TORSO-TASTIC
























Did some more life drawing this week. Male model this time, so it gave me a chance to work on some areas that needed more study. This was supposed to be a quick, full-body sketch, but i found the shoulders and upper torso really interesting so concentrated on them while i had the chance.

Dec.

THUG
























Don't have anything i can show online at the moment, so i perused my sketchbook to see if there was anything of note. worth posting. Found this sketch from a few months back. I vaguely remember seeing a photo of some gangster-type in the paper and thought he had a very distinctive face, so made a point of sketching him.

When drawing comics it's very easy to rely on 'default' faces, ie; faces you can draw out of your head all the time. Problem with that is they all end up looking the same, so it's worth sketching an unusual face from time to time. I do try and make various characters look distinct from each other but I don't think i do it enough, to be honest. I should really make it more of a habit to sketch different types of faces like this one.

Anyway, i quite like how this rough drawing came out, loose as it is. Thought i might do a grey-wash to make it look a bit more show-y for the blog, but to hell with it; sometimes a good doodle should just stay a good doodle.

Dec.

CHARACTER DESIGN
























Phew! Nearly forgot to post today....

Allow me to blow your mind; Drawing comics ain't easy. Don't get me wrong, i love it, but there's so much work that goes into every page; a lot of it never gets seen. Still though, it needs to be done. Was working on a side-project recently, and though all is well so far with it, some things have been dropped from it. Case in point, this design for a superhero character. While working on the project things changed so this design for a Batman/Midnighter-esque character fell by the wayside. Still though, i liked this original concept sketch and thought the costume worked well so it was worth showing here. Shame i'll never get to actually draw it more but sure, what can you do? Them's the breaks.

Dec.

Greetings.

First of all, i know i mentioned it a while back, but the Eclectic Micks blog really seems to be picking up pace. If ye haven't checked it out yet, ye really should. Every day. I've done a couple of nice pieces for it myself so far, but the other lads are really knockin' it out of the park.

In other Eclectic Micks news, 6 of the 7 Micks took part in a roundtable discussion a while back (It was literally at a round table, i swear... though it's not much of a discussion). What followed was a rambly, talk-over-each-other travesty of epic proportions brought to you by the Comic Cast. If you're in a mood to punish your brain, give it a listen here.

Dec.

SWEENEY TODD PAGE 52 INKS

























Here's the inks for page 52. The last post had my layouts for this. You can see how the actual composition of the finished page is nearly exactly as it is in the layouts. That's something i try make sure i do in order to keep the finished piece as spontaneous-looking as possible. Of course, the page will never be purely spontaneous as too much work goes into a page. First and foremost, you have to make sure the storytelling is clear, then try make the page visually interesting, make sure there's room for lettering, reference costumes and backgrounds, flesh everything out in pencil, establish a good and consistent light-source and then eventually ink the bloody thing. That's a lot of work in a page so it's very common for a lot of comic art to look overly laboured at times. I'm really hoping to have enough detail in my final pages yet keep them looking 'fresh' so sticking as close as possible to the original layout really helps me accomplish this. I think the somewhat more spontaneous way i've been inking of late helps too. Instead of doing really clean feathering (for example), i've tried to ramp up the atmosphere in pages by using a somewhat looser and instinctive inking approach.

I must admit, i'm particularly happy with how this page turned out. Hmmm. I'm starting to sound a bit full of myself. I'm sure i'll hate the page in a week. I usually do....

Dec.

2D FESTIVAL 2009

Hey all. Here follows info on this year's 2D Festival, but first, since this is an artblog (supposedly), here's the layouts i did for page 51 of Sweeney Todd.
























Phew! Right, now that that's over with, i've just confirmed i'll be appearing at this year's 2D Festival in Derry, this coming June. I had an absolutely great time last year and I'm really looking forward to this years. The guests appearing so far (with more to be confirmed i believe) are...

