Everything Taste Like Hurt.

What a way to end 2013... Accidentally bit the side of my tongue last night, and today when I try to talk, I sound like I’m doing a Joseph Merrick impression. Clearly I hadn’t fully filled my quota of dumb blunders for 2013 yet. Not my proudest moment.

I regularly bite my tongue (my theory is I have an unnaturally wide tongue), and I hate it, because it’s one of those ouchies you can’t attend to.

Uploaded.

I’m not gonna do this every weekend, but just a quick reminder that pages five and six have both gone up this weekend. Again, a big Hello and Thank You to any new readers. Hope everyone had a good Xmas.

http://www.babayka-lives.com/

Burning question of 2014? Will I finally get to see Dracula 3D? I know it’s hard to find a favourable review for this film, but I still wanna see it. You had me at Dracula by Dario Argento. Could make a good 3D double-bill with Flesh For Frankenstein. At least they’re putting out a John Dies At The End Blu-ray early next year, so will finally be able to see that film.

Merry Xmas 2013.

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

This time last Xmas, I had just finished reading a book on how to make web-comics, and was about two thirds of the way through drawing the final chapter of my book. This Xmas, the book is finally finished and available, and I’ve even managed to get the web-comic up-and-running. Also, it’ll be nice to get back to blogging without having to talk in code or riddles, now everything’s out in the open. Looking forward to going into 2014 with everyone on the same page.

P.S. hope you’ll tune in this coming weekend for pages five and six of Brides Of Babayka, and a massive thank you to all kind enough to check my site out.

Babayka-Lives.com

I started out on Project B.O.B. (as I’ve been calling it) in late summer 2009, and I think it’s about time to finally lay my cards on the table. A big thank you to any readers who have been sticking around for this announcement. Hope it doesn’t disappoint.

Brides Of Babayka is my new horror graphic-novel I’ve been working on these pass few years. A horror story about six Brits who travel to Russia to meet a group of young, beautiful women who they believe are looking for potential husbands. These bachelors are taken deep into the Russian wilderness to a remote hotel to start a long weekend of wooing and matchmaking, but it soon becomes very clear there is someone/something else also staying at the hotel that weekend. Something that preys on wayward love seekers.

I am launching my book in two ways. Firstly, I am pleased to announce my new horror web-comic www.Babayka-Lives.Com It has the first four pages of Brides Of Babayka already up (here’s a quick link to page one for new readers), and I plan to update two pages a week in the next year. I’ve been slowly dipping my toe more-and-more into the world of web-comics in 2012, and hope to build this site into something special, if I can. I guess during 2014 I’m gonna be regenerating into a web-comic writer\artist. It where my focus will be from now on.

Should you be some kind of handsome rebel who’s too cool for web-comics, and just wants to read it straight away, however, you can pick up the 116-page graphic-novel right away online. It includes 10-pages of bonus material like character sketches and pin-ups, including a couple which are exclusive to this graphic-novel. As well as colour cover. Think of it like watching something on TV, or owning the box-set. 

Rest assure, this will still be my official blog, and the first place to check for news\updates and the odd bit of art in 2014. Page 5 should be going up the 28^th of December, with Page 6 following on the 29^th.

It’s a massive buzz to finally be able to get Brides Of Babayka out into the world. It’s been a long, weird journey up to this point, but here we are, just in time for Xmas. Things are finally gonna go sequential around here. Hope you decide to check it out.

Ladies Night.

I’m aware that occasionally there’ll be a little, tiny bit of female nudity in some of my artwork. So this week, something for the ladies. It’s like an early Xmas presents for the whole of the female race. You’re welcome, woman kind. I nicknamed him Mr Buttercheeks. Let him into your heart.

Considering this could be one of the last bits of artwork I post on this blog for a while, it’s a weird one to go out on.

Hoping to have some big news this side of Xmas, so watch this space.

Not So Jolly Hockey Sticks.

The third and final panel this week. Looks like someone’s trying to make their escape across the moors. I’m sure she’ll be fine. Why a female hockey player is being chased out in the Russian wilderness and who\what is chasing her are questions for another time, however. This is all I’m posting for now.

I hope to do a bit more sequential artwork in the coming weeks. I’m already trying to figure out what to do with any free time I get over Xmas. It’s been so long, I’m worried I might have forgotten how to draw or even hold a pencil.

Getting There.

I’m proud to say I think I’ve managed to post new artwork nearly every week since starting this blog back in 2007. The only time I can remember missing a week or two was earlier this year, when blogger was having some problems with posting images. Apart from then, I can’t remember missing a week (feel free to go back and check if you think I‘m bluffing.) The nature of this blog, however, will be changing as we go into 2014. It’ll be used more for updates and info. Although I’ll still be posting the odd bit of artwork, I doubt it will be on a weekly basis. If this sounds ominous or like bad news, it’s really not. In fact, you’ll probably be getting more artwork posted by me soon (hint, hint), just not here. I guess I’m saying this blog will be tweaked slightly very soon to support something else. That’s all I’ll say for now.

Another panel this week I wouldn’t be posting if I wasn’t running low on art and time to do new art. Probably my favourite frame from this page. I’d like to think it looks like a shot out of a Dario Argento flick.

Broken Landscape.

I shouldn’t really be posting panels from this page, but it’s kind of a mad dash to find art to post until current events align. Plus, I’ve been missing posting sequential shots, so here we are. We’re back in the wilderness, with a mystery figure running over the hill. I would like to try and do one more pin-up before things all change in the coming weeks.

Eek!!! Today’s the day. Never thought I’d say this, but I’ve been watching so much Who, I’m dangerously close to being burnt out on it. Bloated on adventures in time and space. Just one more day of Who binging.

Flesh Eating Plant.

This week’s sketch is a rejig of a drawing from earlier in the year. I really like this design, I’d love to do some more artwork based on this concept. Evil head plants. Scary, but very easy to escape from. It’s not like they could chase you or anything (bit of a design fault, there.)

The Night Of The Doctor.

Wow… I didn’t think it was gonna happen, but (SPOILERS………………….)

The Eighth Doctor just got 6:49-minutes of extra canon. Kind of sucks that he’s not part of Day Of The Doctor, but it is better than nothing. Feel a bit cheated by the off-screen regeneration, though, but I like the cool new look.

