STEVEN ASSAEL

Someone asked if i had anything of note in my sketchbook, so i had a look and found this:
























It's a quick pencil drawing i did on my last day in New York. It's worth mentioning how i got to do this sketch....

While in the 'Big Apple,' i was fortunate enough to meet accomplished Fine Art Painter Steven Assael. He showed me slides of his work over dinner and i was completely blown away. He was even kind enough to invite me to his studio, to have a look around, so of course, i made sure i did before i caught my flight home. Steven happened to be doing a painting class that very day, so not only did i get to have a look around, i also got to sit in on a portrait painting class. It was very humbling (and somewhat depressing) to see such incredible talent at work. Using a live model, he did a tonal portrait painting that took him about 30 mins, than after a break did another, full colour portrait in 30 mins again. He didn't do any preparatory drawings, didn't rough out the composition, made no construction lines of any kind. He just started painting, right off the bat. It was fantastic. I did the above sketch of the man at work because .......well ....i felt like i should be doing something.

Below are 2 photos of the tonal painting (my camera battery ran out before i could take photos of the full colour painting). Look away if you are artistically inclined; if not, you're gonna feel like a talentless hack....




















The tonal painting half completed.

























And the finished painting.

Again, these only took 30 mins, they weren't 'finished' to his usual standard, which was obvious after seeing his finished pieces all around his studio. Also, i saw some pencil drawing of astonishing quality. Some of which can be seen on his website. Do yourself a favour and have a look, therefore giving yourself a creative kick in the backside.

Dec.

ATOMIC ROCKET GROUP 66 AND CLASSICAL AWARD
























Inks to a variant cover to Book 2 of Atomic Rocket Group.

I was asked by Atomic Rocket Group 66 creator Rob Curley to contribute to it's 2nd issue. Will Sliney drew all of issue one, along with most of the second issue, but it also has contributions by Dave O' Sullivan, Ciarán Finnegan and now myself. Along with a few pages i also did the above cover art.

Hope ye like. Colours soon.

In other news, Classical Comics first graphic novel, Henry V recently won a Silver Medal at the 2008 Independent Publishers Awards (the IPPY's) in the States. Click here for more. Congratulations to all involved, especially my editor and Classical Comics head-honcho Clive Bryant and colourists Jason Cardy and Kat Nicholson who are currently colouring my work on Frankenstein.

Dec.

BAT-SKETCHES
























I did some layouts for future stuff while on my break back home, but nothing really worth showing here, aside from some ink sketches i did. They're all completely done in brush (no pen for once). Some were even done without any pencilled construction lines. That's something i'd like to do more of actually, work directly onto the page with ink, rather than having to draw everything in pencil beforehand. They turned out quite well, actually. I was very much in a Batman mood, as you can probably tell. Note the Kingdom Come and Year 100 versions i even had a try at.


























I've never really tried to properly draw Catwoman before. This is my first try. Again, a simple ink sketch, but it's a start.


























I love Nightwing. He's like the Daredevil of the DC Universe, i think. You get to do Spiderman-esque poses since he's an acrobat, yet he's dark like Batman. Love that costume too.

Anyhoo, i'm now back at work in Aberdeen. Had an absolutely brilliant time at Stephen Mooney's stag-do stag over the weekend: Raiders, Mariokart, Indy 4, Dinner, Drink, Nitelink, Walking, Taxi, Drunken Mariokart and Drinking-All-Night-Till-Lunchtime-The-Next-Day

.......good times.

Hope to have some finished work up here soon and get back to the auld regular posting.

Dec.

SEPTIC ISLE
























I should have mentioned Andy Winter (Eagle Award winning writer of Hero Killers) unveiled his new book at the Bristol Expo a couple of weeks ago. It's gotten a rake of geat reviews so far (links below). It's a bloody great read and you can pick up a copy for yourself at www.moonfacepress.com.

Interior artwork by Mick Trimble. Logo by Will Sliney. Wraparound cover by yours truly. I'm sure i posted the full colour and black and white art a few months back.

Review one, two, three, four.


There's also a new review of Hero Killers floating about. Read it here. It kindly says about me...

"I will certainly be interested in seeing his work develop, an artist who definitely has the potential to go places, in my humble opinion."

