Ooh, guns guns guns!

Another wee commission, this time for old friend Anne Kelly. Clarence 'bitches leave' Boddicker - what a request!

The art swap continues

This one's for Kev Levell. Lulu Romanov, from 2000 AD's epic saga Nikolai Dante.

Death to all deviants!

Over on the 2000 AD forum, the very generous Pete McCosh recently announced a comic giveaway extravaganza, asking only for postage costs. I was pretty lucky in that I saw the thread right away and got in early, bagging Impaler #1 (with gorgeous art from Matt Timson), and various issues of Victorian Undead, Rawbones, and Hellblazer. He even threw in an extra (Robocop). See, these are the kind of people who frequent the friendliest message board on the interweb.

Anyway, as a thank you I offered to send him a sketch and asked him to choose a 2000 AD character - and he went for good ol' genocidal tyrant Torquemada. I looked at how different artists have depicted him, and went for a rather stylised, Kev O'Neill-inspired grotesque version.

Maybe they don't show up on infra red at all...

Another one to colour when I get time.

Art swap

Me and a few of my artist buddies are exchanging original sketches, to spread the love and all that. James Corcoran has produced a fantastic portrait of Edgar Allen Poe for me (see it here: http://james-corcoran.blogspot.com/2010/06/art-swap.html ). In return, he requested a cosmonaut from me.

I initially did some very rough pencils for this, then decided to tighten them up much more than I usually do, The final piece was inked with my pentel brush pen, which forces me to draw more slowly and controlled. The end result is a lot tighter than a lot of my usual stuff, but I enjoyed the process and it's fun to mix it up now and again.

Chris Askham asked for 'something Lovecraftian', and this was what I came up with:

I bloody Love Lovecraft. I could draw this sort of stuff all day, every day.

I'd like to colour these too, so watch this space for those.

Worm man mark II, version 2.

That's more like it.

I know, there's something wrong with your face.

By request, Jack Burton (and Gracie Law)

Worm man mark II

Another version of one of my beasties for the upcoming Zarjaz strip. Tried to make this one look scabby and leprous!

No God

Best screen vampire in ages.

You never could beat me, Egg Shen

Gone for minimal colour this time.

Huuurrrrrrrgghhhh

Sweet dreams, y'all.

I'd start with lasers - 8 o'clock, day one!

This guy terrified me when I was little - especially at the end when he inflates himself and then a grotesque carousel thing comes out of the top of his head.

It isn't Bennings!

Continuing to practice my inking with some more quick movie stills today. Here's a landmark scene from John Carpenter's 'The Thing' - surely the greatest paranoid sci-fi horror film ever made.

You really wanna save those crazy swedes, huh Doc?

My all time favourite movie hero (largely due to the hat), Mr R.J. MacReady.

I've now traded this sketch for a fantastic pic of Toht from 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', by trhe thoroughly charming Graeme Neil Reid.

Shadow of a vampire

Continuing movie night, here's Nosferatu as portrayed by Willem Defoe.

Happy Halloween ladies!

Just for the hell of it, The Kurgan. Might add some colour later.

Kevlev and mygrimmbrother present...

My good friend the very talented and horribly nice Kev Levell recently posted a fantastic 15 minute dredd head on the 2000AD forum and over at his blog here and it was so good I couldn't resist inking and colouring it. I really think he's nailed Dredd in this one, and can't wait for his upcoming Dredd strip in (the next issue of?) Zarjaz.

Then also there's this, his fantastic rendering of Merlin for Fractal Friction. Originally intended for page 21, the panel was cut in the end in favour of a different view that incorporated Mrs Wordsworth as well. Again, it was such a cracking drawing that I had to ink it up.

The Old House

This is for a new illustration I'm doing based on a story by a certain Mr H.P. Lovecraft. I've got a strip in the pieline for the near future, which will be based on a different story of his - but I wanted to get in to 'Lovecraft Country' with this first. I'll post the other stages as they're done.

And the inked version.

 Then a quick colour test.

Zarjaz Ink sketches

Rediscovered my mojo today, and here are the results. These were all pencilled around Easter, as a warm up for the Zarjaz strip I'm still working on. Decided to scan them all today and ink them up.

One or two are based on photographs, and in the rest I'm trying to recreate a good likeness in original images.

 I've gone for a loose inking style as well, which I always enjoy but can't always bring myself to do for some reason.

Fractal Friction page 24 preview

Here's a sneak preview of page 24 in our ongoing webcomic - due to hit your screens tomorrow! Don't forget to check it out at fractal friction