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.

Weird-wolf - Process

I'm doing some illustrations for Cambridge University Press in Madrid.
The illustration below is one a of a group going into a book called Tasty Tales which is part of the discovery readers range aimed at teenagers who are learning English.


I thought it would be interesting if I showed something of my process for an illustration like this.
It all started with a nice, fairly specific artwork brief and a proof of the text layout for each of the illustrations. I went back with a couple of rough pencil sketches to show different approaches for the illustration.


The design team and the author decided which option they would like to progress with and I produced a tighter pencil at 150% of the final dimensions.


After comments on the tightened pencil - I blocked in the rough colours I intended on using and started getting the forms defined... I tried to iron out anything that seemed obviously wrong at this point - and I also made the minor adjustments that had been asked for.


When I was happy I'd got the basics roughed in - I turned the whole document into blue-scale and printed it out.


I then did a quick bit of pencilling over the top of the blue - lightly picked out the things I did't want to miss or that I thought still needed a bit of defining - then I inked the sucker in.


I scanned my inks back in and used the channel mixer to remove ALL the blue - this left me with some inked lines that I could then re-composite with the original coloured version... I tidied up any stray bits and mucked around with some effects until I was happy!


Then I just cropped it down to the correct dimensions.

I hope that was interesting for the lovely people who follow my blog - and not just me wittering on about my bonkers approach to making pictures.

Valentine's Day

Did this for my lovely wife's Valentine's Day card.


There's not much to say except that really.

Other than this marks the first whole year of being self employed as an illustrator...

That's cause to celebrate!

Magic Beans

The current DrawerGeeks topic is Jack and The Beanstalk:


Didn't have much time for this again...
I was going for a "not much more than a hill of beans" and a "credit crunch" - bad deal thing...
In the end I went for this cheap Deal or No Deal gag. You win some, you lose some... I think I lost this one!

My Font

I found this great free online font generation service via Mark Cardwell's Bad Librarianship blog. I'd been thinking I'd like to have a go at getting my own block capitals done as a font... Well I think there's a lot more potential than simply that with this fab online service.


I got this workable truetype font as an almost instantaneous result of uploading a template page and pressing a button. I know there are some problems with a bit of the kerning, but with a bit of fiddling, I think you could get a great font as a result.

I don't normally big-up things like this, but this one was relevent and useful to me.

Judge Dredd - Costume Concept

Since the end of last year there has been a lot of discussion on the 2000AD forums about the new Judge Dredd film that's in the works. Danny Boyle's DNA films are producing it, but he's got nothing to do with the actual filming.

I thought the 1995 film was poor and I am hoping for so much more this time around.

I've curbed my enthusiasm until now and have just done a quick little doodle of the sort of direction I hope they take Dredd's uniform in the film.


Nothing too drastic or original, a twist on the established look.

Just a bit more 'riot' style padding in the body suit - a gunslinger holster ala Han Solo, then, all black; kevlar, leather, carbonfibre & thick rubber on the pads & accessories etc.

With the uber-cool looking Watchmen on it's way, and the bar being set I think by Batman begins, the Dark Knight and the first outings of X-men and Spider-man - Dredd has some big boots to fill!

Goth

The current DrawerGeeks topic is Goth:


This was a quick digital sketch to get the idea of the simple b&w graphic down - Although, I think there might be a better execution of this idea.

The Mighty Tharg

Alien editor of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic.


Verdant of hue and pithy of comment - Tharg has introduced the "thrills" on offer in nearly all the issues (progs) of 2000AD to date. He is a figure head, a fictional creation (don't let him hear me say that though) for the real editor to use as a mouthpiece, so-to-speak. Periodically an artist will be charged with the task of updating his 'look' - this is my take on him.

A Quick Dredd Sketch

I did this sketch quickly this morning and thought I'd try out a digital toning experiment with it.


I think the tone gives it that really old-school feel and I like that bold splash of red too.

Happy Birthday Dear Blog

I can't believe this blog is now a year old. It certainly got me thinking a bit about where I was this time last year, and what I was doing... My first posting was a page of comic art, admittedly not the greatest page but, I think, slightly foretelling of where I was going.


I have been pretty much fully occupied away from comic-strip endeavours over the holiday season and don't have anything to show apart from this page again. Although, it does now have the added bonus of the lettering.
I think the letters really brings the page alive and I'm hoping that they help to show that my samples are good enough for the illustrious publication that is 2000AD!

Judge Dredd © 2009 Rebellion Developments/2000AD

Judge Dredd - Informant 3.3

Page Three! finally finished colouring it... click the image for the uncensored version.


I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out.

I doubt I'll get any more posts up before the Christmas break and then who knows when I'll have something else I can show... so until I return, have a wonderful season's relaxation and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Judge Dredd - Informant 3.2

I've been really tied up on a project I don't think I can say too much about and that's meant I've not had much I can show here...


To keep things moving here's a panel from page three coloured up and hopefully there'll be a follow-up before the holiday break of the rest of the page... but don't hold me to that!