David Lloyd
Liam Sharp
Mike Collins
David Hine
Garry Leach
Rufus Dayglo
D’ Israeli
Declan Shalvey (hey... that's me!)
Andie Tong
Staz Johnson
Phil Barrett
Bridgeen Gillespie

Unlike last year, i'm actually participating in a workshop. I believe it will be a Classical Comics orientated workshop with fellow CC veteran Mike Collins. There's plenty of information on the 2D Website, so give it a look.

Dec.

SWEENEY TODD PAGE 51
























Here's another recent page from Sweeney Todd. Normally i spread out posts to show the layouts, pencils and then inks, but not this time. Straight to the good stuff.

Unless ye do wanna see the layouts/ pencils, etc. Just ask and i shall comply.

Dec.

ECLECTIC MICKS

For who those who don't know, myself and some other Irish comic artists Stephen Thompson, Bob Byrne, Nick Roche, Will Sliney, PJ Holden and Stephen Mooney have set up a group sketch-blog.

Ages back, we all thought of doing a group sketchbook called Eclectic Micks (.....geddit?). A couple of pieces were done, but it seemed to fall by the wayside (i'm looking at YOU Mooney, Thompson, Roche....). Recent insanity has instead led us to start a sketch-blog. The blog is updated every day (seven days in a week, seven artists posting) with each artist posting an image on a certain day. I post on Tuesdays (today).

It should be a rule not to post a image on your own blog that's gonna be on the group one, but as an incentive to check it out, here's a few doodles i did to warm up for my weekly sketch.























We plan on doing some 'theme' sketches in the near future, and hopefully will get to do the pieces we originally planned on having in the original sketchbook.

So, check out the Eclectic Micks blog here. It's already got over a weeks worth of images, many much better than mine. But don't stop reading this blog... i can't stress that enough. Business will continue as usual here, at your most favourite blog ever.

Right.........?

Dec.

MORE LIFE DRAWING

Here's two more drawings form the week's life drawing class. These two were from near the end of the class. They were longer poses, but because of where i sat there was less information to draw (first pose is mostly her back, second pose was mostly obstructed by the chair). Given the limitation, i decided to try and draw the pose in a couple of different mediums, instead of just using the technical pencil i had been depending on for most of the class. Got some interesting results.
























With the first pose, i concentrated just on line with the pen, then on basic shadow with the brush-pen and finally, having a good understanding of the pose, went in and emphasized all the subtle shadows.





















With the second pose, i first did a toned pencil drawing (not posted here), but feeling brave, i whipped out the brush-pen and did a much looser drawing, then did the same with a pen. Got some varied results which i all found interesting. Have to say, i really enjoyed the class and it pushed me to think a lot more about what i was drawing, which is really refreshing when you're used to drawing from your head all day, every day.

Dec.

LIFE DRAWING

The very talented (and fragrant) Stephen Thompson and Lisa Jackson gave me the heads-up on some life drawing sessions during the week. Was delighted, as i've been hoping to do more life drawing; the last time i did some was back when i was in Scotland. I actually surprised myself; i was sure i'd be doing lots of quick pen-drawings (as i prefer sketching in pen), where in fact for the most part i ended up doing some refined, shaded drawings.

Here's 3 drawings i'm happy with.





























































Also, was very flattered to get a cameo of sorts in Andrew and Chris Judge's DYSTOPIA. Thanks a million guys; nice one! The strip will appear in this month's issue of Totally Dublin.

Dec.

SWEENEY TODD PAGE 50 INKS
























Here's the inks for page 50. Quite happy with the end result here. You can see that i fixed all the stuff that i mentioned was wrong with the pencils in my last post.

