Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Albion Unseen

The female gang of inmates were the Dolls of St. Dominics(from Odhams Pow!), obviously locked up for burning down their school; strangling Miss Bolster the Headmistress, and castrating the caretaker and his cat. Not to mention the prostitution ring and cooking up explosive devices in chemistry class to sell to the I.R.A...

Can't for the life of me remember the name of the obligatory 'fat one' but I'm sure it'll be something like; Big Bertha, Tubby, Fatty, Greedy, Piggy or Cakehole. Anyone recall?


Eagleton quickly became a bore to draw, wished I'd stayed with my first version, or at least kept the pipe, always a good visual prop.



Faceache(Fred Akeley), in contrast, was an utter delight to draw - scrunge!



More pics soon.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Uggly Monday; Those responsible...


Spending so much time drawing - and dreaming up - the monstrous and the grotesque goes waaay back to my junior schooldays. It started as a mild distraction/interest which quickly twisted to an obsession. Dr. Who, Ray Harryhausen, monster stickers/bubblegum cards and horror movies all played a BIG part, but the major influence/inspiration was down to Grimly Feendish and the nuclear genius of Ken Reid: who mesmerized me with his manic drawings and anarchic sense of humour, whether it was Faceache, The Nervs, Jonah or Frankie Stein.



Add to that the weird mischievous mutant sidekicks of Grimly Feendish; tentacled, scaly, oddly-coloured hairy things called Squelchies, well, a mix like that will make young impressionable minds go funny...


Getting the chance to draw most of em in Albion was one of the strangest feelings, felt like i was channeling something long lost and hidden, felt spooky, felt exciting - felt AMAZING!

Talking of Albion, a new collection of classic reprints from the vaults of IPC/FLEETWAY is on the bookshelves(old news for some of you), giving you adventures from four of the best; Cursitor Doom, Kelly's Eye, Janus Stark and House of Dolmann.


To mark the occasion, in a slightly belated fashion ('belated', my new middle name, when i get around to it...), this week I'll be posting unseen character designs from Albion , along with a coupla pencilled pages and a new batch of originals for sale.

Meantime, if you want to learn more(and see more)about Ken Reid. visit Peter Gray's fan page at; http://uk.geocities.com/pjgkenreid/
 
 

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Happy belated Birthday to Bela!


Bela Lugosi was born on October 20th(yesterday, for those as dozy as me), 1882 - died August 16th, 1956 - or so they say...

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Beware the Moon!


The Curse of the Werewolf has so much going for it: Terence Fisher's moody and evocative camerawork; a clever twist on lycanthrope lore; a great cast - including Warren Mitchell, Hira Talfrey, Michael Ripper(as an 'old soak'), the luscious Yvonne Romain - and a stand-out turn from Oliver Reed, as the doomed and tortured Leon.
But, obviously, to a wee nipper clinging to his Grannies leg, it was the terrifying sight of the WEREWOLF that made the most impact - scared the poo outta me!
The makeup was a triumph, and that was down to the brilliance of Roy Ashton - he was the fella who filled your childhood bedtime with dread and horror - and i for one, can't thank him enough.
Greasepaint and Gore: The Hammer Monsters of Roy Ashton , tells you everything you need to know about the man and his groundbreaking, iconic work.


In tribute to his greatness and to one of my favourite Hammer movies: here's another werewolf pic(not that i need an excuse to draw another werewolf).

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

A Crow pic(k)

Quality control is hardly a mantra in the comic book biz, there's always bin more shit ones than good ones, and often I've scratched my head, staring bewildered at a comic, wondering how some editor could've okayed such a lame duck in the first place. And what's worse, is knowing about all the REALLY GOOD stuff that never gets to see the light of day.
Take it from me; most editors wouldn't know a good idea if it was a ten-ton truck crashing thru their donut-strewn office, with; I'M A GOOD IDEA written on it's side in giant day-glo letters. Even if the truck was driven by Jehovah with a sworn affidavit to the fact.

But sometimes it's just bad luck; the cool editor who wants to do your cool comic, gets sacked, or drops dead, or moves to Marvel, or they put you 'on hold' or replace you with a 'bigger name', or the company goes bust.

That's what happened(and ALL of the above, for that matter)with KITCHEN SINK in the 90's, just as Jamie Delano and mesen were ready to sign on the dotted line, they went down the plughole.
So you never got to read one of the best comic book series that Jamie never wrote; which was also the best Crow comic you never read. Binning the punk rock vigilante vs. gangster thing, for a period set weird western, full of hellish visions, catholic guilt and gothic decay, all draped under a luxuriously thick shroud of blood and terror. Real shame, especially since Todd McFarlane ended up with the franchise, and we all know what a stand-up guy he is, right?

Anyway, other than Jamie's crackin synopsis, all that was done was one drawing, pencilled by me, and inked by me old mate, Mark Buckingham(who was gonna ink the whole 4-issues). Found the art tuther day, thought it was worth sharing...


And if you didn't already know, Jamie is still 'out there', raging against the machine, read his words at; http://www.jamiedelano.co.uk/ but have a coupla stiff drinks first.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Quick on the draw

It's bin a looooooooooong time since i kept a sketchbook, years ago I'd have one with me wherever i went. But when you're chained to the drawing board, seven days a week, without properly sleeping or eating, screaming at the clock to go backwards, well, the last thing you wanna do is draw in your spare time. But I'm not under that pressure anymore, I've a lot more freedom; that's allowed me to keep up this blog, develop a few personal projects and to draw just for the hell of it.

And i forgot how important, how exhilarating it is. Me, 2 pens, an A5 sketchbook and a knee. Love it.
...ideal when stuck in Stansted Airport at five in the morning.





Rain in Spain...














Monday, September 24, 2007

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Back in blighty

Bin away on me hols for near a fortnight, so other than Uggly Monday, i tried to stay away from anything 'work-related' and enjoy the scenery, which made a refreshing change. Though i did fill a whole sketchbook with doodles, a big bunch of which I'll be posting on Wednesday.
Meantime, I'd like to share a coupla photo's from my trip to Spain - and before you shudder, I'm not gonna bore you with scenic snaps of sunsets and glorious beaches. I'm probably much like you, having to look thru other folks holiday pics fills me with a crawling, suffocating dread, unless there's a shot or two of alligators eating small children or Bavarian monks skateboarding.
So ere's a creepy-looking doll on sale at the Cadiz flea market(more or less like a car boot sale but with loads of kitsch religious paraphernalia and dog porn)and a knocker resting on a knob. Hasta luego!

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Friday, September 07, 2007

Uggly Monday; Ed Deadly

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.


Monday, September 03, 2007

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

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...




Wednesday, August 22, 2007

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.


Saturday, August 18, 2007

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...

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

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.