Frightful Friday!

Two new pics, one of an old school vampire (i do love a stiff collar), and tuther, a creature design for a project in progress.

Uggly Monday; Fido

Because you didn't demand it!

Not that the universe hasn't got anything else to offer other than the shambling, fly-blown, pus-dripping, flesh-ripping, brain-eating hordes of the undead. But let's be straight, you don't want to see delicate watercolour studies of fauna and flora or pencil portraits of cute puppies - you want ZOMBIES!

I aim to please...

Uggly Monday; Grins

Dead agen

Nothing new, bin laid up with a stinkin' cold(just as the hay fever was finishing), so ere's the originals of two zombie pics i coloured up some weeks back.

Brush pen sketches

Mucking about with a new brush pen, which is easier to use than a 'real' brush, but not by much...nerves have bin shot since the 'Nam...

Enter...

If you like your horror comics served up with steaming guts and EC relish, may i direct you to the 1st issue of Gene Simmons House of Horrors. A new quarterly anthology from IDW Publishing. For you money(and it's a lot of bucks at $9.99)you get five stand alone comic strips, each introduced by self-professed 'Rock God' Gene Simmons, who acts as a Crypt Keeper-style host, only uglier.

My good pals, and Albion sparring partners, Leah Moore and John Reppion contribute an eight pager, 'Into the Woods'', a blood-spattered supernatural yarn, drawn by the gore-crazed Jeff Zornow.

Jeff, incidentally, has done the art for a line of horror-themed t-shirts, one of which i received as a birthday gift(June the 6th, for those who want to take note...)from John and Leah. And mighty tasty it is.



Pop over and buy one at; http://www.fright-rags.com/ , and for more of Jeff Zornows gruesome goodness go to; http://www.yourmidnightreader.com/jwzornow/index.html.

Uggly Monday; Ammona

Four new sketches

Barbara Windsor's 70th

She'll need a 'big puff' to blow out all those candles...Happy Birthday Babs!

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1970's Skinhead/Suedehead

Uggly Monday

Every Monday is Uggly Monday.

Monstrous apparel

Two pre-lim designs for a possible line of Monster t-shirts/sweat shirts.

Buncha new sketches

Love drawing faces, mostly ugly ones(though tis in the eye of the beholder), could do it all day and night, if someone payed me per head, I'd be a very rich man. Alas...

and something i doodled in a bad mood(it AND me).

Robots!

New sketches - zombies are soooooo last week...

Zombies, zombies, zombies etc.

I've got some more zombie art out there; a front and back cover, and rough sketch on the inside, in the junior mini-companion to Accent Uk's ZOMBIES book. A limited print run, which means it was as limited to how much ink Dave had in his printer, so i don't know if there's any left for sale - bankrupt the man, demand a reprint!

And another sketch. Anyone sick of zombies yet?

Mr.Slymme and henchman

Coupla new sketches.

Just say no!

More ZOMBIES

Just finished reading ZOMBIES, the latest 'themed' anthology from Accent UK. If you love the 'living dead' genre, then you'll LOVE this book. You get a whopping 168 black and white pages of comic strips and art, sandwiched between a suitably grisly cover from the putrescent pen of Steve Bissette (who in the eighties, along with Alan Moore and John Totleben, worked on an epic run of Swamp Thing - easily the best horror comics that DC have EVER done), and a back cover(and a coupla pics inside)by yers truly.

Zombies is a real labour of love(and death), publishers Dave West and Colin Mathieson have made every effort to rise above their 'small press' origins, and they do, in grave-robbing spades. With it's eclectic mix of artists/writers, both pro' and amateur, striking design work by Andy Bloor(who also draws one of the most chilling stories in the collection)and first rate production values, this book holds it's own among the 'big guns'.

It's not without it's weak points, page numbering would've helped, and some of the stories are very slight, sometimes too-obviously influenced/inspired by Romero's movies and Shaun of the Dead. But most, Gary Crutchley's Job Satisfaction in particular, do it with wit and style. Zombies is far more hit than miss, and for £6, it's a LOT of hit!

