Inner City Lollypop Lady

One of a few illos for a Metal Hammer feature. He's from a full page picture I'll post once (if!) approved.

Look into my eyes...

...the eyes, the eyes, look into my eyes...

You *will* buy my t-shirts...
...nnnnnnn-yaARGH!

>pant pant<...

Don't then.

!

Yesterday I was gonna write that I'd managed to complete eleven pages of the Conan Doyle strip in a week (productive for me, admittedly not for some others), thanks in part to drawing it whilst fast punk music played (and having no life, natch), but I thought that sounded dumb. THEN I happen across this wonderful video of Manu Larcenet, one of my favourite current comic artists, demonstrating the very same thing. Weird, huh?

Contrastingly, this panel took two (long) Neurosis tracks to draw and the rest of the album to tweak and tone. The struggle continues.

Phew...

...finished the Conan Doyle adaptation. A few more panels from it:

>KA-Tsch<

Some more panels from John Barrington Cowles. I haven't had the time to work on this in 9 months but ought to get back on it.

A page from Vinyl Underground issue 1, out on October 3rd. Cameron and Guy did a truly lovely job on this page imo.

Seine it all before

A discarded Paris picture. I drew this before redrawing it as that. I think I felt I shoulda stuck with existing characters instead of introducing unknown ones. Mind you, pretty much all I did was change their hair styles... I flipped them because...

(Notices reader has fallen asleep. Gently pulls blanket around reader, kisses reader's cheek and tip-toes out of the room, shushing a creaky floorboard)

John Barrington Cowles

This is a page from an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's John Barrington Cowles for an upcoming volume of Graphic Classics.

Also! At a one day international a couple of weeks ago I shook England cricketer Monty Panesar's hand. Twice. The second time was to prove I'd done so the first time, and because 8 pints of 'Thorn had accidentally fallen into my mouth.

Beatnik T-shirt

2-colours on heather grey, available for men in sizes S, M, L and XL, or as a fitted tee for women in sizes M, L and XL. As with the Vapid design I've yet to get 'em up on my site, but do contact me via my profile if you'd like to buy one in the meantime. they're £10 postpaid to UK residents. Foreign orders, we'll work something out. My photos continue to suck, but please note the attention to continuity by way of the just visible French cafe chair "prop" ;) Even if I've failed to convey the lovely printing again...

Newsarama have a preview of The Vinyl Underground issue 1 up here, including this double page spread (but with the text in place). It's drawn in a more realistic style than I'm used to. It's been tough, but rewarding. I owe a great deal to Cameron Stewart's beautiful brush work and his overall artistry and experience. It's exactly the look I hoped for of such a collaboration. Also check out Guy Major's striking colouring, these low res files don't really do justice to it's sophistication. Anyway, it's out on October 3rd and monthly thereafter, and yes, I have got the fear ;) More on this title later.

Vapid T-Shirts...

...available for men in sizes Small, Medium, Large & XLarge and for women in either Lady Fit shirts or spaghetti strap tops in sizes Medium, Large & XLarge. Small sizes to follow.
They're £10 postpaid to UK residents. I've not worked out foreign shipping costs yet but will do so once Vapid writer Ian generously helps me set up the whole shopping cart thing on my website. In the meantime feel free to contact me via my profile should you wish to buy one. Unfortunately/obviously I'm in no position to give these away! And yeah, the print-quality is crisper than my shakily-taken photos suggest!

You know you're gettin' old...

...when you enjoy drawing net curtains. I don't think I meant to have the zip-a-tone style dots on them though. I think they were just meant for her cardigan, I can't remember. Ugh, another sign.

Peace is Sooooo 1990's...

... but what the hell.

Louvre

The back cover image for Paris using the same dodgy colour scheme as the front.

Paris Illustrations

The chapter breaks in the Paris book look like this. I hadn't established the exterior of Deborah and Billy's home, so took the opportunity to do so here.

Vapid

This is a new t-shirt design based on the cover of Vapid, a mini comic Ian Lynam wrote and I drew, back in '95. Should any American friends wanna read it, it was reprinted in 'Punk Strips', available to buy from Wow Cool!

Have a good weekend, people. I'm going to the glorious Kennington Oval to watch the Test Match.

Stickin' it to The Man

Paulette from Paris, steadfastly refusing to sit in a chair. Chairs are for squares.

Like... what's buzzin', cuzzin?

An old friend

I was privileged to spend last weekend in the fine company of Ian Lynam and his nephew Evan, visiting from Japan and the US respectively. Ian and I have been long-distance friends since way back and have produced a number of comics together.

Inspired and nostalgic, I drew this today - Violet and her mog from a strip we collaborated on in '96 that was first published in Top Shelf number 6. We were in humbling company. Of one contributor, editor Brett Warnock wrote: "Craig Thompson is gonna be the next big thing in comics. Seriously".

Well, I guess ya can't get it right all the time...

Copy 'n' Paste

Here's the back cover of the new Subhumans LP. It's in the classic cut 'n' paste style, albeit a computer-generated version. As soon as you drop in Dick's handwriting it starts looking like a Subs record - I want this one to sit well with the rest o' my collection! His writing must be punk's most recognisable, along with Aaron Cometbus.

The band don't like over-using their skull logo, but old fans tend to disagree! As did Fat Mike who released their previous record, for which I did a comic strip adaptation of their song, Subvert City, a few years ago. Here's a page from that:

Internal Riot

This is the front cover for the soon to be released Subhumans LP/CD. I drew/cut/assembled a rough version that the band and I decided to stick with, as it had a spontaneity a more labored drawing might lack. Mind you, I did spend some time applying textured edges (scanned torn paper) to much of it, including vocalist Dick's hand-written title.

It's a straight-forward and bold image. At first we considered illustrating the numerous "causes" of the internal riot in or between the splinters, but really, that's where the lyrics come in.

Originally I felt it could be grey (followers of this blog - both of you - groan and mutter, "Now, there's a surprise") as below, but the band preferred it in black and white, and I concede that it sits better with their other record covers now. As does the album itself. As a long-time fanatic I can say it doesn't disapoint! Now if I can somehow work on a Conflict, Neurosis, Extreme Noise Terror or Beyoncé cover I can retire happy...It's also going on t-shirts for their forthcoming US tour, so if you're in the States go see 'em.

A load of old Cobblers

I drew this for the back cover of the Lovecraft book. Ideally he should be running from left to right, as is proper for better flowing comics, but once placed on the page it didn't really work compositionally.