SUB-CON






















Yep, it's finally here, SUB-CON is on tomorrow. Sorry for the lack of posts this week, i've been real busy tring to wrap up this month's Frankenstein pages, so that i can attend tomorrows show. Currently working from the very generous and handsome Stephen Mooney's studio since i flew over from Scotland yesterday.

Really looking forward to the show. There's a real wealth of comic talent coming out of Ireland these days, and i'm happy to call most of them close friends. Except Bob Byrne. He's dead to me.

I remember when i was growing up in Cloughleigh, in Ennis, Co. Clare i was sure i was the only kid in Ireland drawing comics and that someday i'd be known as 'the irish comics artist.' Flash forward 12 or 13 years and here i am, attending a con with fleet of irish creators. Fair play to Rob Curley (Freak Show creator/writer) for organising this con, and getting quality overseas guests like Pia Guerra and Steve Niles, British mainstays like Talbot and Moore/Reppion, while still giving us lesser known Irish guys decent props.

My soul-mate Will Sliney is unveiling his first published book at the con; ATOMIC ROCKET GROUP 66. I've got a pin-up in it, so that's reason enough to pick it up, but on top of that, Will drew the whole story and from what i've seen, it looks great.

The Rock and Roll duo of Stephen Mooney and Stephen Thompson will be there, both previously worked on FREAK SHOW, but have moved on to bigger and brighter projects in the states.

And of course, that Byrne fella will be there, going ON and ON about gettin' into 2000AD. That's all he ever talks about.

Seriously though, i remember the first time i met the Bobster was at a small con Rob organised. Not as big as what's on tomorrow, but i had a laugh all the same. Good times.......

Anyway, if you're knockin' around Dublin tomorrow, come by and i'll give you a free sketch...... if you buy one of my books that is.

Dec.

P.S. I won't be posting for about a week. Taking a few days off to visit friends and family while i'm back in Ireland and as i'm sure you know, there's no such thing as the 'internet' in Ireland.

Well, not in Quin village anyway.

MY FAVOURITE PAGE

Every now and then i belt out a favourite page. Not that it's necessarily better than the others, but it just turned out the way you wanted to. If you're very lucky, it'll be better. That's very rare.

Anyhoo. This is a bit from my new favourite page.....















Dec.

FINISHES

Here's a panel from the final story in Your Round: Stout, by Beth Millar. She actually started working on it when i was putting the first book, Tequila, together. After a lot of discussion and re-workings she handed me some lovely pages from a story she had written herself. When my co-editor viewed them, he expressed some concerns, basically he felt the artwork didn't look quite right. ie, it sat uncomfortably in-between an 'indie' and 'mainstream' style. Viewing the artwork, i could see his point. He asked me if i could work in top of her work to strengthen it. I was relieved that Beth was kind enough to allow me to work on her art. She had done a lot of work on these pages and i didn't want to hand them back to her yet again to work on them more.

So i used some drybrush to add texture, made the lighting more dramatic, etc. Thought it'd be interesting to show a 'before and after' kind of affair. I actually enjoyed working over her work. The only other time i worked on someone elses work was when i inked a page Will Sliney pencils, which again, was fun.

He didn't like it tho.

So, here's a panel from one of Beth's pages, with my finishes below it.



















Dec.

SILHOUETTE

I love having a silhouette panel here and there. From a new Freak Show page.





















Dec.

BROODY, INKY VICTOR



















Inks to a panel i previously posted pencils of (which you can see here)


Dec.

KA-BLAMMMM!

Hi Kids.

Here's another Frankenstein page. The good folks at Classical Comics have been kind enough to allow me to post my art as i work on it, but i don't want to push my luck by showing too much, so i blanked out a couple of panels from this page, but i really like how the main panel turned out and wanted to show it to y'all.





















Dec.

CUTTING ROOM FLOOR


When putting together Your Round: Stout, i thought of putting in a 2 page story at the end. It's something that happened in my teens with a good old friend of mine, when he tried chatting up a friend of my then-girlfriend. It remains one of the funniest things that i can remember and thought it'd make a great little 2 page gag. However, it's gotten lackluster feedback and the decision to drop it from the issue has been made. So, i thought i'd post it since it won't see print. Let me know what ye think of it. I'm biased, so i can't tell if it's good or not.














































Dec.

