Floating Head Shot.

I’m a big fan (or at least becoming a big fan) of the floating headshot. You can’t use it too often, but it a nice shot to throw into the mix every once in a while. No background, no panel outline, just a head floating in space.

Who Again.

Been watching a lot of the free programs on Blinkbox lately. They’re mainly BBC programs. Been enjoying watching Stressed Eric, which was a great UK, cartoon from the late 90’s that no one seemed to watch. The good thing about Blinkbox is they also have some early Dr Who up as well. Including what I think is one of the best Dr Who stories of all time, The Tomb Of The Cybermen.

Well worth a watch and free too.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

Group Shot.

I’m about just over a third of the way through issue 1 of Project B.O.B. and looking back over the artwork for the first third of the story, I think this above shot is important, as it’s by far the best group shot in the book. It kind of reminds me of the poster for Deliverance where you have a creepy, before and after shot. The first image on the poster is just a chilled out, group shot, which was kind of what I was after here. This is my chilled out, group shot before everything starts to turn nasty. It was also just a shot to show what a weird bunch, this group is.

I drew this panel when I was feeling like complete shit. I really didn’t want to be drawing but I forced myself and fully expected the shot to turn out crap, but luckily I think this is one of the best panels so far. Just goes to show, just because your feeling like shit doesn’t mean your artwork can’t be any good. Sometimes I feel really in the mood for drawing and can’t wait to get to the drawing board and then the artwork itself just doesn’t look as good as it should. Sometimes it pays to force yourself to work. But then saying that I’ve felt like crap whilst drawing before and what I’ve drawn has been crap. It’s a gamble.

Forgot to mention on Friday something I heard while I was out DVD shopping which cheered me up. A noisy couple were walking past (you know the type) and they were in mid-conversation when the girl groans and goes-

“ Not Lord Of The Rings”

and the guy goes, sounding very smug-

“ Yep, I’m gonna teach you some history.”

At which point they both go into an awkward silences.

That good old part of English history, when we were all three foot tall and lived in the Shire, fighting Orc’s.

I’ve Got To Stop Scrolling Down.

Another post about a pet hate of mine (this time non-art related).

I was online Xmas shopping last night. Looking out for stuff I might want or buy other people for Xmas. I haven’t really given it much thought lately but the last couple of years, I’ve been smart enough not to leave it till the last minute and this year I was hoping to do the same. This year I’ve really been getting into boxsets of DVD’s and there’s a few I’ve got my eye on. So I’m looking some of them up and whenever I’m checking out the price, I always see which one is cheapest, if it’s new and if the sellers got a good rating. Then once I’ve done all that, I nearly always scroll down the page to see what the most someone’s selling it for. I don’t know why, as it always winds me up. Who are these people that want silly money? And does anyone ever actually buy anything from these people? There was a company wanting nearly £90 for a season of Seinfeld on one site. A boxset that goes for about £15 in shops, maybe a bit cheaper online and someone’s charging nearly £90 for that same boxset. Anyone asking for over the retail price always seems a bit cheeky and pointless, but who thought someone would happily pay six times over the normal price? I know there’s a lot of idiots in the world but even so. To get to that seller, you’d have to scroll through all these other sellers offering it for retail price or cheaper. How do these people stay in business? If something out of print like a book or something, or just hard to come by then I could see someone seeing a chance to up the price tag. Next time your shopping online and you want to put yourself in a bad mood, just scroll down and let the bad vibes start to flow.

Speaking of paying more for something then you should. I was out today looking at DVD’s and came across a movie called House By The Cemetery. I’d seen this film on TV a couple of months ago and thought it was alright. A bit slow and puzzling but had it moments. I see this film on DVD, all the time for cheap. You could easily pick it up for about £3 maybe cheaper. So why did I fork out £8 for it today? Will, because I saw they’d re-released it with this cover.

That is one funky cover and in true Italian poster art style nothing like the film. Not only does it give away the look of the monster (which you never see until the very end of the film) but also at no point does he stand over a naked woman in a cemetery in the film. In fact, I don’t remember there being any nudity in that film. And I’m pretty sure the monster never leaves the house or basement for that matter. But anyway, that is some lovely (is lovely the right word?) cover art. It always better when they use original artwork then something knocked up on Photoshop.

I also bought a copy of Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. Partly because I like Hammer Horror movies, partly just for the title, which I’ve always liked and partly because it was cheap. But again mainly for the gorgeous cover art.

Going Up.

I have a pet hate of drawing stairs or people on the stairs. It always slows down the action for me in a story. I try and either avoid stair shots or keep them short. I’m ok with this shot (otherwise I wouldn’t be posting it) but as a rule, I dislike them.

