Old illustration

Mind the Gaps

Panel layouts for a Vinyl Underground flashback sequence, designed in Illustrator.

Children

Lo Flyer

Here's a poster I've been working on. In the "olden days" I'd use scissors and glue, but nowadays I lay 'em out on the computer, of course.
The computer is a tool to help you avoid finding part of the design stuck to your elbow 4 months later. "Ah, so that's where that '15th April' went. No wonder no one turned up."

Paris, London, New York

Paris is reviewed at The Boston Bibliophile and The Comics Reporter lists it as one of the "Twelve Mostly Overlooked Comics Published In The Last Twelve Or So Years";) High praise from someone of Tom's stature, who calls it a "deeply pleasurable read".
Click here to buy a copy from Amazon.co.uk or here from Amazon.com
Vinyl Underground, the monthly I've been penciling is finishing with issue 12. Issue 10 is out now and reviewed here and the recently released book, collecting issues 1-5, here. The second volume will collect the remaining 7 issues and is scheduled for December. My thanks to all the humblingly talented people I've had the pleasure of working with on this comic. Another sample pic, allowing me to write that lame title:

Subvertman

This is more how he should look. I felt the previous drawing made him look a little too macho for a cider-fuelled raging state-smashing anarcho-terrorist punk rocker.
Speaking of which, why don't you show society you intend to play by your rules this Summer? Purchasing one of the following t-shirts will demonstrate that you don't follow popular trends.
Both the Vapid and Beatnik designs come in men's sizes S, M, L & XL and in women's sizes M, L & XL and cost:

£10 postpaid in the UK
€18 postpaid in Europe
$24 postpaid to anywhere else.

Should you like one I accept PayPal, the email address is in my profile.

In order to satisfy my mania for drawing ink is squandered

AND FOR WHAT? A poor quality sketch of gold age (1991-93) superhero Subvertman. He got his power from drinking radioactive cider and would patrol the rooftops looking out for muggers to help whilst singing Discharge lyrics to himself.

However, times change. Nowadays superhero comics are primarily aimed at adults and yes, I won't lie to you: Alan, Frank and me do feel a bit responsible.

(runs away)

gfigiogoizozcoij

A couple of drawings for a possible project.

A quick sketch to make you vomit onto your own thighs

Nazi Scum

Vinyl Underground issue 9 is in shops this week, there's a beautifully inked page from it on Ryan Kelly's blog. Here's a coupla pages of pencils for issue 11.

PARIS review

Richard Bruton of the excellent Forbidden Planet International blog reviews Paris here. Thanks, Richard!

Spoilers

Speaking of Graphic Classics, here's a panel from The Shadow Over Innsmouth, published in their Lovecraft volume...
... and a few from The Adventure of The Engineer's Thumb, published in their Conan Doyle book.
The very day before I started drawing this strip I happened to walk past a shop window displaying a book of Victorian photos chronicling all the Sherlock Holmes locations in and around London. It felt serendipitous until I realised this particular story was one of the few to take place in a fictitious location. Grr. It did enable me to name one of the villages on the map after the original Holmes illustrator though. If you follow Sidney Paget's Wiki link it's pretty amusing to see how he first got the gig!
Anyway, I was thinking that there are numerous parallels between this yarn and Hergé's The Black Island. Both feature a murderous and mysterious German dude residing in a mansion in the Southern English countryside, a mansion that proves rather tricky to leave but that ends up burning down, both are engaged in counterfeiting, both...

Reader?



Reader...?

qwertyuiop

Coloured version of an image used in Paris issue 4.

Birth of Metal

Old picture for Classic Rock magazine (overhead light © Picasso).

The Smoke

Two pages from Vinyl Underground issue 8, expertly inked and coloured by Ryan Kelly and Guy Major respectively. Primrose Hill and the Aquarium. Behind the latter is some Dali museum or something, but I decided to go with a different artist, as readers of Paris might note ;)

Joey Esposito kindly reviews issue 7 here.

Free comic

I got my Graphic Classics: Special Edition comps today and they're lovely. They'll be available from your local comic shop on Free Comic Book Day, though it'd be worth pre-ordering one. A few panels from my contribution to it above and a discarded version of one below.

Cider country

Ink wash and Tipp-ex. I regretted adding the latter but couldn't apple-z.

Another of these things

Today I drew this.

Also: Graphic Classics: Special Edition - for which I illustrated Conan Doyle's John Barrington Cowles - is being published for Free Comic Book Day on May 3rd. There's a run down of all the featured adaptations and contributors in this Newsarama review. It's a generously whopping 64 pages and to reiterate: is free! If you'd like a copy, please do visit your local comic shop to pre-order one, and y'know, buy something there too.

Pencils

Leah from Vinyl Underground in her undies, surrounded by lilies. Well, how do *you* surf the net?

Ah - Shh. Ahh - Uht! Btt... Ah! Ahh! Shht - nht... Don't spoil it for me, reader.

Waffling

Here's my take on Picasso's numerous portraits of Sylvette David, with my apologies to both - it's only for fun. It wasn't supposed to be her at first - having drawn the face, figure and clothes I was just stuck for "good hair" and her famous ponytail popped into my head. From there I felt I should add some Picasso-esque ceramics given that they met in Vallauris, the lovely town in which he made his pottery. Sylvette is an artist herself.

Although the inspiring commercial illustrators of the mid 20th Century borrowed much from Picasso, I think the influence for this was also some Kaffe Fawcett paintings I saw in an exhibition a couple of weeks ago, here in Bath. I liked his still lifes of decorative china - like this one - more than the china itself, also displayed.

Also: check out Ryan Kelly's blog. He's awesome and I'm honoured and lucky that we're sharing art duties on Vinyl Underground. I haven't seen the fruits of his labour yet but will be sure to post some. I eagerly await The New York Four, the fourth-coming Minx book he's drawn too.