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.

Creative CV

It has been a crazy few weeks that I had to put illustration on hold to go apply for jobs. Anyways I am trying to get work experience with a University with their creative departments. However it occurred to me that I don't really have a creative CV, and so here are the results of me making one. It did involve a little bit of graphic design but I am sure the illustration aspects will shine through strongest.

Overall I am quite pleased with the results, and am delighted to see that I subconsciously created a little narrative too. 

I have been quite bad with keeping myself up to date on the blog so after I sort myself out I'll be right back on it, and hopefully 'The Shadow of Steel' project will pick up again too and maybe I'll have it finished soon.

Doodles and oodles

A sketch I found that I did in Romania of Thunder. I had recently at that point read Darwyn Cooke's adaptation of Richard Stark's novel 'The Score' and liked the use of negative space when the main character confronted a stalker which I tried out using my character. Looking at it anew the attacker looks smaller than he ought to in the foreground and should be much bigger and the lightning could have been better to make it more coherent. Little lessons to learn for next time.

These pages are sketches that me and Diana did whilst at an evening service. The cat wizard is a character I have in mind for a graphic novel and appeared briefly in the 24 hour comic. Diana sketched Harold who plays the keyboard for the songs at the service.

Finally a sample of my poor attempt at life drawing. Though it was challenging to draw them in my illustrative style rather than the usual academic way I would normally go about drawing from life. I hope that if I continue to try and do this it may inform my visual style to be coherent and anatomically correct.

One more thing!

Open publication - Free publishing - More adaptation  Remembered that I made some digital comic versions of my previous projects, so thought I post them up just before I head off to Romania. The top one is the 'Jack and Jill' comic which for those who don't know it, is a film noir adaptation to the classic nursery rhyme. Below is a story that was part of a collaborative effort in making three different stories that cross over at specific points. This one is my story of tragic love in the backdrop of 30's Chicago.

Open publication - Free publishing - More 1930s

The Big Sleep chapter 26

Open publication - Free publishing - More chapter 26

Hey folks, I have now uploaded the complete adaptation of a chapter from Raymond Chandler's novel 'The Big Sleep'. It has been a thrill working from the words of Chandler into a comic format and it has truly been a learning curve in how I create narratives. From this project I feel I truly have come into my own and have found a style I am comfortable to utilize in future works. And finally I have found the will to work with a different colour now huzzah.

Where's Agnes?

Hey folks, it has been awhile since I lasted posted up anything but this past month has been super busy. Now finally I have finished adapting a single chapter from Raymond Chandler's novel 'The Big Sleep' into a graphic novel format. I feel that my work has progressed in the direction that I wanted it to and have found a style of narrative that I wish to take to a professional level. Anyways here is a page from the chapter that I adapted, hope you enjoy.

Thunder's First Outing!

At last I have done a comic story of Thunder, though tis a short one and by no means is this the finished product. Going through it there are clear mistakes, errors and some sloppy panelling techniques such example would be the 3 panels with the gun firing, which slows down the pacing of the story though it had reached its natural conclusion, at least to me it did.
Also it was supposed to indicate him firing it three times, but as that wasn't clear I have failed to show it. In addition continuity errors too, such as the fire exit door changing ends and the height of the ledges too.
Finally the last page is quite a cheesy typical splash look at me type of page, which I don't really want looking at it now, though at the time it seemed great.
Depressing this post so far but, I take it as a positive one. I am still learning and making mental notes in what not to do and how to improve, so at least I am being constructively aware, but I want to be like that whilst I am working and not after it.
Anyways hope to get an improved one up soon laters.

Mon Dieu!

Here is a little something that I just did in the studio today...I had the idea of adapting an Agatha Christie novel that starred the famous little Belgian detective Monsieur Hercule Poirot, however it is probable that it would be a hefty project to undertake in the short time that I would have, though I may do some character portraits maybe, quite similar to The Big Sleep ones I did the previous summer. Hope you enjoy!

The Big Sleep: Arthur Gywnn Geiger

The first dead body in the path of Philip Marlowe. Arthur Geiger was on the payroll of Eddie Mars and doped Carmen Sternwood, and took pornographic images of his victim to be used as further blackmail to the Sternwood family, though his advantageous days were soon numbered.

The Big Sleep: Lash Canino

Eddie Mars' hitman, Lash Canino who does all the work that Eddie doesn't want to dirty his own hands with. Though I found it odd that Chandler gave a big tough guy a purring voice, I dunno I never imagined a hitman to have a purring voice...

The Big Sleep: General Sternwood

General Sternwood, the father of the two daughters, and the one being harassed with blackmail. The General is nearing death, with seemingly extreme old age, and having so little blood he confines himself with a conservatory full of plants.

The Big Sleep: Bernie Ohls

DA's investigator, and friend of detective Philip Marlowe, who aids him in his investigation on the Sternwood case.

The Big Sleep: Eddie Mars

Eddie Mars, local gangster and runs the local casino in L.A, is revealed to be the man responsible for blackmailing the Sternwood family, as he knows a dark secret of their family that they rather not have the attention of the police and press.

The Big Sleep: Carmen Sternwood

Carmen Sternwood, the trouble maker more so of the two Sternwood daughter. The most promiscuous and also by far the most dangerous of the two daughters. She has a very annoying habit of looking coy and playing with her hair and sucking her thumb, with her playful nature leads her to being used via drugs that spins off the blackmail case.

Better reproduction

Had some trouble trying to download the scans i did for these drawings from my email and so resorted to photos but now a certain kitty has helped me out so now i have better copies of the drawings yay.

The Big Sleep: Philip Marlowe

And now as promised here is the first image of a series of 8 images, that compile a series of character portraits from Raymond Chandler's classic hard boiled detective, crime novel 'The Big Sleep'.
First character up is of course the main protagonist, the wise-cracking, cynical, tough guy but ultimately decent guy, detective Philip Marlowe. His characteristics would provide the template for later urban crime fiction.
And I find that he himself is a tarnished knight in some way in that the work he does is dirty yet still maintains his own moral code, which was characteristic in Chandler's writing that I think makes his character a success in literature.

The Big Sleep

So the next series of images I'm planning on producing next week are five or six character portraits from Raymond Chandler's novel 'The Big Sleep', the first novel that introduces Chandler's iconic hard boiled detective Philip Marlowe, to whom most detective characters aspire to be as.
Being the current book that has been captivating me, and being surrounded with such charismatic characters that I feel like doing my own visual depictions of them.

Page 12

And here is the final page to my short comic story. This is my first attempt at doing a comic book story and to actually draw one out in the same manner I would if I were commissioned to do this. Although there are a few mistakes made, such as not leaving much space for text and so forth, I feel that this has been a successful project. Hopefully we can get this comic as a online pdf or a flash book or something. Anyways hope you have enjoyed reading this short story.