27/04/2009

DURHAM RED


PICTURE OF THE DEADLIEST STRONT THERE EVER WAS.

BIT OF AN EXPERIMENT WITH COLOUR IN PHOTOSHOP...

26/04/2009

NEW STRONTIUM DOG SCRIPT IS NEARLY FINISHED. IT'S QUITE HARSH - BASED AROUND A SCHOOL SHOOTING - BUT THEN STRONTIUM DOG NEVER SHIED AWAY FORM HARSHNESS AND GRITTY REALISM.

I'VE WRITTEN THE DIALOGUE AND THE NARRATION, JUST NEED TO EXPAND ON THE PANEL DESCRIPTIONS BEOFRE I CAN EMAIL IT TO DOGBREATH.

DREDD PAGE

25/04/2009

DREDD


HERE'S THE FIRST DREDD I'VE DRAWN IN A LONG WHILE. IT WAS ALSO AN EXPERIMENT IN COLOURING ON PHOTOSHOP. IT COULD PROBABLY DO WITH A BIT MORE SUBTLETY COLOUR-WISE, BUT OVERALL I LIKE IT.

ALPHA


BY THE WAY - HERE'S ANOTHER PIC OF JOHNNY ALPHA (NOT QUITE FINISHED).

I MAY COLOUR THIS WHEN IT'S FINISHED.

IT TAKES A LOT LONGER TO DRAW JOHNNY THAN IT DOES TO DRAW, SAY, DREDD. WITH DREDD YOU'VE GOT HELMET, SHOULDERS, BADGE - THAT'S PRETTY MUCH IT. BUT WITH JOHNNY YOU HAVE TO WORK INTO A I BIT MORE.
OK, TODAY THE DREDD PAGE GETS FINISHED, THEN I THINK I'LL UPLOAD IT ON HERE. JUST GOT A FEW DETAILS TO DROP IN, THEN THE LETTERING TO DO.

LOOKS LIKE I MAY BE DOING THE ILLUSTRATIONS FOR DARK TALES ... JUST NEGOTIATING A PRICE AT THE MOMENT, PLUS I NEED TO KNOW WHEN THE DEADLINE IS.

24/04/2009

IT'S FRIDAY...

WHAT TO DO TODAY . . . WHAT TO DO. WELL I'VE GOT SOME NEW SUPPLIES, SO I'LL HAVE A CRACK AT THE DREDD PAGE NOW, PLUS I BOUGHT A COUPLE OF PENTEL BRUSH PENS (AGAIN, THANKS TO HENRY FLINT FOR THE TIP), WHICH MAKE INKING SOOOOOO MUCH FASTER THAN DOING IT THE OLD FASHIONED WAY WITH THE DIP PEN. LAST NIGHT I USED ONE TO INK A NEW JOHNNY ALPHA PIC, BUT I STILL CAN'T GET THE BLOODY LEGS RIGHT. I'M NEARLY THERE THOUGH.

23/04/2009

STUFF I'VE BEEN READING

SINCE AROUND THE TIME MY MUM PASSED AWAY, I'VE REDISCOVERED 2000AD IN A BIG WAY. IT'S BEEN A REAL COMFORT TO BE HONEST, DIPPING INTO THE PAST - LIKE GETTING REACQUAINTED WITH A CHILDHOOD FRIEND.

I WAS AMAZED TO FIND IT'S STILL GOING, SO I'VE BEEN GETTING THE WEEKLY COMIC PLUS THE JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE SINCE FEBRUARY, AND ALSO SPENDING A SMALL FORTUNE BUYING BACK ISSUES AND THE EXCELLENT REBELLION COLLECTED EDITIONS.

SO HERE'S WHAT I'VE BEEN READING LATELY:

JUDGE DREDD - CASE FILES VOLUMES 10 & 11, AMERICA, PLUS THE MORE RECENT TOTAL WAR AND ORIGINS
STRONTIUM DOG - THE SEARCH/DESTROY AGENCY FILES VOLUMES 1-5, PLUS THE KREELER CONSPIRACY
THE COMPLETE BALLAD OF HALO JONES
NEMESIS THE WARLOCK VOLUMES 1&2
SLAINE - WARRIOR'S DAWN, TIME KILLER, THE HORNED GOD, PLUS THE RECENT BOOKS OF INVASIONS (BOOKS 1-3)
MEGA-CITY UNDERCOVER
JUDGE ANDERSON - SHAMBALLA
ABC WARRIORS - THE BLACK HOLE & THE THIRD ELEMENT

SO GOOD TO KNOW IT'S STILL AROUND - AND THE QUALITY IS REALLY GOOD TOO.

