Kid Tiger continues

Another ongoing colouring project. This is my favourite panel from page 4. To see the full page and catch up with the strip itself, head over to James Corcoran's blog.

PARADISE MECHANISM teasers

Details from a selection of panels from my forthcoming collaboration with Dave Hitchcock, Paradise Mechanism. Although initially unsure whether my style would blend well with Dave's beautiful greyscaled artwork, I think we established a pretty effective partnership. My influences on this strip include French comics such as Orbital and that godlike genius of comic-colouring Dave Stewart.

Another page from Dave Hitchcock's PARADISE MECHANISM

This is my favourite page so far, and probably the best colouring I've ever done (objectively speaking). See more of Dave's awesome work here.

19 pages are in the bag now, with 20 nearly done - only 6 more to go.

Paradise Mechanism

A page from a project I'm tackling this month - adding colours to 26 pages of Dave Hitchcock's glorious ink and pencil work. The strip in question is slated to appear in something rather special - a new digital comic project from 'V For Vendetta' artist David Lloyd. I can confirm that I'm ridiculously excited about being a part of this.

Kid Tiger - colours

My good friend and ex-Fractal Friction compadre James Corcoran is producing this excellent Boys' Own adventure style strip for Starscape comics online, and he asked me if I'd be interested in colouring it. I couldn't resist, there's something wonderfully old-school and earnest about James' drawing, and the premise of the strip is pure costumed-hero goodness. These first two pages show our Kid getting into a spot of bother with the rather nasty teddy boy villain Vincent Vyle. 

Beyond making the tiger costume orange (obviously) James allowed me complete freedom, citing only the muted palettes of Daves Stewart and McCaig. Funnily enough, I've been idolising these two for some time now, and this was just another reason to say yes and experiment with a simpler approach. More pages to follow soon.

Jikan - Stowaway preview 4

My 3 pages for this Jikan story are now in the bag. Here are a couple more panels to be going on with.

Another Jikan preview

Getting massive satisfaction from drawing this Samurai badass. So much so I just offered to draw a couple more pages. Here's a preview from another page of 'Stowaway' by Dirk van Dom.

Jikan - Stowaway preview 2

 

Another panel from my Jikan page - still a work in progress. I'm experimenting with combining the simplistic inking and tones with a bit of light texture (plus I've got to add another figure to this panel yet).

Jikan - Stowaway

My first page of sequential comic art in over a year is starting to come together. I never intended to have such a long break from it, and since starting this Jikan page I've realised just how rusty I've become. Drawing all these portraits has definitely helped my art overall, but it's also hindered it at the same time. Background details, full figures, hands, clothes, panel composition, focusing in and pulling back just like you're directing a movie, and just plain drawing things smaller - I'd truly forgotten how much planning and effort goes into even a single panel. And that's what we have here - my first panel in too long, for a page I'm doing for Paragon's time-travelling demon slayer Jikan.

I used this for a couple of things - first to knock the rust off all the above skills I've been neglecting before I start planning the pages for the first episode of my magnificent octopus 'Last Road to the Backwoods' (with the Emperor), and second to have a bash at a very different style. I've been becoming more and more obsessed with the genius that is Mike Mignola, so decided to try a style that, although not directly copied is certainly influenced by him. Thinner lines, blockier shapes, flat areas of solid blacks etc. Keeps me from boring myself, just churning out the same thing over and over again.

(Steel)horns of a dilemma

A teaser panel from my ABC Warriors strip for the next issue of Zarjaz.

Fractal Friction - page 37 inks

The fully coloured page is now live over on Fractal Friction. Here are the inks.

More Something Wicked

A couple more panels from 'A Pleasing Symmetry'

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

Fractal Friction page 20

The latest page is up here: http://fractalfriction.blogspot.com/2010/05/page-20.html 
featuring some ace lineart from the legendary Bolt-01, coloured by myself and lettered by the amiable Jim Campbell. I stumbled across this while taking out various layers to see how the page looked, and rather liked it, so I thought I'd throw it up here as a curiosity.

Third World, Fourth World (colour)

Zarjaz again

A finished panel.

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.

New Zarjaz preview - update

The inked and toned first panel for my upcoming strip for Zarjaz - still don't want to give away what it's all about yet, terrible tease that I am. Not quite finished yet, this panel - will add some highlights here and there.

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.

Fractal Friction page 18 inks

Here are the inks for my latest Fractal Friction page. Wasn't entirely happy with my colouring, and if I get the chance I may have another crack at it. The main spalsh panel was inked entirely digitally, which is a first for me. The other panels (bar #3) I inked with pens and dropped in in Photoshop. It was a helluva challenge fitting everything in, and I think some elements suffer from looking 'shrunk' (probably becasue they are), but it's all a learning curve, right?