Different Strokes

The great thing about comics is that the drawing and writing styles can be so different. If there one thing I can’t stomach, it’s a comic book artist who draws in a certain style and then says that all comics should be drew that way (sadly it happens.) My work leans more to realism but doesn’t mean I think I’m above enjoying a comic drawn in a more cartoony style. What I think these guys miss is that without verity, comic probably would of died out ages ago. I’ve read certain comic book artist saying that all comics should be drawn cartoon like and simple. I’ve read\heard realistic style comic book artist dismiss simpler style’s as novelty and childish. It’s like west side story or something. I’m glad it only a small number (I hope) of comic artist who dismiss other work\style but it still depresses me when I hear it.

Although I would say it always wise to have a look at anatomy, even if you are drawing in a cartoon style (in fact believe it or not sometimes it can be harder in that style as you have to get across more with less.) The figure tends to be one of the hardest things for an artist to work out. So like many artist who recommend life drawing classes I would agree or failing that at least some serious time put in to studying the figure. You can always tell who learnt anatomy from life and who learnt it from reading comics as this ‘inbreeding’ thing start to happen. They’re style an exaggeration of an exaggeration and they start to look grotesque (unless that was actually the artist intended idea and lets face it 99% of the time it wasn’t.)

I just thought I’d say that before I put up this video I came across the other week. I don’t think you have to map out work to be a comic book artist. You could draw a comic with ink, a bent fork and a feather duster with your eyes shut and I’d still give it a read (I'm no snob). But for those that do or had wanted to give it a try, I think this video is a pretty a good example of setting out the figure.



In other news I’ve got sunburn for the third time in two weeks. You’d think I'd learn but nope. Not my style.

Frustration.

It’s been a very frustrating week. Feels like I’ve been running around like a mad man without really getting anything done. I’ve been irritated by on-off toothache, a dodgy laptop that won’t let me burn files to make much needed room on my hard drive. Wondering how I’m going to deal with my toothache\broken CD burner without emptying what left of my bank account. The weather is driving me mad. It grey and over shadowed and looks like it’s going to rain any second and yet it was still bright enough for me to get sunburn twice this week. It also to hot to work during the daytime. I have to wait until the sun sets to start drawing and so haven’t drawn half as much as I wanted to this week.

Still it’s not all doom and gloom. I went into my local Waterstones and saw a new Love and rockets graphic novel had just been released. When I found out it was only £10 I took it straight to the cute girl on the till. When she said it was £7.99 I thought she must of scanned it wrong but as I left the shop I checked the receipt and to my surprise found printed in bold type “Special Offer -2”. I don’t know what I did to earn this special offer. There was no sticker on the book and I didn’t buy anything else. So in total its 271 pages for just £7.99 and Love and rockets is one of my favourite comics of all time. I’ve just finished my EC Vault of horror graphic novel as bedtime reading so this new Love and rockets comic is much needed.

See that the way the world should be. Not faulty laptops and toothache.

I have to cling to these little moments of joy.

Almost To Much Freedom.

I did this sketch a few days ago but didn’t think I’d post it, as I wasn’t that keen on it. But it’s been growing on me to the point that I actually like it now. (Which is ironic as I’ve just finished a page on Dirge that I really liked and now I’m starting to go off that page.) It’s a scene from a dream I had that suddenly came back to me as I was laying on my bed. So I grabbed my sketchbook and drew it.

I’ve been thinking a lot today about what I want to draw\write next once Dirge is done. I’ve worked up a few sketches that I wouldn’t mind drawing up into finished works, including a nice idea for a Zombie pic I want to do, but by the time I get a chance to do it this Zombie craze will be well and truly dead (pun intended). I might take some time before my next project to do some work for other anthologies, maybe even some covers\pin ups if I can (or if they're wanted).

Some days I feel I want to move in to other genre and other days I don’t.

I’m still going to be drawing Dirge 2 for a bit so I've got time to think it over or see if anything interesting comes up before hand.

TV and Cigarettes.

Not some poster for the July 1st ban of smoking in public places in the UK. But a panel from the second issue of Dirge and the only frame I could have posted without giving the whole page away and a big piece of the plot.