THURSDAY

TODAY - WE'RE OFF TO OUR ALLOTMENT TO LIVE THE GOOD LIFE FOR A BIT THIS MORNING, FOLLOWED BY A TRIP INTO TOWN TO PICK UP - AMONGST OTHER THINGS - SOME TRACING PAPER. THEN I CAN PROCEED WITH MY DREDD PAGE.

THE NEW STRONT STORY IS PROGRESSING QUITE WELL. WASN'T SURE HOW LONG THIS ONE WOULD RUN TO AT FIRST BUT I RECKON NOW I CAN GET IT TO 6 OR 8 PAGES. ALSO, I THINK I MIGHT CHANGE THE NAME OF MY MUTANT BOY FROM BENNY BLEDSOE TO BENNY KIANG, IN HONOUR OF THAT UNDERRATED BRITISH SKETCH SHOW BIG TRAIN. MAYBE.

ALSO, THIS JUST IN - MY COUSIN IAN, WHO I HADN'T SEEN FOR ABOUT 10 YEARS UNTIL RECENTLY AT MY MUM'S FUNERAL, HAS WRITTEN A HELLBLAZER SCRIPT AND EMAILED THE FIRST CHUNK THROUGH LAST NIGHT. I'M GONNA HAVE A GO AT HELLBLAZER! THE WORK IS PILING UP NOW!

22/04/2009

UPDATE

WELL MY NEW DREDD PIC IS NOW OFFICIALLY A FULL PAGE OF STRIP. IT'S AN INTERROGATION SCENE WITH DREDD IN MASSIVE OVERBEARING FASCIST MODE. 4 PANELS PENCILLED, WITH ROOM FOR DIALOGUE (WHICH IS WRITTEN). IT'S BEEN INTERESTING CONSTRUCTING A FULL PAGE, EXPERIMENTING WITH PANEL LAYOUT AND USING THE SPACE A FULL PAGE PROVIDES, SO YOU HAVE THREE SMALLISH BOXED PANELS LAID OVER THE MAIN IMAGE, WHICH TAKES UP THE FULL PAGE AND HAS DREDD LOOMING BEHIND THE PERP WHO IS STRAPPED TO A CHAIR.

JUST NEED SOME BLOOMIN' TRACING PAPER NOW SO I CAN TWEAK IT, AND - THANKS TO HENRY FLINT FOR THE ADVICE - INK THE ACTUAL TRACING PAPER.

ALSO BEEN TWEAKING THE STRONTIUM DOG SCRIPT, WHICH - AFTER LISTENING TO JOHNNY CASH THIS AFTERNOON - IS NOW TENTATIVELY CALLED 'DON'T TAKE YOUR GUNS TO TOWN'.

PLAN FOR TODAY

- WORK ON NEW DREDD PIC - I'M NOW GOING TO TURN IT INTO A FULL PAGE AS A SAMPLE OF STRIP WORK. GOT SOME IDEAS AND DIALOGUE...

- EXPAND ON MY IDEA FOR A NEW STRONTIUM DOG STORY - WORKING TITLE NOW IS 'LONE GUNMAN', WITH NARRATION FROM ITS TEN YEAR OLD LEAD, BENNY BLEDSOE (COMPLETE WITH A TEN YEAR OLD'S VERNACULAR AND GRAMMAR).

BETTER GET TO IT.

21/04/2009

WAITING FOR A BUS...

ANOTHER COMMISSION! I SENT A COUPLE OF PICS FROM MY 'VICTORIAN MACABRE' SERIES OFF TO DARK TALES MAGAZINE ABOUT 6 WEEKS AGO AND THE EDITOR HAS JUST GOT BACK TO ME ASKING FOR ABOUT A DOZEN B&W PICS PLUS MAYBE A FULL COLOUR COVER. IT'S AN ANTHOLOGY OF HORROR & SPECULATIVE FICTION - IN FACT I FIRST FOUND IT WHEN I WANTED TO ENTER A COUPLE OF SHORT STORIES INTO SOME COMPETITIONS. IS THERE A PATTERN DEVELOPING HERE? NOBODY WANTS MY SCRIPTS BUT THEY SEEM TO LIKE THE ARTWORK! WELL, THAT SUITS ME ANYWAYS...

