Saturday 16 November 2013

so many drawings ... so little time !

So here I am at my desk on a Saturday night after re-wiring some sockets and I find myself wanting to draw rather than play a video game or watch a movie!

It seemed very strange at first as I am lucky enough to spend my working hours, for the most part, with pen, mouse, pencil or pointer directed toward some kind of drawing medium.

But as all of my artistic heroes (Buscema, Steranko, Lee, Starlin, Bolland to name a few) came to understand and appreciate - the art is not just in the creation but also in the approach.

Professionalism and desire must also come hand in hand with a real love of what you do and an overwhelming yearning to keep doing it.

That is certainly how I feel at present.

Although a win on the lottery would not go amiss ;)

Now, where did I put that sharpener??



I'll finish off with an example of how I'm feeling at present. During the week I took a break from drawing Cy Dethans "The Indifference Engine 2" and found myself... well..  drawing.

Below is the 20 minute sketch :)










































Tuesday 29 October 2013

Of all the Gin joints...

So, this weekend I have been mostly at Cardiff!!

Scardiff 2013 was a small affair but had huge amounts of talent and quality content on show.

I was there on the Markosia booth and met all the very creative creatives from the British Showcase Anthology roster.

All true gentlemen and great company and gallons of talent was in abundance!

I also managed to talk to my publisher (get me that sounds posh) Harry Markos.

I am happy to say that on meeting Harry, his drive and commitment came over in waves and I left the weekend feeling extremely content in knowing that Markosia are on a mission to get quality content out there and look after their creators as much as possible! It was a bit like being accepted into a Markosia family where you know that even though the industry is not in it's greatest condition, you had people looking out for you!

I finally got to meet Adam Cheal in person and he is every bit the human being I had expected. Witty and charming and oozing with ability and drive!

Following on I made several connections with other talented writers on the day that time and space willing I will be able to follow up on. I am awfull with names but shout out to Jimmy, Jimmy, Phil, Adam, Chris, Chris, Mark and Amrit! phew sounds like the rollcall from Camberwick Green. If I missed anyone off my apologies - there's only so much room in my head and half of it is filled with Kata!

Staying on the subject of writing partners and talent, I can now officially announce the next project that I will be producing linework for. I met Time Bomb's Steve Tanner and we signed a Markosia contract with Harry for a brand new graphic novel , Foxglove. It's a steam punk affair and you can see the cover pencils at the bottom of this diatribe!!

So I will be running Foxglove and Indifference Engine 2 in tandem and attempting to make both of them my best work to date :)





































And... on the subject of meeting new people...

At the end of the day we did the bar thing and who should sit down with us but the legendary John Higgins! He and partner in Crime (Sally) had been at the show producing a rather spiffing zombie pic on the show floor. He gave me some great advice in the bar and some very encouraging words and Sally was a joy to talk with. What a day, capped off with a great evening, before dissapearing into the howling winds and driving rain that was probably quite fitting for the weekends scary theme :)


some links ...

https://www.facebook.com/turmoilcolourstudios
http://www.markosia.com/
http://www.timebombcomics.com/
http://www.bo-k.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/BritishShowcaseComic
http://www.markosia.com/titles/british-showcase-anthology/







Friday 11 October 2013

Another Day... Another reality, apparently

After finishing off the linework for OGN 'Terminus at Fenton's Green' I am now onto my next book with Markosia. All that is left is some pinup work, some super exclusive artwork for the LSCC and the book jacket design.

So onwards to the next big production...

Cy Dethan's 'Indifference Engine' caused quite a splash with widespread critical acclaim and I have been fortunate enough to team up with Cy on the second outing - The Indifference Engine 2 : The Suicideshow.

Cy's work has included great titles such as Starship Troopers and Cancertown and I feel fortunate to be working with him and the rest of the team on the book.

The team also includes the brilliant lettering of Nic Wilkinson and finds me partnered once again with the sublime colour skills of Mike Summers.

So to kick it all off here is a sketched panel from the first part - can't give too much away just yet... but there will be more soon.















Now as if that wasn't excitment enough I've also managed to partner with another great British writer on a project that will run concurrently with IE2... more on that soon.

Better busy than not... Idle hands and all that :)



http://www.markosia.com/titles/The-Indifference-Engine/
http://www.markosia.com/titles/terminus-at-fentons-green/
http://raggedman.com/






Tuesday 1 October 2013

Launch pad is primed!!!