I don’t know what up with Channel five lately (that a UK TV channel to anyone reading this outside of Blighty). Last weekend they showed the film Monster Squad, which I’ve been wanting to see ever since I read about it in that Stan Winston book they brought out for Christmas last year (Monster Squad was an 80’s kids movie with creatures like Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, The Mummy and Gill Man who was a rip off of The creature from the black lagoon.) And tonight they’ve got the late 90’s, adaptation of one of my favourite books “Breakfast Of Champions” by Kurt Vonnegut. The film meant to be terrible but I’m still glad I’m going to get a chance to see it. What with playing films I’ve been wanting to see for ages and that Russ Meyer documentary they made a year or two back, channel five is actually becoming a useful channel (at last).

I’ve also been told that some people had problems leaving comment so I’ve messed around with the settings and that should be sorted. So if you tried before it should be fixed now so feel free to try again.

Gay Karma.

I knew it was to good to be true when a friend called me up last night and said he had a free ticket going for a music festival in Brighton that night. It sounded tempting, but I really needed to get some work done and still hadn’t really gotten over my trip to Canterbury a couple of days earlier. But he couldn’t find anyone else to go with. It was a free ticket and a band called The Rakes were playing who I’ve wanted to see for ages.

So after a couple of short train rides and catching up on any news from the last couple of days I find myself in Brighton for the night. First thing we had to do was swap the tickets for wristbands. These wristbands would let you in to any gig that was part of the festival. With only a poor printed out map to go it took us a while to find a couple of little huts that made up the meet up point to collect your wristband and after another wait in the queue I found myself having a fluorescent pink plastic band wrapped round my wrist (when did it became acceptable to wrap a fluorescent pink wristband around a strangers wrist???).


First band up was The Magic Numbers. I’m not a huge fan, but I hadn’t paid for the tickets so didn’t really feel I could say no. We had got the wristbands in time for the start of the show and all the gigs were spread out over town but this one was close to the wristband hut but the only problem was neither of us had any money for drinks\booze so before any gigs we had to waste more time looking for a cash machine. By the time we’d got to the gig after finding there was no cash machine near the seafront and having to walk back up into town. The hall was so packed we were back against the back wall and all we could see from there was the top of the lead singers forehead. After a couple of songs we decided it was a bit of a wash out and decide to take ourselves and our gay pink wristband to another gig. As we waited around for The Gallows to start we agreed we should learn from our Magic Numbers mistake and get to The Rakes gig early. So before The Gallows even started we were heading for The Rakes gig about half-an-hour before it was even about to start.

While walking along the seafront to the gig (and trying to stare at this girls arse in tight white trousers without actually looking like I’m staring at her arse) I hear a squeal go up from my friend behind me and he was waving a ten pound note. “Look what I just found” he gushed (in the last month he clams to have found two five-pound notes on two separate occasions. I don’t know if he really is finding these notes or just fucking with my head?). The queue for The Rakes gig was a joke. We were half-an-hour early and there was already a stupidly long queue ahead. “Just probably haven’t started letting people in I guess,” I said until we found out to our horror it was one in, one out…

As we walked away I joked I was so happy that I hadn’t actually paid for these tickets. This festival was so over booked the tickets weren’t worth the pink fluorescent plastic they were printed on. My friend said there was one band who were meant to be “up and coming” and we should be able to catch most of there set if we hurry. I can’t remember the bands name but it had the words “dead” and “horse” and they were playing just along from the Uni. So we rushed back along the seafront and up towards the gig stopping for nothing expect a much-needed cheeseburger and a pub that had live music coming out. I said maybe we should go in, as it was the closes we’d had come to actually seeing a band, but my friend said we could always come back if we couldn’t get in to this gig. So along we went to the pub and found another fucking queue outside. Not only another queue but yet another one in, one out queue as one of the depressed guys in the queue ahead let us know. So we went back to the other gig just in time to catch them packing up.

We walked along near the Uni feeling cheated and tired when we looked over at something that had been set up on the green across the road. Hoping it was a gig we went over. But instead we found weirdly enough it was actually that Lady boys of Bangkok show going on (that’ll teach me to take the piss out of they’re poster) its was all fenced off and through a gap of fence made up of bamboo sticks you could see a group thugs type guys (looked like a group of bouncers on a night out in loud shirts and pints in hands) being lead into some hut. It all looked a bit seedy and there certainly wasn’t any live music (or women by the looks of it) so we were off. We had to catch our train home, so after a quick drink (I felt I had to buy my friend one after he wasted all that money on these tickets) we headed home.

