Here it is:
You can see my art and comics and stuff there.
Here's a gryphon to illustrate this post:
Showing posts with label Comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comics. Show all posts
Tuesday, 25 August 2020
Monday, 10 August 2020
Friday, 12 June 2020
The Lepidopterist
Here is a comic!
I wrote this script around 2016, so it is not a hot take or anything.
It is my first attempt at digitally colouring and lettering my work. This means that I've learnt a lot, but already see plenty that I want to improve next time!
I've tagged each page with a script for use by e-readers and the like. This is also my first time trying to add accessibility features to my comics, so let me know if there's ways I could do that better.
Here is a link to a PDF that strives to find a balance between resolution and file size. It comes in at around 10MB.
For those looking for something a little smaller, here's a super low resolution copy roughly 2MB in size.
Content warnings: butterflies, mild unrealistic violence, American imperialism.
I wrote this script around 2016, so it is not a hot take or anything.
It is my first attempt at digitally colouring and lettering my work. This means that I've learnt a lot, but already see plenty that I want to improve next time!
I've tagged each page with a script for use by e-readers and the like. This is also my first time trying to add accessibility features to my comics, so let me know if there's ways I could do that better.
Here is a link to a PDF that strives to find a balance between resolution and file size. It comes in at around 10MB.
For those looking for something a little smaller, here's a super low resolution copy roughly 2MB in size.
Content warnings: butterflies, mild unrealistic violence, American imperialism.
 |
| Just so you know, this image is also a link to the 10MB version of the comic. |
Monday, 20 August 2012
Dr WTF?! Artists Commentary
This post, I'll be looking at some of the thoughts I had while drawing the adventures of Hauptmann Who. This story was written by Greg Meldrum, and I have to say it is the most inspiring script I've ever worked on. Pretty much every panel had me chuckling, and Greg has been kind enough to let me quote some chunks of the script as I go through the art. In fact, since I wrote this post, Greg has written his own commentary, so check that out here.
Before we get started though, I wish to mention the brilliant work Owen Watts did on the lettering. Owen was kind enough to allow the bouncing back and forth of the lettered art, both of us editing our work till it was just as we wanted it. I'll be looking at the unlettered art in this post, but take a look at that WAAAAOOOOWOOOOH on the first page. Great stuff.
Right then, onto page 1.
The first striking thing for any who have been following my work the past few years is the colour. There are a few jokes in this strip that simply would not work in black and white. I mulled over this choice for quite some time, but eventually decided that I had to crack open the paints. The line art took me just three weeks to do, an advantage of working at A4, but the colour work added months to the work time. The actual watercolours were simple enough, it was the hours of computer tweaking afterwards that slowed me down.
In the end it was worth it. I love the vibrancy of these colours; the pinks and the turquoise and all those stars. Hopefully I kept up the strength of the colours throughout the strip and made them a vital part of the experience.
Lets take a look at the script.
Starting off with a Lebensraum joke. This was the first part in the script where I laughed, and I didn't stop for the next five pages. Picture two shows the roundels inside the door, providing one of the few links between this strip and actual Doctor Who. I love the idea that the inside and the outside of the TARDIS doors are entierly different shapes, a feature we sometimes see in the show, but more due to set anomalies rather than the BBC having access to strange, top-secret, time-warping material.
For future Germania, I went looking for Nazi plans concerning their thousand year Reich. My Wonderful Lady Friend was invaluable here; being an art-historian she was able to guide me in the right direction. Seems that the miracle of concrete would allow them to take their Roman inspiration in far grander directions. That towering building on the far right was designed by Hitler himself, a sketch passed on to Albrecht Speer, from whose mind I pillaged the other buildings. Then I chucked in a few Fliegen-rad to give it that futuristic feel. Nazi anti-gravity technology is an interesting thing, I'm sure you will agree.
I toyed with the idea of doing the picture of World War Minus 1 in sepia tones; but remembered stories of the 'Mud' period of 2000ad history, and so went for the more colourful approach. In the top right of this panel we see my attempt to replicate that famous photo of St Paul's amid the bombing.
