COMIC RELATED INTERVIEW (ISSUE 8)





















My monthly '28 Words Later' interviews with David O' Leary from Comic Related continue, this month talking about 28 Days Later #8 . Check it out here.

Dec.

LOBSTER JOHNSON




















Thought i'd post the black and white version of today's Micks piece here. As much as i'm happy with the colours, i've been doing of late, i always still like the black and white version more.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY





















Here's the black and white art for the Banshee re-design i did for the Micks blog yesterday.

Dec.

28 DAYS LATER #8 PREVIEW ONLINE





















28 Days Later #8 will be out State-side tomorrow, Thursday in Ireland and the UK. Preview pages are online, you can see the rest here.

I'm reeaaaalllly happy with this issue; it was a blast to draw and the colours from Nick are bloody great. Pun intended.

Dec.

SNEEK PEEK!
















Here's a couple of panels from the issue of 28 Days Later #10 i'm currently working on. Quite happy with these panels, they don't give away any story, so i should be okay just showing these. I hope.

Dec.

28 DAYS LATER SPREAD [process]

Below is a double-page spread from 28 Days Later #6. If you haven't read it yet, it's best you not read this post.

As a way of saving time, i've recently stopped scanning my pencils, so i thought since #6 is still relatively new, i'd post a stage-by-stage version of this spread. I've explained how i work ad nauseum at this stage, so i'll skip the monologue this time and just show ye the layouts, pancils and finished inks of this page. Hell, i'll put up Nick Filardi's colours while i'm at it.

COMIC RELATED INTERVIEW (ISSUE 7)





















My monthly '28 Words Later' interviews with David O' Leary from Comic Related continue, this month talking about 28 Days Later #7 . Check it out here.

Dec.

28 DAYS LATER #11 COVER





















I see solicitaions for issue 11 have gone online, so i reckon it's okay to post this. This is my variant cover, the main one of course, is illustrated by Sean Phillips.

I really enjoy how bold and graphic i've been able to make these covers.

Dec.

28 DAYS LATER #7 OUT TODAY...





















....in Ireland/UK. Yesterday in the States. Here's the first 3 pages; you can see more here.

Dec.

TIM SKINNER: TOTAL SCUMBAG... DOWNLOAD FOR FREE






















Good news everyone! Tim Skinner: Total Scumbag, the one-shot story by the Eagle Award winning team of Andy Winter and myself is available to download for free. I'm delighted about this; the one shot went down a storm at the last Dublin con in 2008 and Andy quickly sold out of his limited-print run. Then, unfortunately Diamond wouldn't take it so we had no way to get it into comic shops, meaning nobody else could read it. Now you, yes YOU can read the whole story for free.

From Andy's website...

"Soon after Tim Skinner inherited his grandfather's old comic-book collection he discovered something extraordinary - it was magic, and by making a simple wish he could step into the pages of any of the fabulous four-colour fantasies his heart desired. He could hang out with cowboys, futuristic robots or whiny adolescent mutants.

Unfortunately, Tim is a loathsome piece of garbage and instead of enjoying fun and frolics in a universe of action and adventure, he brutalizes and exploits his comic-book chums for his own nefarious ends. Truly, Tim Skinner is a total scumbag!"

Praise for Tim Skinner...

"Fucking hilarious!" - Jonathan Hickman, writer, Fantastic Four

"Delightfully, incredibly, enjoyably sick. Oh, I liked it." - Joe Gordon, Forbidden Planet blog

“Tim Skinner [is] a very self-referential, up-its-own-arse comic that I was destined to love. Even The Boys gets a good shoeing over with hilarious consequences.” - Rich Johnston, bleedingcool.com

"I don’t laugh out loud often, but I laughed out loud at this." - Regie Rigby, comicsbulletin.com

Tim Skinner holds a very special place in my heart. I'd been doing comics as a paying job for about a year and when Andy sent me the script I knew i HAD to draw it, even though it was a non-paying gig. It was also an opportunity to colour my own book; something that i really wanted to try. I truly did it for the art, and not the money.

PLEASE download it here. If you like comics and you have a sense of humour, you will enjoy it. Eh... or your money back.