Remember When…

Remember when I use to draw sequential pages? Jeez, it’s been a while. To say I’ve been going through a creative dry patch would be a massive understatement. In a bid to get myself back on track, I decided to do a comic page this week. Something I haven’t done since finishing my graphic-novel earlier in the year. This has surely got to be the longest period in my life without doing any sequential work. Was surprised how easily I slipped back into it. I’m starting to think more-and-more these days that I’m better at sequential art, than regular pin-ups\covers.

Also another chance to show off my lovely new bedspread. It’s what I’ll be snuggling under in these harsh winter months.

Mind Control Cyclops.

It’s a hit-and-run update this week. Just a quick “hello” and here’s a sketch of a very intense looking Cyclops. I wouldn’t recommend looking too closely into his one eye. He looks mean and unsavoury.

I’m off to watch the new Doctor Who trailer again another nine times.

Witness The Thickness.

Had to file away the many, many A3 original pages that make up my forth coming graphic-novel yesterday. It was weird seeing three-and-a-half years of work in one pile. Seeing all 105-pages of original artwork in one go. Since I couldn’t be very forthcoming with details on Halloween, I thought I’d post these photos, if only to prove it exist.

Happy Halloween 2013.

If I’m truly honest, it’s been a bit of a lacklustre Halloween, this year, compared to previous ones. There’s not really been the time, energy or money to really do very much. I’ve been working so hard on trying to get my graphic-novel ready to go, my drawing-board pretty much has cobwebs on it, and my Halloween vibe is at a all time low. Too much on my plate to really join in this year. That said, I did find time to get a sketch done. I kind of went lowbrow, rather than spooky, this year. I imagine this happens all the time, right? Caught up in the spirit of Halloween, beautiful women disrobe and ride giant pumpkins around like space-hoppers. I don’t wanna hear the truth, if that’s not true.

Hopefully in November, I can start dropping some big news about upcoming events. It’s getting to the point that I really need to. I swear not much longer, and then I will unveil my evil master-plan to the world. I just have a couple more fences to jump first and then it’s ‘go time!’

Storm Warning.

Some side-on Nosferatu action for this week’s sketch. When I have more time (which certainly isn’t lately…), I’d like to maybe do a full Nosferatu pin-up to go with the couple of Dracula ones, I did.

It’s that eerie calm before the storm, here in the south east. There’s a rumbling off in the distant, and the sky has gone a milky shade of grey. All the local birdlife seems to have made themselves scarce, too. It’s a very still and creepy atmosphere, here. Hope any readers from the south of the UK are safely wrapped up, and indoors tonight. EEK! I’m just gonna finish watching season 5 of Breaking Bad, and pretend it isn’t happening. It looks like it’s gonna pour down any second now outside.

D.I.Y. Zombie.

I have to confess two things about the above sketch… 1. It’s not a new drawing. In fact it’s one of the first sketches I did when I got my sketchbook a year or two ago. 2. I’m not a 100% sure I haven’t posted it before. I’m fairly confident I haven’t, let’s put it that way. Hopefully it won’t look familiar to any long term readers. Also back then, I had this dancing eyeball motif going on in my early pages, some of which you can see in this scan. I think they’ve got a bit of a Daniel Johnston vibe going on (which is no bad thing.)

Spent a lot of this week looking over my proofread copy of my graphic novel. It’s a very weird feeling to finally hold a copy in my hands after so long drawing it. It feels very strange. I’m realizing more and more these days, that to do anything cool, first you have to do a truckload of boring admin stuff first. Which is kind of where I am right now. I guess it’s a necessary evil, but it’s suckling on my creativity like a vampire.

Skull Candy.

A white-chocolate skull snack and a proofread copy of my graphic novel. It’s mid-October and I’m still not in the Halloween mood yet… but I’m getting there now.

In Living Colour.

Not to echo what I wrote last weekend, but real life has been tossing me around like a dog’s chew-toy recently, and I’m afraid once again it’s my creative time that’s taken the hit. I’ve had neither the time or energy to do any art this week, but I did do something I’ve been meaning to do for ages. I cropped and printed out one of my Nearly People and gave him a quick colour job with markers. I think they really work much better in colour. It brings out the guts.

Was very pleased that a nerdy urban legend actually turned out to be true today. Big day for Doctor Who fans today. I have to say I’m a tiny bit disappointed it wasn’t a Dalek story (as it would have been awesome to see the second Doctor in one), but very much looking forward to seeing The Web Of Fear. I’m guessing they must have known about these missing episodes for a while now, with so much Great Intelligence weaved into season seven.

Dino-whores.

As someone who is currently putting a book-jacket together, I got a big kick out of this article. Who knew there was money to be made out of girl-on-dino books? Randy Raptors are officially in and profitable.

Devil Smile.

Just a quick sketch, and a quick update this week. Finding time to be creative and do any art has been a real struggle in recent weeks. Hopefully I can turn this around by the time Halloween rolls along at the end of the month. I gonna feel really cranky if I can’t do at least a little something for it and join in.

Egyptian Zombie.

Not a 100% sure what prompted me to draw a Mummie this week. I have got a soft-spot for them, even though they are kind of out of fashion. Plus it’s always nice to give a nod to the classic monsters… which reminds me… I really need to have a stab at drawing a Gill-man at some point, too.

Embarrassingly I think I forgot to give this sketch a once-over with a rubber before scanning it, so there’s a good chance you might be able to see the rough pencil… whoops!

Pesky Deadlines.

Although you might not think it, through lack of info updates on this blog recently. Things are indeed moving and happening behind the scenes here, and hopefully it won’t be too much longer before I can start making some big announcements in the coming weeks. Over the summer I’ve been lost in a sea of boring admin guff that needs to be worked through before I can really get things rolling. While I’m still very much floating in this sea of tedious admin, I feel for the first time in months like I can see the coast, and now I’m just madly paddling towards it.

