The Peacock

This is a piece I have done for another good friend's birthday. I was thinking of it as being a sort of companion piece for the illustration of Yggdrasil below.


I think peacocks are fascinating creatures... How they adapted such extreme plumage is one of those curious wonders of nature.

Despite how amazing they are, I developed a bit of a hatred of peacocks whilst my wife and I were looking for a place to get married. We looked at a place in Bigglewade where there was a beautiful ornamental garden that had a license. The gardens had a few resident peacocks and the weird calling noise they produce rang out all around in an other-worldly sort of way - I remember ground mist that day, but that could have been added in my mind for effect. There was path that you were supposed to follow around the gardens, but along the way, one of the peacocks took a bit of a dislike to us and hissed and rattled it's tail. We turned and fled (literally) and decided it was perhaps better to get married elsewhere!

We must attract them, as this is not the only time we've been accosted in a public garden by a strange old bird.

Yggdrasil - The World Tree

A good friend asked if I'd do a picture of the legendary tree Yggdrasil from the Norse legends for his birthday. I said I'd look into it - what I turned up on the international webbery sounded really cool, if somewhat involved...


After a small discussion, this is what I produced - a picture of a tree, slightly less epic in it's nature and proportions than Yggdrasil... I'm pretty happy with the Snake gnawing at the roots. In the Norse Legend the snake is called Nidhogg. There's plenty I've omitted from the entire legend - a host of inhabitants, a golden cock, four stags, a cheeky squirrel or something, then guarding the roots, there are three goddesses called the Norns who would all have featured but I thought that may distract from the tree, which was to be the main subject matter.
On reviewing the legend, it would appear that a fire giant called Surt burns the tree down during Ragnarok which I imagine, had I drawn that instead, would have looked not dissimilar to this piece I did earlier in the year.

Boldly Go...

The new Star Trek movie is out and DrawerGeeks is using the current topic to 'commemorate' the fact.


I'm trying out something a bit different style-wise on this quick sketch. I think Spock is pretty close but Kirk is way off.

Left and Right

A quick sketch to identify how I want Sinister Dexter to look in the sample script I'll be working on next. I think Ramone needs some work, but I'm happy with Finnigan.


I'm just finishing something up for Zarjaz the 2000AD fanzine published by the dudes at FutureQuake but I can't show any of that at the moment - I'm quite pleased with what I've done and it was a cool strip to be involved with...

Not much to report from Bristol over the weekend, other than that the faces were all extremely friendly and the pies were good!

Science Fiction Theatre

I'm truly finding it hard to be productive and efficient at the moment.


I've got plenty to do - mainly preparation for the upcoming Bristol Comic Convention so heaven knows why I've been fiddling around with this piece this afternoon!

Under the Bridge

Well, I'm nearly settled in the new abode but I'm struggling to find my stride with regard to getting back to work properly... I need to focus rapidly as deadlines are starting to loom like mountains on the horizon now!
What I could do with is a "no pressure, no ties" sort of thing, something small, where it doesn't matter what the final piece looks like, just a deadline of some sort...

...the new topic for DrawerGeeks is TROLL.



The thought process behind this one was simply: There is no way something as evil and conniving as a troll is going to be outwitted by something as bone-headed as a goat.
I vote for an alternative ending for 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' when the third and oldest goat happens upon the bridge the Troll thinks that this goat, although bigger, looks a bit stringy. The Troll decides to saddle this goat up, ride into the field where the other littler goats went and have himself a nice feast. Then it's off to market to sell the big dumb animal he's riding.

Pick Up Sticks

My good lady wife and I are finally moving. No access to internet until we're settled again in the new place.


I'm a white van man again - the power has gone to my head so all you other road users beware. Actually, better to keep off the roads completely.
TTFN - NORMAL SERVICE WILL RESUME SHORTLY...

DrawerGeeks - Dragon

The new topic on DrawerGeeks is Dragon.

I'm supposed to be packing the house up for our upcoming move...


...but I found 25 minutes to take part. I'd normally have loved to get all involved doing a lovely fantasy dragon. I nearly drew Bruce Lee, but in the end humour won out, and you have the submission above.

