So Long 2008.

I’ve tried but I can’t really sum up in words how I feel about saying goodbye to 2008. It was neither a fantastic year nor a horrible one. Maybe it’s just that Christmas and a nasty dose of the winter vomiting bug I got a couple of days later that has drained any remaining energy. Maybe it the fact that it’s still 2008 at the moment. Truth is I’m just not sure. But what the hell I’ll try and end the year being positive.

This year had its ups and downs but I felt a lot of important things moved in the right direction this year. Can’t say they’re weren’t some sour moments in 2008 but I can think of happier ones as well. Some people have that hanging kitten “hang in there, baby” poster above they’re desk. I have this image above mine to cheer me up>

Well… no I don’t. But it did make me laugh when I first saw it. I have no idea who this guy is or what kind of life he lives but I bet his a positive person.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.

Merry Xmas.

Wishing you a Merry Xmas.

Christmas shopping all done. Unhealthy snacks are stocked and the presents are all wrapped. I think I’m just about ready for tomorrow. Hope you have a good one.

At Knife Point.

Another panel from my latest story. This shot is very different to how I thumb nailed it. I was coming in at this shot at a weird and awkward angle but when it came time to draw it just wasn’t working so I simplified it and to be honest I think it looks much better for it. It not a particularly big panel either when you see it on the page so it annoying when you waste time on a small shot and you just can’t get it to work. Some times if you can’t get a frame to work the best thing you can do is just simplify it.

2008 nearly over and by far the funniest thing I’ve seen on the net this past week is this list of 15 minute of fame celebrities of 08. I missed a few of these new stories through the year and to be honest some them are just messed up. Like the man who rang 911 when Subway didn’t make his sandwich right.

http://www.iheartchaos.com/2008/12/19/2008-a-year-in-15-minute-celebrities-i-heart-internets/

Out Of The Shadows.

New artwork from a strip I’m hoping to get done over Christmas. I seem to be drawing strange creatures more and more lately. Here my latest creeping out of the shadows.

One Day.

My newest ambition. To one day be able to bend a Frying Pan. You’ve got to feel pretty good about yourself if you could pull that trick off. It something to aim for (like Bush at a press conference) the only set back is you’d probably get through a lot of Frying Pans and they’re not cheap. But worth the investment just for the bragging rights alone.

Full Sample Page.

I was going to put up a couple more panels from my sample page but then thought since I’ve already put the whole page up on my website I might as well post the whole thing as I rarely get to post a complete page on my blog. Like I said before there was a couple more pages to go with this but to be honest it works pretty well just as a single page. I’m not sure when I’d have the time to finish it anyway. I’ve already moved onto something which I’ll start posting shots from very soon hopefully. But back to this page which I drew because I kind of felt I needed a page like this to fatten out my website. Not drawing pin ups for I while I kind of got carried away with them and had more then I did sequential pages in the end. I had this idea for a very short story and this would have been the first page. I just used it as a chance to try out a couple of things. Play around with the layout and storytelling a bit more with this page. Something I’d like to do more in future work. I kind of like the way the slow witted beast the mans on and the eye patch wearing woman come out in the end. Who knows maybe at some point I will finish it or something. Time is a massive factor in these things. I tried to clear some time this week so I could get a big chunk artwork done and then along comes a bloody form in the post out of the blue that needs filling in, eating up more time. I just feel very out of sync at the moment. I can’t believe it Christmas in a couple of weeks. It still feels like November to me.

Another film from the 80’s that back. This time not a remake but a sequel (everybody used to slag sequel off for not being as good and only there for the money but since most movies are now remakes sequel seem a bit more classy.) Pretty much everything I said a couple of days ago in my last post but replace the words Friday The 13th with Terminator 4.

Friday The 13th Trailer.

A remake or rather a rebooting as some people have called it of Friday the 13th. Have to say I hated the idea at first mostly because Michael Bay was said to directing. But now I’ve seen a couple of trailer and with Michael Bay only producing it, it looking in better shape. Just have to wait until 2009 to see.

Nightmare Image.

Nightmare because it took twice as long to draw as maybe it should have. Had the thumbnails and basic idea sketched down and started drawing the Zombie in the foreground but when it came to the background it kind of got a way from me for a while. My idea at first was to just have someone (some funky looking chick) shooting as the undead closed in around her and this was what I spent ages trying to get down on the page. I drew and redrew it but to me it was always lacking something and I was never really happy with the figure work or the look of the Zombies. The top thumbnails show what I was going for.

After a couple of nights of getting no where’s with this shoot I decided to be brave and rub out what I had been drawing and start again the next day leaving only the foreground Zombie. I went right back to the thumbnail stage and decided it would be a better image if I had the character hanging off something shooting down. I quickly got together some reference for an industrial setting for the background and to give the funky lady something to hang off. This change of direction felt a lot better and made the image much more exciting as well. I think the design of this shot is a lot better then what it would have been. What I really wanted was for this to be an action scene and I had decided pretty early on that I was going to try and get a splatter effect going in this shot. A lot of flicking of Masking fluid with Plastic cutlery to get those blood sprays. Since it was Zombies I thought it needed to be a bit gruesome.

Anyway for all the problems and wasted time this pin up throw up I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out all in all. There were a couple of points where I thought I might just give up on this shot and move on to something else but I’m glad I stuck with it and even liked it enough to put it up on my redesigned website.