All I’ll say right now is that for a horror comic-book writer\artist, there’s a certain public holiday around the corner that would make a good deadline for me to aim for. Only problem is, I think if all goes well and stays on track, I might actually be finished a little bit before then, and it might cost me a little bit to hold back from launching. Or… what I think will be the more likely thing to happen, considering how it’s been playing out up-till-now this summer. A couple of unseen problems will raise their ugly heads just before this deadline, and I’ll probably go a bit over it and miss it. So really, this certain public holiday is a terrible deadline for me, as I’ll probably either be finished before, or after, but probably not on this date. I guess we’ll have to see how the next couple of weeks go.

I’m also very much looking forward to getting back to writing non-cryptic blog post in the coming future.

Mister Smiley.

I guess if I had to sum up this sketch, he’s kind of like a more fleshed out smiley face. He’s evolved a body and bought a jaunty bowler hat. He’s mobile and lives in a 3D world now.

I’m happy to say I have indeed been a lot more proactive this week.

You And I.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any music on here, but I had to post this track. I think it’s my song of the summer (even though summer’s probably well and truly over now.) I’ve hit the reply button a silly amount of times on this tune in the last 24-hours. I just wished I had discovered this song at the start of the season, so I could listen to it in the sunshine.

Tiny Nudity.

The problem I’m finding with having a sketchbook, is there’s always some dead-space left between the sketches. I should just leave them, as there’s never really enough room to draw anything decent in there, but some times I try and fill these gaps. It’s a bit like sketchbook Tetris. Because these drawings ain’t very big, I’m gonna post three-for-one for this week only. What you lose in size, you make up in quantity, with a little bit of tiny nudity thrown in for free.

Wow, I have been so non-proactive this week. Maybe feeling a little overwhelmed with how much I have to do in the next two or three months, and I’ve frozen, and I really need to unfreeze. It’s been a very unfruitful week, and I’ll be happy to see the end of it. Hopefully by this time next week, I will have got my act together better. I’m a little disappointed in myself right now.

Neat Trick.

Been feeling a little glum today and in need of cheering up. I have to say, I did chuckle when I read about this gag. Maybe a good way to keep away burglars, too (if they’re burglars out of a Scooby Doo cartoon or something, that is.)

Nom Nom Nasties.

This above faux 50’s horror cover has actually been finished and even up on my deviantart page for a week now, but I didn’t post it last week, as I thought it may be unfair to any readers of Monster Hit Squad, who were waiting for that final page. But I guess now is a good time to post it here.

This might be my favourite thing I’ve drawn all summer. I liked my previous Ned Kelly Vs The Undead cover, but feel this one looks more like a lost EC cover, which was the vibe I was originally going for. Again, I wish I had the photoshop skills\time to colour this cover up to look like an old, brown, mouldy EC comic that’s super old. I think it’s probably the scariest thing I’ve drawn all summer, certainly.

It’s not until you try and come up with a horror anthology title yourself, that you realize what a good title Creepshow is. It sounds like a 50’s horror comic, and it’s a witty pun, too. I wouldn’t say my title was anywhere near as good as that. I just mashed up Video Nasties and the om nom nom gag. I fall in-and-out of love with my title. It wouldn’t work as well, if not for the theme of the image below.

Note: See how Torror has now wisely been corrected to Terror at the top left-hand side. Not one of my proudest moments “sob!” “sob!”

Just started watching the first season of Hannibal on Blu-ray last night. I’m only two episodes in, and it hasn’t 100% won me over yet, but I am kind of into it. I think it’s an amazingly well cast show. I think Mads Mikkelsen was born to play Doctor Lecter. It also made me laugh that there is a flyer for Chianti wine that comes in the Blu-ray case. That’s good marketing.

Monster Hit Squad: Part 3.

Well, it’s time for the forth and final page of this comic strip. This short story leans more towards humour than horror, but it’s been fun drawing some of the classic monsters, plus a little… ok, a lot of gunplay thrown in for good measure. It’s also been nice getting some sequential work out there into inter-web land. Something I hope to do a hell of a lot more before the year is out (crosses fingers.) I’m treating these last three weeks as kind of baby-steps.

Watched Death To The Daleks last night for the first time. Wasn’t expecting much from it, but actually enjoyed it a lot. Then I watched this fan-made 12^th Doctor intro. It’s pretty epic (I know these days people describe things as 'epic', when they’re clearly not… but this intro really is epic.)

Monster Hit Squad: Part 2.

Time for the third page of this short story. Last week you got zombies, werewolves and gill-men. This week, it’s vampires and mummies. Looking back on this strip now, I kind of wished I had gone with the Nosferatu style vampires, instead of making my own ones up. This strip is a nod to the classics, and wasn’t really the time to get creative. If this story ever sees print, I might be tempted to go back and re-edit that frame. I do have a soft-spot for the second panel, however. Who needs holy water or garlic, when you’ve got a zip-wire attack from above and an uzi?

Tune in next week for the conclusion of this tale (spoiler alert: turns out the ghouls did it.)

The Torror.

Here’s an example of why you shouldn’t letter when you’re tired and it’s boiling hot outside. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t notice my little blunder for several hours, and wasn’t happy when I did spot it. Hmmm, now, do I turn the T into a H? or the first O into a E?

I’ve spent way too long staring at this prototype of a 12^th Doctor Capaldi figure today.

Monster Hit Squad: Part 1.

Thought I’d go a different route this week. Need a bit of time to work on a couple of certain ongoing projects that are taking up all my time recently, so I thought I’d post a short story a did a little while back. I’ll post the first two pages this week, then the third and forth over the next couple of weeks. These pages will be fully lettered, and I think this is the first time I’ve ever posted an unedited comic-strip on this blog. Also, I’m a horror comic-book artist, but I tend to stay away from the classic monsters. You get zombies, werewolves and even some creatures from the black lagoon in this strip. Hopefully any horror buffs reading this will get a kick out of that.

I kind of liked the idea of the Monster Hit Squad. They are just a one off gag, but after doing this short story, I thought they could maybe make a fun idea for a comic one day. Like UNIT, but for the horror genre. There’s always a zombie outbreak somewhere in the world these days, right? That said, I’ve got no plans for doing anymore strips about these guys. Maybe if another comic-book artist took over on art duties, and I just wrote them or something. But truthfully, I think this may be their one and only sequential mission. At least they get to be kings of this blog for three weeks.