The drawing holds up for the most part (i drew it nearly 2 years ago), but the best thing by far is the bloody hilarious script by Andy Winter. It should be read by as many people as possible. Thank you Mr. Internet!

So download it. Be sure to let me or Andy know what you thought of it.

Dec.

CHOKER





















Did a piece to promote Choker, a comic written by a mate of mine, on the Micks blog. I think it turned out pretty well, mainly cuz the above inked greywash piece turned out well. Check out the coloured version here.

Dec.

THE BLACK BEETLE
















This weeks theme on the Comic Twart blog is the Black Beetle; a character created by fello 'Twarter' Francesco Francavilla. You can see the coloured version over on there.

Dec.

28 DAYS LATER HARDCOVER [UPDATED]





















Just got my hardcover copy of 28 Days Later Vol.1, London Calling in the post.

It looks absolutely fantastic (and i mean the presentation, not my art). I'm delighted with how it came out. Thanks to all at BOOM! Studios (including my editor Ian Brill), Michael Alan Nelson for a great story and Nick Filardi for making all my linework look way more impressive than it actually is.

It's in shops as of today, or alternatively, you can order it online on Amazon.

Sure, while i'm at it, i might as well show the hardback without the dustjacket. There's a sweet embossed logo in the front...





















Selena's hatchet on the back...





















...and of course, the most important part of the dust jacket...

















Dec.

G.I. ROBOT [B+W]





















This piece was done for the Comic Twart blog i'm a part of. I thought i'd colour it up so that's what i posted there, but i still like the black and white version so i thought i'd post it here. True story.

Dec.

28 DAYS LATER SCENES

I posted coloured versions of these images on the Eclectic Micks blog yesterday as part of the 'Infected Micks' theme week. They seemed to go down pretty well, so i thought i'd post the black and white versions of them, as i like how they look too.




















You can see the coloured versions on the Micks blog here.

Dec.

28 DAYS LATER #10 COVER




















I've seen the solicits for this issue online so i reckon it's okay to show it here.

This is my cover (cover B) for #10 of 28 Days Later. Really wanted to try a bold composition and use the negative space to frame one side of the image. I was trying to come with something 'iconic' with this cover, so that it illustrates the overall story of the book (heading for London) rather than the specific story in this particular issue.

[EDIT: Also, be sure to head over to the Eclectic Micks blog this week as to celebrate the release of the 28 Days Later hardback collection, we're doing a 28 Days Later theme week; Infected Micks. Stephen Mooney has already posted a fantastic rendition of Selena.]

Dec.

COMIC RELATED INTERVIEW (ISSUE 6)




















My monthly '28 Words Later' interviews with David O' Leary from Comic Related return, this month talking about 28 Days Later #6, which is out today in the UK/Eire . Check it out here.

I mention a double page spread in the interview, but i don't want to spoil it, so instead here's the line art for the page before it; probably my favourite page. There's slashier pages in the issue, but this would be my favourite purely for storytelling reasons.

Dec.

28 DAYS LATER #6 PAGE 1





















28 Days Later #6, part one of 'Bend In The Road' is out today in the US/Canada, tomorrow in the UK/Eire. It's written by Michael Alan Nelson, with art by myself and colours by Nick Filardi. Go buy now; the hardcover of the first storyline 'London Calling' is out next week if you haven't been reading and need to catch up.

Here's the line art for page one of #6. Must have been a bitch to colour.

Dec.

28 DAYS LATER #6 OUT THIS WEEK




















Hello again; you're looking well. Thought you might want to know that there's a preview for #6 of 28 Days Later here. What...? You didn't want to know...? Oh... okay.

Well, in any case, it's out this Weds/Thurs and is the first part of the 3-part arc called 'Bend in the Road'. I've just finished the actual story arc and i'm really happy with it. For now.

Dec.

BAT-PEEK

Every year for the past ....eh, i dunno ...5 years(?) myself and Will Sliney have done a Batman/Superman jam piece. It's mad looking back at em to see how far we've both come on since then. I've just sent my section to Will for him to add to his so i hope to see it soon. Here's a little peek at what i did for 2009.












Dec.

