Freddie Mercury?

I’ve got a soft-spot for this above panel, but I can’t put my finger on why. There’s something about it I like, but I’m not sure what. If I did, I’d try and do it more often. But at least for once I like one of my shots, so that’s a bonus.
 
I’m a little behind on this gag\mime, as I only heard about it this week, but it made me laugh. Why wouldn’t you find Freddie Mercury, in a bush, in the middle of nowhere? I think this page is the start of some dubious Marvel cottaging crossover scene. Save it for the MAX series, Marvel. I can’t wait to see this page make it’s way into the mainstream Marvel universe (which undoubtedly it will.)

FULL STORY HERE.

Calming And Alarming.

I must have watched Inferno about two or three months ago, and I’ve still got the theme-tune going around in my head. That’s pretty good going for a theme I only heard once for a few seconds. Mother Of Darkness has the best theme-tune, but the Mother Of Tears looks a lot better slicking about naked wear nothing but a tunic. I’ve got to look up the Inferno soundtrack on iTunes at some point today.



Just started drawing Issue #4 this last week. It’s both claming and alarming, knowing I’ve got a shit-load of sequential pages ahead of me (I may be a little more open to pausing to do the odd pin-up, this time around, now I can see the end of the tunnel.) I’m both bummed out, and really excited at the same time, if that's even possible?

Quick update on Sketchbook Night (or whatever I end up calling it)… The summer’s too hot for sitting in your room, sketching down a webcam, so I’ll see if I can get something going around the later, chillier part of August. I signed up for Google+Hangout last night, so hopefully before then I’ll do a test night with someone to see if it works ok. I’m probably the worst guy to be putting this together, as my tech skills ain’t great, but if I can get it sorted, it could be a fun event. We’ll see.

P.S. Anyone else who’s on Google+Hangout, feel free to look me up. I’ve really gotta sign up to Skype soon, too, before the kids on the street start calling me a n00b.

Hands On.

Gonna end the week by posting this shot (seems like the thing to do.)

Add To Favourites.

Just been checking out the Joe Dante’s website Trailers From Hell. Cult movie trailers, with audio-commentary from famous directors. You could spend hours on this site, it’s an amazing archive.

My newest bugbear these days is when you go onto Youtube, or some other site to watch a movie\game trailer, and they make you watch another trailer or advert before your video starts. It’s weird to have to watch a whole other trailer you didn‘t want to, just to watch one you did. Or when they make you watch an advert, and it’s longer than the clip you wanted to see in the first place. So many times, I’ve clicked a trailer, seen there’s a massive, long advert before it, and clicked away from the page, and not bothered to watch the trailer I did want to see. Is that good advertising?

Unexpected Comedy.

Bought some new trainers online, and when they turned up today, saw the bag they came in had this label on it.

NOTE: In case my crappy webcam photo doesn’t do it justice on your screen, it’s a little gimp-mask logo with 'PVC Free' written underneath.

It gave me a chuckle.

Peek-A-Boo.

I think this is one of the more creepier shot form Issue #3. It’s neither Supernatural, nor gory, but hopefully still a little unsettling. It’s more like a shot from an old black and white thriller, or something. A predator watching his prey. Trouble’s a-brewing.

Don’t quote me on this next part yet (as at this point it’s only an idea), but I’m thinking of trying to put together some kind of online sketchbook club. I really miss the days of hanging out and sketching with other people. Chatting, maybe having the odd drink, and doodling. Since this has become too much of a rarity in my life these days, I’ve been thinking of trying to get it going again online. Ideally I’d like to do it as a group thing, but looking around on the net, I’m starting to notices group-video conference calls is a prickly son-of-a-bitch. I need to do my homework on it. See if there’s an online venue to host such an event (I’m currently eyeing up Google+Hangout as a possibility). I thought I’d take the first step and put the call out. Maybe do a test night, one night, this summer. Anyone with a webcam and sketchbook is more then welcome to get in contact. I’ve still got to work out all the details, to see if this is indeed a possibility, but it seems doable. It’s just seeing who’s up for it.

Last Bite.

One more nod to Dracula before I have to really knuckle down on finishing up this mini-series\graphic-novel. Anybody with a love for all things Dracula, should really check out this recent Podcast. It will not disappoint (although it would be nice to hear so one talk about Dracula these days, and not mention Twilight.)

I’m gonna have to lay my recent Dracula fixation to rest now, for a little bit, and get back to wrapping up my own little horror project. I’m all stocked up (pleasing my inner woodland creature no end), and now I’ve just got a shit-load of thumb-nailing and notes to work through. Thumb-nailing is very much my version of Tetris. It’s sooooo satisfying when you get a page lay-out to sync jusssssssssst right. It’s dangerously close to orgasmic, at times.

Dracula And Brides.

