DREDD COMMISSION

























This is a Judge Dredd commission i did before the new year. It was a birthday present, so i didn't want to post it here till i knew the birthday boy had seen it, which he has, and i'll be giving it to him this weekend at a convention here in Scotland.

Dec.

PUNISHER




















I just finished reading the latest issue of Garth Ennis' and Goran Parlovs Punisher series. Ah man, it blew me away. It's been a thrilling arc so far and it climaxes in this final, brutal showdown. In the end we see a bloody and beaten Frank Castle that's barely left alive. Not the stereotypical 'scratch on face' we generally see with a beaten hero, but a Punisher who's face is beaten to a pulp. Rarely do I read a comic where the level of violence actually makes me say "Jesus Christ!!!" out loud. I'm not really a fan of Ennis' 'The Boys', where he uses violence for violence's sake, or humour, whereas in this book, it's viceral and shocking, used for great dramatic effect.

Right, sorry for the rant. In summary; The Punisher. A great book. Read it now, before Ennis leaves the book.

Did a sketch to justify the rant.

Dec.

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNO-TOAD!




















Another old piece i found. Probably one of the first things i ever coloured on photoshop .........badly.

Dec.

RADIOHEAD

Last week, the greatest band in the world, Radiohead*, put on a small show in London for the select few who made it to the door first. The cost? Absolutely nothing. It was free. Now, i'd normally be pretty miffed 'bout not making it to such an event, but i am not. Why? Cuz the band did a live stream of the show via their website. So, this poor soul could watch the magic from the comfort of his own home (having a throat infection meant i couldn't really leave the house anyway). So, fair play to Radiohead. If i had the time i would have done a sketch, but instead, i found this on my computer; an old Radiohead ink drawing/watercolour i did back in '03 as part of an exhibition i had. Actually, it was probably the very first thing i ever scanned; my computer was brand new, and i didn't even have photoshop yet. Ah, those were the days....



















* other bands are available


Dec.

TRANSFORMERS COVER COMPETITION

There's a new competition launched on the IDW boards for a chance to do the cover to a Transformers comic. LOADS of people have entered and sure, thought i'd give it a go meself, as did my pal and yours Will Sliney. Here's mine......




















Just go to the idw boards and register/log in and vote for me by going here and clicking on my name, #2008, and/or here for Mr. Sliney.

Thanks,

Dec.

ANOTHER HELLBOY SKETCH, ANOTHER ANDY WINTER INTERVIEW!

Two days in a row, what are the odds?

Don't answer that.



















Andy's interview here.

Dec.

BACK TO WORK

All quiet on the blogger front of late. Fell behind cuz I had a throat infection for a week, since then I've been tryin' to catch up on Frankenstein. Here's a Hellboy sketch to keep ye happy.....



















Also, check out Indie Review for and interview with Hero Killers writer Andy Winter. He discusses all his previous books, including Hero Killers along with his upcoming work, which includes our Tim Skinner one-shot, (which i'm slowly plodding along on)

Dec.

SICK

Blurg! Been stuck in bed since Sunday night. Came down with something then that turns out to be a throat infection. Got some medication, so i should be up and running by tomorrow, but that's 4 whole days down the drain, with nothing to show for it. Very frustrating.

Dec.

BEST OF 2007

Yep, i know it's January 10th of 2008, so it's a bit late for a '07 review. Sue me, now is when you're getting it.

Personally, the best of 2007 was having Freak Show Book 1 in print, winning the Eagle Award for Hero Killers, printing my first creator-owned book and of course, getting the contract for illustrating Frankenstein. Add making friends with some great comic artist (all great people) and 2007 was a pretty great year for yours truly.

Another thing that happened to me in '07 was moving to Aberdeen, setting up a studio underneath a comic shop, giving me unprecedented access to hundreds of comics and graphic novels. So, with that in mind, i present my favourite reads of 2007:


X-Factor (Marvel)
I've been enjoying this series from #1. I haven't been enjoying the run as much as of late, but that's because the book can't seem to find a regular artist to match the mood Ryan Sook started with. There's been a real up and down in art quality, but the story's still top-notch. Here's hoping 2008 will see the book finds an artist deserving of its title.

Green Lantern (DC)
Never been a regular reader of this book, or of its writer, Geoff Johnns, but i picked up both the Sinestro Corps one-shot and Green Lantern #25 and was blown away by both. Great, old-fashioned superhero stories illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver at his best, and a quite phenomenal Ivan Reis.

Criminal (Marvel/Icon)
I wish this book was out every week, i really do. If i could only buy one book a month, it would be this one. Fantastic characters and stories imagined by Ed Brubaker and drawn with fantastic noir-ish mood by Sean Phillips. This second story arc, Lawless is even better than the first arc, and by story's end, certainly doesn't disappoint.

Hellboy (Dark Horse)
Some fans were probably not happy to hear that Mike Mignola wasn't drawing his book anymore, and as much as we're missing out on that front, we're certainly being treated with Duncan Fegredo on art duties. He's blowing away on this book, finding the mix between the minimalistic Mignola-esque style, and his own established gestural style. So much so, it's almost depressing me.

Ultimates 2 (Marvel)
Finally wrapped up this year and recently bought the hardcover. Nothing i can say about this book hasn't been said already. It's the title that got me back into comics with a bang after college. And, although i wasn't mad about the ending, it really is a fantastic series, that raised the banner as far as superhero stories are concerned.

Ex Machina Masquerade Special (DC/Wildstorm)
Really enjoy this series anyway, but having John Paul Leon stand in for Tony Harris is a rare treat. Leon seems to have done a few fill in issues this year (Midnighter, Scalped, Hellblazer, etc), but as a stand alone story, i prefer this the best. I'm sure the story written by Brian K. Vaughan certainly attributed to that....

