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.

El Bigote - One Sore Loser

After my stint inking and colouring the cover for 'El Bigote - A Tequila-drenched Reckoning', Matt McLaughlin (writer and creator of the strip) invited me to contribute a pin-up of the character for a future issue. This is what I came up with - the undead quill-slinger kicking back in his favourite local hellhole, enjoying a relaxing game of poker with some poor schmuck who's clearly bitten off more than he could chew (and who looks very familiar come to think of it). The woman behind the man is the mysterious and deadly Rita Moreno - more of her coming soon in the comic too.

El Bigote - anatomy of a cover

Stage 1. El Chivo provides the pencils, having done the leg-work in terms of the overall idea and composition (this is a wraparound cover btw)

Stage 2. Inked with my Pentel brush pen

 

Stage 3. Greytones are added digitally to give more depth

 

Stage 4. Blocks of colour are added in Photoshop (the part of the process that's known as flatting)

 Stage 5. Final colours - highlights, shadows and textures are the last things to be added

Then it's off to Bolt-01 and Owen Watts for the logos to be added, before the comic heads off to the printers very soon. I've already seen some of El Chivo's roughs for upcoming El Bigote adventures and I'm really looking forward to inking those too.

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?)

Zombie Girl

Profile pic for a new facebook page that Matthew 'Locust of Death' McLaughlin is launching, where people can 'document' their experiences of a zombie apocalypse. I'll post a link when it's up and running.

Don't go near the ice

Matthew McLaughlin - talented scribe and all-round bloomin' great guy - asked me to produce a scene from his wonderfully chilling short story 'The Stars Were Bright Over Siberia', which can be read here: http://www.alienskinmag.com/flash18.htm

And this is what I came up with. Really enjoyed this, got well into a bit of digital painting this afternoon. Most pleased with the night sky, but not sure if the original darkened pencil lines fight against the overall image a little. Still, mostly pleased with this.

Third World, Fourth World (colour)

Third World, Fourth World - final page

This is the version that has gone up on the competition thread over at Millarworld. If I get time this weekend I'll have a bash at a simple colour scheme.

Third World, Fourth World

I've collaborated with the luscious Matthew McLaughlin again on a 1 page 'Future Shock'style story for the latest competition over at Mark Millar's site. We're not really sure when the deadline is, and it may turn out to be too late for it, but if that's the case never mind. It was a fun page to do, and a chance to draw something comepletly different from the usual nonsense (which is something I always enjoy - no disrespect to the usual nonsense however). This image forms the second of five panels - I'll post the full page in a few days once the delectable Jim Campbell has stamped his letters all over it.