The Flux-Fuhrer was described as having "features warped and migrating across his face like some mad, nightmarish Picasso painting." That's why I went for the green.
Bringing us to Page 3.
Here we hit the pages that needed colour. The script called for "a sort of Rastafarian version of the Soviet Flag, with the hammer and sickle coloured black and the rest of the flag made up of three horizontal stripes of equal size: green, yellow and red." Not something easy to convey in black and white. Then we have Marley Luther Lenin. As I don't normally use colour, I don't attempt to convey any skin pigments. Black ink does not convey dark skin, white paper does not convey a lack of eumelanin. Normally I leave skin 'empty', in an attempt to bring equality to my characters; hence this black character from an earlier comic.
Anyway, my thoughts on colour theory in comics are best left for another day. Lets talk about the fact that Baby Hitler has blue eyes and blond hair! Actually, I don't have anything more to say about that. The skull has blue eyes too, and Laika has a nodding Karl Marx on her dashboard! I was going to give her some furry dice as well, but they left the cockpit a little too crowded.
Hurtling into Page 4.
Here is a description for panel 4.
I changed this a little to get the action going, having them hurtling out of the TARDIS instead of peering at a screen. In doing this I give rise to my one regret for this strip; we don't have room for an internal view of Hauptmann's TARDIS. Ah well, maybe we'll do a sequel one day. Hopefully Greg didn't mind my somewhat tame portrayal of the void before time; fractals are hard to do with watercolours.
And finally Page 5, the Money Shot...
Here we go, the Doctor's wang. Let's have a look at the script for this final panel.
So, not quite what I drew. *Ahem*. Owen didn't want this script to become known as "The one with the wang", so we censored it so that the rest of the story had room to shine. So that post the other day is the first time that particular penis has been waved about in public.
You see, it is implied here that the forthcoming 'Big Bang' is going to start the universe rolling. Also, Hauptmann is keeping his boots on, due to being classy like that. Being a Time-lord Nazi, he has two willies but only one ball. Finally we have the kiss, because stories like this end with a kiss. This is a comment on the way Doctor Who stories these days end about five to ten minutes before the credits roll, just so they can ladle on the emotional manipulation for the remainder. Also, that final heart shaped panel is lined like an Iron Cross! Isn't that sweet?
So, the guy gets the other guy, true love rules over all. Intellect and romance prevail, but do not replace brute force and cynicism. It is an interpretation of the Who Mythos that is perhaps closer to the truth of the show than many fans would be willing to admit; Who having a whole heap of unfortunate cultural baggage that seems to constantly resist going away. I'm really proud of this story, and I hope you enjoyed it.
Before we get started though, I wish to mention the brilliant work Owen Watts did on the lettering. Owen was kind enough to allow the bouncing back and forth of the lettered art, both of us editing our work till it was just as we wanted it. I'll be looking at the unlettered art in this post, but take a look at that WAAAAOOOOWOOOOH on the first page. Great stuff.
Right then, onto page 1.
The first striking thing for any who have been following my work the past few years is the colour. There are a few jokes in this strip that simply would not work in black and white. I mulled over this choice for quite some time, but eventually decided that I had to crack open the paints. The line art took me just three weeks to do, an advantage of working at A4, but the colour work added months to the work time. The actual watercolours were simple enough, it was the hours of computer tweaking afterwards that slowed me down.
In the end it was worth it. I love the vibrancy of these colours; the pinks and the turquoise and all those stars. Hopefully I kept up the strength of the colours throughout the strip and made them a vital part of the experience.
Lets take a look at the script.
The Asteroid Belt, our Solar System. Long establishing shot of a series of asteroids arcing out into space. In the f/g, materialising on top of a convenient asteroid is Hauptmann Who’s TARDIS, which appears in the form of a large upright missile, patterned after the WWII V-2 rocket but smaller scale (let’s make it the size of a police box.)...
