First Ebay of 2011

I havn't had anything on Ebay since before Christmas, so I figured it was high time I did. Among the stuff on offer this week is the cover art to an old Transformers comic from the old Marvel UK days, back in 1990, as well as the usual mix of Batman, Spiderman, X-Men etc etc.

Here's the link to the stuff up for grabs, & to the left is the Transformers cover art I mentioned.

Judge Dredd Megazine #307

Just a quickie post to say that the current issue of the Judge Dredd Megazine (#307) carries the first part of a three part Judge Dredd story I have been working on. The story also features the return of former Chief Judge Hershey to Mega City 1.

It's a real pleasure to get a chance to work in the world of Dredd again, I really feel at home.

Anyway, here's the listing of the issue on the 2000AD website, & a few bits of the art, pencil pages, inked bits etc. Pick up the issue to see it all coloured up by Chris Blythe.

Just to explain what these are. I pencil out each page at roughly A4 size, then scan it into my computer. In Photoshop I enlarge the pencils, & convert the grey to a pale blue. I then print the blue pencils out in sections (since I don't have an A3 printer) onto regular printer/typing paper, & ink the 'bluelines' with a combination of Sharpies, various other markers & Pentel white out correction pens. This process is a recent innovation for me, though I know lots of other cartoonists use a similar method. I do find it frees me up somewhat at the inking stage (which tends to be the stage I would normally provarocate at), knowing that if I mess it up, I havn't destroyed the pencil, & can just print out another bluline.

I then scan the inked sections back into Photoshop, where clean them up, & I combine them into the final pages.

2000AD Prog 2011

Prog (short for 'programme'... 2000AD speak for 'issue') 2011 of 2000AD, hit the shelves yesterday, it's a 100page monster, & among the 10 stories in there, is the Rogue Trooper strip I drew recently.

Check out this link to read a 'round table' interview I took part in with Rogue' writer Gerry Finlay Day, 2000AD editor Matt Smith & Pat Mills (the creator of 2000AD & champion of GFD).

Rogue Trooper preview

As brought to my attention by the superb AIEEE! blog, a Rogue Trooper strip I drew recently was previewed in the mighty 2000AD last week.
I managed to track down a copy (which wasn't as easy as I'd anticipated, but ASDA came to the rescue yet again), & for those of you who don't pick up the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, here's a scan. As you can see, the strip was written by the original writer of the strip Gerry Finlay Day, so it was a huge thrill for me, being a massive fan of the character from way back.

This particular prog, marks the return of another legend, art droid Brendan McCarthy to Dredd after a 20 year absence, so it's well worth picking up.

I'll post a proper look 'behind the scenes' at the Rogue strip as soon as I get time.

Christmas sale of artwork on Ebay.

I have a bunch of artwork on Ebay currently, any of which would make an excellent Christmas gift...*hint* *hint*

Click here to see what's on offer, & in the meantime, here's a bunch of images from the art for sale.

Judge Dredd?...... Really?

This was done as a bit of fun for a thread over at the 2000AD message boards, when people were asked to submit what they thought Dredd actually looked like under the helmet. Here's a link to the specific thread.

My helmetless Dredd is probably a good bit younger looking than he actually should be, since I believe that Dredd actually ages inreal time, making him now in his mid sixties (assuming he was around 30 when he first appeared back in '77). But anyway, here he is.

A new post... finally.

Wow, it's been so long since I posted on here, I almost forgot how!! In my defence, I was waiting on some photographs from the evening's exhibition at The Hepworth gallery. Sadly, the pictures never arrived, (I'll keep trying) so in order to kick start this behemoth, let's just go with what I've got.

First to say, the evening went surprisingly well, I was there with my wife & daughters of course, but in addittion to us attendance on the evening was up around the 500 visitors mark, which is pretty incredible for an exhibition which only ran for 5 hours!

My peice seemed to go down well, with lots of punters taking the opportunity to create their own drawings. The idea was that in exchange for a drawing, they'd be able to take away a print copy of my piece.. the ultimate art swap, if you will.

So what was my piece? Well, if you can cast your mind back far enough, my self & four other local artists were ivited to create something in response to Barbara Hepworth's 'Mother & Child, see this post for all the details. Given that 'art' as opposed to 'illustration' is completely out of my comfort zone, coming up with a decent concept proved to be somewhat difficult for me. However, after much deliberation, I decided to do a piece which was about my notions of the relationship between a mother & their child, rather than a reaction to the Hepworth sculpture specifically. The idea I wanted to convey, was that a Mother in many ways is EVERYTHING to a child, from carer to policewoman, from confidant to authoritarian. So, I made a comic strip which uses only the words 'mother' & 'child' for all the dialogue, this seemed like a neat idea at the time, but on reflection it may have stretched to point to far, nevertheless, I think it conveys my overall idea. The decision to make the strip as a faux vintage piece akin to comics from the 60's, was made to suggest that (for me at least) , that was the period when I had experienced that Mother/Child relationship with my own mother.

To the image itself. Aping the drawing & colouring style of the 1960's proved to be trickier than I'd imagined, but I was happy with the end result.


