Conception

I've been stretching my artistic limbs a little lately and doing a bit of concept work, illustration and game design (I'll blog more about that soon). Today was a bit of character design for a one of the comicbooks I'm working on. This character only plays a small part, but he features on the variant cover I had to make sure his costume was properly designed.

For this all-digital process I experimented with multiple players. When I ended up with something I liked, the figure was copy-merged and pasted to the right hand side, then used as a base to work on top of. My actual Photoshop file looked like the one below:

Click the pic for a better look.

An unusual format for me, but I quite liked the process.

Thought Bubble

At the minute I'm the bus stop at Leeds airport waiting for the bus to bring me to the Thought Bubble Festival. Graham Pearce, creator of the hilarious Sgt Mike Battle comic is sharing his table at the con with me over the weekend, so if you're about, call over to table 179 in Saville Hall and say hello.

I'll be selling copies of Jennifer Wilde #1, as well as Cancertown, Slaughterma's Creed, prints and custom sketches. This weekend will be one of the best times to buy comics off me as collaborators Cy Dethan, Nic Wilkinson, Vicky Stonedbridge and Maura McHugh will be about the con and can sign them for you, or I'm sure.wouldn't mind a chat about the books if you're not one for adding scribbles to your comics.

Treading Ground

New comic journalist website Cosmic Treadmill are presenting a spotlight week on Atomic Diner, and have a review of their latest comics including Jennifer Wilde, plus and a quick interview with myself, complete with an exclusive splash page art from Black Scorpion.

I've posted a breakdown of said splash page on my Tumblr this week as well. Click the preview above to bring you there.

Jennifer Wilde has been getting rave reviews everywhere, so check in with http://jenniferwildecomic.com/ if you want to hear the feedback. 

I'm working away on both Jennifer Wilde #2 & Black Scorpion, so expect more previews soon.

Jennifer Wilde #1 Where, When and Why

Jennifer has been cast into the Wilde. My copies of Jennifer Wilde #1 have arrived and they are very nice indeed, a really nice paper and print job.

If you want to get your hands on one, there's a blog post up on JenniferWildeComic.com letting you know all the places you can buy Jennifer Wilde #1, including direct from Atomic Diner and Forbidden Planet Belfast. It's also got nice review quotes from John Freeman and Hilary Lawyer as well as some process shots as I worked out how to draw a 1920s steam train.

I'll also be personally bringing a few copies over to Thought Bubble, leeds in Novomber to sell. If you want to  pre-order one from me, just let me know and I'll hold one for you. 

Back to the drawing board for more Jennifer Wilde layouts...

Black Scorpion

I little while back I mentioned I'd be working on a one-shot spin off of the extremely well reviewed 'League of Volunteers' (it's been called the 'Irish Hellboy'), written by Rob Curley. That comic is Black Scorpion and above is my cover (which 99% finished, with only a couple of tweaks to go).

The cover marks my first all digital, Cintiq drawn work for print, but I'll be back to real inks for the interiors. Rob and I discussed the process of creating comics and from that, Rob is writing the comic somewhere between full script and the old Marvel style, so it's going to really fun working out my panel to panel storytelling.

In other news, Jennifer Wilde #1 is at the printers, so  it shouldn't be long at all before it's available to buy. I'll also be at the MCM Expo in Manchester on Saturday 30th July, so if you're close by come and say hello.

A Jedi, a Superhero and a Judge walk into a bar: Commissions

Some recent commissions. These were custom drawn to be comic book interpretations of the clients.

I've started a Tumblr blog for rough and work-in-progress images, and you'll see the rough stages of these pieces over there at Downey Doodles.

2D Festival

Another fanastic year at the 2D Festival. Plenty of sketching, selling, drinking and even a little bit of dancing. I didn't brig my camera for fear of losing it, so all these photographs are lifted from the Facebook pages of Ciaran Flanaghan and Phil Friel.

 Sketching on the festival floor. Might be Hellboy for Ron.

 I think think was the busiest year of the 2D festival yet. 

 

More sketching. Looks like Venom.

 Tommie Kelley and I staring into Space.

 Being very professional and taking notes before the Sunnyside Comics presents: Piracy, Creator owned and digital comics.

 Slaughterman's Creed cover painter gets close and personal. No, we're not lovers and no it wasn't 'that big'.

Aimee and I enjoying drinks.

 Lily Daniels and Daniel Clifford flew over from England just for the dancing.

 And they took full advantage when they could.

Roll on 2D 2012.