Hmmm, would society judge me harshly if I got this tattooed on my shoulder muscle? Why is there not a UNIT videogame or comic-book series? So many cool alien invaders to battle. I guess maybe Torchwood stole their thunder in new Who.

Psi-Fighter 2.

Second time lucky, here. Thought I’d have another try at this design. I’ll be honest, I spent wayyyyyyy too long on this sketch. I’m pretty sure this is my first ever full page sketch. I wasn’t planning on going so epic on my second try, but I did wanna really nail out all the tiny details I didn’t in my first sketch. I’m also a lot more happier with the colour scheme this time around. This is much more the design I was going for. More the concept I had in my head. I think she could be a cool character.

I would love to sit down for a few days and do an all-singing, all-dancing, proper pin-up now the weather is less intense. But sadly this secret project and real life are leaving me no real time to get any artwork done, recently. Hopefully I can free up some time at some point this month. I plan to get some much needed thumb-nailing done today, at least.

Everybody Loves Playing Horsey.

It’s not been a great week for getting artwork done, to be honest. My time and efforts have been spent on less exciting computer stuff this last week. I’ve got some big plans for the second half of this year, but these plans involve many soulless hours at my laptop (maybe soulless is a bit strong?) I managed to do a bit of sketching this week, however. Maybe a bit burnt out on the horror stuff right now. Thought I’d go against type and draw something nice this week. Just two great friends hanging and playing horsey. What could be more wholesome? I’d love to hear someone try and twist this and say there’s anything sinister, or unsavoury going on in this sketch. Just a girl and tiny, purple, potbellied, monster BFF having a play-date.

Is it wrong that I’m genuinely a bit nervous about the announcement of the 12th Doctor tomorrow? I just think the last three years have been some of the best Doctor Who of all time. A new golden-age, if you will. Being a horror guy, I like the more serious, darker tone of the last three seasons (even if they still, after seven seasons, haven’t done a decent Cybermen story yet.) Right now, as a Doctor Who fan, I’ve got my fingers crossed for three things. A decent and scary Cybermen story in the near future. An awesome 12^th Doctor, and some new 8^th Doctor material in the 50^th anniversary episode. The 8^th Doctor’s in desperate need of more screen-time and canon.

So Long, July.

It may be weird to some, but I think July is my least favourite month of the year. Everybody seems to be at their craziest around this point in the year. Sunny weather’s good in the day-time, but you never have the time to really enjoy it, and it just makes everything a lot hardier to achieve. Plus night-time is just torture. Plus, I always think July is when I do my worst artwork. The human wi-fi between my brain and drawing-hand is constantly on the blink in July. I just try and get through July as best I can. Ironically, I’m a big fan of August. You get some warm weather, but you also get to sleep at night in August, too.

Luckily I don’t have to do much drawing right now. What I’m working on is mainly computer based and it’s a good excuse not to be stuck at the art-board. Not that learning new computer programs on blisteringly hot summer-days isn’t its own kind of pain-in-the-arse. Not to give too much away, but I’ve had my fair share of ‘nerd-rage’ moments this week. Wordpress can be a very unforgiving program if you’re a n00b. I did my homework and knew it was gonna be rough, but jeez.

Ned Kelly Vs The Undead.

I know doing faux Grindhouse trailers and movies has been very fashionable these last few years, and if I was a film maker, I’d probably be making my own fake trailers. I’ve seen a similar thing online where comic artists have done faux 50’s horror comic covers, and as a horror comic book artist, that’s something I can join in with. So here’s mine. A lost, grimy horror comic that never was. Ned Kelly Vs The Undead. It’s an idea I’ve been playing with for a while now, and after reading the excellent The Horror The Horror by Jim Trombetta recently, I thought I’d finally man-up and give it a go. I wish I had more time and better colouring skills, so I could give it a 50’s colour job. Maybe put some texture on it and age it up a bit so it looks like a real, lost, 50’s EC style comic (anybody who really does have these skills and is reading this is more then welcome to have a go. Get in contact and I’ll send you a high-res copy.) It’s maybe not a great idea to try and do art in the middle of a heat-wave, but I gave it a go. It wasn’t a pleasant experience drawing this, but I think it came out ok in the end. It is my first stab at doing one.

On a quick note, I think the zombie on the far right is the best zombie I’ve ever drawn. If all my zombies came out like that one, I’d be inclined to do more zombie stuff (not that the world really needs more zombie comics right now.)

Elsewhere… saw this in the world of art and it made me laugh.

Orally Aggressive.

I couldn’t sleep because of the heat, so I stayed up and just sketched this. I’m guessing with teeth like that, he\it is probably not a vegetarian. My advice… don’t get too close, and don’t look him\it directly in his black polo-mint eyes, either.

I have been working on something a bit more substantial, but it’s still in the pencilling stage at the moment. I had a lot of paperwork to fill in at the start of the week (nothing like staying in and filling out paperwork in blistering summer heat), but hopefully I’ll have time to finish it up for next week.

Psi-Fighter.

 

I’ve had this character design in my head for a while now, but this is my first try at getting it down on paper. I think it’s a pretty cool concept. I’m nicknaming her 'yoga rage.'

I seem to always forget one golden rule when sketching… fluorescent markers don’t scan. On the page, this drawing is bright and glows. This scan is a bit drab, sadly, however. Bizarrely, the yellow fluorescent pen has scanned as grey. The orange has come out a bit better, but not much. To be honest, I wasn’t happy with the colour scheme, even before I saw how badly it scanned. I may have another go at this character at some point. I like this design, but I think it needs tidying up a little.

The Generic Dead.

It may be July, but I do have some decent artwork to post after all (if a little censored for the time being.) Nothing gets your message across quite like writing it in your own blood for people when they find your rotting corpse. I can’t even really say what this bit of artworks for yet, but I’ll post an uncensored version, and details, hopefully in the not too distant future. Until then, anyone who guesses the hidden word wins a free cookie (no one will eveeeeerrrrrrr guess that first word.) I think we can safely say the above artwork is probably a header for something… and that’s all I’m gonna say right now.

The guy in this picture is basically my default guy look. Whenever I have to just draw a dude without thinking about it, or planning, they nearly always come out looking like this. Just usually a bit healthier looking. This guy’s kind of got an Orlok The Assassin look about him. I wonder if other artist have a generic, default guy look they just pull out when they have to draw a random male?

