Edgar Allan Poe & a Murder of Crows

A companion piece to my 'Lovecraft & Friends', and another one I'm doing as a limited edition print. Only making 20 - leave a comment below if you're interested.

The Walking Dead - Michonne (II)

Another study of the actress Danai Gurira as Michonne from The Walking Dead.

Gentlemen Ghouls

Something ghastly stalks Highgate Cemetery...

First rough sketch for a new comic project. It's been far too long since I drew an actual strip, so this weekend I sat down and thumbnailed the first 5 pages of my new project with writer Martin Hayes.

Yep, Hammer Horror is a BIG influence on this one.

The Walking Dead - Michonne

The Walking Dead's Michonne, played with a fantastic one-note scowl by Danai Gurira on the AMC show. She's getting a bit of stick from some online quarters, moaning about the lack of a backstory, emotional range or even dialogue, but personally I think that's the point of the character - whoever she was before is irrelevant and she's truly found her calling in life now, as a completely relentless badass with a samurai sword. She's a Man-With-No-Name-type, a mythic character almost. Seriously, what's not to like?

Spot of colour

Life demands and the regular day job have been conspiring to keep me too busy/demoralised/bloomin' knackered to do a great deal of artwork this past month, but I'm slowly gearing up for a creative spurt again. Got the cover art for Owen Watts' 'Psychedelic Journal of Time Travel' roughly thumbnailed, plus a couple of nice comic projects on the horizon, so I'm warming up with a couple of quick things. Planning to do a bunch of new 10 minute portraits later today too, so watch this space.

In the meantime, here's a drawing I found on deviantART, by a talented Canadian guy who goes by the moniker JesusFood. Loved this pic so much I asked him if I could have a go at adding some colour, and he was up for it, so here it is.

Lives! Lives for The Master!

A couple images from Coppola's 1992 adaptation of Dracula, and an evil Bilbo thrown in for good measure.

Vincent Price as The Joker

Next illo for The Occultists podcast. Owen suggested this and as soon as I saw the phrase 'Vincent Price as The Joker' in print, it had to happen!

Horror pics - inked & toned at last!

Had an exhausting few weeks and been fighting off the lurgy continually, but here at long last are the 3 Hammer/Universal horror drawings from last month inked up and toned. Inspired by Dark Horse Comics Patric Reynolds' masterful ink & wash work, I decided to try my hand at something similar with the Mummy pic. This was inked with a Winsor & Newton series 7, a larger Pro arte 5/8" brush and a toothbrush for the splatters. Quite pleased with the results actually, but then I got the fear and went back to the Pentel brush pen for the next 2. Will practice though.

War in Hell II

This one's pretty much a straight homage to Ben Stenbeck and Dave Stewart's work on 'Baltimore', the latest title in the ever-expanding Mignolaverse. Although I wasn't the biggest fan at first, this book has really grown on me. Stenbeck and Stewart in particular compliment each other perfectly, and by the latest adventure (the chilling two-parter 'Dr Leskovar's Remedy') seem to have achieved a perfect symbiosis.

War in Hell

A work-in-progress, but pretty much there now. Getting my horror fix before I embark on that new pro colouring gig. Inspired in part by the Great War flashbacks in Ian Edginton's Ampney Crucis Investigates in 2000AD and by more general Lovecraftian themes (Lovecraft of course being a direct influence on Edginton).

Princess Ankhesenamón

As played by the beautiful actress Zita Johann in the 1932 Universal Studios version of The Mummy (today's warm-up inks & tones).

Judge Dredd - American Vampire

Haven't drawn Dredd for ages and this idea popped into my head the other day. The tagline works better pre-Day of Chaos mind.

El Bigote - La Noches De Los Muertoads!

Here it is, the finished cover art for the next El Bigote (mis)adventure through the Mexican afterlife. As mentioned in the previous post, this was pencilled by my hombre El Chivo, and (digitally) inked and coloured by myself. Note to self - don't ink things this complex in PS ever again - takes soooo long! What was I thinking? Nah, seriously though, I chose to do it this way just for the challenge really, and to gain experience in digital inking. Must try to master Manga Studio at some point though - by all accounts it's much better for inking.

New 'El Bigote' preview

Currently inking up this bad boy, roughs again provided by El Chivo. This is a tiny detail of a hugely intricate cover/pin-up to promote the next adventure of the undead quillslinger - 'La Noches de los Muertoads'. Just for a challenge/spot of masochism, I'm inking this digitally in Photoshop. Which is taking an age, but if it was too easy it wouldn't be any fun would it?

Another slice of El Bigote colour!

A special illustration by the very talented SKD to promote 'The Pantless Pistolero', a sort of one-off origin tale of one of the freaky bad guys from 'El Bigote'. When trying to evoke the Mexican afterlife, I find myself gravitating towards a palette of sickly-sweet/putrid pinks, purples and yellows. Another one I really enjoyed colouring.

American Werewolf

Practicing quick tones in PS.

The Walking Dead - Shane

Favourite character in a show that's getting better and better. Brush pen with tones and colours added in PS.

El Bigote cover art - WIP teaser

One of several projects I'm juggling at the moment, here is a teaser of the cover art for the forthcoming independent comic 'El Bigote', which is written and drawn by my good friends Matt McLaughlin & El Chivo respectively. El Bigote takes place in the mexican afterlife, and from what I've seen so far features all manner of insane characters, shoot-outs and shenanigans

El Chivo pencilled this magnificent wraparound cover and I was asked to ink the sucker. Now, inking other people's work is not something I have a lot of experience with, so that in itself was reason enough to say yes. Add in the fact that El Chivo's art is pretty flippin' dynamic and full of humour and menace, plus Matt's a great up-and-coming writer with a gift for memorable characters and I was sold.

On top of inks, I'm now part-way through colouring the cover, and have also agreed to take on the mantle of ongoing inker for the next batch of actual comic pages. It never hurts to broaden your arsenal does it? (is that even a phrase?)

Helena

Another one I've managed to finish up this week (God bless half term). A companion piece to Corporal Starkweather, this will feature in Ryan Henry's zombie horror novella 'TWO'.

The Mummy

Boris Karloff as Imhotep/Ardeth Bey/The Mummy.