THE DARK KNIGHT


















No, this isn't one of the many, many praising blog posts about the new movie; i haven't seen it yet. Goin' tomorrow. BUT if anyone residing in Dublin has yet to see it, then pop by the VUE Cinema Liffey Valley on Saturday and Sunday where i'll be doing Batman sketches all day for folks.

Anyone who keeps up with this blog knows i do pretty decent Batman sketches. Be there or be very, very square. Again, that's VUE Cinema, Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, Fonthill Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22


Dec.

FRANKENSTEIN PREVIEW

Over the next couple of months there should be preview images going up on various websites, but since I won't be posting for a while, i reckoned i should stick them up here. Ye may have seen some of these in black and white, but here they are in full coloured glory, thanks to the brilliant work of Jason Cardy and Kat Nicholson. They've done a great job on the book, and seeing the results of their labours makes me even more excited about the book coming out.
















































































































As you can see, the pages look great, and i'm speaking more of the colours than i am of my linework. Click on the links above to see more of the guys' work and if you're on Deviant Art, be sure to tell them what a great job they're doing.

Right, i'm off. I'll post again when i have a chance/ reason to.

Dec.

NEW SKETCHES

Did a last-minute signing at Asylum Books and Games yesterday. Did some decent sketches. Here's some of them.








































































































































I'm afraid from now on blog posts will be less frequent; i'm in the process of packing for my move back to Ireland this week, and when i get there, i won't have any internet connection, so if i don't reply to any of your e-mails/comments, then just gimme a couple of days and i'll get back to ye.

Best,

Dec.

HAUNTED LIVERPOOL























Last weekend saw the launch of John Reppion's new book Haunted Liverpool, a book I did a couple of Illustrations for. John was good enough to send me a copy, and it looks great. One of my illustrations even got a full-page in the book, which i was delighted with.

The book also features illustrations by Andy Bloor, David Hitchcock, Juan Navarro, Leah Moore, Mo Ali and Oliver Redding. Check out the book's blog for more.

Dec.

SEPTIC ISLE WEBSITE UP

Septic Isle now has a website of its very own in anticipation for it's appearance in Previews. Check it out at www.britainisbroken.com
























Septic Isle is also mentioned on the Geek Syndicate podcast (they say some really nice things about the cover too ...which is nice). Listen to it here.

Dec.

FRANKENSTEIN IN PREVIEWS

























Script adaption by Jason Cobley, art by Declan Shalvey, colours by Jason Cardy and Kat Nicholson, Art Direction by Jon Haward. On sale Sept 29th, 144 pgs, Full Colour

You know what to do! Order it!

UPDATE: Diamond order code: JUL083832

Aslo available on Amazon.

Quick Text ISBN

ISBN-10: 1906332169
ISBN-13: 978-1906332167

Full Text ISBN

ISBN-10: 1906332150
ISBN-13: 978-1906332150

Dec.

MY BLOODY VALENTINE



Just spent a couple of days in Glasgow meeting up with comic creator folk, taking reference photos, etc. I also got a chance to see one of my favourite bands, My Bloody Valentine. They broke up years ago (long before i got into them) so getting a chance to see them live was a dream come true. It's been two days and i still can't hear properly; it was AMAZING! See above for a little taste of the aural assault.

Dec.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE
























Well, two of them at least. A Captain America/ Hawkeye commission.

In other news i got a mention on Lying in the Gutters this week ...kinda. Regarding the forthcoming Tripwire annual...

"...and original strips from Roger Langridge, Jamie McKelvie and Declan Shalve."

Sigh. That's the third time i've gotten a mention in public where my name's been spelt wrong. Maybe i should just change it to O'Brien or something. Still, nice to get the name out there a bit.

Dec.

CONAS ATÁ TÚ?
























Tá mé go mhaith, Buíochas le Dia.

The finished Irish language page.

Dec.

SIR! SIR! SIR!
























This is a panel from a one page strip i'm doing for a small Irish-language anthology. I'll put up the finished page once it's all done. It's about being in Irish class and the above panel is of the teacher. I tried to amalgamate lots of different teaches together in order to come up with his look, but he instead ended up looking like the Scatman!

Dec.

SEPTIC ISLE BADGE
























This is artwork for a badge that Andy Winter is making to promote Septic Isle's appearance in Previews. Andy wanted to use the cover art, but from the way i composed the cover, the face of the main character, Jacob Marley, wouldn't be seen properly on a badge (also, the top of his head didn't exist!) so i made this up with the original art, drawing in the top of his head in Photoshop with (gasp!) a wacom tablet. Turned out okay actually. Since it's only going to be a small image, i thought it best to keep the colours simple and graphic.

Dec.

BEATNIK GAMES (UNUSED)

















This is the second piece i did for Beatnik Games. I think the other image suited them better, but they seemed keen to have this idea fleshed out also. I'm quite happy with it; it's not as simplistic as the other piece (which is what i liked about that one) and has more involved drawing. Not sure which i prefer though.

Dec.

BEATNIK GAMES

















I recently did a couple of pieces of artwork for the website of a video games company. Beatnik Games asked me to do a couple of pieces to use for their website in anticipation for their first project. I was more than delighted to contribute. Check out their site to see how they used the above piece.

Dec.

VOTING SCANDAL!

Hey kids.

Seems there was some dodgy voting doing on with the War Heroes competition. Well, i guess that makes me feel a little better about getting 3% of the vote in my heat!