Anyway, here are a few pictures from the evening, & a scan of the piece that the local newspaper ran about the event (trust me, despite what these pictures might suggest, there were people actually there!), & I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at the Hepworth, & Richard Wheater for inviting me to participate in the evening.

Wakefield Art Walk

On the 28th of this month, I'll be taking my work into a wholly different (& quite unexpected) arena. The artists community of my home town have for some while now organised a regular event called The Art Walk. As the tile suggests, the event constitutes a tour of various locations around the city, where 'art' in many forms is exhibited &, performed. For the Art Walk at the end of this month, I was invited to participate.. I know, crazy, right?.

However, the plot thickens even further. As of next year, a new massive & spectacular art gallery will open in the city, affiliated with The Tate Gallery, the new Hepworth Gallery (named after the sculptor Barbara Hepworth) will bring exhibitions of contemporary art (rarely seen outside London) to Yorkshire. Now, while the Hepworth won't open proper until next year, it will be opening it's doors to the public as a part of this art walk, & trust me, the building alone is well worth a look. The works displayed in this new space will be part of an 'art swap', since elsewhere on the walk (at Westgate Studios to be exact), a rarely seen Barbara Hepworth sculpture, Mother & Child, will be on display for the first time in many years, & five local artists ( Victoria Lucas , Andy Singleton , Richard Sweeney , Richard William Wheater & yours truely) have been asked to display a piece at the Hepworth. That's right.. my work, in a gen-u-ine bon-a-fide art gallery... I'm still thinking they are confusing me with someone else. The five of us were each asked to create a piece of work which was in some way a reaction to the Hepworth sculpture.

For my piece (the specific details of which are under wraps for now) I have come up with an installation which combines projection, & printed matter, with a healthy dose of audience participation, because just as the five exhibited artists have been asked to create something in response to the Hepworth sculpture, the attendees of the art walk, will be asked to provide their own reaction to my contribution, those who accept the challenge, will be rewarded with a different kind of 'swap'.... intrigued? You should be!!

Below is the Barbara Hepworth sculpture which will be on display at Westgate Studios, & a couple of pictures of the room within the Hepworth Gallery where my piece will be displayed.

Caped Crusaid 2

Last year I contributed two sketch cards to the AIDS charity event Caped Crusaid. The even is being organised again this year, & I was happy to contribute once more.

Last year, the sketches were put on display at Orbital Comics in London, & auctioned vis Ebay. I imagine something similar will be the case this year too.

Anyway, here's my two for this year, Black Widow, & Shanna The She Devil.

Poles apart.....

I was recently asked to do a comic strip for Polish newspaper Fakt. I was provided with the script.. thank goodness, sine the strip they wanted was satirical look at the Polish general election, & my knowledge of the Polish political system is somewhat limited...

Anyway, dont ask me to explain the finer points of the vitriolic satire on display here, because even tho I was provided with a translation, most of it still escaped me.

By the way... finding a font with Polish letter characters suitable for use in a comic strip.. not so easy to find!! Who knew!

Rocket Girl!!!!

Long time no post.... oops. Anyway, here's a quickie. I was asked to contribute a pin-up illustration in a 1950's space pulp style to volume 2 of StarShipSofa Stories.

I'm a huge fan of Al Williamson & Wally Wood's scifi stuff, so not surprisingly, some of those influences came thru in this piece. I added the Zip-a-tone/Lettratone effect in Photoshop, to give it a slightly more retro feel. I used to use no end of sheets of that stuff on my black & white work back in the 80's.

Now all I have to do is come up with an origin story for her, & issue one of Rocket Girl will be in the stores before you know it.....*ahem*

Quick sketch

I haven't posted anything on here for ages again.. I'm falling into my old habits.. So in order to alleviate the issue (caused by the problem that everything I have on my drawing board is covered in NDA agreements), here's a quick 'mood lighting' sketch I did earlier today. Sharpies, & Sharpie fine liners.

Bristol Comic Expo 2010

The last minute nature of my decision to attend this years Bristol show was (I'm sad to say) reflected in my complete unpreparedness for the event. So my check list for the weekend read something like this....Hotel booked right on the opposite side of bristol to the con?..check! Mobile phone/camera battery not charged up?.. check! No organised location to sign & sketch?..check! That'd be a full house then.

As a result of this, my dissection & debrief of the event, is somewhat lacking in images. After only a couple of clicks, my phone scoffed at me when I pleaded with it to take pics of the sketches I'd done. So here are all i have, plus a couple I stole or had sent to me.

The naked comic character sketches were done for Ivo, a collector from Belgium, who has this as his theme for the sketches he has done by me. The girl with the Spidey face background is Mary Jane, & the other one is Wonder Woman.

Bart, another Belgian, asked me for the Lord Vader sketch.

Wynn Ryder is currently collecting trading card size sketches of James Bond, which being a massive Bond fan I was happy to do, & Sam Gardner asked me to sketch his girlfriend Chloe as Star Saphire.... I embarrased myself, & displayed my complete lack of comics knowledge by asking.."What's a star saphire?", Sam's withering stare said it all.

Thanks to Wynn, Sam & Chloe for the pics.