Most weekends recently, there’s been nothing good to watch, horror wise. This weekend, there’s almost too much good stuff to see. I’ve got the first Hammer horror Dracula movie on Blu-ray today. Not sure why it’s been unavailable for so long, but it’s gonna be awesome to see it uncut and for the first time. Then the premiere of A Field In England is on tonight, and a new episode of Walking Dead on Saturday. Horror flicks\TV shows work better in the winter months, but I’ll give it a go. It’s hard to get too scared when it’s boiling hot, and the sun comes up at 4AM.

Bagboy.

Not sure how I feel about The Pixie’s long awaited new single, if I’m honest. I don’t hate it, I know that much. I think I need to hit the replay-button a few more times before making any real call on it. It’s not wormed its way into my head yet, but there’s still time. The jury’s still out.

Mr Sun.

I dread to think where my head’s at if this is what I’m sketching late at night. Jeez…! This probably ain’t the smartest thing to admit on your blog, but the summer months are my worse creatively. I’m a creature of cold climate. I daydream about living in a cabin out in the woods some where in a chilly part of the world (even though every horror movie I’ve ever watched has taught me that would be a very bad idea.) If I was a character in Game Of Thrones, I’d probably live in Winterfell and wear one of those really cool wolf-capes. I just feel off-my-game when the suns out. If I were a rich man, to be honest, I’d just take late-june, the whole of july, and early august off if I could.

God, I want a wolf-cape soooooooo bad.

Things usually start to pick up big time around august, but I make no promises about the quality of my work over the next few weeks. I’ve gotta do some artwork at some point this weekend, and will try and prove myself wrong by drawing something awesome. Hopefully have some massive announcements in august, too. I don’t wanna give too much away yet, but let’s just say I spent a good deal of this week buying certain domain names.

My internet has been doing some weird things these past few days. So if I suddenly go silent online in the near future, it’s because the gremlins have won. I’m trying to figure out if it’s my service or if my router’s on its deathbed. I really wish I was more technically nerdy minded sometimes.

War Of The Worldz.

I’m not gonna do a massive review of World War Z, but I thought I’d say a quick few words on this film, since I saw it yesterday.

I had pretty much given up hope on this film months ago. I expected nothing much from this film, and actually got a little bit more in return. It weirdly reminded me of a 70’s disaster movie. A-list star taking on an epic challenge (instead of earthquakes, tower infernos or an overturned cruise-liner, it’s zombies.) Amazing, Hollywood, big scale set-pieces. Also, I love zombie gore as much as the next man (maybe even more than the next man.), but I didn’t miss it so much in this film. Its lack of guts reminded me a little of the remake of Night Of The Living Dead. I can’t put my finger on why I’m ok with the lack of gore in this film though. Maybe because you don’t have to look very far to see zombie gut-munching these days.

I don’t know if ‘it’s not the massive disappointment I was expecting it to be’ is much of a review, but that’s pretty much how I’m summing up this flick. They were probably right to go for a low-key third act. It’s no 28 Days Later, and probably won’t make too many horror fans top-ten zombies movies. If this average zombie movie means Hollywood is more open to big budget zombie epics now, I’m happy enough.

Bath-Time For Yana.

As I round out and finish the extras section for my forthcoming graphic-novel, I thought it would be ok to post a tiny bit, if I cropped out any spoilers. Give a taste, as it were, without giving too much away. I jokingly like to think with this shot, I’m the first creator to ever do slash-fiction\fan-fiction of their own work before the public gets a chance. (I kid, but I do secretly dream of one day writing something that’s successful and spawns perverted fan-fiction of its own… is that a weird ambition?)

I know this isn’t really something you should give yourself a pat-on-the-back for… but I’m quite proud of how the panties on the floor turned out in this shot. If I had known drawing them was gonna go so well, I would have been braver and thrown in a bra, too.

I’ve gotta think about getting a proof copy made of my book very soon… which is a scary thought.

Don’t Toy With Me, Internet.

Never have I ever so much wanted a rumour on the internet to be true. This urban legend of a mass find has been around for a while now, but I never took it seriously until now. Quit being a Doc tease, BBC.

Eek! Nearly People.

Same deal as last week, sadly. I have been hard at work, but it’s artwork for my forthcoming graphic-novel, and is both spoiler packed and just for the paperback edition. But what you lose in pin-up art, you make up for in Nearly People sketches, and this time they’re coming at you in colour. I think they actually look better in close up. I’ve still got a giant urge to do something with these characters… just not sure what, yet. I also really need to pull my finger out and try and do an en masse shot at some point when I free up some time. I’ve got so much on my plate lately, I can barely see the plate.

I’ve just got some inking and scanning to do in the coming week, and then this graphic-novel is pretty much done. Probably just a month or two shy of four years since I started it. That’s a scary thought.

I Live… Again.

Like most horror artists, I’ve always wanted to depict someone crawling out their own grave with an evil grin on their face. Since I can’t post the pin-up I’ve been working on this week for my forthcoming graphic-novel, as (A) this pin-up kind of blows the ending of the whole book. And (B), I need some more exclusive art just for the graphic-novel. It’s time to scratch that itch with a sketch. At first I wasn’t sure who I was gonna draw doing the coming back from the dead, and as I kept doodling, I decided really it should be a zombie. Trouble is, I had already given this guy muscles by that point, which zombies don’t really have. Never the less, I continued. I then decided he should be Tar-Man looking, but I kept drawing the eyes too goofy, so they become just sockets. Then it was time to bust out the markers, and I had planned to go purple or brown, but then I saw my favourite shade… my pear green maker. So he became green. Looking at him now, I worry he’s a bit too Zombo looking, really. Which I guess is fitting as it’s a doodle, and I’m currently reading Broadcast: the TV doodles of Henry Flint. Maybe I should have gone purple? I just love that pear green marker. It’s the only shade that does justice to fresh fruit and rotting flesh.

Even though I’m not 100% sold on every move I made with this sketch, I do still like it.

Had a weird dream this week that all my chest-hair fell out, and I woke up feeling really freaked out… that’s… that’s normal, right…?