I've been using a pen-nib tool for the last few months and got some really nice and loose lines with it on this page (see background characters). Feel like i'm finally getting the hang of it. I also got some nice variation of lines with my brush-pen. I found that when i started using the brush pen, i did a LOT of drybrush. A month or so back, i seemed to barely use any dry-brush and started inking a lot more slickly. Nice to be able to do, but i'm not really interested in slick inking ('slinking'...?). I want messy pages, with lots of texture, so i'm trying to balance the 'slick' with some very gestural lines, and some splatter here and there. It seems to be balancing well in this page, and with most of the pages i've done this week.

Hopefully you all agree.

Dec.

SWEENEY TODD PAGE 50 PENCILS
























Here's the pencils to page 50 of Sweeney Todd. I posted the layouts to this page earlier in the week as well as a detail from one of the panels. You can see that i stuck extremely close to the composition of the layout. I realised in panel 2 however, the the width of the street was a little too narrow (i remember really wanting to have a solid black on the right of the panel to help separate it from the rather large first panel), so i widened it a bit. Because i did so, it was pointed out to me by fellow comics artist Stephen Thompson, that it looked like the barbers pole was coming out of one of the characters' head. In trying to fix one problem, i had created another, so i would have to fix that in the inks. I also had stubble on the wrong character, so that had to be fixed. There was a couple of things my editor suggested i fix up too, so it was no big deal. I'll post the inks pretty soon. Tomorrow maybe. Or later, i dunno, i can't see into the future now, can i?

Dec.

DUBLIN COMICS JAM

























The Dublin Comics Jam blog has an update of its pub-drawing antics. I pitched in myself this month. Here's a jam piece by myself, the uber-talented Chris Judge, Barry Hughes, Phil Barrett ....and i'm not sure who did the small figure.

Oh, and Bob Byrne.

Check the blog to see this months and previous months craziness.

Dec

LOST PANEL
























This is a panel lost to the ages. I originally added it into a Sweeney Todd page of my own accord, just to add another beat to the storytelling, but it ended up cluttering up the page a bit, so it had to go. Shame; i liked the drawing and was looking forward to inking it. Ah well, what can one do....?

....well, i guess one can scan it and post it on their blog....

Dec.

SWEENEY TODD PAGE 50 LAYOUTS
























Quite busy with Sweeney Todd at the moment, but here's a layout for one of the pages i'm working on. It was a pretty straight page script-wise, but i really wanted to come up with a more interesting layout design. I've also gone back to doing smaller layouts, with an added greytone to make it clearer. I was doing bigger, more laboured layouts in pencil, but by the time i worked on the actual page, it felt like i was pencilling it twice. I'd get tired of all the pencilling and the pages srarted to feel more dull as a result. Much happier with this approach. I'll post the pencils in a couple of days.

Dec.

STREET SPIRIT
















Part of a new Sweeney Todd panel. I'm really trying to make sure all the characters in the book look different to each other. It's really easy to revert to generic faces when you're drawing out of your head all the time, so with this shot of a London street, i really tried to make all the various background figures distinct and interesting.

Dec.

BACK IN ACTION
























Hey all, i'm back from a great time in NY. Really did have a blast and feel really artistically charged from seeing so much great work from so many talented artists. Unfortunately, I'm also slightly depressed at how good all that work was and am trying to get over jet-lag, and also have ton of work to get done in the next couple of weeks. Not sure if i'll be able to post much as a result, so in the meantime, feel free to check out my newly-updated RiseCreatives webpage (with images like the above coloured page from Tim Skinner). I've also started a DeviantArt site ...cuz i'm a whore.

Dec.

NEW YORK BOUND
























Greetings all. Off to New York in the morning so i thought i'd post something decent to keep ye going for the week or so i'm gone. It's a test page for something that never went ahead, but i was pretty happy with thew actual page; got a chance to go all messy with it.

Hope ye like. Catch ye later.

Dec.

FUTUREQUAKE
























Been really busy this month so i didn't get to work on the Futurequake cover idea that i posted a while back. However, i did have a piece i was quite happy with from a War Heroes competition, and what wasn't going to get used that was similar in subject matter. I was pretty lucky in that regard as i didn't have to disappoint the good folks at FutureQuake, so with a little reworking, everyone was happy.

