One Cool Cat

Jim Campbell has helped me out more times than I care to mention. He's lettered samples, collaborated on un-paid submissions and has recently worked with me on a tricky job to produce some poster sized comic pages.

Jim has just launched his own blog, Clint Flicker, where the man of letters will deal with his highly under-rated discipline's subtleties.

This weekend is the Birmingham Comcs Convention and hopefully I will have already managed to give Jim the original inks to the illustration of Catwoman below - small thanks for his efforts on my behalf.



This piece also figures as new porfolio piece for the convention and all things being well you can see a coloured version over on Scotch Corner today.

Rogue Trooper Returns

Yesterday, on facebook, Pat Mills broke the news that Gerry Finley-Day had written a Rogue Trooper script called 'Dead-Ringer' and had that accepted by the good folk at 2000ad.
This is significant for a number of reasons, Rogue had been 'officially retired' and Gerry, the original writer (who created Rogue with Dave Gibbons) hasn't written for comics in a very long time.


Needless to say, my relentless desire to work for the Galaxy's Greatest Comic was intensified by this... Rogue Trooper is one of the classic, iconic 2000ad characters.
I may have gone overboard by littering the internet with the news and my keenness to be the man in the driving drawing seat! I've hassled Tharg twice, (un-wiseley, I suspect) but last night, after I had contacted him with my most recent and secret strip work, I quickly sketched out my take on Rogue... I await a rigellian hotshot for my efforts!

***EDIT***
I've just heard back from his eminent green-ness and he thanked me for my interest, but the script is already with another artist. Although I didn't expect anything else, I'm still disappointed.

Kev Lev Block

A few months ago, the awesome Dylan Teague asked me how I got textures into my artwork as I was colouring my stuff in photoshop... I shared some of my stock textures for overlaying etc. and my reward was that he snuck my name into a panel on a Mega-City block! (see panel below).


The episode of Judge Dredd that this comes from (Meat) is in this month's Judge Dredd Megazine and is written by Rob Williams, this is a great little story, one of my favourite one-offs for a while - and no, not just because my name is on a block... truly, it's a good little story (with sumptuous art) from two of the best creators in the business.

There has been a long tradition of names appearing on City-Blocks in Judge Dredd, and as a child I dreamt that one day my name would appear on one... so, that's another personal goal I can tick off!

To recap then, where the prog is concerned, in the last couple of years I have had a letter published, I got an associated mention in the Nerve Centre and now, I've got my name on a block... the next goals are the really big ones, but ones I feel I'm man enough to attempt now - people tell me I'm good enough and that it's only a matter of time... I think I'm starting to believe*!

* maybe, from afar, whilst wearing a disguise.

Happy New Year

Here is a very quick sketch of Strontium Dog (Johnny Alpha). I've just finished reading a story called A Traitor to His Kind in my catch-up reading of the weekly progs. It's a great story, and like A Portrait of a Mutant it really gives background depth to Johnny's character.


This year, according to various sources, John Wagner will revisit/rewrite the death of Johnny Alpha, I'd like the story to give Johnny back his future. I didn't think Johnny should have died in The Final Solution and don't mind if there is a twist in the tale that gives him his life back - I'd like to think Johnny eventually finds happiness and gets to retire to an alien planet somewhere...

Hopefully that's a nice positive thought for the start to the New Year.

Diminished Responsibility

Another sketch today... still busy beavering away on stuff I can't show.


This is DR, a classic character from the 2000AD archives. Created by Alan Moore and Alan Davis as a one-off Time-Twister - the character and his sidekick Quinch were a runaway success with the fans and gained their own series.

Sinister Dexter Pg.1 final

Page one is all finished now. I think I'm fairly happy with how the page turned out and I have to admit, I do like the nice clean black lines that hold it all together.

Here, if you're interested, are the inks.

For the uninitiated, Sinister Dexter are hitmen and have been written by Dan Abnett since he and David Millgate created them in around 1995.
Sinister Dexter is a really great strip and since getting back into 2000AD it has been one of my favourite stories. I've really enjoyed doing this page and I think it shows, so I hope to get another couple of pages of inks done to show, but I'm glad I've got this in addition to the other pieces I'm currently planning on showing.

Toning it Down

At the risk of repeating myself, here is that panel again, the small difference this time is the tone...

I'm hoping that the tone will add depth in the absence of colour, although there is just one thing with this panel that I've really struggled with and that is the fire... I can't seem to get effect of the light and heat in the way I want.

There is so much about this story I'm dying to gab about, especially as it will be a year before it's printed... SO, I'll satisfy myself for now, by saying it's been written by Richmond Clements who is one third of FutureQuake Press, one half of the team behind HiEx and is also about to make his professional comics writing debut with Turning Tiger for Renegade.

This story was born in one of those synergy moments, when I met Rich at the Bristol Comic Convention earlier this year, I casually said something that had been on his mind to do... I love stuff like that - when the right place, right person, right time, make cool things happen.

The Godfather of 2000AD

Just a really quick post to say I was chuffed and honoured yesterday...
Pat Mills, yes, PAT (godfather) MILLS, was both warm and charming and thought my work was really nice, and I quote:

"Yeah, you're really just looking for the right story... and a commissioning editor!"