HAUPTMANN (INSIDE): WE’RE HERE. I’LL JUST EXTEND THE ARTIFICIAL ATMOSPHERE AROUND THE TARDIS TO CREATE A BIT OF
LEBENSRAUM...
Starting off with a Lebensraum joke. This was the first part in the script where I laughed, and I didn't stop for the next five pages. Picture two shows the roundels inside the door, providing one of the few links between this strip and actual Doctor Who. I love the idea that the inside and the outside of the TARDIS doors are entierly different shapes, a feature we sometimes see in the show, but more due to set anomalies rather than the BBC having access to strange, top-secret, time-warping material.
Lets hop forward to the introduction of
Jimi Von
Hendricks. The script says the guitar...
looks like the sort of thing Jack Kirby would have come up with if
you’d asked him to design a musical instrument – still
recognisable as such, but more so, in a
chrome-and-steel-and-mad-valves sort of way.
My friend Jenny found this page to help me out with the Jack Kirby reference; I've led a sheltered life of geekdom and so know only a little about the American greats. I modelled the top of the guitar on the most recent sonic screwdriver, for fairly obvious reasons.
Time for page 2.
Cut to Brandenburg Gate, Berlin District of Germania, futuristic capital city of Earth. The gate appears much as it does in Berlin in real life, though in the distance and nearby we can see hints of a sci-fi landscape of gleaming technological structures, with the emphasis on grandiose spectacle...
For future Germania, I went looking for Nazi plans concerning their thousand year Reich. My Wonderful Lady Friend was invaluable here; being an art-historian she was able to guide me in the right direction. Seems that the miracle of concrete would allow them to take their Roman inspiration in far grander directions. That towering building on the far right was designed by Hitler himself, a sketch passed on to Albrecht Speer, from whose mind I pillaged the other buildings. Then I chucked in a few Fliegen-rad to give it that futuristic feel. Nazi anti-gravity technology is an interesting thing, I'm sure you will agree.
I toyed with the idea of doing the picture of World War Minus 1 in sepia tones; but remembered stories of the 'Mud' period of 2000ad history, and so went for the more colourful approach. In the top right of this panel we see my attempt to replicate that famous photo of St Paul's amid the bombing.
The Flux-Fuhrer was described as having "features warped and migrating across his face like some mad, nightmarish Picasso painting." That's why I went for the green.
Bringing us to Page 3.
Here we hit the pages that needed colour. The script called for "a sort of Rastafarian version of the Soviet Flag, with the hammer and sickle coloured black and the rest of the flag made up of three horizontal stripes of equal size: green, yellow and red." Not something easy to convey in black and white. Then we have Marley Luther Lenin. As I don't normally use colour, I don't attempt to convey any skin pigments. Black ink does not convey dark skin, white paper does not convey a lack of eumelanin. Normally I leave skin 'empty', in an attempt to bring equality to my characters; hence this black character from an earlier comic.
Anyway, my thoughts on colour theory in comics are best left for another day. Lets talk about the fact that Baby Hitler has blue eyes and blond hair! Actually, I don't have anything more to say about that. The skull has blue eyes too, and Laika has a nodding Karl Marx on her dashboard! I was going to give her some furry dice as well, but they left the cockpit a little too crowded.
Hurtling into Page 4.
Here is a description for panel 4.
Int. TARDIS. We see the back of Jimi and the Hauptmann’s heads as we go close in on the view-screen to observe the surroundings. They have arrived in the primordial void - a hallucinogenic landscape, full of all manner of bad-trip-style multi-coloured fractals and twisting patterns. Central to the viewscreen is the primal atom, about the size of a house, circled by electrons, which hangs there, throbbing. It will be the source of the Big Bang. Nearby it is Marley Luther Lenin in his techno-coffin, the grabber arms reaching up towards the primal atom. Around and above the coffin, like a fine mist, is his hovering logarithmic soul.