Dec.

ACTION!












Yet another pencilled panel from Sweeney Todd. I'll post a full, inked page soon; i pwomise.

Dec.

A SWIFT KICK UP THE ARSE











I just had to give myself one of these. Soooooooo much work to do.....

Dec.

MORE SWEENEY TODD PENCILS AND AWARD NOMINATION...?
























Ugh. It's annoying when i'm getting lots done but can't really show anything. Here's another pencilled Sweeney Todd panel in the meantime. I like drawing him in the hat and cape. It's like drawing Batman.

Oh, and check this out; seems this blog has been nominated for an Irish Blog Award?














I didn't even know there was such a thing, never mind how my blog got nominated. It's in the category of 'Best Blog of a Business' . See the list of nominations here.

Dec.

BUSY BUSY BUSY








Here's a panel from something i'm working on. Not Sweeney Todd, obviously. Then again, did they have 'iron birds' in Ye Olden times....?

Dec.

FRANKENSTEIN QUICK TEXT SECOND PRINTING
























From the Classical Comics news page;

"Frankenstein Quick Text to go into 2nd edition.
Only three months since it was first printed, sales have exceeded our estimates and we're having to reprint the Quick Text version of Frankenstein!"

Great stuff. I have no idea what the actual numbers are or anything, but the fact that the quick text has to be reprinted only 3 months after it was published is great.

Congrats to all the team!

Dec.

SWEENEY TODD PENCILS


















A pencilled panel from Sweeney Todd.

Dec.

'REAPER' SKETCHES



















Did these sketches last night.

Dec.

NEXT STOP: NEW YORK



Everything (nearly) in order for the New York Comic Con next month. Lotsa work to do between now and then. Had better get to it.....



















Dec.

PENCILS vs INKS
















There's a very worn-out joke that implies 'inkers are tracers'. Anyone who has any appreciation for the art-form knows that is absolutely not the case. However, i don't really ink over my pencils in the traditional style. I really like interpreting pencil lines into interesting ink lines and the artists i gravitate to more are those who really excel at that approach. Instead of posting just the inked version of the page, i thought i'd concentrate on one specific panel from Sweeney Todd to show how i've taken my pencils and interpreted them in ink. I changed some lines, i added others. I kept solid blacks, i broke up solid blacks. I made sure i played around with the image rather than strictly tighten it up. The panel is hardly radically different after inking but i would like to think that the end result is more interesting than if i had slickly inked every pencilled line.

I quess ye can be the judge of that.

Dec.

FUTUREQUAKE COVER SKETCH
























This is a rough to a cover the good folks at FutureQuake asked me to do. Should have the final art soon, but i like this quick sketch as is.

Dec.

THE WIRE: OMAR


















Been watching a lot of post-Christmas DVDs in the last few days and started to feel guilty, so i thought i'd use them as an excuse to draw something. I'm a big fan of the TV series The Wire. This is one of my favourite characters, Omar Little. Loved this moment from one episode, so i just thought i'd do a drawing of it. I've long wanted to do a proper piece for this series, along with Six Feet Under, but haven't found the time. Small pieces like this and the Angel drawings i did before may be the answer. I may do more of these.

Dec.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And to celebrate; the inks and pencils of a new Sweeney Todd page.















































Dec.

MERRY CHRISTMAS .....EVERYONE.....
























Hey there, i'm off home for the holidays .....to work ....sigh. So, hope ye all have a Merry Christmas!

Declan Out!

NEW PLAIN SIGHT TRAILER





Check out the new trailer for Beatnik Games' Plain Sight video game. Keen readers of this blog will know i've been doing some illustration work for this project. I think the game look great. The trailer has a great, 'jaunty' soundtrack too.

Dec.

