Merry Christmas.

Just a quick post to say Merry Xmas and hope you have a good one.

I’ve hopefully got at least two days of lazing around, eating junk food and turkey sandwiches, and watching season 3 of Dexter on DVD. I’d usually post one of those freaked out kids on Santa’s lap picture about now, but I think they’ve fallen out of fashion as I haven’t seen any about this year online. I had to go hunting for this year’s one (bad internet, making me do things for myself), but it was worth it.

Up In The Hills.

Another shot from the latest issue I’m working on.

Still not really in the Xmas spirit considering it’s only a few days away. Last years Xmas went on forever, this year’s Xmas seem a bit more low-key.

Been really getting into watching Frank Henenlotter movies lately. Watched Brain Damage over the weekend, which was an amazing film (trailer for which is a few post down.) I rate him alongside Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson in 80’s greatness. I’ve already ordered his latest movie Bad Biology and will probably spend the early part of next year trying to hunt down a copy of Frankenhooker. I swear I used to see it on DVD all the time when I didn’t want a copy. Now I do, it’s no where to be seen. Same with the Basket Case sequels. I was a fool. Here the trailer for Bad Biology.

Nature Walk.

Probably one of the better countryside shots so far, this shot is more nature in the foreground, characters in the background. This was the shot were I really tried to get a handle on drawing the outside world. I do like the lay-out of this panel. Who would have thought drawing trees could be fun? I’d still love to see these nature shot in colour, but have neither the time or colouring talent, sadly.

It’s mid-December and I’m not feeling Christmas-y at all, yet. Still feels like late November to me. I need to get into the Christmas spirit. I need to watch some Xmas movies (maybe find a copy of Gremlins) or High-Five a snowman or something.

The Sequel That Never Was.

Come across a trailer for an unrealised (and maybe unofficial) Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel (or prequel as Wiki says.) I don’t know if it’s unfinished or something, but it sad it’s not available. I’d love to see it. Chop Top is such an underused character and one of the best things about the second movie. Oh well… I’ll just have to hold out for Leather 3D.

Shall We?

Decided to leave the speech bubble on this shot as I think it adds a bit of spice without giving anything away. This is my first real crack at trying to get some countryside into issue 2. More to follow in the coming weeks. I spent a fair bit of time online trying to research the right type of landscapes, and using magazines like National Geographic for references. I think it’s a pretty good shot to start off with, but doing these scenes, I realized how hard it is to do a decent nature shot without colour. With no greens or browns or blue skies. Hopefully they still have something to offer?

Been checking out this cool Moebius Tumbler. Moebius always kind of slips off my radar as his work is so hard to get a hold of in this country. I’ve heard rumours that one of the big American publishers owns the rights to his work and won’t let them be published here (not sure how true that is?) but it’s a little mystery that I hope gets solved one day, soon.

Stepping Outside.

There’s a good chunk of issue 2 that takes place outside. I just wanted to open the story up a little bit and also had an urge to put some country scenes in the story before it gets all Claustrophobic in later issues. I’m also hoping it will add a very slight Fairy Tale quality to the book.

Speaking of Claustrophobia…

Still a snowy wasteland around here. I was kind of hoping today would be the day it started to die down, but no such luck. I was hoping to avoid going out in it, but this weather means business. I get the feeling it could be around for days. I now have two major regrets. One, I promised to get myself some decent footwear for snowy weather after the horrors of last winter. All I have at the moment is a pair of Adidas trainers with no grips. It’s not that I forgot, it just I never thought it would snow this side of Xmas and would ironically probably be buying those shoes about now, if Mother Nature hadn’t been one step ahead of me (the bitch.) Two, I regret not owning an MP3 player. If I do have to go outside in this weather, not only did I want some decent boots, but I would also want this as my theme tune as I’m trekking through the snow.

Snowed In.

Funny that now I’m too old to enjoy the snow and it’s nothing but a burden, it seem to snow regularly every year now. But anyway, I’m snowed in, which is fine as I stocked up on food at the start of the week and don’t really have anywhere to be anyway. It’s all a good excuse not to leave the house and just get on doing artwork. I just wish the snow had hit a little later so I could have got my copy of Brain Damage in the post first. This film has been top of my to see list for a bit now.

Also I’m regretting not having a copy of The Thing on DVD, too. I’ve got such an urge to watch that film at the moment for some reason.

Did my Xmas shopping this year in 10 minutes online this weekend. And to think… I use to have to walk around shops for hours in the past like a caveman or something.