FRANKENSTEIN INKS




















Greetings.

I posted the pencils to this page a while back. Click here to see if you don't remember it. As i started the inks, i noticed Victor's eye on the right looked a bit off, so i fixed that. Because of that, his hair/head looked too tall, so i brought it down a bit.

Dec.

MORE STOUT















Man, I somehow managed to get 5 pencilled pages of Frankenstein done, 6 pages of Stout, pencilled and inked, and finishes on another 6 pager done this week. I am a machine. A machine that went without sleep for a night, but a machine all the same.

Dec

A MAN CALLED STOUT









This is a panel from the next Your Round Story, A Man Called Stout, written by David Baillie. I used a rougher style again, but not as rough as the last one. David's good mate. The story of how we know each other is a long and strange one. He's got a new web comic up on his website called The Belly Button Bubble Chronicles. Check it out.

Also, Andy Winter, my partner on the award-winning Hero Killers, has a new column on www.indiereview.co.uk. Check that out while you're at it. I also quite enjoy reading his blog, so if you'd like to check something else, on top of all that, give it a go.


Dec.

KISSY KISSY

Go on Frankenstein! DO IT!
Sigh.
The characters i draw get more action than i do.
Well ....not really.



















I feel like a rant:

I'm lookin' forward to the upcoming cons in Dublin and Birmingham, and while i can just about afford to go to them, this means i pretty much can't afford gigs i'd love to see. Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins were playing in Glasgow bout a month ago, but i couldn't afford to go, cuz well, one, i'd no money, and two, i was starting on Frankie. Oh, and three, i don't know anyone in Glasgow i could crash with. Turns out Foo Fighters are playing here in Aberdeen too soon, but the day tickets went on sale, i'd £10 to my name. Ah, i've seen 'The Foos' before, but Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins? Really bummed i missed them.

Anyhoo, hope ye like the panel. It's one of those rare times i picture a panel in my head and without referance or anything, i manage to get it on the board the way i imagined it.

Dec.

PIE!!!



















........mmmmmmmmm. Pie.

Dec

BROODY VICTOR



Here's a pencilled panel from Frankenstein. I like drawing moody panels, adding shadows and whatnot, so i'm pretty happy with it. Lookin forward to inking it.














Dec.

TONY!


















Another panel from Your Round, this story guest-staring my good bud Tony Milan.

Dec.

FRANKENSTEIN INKS.

Greetings.

Been pretty busy on Frankenstein pencils this week. I'd post a bit every day, but then you'd see nearly the whole book, and i want you to buy the bleedin' thing after all. Just finished inking this panel. Some people passing through the studio really like this panel in particular, so i thought i'd share it with the rest of you mugs.




















Dec.

FRANKENSTEIN PENCILS



















Here's the pencils for yesterday's layouts. I was asked to flip the view horizontaly on the main panel, which works better, i think. This hasn't been approved yet, so i may still have to change it. I also can't decide whether or not to blacken the white area (marked with an 'X' to be blackened) just left of his face. My first instinct is to leave it white, but it may look too bare if i do.

Dec.

FRANKENSTEIN LAYOUT CHANGES

While starting a page of Frankenstein yesterday, i realised i really wasn't happy with the layout i was going to use. It calls for Victor remembering back to his childhood. Below is the approved layout....




















I drew this layout as it was called for in the script. The top two panels, i was happy with, but the large third panel was bugging me. Thing is, i'm not mad aout these kinds of shots. Like circular 'insert' panels, they feel too 'comic-booky' me. Not that i don't think they're useful, i'm not putting those techniques down, i just don't feel comfortable doing them myself, is all.




















So, i suggested a layout like the above one, where the transition moves down the page. I much preferred this, but my art director felt it would work better for the monster, rather than Victor, and suggests a different way of doing it...




















So taking his thoughts into consideration, i came up with this. More of an Alan Davis-esque technique. I've never tried it before, so i hope the end result turns out okay.


Dec .