Cards

A birthday card drawing for someone's birthday, that features Smaug the stupendous but in a cute baby form. Colouring treasure isn't all that bad, but I think this year has taught me clearly that there is only so much you can do just colouring via a mouse track pad. So next year I'll invest in a drawing tablet. At last.

And here is a Christmas card drawing, again for someone I know featuring the Space Hamster. I hope everyone had a joyous Christmas and plenty of turkey and puddings. 

24 hour comic

Quite awhile ago I was invited by my University to partake in an event at Plymouth's City Museum, to do a 24 hour comic. Except we did it a little differently which was doing it over two days with each day only having 12 hours to do 12 pages. It was an exciting format and I decided to leave the twelfth page on a cliffhanger, and have a narration going along with it that harks back to the classic film serials of the 1920's-30's.
Unfortunately I didn't make it to 24 pages and only managed 16, but there were things from that experience that I will take on in future works.
On a final note, Plymouth University's Illustration course is setting up its own print press and will be aiming to print all the comics from the event as spot coloured, risograph printed comics next year.

You can view the comic below.

22 Panels

It's time to dust the cobwebs from this site and give you people some updates. Back in October me and Diana attended a comic art exhibition in Falmouth, dubbed 22 Panels named after Wally Wood's 22 Panels.

We were neighbours to a wonderful quirky artist Edie who does dark, whimsical children's book illustrations. It was a great environment to be in, with so many creatives in one room and no traders in sight...well maybe one or two. I wish there were more events that really celebrate the art of comics and for artists to come together and talk, sometimes ideas or collaborations come about at these types of gatherings. 

Anyway here are a few sketches I did whilst at 22 panels.

One last thing to say is that I now have additional printed copies of issue 0 of "A Shadow of Steel". If you'd like a copy please feel free to contact me so we can arrange purchase and delivery.

DevCon 1

Me and the lovely Diana Mazuru at our first convention table.

Carrying over from the last post, me and Diana decided that we would do our first convention at DevCon1 and so we got fairly busy preparing our table for the convention and we felt we had very little to put out there. Turned out we had a bit too much. Regardless we managed to have fun and we sold way more items than we thought we would. For instance I completely sold out my first print run of issue 0 of "A Shadow of Steel!" which caught me by surprise, but it was such a shot in the arm for my confidence and I am now more dedicated to actually doing more comics featuring 'The Silver Phantom'. 

It was also a really great social experience for us too, as we met some great and interesting people. 

In the words of Conrad Verner "It's surprising how many people out there are just waiting for someone to talk to them". 

Also I picked up a comic drawn by two good friends of mine called 'Arthur Shilling' and I have to say its one of the best indie comics I have read so far. If you're interested here's the link to their Facebook page. Drawn by artists Rob Cross and Steve May. 

Additionally I got to chat to other artists Lee O'Connor and Jock about comics and for them to critique my work that I valued. 

Finally if you missed out going to DevCon1 and are interested in buying my comic, I will be at 22 Panels at The Poly in Falmouth with soon to receive additional copies of my comic.

A Shadow of Steel! Printed

Hey folks it's been a hectic month since my last post, but it was a good hectic month. Since the last post I was working away at the pages of my comic and last minute additions to the script and then having to get off to the printers in time.

And here is the result of that hard work. I have to give credit to the printers for an excellent job with the print outs, the colours came out perfectly and the paper quality is a little thicker than normal comics, but that doesn't bother me. If you have a comic project going and you need to find a printer to go to, then I recommend UK Comics who did my comic, they are really friendly and give good service. Here's the link to their site.

Here is page preview of the interiors.

I am pleased that I completed a personal challenge to make and print my own comic, and now the real work begins with keeping the series going in tri-monthly issues. At least that's how long it took for this to be done, whilst doing other work too. 

Prepare for the Terror!

Its been a busy time for me and now I can show you what I'm working towards. I am currently creating my first comic featuring 'Thunder' who is now dubbed as 'The Silver Phantom' as a friend pointed out to me many existing comic characters that are called Thunder or have it in the title. So to avoid any copyright infringements I decided to give him a name that wouldn't sound too out of place from the golden era of comics. 

So here is the cover for issue 0 of 'A Shadow of Steel'. Its been a long time coming making this comic and its felt rewarding to finally have the confidence to utilize what I've learnt and create something that really interests me. 

Right now I'm at the stage where the pages are being finalized and getting the printing sorted out. So fingers crossed that this will be finished in time to be launched at the Plymouth comic convention 21st September.

Lots of posters

So once again it's been a good while since I've been posting anything, but that's because I have been very productive which is good news. Recently I have been asked by the Department of Work and Pensions to do some poster work for them to advertise to employers and employees and the unemployed of a creative employment programme. I think its a very positive step in trying to help struggling individuals get into the creative industry and this programme aims to do that with paid internships.

If you want to learn more about the programme you can read more about it here.

When it came to designing the posters I wanted to invoke a positive spirit and found much inspiration from old WWII recruitment posters. I know that there wasn't anything positive about WWII, but the posters often put a positive spin to joining in the fight. And I wanted to show that there is something positive in this opportunity for creative people.