"Thanks to some observant readers and voters, it was brought to our attention at Wizard Universe that our polling system had a serious flaw that allowed people to vote multiple times for their choices in the War Heroes Cover Contest.

In the interests of fairness, we have eliminated this problem and will restart the voting."

So, if you don't mind me asking, could ye all revote .....please? Feel like a jerk for asking....

Link

Thanks,

Dec.

DERRY SKETCH -- BATMAN

























Here's another Batman sketch i did at last weekends 2D Festival. thanks to Luke for scanning it and sending it onto me.

Dec.

VOTE FOR WAR HEROES COVER

Hey all,

The cover i posted last week made it through to the nominations stage. Do me a 'solid' and go the the Wizardworld site here, scroll down to Heat 2, entry F. That's me. Here's the image, just to be sure. The highest votes get thorough to the next satage so IF it gets through, i might be asking ye all to vote again. You don't need to log in, or an email, cust click for the one you like, ie, mine.

























Thanks,

Dec.

I'VE BEEN 2D 2D FESTIVAL

See what i did there? I'm a genius.

Anyway, last weekend was the 2D Festival, and it's safe to say i had a great time. First and foremost, i'd like to thank the organiser David Campbell for inviting me up and his partner in crime Ciaran Flannagan (and co) for lookin' after me, makin' sure i was fed (since i'm such a picky eater), etc. Thanks to Ciaran for some of these photos too.



















A Stormtrooper and Leia with the bad-ass 2D Festival poster. Meant to rob me one of those but forgot.

Both myself and Transformers aficionado Nick Roche got a lift to Derry from Dublin by the ever generous Stephen Mooney and his soon-to-be-bride Jacintha O' Reilly, the only 'Skwah' of the con. It was quite the road-trip. Full of 80s nostalgia , geek-talk and Declan-bashing. We made it up to Derry in time for dinner, which was great. I must say, Derry was a beautiful city. Growing up in County Clare, The North was a different world to me and to meet folk up there was an eye-opening and brilliant experience. The city had a tremendous atmosphere that was steeped in history and i loved it. I'd go back in heartbeat.




















Me post a tasty chicken sandwich, doin' some drawing.




















Bob Byrne hard at work for once. Good old Luke F at the table and all ......good times.




















Charlie Adlard hard at work, Simon Furman also busy, Nick Roche confused and Stephen Mooney pointing at the place he last saw his self respect.

Did some pretty decent sketches i must say. Was kept busy all day. As best i can remember, i did a USS Defiant, a Borg, a nameless girl superhero, a Riddler, a Catwoman, 3 Jokers, a Frankenstein monster, Sin City's Marv, Hellboy and about 15 Batmans! I've only got record of two of 'em. Here they are....















































After a hard days work, we were treated to some dinner, then it was off to so the small press/indie panel with a whole host of folk, including Bob Byrne, Smallzone publisher Shane Chebsey and 20,000 League's Alan Nolan. Always a pleasure to see that man. A rare treat to see his hairy chest on the dancefloor, too ...apparently. The panel was good fun, offering me yet another platform to start my career in stand-up comedy, or at least mention the Eagle Award again.




















A fun night was soon had by all, including many a shape being pulled on the dancefloor. You know who you are. Including me.

Thanks to everyone who came up and got a sketch, or bought a copy of Tequila, or asked about Frankenstein. Hopefully, i'll see ye next year!

Dec.

COMIC ART TODAY!

Had a nice surprise waiting for me when i arrived back to Aderdeen this morning...



















This is the cover to Comic Art Now, a new book by Dez Skinn i mentioned a few months back. Some artwork of mine is featured in the book along with great (and much more talented) artists like Michael Golden, Duncan Fegredo, Frank Cho, James Hodgkins, Mike Collins, D'Israeli, Neil Edwards, The Luna Brothers, Sean Phillips, Jon Haward, Andi Watson, Alex Ross, Simon Fraser, Laura Howell and Simon Bisley, with an introduction by Mark Millar. Order it here.



















The Frankenstein test page i did before starting on the actual book. Colours by the wonderful and talented Lisa Jackson.


Spent the weekend at the Derry Festival, will have more on that tomorrow.

Dec

2D FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND


Off to the 2D Festival in Derry for the weekend. Really looking forward to it. Not only has it great talents such as Charlie Adlard (Walking Dead) and Jock (Losers, Green Arrow; Year One) but Tank Girl creator Alan C. Martin will be there with the book's current artist and Northern Ireland's finest, Rufus Dayglo.












The events organiser, David Campbell has invited a rake of us Irish folk up to bring a bit more emphasis on the amount of Irish talent there is these days, which is brilliant. I've only ever been to the North once before, to meet PJ Holden, in fact, back in the summer of 2000-and-diggity-3, so another trip up is well overdue.

I'm gonna be part of the small press panel (always remember your roots kids) on Saturday around 7pm so if you're nearby, do come and check out the show. And by me a Bulmers ....or Magners, since we'll be in the North.





Dec.

WAR HEROES COMPETITION

There was a recently announced competition to do a variant cover for Mark Millar and Tony Harris' War Heroes book. Thought i'd give it a go, so here it is....

























And also, the black-and-white original piece...

























There'll be a public vote as to who will make the final, and then the creators pick the actual winner, so i'll stick up the voting details once they're announced.

Dec.

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.