Fan Fiction Made Easy.

Feeling bummed out over the current lack of Doctor Who on TV right now? November feel like a long, long way away? I’m currently scratching that Who itch by reading Nemesis Of The Daleks, and playing around with this online, javascript, random plot-generator that writes Doctor Who story outlines. Here’s a bit of fan-fiction I write with just a click of a button posted above. I also just realized through reading Nemesis Of The Daleks that there is a Dalek font you can use when lettering Daleks in comics. How cool is that? Only two problems, though. All my current time is taken up with trying to get this graphic-novel done-and-dusted. And if I was to find some free time to do some Doctor Who\Dalek fan-art… Daleks look really hard and unsatisfying to draw. They’re all straight lines and solid, bulky objects. It’s a design classic, but a nightmare to draw, I bet.

Lone Ted.

I said a couple of times that I wasn’t gonna post anything from Issue #4 on my blog, as every panel was pretty much a massive spoiler. But while trying to put together the final version of my book this week, I did come across one (if somewhat cropped) frame I think it would be ok to post. Just because out of the several shots I had to do of these sinister teddies, this one is by far my favourite. It’s the closes I think I’ve ever come to drawing something that’s adorable. His little hat makes me smile.

I’ve been working out the page count of my book recently, and I think I need a couple more pin-ups to fill up some spare pages. I was wondering if I should maybe do an afterword or brief commentary on the story, but figured people would probably just prefer more artwork in the end. I’m open to suggestions if there is anything anybody would like to see in the extras? The extras section is looking like it’s gonna be at least 10-pages long. I always knew I wanted to do an extras section, so I’ve been saving up artwork for it. I finished the book’s cover jacket this week, too. Hopefully won’t be that much longer before I can finally reveal the title of this graphic-novel. Been a long time coming, I know.

Where Ideas Go To Die.

I talk about thumb-nails nearly every other post, but as far as I can remember have never actually posted any. So here’s something a bit special this week. I have a kind of sketchbook that’s only for thumb-nails (both sequential and pin-ups) which I doodle in relentlessly to draw and come up with new ideas. I know a lot of artist don’t thumb-nail, but I’m a big believer in it. I honestly think you need to try and sketch an idea in 10-seconds, before you spend 10-hours trying to draw it. Just get the barebones of the concept and design down, before the idea goes. I can’t remember who I heard say it, but I remember someone saying something like “you can draw in 30-seconds, something you couldn’t in 30-hours.”, which is very true. Thumb-nails ain’t pretty and mine are very rough-and-ready. They were never really meant to be seen, just used to work off of, but I’m a fan of them. So with that in mind, I scanned a page from my most recent thumb-nail sketchbook. If you go zooming in, you can probably see the thumb-nail sketch for Dracula Descending in there some where. As well as many ideas that just didn’t make the cut. Those ideas are for alternative-dimension Andrew, as he flies around in his space-car with lots of money in his pockets and hot chicks sitting on his lap (God, I hate that guy.)

I’ve been putting it off for a while now, but this week I started on the internal pages of my Graphic-Novel. I.e. all those pages in a book that aren’t sequential or pin-up artwork. There’s usually a handful in every Graphic-Novel, but people rarely pay any attention to them or notice them. That said, I still want mine to look awesome, even if no one reads them. In other words, I’ve been wearing my graphic-design hat this week. Designing the book-jacket will be the big battle I’m building up to.

Buckle Up.

Here’s my reading material to get me through this Bank holiday weekend. Bank holidays are awesome, but if they’re wet ones, they’re a bit like long haul plane flights or something. Saying\typing that, I’m now wishing I’d stocked up on peanuts too… damn.

Kilroy Was Here.

So here’s a gag from the pages of my sketchbook. Not sure how funny it really is, but it made me laugh. Though upon posting this, I am very aware that Kilroy Was Here (maybe the worlds first MEME?) is kind of out of fashion now. Has been for a while. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever drawn a Kilroy until I did this sketch. I remember my brother went through a brief period growing up where he’d draw this little guy on any scrap of paper laying around. I always thought they were a little bit creepy. Some cartoon guy with a phallic nose spying on you. He deserves to be zombie-bait. If he spent more time watching his back for walkers, and less time spying on people…

I plan to bust out my markers and do some serious doodling in the coming weeks.

Another Movie Round Up.

A bit of a shorter one this time, on account of I’ve been a little more proactive of late.

The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue: So this is a 70’s Spanish\Italian zombie movie, set and made in England, and I bought the American Blu-ray. So everybody chip in on this flick. It’s weird watching good looking Italian actors\actresses with dub on cockney accents. It’s actually pretty gory considering it came before the original Dawn Of The Dead or the Fulci late 70’s\early 80’s Zombie pics. This film being made before the big boom in the 80’s makes this a pretty unique movie. All the Zombies look like they’ve just jumped out of a Caravaggio painting or something. Since most modern zombie films are now painful zom-rom-coms with no bite, I would recommend hunting down this flick if you haven’t seen it before.

From Beyond: This movie has been a bit like an urban legend to me for a while now. It wasn’t really widely available here in the UK. Plus any VHS copies that did make it over here were heavily cut. I’ve been waiting a long time to see this flick, and it was a blast to see it uncut and with such good picture quality. I like the Stuart Gordon formula of taking a Lovecraft story and then adding the perverse. Lovecraft’s work is amazing, but very buttoned up. I always enjoy seeing people do unbuttoned takes on his stories. I don’t rate it as highly as Re-Animator, but it’s not far off. It’s differently a lost body-horror masterpiece from the 1980s. Just hoping someone puts an all-singing, all-dancing copy of Society out on Blu-ray very soon, too.

I’m trying to get more into three-panel funnies lately. With everyone on the internet now, it seems like a new golden-age for the gag strip. My favourite at the moment is Sex And Monsters (how could you not wanna read a strip with a name like that?) It’s monthly(ish) and utterly hilarious.

Attack Of The Nearly People.