Having not really done much fan-art before, I’m not sure if this image is a winner or not. I just really wanted to do a follow up on my take on Dracula, and add a bit of a theme to it. I think we can all safely say I have a very dark take on this character. I have a little side-mission in life, to put the bastard back in Dracula. Make you want to throw holy-water at your computer-screen, and bury your hard-drive upside down at a crossroad.

You could accuse this image of being a glorified character shot (because it kind of is), as I liked the original sketchbook drawing so much, I ended up just light-boxing it on to a sheet of A3, and working off that. I just liked the look I got in that first go, and didn’t think I’d get that lucky twice. It was a bit of a weird process, but hopefully worth it. I’ve never done an image off a pre-drawn headshot before. It’s tricky. Also the Brides either side seemed like a nice design idea at the time, but if I had known how time consuming drawing them was going to end up being, in hindsight, I may have gone with something a bit easier. There was a couple of false starts, when it came to drawing these two. I just really got into the idea of having creepy, sexy vampire Brides in this shot, even if it did pretty much double (or even triple) the time it took to draw this piece. But it just ain’t Dracula without the Brides. Everybody loves vampire wenches. It’s a well known fact that Dracula invented groupies.

Panicked and didn’t leave enough time to design a new outfit, so went with the default Nosferatu style, which seems to be the fashion, when depicting Dracula these days (and why not? It’s a classic look that’s aged a lot better than the Victorian Magician look from early stage plays, and movies.) If I had more time on my hands, and could get those aforementioned hands on some decent reference on the Victorian era, I’d love to add to this design by changing his getup. Anybody who knows the name of, or could point me in the direction of a good photo reference book on Victorian England, would be my new best friend.

But there you have it. My take on the old count.

Got the limited edition, Tin-box, Blu-ray of Return Of The Living Dead this week. I really hate buying movies I’ve already got on DVD, but with five hours of extras (two hours of those being the documentary, More Brains), I thought I could justify the upgrade… also, I just wanted to see the Linnea Quigley Graveyard dance in HD, if I’m brutally honest. With this and Demons coming out on Blu-ray within a couple of weeks of each other, it’s been a great summer for Blu-ray releases.

Buy-In-Bulk.

You know that feeling when you haven’t thought of a song in years, and out of nowhere, it just pops into your head. I would listen to this song all the time, about ten years ago. It really reminds me of my art college days. I still think this song sounds mind-blowing. It’s got a hook that’ll take your head off.



I’ve just got one more task on my ‘to do’ list to tick off. I’ve got to make my annual pilgrimage to the local art-shop, to stock-up big time on art supplies. It’s a trip I’ve come to hate, but it feels very rewarding afterwards, when I’m all stocked up for the coming months. Huddled down for the winter with bottles of Indian Ink, and pads of Bristol Board. This chore brings out the woodland creature in me.

Guess Who?

We’re going to take a quick detour into the world of fan-fiction today (…or fanny fiction, as I sometimes call it, because I’m childish.) It’s something I tend to avoid, partly because I’m not great at getting people’s likenesses down when I try to draw famous actors/actresses. Partly because I don’t want to get caught up in the tricky barb-wire that is copy-right laws. I like to see other people’s take on famous characters, but I don’t join in that much, myself.

However, after reading the first two Anno Dracula books recently, and Dracula The Un-dead, I’ve been harbouring some pretty strong desires to have a crack at drawing a certain famous villain. Considering he’s only second to Sherlock Holmes in being adapted in popular culture, I can’t really think of a book, comic or movie where they’ve really get the character’s look right, for me (probably because everybody sees famous characters a little differently.) So I just wanted to put down on paper what I see when people mention the name Dracula. Try and get his look sorted out in my own head. It’s just a small doodle in my sketchpad, but I think it came out pretty well. Maybe even a little better than I thought it was going to. I think it sums up really well how I see Dracula in my mind’s eye. Not really knowing any other Dracula fans, I could be well off-base with my take on this character, but I stand by it. I always see Dracula as sex-pest and bastard, rather than misunderstood, or tragic. An old man with bad breath, who moves faster then a young man in his prime. Not romantic, young with slick-backed hair, and a black and red cape.

It feels good to finally have my own visual take on the character. Don’t know if it syncs up with other peoples, however. I may, at some point, try and work this sketch up into something a bit more substantial (and by “may” I mean I’ve already have started mocking something up, but it’s too early to tell if it’s something I want to pursue.) Now I’ve got the design down, it would nice to do something with it.

Sticking with vampires: When I was getting out of bed to take a shower the other day, I noticed a few tiny blood smears on the bed-sheet. I quickly realized this recent hot weather had started to wake and bring out some nasty creepy-crawlies. The type you only see in the summer time, one of which must of bit me during the night. It put me in a bad mood, and reminded why I prefer the winter. Nobody likes to wake up to bite-marks. It’s creepy.