Well it looks like I may get my big chance soon... or indeed have already grasped it.

Adam Cheal has written the most magnificent story for the original graphic novel Terminus at Fenton's Green (cover below) and I managed to get the gig. The Inks are finished and UK comics publisher Markosia are going to publish.

Not only that but the book will have a limited edition hard cover version and be an exclusive for Markosia at next years LSCC!

I have two other graphic novels on the board at contract stage for Markosia as well - so I think I can say 2013 has been a good year so far!

more soon!

Meanwhile here is the cover and it's been coloured by the incredibly talented Jimmy Kerast... nice!






































Tuesday 11 June 2013

And so the beast grows!

Not enough hours in the day! Simple as that!

Unstoppble is still well.. Unstoppable and origins #3 is close to finish on linework.

Adam Cheal also asked if I could step in and help out with a late entry to the British Anthology Showcase to be released by Markosia later this year... and of course I couldn't refuse.

And of course there are now even fewer hours in the day :)

Reveal page for that story below (don't tell anyone but it's a werewolf story shhhh)

More can be found out and books pre-ordered here - http://www.britishshowcase.com/ and here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Showcase-Anthology-Various-Writers/dp/1909276111/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370109091&sr=8-1&keywords=british+showcase








Wednesday 15 May 2013

Production roaring on!!

Again far too long between posts!!

Currently I'm on another Untoppable Origins run being written by the talented Eric S. Brown! Page 1 is attached below.

I'll be working with Eric on Stormchasers as well and there may even be a guest spot on another unstoppable title... but thats still hush hush for now!




Look out for all Unstoppables titles at http://www.unstoppablecomics.com/

Also I'm still working with the multi-faceted Tim Quinn on the Endeavour charity's youth strip "Street" - a small snippet below!




All this on top of continuing production of Terminus at Fenton's Green - a new graphic novel to be published by Markosia and from the insanely good scribblings of Adam Cheal. Some sneaky peeks below!












Monday 18 March 2013

British Showcase Anthology

Well 2013 is shaping up nicely I must say.

I'm working more with the great team over at Signs and Voices - you can see more about them here http://www.signsandvoices.com/

I've finished up the linework for the Issue 1 Revamp of StormChasers - more here http://www.unstoppablecomics.com/

I'm in to part 4 of Street Cred working with the legend that is Tim Quinn - more about Tim here http://www.mightyquinnmanagement.com/mightyquinnmanagement.com/Homepage.html

Foxglove got a great reception at the recent LSCC and you can find out more about it's writer Steve Tanner here http://www.timebombcomics.com/ (we will be starting production in October for publishing and release by Markosia)

I've recently finished off a cover and 8 page story beautifully colored by the talented Mike Summers. This is for the Anthology mentioned in the title of this post and the cover is attached below. Markosia will be publishing this book in October 2013.

Now on to a cracking story by Adam Cheal the force behind the British Showcase anthology and the brand new series Toxic Storm. The book we will be partnering on is "Terminus at Fentons Green"and looks like it will be published by Markosia as well.

So things are hotting up - more art and news as it comes in :)








































Monday 4 February 2013

Happy New Year - oops bit late !

Well 2013 is here and we haven't been consumed by Mayan prophecy, so I suppose I'd better get on and do some work!

2013 will see me working with some great talent including Tim Quinn, JayDee Rosario, Mike Summers, Eric S Brown, the guys at Lazarus and the multi faceted Adam Cheal to name but a few.

Adam is writing and editing The British showcase anthology that will be published by Markosia later this year and more can be found out at http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/british-showcase-comic-preps-for.html and https://www.facebook.com/BritishShowcaseComic?ref=ts&fref=ts.

Also Unstoppable comics and StormChasers goes from strength to strength with reboots of the first three issues drawn by me and then issue 10 onwards being scripted by the very talented Eric S Brown of 'Bigfoot War' fame - more about him at https://www.facebook.com/eric.s.brown.39?ref=ts&fref=ts.

So to a couple of images to finish off!





































The first from the afore mentioned British comics showcase and the short story 'The Muse' written by Mark Mitchell and the second a wraparound cover from issue 7 of Stormchsers with colours by the fabulous Mike Summers.






















more info soon!