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.