I figure most if not all artists have a few pet hates when it comes to drawing. Like cars, animals, backgrounds, ect, ect. When I’m doing a comic, I try and write in at least a couple of scenes that I know will force me to draw something I’m not to happy doing. Forcing me outside of my comfort zone. Why? Because I secretly hate myself.

I always love to find out what other artists hate drawing. It not really something most artists will tell you about. Maybe they think people will suddenly think they’re bad artists, because they can’t draw guns or planes or sexy woman. I’ll share one more of mine, so maybe one day other artist will be a bit more forthcoming with theirs and spill the beans… ready? I hate drawing cats!!! I like the idea of drawing cats, but whenever I do they always look a bit retarded to me. I never drawn a shot of a cat I’m happy with. But at least at the moment, I’ve drawn a stairs shot I’m ok with.

The Kidnappers.

HA HA HA, I haven’t seen this sketch since it first went out on DR Who night ten years ago. I’d forgotten all about it until I saw it the other day online. It does slightly break my bitter, little heart that I don’t know a single other Dr Who fan personally. I had no one to email this to when I did rediscover it. I should really aim nerdier when it comes to friends.

Sticking with Dr Who I can’t wait until The Waters Of Mars this Sunday. Those Water, Zombie, thingies look like a decent Who, monster. Be good to see if it is as scary as some people are saying.

I also see today that as part of channel 4’s 3D season they’re showing Friday The 13th Part 3D and Flesh Of Frankenstein in 3D. How cool is that? I’ve always wanted to see Friday the 13th Part 3D in 3D. I’ve never seen a 3D movie before or at least a feature length one and certainly not a horror movie in 3D. Not really had the urge to see all these new 3D movies like Up that have been out lately (unless it was Russ Meyers 1976, Up. That's one film that should get the 3D treatment.)

The Ugly-Bugly Parade.

I have to say out of all the characters I’m drawing for project B.O.B. this character is the most fun so far. He goes by the name Raymond Moon. Mainly he’s so fun to draw because I tried to make him ugly looking. Unlike most times you drawing someone in a comic, you don’t have to worry about making these types of characters look cool or sexy. It more fun to see how ugly you can get someone looking while still making sure they look realistic.

If I had to sum Raymond Moon up in one word it would be unsavoury and I’m having fun trying to get that across in the comic.

Good Luck (Your Need It.)

Finally got my first wave of submissions posted out today. It took me a lot longer then I’d planned and way more effort and money then I would have liked. First finding hard-backed envelopes has become a big deal. There used to be a couple of places in town I could pick them up (like the post offices for one), now I have to make a big trip to a stationery shop tucked away in a part of town I don’t usually go to. I thought this time I’d try and be a bit clever and buy in bulk, so I bought ten of them. Problem was when you buy something in certain shops, they don’t give you a plastic bag, instead they give you these little arty, paper bags. They look nice with there funky pattern on them but if you get caught in the rain they offer as much protection as… well a paper bag. Needless to say on the way home I got caught in a storm that came out of nowhere and seemed to end the moment I got home. I managed to keep the pricey, envelopes pretty dry. Maybe one or two got a bit of water damages. So then after feeling in forms and printing off all my work over an afternoon, I finally had my submissions ready to go. Only problem is… postal strikes. I could still post them but I thought I’d wait until a day when the strike wasn’t on (the strike started the day I was ready to start posting.) so I held onto them until this week. I heard on the news, they were saying a lot of post was getting chucked, secretly to help with the backlog. I thought they stood a better chance if I waited and wouldn’t end up in a bin round the back of some sorting office somewhere. So yesterday I went down and tried to post them. You have to use these machines now and post them yourself. I didn’t really like the idea but I thought I’d have to learn sooner or later. Sadly it would be later as I fucked up the first three and had to return home defeated with a slightly lighter wallet. After spending twenty minutes last night redoing (and using more of my now precious, hard-back envelopes) I was ready to try again today. This time I got someone there to show me how to do it. Another annoying point is you have to fill in these tiny, little sticker documents for airmail, which I’m guessing, if anything going to go tits up this time it’ll be them. At the end, the guys nodding and going “see, it not that hard really. It just going to be a lot more useful.” And I’m politely nodding but in my head I’m thinking, “God, I miss the days when you could just buy hard-back envelopes without going on long adventures and when you could just hand your post to a bored looking woman behind a desk.” I guess it’ll all be worth it, if they turn up where I sent them… But with the luck I’ve had so far it’s a big IF.

“Snigger.”

Yeah it childish, but seeing the new OGC logo has cheered me up on this grey Monday. Am I the only one who thinks they should keep it?

Full story HERE.