I changed this a little to get the action going, having them hurtling out of the TARDIS instead of peering at a screen. In doing this I give rise to my one regret for this strip; we don't have room for an internal view of Hauptmann's TARDIS. Ah well, maybe we'll do a sequel one day. Hopefully Greg didn't mind my somewhat tame portrayal of the void before time; fractals are hard to do with watercolours.
And finally Page 5, the Money Shot...
Here we go, the Doctor's wang. Let's have a look at the script for this final panel.
Long shot. Hauptmann Who points commandingly at Jimi, who obliges by jamming on his guitar and singing of his devotion to the Hauptmann. Jimi should be throwing some kind of rock god shapes as he does so, while in the background the primal atom throbs away and the kaleidoscopic primordial void creates hallucinogenic patterns, like some atmospheric sound-to-light programme.
So, not quite what I drew. *Ahem*. Owen didn't want this script to become known as "The one with the wang", so we censored it so that the rest of the story had room to shine. So that post the other day is the first time that particular penis has been waved about in public.
You see, it is implied here that the forthcoming 'Big Bang' is going to start the universe rolling. Also, Hauptmann is keeping his boots on, due to being classy like that. Being a Time-lord Nazi, he has two willies but only one ball. Finally we have the kiss, because stories like this end with a kiss. This is a comment on the way Doctor Who stories these days end about five to ten minutes before the credits roll, just so they can ladle on the emotional manipulation for the remainder. Also, that final heart shaped panel is lined like an Iron Cross! Isn't that sweet?
So, the guy gets the other guy, true love rules over all. Intellect and romance prevail, but do not replace brute force and cynicism. It is an interpretation of the Who Mythos that is perhaps closer to the truth of the show than many fans would be willing to admit; Who having a whole heap of unfortunate cultural baggage that seems to constantly resist going away. I'm really proud of this story, and I hope you enjoyed it.
Dr WTF?! UNCUT!!!
I have been forced to promise not to tell you who it was that said "Of course he's uncut, he's not Jewish!"
I'm back! After over a month of not throwing stuff onto the net, I return to shamelessly self-promote myself! Seeing as I've been away, lets get stuff off to a flying start by publicly releasing the story I did for Dr WTF?! 2012. This story has been available in paper form for a good long while now, but this is the first time it will be seen for FREE!
Dr WTF?! 2012 isn't just one story, oh no. Many talented people combined to make a colourful explosion of awesome, all under the scrupulous attention of editor Owen Watts. You can find out more about it here.
I'm currently writing up my next blog entry, cramming it full of information about the creative process behind this strip. While you wait, please enjoy this tale of Nazi comeuppance, and spare a thought for the state of mind of we who created it.
I'm back! After over a month of not throwing stuff onto the net, I return to shamelessly self-promote myself! Seeing as I've been away, lets get stuff off to a flying start by publicly releasing the story I did for Dr WTF?! 2012. This story has been available in paper form for a good long while now, but this is the first time it will be seen for FREE!
Dr WTF?! 2012 isn't just one story, oh no. Many talented people combined to make a colourful explosion of awesome, all under the scrupulous attention of editor Owen Watts. You can find out more about it here.
I'm currently writing up my next blog entry, cramming it full of information about the creative process behind this strip. While you wait, please enjoy this tale of Nazi comeuppance, and spare a thought for the state of mind of we who created it.
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Back To The Wreckage
Owen Watts has begun collecting scripts for Dr WTF?! 2012. You can keep an eye on forthcoming developments over at the Dr WTF?! facebook page. While you're there, why not drop Owen a line and get yourself a digital copy of the 2011 issue?
My contribution to Dr WTF?! 2011 was some art work for the story Back to the Wreckage, written by Oscar Maltby and lettered by David Withers. You can see this entire story right here, by simply scrolling down the page and enbigginating this artwork!
My contribution to Dr WTF?! 2011 was some art work for the story Back to the Wreckage, written by Oscar Maltby and lettered by David Withers. You can see this entire story right here, by simply scrolling down the page and enbigginating this artwork!