I guess it’s no secret that I’ve been going through a bit of a dry patch creatively, lately. I always fall into this trap that when I’m drawing sequential pages for long periods, I miss doing pin-ups. Then I get some free time to do them, and my mind goes blank. This seems to happen to me a lot for some reason. I’ve got artist friends who go for months sometimes without drawing. If I go longer than two weeks, I start to freak out. I always like to be working on something. My brain has been a little more forthcoming with ideas and designs in recent days (thank god), so I do have a couple of ideas to be getting on with. The first of which is above.

I like group monsters (or what I would call cannon-fodder baddies) like Zombies and Cybermen, and have always wanted to do my own take on them. So this is mine. I’ve been calling them Nearly People. They’re like walking, evil, full-size human-anatomy toys. Doing this pin-up was mainly about nailing down their look. How they come across on the page and so on. Their innards are a bit fiddly to draw, and for some reason I always see them fighting grotty, sexy punk\biker chicks in my head, when I picture them. It’s an idea I differently wanna flesh out in coming months. People like their baddies en masse these days. I blame video-games.

I was talking to a friend recently about character designs and posting them online. He had a character he’d drawn recently that he was very pleased with. He was very cagey about details like the name and nature of this character he was working on, only that he thought it could be a really cool idea and he was worried if he posted anything online, someone could nick it (I wasn’t sure if he meant he was scared someone would download and repost the actual artwork as their own, or if he was scared someone would just copy his character idea?) I kind of know what he meant, as sadly some people wouldn’t even think twice about taking someone else’s idea (hence why I nearly didn’t posted the above bit of art today, as it‘s a concept I‘ve been working on for a while now.) The nice thing about posting artwork publicly is that you get feedback, and can test ideas out in a public-forum. The downside is you’re never sure when some slimy gobshite’s gonna swim out of the murky depths and see something he likes and try and take it. However, here’s my counterpoint to that. As someone who has just spent three-and-a-half years putting together his own graphic-novel, I will just say this… getting a project off the ground is hard. I mean SUPER hard. This world is full of people who have the world’s greatest idea for a graphic-novel in their head, and they tell themselves one day they’re gonna do it. Maybe they even draw a few pages before telling themselves they’ll finish it later, but they know deep down later will never come. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure arseholes steal ideas all the time (Gentlemen Broncos style), but stealing an idea is only half the battle. You have to be more worried as to whether they’re disciplined enough to actually work hard and do anything with it. If they are… then you’ve got real problems. A good idea on its own isn’t enough. Any success would also have to come from the work-and-effort you put behind this idea. Not that I think anybody’s gonna steal my above idea (or that it’s even worth stealing, for that matter), and all-in-all, I am a fan of publicly posting art. I guess it’s a risk all creative people take these days, sadly, as many of you probably know. Personally, it’s always an ongoing battle as to what you hold back, and what you put out there.

On a completely different note… I’m not gonna lie, I’m kind of psyched they’re showing reruns of Knightmare on TV tonight. In many ways, Knightmare was the Game Of Thrones of the 80s. Minus the rutting.

Last Look.

Since my brain has been a barren land of late, I’ll use this week to post what will probably be the final image from Project B.O.B. on this blog. I’m not saying I kept the best till last, but I do think this is one of my better panels from this graphic-novel. I even left the word balloon on to give a bit of a hint as to what is happening in this scene. This guy has just made a nasty discovery, that’s all I’ll say.

I love a good horror mash-up. I’ve recently been rereading Fiends Of The Eastern Front. I think a criminally underrated horror mini-series. I even like the 2006 sequel (any story with an arse-kicking Golem in it is a winner with me.) It always feels like a very complete concept when I read it, I’m surprised no one ever made a film out of the first one, or more follow up comics. The artwork is amazing in both stories, too. It’s hard to think of a horror comic-book mash-up that comes close to this book.

Movie Round Up.

While I sit around trying to get an idea jumpstarted, I have had time to do one thing… watch a lot of films. So here’s a quick rundown of what I’ve been watching lately, and my thoughts on them.

The Evil Dead Remake: Saw this at the end of last week. Probably in my top-five movies I wanted to see this year. Like the remakes of Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Hills Have Eyes, it keeps enough of the original to make it a perfectly watchable movie. These movies tend to swap a little bit of substance for style, but there is a guilty pleasure in seeing the effects updated in these films. I watched the original a few months back, and one of the things that hit me watching it again is that the Cheryl character is probably the best acted and most intriguing character in the first film. I could totally see why they would make that character the star of the remake. I like the Ash character, but he doesn’t start to come in to his own until Evil Dead 2. It was also nice to see something so gruesome and bloody on a cinema screen again. In this shitty age where only Michael Bay films, and watered-down, monotonous, horror movies with too many quiet… quiet… BOO! moments make it into cinemas. It was nice to see a movie that didn’t hold back and let the blood-and-guts fly.

The Feast Trilogy: This kind of picks up where my last review left off, but… if you’re a Romero or Cronenberg, and you can use horror themes to make comments on life\society, then great. But if you’re a horror director\writer and you can’t do thought provoking… go trashy. I love Shaun Of The Dead, but I fear the knock on effect of that movie is this… if you were going to make a goofy horror movie in the old days, you may not have had plot or even good actors, but some half-decent gore effects and a little sleaze would take your low-budget horror movie a long way. There seem to be a lot of zom-coms now, where neither the zombies or the comedy are any good. Slacker-types, running around making not very funny jokes. Not very funny jokes and weak gags seems to be the new blood-and-guts and nudity. You’re lucky if these film even make an attempt at doing some live-action, non-CGI gore. I’m not saying the Feast movies are anywhere near perfect (the third one I’d barely class as a film), but at least it’s guys in half-decent monster suits running around with some gore and soft-nudity thrown in. Yeah, they have their fair share of weak-gags in these flicks, which only get worse as the films go on, but they do have some redeeming features. Arse-kicking punk chicks who struggle to keep their clothes on. Character survival gags you truly can’t second guess. Some decent monsters make-up and gore. I kind of think this is a fair enough go at doing cheap horror movies. It’s no Return Of The Living Dead, but at times it has brief moments of coming close. It’s a fair enough swing of the bat, these films.

To sum up… less ‘dude’ humour in horror, please. Less stoner\slacker lazy humour movies pretending to be horror flicks. I’m gonna move on before this becomes a rant.