Good gigs usually do have some hassle involved with them. I remember the suffering caused from trying to see The Pixies a couple of years back but at least I actually got to see an amazing show in the end. Unlike this night. I found most of the night funny (its not like I’d actually paid or been looking forward to it) and even my friend who had, saw the funny side. At one point on the way home we joked that it would be really funny if there were a hardcore rock band made up of Bangkok Lady Boys. The Fluorescent pink wristband would have suited that gig better to.

Finger For A Toothbrush.

I haven’t been around for the last couple of days as I went up to Canterbury with friends for a quick break. The trip started off badly with me buying the wrong, more expensive ticket and then my zip got caught on one of the benches and ripped off ruining my only winter coat and meaning I couldn’t zip it up in all this shitty rain from the last couple of days. Plus I’m too poor to buy a new one. But once it all got underway it was a pretty cool trip. The night seem to just turn into a blur of random events, from friends climbing trees and pretending to be apes and screaming at passer by (until they heard a police car and thought someone had called the cops), to Ant eating, and destroying some poor girls umbrella. It was a good night (I’m still finding little cuts all over my hands and wrist’s from an over stacked tower of Shot glasses, that fell over and smashed all over the table.)

The sleeping arrangements were a bit grim. The whole night reminded me of my college days. I have to confess I've been missing my college days lately. That slumming it life style has a charm and something everybody got to go through, but saying that after five minutes trying to sleep on a two-seater couch in some strange house I was missing home. I’m not the best sleeper at the best of times, so sleeping out can be rough. My hang over (probably brought on by dehydration) had already started to set in and with my head hanging over one side and the legs hanging over the other side of the couch, all I could think was “Fuck the slumming it life style”. I probably got an hour sleep at the most.



I’m not saying my days of sleeping on Floors\Couches and using my finger as a Toothbrush are over (sadly) but I’m in no rush to go “slumming it” again.

However I did splash out on some new comics. A graphic novel of old EC Vault Of Horror comics and a couple of freaky looking manga’s. Plus a couple of other comics.
Also while we were staggering about looking for some breakfast before catching the train back I was forced just to buy something\anything to hold me over until I got home. I came across the tastiest snack of all time. In an indoor market they sell these freshly baked gooey white chocolate covered in a crispy wrap with a little icing sugar on top (think of a fancy crispy version of those kinder bars without the chocolate). At a £1 each they weren’t cheap and they were so sweet I felt sick after eating two. But I still got one left for tomorrow to look forward to (if it makes it through the night).


Anyway even with my hour sleep I still managed to get some work done and will post some in the coming days.

Something Different.

I can’t remember the last time I actually left the house on a Sunday. For me, Sunday is a day of hangovers, followed by dragging myself to the drawing board to do some serious work. (I’d bet Sunday is the probably the day most comic artist get the most work done.) So when I find out friends were meeting up, plus the fact that I’d actually got a lot of work done on Saturday night for once, I thought I’d hang out today.

In one day I managed to (A) Get up before midday on a Sunday. This is truly a rare event. (B) Catch 28 Weeks later at the cinema. (Yes it’s a good film, more or less.) I lot of people complained about feeling sick after watching Blair Witch because of the camera work. I never got that watching that film but I have to say while watching 28 Weeks later, a little motion sickness set in, in parts. Also way to many shots of someone walking up to a Window/Crack/Screen and looking out of them for a few seconds before something jumps out at them. (On another note, I thought the phrase “Torture Porn” was just the latest buzzword going around and not as big as everybody was making out. But half the trailers before 28 Weeks, were made up of these flicks.) (C) Went with friends to an arcade and watched one friend put five pounds worth of 10p into a machine. The prize? After a while he managed to win a five-pound note back. Anti climax is how I’d describe the mood as we left. (D) Beat the final boss on Evil Dead: Regeneration and completed the game. (E) Finish inking up some work ready for me to take down to the Library tomorrow to photocopy down. (F) Watch a film about the Three Stooges (Technically it was just on in the background as I was working but that still counts.) (G) Update my Blog (If you can call this an update?)