Hopefully, as i drew thew book 3 years ago, my curent work is far more developed.
And the 'places' i'm going to doesn't mean the dole office.....
Again.

Dec.

2D FESTIVAL























Had a brilliant time at the Bristol convention last weekend. It was great to catch up with my collegues at Classical and meet friends old and new. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and congratulated me on finishing the Frankenstein book and took an interest in the sample pages provided. I din't win ANOTHER Eagle. It went to David Aja, which is only right. Still, i've become power hungry since last year and need Eagle after Eagle to quensh my insatiable thirst. Hard luck to the Sancho lads and Bob Byrne too. Not a great awards night for the irish contingent, but a lot of fun anyway.

Still on my sabbattical back home in Co. Clare, but thought i'd post reminding folk of next month's 2D Festival. The folks running the festival were kind enough to inviote me this year and from what i heard of last year's festival, it looks to be a cracking weekend. Really looking forward to it. The festival's website has recently been updated, so go check it out. Tell 'em 'Duncan Shalev' sent ya......

Dec.

FRANKENSTEIN FINISHED!
























Yep, as of today, my part of Frankenstein is now completed. Of course, the book still needs to be coloured and lettered, etc, but all the linework is finished. It's been roughly 9 months work and it's really weird to have it done, as i had been working on it for so long, sometimes it seemed like i'd never get to that final page. I can't wait til it's published and out in the world as my very first original graphic novel.

As it happens, there's a fully coloured and lettered 14 page preview up at the Classical Comics website in both Original and Quick texts. Check it out here. Above is the finished cover for the Plain Text version of the book.

Cue more blog silence, as i'm off to home to Ireland for a couple of weels, fitting in the Bristol convention this coming weekend.

Dec.

NEW YORK!



















Bart and Milhouse: "Springfield, Springfield, it's a hell of a town:
The schoolyard's up and the shopping mall's down.
The stray dogs go to the animal pound"
Bart: "Springfield, Springfield!"
Milhouse: "Springfield, Springfield!"
Me: "New York, New York!"
Bart: "New York is that-a-way, man!"
Me: "Thanks, kid!"


Just back from NYCC and my New York holiday. Means i've lotsa work to do for the next few days, so i'll do a big blog post once i get though this big chunk of work i have in front o' me.

Dec.

TIM SKINNER: IN COLOUR
























Here's the colours for the Tim Skinner promo image. Pretty happy with it actually.

I'm off to New York in the morning, so don't expect any posts from me in the next week or so.

Feel free to bicker amongst yourselves.

Dec.

TIM SKINNER
























Just did some artwork for Tim Skinner, my next project with Hero Killers writer Andy Winter. He was looking for an image to be used to advertise the book at the upcoming Bristol Comic Expo. Since the book is a send up of loads of different comics, the flyer is in the very same vein. Does it look familiar? Remember this....?

























Hope ye like. Incidentally, the interview today on Newstalk Radio went pretty smoothly even though there was no Bob Byrne to be seen or heard. The highpoint being the abusive text messages i was getting while on air. Thanks to Lorcan for getting them in touch with me.

Dec.

RADIO GAGA


























Myself and the always 'gentlemanly' Bob Byrne will be on Ireland's Newstalk Radio this Monday (the 14th) at 11am. We've been asked to contribute on the subject of 'Superheroes in Movies'. Not sure who else is on it. I've been asked since i drew a superhero book (Hero Killers) and Bob's on because well, he's a attention-grabbing whore who'll do anything for a quick buck.

Have a listen. I'm sure it'll at least be a laugh. If you're not in Ireland, you can listen to it on the Net here.

Dec.

FRANKENSTEIN: NOW IN COLOUR
























Recently found that some coloured sample pages from Frankenstein are up on the Classical Comics website so i thought i'd show 'em here. These are two of my favourites so far.

Linework by me, colours by Jason Cardy and Kat Nicholson.

























It's a really strange experience; seeing someone else colour my work for the first time, especially as i've been doing nothing but black and white books up till now. Also, i'm on my last set of Frankenstein pages, so ive gotten really used to the black and white pages. But i must say, i'm really happy with how these are coming out. Jason and Kat are doing a really great job. The finished product is gonna be a really lush looking book. I've seen a lot more pages, and they look great. If you'd like to see more, head on over to the Classical Comics site.

