Howler - final

Think this is finished. Not sure about the speech balloons though...

Howler - alternate version (unfinished)

Howler

Joe faces off with an alien noise fiend. Second entry for this month's forum art competition. To be inked and coloured, with possibly the addition of a couple of comedy speech balloons.

Durham Red illo for Dogbreath 21

Posted a coloured detail of this some weeks back - now that the mag is out there, here's the finished b&w image as it was printed.

2 minute portrait

I'm not going to make a habit of posting the images from my portrait diary - but I'm rather pleased with this one. This is a mature student I support, a 1-2 minute pencil sketch which was then inked in about the same when I got home.

Krool Heart - final version

Well, the blue thing kinda worked. Inked over them with a brush (the windsor & newton series 7 no less!) and a few different pens. Used the channel mixer to drop out the blue, but it was still faintly visible in places. I'll get the hang of it I suppose.

Colours added in photoshop.

The Krool Heart

Going to attempt the non-repro blue approach for the first time - so here is a pencil rough that I've turned blue in photoshop, then printed out ready to have a go at inking over. Not sure if I've used the right shade - but we'll see how it turns out. I'll post the inks later hopefully.

Zombie wife - final panel

Spoiler-ific panel from 'The Bucket of Blood'. Just couldn't resist posting it. Features my first attempts at colouring with a wacom too.

PS - thanks to Kevin Levell for the suggestion of the floating eyeball - too good to ignore!

Bucket of Blood preview 2

A selection of panels from page 4 of my strip for 'Back From The Depths'.

The original thumbnails provided by one of the writers stipulated 12 panels for this page, which I thought was going to be a bit of a stretch. In the end I went and added a few - which brings the final total to 16!

I've only got myself to blame...

End of the line, creep!

This is based on an excellent photo of one of the judges who policed this year's British International Comics Show. It was posted on the facebook page for the Minty fanfilm (which looks to be absolutely stunning, and will hopefully feature my new mate Banners as 'The Perp'). I asked them if I could use it as the basis for an illustration, and they obliged!

Hope to do more with it - this is a colour rough.

Slaine doodle

Very very quick sketch, done in red biro at work today, then photographed with my camera (hence it's a bit blurry).

My Bloated Zombie Wife

Nuff said.

Olly

First entry in the portrait diary - simple pencil sketch of my best friend and host this weekend.

Back from BICS!

I just attended my first. ever. comic convention. It was awesome, really really superb. Had a fantastic time, and, thanks to Kev Levell (for assuming that I would be taking it), had some interesting constructive criticism on my portfolio from - not least - Tharg himself. Old green bonce recommended the following: attend a life drawing class, tighten up the inks a little, try inking with a brush, and just basically keep drawing.

Oh, and thanks too to John Cahill, another small presser with loftier ambitions, for recommending the windsor & newton series 7 brush - I'll be tracking that down directly.

Had a great chat with PJ Holden too, who again offered invaluable advice.

So an idea occurred to me, and I'll start it tonight - I'm going to keep a portrait diary, take someone's photo every day and then pencil or paint or ink their portrait that evening. If I stick to it, I shoud build up a decent body of work whilst simultaneously improving my skills.

Onwards!

Business card

My first real attempt at one of these, gonna take a handful to BICS - you never know!