Sketches of the 31st Kind

Bride of the Deep

Another old sketch. Originally an idea for a Cthulhu Tales cover, a mash-up of Aubrey Beardsley and Gustav Klimt.

Obviously far too subtle, so i binned it, but it helped inspire a comic book series; an Edwardian detective horror story, with monsters in the sewers, assassins that kill in dreams, exploding dolls and a painting that bleeds out madness.

Coming sometime this century!

Holy Hannah! Sweet Christmas! More art up for grabs!

Doesn't happen much, true believer - Shane does superheroes!

I must admit getting a big buzz digging thru some old Marvel comics and looking back on two of my boyhood reads, Luke Cage, Power Man and The Fantastic Four.

You may get the impression from my blog that i hate superheroes, but i don't, i just hate what most writers/publishers have done with them, which is take them far too seriously(and ironically making them seem even more ridiculous). A dark and glum world with no place for bright yellow shirts and wing-tipped collars!

Superheroes in the real world? Who cares! The world is scary and depressing enuff, i don't want to read about Captain America fighting in Iraq(i don't even want to read about REAL soldiers fighting in Iraq). I like a generous serving of escapism with my comics, i like the writer to impress me with his imagination, take me someplace that's new, and give me a fun trip for my money.

Ditch the leathers! Embrace the primaries!

Meanwhile, over on eBay... the black and white originals are up for auction. Click on the link to your upper right. And I'm also selling another buncha Albion pages, £45 each, price includes postage - and both the covers i did for the Accent UK anthologies; Monsters and Zombies, for £55.

The Thing is...

Last pic of 2007. Inspired by an umpteenth viewing of John Carpenter's The Thing.

NO agonizing with this one...it's 'ordinary' stuff that's hard to draw.


Speak to you in 2008 - cheers!