Thanks to Rich for the heads up.

Dec.

JOHANN KRAUS
























Well, since the last BPRD sketch went down so well, here's another one; this time Johann Kraus. I could just post the sketches in black and white, but i kinda like adding a bit of colour to them; i reckon the blog could do with a bit of colour here and there.

Thanks again for all the well wishes with the Eagle nomination by the way, it's greatly appreciated.

Hope ye like the sketch!

Dec.

ON THE WINGS OF ..............AN EAGLE.....?








Or should that be 'On the Wings of a Dove'?

Anyhoo, found out last night that i've been nominated all proper for Favourite Newcomer Artist at this years Eagle Awards. Safe to say, i woke up this mornin' and thought i'd imagined it! Anyone who frequents this blog is probably aware my first comic Hero Killers won the Eagle Award last year. Although i didn't expect it to win, i did realise it was possible; being a team effort between Andy Winter and myself. God knows i got onto everyone i knew and i even asked old school/college friends to vote for me. This year, i heard someone had nominated me i was very flattered, but there was no way i thought that me, specifically, would make it through to the final nomination process, so i didn't bother to track down everyone i knew to vote me into the nominations list. Hence why today i'm so surprised it did in-fact happen!

In all honestly, the other guys in the same category are by far, way more talented artists than i am (i'm a big fan of Cliff Chiang's and David Aja's work especially). So although i'm not going to tell you not to vote for me, i can tell you that if you do vote for me, you are wrong!

However, you would be very wise to vote for the following folk:

BOB BYRNE: As pleased as i was to see my name on the list, i way overjoyed to see my homoerotic life-partner Bob Byrne was up for Favourite Writer/Artist. Bob has been doing great work for years with Mbleh and The Shiznit and recently has been doing knockout work in 2000AD with his Twisted Tales and his own fantastic graphic novel Mr. Amperduke. I couldn't be happier for Bob, and by god, he's up against some stiff competition (no gay jokes for once!)

SI SPURRIER: This talented gentleman has been nominated many times but never won. Give him the Favourite Newcomer Writer award and then we can give someone else a chance next year.

GARY ERKSINE: Gary's been nominated for Favourite Comics Artist Inks. If you've seen his work, you know how immaculately rendered Gary's inks are, and definitely deserves the award.

MATT HOLLINGSWORTH: My main man Matt has been nominated for Favourite Colourist. It's absolutely well deserved; the guy's a genius with colour, has worked on some of my all-time favourite books and is a swell guy to boot)

SANCHO: This Irish comic is up for Favourite European Comic for a second year in a row (congrats guys!)

CHRIS RYALL: As i said in a previous post, this guy has hired half of Ireland so deserves Favourite Editor just for that! Also, IDW are getting some great books out of late, and it's all due to the good work of this fella.

So, go vote for them ......and well, maybe me ......if you really want to.

Eagle Award Nominations List

Dec.

FREAK SHOW COVER ART
























Freak Show? What? Am I still drawing it you ask? Well yes gentle reader, I am still drawing Freak Show. Things slowed down a bit when I started on Frankenstein, then moreso when writer/creator Rob Curley started work on his new book Atomic Rocket Group 66, drawn by Will Sliney. I'm currently wrapping up the last few pages of the latest Freak Show, and this time I get to do a cover, which is nice.

Dec.

ABE SAPIEN
























Been reading a lot of BPRD recently. I love how Guy Davis' take on Abe Sapien is so different to Mignola's. Made me want to try do my own take of him. Hence, the above.

Dec.

FRANKENSTEIN COVER
























Coming to the end of Frankenstein now, so reckoned it was about time to get the finished cover done. The folks at Classical Comics really liked a pose i had used from a test page i did before i was actually hired for the project, and have used it for promotional purposes to date. I really wanted to do a new cover, as i think my drawing is at a better level now. Also, the monster drawn wasn't the finalized design so it was decided i should do a new cover, making it a reworking of the image they liked so much.

Dec.