I'M A TWART














As of last Monday i've joined a new sketch blog called Comic Twart. It pretty much happened by accident. As i said i the last post, on Twitter, myself and some other artists happened to all draw the same character on the same day. The following day, we deliberately did the same with a different character. The uber-talented Chris Samnee took the reins and organised us into starting a group blog. So, suddenly i find myself among a group of very talented artists with no clue as to how i really managed it.

Much like the Eclectic Micks blog, i'll be contributing an original piece every week. Unlike the Micks blog, a character is suggested by one of the members, and all of them have to give their take on that specific character. This week was Zorro and i threw in a piece, along with this sketch















I love being part of the Micks blog, as i get to do something with some of the best comic talent Ireland has to offer. The Comic Twart blog is a little different however, as there is some big-time international talent on it, and i'll really have to try and up my game in order to fit in. No offence to the Micks; i'm sure they'd agree. I have to represent Ireland on Comic Twart. On Eclectic Micks, i represent ...uh ...County Clare.

Anyway, keep an eye on the new Comic Twart blog, if only just to check out the actual real talent on it which consists of; Dan Panosian, Evan "Doc" Shaner, Ramón Pérez, Chris Samnee, Andy Kuhn, Nathan Fairbairn, Steve Bryant, Michael Hawthorne, Mitch Gerads, Ron Salas, Dan McDaid, Mitch Breitweiser, Francesco Francavilla and Tom Fowler.

Dec.

RONIN [CLINT BARTON]





















I've been called out! On Twitter (yes, i'm on twitter) the Thor drawing i posted on the Eclectic Micks blog was followed by drawings of the same character, all on the same day. Chris Samnee, the very talented artist of Seige; Imbedded and The Mighty suggested i come up with another for us all to draw. I thought i'd try a character i've never drawn before; Ronin, from New Avengers. I've never seen the other artists draw him either, so it should be interesting. Well, here's my take.

[I'll update this post with links to the other artist's offerings, which will no doubt overshadow mine!]

[Edit]
Here's Chris Samnee's piece,
Evan 'Doc' Shaner's piece,
Francesco Francavilla's piece
Mitch Gerads' piece
and Ron Salas' piece
Dec.

FRANKENSTEIN MYEBOOK PREVIEW













Heard from Classical Comics that the Frankenstein Myebook preview has been viewed 5000 times. That's cool. You can see it here.

Dec.

28 DAYS LATER #5 OUT TODAY...





















...In the US, tomorrow in the UK/Ireland. This issue is a prequel to the original storyline that concentrates on Clint and Derrick. This issue isn't drawn by myself; guest-artist Marek Oleksick (Frankenstein's Womb) handles the art-chores this month (and does a great job i might add... a little too good for my liking!) so it's definitely worth picking up. A good intro issue too, in case you've missed the first 4 issues.

Dec.

28 DAYS LATER COVER #9 [Process]

I mentioned before on this blog that i'd love a chance to work on some covers for 28 Days Later. Well, soon afterwards i was actually offered my first cover. I saw an image of it online this week, so i thought i'd post a 'process' post, showing the making of the cover as i haven't done one in a long time.

Right, well by the time i was offered my first cover, both Tim Bradstreet and Sean Phillips had done a fair few covers. How was i gonna follow them? Well, Tim Bradstreet had been doing some red-dominated movie-poster style covers, whereas Sean Phillips had been doing more hand-drawn, heavily designed ones, with a strong use of black, white, red and greywash (see below).

Sean Phillps' covers for 28 Days Later, issues 1-5.


















I had been getting some favourable comments on the greywash work i'd done on the Eclectic Micks blog and well, i just preferred the hand-drawn look of Phillips' covers, so i thought i'd take the look he established for the covers and work within that remit. I personally love that colour scheme anyway, and i like playing with white-space, so Sean Phillips had already been doing the type of covers i would like to do. Illustrating covers in that style i think actually helps the covers become recognisable as 28 Days Later covers specifically, and so when you see one of these covers they instantly stand out from all the other covers on the stands as being 28 Days Later, which is really what you want in a cover, i think.





