Astonishing X-Men (Marvel)
Loved the first arc of this, and this arc does not disappoint. Both Whedon and cassaday are on fire on this book. One thing i love about this story is how Whedon have showed that Cyclops is a badass. For years, creators have dismissed the character as the flat, boring leader-type, and now he's been seen as a ballsy, no-nonsense badass.

New Avengers (Marvel)
Never thought i'd ever admit i was loving an Avengers book, but Brian Michael Bendis has really turned the Avengers around. It's a great, enjoyable read, with some really energetic artwork by Leinil Yu. Id'd still prefer he had an inker, rather than just digitally inking his pencils as they can seem too loose at times, but i'm just nitpicking here.

Punisher (Marvel)
Read the odd trade of Ennis' run but i think the recent issues have been flawless. Absolutely Ennis at his best, with suitably disturbing art from Goran Parlov. Very sorry to hear Ennis is wrapping up his run soon. Should also mention the Annual out that year written by Mike Benson, with dark, moody art by Laurence Campbell. An absolutely chilling stand-alone Punisher tale. Highly recommended.

Daredevil/Captain America (Marvel)
I've lumped these two together cuz as far as stories go, i can't decide which i love more. Wish i was reading them in trades, cuz by the time i get into the issue, it's over. Art on both is sterling, but i personally lead towards the Lark/Gaudino/Acateza linework, and Matt Hollingsworth colours. Superhero stories at thyeir best.

Batman (DC)
Never the biggest Morrison fan truth be told, and i found the arc he wrote for Andy Kubert disappointing, but the 3-part story illustrated by JH Williams lll is great. Fun Batman story with innovative panel Layouts by Williams, and some great colouring by Dave Stewart.

All Star Superman (DC)
Thoroughly enjoyable, silver-age inspired Superman tale with wonderfully clean art by Frank Quietly.

The Walking Dead (Image)
Man, what a great book. Firstly, great, consistent black and white artwork by Charlie Adlard. Wonderfully paced storytelling, with quiet moments as well illustrated as the frightening horror parts. Secondly, the story, by Robert Kirkman has you on edge consistently. It's a zombie book, with sweet feck-all zombies in it. It's the wonderful characterizations mixed in with the constant threat and explosive relationships that make it a must-read.

Y: The Last Man (DC/Vertigo)
I picked this book up in trades, so i'm a bit behind in recent developments, along with Walking Dead but it's a fantastic read. Really knocks the 'last man on Earth' concept on it's head.

Phonogram (Image)
One of the most interesting stories to come out of 2007, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. Hard to explain, so you should just check it out for yourself, but think John Constantine mixed together with NME.

Doomed (IDW)
I normally don't go for horror books, but i happened upon this trade, illustrated by Ashley Wood, by chance. Told in simple black-and-white, with some really interesting storytelling techniques.

Batman: Year 100 (DC)
Cool, futuristic story. Fantastic, energetic art. What else can i say?

Silverfish (DC Vertigo)
A great, dark, disturbing, thrilling original graphic by David Lapham. Reminds me of how i should be reading more original graphic novels, rather than trade paperbacks. It really makes me wish i could sit down and write a story of my own to draw. Someday maybe.....


Dec.

CHARACTER DESIGNS



















A little something i'm playing with in my spare time.

Dec.

CHARACTER SKETCHES



















Here's a couple of sketches i did last night. I've become aware that in a lot of scenes i draw, i end up with many background characters looking the same, so while watching a documentary an TV, i tried sketching some of the people on screen making sure that they looked different to each other. From now on i'm gonna try more to vary how i draw different characters. I've been looking more at my Alex Toth Doodle Book, so tried doing these with as little construction lines as possible.

Hope to work on it some more.

Dec.

INKS

Here's the inks to yesterday's pencils.









With the inks, again, i tried to keep the freshness of the original layout, while hopefully adding something to the image. I tried to add texture to the face, yet keep the rendering looking spontaneous. Practice with drybrush has helped with that, and i now try not to follow exactly where i spot my blacks in my pencils, therefore making the image less laboured-looking....

I hope......

Dec.

PENCILS

Here's the pencils of yesterday's panel. I'm working a lot closer with my layouts these days, in an effort to speed up, but also to try and keep some of the freshness of the original drawing. Sometimes when you re-draw an image, it can look stale and sometimes lose the original flair. Looking back at my earlier work, i think it suffers from looking flat, or static, and i think now (by staying closer to my layout design and using drybrush for texture), i'm starting to iron out that flaw









Dec.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Greetings all, hope ye all had a good New Years.

Below is a panel from one of my Frankenstein layouts, i'll post the pencils tomorrow.










Also, there's an article on Newsarama revealing fellow Mick Stephen Thompson's new Star Trek book is in fact part of Peter David's New Frontier series, written by the man himself. You can read the feature here. Congrats Thompson! I'm dead jealous of yeh.

Speaking of Thompson, both he and i met up, along with some of the other Eclectic Micks, Stephen Mooney, Will Sliney and Nick Roche, for a little Christmas shindig at Mooney's place. Returning home for Christmas and seeing old friends was great, but the Micks-meet was a definite highlight of my time home. I realised that lots of my friends had Christmas work-parties, which i can't actually have, since i work for myself. So meeting up with the other Irish guys and talking shop for the night was an absolute pleasure. Joining in the festivities (and adding some much needed good-looks) were colourist extraordinaire Lisa Jackson and host extraordinaire, Jackie! For once, i have no photos as proof, but ask any of the others and i'm sure they'll say they enjoyed themselves.

Another high-point was the 12 Pubs of Christmas in Cork with my main man Will Sliney, and the annual Superman/Batman piece we did. Check it out on his blog

Smell ya later,


Dec.