I wish all days were this productive.

Smoke 'em if You Got 'em

I’m in the middle of inking a page of Dirge at the moment but thought I’d share this panel as it goes will with the previous Kim shot.

{Note to self} Stop updating blog late at night, as the scanner sounds like someone’s torturing small animals in the early hours.

The Running Man.

I’ve really been enjoying the little sketch’s I’ve been doing lately. I don’t do them every day, but when I get a chance I like to do a couple in my sketchbook. I haven’t really kept a sketchbook since college, apart from a shared sketchbook I did with friends. So it’s been fun to start one up again.

I wouldn’t say if you were a comic book artist you have to have a sketchbook on the go, as all I’ve used mine for the last few years is thumbnails. But they are good for stirring up and loosening ideas in your head. Better on a piece of paper in your sketchbook (even if it is only in doodle form) then in your head were it would most likely be forgotten.

Town Of Culture.

I was up the Job centre the other day flicking through the part time jobs when a job title came up on the screen that made my little evil heart sing. The job advertised was “Sandwich Artist.” That would be the perfect job I thought. Sitting around all day drawing sandwiches. The only thing that would of made it better was if you could then eat the sandwich once you’ve finished drawing it. But sadly when I checked out the details the actual job was just making up sandwiches. No drawing them. Probably no eating them either. I wondered what the whole “Artist” part was about? If I had taken the job could I then start writing swear words with the Mayonnaise? Put the bread in the middle and the filling on the outside and say I was being Postmodern? My guess is they were just taking the piss, but to be fair though there is an art to making a good sandwich.

Also this Bank Holiday (today) is my Brother birthday. I went out last week to get him something and after a couple of hours of shopping came home with a computer game and felt pretty chuffed with my choice. So my Brother comes round for his present today and as he walks through the door I see his holding a plastic bag. Before I can say anything he dips into this bag and pulls out two games and says “One for you to borrow and one you can keep.” And hands me the games. One was Resident Evil 4 which I could borrow and one was The Getaway which I could keep as he said he already had three copies. I hand him his present and said he’d better open it. He opened it to find yet another copy of The Getaway. Feeling bad I said I’d hold on to it and buy him another game later in the week So as it stands I now have two copies of The Getaway and another game to buy this week. I am chuffed no more.

Anyway I’ll leave you with this poster I saw the other night while walking home from a postcard gallery show in a local café (a couple of friends were in the show and I said I’d tag along and show my support.)


This poster made me laugh in a very childish way.

Bye, Bye Kitty.

Did another warm up sketch today before getting down to drawing. With Dirge part 2 being the last half of the Dirge story and not really being sure what I’ll move onto after that I think doing more sketch book work and trying to get some new ideas down would be a smart move. It was also a nice change to draw something a bit different to the realistic, urban tone of recent work and something I plan to do more once I’ve completed Dirge.

I found this story on the Internet earlier today. Its one of those strange but true stories.

“A bullet that reached its destiny years later
Henry Ziegland thought he had dodged fate. In 1883, he broke off a relationship with his girlfriend who, out of distress, committed suicide. The girl's brother was so enraged that he hunted down Ziegland and shot him. The brother, believing he had killed Ziegland, then turned his gun on himself and took his own life. But Ziegland had not been killed. The bullet, in fact, had only grazed his face and then lodged in a tree. Ziegland surely thought himself a lucky man. Some years later, however, Ziegland decided to cut down the large tree, which still had the bullet in it. The task seemed so formidable that he decided to blow it up with a few sticks of dynamite. The explosion propelled the bullet into Ziegland's head, killing him. (Source: Ripley's Believe It or Not!)”

Its probably the best strange but true story I’ve ever heard.

Marvel vs DC

Just found this online. If you ain't seen those Mac vs PC ad's then this might be a little lost on you.

Just double click on the screen.

Guess Who, Doodle?

I’ve heard a lot of Comic artist do warm up sketches before they start work, so a couple of weeks ago I thought I’d give it a try. Unsure as to what to draw I decided to do some doodles of famous people. I only did a few and they were pretty crap, but I did do one that I thought wasn't to bad and actually looked like who it was meant to be.

(Does help that the guy made himself a bit of a living caricature.)