Room 237: Being 31, I’m sad to say my idea of a good night in now is a really in-depth documentary on horror movies, chips and dips. Tragic, but true. Room 237 is probably the biggest documentary on a horror film in years. The Shinning would probably make most people’s top-ten horror movies list. I think this documentary got a rough ride from some people because of some of the kookier theories people put forward in it. For example, they talk about the fake Apollo 11 moon landing theory far less then some reviews would have you believe in this documentary. I think this film does a good job of giving you both some solid theories on this film, and maybe some not so solid ones. If you like kooky-film theories (which I do. There should be more films like this.), you’ll probably enjoy it. How big is Kubrick’s rep, that even when he made continuity errors, people still think he’s a genius? I’m not saying the guy wasn’t good, but no one’s bullet-proof.

Fistful Of Thumb-Nails.

I’m currently back in the land of being creatively constipated again. Since finishing up Project B.O.B. a little while back, I’ve done one pin-up that I thought was so-so, and one Dracula fan-art piece I liked. I’ve also done pages-and-pages of thumb-nails. I guess it’s just a case of working out the bad ideas, until the good ones come along. Like panning for mind gold. At least it gives me time to play around in my sketchbook, I guess. Bottom line, I have no idea what I’m gonna draw next and I’m finding it a bit frustrating.

Right here-and-now, though. Here’s a profile sketch of everyone's favourite count. I think he actually looks a bit cooler from the side. You get the hooked nose thing going on. I’d love to turn this into a pin-up if I could figure out a way. It’s what he’d look like if they were gonna put his face on a coin or stamp or something. Maybe I’ll put a crown on him and turn it into a bit of Anno Dracula fan-art.

Dracula Descending.

Been a long time coming, but I finally got around to doing some Dracula themed art. Pretty much all last year I had a massive urge to do something Dracula related, but couldn’t spare the time, as I was too busy finishing up my graphic-novel. But now I have some free time, I thought I‘d scratch that bat-shaped itch.

Here’s the count channelling his inner-Spiderman. I don’t want to even think how many hours I spent last week drawing and then inking those stones. This was maybe the most time-consuming bit of art I’ve ever done. I’m happy with the way the castle-wall looks (thank God), but I did come close to losing my mind a few times drawing this. I’ve been wanting to try and depict Dracula’s famous lizard wall-crawl for a while now. It’s a trait that has maybe fallen out of favour in recent years when people do their take on this character, but I’ve got a soft spot for it. I was kind-of-joking… but I do think Dracula would move a bit like Spiderman visually. Maybe minus the web-slingers, of course.

I’ve got plans to do some more Dracula art soon. Maybe try and do a small portfolio of them. I’d love to do a sequential Dracula story at some point, too. But for now, hopefully this pin-up will find some love. I had a lot of fun drawing it… apart from when I spilled\sprayed ink all over the place… and the whole spending hours and hours drawing rocks.

Wow, my internet has been so slow these last few days. It’s like going back to dial-up days, waiting for pictures and videos to load.

Just The Two Of Us.

As by now you probably know, what I was working on this week is still in the works. Partly because it’s an ambitious shot. Partly because of real life mishaps. Hopefully the wait will be worth it, that’s all I’ll say. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. A little tribute to the greatest horror novel of all time… and the greatest villain ever.

Until then… as I said last week, there was a character from my last pin-up (now up on DeviantArt, also), that I wanted to develop a bit. I haven’t given him a name yet, but I did get a chance to do this sketch of him this week. I don’t know if I’ve got his look quite right yet, but I think it’s a cool design. He’s fun, but tricky to draw, this guy. I’ve got a few characters I want to develop further in the coming months.

Time Well Spent… Not!

Grrrrrr! Spent all week trying to free up some time and get mundane real-life tasks out the way, so I could get some serious inking done today. This was my plan, until, sadly, about 20-minutes in I knocked my ink-pot flying and spent half my allotted time getting ink-stains out of my trousers and carpet. SOOOOOO FRUSTRATING! It’s put a real dent in my weekly workload.

I have been working on something new recently (which now probably won’t be finished until next week, thanks to my inky mishap… it looked like an octopus had exploded or something.) Spent nearly three hours this week just drawing rocks alone. To get in the right frame-of-mind for this new pin-up, I’ve been reading these very twisted facts about Vlad The Impaler. Also got a new True Blood box-set for the weekend.

Apocalypse Mama.

If you said (C) Mutants, you’re a winner.

This was me just easing my way back into drawing after a short break, really. Single Mum gunning down rampaging mutants in an apocalyptic future seemed as good a place as any to start back with. Wish I had better Photoshop skills, so I could drop in a nice apocalyptic sky. Something radioactive and multi-coloured, maybe. But it was fun drawing them mutants. They’re a bit small, so tiny details like extra nipples and scary, screaming faces might be lost on casual viewers. Zooming in is highly recommended. My first thought while designing this shot was for it to be a Zombie pin-up… but then I thought the world was by now surly bloated with too much Zombies art, so I went Mutant instead. I really liked the two-headed lead mutant (again… wish I had drawn him a tiny bit bigger), I may very well try and flesh this character out a bit more in my sketchbook, and have another go at drawing him at some point. Who doesn’t like two-headed mutants?

Must be tough being a single mum in a post-apocalyptic, mutant-infested scorched earth…?

Live From The Drawing-Board.

Since I’m not currently working on something where I have to be very careful about spoilers, I thought I’d post this photo of a pin-up I’m currently drawing. Found some time over the bank-holiday to start doing some rough pencil layouts, and this is how they’re looking. Hopefully should have this piece done by the end of the week, if the sequential Gods are willing.

Here’s a fun side-game. Guess the bad guys of this pin-up. Are they gonna be:

(A) Zombies

(B) Werewolves

(C) Mutants

(D) Hipsters

Place your bets, please.

Something’s Askew.

This will probably be the penultimate panel form Project B.O.B., sadly. I could maybe get one-or-two more shots from it, but then after that, anything I post would be a spoiler.

Guess I better get my arse-in-gear and start drawing some new work (eek!) I haven’t held a pencil in about two weeks now. That’s a pretty long time to go without drawing for me. Been thumb-nailing like a champ, though, but with no luck. It’s like I need a brain-enema or something.