BATMAN SKETCH
























Myself and my bud Will Sliney usually do a Superman/Batman jam piece once a year, with me drawing Batman and Will drawing Superman. Since he's in Canada this year, we did them separately. I did two to see which would match the Superman drawing he had already done. This is the second drawing i did; the first suited the jam piece better, where i like this sketch on its own. Check out the jam piece here.

Dec.

SWEENEY TODD INKS PAGE 15
























Eagle-eyed viewers might notice i changed the figure on the left in panel 3. He was oddly leaning off to the side, so i fixed that in the inks.

Oh, and i came across another Frankenstein review here.

Dec.

SWEENEY TODD PENCILS PAGE 15
























More Sweeney Todd today. Man, nearly every project i've worked on has needed me to draw old-school ships; first Freak Show, then Frankenstein, now Sweeney Todd. I'll bet if my next book wass a futuristic sci-fi adventure i's still have to draw one of these yokes.

Dec.

PLAIN SIGHT STORE ONLINE

Hey guys,

The store section of the Plain Sight videogame website is now online, so not only can you order a pretty cool Plain Sight t-shirt, but you can also order prints that i did the artwork for, like the 2 pieces below.....








































Both pieces are £6 each. Get them now. For Christmas, or something like that.

Dec.

IMPROVED MOON KNIGHT
























My good buddy Will Sliney took a pop at colouring the Moon Knight sketch from a few days ago and i'm sure you'll agree he did a bloody great job too. Way better than my feeble attempt.

Thanks Will!

Dec.

MORE MRS. LOVETT, REVIEWS AND SIGNINGS!

Here's the inks to yesterday's pencils.
























Also, i spotted a few of Frankenstein reviews as well as a plug on Sci-Fi online. The reviews are here and also on Grovel (where the art gets 4 stars. That's so Fetch!)

Also, this coming Saturday, i'm returning triumphantly to Aberdeen, Scotland for a signing in Asylum Books and Games. I drew all of Frankenstein in a studio underneath the shop, so it'll be great to go back to unveil the finished product. It'll be 'Ace.'

Dec.

INTERVIEW, MRS. LOVETT PENCILS

First things first, here's some Sweeney Todd artwork; the page where one of the main characters, Mrs. Lovett is introduced.
























Also, following on from Andy Winter's interview, there's an interview i did up on Comic Related.com now. Check it out.

Dec.

MOON KNIGHT

Been looking up a lot of old Bill Sienkiewicz and Tommy Lee Edwards Moon Knight issues in the last day or so. Got inspired, so i did a sketch and coloured it up.

























And the original drawing from my sketchbook...

























Dec.

PLAIN SAILING










Every now and then i'll do a nice, simple panel that i'm really happy with. Nothing flashy, it could just be something with simple with good storytelling, an interesting composition, or just an image that turned out exactly the way i wanted it to. This is one of those panels. From Sweeney Todd.

Dec.

SKINNER REVIEWED

A couple of great reviews of Tim Skinner; Total Scumbag went online over the last day or so. Over on Comic Book Resources, in Rich Johnson's "Lying In The Gutters" column, he reviews Tim (along with some great other Irish comics that were to be found at the Dublin Con). He also manages to spell my name wrong. Again.

Meanwhile, over at Comic Related, Dave O'Leary gives Tim quite an endorsement. Thanks Dave!

And so it's all not just reviews,this being an Art-Blog and all, here's yesterday's Hi-Ex poster, complete with all necessary info.
























Dec.

HI-EX POSTER ART
























This is artwork I did for next February's Hi-Ex in Inverness. I went to last years event and had an absolutely brilliant time. Unfortunately, I won't make it to the next event, but i was flattered to be asked to do the poster for it.

I really liked Rufus Dayglo's poster for last years event, so I kept it somewhat similar (ie, bold white background with characters to one side). Haven't drawn Judge Dredd too much so it was fun to have a try at him again. I also got to draw Tank Girl for the first time too, that was fun. I suppose the same could be said for the Loch Ness Monster.....

Dec.