Tuesday 30 June 2015

Ascending Zombie.


Considering June and July are my worse months of the year for getting artwork done, I’ve got a bit of a treat for readers today. I tend to stay away from drawing classic monsters like Vampires, Werewolves and Zombies, as I kind of feel they’ve all been a bit played out in pop culture these days, but that said, I do find myself returning to them once in a while. I haven’t done a zombie pin-up since 2013 with my Ned Kelly Vs The Undead faux horror comic cover. While Zombies are everywhere now-a-days, I couldn’t resist doing this recent image. I like that it feels a bit like a throw back to old EC comics of the 50’s, too. I always like peril pictures where the main character has no idea something sinister is slowly moving in for the kill. I find that concept very creepy.

A couple of quick updates to end on. Firstly I’ve recently just posted pages 69-72 on my Tapastic account this week. Head over there if you want to re-read the conclusion of the infamous ‘bladder scene’, if you’re feeling brave. Also, I’m happy to say that I’ve finally finished doing this year’s Halloween Ecard. All I’ve gotta do now is find a spare couple of hours before the end of October to scan it, and put it together in photoshop. Like most of my artwork, I spent way longer working on it then I originally thought I would.

Sunday 21 June 2015

Summer Halloween Havoc.


Yep… it’s mid-June and boiling outside, and yet I’m currently working on this year’s Halloween Ecard. Over the Summer is the only time I see myself having any free time before the end of October to do it, and I really wanna do one this year staring Babayka, so it’s weird, but it’s gotta be done now. I think readers will get a kick out of it, plus it will be good to get Babayka out in the limelight more later in the year.

Frustratingly, this is my second only ever Babayka pin-up. There’s one I did exclusively for the Brides Of Babayka graphic novel, and that’s about it. I have done two Babayka character sheets, however. The original and slightly different design one, which is also exclusive to the Brides Of Babayka book. And a second one I did fairly recently, which I’ll no doubt post later in the year when Babayka finally comes out the horror closet.

Monday 15 June 2015

The Hulk With Herpes.


Continuing our sneak-peek at Book 2 this summer, today I’ll be officially releasing the first ever character sketch and name from the second book in the Babayka-Lives series. 

A lot of character designs I just have in my head pretty much from inception. I know what I want to do with that character, and how I want them to look, and it’s just a case of trying to sketch their design down. That said, in both Book 1 and 2, there have been a few characters I’ve not been a 100% sure what I’m after with their look. I know what their characteristics are, but I can’t see them clearly in my head yet. Baransky (a new character in Book 2) is a good example of that. I knew I wanted him to be burly and mean looking, but I couldn’t quite get a fix on how his face should look. I think he was the last character I designed for Book 2, and it took a couple of goes to get him right. I like my character designs to be interesting, so I don’t get bored of drawing them over the years, but Baransky always seemed to come out a bit plain looking when I tried to doodle him down. I saw him as a kind of Bluto like character, minus the beard and the sailor aspect, of course, but I just couldn’t zero in on what I was going for. Then it popped into my head that I should draw him like a more human version of the incredible hulk. I just wanted to draw that hulk style massive chin and bird's nest hairdo, as I’ve always thought it was a cool look. Plus making him hulk like fitted with him being burly and tough looking. This bruiser hulk look worked for me, but I felt like something was still missing, and the design was still a little plain. I then remembered at one point I was going to draw one of the other characters with a gross herpes infected lower lip, but didn’t for some reason in the end, so I recycled that idea, and thought it suited Baransky look a lot better. Once I’d done that, I really felt his look was complete. In recent months, I’ve notices he’s fast becoming one of my favourite characters to draw in Book 2. He’s maybe more of a background character in the story, but I thought readers might get a kick out of knowing his look is human hulk with herpes inspired. I enjoy drawing him in the same way I enjoyed drawing Kevin Moon in Brides Of Babayka. I really like characters with unique facial characteristics. 

So there it is. Our first official character from Book 2. I’ll probably post one or two more over the summer before Babayka-Lives returns in august, so stay tuned for those.

Wednesday 3 June 2015

Jonesing For More Babayka.

Should you be finding yourself missing new updates of Babayka-Lives recently during this summer break, why not head over to my Babayka-Lives Tapastic account and re-live freshly uploaded pages 65-68 (the first half of the infamous bladder scene.) Re-read the downfall of Kevin Moon, and again see the Brides at their most sinister, in this notorious instalment. I’d be quite interested in hearing who readers thought had the grisliest death scene so far? Ben? Kevin? Or Julian? No spoilers, but I’ve already had to draw a couple of gruesome scenes in Book 2 recently. I think the second book may actually turn out to be gorier than the first. I guess time will tell on that one.  

Maybe one day I’ll put out a little Yana action figure, complete with tiny bladder and foot-pump. She could have a string on her back you pull to make her say “Fetch The Bladder!”