So here are the posters:

This poster was to visually emulate a cover design by Michael Cho from his variant of The Minutemen comic series by DC Comics. Here is the link to the original image that I based the poster design on http://chodrawings.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-minutemen.html

The two above were heavily influenced by WWII recruitment posters, especially the font.

The illustrations were all hand drawn including the lettering, and were digitally tweaked and coloured.

And finally I have done yet another poster to help promote The Poly's Summer Exhibition. I also had to design a logo for their exhibition too. And here is the finished result.

The logo was very much influenced by the Aztec Sun Stones. I wanted a very distinct primal visual of the Sun to represent summer and incorporate The Poly logo too. The illustration of The Poly was done on a A4 sheet of Bristol board paper with gouache and ink.

Pencil Sketch

So for the first comic that I will be doing featuring this character of mine, I have been trying to figure out a way to create a moody atmosphere with the images with the intent that the comic would be printed in B/W, since printing in colour is too expensive. Originally I was just going to do it all in my usual single tone colour which would come out grey from the printing. But I wanted to do something that takes advantage of that print process and not let it hinder me. So I figured pencil is an obvious choice to make a dark, gritty, moody atmosphere that evokes Noir. 

And that brings us to this sketch, done in HB pencil and black watercolour pencil (a cheap one) and ink for the solid blacks. Upon reflection I feel its still a medium I am not used to in terms of rendering my images in this fashion and it will require me to keep on practicing until I think its good enough for the printed comic. 

So next time I will use different paper and a better black pencil too.

As for the story its still being refined. The first issue is being overhauled as there were too many comic book cliches. Also creating a voice for the character to come through the dialogue is harder than I thought. So basically it feels as though I am starting from scratch again.

I hope to get the comic finished by the end of August so it gives me time to get it ready and printed just in time for DevCon1. I should have some progress shots of the comic coming up soon, so keep watching this site.

A little portrait

I've been in a painting mood last week so here is another image just for you. Here is a portrait of me and my talented better half, Diana Mazuru, that I did with watercolours on smooth hot pressed paper. I feel the suit makes me look older than I am. Incidentally, you can check out Diana's own blog at dianamazuru.blogspot.co.uk/

Blue Hamster

I haven't been very good with keeping this site up to date and whilst I am busy doing my own projects and work I decided to do a quick sketch just to keep things fresh. Lately I got into gouache paint for the first time and decided to give it a trial with this Space Hamster sketch. I was pleased with the results as the paint is similar to inks but gave a painterly quality to the my image. The paint wasn't 'washy' like ink either so when it came to tweaking on Photoshop it was easier for me to select and adjust the colour. 

I think that this new medium might become a replacement to the ink washes I am accustomed with when doing tonal images.

Final Poster

Well here it is, the agreed final design for this year's 150th rail exhibition poster in Falmouth. 

Railway exhibition poster evolution

Currently doing a poster project for the history society in Falmouth. There has been a few backwards and forwards with this poster, and the last thumbnail is where the poster stands for now. It has been good little work experience but I am looking forward to giving more time for personal projects once this is over.

The Apple Tree

I am currently providing artistic assistance for a small film group with their project entitled 'The Apple Tree'. Their film is set in the modern time and in the past, specifically during World War One. They are currently shooting their promo which I have provided a storyboard to guide them. In addition I designed a logo for their production with a Rackham-esque apple tree.

Logo

Page one of the storyboard

More comics

After concluding the previous comic, I was immediately tasked to do another short comic. The deadline was quite tight as it was planned to be ready for the Bristol Comic Expo. Alas we never made the deadline but I had fun doing this project.
Here is a little snippet to whet your appetites.

Visit my tumblr to view the whole comic. Again I only have the artwork so there will be no words to go along with the panels. 

Sioux Warrior 3

OK a lot has happened in May, and I am still busy with multiple projects on the go. But now I have a little break to update you guys on whats been happening in my little world.
First off I was given the opportunity to contribute to the third issue of the amazing series 'Sioux Warrior' created by cape fear comics. They are a small comic press that are creating new ways for readers to engage with printed comics in a similar fashion with digital comics.
If you are curious about them I suggest you go check them out and buy their comics. They are one of the few people out there that are doing something new with the medium so I highly recommend it.

So with the advertising out of the way lets get to the good part; the art. Here are a few pages from issue 3.

Page 3

Page 4

Page 7

To view all the pages go to my tumblr blog to have a look.

Character doodles

Idea's for a character for a sci-fi comic that me and Benj are planning. going for a strong yet fragile woman that has a forgotten past.

Other character sketches too.

A little tease

Couple of photo's of original page work that I have done for this project. Just to give you people an idea of what I have been doing and what to expect.

FCBD

It has been a hectic couple of weeks since my last post and I would love to share it with you people, but since its not yet been released yet its all under wraps. Though keep your eyes fixed on this site this month though to see what I have been up to.

Till then here are a few sketches I made during the Free Comic Book Day event that spanned the weekend.

60's Batman

Catwoman (animated series)

Classic Superman

Wonder Woman

Proto Classic Iron Man

Mr. Spock

Boba Fett

Original Red Ranger