Fellow AR devotee Jan Pospisil alerted me to it's existence.  I had a good play with version 4 last night. Like it.

Jeepster.

Not the TRex one.

Lady Action

So the Dare2Draw went well on Wednesday night. There were 2 great models and the general mood was good. In addition to celebrating 7 years of ACTIVATEcomix the webcomics collective that I am part of, we also celebrated the revival of Captain Action and Lady Action in toy and comics form. This is my pencil drawing of Lady Action in full stormtrooper leather ensemble. I forgot to bring my inking pen.

Doctor Fate sketch card

Classic silver age version of Dr. Fate - always preferred this version over the more recent ones.

I bought a pack of blank Artists trading/sketch cards last week (anybody know where i can get custom/branded ones made up in the UK?) and thought i'd give them a shot with pantone markers. The card is a bit thick for blending to work the way i would like but it's not bad - pretty tricky to work with the pre cut ones though as they are quite small and fiddly for inking and colouring on - fun though, so i suspect i'll do some more.

Self-Portrait time!

Yeah, in my dreams.  Another Tempest character, © AEG 2010.  Not looked at this fellah for a couple of years, and am in the pleasantly surprised camp, not the holy crap I did that!!!! one.  :)

How to build a medium-sized Hadron Collider

Out now is the latest issue of the journal for the modern gentleman 'The Chap' featuring my illustrations for the article 'How to build a medium-sized Hadron Collider in your shed' by William Walker. My work for the magazine is always fun, the briefs have a light hearted and wry sense of humour which makes it very enjoyable.

This commission marks a change for me in my introduction and use of the application Manga Studio. The last few commissions for The Chap I have digitally inked the final pieces in Photoshop to help give the line of the work a nice crisp look but for the last few years I've been hearing glowing reviews about Manga Studio which many comic artists and traditional illustrators have turned to for inking. I thought I'd give it a go and I always like to learn on the job so this brief suited the purpose well. The first few illustrations where obviously a quick learning curve as I got used to the interface and quirks of the application but by the third piece I was easily as quick using Manga Studio to create the final art as if I'd been using Photoshop. I still have a lot to learn about the application but I was very impressed with my first outing and look forward to mastering the various options it will give me for future work.

The Chap is available bi-monthly at all good newsagents of choice but also online via their site - http://thechapmagazine.co.uk/

Jonday - Halflings again

A repost, but I was delighted to see this image selected for the "Found by RedBubble" feature on redbubble.com.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/jonnyhodgsonart/works/9970948-a-bowl-in-the-woods

Grand Tour.

Initial value study for a larger full colour piece. Which I've yet to do...

From the dawn of time!

I didn't date this, but I think I drew it in the summer of 1993, maybe earlier. It was from the time just before I started getting regular, properly paid work in comics. This was an attempt to do something that would appeal to American Editors. I was doing all these simplified lines at the time, no blacks, because I'd just discovered how to colour ( with ink & gouache ) and I liked the nice sharp areas of colour. It's been in my parents attic for the last 20 years. Maybe I should ink it. Just for fun.

Raven

Pantone and ink sketch of Raven of the New Teen Titans (created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez way back when).

Batman_sketch.

A sketch from the Paris Manga weekend. Played around with the familiar Batman profile sketch (a favourite on the circuit) and added another visual motif with the bats and moon. Might work this up a bit more when I have time but an interesting and fairly positive experiment. The fan was delighted.

Tempest Chirurgeon

Fun little character pic, and a bit more in the cartoony bracket than some of the other Tempest illos, but I still like 'im.  © AEG 2010

H is for Hulk

Another commission and another Marvel superhero although this Hulk is based on the recent Avengers movie rather than the comic version. Not that there is a big difference between the two, they are both big lumbering green blobs of rage but with a brief to make him look like the film version you have to make sure you pick up on those differences, mainly in the facial features based on actor Mark Ruffalo.

Hellboy Fan Art

Page of doodles featuring my fave character, like, ever.

The Count

Oops - missed Friday by a tad. Still catching up on deadlines from the last few weeks of madness so again no time to do anything new. So a smartphone photo of the pencils for a Count Orlok panel from School of the Damned 5  - not even my photo, it's pinched from their facebook page. Will hopefully have caught back up next week and have time for some new sketches.

Walking Lady

A drawing. I do those sometimes. No reason. Just felt like it.

Tempest Cardinal

Or Bishop, or somesuch. I forget the actual title as there were a bunch of priests for the product. More to follow! © AEG 2010

W is for Wolverine

I do know more about this Marvel character than the last Dr Strange commission but then chances are everybody knows more about this character due to the amount of film screen time he has had. I quite like drawing him but again I'm very much in the older brown, black and yellow suit era than the yellow, blue and 'X' badge version.

Jonday - The Master

The Master (as played by John Simm) card art for The Doctor Who Card Game designed by Martin Wallace and published by Cubicle 7 and Treefrog Games. It seems few Who fans really like Simm's Master, but ironically enough this was one of my favourite paintings for the game.

I painted about half the cards for the game, as well as handling art direction duties. We made really close use of photo reference on this game, as a deliberate move - the painted style hopefully brings something fresh and contemporary and it allowed us to remove the characters and items from their settings (which increases feeling of narrative during play) whilst keeping very "on brand" with regard to everyone's appearance. Which is of course vital with such a well loved property. It was a really interesting departure from what we normally do, where such close use of photography can be considered somehow "cheating". Here it was very deliberately employed.

BBC, DOCTOR WHO (word marks, logos and devices), TARDIS, DALEKS, CYBERMAN and K-9 (word marks and devices) are trade marks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. BBC logo © BBC 1996. Doctor Who logo © BBC 2009. Tardis image © BBC 1963. Dalek image © BBC/Terry Nation 1963. Cyberman image © BBC/Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis 1966. K-9 image © BBC/Bob Baker/Dave Martin 1977.

Find out more about the game here: [link]

NYC Fantasia

Sketchbook doodle made on a recent trip to New York. Hugely inspiring place.

Armed

Something I'm working on. In my 'spare' time.

Sketchbook to the rescue

Bad week with my wee girl in the Sick Kids so no time to do a new sketch this week. So a couple of watercolour texture sketches of a rusty hinge and some toast from my sketchbook this week.

Buffy. Sketch.

Currently working my way through ALL seven series of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (for the first time) Interesting to see the style of Joss Whedon work so well so very early on in his career. Lots of fun. The storylines and characters were interesting too; a heady mix of school relationships and nights spent escaping vampire and demons. All good... especially Evil Willow (the next post?)

This wee sketch (caught on camera phone) was done in Aviles, Spain last year on request for a fan and blind. No reference. Who is that girl? Should have Googled on my phone but the roaming charges were more than the sketch.