So, i submitted some loose cover ideas to my editor, Ian Brill, and he chose this one. I normally flesh out my layouts a lot more than this, but i didn't want to commit to any layout too much as i had no clue as to which idea my editor would pick. With this one i wanted a cool image of Selena in her mask (it just looks a little more sci-fi when she wears her mask) and a design-y montage of various infected. Normally i would have more fleshed-out images in the panels but like i said, this was just a very basic idea. The important thing was that the composition was all laid out for the pencils.





















I then lightboxed the layout onto my marked-out page. I've mentioned before how i like to lightbox my layouts as to keep the composition as close to the original layout as possible, so it retains an element of the original spontaneous drawing. I had a little more work to do in the pencils this time, as i really hadn't figured out what the images in the panels were going to be, so i had a bit of fun trying to come up with various images of the raging Infected.





















Inking. My favourite part. I tried to make the two different elements very distinct; by having the line drawing of Selena a little more refined, and adding shading in greywash (that was a bit of work) while having the Infected panels inked very messily. A lot of ink got into the white ares around Selena but i just took them out in photoshop. Though i do deliberately mess-up my pages in ink, i still spend a lot of time in photoshop deciding what works and taking out what doesn't work.





















I then mapped out the areas of the Infected panels, filled them with grey in photoshop and changed them into halftone. The plan being to convert the halftone to colour down the line. I'd been playing around with this effect and i thought it might help differentiate my covers from Sean Phillips' covers somewhat.















I like halftone to look big, retro and kinda old-school. Problem is that when the dots are that big, areas of detail in the line art can get lost. You can see here that the Infected's pupils are obscured, and i really need details like that to be clear. It's okay though, because as i mentioned, this halftome was going to be colourized, it didn't matter that the dots were big. It was better in fact. When messing around with colouring halftone before i noticed if the dots were small then they totally got lost in the image. Black halftone though, works fine if smaller.




















And here we have the final image. As you can see i added in a flat red (as suggested in the original layout) in the Infected panels and changed the halftone into a dark red. You might also notice that i went in ad cut out the tone in the background ares of the Infected panels and in the pupils of the infected too. I think it helps them 'pop' a lot more.

Well, there you have it. My first 28 Days Later Cover. More to come. Not gonna do a 'process' posts for anymore mind, as they take too long to do, so i hope ye enjoyed this one.

Dec.

[P.S. Big thanks to Sean Murphy for showing me how to use colour halftone so i could try it out on this cover]

28 DAYS LATER #7 FINISHED +HAPPY NEW YEAR









Here's a sneak peek of 28 Days Later #7. Pretty much the only panel i could use that didn't suggest anything about the story!

Hope all had a Merry Christmas. With the end of the year fast approaching i thought i might take stock of my productivity for this year. At best count, in 2009 i pencilled and inked 213 sequential comic pages, 4 covers and produced over 40 original sketches for the Eclectic Micks blog. That's not too bad, but it's really bothering me that in the first half of the year i wasn't nearly as productive as i was in the latter part. I would like to think that i spent the early months of the year raising my skill-set and was then able to be more productive while working on that higher level. Whether that's true or not, who knows, but it'd be nice if it were. In any case; must be more productive in 2010. Should be a good year; Sweeney Todd should be out, the first hardback of 28 Days Later should be too, hell, maybe there'll even be another Micks collection. The most important thing is.... 2010 is a cool set of numbers and makes it sound like we're living in the future. Which i guess we are. I have an iPhone to prove it.

Happy New Year folks.

Dec.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!




















Yes, he may be infected with the Rage virus, but good old Santa wishes still wishes you all a Merry X-mas.....

....IN BLOOOOOOOOD!

Dec.

COMIC RELATED INTERVIEW (ISSUE 4)





















My monthly '28 Words Later' interviews with David O' Leary from Comic Related continue, this month talking about 28 Days Later #4 . Check it out here.

Dec.

ASYLUM












Another panel from Sweeney Todd, which i'm slowly chipping away at.

Dec.

GHOST RIDER




















The last of the Birmingham sketches from a couple of months back. Even I have to admit i did some good ones that weekend. Some bad ones too, mind. Really like how this one came out. Wish i'd kept it.

Dec.