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Where To Find My Stuff
You know how just before Christmas I posted a link to Lugal, claiming I would make the post look all pretty once I had returned to York? Well, this is that post.
That name in the credits? The one next to the word 'Art'? That's my name! I am more than a little pleased to see such a thing. It was only around Easter 2010 that I decided to get back into drawing, and now, as we leave that year behind, I have both a blog to show off my work, and a published credit to my name.
How can you see this fine story? Simply cast your eyes to the margin on the right, where you will find a list of Places My Work Has Found Print. It is but a paltry list at present, but I have high hopes for its growth over the coming year.
Monday, 20 December 2010
Lugal Rises!
I'm stuck in the internet deprived wasteland that is My Partents House. I've just nipped into the library to find that Temple APA issue 8 is up and downloadable. So, you should all just go read it, cause a comic that I have drawn is in it.
GO HERE! DOWNLOAD LUGAL!
This is that comic I said I would link to in my next post, several posts ago. Well, I found other stuff to talk about. These things happen.
Later, I will smarten this post up, make it look nice, correct the spellings, and such like. Right now, the timer in the corner of the screen is ticking down to zero, so I need to be off!
GO HERE! DOWNLOAD LUGAL!
This is that comic I said I would link to in my next post, several posts ago. Well, I found other stuff to talk about. These things happen.
Later, I will smarten this post up, make it look nice, correct the spellings, and such like. Right now, the timer in the corner of the screen is ticking down to zero, so I need to be off!
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Christmas Time Is Here Again!
Due to my recent discovery of the stats page, I realise that people from all over the world check out this blog (thanks all!), and I'm guessing that many of you will be mocking our joy of snow. Here in the Gulf Stream, however, this is a BIG DEAL!
Yet snow is not the only indicator of festivity. Today has seen the start of the 2000ad Advent Calendar 2010. This long standing tradition is now in its second year, and you can catch the collected edition of the first one here!
I haven't put my name down for this year's calendar, as time is pressing against me. However, Dirk Van Dom has come up with a wonderful idea that I will be contributing towards, along with a host of others. The allotted day for this is not until the 22nd, so you will have a bit of a wait before this inevitable masterpiece is unleashed.
Until then, I thought I might as well chuck my entry from last year up here; keep all my work in one place, and the like. This effort was valiantly lettered by Bolt-01 (AKA David Evans), who volunteered to do the job without realising that when I threw out my general lettering request, I hadn't even decided what I was going to do. The result is a story where I drew the art with a vague idea in mind, then wrote the dialogue based on what I thought might fit into the pictures.
I didn't always guess quite right, but Bolt did the job without a negative word. Thanks Bolt!
Yet snow is not the only indicator of festivity. Today has seen the start of the 2000ad Advent Calendar 2010. This long standing tradition is now in its second year, and you can catch the collected edition of the first one here!
I haven't put my name down for this year's calendar, as time is pressing against me. However, Dirk Van Dom has come up with a wonderful idea that I will be contributing towards, along with a host of others. The allotted day for this is not until the 22nd, so you will have a bit of a wait before this inevitable masterpiece is unleashed.
Until then, I thought I might as well chuck my entry from last year up here; keep all my work in one place, and the like. This effort was valiantly lettered by Bolt-01 (AKA David Evans), who volunteered to do the job without realising that when I threw out my general lettering request, I hadn't even decided what I was going to do. The result is a story where I drew the art with a vague idea in mind, then wrote the dialogue based on what I thought might fit into the pictures.
I didn't always guess quite right, but Bolt did the job without a negative word. Thanks Bolt!
Monday, 18 October 2010
DINOBOT COMICS
Work continues on the comic I am currently working on, and once that is complete, I'm going to start work on another comic that will hopefully see the light of distribution-day!
As such, I won't be able to put any complete pages here for a while. Rather than let this place grow fallow, I will instead post something I knocked up the other day.
Obligatory cut off Livejournal title: As Galvatron once said, "This is bad co
Hover-over Text: Me Grimlock not time paradox! Me Grimlock KING!
