Adventures in Space and Time

So... it's late November and I'm in the middle of three projects!

Taking up most time and providing most enjoyment are the monthly Doctor Who Adventures strips! I'm already at issue 11 penciling and inking away late into the evenings - and loving every minute!

I'm reliably informed that I am now a PRO - so I'll let that sink in for a while and continue with a broad dreamy smile.

11 issues in and I have also been spending a lot of time with the Panini crew at Comics festivals and most recently the Doctor Who Festival... what a treat! I managed to geek out a little as well, as I managed to bump into several brilliant people on the rounds - Tony Lee, Brian Williamson, Lew Stringer and series writer Sarah Dollard!! cool eh!

I'm also getting to work with seriously great writers on the strip and Paternoster gang stories. Apart form the ever present Jason Quinn (Editor extraordinaire) I've also managed to work with James Peaty ( Super Girl, Green Arrow) and the very popular Tommy Donbavand(Scream Street) to name but a few!

I am trying desperately to do more StormChasers for Unstoppable Comics but the Doctor does demand a lot of attention.

A super secret project with Panini also involves Marvel Super heroes which I can not say anything about now - but which makes me grin ear to ear every time I receive a brief from the Panini editorial team.

For now I'll simply leave my Festival Exclusive Poster hear and go back to drinking lots of coffee!

What a wonderful life!
(bit Christmassy that)

It's blog time again!

Right... so....

Back at the blogface!

This month saw some ups and downs, although to be honest it's all mostly up at the moment :)

The only down was that I had a project cancelled - which although sad does leave me available for other work.

That came soon enough with Jay at Unstoppable offering me another book in his brilliant super hero line - which I snapped at instantly!

Some art from Interceptor 2 below. Interceptor and Stormchasers are returning again soon!

Hopefully that whets the appetite - Unstoppable has an early preview on their site.

http://unstoppablecomics.com/blog1/2015/06/09/black-and-white-preview-to-interceptor-2/

Doctor Who Adventures continues to be a joy to work on. I have recently found out that we have a new writer working with us who has appeared in Super Girl and Batman book rosters, so I look forward to his stories. Not sure if it's public knowledge yet so I'll leave it till next time to reveal :)

Also a lovely guy name of Jeremy Bement, who produces a great podcast about Dr Who comics called "Panel to Panel"  was kind enough to interview me last week and the results of my inane drivel can be found on the site. Check out his facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.bement.1?fref=ts

thats it for now - I'll leave this blog with some Doctor Who pages

Is there a Doctor in the house???

Mixed bag this week!

For most of it I've been on a sofa sniffing, snoring and generally feeling sorry for myself with the worst cold in living memory (I'm sure it was). It's not manflu either as my wife had it the week before with exactly the same results!

The extreme downside of this is that not only am I a week behind on my schedules but also because of that I can't go to Ogwen spring course either! (Ogwen spring course is an annual karate course by Peter Spanton and Higashi Karate) I was hoping to grade and more importantly support my club mates!

Anyways, with all the ills in the world I can't really complain - I'm sure I'll be able to make it up to them some way!

What did happen this week was the release of issue 1 of the revamped and REGENERATED Doctor Who Adventures from Panini!

This is my first Main Stream gig - and what a first to get - DOCTOR BLOODY WHO :)

I have considered myself a professional illustrator for some time now as I have been making a living from doing what I do - but this one is a step up through the publishing ladder and I'm so chuffed to be working with Jason and John and the whole team at Panini on this great mag!

The focus of the mag is on the Doctor's universe, it's stories and educational nuggets thrown in, making it both true to the shows core and complementary to it's current incarnation!

I grew up with comics - they helped build my vocabulary, underpinned my reading ability, fueled my imagination and inspired me to read and create my own works. That's what comics should do and magazines like DWA, I feel, can do that again by talking to the demographic and not down to them! Fingers crossed that the readership see that, like it and enjoy it... and of course tell all their mates to buy it :)

Christmas came late this year - and no dream crabs in sight!

Soooo...

Been a while since posting

The last 2 months have been a blur and I find myself in a position I've been working toward for some time.
It actually happened - I get the call from a major publisher and what's more it's to work on a major license and character.

I'm still smilling broadly while I type this ready to go and produce more pencils for the monthly strip!

The same smile that covered both my wifes face and mine as we read the email that turned up in my inbox at the end of January. Then we hugged and danced around the room - all the time not quite believing what we'd read on the screen in front of us!

I had already had the pleasure of working with Jason Quinn on of all things a reinterpretation of 'The Chronic Argonauts' for New Baby productions - an HG Wells short story famed for the first appearance of a TIME MACHINE in literature - it predated the 'Time Machine' novel by 7 years apparently.

We took a chance on the book - it was low budget and little return -  but I can certainly say that the story Jason put together was worthy of a box office outing - I loved every minute of it!

Anyway Jason moved on to greater things and late last year returned to the UK after his incredibly successful time in India as Head of Creative Content at Campfire Graphic Novels.

We'd spoken a few times about some bits and pieces but they hadn't come off for one reason or another. Of course I had my fix of QUINN by working with Tim - Jason's older brother who had kept me busy on a great project callled Street for the Endeavour charity.

Jason's return saw him becoming an Editor at PaniniUK presumably unnaware that fate was conspiring to get us to work together again!

So it transpired that Doctor Who Adventures was to have a change in publisher and Panini were to be the new guardians of the much loved magazine.

So in late January this year I got a belated Xmas pressie from Jason the new Editor of the mag as he asked me if I fancied a go... OF COURSE I exclaimed and we pushed on from there!

So now not only do I get to work on Dr Who (DR bloody Who Mum!!!!) - I get to work with a brilliant writer and Editor , with a fantastic production team and an excellent colourist (John Burns) to boot. To say nothing of becoming a most gratefull junior member of a band of creatives such as the magnificent Mike Collins, David Roach and Brian Williamson to name but a few, who have worked on this incredible character and property!




I'm propper excited :)

Below is the first page coloured beautifully by the brilliant John Burns as well as a work in progress and some early initial sketch work for character comcepts!