To see more of it's contents or to order a copy go to;http://accentukcomics.com/

Hammer time!

A birthday pressie for the man who loves his Hammer (thank you Suzanne!). Region 1, 2 discs, 8 films(among them the little seen Paranoiac)and almost 12 hours of sublime viewing.

..which inspired a sketch...

Scrunge!

Old rubberneck

Another old Albion pre-production sketch. It's not Fred, it's Faceache, he always was Faceache.

And they don't fall down...

Trouble with this blogging lark, it takes more effort than i first thought, and if you're counting, i haven't made any effort for nearly three weeks. This is partly due to feeling unwell and spending an unhealthy amount of time pondering the universe/staring into middle space. But I've also bin away on a little holiday, mucked about on a zombie movie, started pre-production on a comic book, and made my first baby steps into the world of Photoshop.

All of which i will attempt to feature/cover on dis ere blog, sometime very soon, probably, maybe, more than likely.

Meanwhile, let me share a picture of the latest addition to our 'cabinet of treasures'...

Don't let a good monster go to waste

A cover i did, for a sci-fi/horror comic that never happened, pity...

The colours are by my old mate Matt Brooker(D'israeli); one of my favourite artists, who is brilliant at everything he does(other than skateboarding), but anybody who's seen his work, will know that already.

Check out his entertaining and informative blog;http://disraeli-demon.blogspot.com/

From the reading pile...

Can you smell that old paper and ink? If only you could get it as a perfume, or maybe powdered down into a talc?

Stuff

Although i'm not currently fully active in the comics biz, i do still spend time developing ideas and projects, or i'm just drawing for the sheer pleasure a piece of paper and a pencil can bring. And occasionally, i'll share some of the results.
Nothing new at the moment, but i thought you may enjoy some stuff from the vault .

Two pages from Rock and Roll High School, which i worked on waaaaaaaay back in the 90's, with the hugely underrated Bob Fingerman. And some Albion pre-production art, from 2004 (just seems like three years ago...).

John Reppion is a very nice man

...it's true, not only did John set up this blog, he's also spent precious time keeping it updated and freshly-polished. done so, since the start, not cus he's got to, not for money, not for laffs, but cus he's an exceptionally nice man.

and now i've finally got my useless arse in gear and wrestled techno-fear to the mat, i'll be having a go meself(though i'm hoping John will stay on as my 'technical consultant', cus i'm still a dim-novice.).

nice one, john! you are a true star and a diamond geezer, Guinness on me, when next we meet, cheers!

Zombies Invade Stoke!

FPI: You’ve not been without some resources and help though, have you? I heard from my colleague Lee that you had a whole bunch of extras willing to play zombies for you at a shoot, appropriately on Friday 13th; have you had a good response from folks and how has that helped you in making it?

Mike: Yeah we’re currently at the 100 mark and steadily rising. People are falling over themselves in fact to help out, and everyone on board is totally excited about the project. Some people are giving up their regular work to come along and help out including my good friend Shane Oakley (who worked on “Albion” with Alan and Leah Moore and John Reppion) who’s putting all his upcoming art on hold to come along and be a zombie and help out behind the scenes as well!

Read More >>HERE<<.

Shane Interviewed on DownTheTubes.net

Titan Books recently released their edition of the collected Albion, Wildstorm's welcome revival of many British comics heroes owned by IPC. The trade offers the complete story – with some sprucing up of some of the art in places and a wonderful collection of original stories featuring some of the characters in the new adventure, culled from various annuals and other sources.

In the third part of an extended feature marking the release of the Albion collection from Titan Books (hot on the heels of Wildstorm's edition last December), John Freeman talks to Albion artist Shane Oakley...[CLICK TO READ MORE]

Also on DownTheTubes.net:

Interview with Leah Moore & John Reppion (Albion writers)

Interview with Andrew Sumner (IPC media)

Birmingham International Comics Con

Shane will be signing, sketching and selling original artwork at the Birmingham International Comics Convention December, 9th and 10th 2006.

Visit http://www.thecomicsshow.co.uk/ for more info.