I'm in 2000AD!

A letter I wrote a letter to Tharg and it was printed in this week's 2000AD!



Wahoo! I'm in the prog! Another step in the right direction.

Cornering Tharg

Yesterday was the bumper 2000AD signing at Forbidden Planet in London to support the release of David Bishop's Thrill-Power Overload in paperback. I dutifully got a copy signed by the the gang of charming creators (affectionately known as 'droids') who were in attendance.

My thanks for pleasant chatettes go to: Dan Abnett, David Bishop, Simon Davis, Rufus Dayglo, Al Ewing, Henry Flint, Frazer Irving, Tony Lee, Brendan McCarthy, Matt Smith and Si Spurrier. Particular thanks to Simon in fact for looking at my work, claiming to know me from somewhere but mainly for being ego boosting about my artwork - charming fellow!

Once again I showed my work to Tharg - poor man hemmed in by my portfolio, a table and a rack of books (not to mention the other fans of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic) - I left him no where to go...
...He was once again very kind about my story telling and complimentary about certain other aspects of my work, although he didn't think I was exactly suited to Dredd, he told me to e-mail him my samples. No promise of work but a major step forward!

On friday I had managed to bash out this extra page of finished pencils.


I don't think it helped much other than I felt I had enough in my porfolio to show what I could do with a script. Look out for a subtle Police Academy reference on this page.

I'm not sure how close I am to having my work printed in 2000AD but a letter I sent in is printed in this week's prog... more on that when I pick up my copy in the week!

Judge Dredd - Informant 4.1

I've not had time to do any comic art for such a long time. This weekend there is a 2000AD signing at Forbidden Planet in London... another chance, perhaps, to shove my work under the nose of the Mighty Tharg. Today I had a brief window in my schedule, so I thought I'd redraw the panels that irked me on page 4 of the Judge Dredd script I was working on so long ago.


I am much happier with this page now. Panels 2, 4 and 7 were a little weak previously... I'd never expect that anyone would remember the originals so here are both versions side by side for reference:


Whatever I manage to do tomorrow to prepare will be a bonus - in amongst other commitments and the house move I'll be surprised if I finish much more than pencils for the remaining pages in the script.

Wish me luck, friends, as I once again prepare myself to wrestle with that Betelgeusian Editor and try to persuade him to give me a chance to work on the Galaxy's Greatest Comic!

Judge Dredd © 2009 Rebellion Developments/2000AD

The Old Tree

Another illustration from Tales of Terror for Cambridge University Press. Well, the background to one anyway.


Quite pleased with this - most of the illustrations I've done recently for Cambridge University Press have turned out quite well. There has been a lot of things I have struggled to get right, but somehow that increases the satisfaction when you've finished and you're happy with the results.

This is all painted digitally in photoshop, over quite a loose sketch. I've got a couple of custom brushes that behave slightly unpredictably and they've given this a mixed natural media feel - well I think so.

10 minute Dredd

The 2000ad web forum has a topic going at the moment - a quick challenge to sketch Judge Dredd's head in under 15minutes... the idea being to see which classic Dredd artist you think you're trying to emulate.



I don't know who I'd say I was trying to emulate with my Dredd but my favourite Dredd artists as a kid were always Brian Bolland, Steve Dillon, Mike McMahon, Carlos Ezquerra and Ian Gibson.

Cambridge Smorgasbord?

I thought I'd share three other illustrations that I've done for Cambridge University Press in Madrid. All done for books in their Discovery Readers range, the first two are from Tasty Tales.

This first one is a kind of Harry Potter styled kid with whiskers...


sketches:


tighter pencils:


This next one is a nice, tasty, Full English Breakfast... in its natural environment - a seaside B&B!


sketches:


tighter pencils:


... and this one comes from Tales of Terror and is from an adaption of the Edgar Allen Poe story The Tell Tale Heart.


sketches:


tighter pencils:


Hope you enjoyed seeing these - I've got a few more to do which should be good and I'll share a couple of those when they're complete too.