WWE Magazine Cover.

A couple of months ago I was asked to provide the artwork for the cover of issue #4 of WWE Heroes Magazine. For those who don't know, that's a mag devoted American pro wrestling.

The artwork I had to produce depicted the actual wrestler Chris Jericho, I confess I wasn't familiar with him, but then the whole professional wrestling thing just seems like so much pantomime to me, rather than an actual sport, so it's not something I follow.






Anyway, the editor provided me with a basic cover layout & reference photos of the guy & I came up with this initial sketch. The monster is supposed to be the guy's 'inner demon' taking physical form...or something. When I submitted this, the editor quite rightly said that the pose of the main character looked more like he was screaming in anguish rather than exhulting in his transformation, & requested I alter the pose slightly to emphasise this.








So I did this figure study, which captured the correct feel I think. I pasted this into the image in Photoshop, printed it out & using that as the pencil stage, I worked on my lightbox tracing thru with my markers & Sharpies.











This is the finished inked stage, which was approved.

















Here is the final cover as it with appear, will color & logos etc. You can see this & the alternative cover to this issue done by series artist Andy Smith on the official WWE website here. The issue hits the stands on June 22.

Wales Comic Con pictures.

As mentioned (& incorrectly named) in a previous post, I attended the Wales Comic Con on Sunday. This was my second time at this show, & like the previous occasion, it was a fun event. The title of comic convention is something of a mis nomer, since the actual comic part pales into insignificance compared to the movie/TV element of the show. However, I didn't find that a detriment, on the contrary, the presence of well known faces from Torchwood, Doctor Who & Star Wars (amongst others) drew a crowd with a much wider demographic than would attend a purely comics event... I believe.

I was positioned inbetween the uber talented twin strikeforce of Neils Roberts & Edwards, both of whom are gentlemen of the first order. I was kept busy most of the day drawing the sketches you see here, & participating in a Q&A session about comics, which some might say was lightly attended, I'd prefer to call it intimate....

My highlights of the day though both came in the guise of unexpected surprises. Firstly I was amazed to find that Neil Marshall (director of Dog Soldiers, The Descent & Centurion, among others) was a last minute announced guest. I'm a huge fan of his work, & managed to say hello to the man himself. He seems a genuinely decent bloke, & the fact that as I made my babbling fanboy approach he seemed to be checking over my shoulder just to make sure that the security guys were close by won't make me change my opinion. My second highlight was meeting voice actor Marc Silk.. he does a few of the voices in a couple of my daughters favorite TV shows (Fifi & The Flowertots & Roary The Racing Car), he gave me signed photo's for both my kids, & his Patrick Allen voice had me giggling to myself for hours afterwards.... a genuinely funny guy.

Anyway, hope you like the drawings, & if you were there I hope you enjoyed the show as much as I did.

Captain Britain Cover art on Ebay.

I have made a conscious decision of late, to not clog up this blog with endless notifications of what I have on Ebay. And although I do intend to continue that, I felt that on this occasion I should mention this particular item... since it has been the subject of two previous posts recently.

The original artwork for the Captain Britain trade paperback cover is currently on offer. This is the inked artwork in it's raw state before I did a little Photoshop tweeking prior to submitting the final art file to Panini. I should have included a scan of the art in this form in my original 'process' post.., but you know what?.. I forgot.

Anyway, here it is, & here's the link to the auction on Ebay.

Wales Film & ComicCon

I'll be appearing as a guest at the Wales Film & ComicCon this coming Sunday. The event takes place at Glyndwr University, Mold Road, Wrexham between 10:00am & 5:00pm. As well as yours truely, there'll be a host of guests from the worlds of comics, & TV & movie fantasy. Click the link for a full guest list.

I'll be doing the usual stints of signing & sketching, & as is now also customary at these events, I will be making a small charge for sketches. I addition to this, I'll be doing a Q&A session on drawing comics for fun & profit... but without the fun part.

Here's one of last year's happy customers, brandishing his booty.. that's in a 'pirate' sense.. not a girls buttocks sense.... jeeze, this post is turning out to be harder work that I'd envisioned..

Just be there, ok? And bring your cash!!

Captain Britain Trade release date.

The Captain Britain trade paperback for which I supplied the cover art (see a previous post) has a release date, according to Bleeding Cool News. Read the details here. Happily for me, they also have a shot of the final colored art, the first time I've seen it.

Classic 70's Blade: Private Commission.

Here's another post showing something I did last year. This was commissioned by a fan in Germany. As you can see, it's Blade, as depicted in the classic Marvel series 'Tomb Of Dracula'. Unfortunately, it appears I didn't take a scan of the pencil/layout stage, so you'll have to make do with this, the final thing.

If you're interested in something similar, they're now £65 +p&p.

Quick Roman Legionary Soldier Sketch.

I know, I know.. I'm already slipping with my promise of a regular schedule of posting.... so sue me. Actually... don't... that wouldn't be good....

Aaaaanyhoo, here's a quick sketch I did of a Roman soldier, so in the absence of anything else.... this will have to do. If I get a chance, I'll sling some ink at it.

Quickie Batman Sketch.

This post does exactly what it says on the tin... a quick sketch, made with a rapidly drying up Sharpie..