I gave him a business card, so who knows!

Thanks Pat, you don't know how much it meant to hear your words of encouragement.
My thanks to Leigh Gallagher also, for encouraging me to take a few pages along to show Pat on the off chance.


This quick sketch was done a while ago for a job that went else where, but seems oddly appropriate in relation to my mood.

I also saw a couple of good pals in London, went to the J.W.Waterhouse exhibit at the RA - really great, amazing works of art but a little poorly organized/run. All in all, a really good day, bring on BICS!

Fireside Fun

That story I'm working on again today, these are the inks for panel one, page one. I've taken a bit longer to do the page than I had wanted to, but amongst the other things that were happening this week, not I'm unhappy. I think I'll eventually add tone to the strip, but I've got a bit longer to complete this than I first thought. So you'll have to wait longer than expected to see the final thing, sorry!


This weekend, the 'Godfather' of 2000AD, Pat Mills will be signing copies of his latest stories to be collected as trade paper backs, at Orbital Comics in London... with him will be the talented artists who he's worked with on these books, Leigh Gallagher and Clint Langley. As Pat is such a huge figure in the history of the comic, I thought I might pop along and try to show him some samples - you never know, it might do some good... if you see me there, say hello!

This Is Zarjaz!

The massive news that I've been sitting on for a couple of weeks is that I have designed a new logo for the 2000AD fanzine Zarjaz. Please do check out the home of the Fanzine at The Quaequam Blog.


Yes, it's another one of those ambigram things. I'm really pretty chuffed about this, and for another scoop here how it's going to look on the cover of issue 08!


I also have a strip in this issue as previously blogged about. Copies will be ready for BICS on 3rd October and will be available there, via The Quaequam Blog or the FutureQuake shop. There will also be new issues of Dogbreath (with another strip by me) and Future Quake available too.

Awesome Rogue Trooper artwork courtesy of the ever brilliant PJHolden and Steve Denton (colours).

Gonna have to go before I start giggling like a little girl - I'm so excited!

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!

Birmingham Debriefing

Well, I'm back from the show and taking stock of all that happened.

We arrived at around six to the less than perfect Hotel Britannia and if you're thinking of planning a nice visit to Brum your chances of that are hugely increased by staying elsewhere. Although the central location is an advantage, I'd have preferred to walk a little further.

At the check-in desk I met up with Dylan Teague - who deserves thanks for being so helpful and encouraging throughout the weekend. He also introduced me to Patrick Goddard, another 2000AD artist.

I milled around a lot on Saturday, had my work critiqued by Garry Leach, he thought some of it worked really well - but that I need to be careful with stuff like foreshortening and construction - he felt that, with experience, that would come more easily.

I bumped into PJ Holden and had a really nice chat with him about his exciting iPhone comic endeavour. Finally got to have a play with it too - very cool - link again for iPhone/iPod touch owners: http://tinyurl.com/4qjr4p

Tharg (Matt Smith) was once again very encouraging - he said that he thought my story-telling was pretty solid i.e you could read the story and know what was going on without having to have the words - he still felt some of my characters were a little stiff and overall he felt the pages could still be a bit more dynamic.

The greatest encouragement of the whole weekend came from Matt Yeo of Bulletproof comics. I found it hard to hear his kind words, shrinking violet that I am, somewhere in there though it's begun to sink in! And thanks also go to all the guys associated with bulletproof that he introduced me to, I really appreciated the confidence boosting comments.

In the afternoon, I had a great discussion with D'Israeli (Matt Brooker) whilst he did this sketch of Johnny Alpha (Strontium Dog) for me.


(click for full image)

I asked him for a sketch of the 2000AD character he'd most like to have drawn but hadn't worked on. Check out the goofy bloke who's holding the sketch here!
Of all the wisdom he imparted, one of Matt's comments sticks in my mind, the crux of which was; comics are probably the hardest discipline to master, the most underrated and under-appreciated and probably the poorest paid of all the visual arts, so you've got to be dedicated to it!

I also caught up with Dave Taylor and Jon Haward who chatted about the difficulties of actually securing enough work. Worrying, but necessary to hear I think!

Something I've hesitated to post here because of the content, is a piece I did for Alberto Ruiz's Brand Studio Press as a response to an open call for ''Eye Candy' from Strangers'. To my amazement, this was the most popular piece in my portfolio.


If you're not easily offended by gratuitous skin baring or gun-toting psycho-babes in negligees then click the cropped head shot for the full image. Beware, perv content on this is very high indeed, definitely PG 13 if you know what I mean!

On Sunday, it had all quietened down a lot and I chatted to Sean Phillips and Duncan Fegredo who both did little doodles for me too.

I need to follow up a few other leads and things, most notably with Berserker Comics who're publishing work from favourites of mine, Alan Grant, Glenn Fabry and Simon Bisley.

All in all a positive experience and I feel I learnt a lot too. I met loads of cool people, fans and creators alike, so much so, I'm thinking about attending the Leeds thought bubble show. I'm also thinking how I might improve my chances of getting work if I do go.

I know I haven't shown any of my artwork for a while, I'll have a few sketches to show from the next Taormina shortly so pop back soon. I might also have some stuff from other projects I'm planning too...