Anyone a little confused by certain artistic choices displayed here should check out Dinosaur Comics by Ryan North. Kate Beaton once did a Dinosaur Comics Homage, and she was herself homaged (sure, that can be a word) when Livejournal user Astersyn turned this comic into this. I feel that by combining Transformers and Dinosaur Comics, I have somehow completed a circle of life.
As such, I won't be able to put any complete pages here for a while. Rather than let this place grow fallow, I will instead post something I knocked up the other day.
Obligatory cut off Livejournal title: As Galvatron once said, "This is bad co
Hover-over Text: Me Grimlock not time paradox! Me Grimlock KING!
Anyone a little confused by certain artistic choices displayed here should check out Dinosaur Comics by Ryan North. Kate Beaton once did a Dinosaur Comics Homage, and she was herself homaged (sure, that can be a word) when Livejournal user Astersyn turned this comic into this. I feel that by combining Transformers and Dinosaur Comics, I have somehow completed a circle of life.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Win Some, Lose Some
And so September draws to an end, and I have only managed to complete four out of five pages for this month.
Yet I am not disheartened, for there is good reason for my slowness! I have been taking my time with my newest project, as there would seem to be a good chance of getting it published. I am currently three pages through a script by Matthew Mclaughlin, and a damned fine script it is too! As we intend to see it in print, I can't show you the work so far, but here are some sketches that may whet the apatite.
"But wait!" I hear you cry, in a largely figurative sense. "If you are only three pages into that story, then where does your fourth page come in?"
Well, that would be a page that I drew for my wonderful ladyfriend, and it is one that I can reveal to the world. I have brutally disfigured the piece by attempting a fat fisted attempt at lettering. If any letterers read this, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry.
This jolly sequence is entitled Megatron Builds A Fort
In other news, the 2000ad forum has led to a vast expansion in the numbers of those following this blog! Hi all, some of you I have followed back, others I haven't yet due to not quite being able to work the computer properly. Some people have links in their little pictures, others do not, and it is taking me a while to get my head round the crazy variation. Please forgive my faltering steps at using this new Blogger contraption, I am awfully slow with such things.
Yet I am not disheartened, for there is good reason for my slowness! I have been taking my time with my newest project, as there would seem to be a good chance of getting it published. I am currently three pages through a script by Matthew Mclaughlin, and a damned fine script it is too! As we intend to see it in print, I can't show you the work so far, but here are some sketches that may whet the apatite.
"But wait!" I hear you cry, in a largely figurative sense. "If you are only three pages into that story, then where does your fourth page come in?"
Well, that would be a page that I drew for my wonderful ladyfriend, and it is one that I can reveal to the world. I have brutally disfigured the piece by attempting a fat fisted attempt at lettering. If any letterers read this, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry.
This jolly sequence is entitled Megatron Builds A Fort
In other news, the 2000ad forum has led to a vast expansion in the numbers of those following this blog! Hi all, some of you I have followed back, others I haven't yet due to not quite being able to work the computer properly. Some people have links in their little pictures, others do not, and it is taking me a while to get my head round the crazy variation. Please forgive my faltering steps at using this new Blogger contraption, I am awfully slow with such things.
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Ultimate Sacrifice
Another comic, this time with a script by Mark Howard, who sent me this script to try out after seeing my work on the Moby Dick strip. This is a silent comic under the title of Ultimate Sacrifice.
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
I have recently been trying to get into the habit of drawing comics. This is my first attempt at drawing a script that was written by someone else, and I have decided to use this blog as a place to share my experiments. I know there are loads of mistakes here, but such is the way with the learning process.
The art is based on the script “Old Red”, written by Simon Spurrier, originally drawn by Staz Johnson, and published in 2000ad, Prog 1232.
You can read the script here
The art is based on the script “Old Red”, written by Simon Spurrier, originally drawn by Staz Johnson, and published in 2000ad, Prog 1232.
You can read the script here
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