COMPUTER TROUBLE.
OR,
HOW I'M LIKE SHAFT










Anyone who i've been in contact with over e-mail over the last few years got a wierd e-mail form me last night. 'Apparently', i was stranded in Nigeria (of all places) and really needed people in my contact list to send me money. Now before you all say "Typical Declan; always begging off me over e-mail," it turns out it was not actually me at all! Some godshite got access to my email for about 20 minutes and spammed everyone in my contact list. A lot of friends responded with much humour, which is fine. But i'm pretty miffed that anyone whose address i have but maybe haven't used out of etiquette, got the before-mentioned e-mail, which angers and frustrated me to no end. Not very professional-looking on my part.

Then there were the folk who were concerned, like the honourable Steve Bunche. Check his blog to see his reaction (and to see the Shaft comparison if it's not obvious)

So, if anyone got that mail, rest assured i'm fine and my usual missionary work will continue, despite this recent worry.

Dec.

COMIC ART NOW
























The end of the month sees the publication of a new 'coffee-table' book by Dez Skinn (author of Comix: The Underground Revolution, ex-editor of Comics International and Warrior) published by Ilex Press. Called Comic Art Now it aims to serve as a directory of some of the best of today's comic artists.

From Dez: "..It gives our industry something it’s long needed… an equivalent to The Creative Handbook, The Art Directory, etc and gives creators a general audience exposure and puts their names/email addresses in the hands of account execs and the like who invariably steal their styles because they don’t know how to find them. Uniquely, unlike the existing directories which charge for inclusion, this book’s selection for inclusion is based on the quality of the art rather than the artist’s bank balance.”

With an introduction my Mark Millar, it features the work of Alex Ross, Lew Stringer, Mike Ploog, John M. Burns, John McCrea. Oh yes ....and myself. It features a never before published Frankenstein page i did, that won't actually appear in the final book.

Really looking forward to seeing this book come out. I'm a sucker for 'artists books' so i'll get a great thrill from getting a book of that sort that i'm actually featured in, especially considering the amount of esteemed talent also in the book.

Published by Ilex Press (UK) and HarperCollins (US) the 10.5" hardback should be on sale on the 27th of March.

Hope ye all get a copy.

Dec.

STRIPWIRE FOR TRIPWIRE
























Was asked to do a 3 page story for the Tripwire annual by it's editor and all-round nice guy Joel Meadows. Thought i'd take the opportunity to do something set in modern day, with a crime element to it. Basically, have a go at a crime story. I love crime stories (hence my praise for Brubaker/Phillips' Criminal), but i've never actually drawn one. I also took the opportunity to make it a silent strip, inspired by Bob Byrne's achievement on his fantastic Mr. Amperduke. I tried to cram in as much story into the three pages as possible. Above is page one.

I should also mention that Joel's book Studio Space is available to order through Diamond. I can't wait for this to come out; it's got interviews with Brian Bolland, Frank Miller, Mike Mignola and the like. Make sure you order a copy!

Dec.

HAUNTED LIVERPOOL
























Here's a couple of illustrations i did this week for a new book by John Reppion (co-writer of Raise the Dead, Albion, etc.) about many ghost-stories centred around Liverpool.


























I understand lots o' folk have contributed, so i'm really curious as to how the finished product will turn out. More about the book...

'All kinds of authors with all sorts of approaches write for our Haunted series, from ghost walkers and Ghost Club and SPR members to those with a longstanding interest like John. I had come across his work in the past, and I was delighted when he got in touch and suggested compiling a Haunted Liverpool for us. The aim is to combine eye-witness accounts of encounters with the supernatural with the historical background and some famous - and less well known - stories from across Liverpool. There will be some really interesting cases, and all the places that you would expect to read about - and a few that you wouldn't. With John's background, I am looking forward to seeing the illustrations! 2008 is such an important year for Liverpool, and I look forward to working on the book with John. It will be available in June 2008 at a cost of £9.99, and I hope that we can help to make it the best and most comprehensive collection of paranormal encounters in Liverpool that has ever been published.' – Tempus Publishing’s Cate Ludlow

For more on Johns work, along with stories with his writing partner Leah Moore, go to www.moorereppion.com

Dec.