The True Face Of Horror.

I’m not gonna lie, I hope ‘tit cosplaying’ is the next big thing. Just as I thought I couldn’t love boobs anymore. They really are the gift that keeps on giving.

Books Of The Dead.

I kind of like the texture I’ve got going on in this frame. For a shot that’s basically two girls watching a guy walk up some stairs, I think it’s got some creepy things going on.

Finally finished off Dracula: The Un-dead last week. Kind of liked it right up until the end. For a book that’s meant to be a sequel to Dracula, ironically I enjoyed it up till Dracula turned up. I wasn’t that keen on their take on Dracula. One of the greatest villains of all time is kind of softened for this tale. I don’t really consider this a sequel to Dracula. Just a piece of fair enough fan-fiction that misjudges its main character. It’s actually much better written then I thought it was going to be, and doesn’t drag as much as I was worried it might. But if you’re reading this for Dracula himself, I think you probably will be a bit disappointed… unless you like younger, more romantic Dracula with a good heart… which let’s be honest, a lot of people probably do. If you want good Dracula fan-fiction, I’d go with Anno Dracula. That said, I don’t think this novel is a complete lost. I won’t lie, I got something out of reading this book… just maybe not enough. If they had put the ‘bastard’ back in Dracula, I think I would have liked this novel a lot more.

With Dracula: The Un-Dead finally finished, I got a chance to read the book I got for my birthday earlier in the month. The Complete History Of The Return Of The Living Dead. I really love this book. Could have maybe done with having more artwork in it (the few pages of William Stout drawings are amazing), but all-in-all, this book is fantastic. With what artwork they do have, plus behind the scenes photos, interviews and so on, I really enjoyed it. How could you not love a book that celebrates such an awesome movie?

Chapter One.

Man… I am sooooo looking forward to this book. Wish the audio was a bit better in this video, though.

Walk Away.

I’ve tried not to give too much of the identity of the attacker away in these last few panels. This is about as much as I’m willing to show. If you can work it out from this one shot, give yourself a pat on the back.

Watched a documentary on Japanese Giant Salamander last night. Man, those things are freaky. Awesome… but freaky.

I’m Manning-Up As Fast As I Can.

As I start to come to the end of the third issue, this being a horror comic, a lot of characters start dropping like flies. I’ve been drawing this story now on-and-off since mid\late 2009. I’ve been building up and drawing these characters, day in, day out, for a while now. I’m starting to feel a bit sad to see some of them go. There’s something very final about drawing a character’s death scene. To know I’ll probably never draw them again after spending so long trying to bring them to life on the page. I’m not talking about being majorly bummed out, or anything so dramatic, just a little mournful. I don’t know if this is common when drawing a long-term project? I just never banked on being a bit sad to see some of them go. Lesson to be learnt from all this? Don’t become too invested in a character if you plan to have them killed brutally, just for the sake of narrative. Maybe I should have stuck to short stories?

While a take a second to man-up and take a few deep breaths, you should listen to this track. I first heard it years ago on Beavis And Butthead. Still sounds pretty good to me. I finally got around to hunting down a copy on iTunes this week. I would 100% file this song under audio-squatter, so beware.

Potential Cover.

I finished this cover well over a week ago, and I still have no idea if I’m gonna use it or not. There’s things about it I like, and then there’s things about it I don‘t. The way I’m feeling right now, it may well come down to a coin toss. I went through a few days of thinking it was good enough, but in the last couple of days, I’ve gone off it again. I’ve got a few pages of Issue #3 to finish up before I have to make any real decision. I can’t believe after a whole week, I’m still on the fence.

It snowed again last night. Not the good kind of heavy snow fall that lays thick and stops play (I.E. giving you a good chance of getting off work, come Monday morning.) But just enough snow to top-up all that dangerous ice that turns the pavement into a death-trip in this weather. You can’t see it, but I’m currently leaning out the window, shaking my fist at Mother Nature. That icy Bitch.

Found myself late-night shopping online again this week. I really need to get over 3D. I was looking up two things. 3D HD cameras (a lot cheaper then I thought they were going to be), and night-vision goggles (a bit more expensive then I thought they would be.) I can’t justify splashing out much needed money on a pair of night-vision goggles, as cool as they may be. And yet a little voice in the back of my head keeps saying “if there was some kind of apocalypse, those babies would pay for themselves.” The little voice in the back of my head makes a good point.

Man\Baby.

I guess it should be ok to post this now. A friend of mine also turned 30 in the last few weeks, and I was asked to draw something for a book that was being put together for his birthday. It’s well after his birthday now, and I’m 99% sure he doesn’t read this blog anyway, so here’s my page. I went for a cheap laugh with my concept (Grown man dressed as baby = funny…ish). I think it turned out alright. It was a nice chance to play around with my colour-markers, doing this shot. Not sure how much my friend liked being drawn as a man\baby, but we’re still talking, so he couldn’t have hated it that much.

I can’t decide if being taken out by a dentist is a good way to go or not for a horror writer? Anybody who already has a fear of the dentist should probably give this story a miss. I’m very glad he pulled through.

Trapped.

There’s something a bit Sergio Leone about this shot, I think. All those teenage years of watching westerns are finally starting to pay off.

I was thinking of posting something else this week. To have a break from all the sequential work I’ve been doing of late, I decided to have a crack at doing a cover for Issue #3. It’s all scanned and ready to go, it’s just I’m not sure how I feel about that particular image yet. I can’t decide if it’s good enough to be a cover for a start. I’ll leave it for a few days and see how I feel about it then. I’m sure I’ll post it at some point even if I don’t end up using it. I just want to come to a decision on if it’s cover worthy or not. The jury’s still out. I’d also post the page from last year I ended up redrawing, but sadly that page gives too much of the plot away, and would be a bit of a spoiler… actually it would be a massive spoiler.

Big thanks also for all the birthday wishes from the last couple of days. Turning 30 sucks, but sitting around eating birthday-cake, and having a Dexter season 5 DVD marathon, while drinking leftover vodka from Xmas has been very enjoyable.

I Agree With The Internet.

The ‘6’ in Resident Evil 6 does look like a Giraffe getting a blow-job. See…?

Watching this after giving up on video-games a few years back is painful. Right now, the way I’m feeling, I could happily snap all my pencils in half (which would be a lot as I bought a 10-pack just before Xmas), blow what money I’ve got saved up on an X-box 360, and just spend the rest of my days slaying the un-dead. Buy copies of games I had to miss out on like Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising or Dead Island. Maybe buy one of those little fridges to keep cold cans of coke in. I can’t remember the last time a shot a digital Zombie in the face… sigh… Plus Gamers are very in these days. I know Gamers. I could be in the in-crowd, for once. No one likes guys who draw horror-comics.

Bit the bullet this week and bought a book I’ve been kind of wanting to read, and yet avoiding for a while now. Dracula: The Undead is the ‘official sequel’ to Dracula, written by Bram Stoker’s great grand-nephew Dacre Stoker. The book didn’t get very good reviews form Amazon, where I bought it, but I have been wanting to read it since it was released. I probably wouldn’t have “bit the bullet” if I had noticed this book was 413 pages long, however. That’s a big book to get through for something that so many people think is terrible. I’m only twelve pages into it and not hating it yet. Much like Anno Dracula, I’m getting the feeling there’ll probably won’t be much Dracula actually in it. I like stories done in the Dracula Universe, so I’ll give it a shot. That said, it does say only on the second page that when hit by sun-light, Dracula turns to ash… you sure this guy’s related to Bram Stoker? I want an DNA test… that's film Dracula.