UPDATE

FIRST NEW DREDD PIC IS JUST ABOUT FINISHED, MIGHT JUST TWEAK THE COLOURS A LITTLE. SCRIBBLED DOWN SOME IDEAS FOR A SECOND STRONTIUM DOG STRIP, ONE IN WHICH THE READER SEES THE ACTION THROUGH THE EYES OF A TEN YEAR OLD MUTANT KID... ALSO HAD AN IDEA FOR ANOTHER DREDD PIC, WHERE OLD STONEY FACE IS INTERROGATING SOME POOR TERRIFIED SUCKER.

GOD I LOVE BEING OFF WORK. NEXT MONDAY IS GONNA SUCK.

DREDD

FIRST NEW DREDD PIC IN PROGRESS - STARTED IT YESTERDAY AFTERNOON AND HOPE TO FINISH TO DAY. I DECIDED TO SCAN IT AT EACH STAGE SO I CAN RECORD EACH PART OF THE PROCESS, FROM INITIAL PENCIL SKETCH TO FINISHED INKED & SCANNED IMAGE. AT FIRST I HAD A KIND OF ABSTRACT COLUMN OF SMOKE AS MY BACKGROUND, UNTIL VEDA POINTED OUT THIS WAS EXACTLY LIKE THE ALPHA PICTURE I DID YESTERDAY. SHE THEN HAD A GREAT IDEA - DRAW THE CITY. IF I'M EVER GOING TO GET A DREDD STRIP, I'M GOING TO HAVE TO DRAW THE CITY - IT IS INDEED 'A CHARACTER IN ITSELF'. SO I DID THAT, AND IT'S TURNED OUT QUITE WELL SO FAR. HAD A LOT OF FUN COMING UP WITH NAMES FOR MY BLOCKS, SO WHEN THE FINAL IMAGE IS FINISHED YOU WILL SEE BOTH JAMES SPADER AND ROY SCHEIDER BLOCKS! ANYWAY, BEST GET ON WITH IT.

20/04/2009

FINISHED A PORTRAIT OF JOHNNY ALPHA THIS MORNING, WHICH I'VE EMAILED THROUGH TO DAVE AT DOGBREATH/ZARJAZ. JUST WANTED TO PROVE TO HIM THAT I COULD DRAW THE CHARACTER I'VE BEEN COMMISSIONED TO DRAW!

19/04/2009

NOW I'VE DISCOVERED I CAN'T ACTUALLY DRAW. BUGGER.

HOPEFULLY JUST NEED TO WARM UP PROPERLY. UPPER TORSO? FINE. LEGS - NO PROBLEM. MAKING THE TWO JOIN UP - WHA???

IT WILL COME, IT WILL COME...

STRONTIUM DOG!!

AFTER YEARS IN THE SELF-IMPOSED WILDERNESS, I'VE FINALLY GOT MYSELF A COMMISSION TO DRAW A 'PROPER' COMIC. IT'S A STRIP FOR DOGBREATH - THE STRONTIUM DOG FANZINE. I PRODUCED A SCRIPT MYSELF AND SENT THAT IN WITH A FEW SAMPLES OF ARTWORK, AND THE EDITOR HAD A FEW CONCERNS ABOUT THE SCRIPT BUT LIKED THE ART. SO HE ASKED ME IF I'D LIKE TO HAVE A GO AT DRAWING SOMEONE ELSE'S STORY - THE CHANCE TO ILLUSTRATE A GENIUNE JOHNNY APLHA TALE? HELL YEAH.

INITIAL SKETCHES HAVE BEEN MADE - JUST TRYING TO GET A HANDLE ON JOHNNY'S FACE AND GEAR (IN PARTICULAR HIS HELMEY AND BULKY SHOULDER PADS), AND ON WULF. WULF IS A BIT EASIER TO DRAW. ONE THING THAT CONCERNS ME IS THAT MY ANATOMY IS A BIT RUSTY, SO LATER TODAY I'M GONNA DRESS IN THE CLOTHES THAT MOST CLOSELY RESEMBLE JOHNNY'S AND POSE IN THE GARDEN WITH A HAIRDRYER WHILE MY GIRLFRIEND TAKES PHOTOS. THAT'LL DO IT!

17/04/2009

SO I'VE GONE AND STARTED A BLOG - WHICH IS SOMETHING I SAID I'D NEVER DO. WHY THE CHANGE OF HEART? I'LL GET BACK TO YOU ON THAT.

WELL I'M GOING TO USE IT TO SHARE THOUGHTS AND IDEAS ON COMIC STUFF - ESPECIALLY 2000AD-RELATED.