Dead Space.

Wow, look at all that dead space in this panel left for the word balloons. It’s almost an art in itself trying to draw a decent looking panel, with large gaping holes left in it for dialogue. I’m fairly good at leaving dead space for word balloons, when I’m designing and thumb-nailing a shot. Depressing as it sounds and no matter how many hours you put into drawing a panel, the word balloon is always king, why fight it?

Hell Comes To Frogtown.

Hell Comes To Frogtown is a movie I’ve been hooked on lately. It all started when I came across the poster on the internet. How could I have never heard of this film? Roddy Piper battling humanoid toads. It sounded too good not to look up. Usually at this point with B-movies, you try and hunt down a copy on DVD and find there’s no Region 2 or it’s so rare you’d have to pay a small fortune for a second-hand copy. I got lucky as I found a new copy and for cheap (doesn’t happen often, so I savoured the moment.) I think it a little lost gem from the 80’s, myself. This movie couldn’t be more 80’s if it tried. I think it’s a cult classic. Now all I need to do is hunt down a copy of Immortal Combat. Sonny Chiba and Roddy Piper in a buddy cop movie. I’d watch that… just so long as I didn’t have to pay a small fortune.

Another Tiddler.

Last couple of panels of issue one are a lot bigger, but I’ll just get this smaller one out the way (still probably twice the size of the last one.)

I’m glad to say I’m making some progress on issue two, so I will have something to post in the coming weeks. I want to get a nice chunk of it done before the cruel, chilly winter months set in (kind of feels like winter now, really.) The good thing about doing issue two is you can pick up the pace a little, now you’ve set it all up in the first issue. That, and you know the score better second time around.

Just Add Zombies.

I keep seeing clips and people talking about Highschool Of The Dead online a lot recently. I can see from just watching the trailer why people are getting so excited about this show, it does look pretty awesome. All the fun of a normal messed up Japanese cartoon with added Zombies. Sadly, I doubt it’ll be out here for a while seeing as how it’s only just airing in Japan. Even more annoyingly I don’t think you can even get the comic\manga in this country at the moment. So that’s The Walking Dead and Highschool Of The Dead I’m waiting to check out now. Is this the start of a new golden age of Zombie TV shows? …no, probably not.

SMASH!

Last couple of panels have been nice big shots, so here’s a tiddler. Probably the smallest panel in the comic (if I could be arsed to go back and check… which I can’t.) This is a panel within a larger shot, it all very fancy stuff and probably the only thing I can post from this page without giving too much away.

Also lately, I found another copy of The Corpse Grinders up online. The prints about the same as the Youtube copy, but there’s no long gaps in this one… there is however adverts, but it is free. Go HERE.

Was in town today picking up a couple of things and had no money. So I head over to the cash machine and put my card in. A mum and her kid start using the one next to me. I’m tapping away doing my thing when I notice the little girl is staring at my screen, not even doing a good job of hiding the fact she was trying to either. Just fixed eyed and mouth gapping, staring at my transactions. Now, it’s only a little girl so no harm done (it’s not like a thought she was going to knife me and take my cash or anything) but it was still a little off putting so I look over at the mum to see if she’s noticed her doing this. She hadn’t… she was to busy, mouth open and eyes fixed on my screen too. Like a thirty year older version of her daughter. I was both pissed off and wanted to laugh out loud at the same time. Maybe they were both transfixed by my incredibly low bank-account.

Toolbox.

When I was at art college a lot of the students would carry their equipment around in a cheap, plastic toolbox. It was the right size and long enough to hold brushes, and stopped your tubes of paint getting crushed. Plus the great thing about tool boxes is they have loads of tiny compartments for bits and bobs like rubbers and pencils and so on. Sure, companies made proper art boxes to hold these things, but those things cost a bomb and you’d be better off just buying a toolbox.

So anyway, I like to stock up when I buy stuff from Art-shops. Art-shops are terrible at restocking stuff. If you find a kind of pencil or brush or ink or paper you like, buy in bulk is my advice. You may never see that brand again. A couple of years ago, I’m all stocked up on gear and I decided I’ll treat myself to a toolbox to keep it all safe in. I pick one up from a local shop where I’m served by this tattooed man’s man, who seems very slightly impressed that I’m buying this manly product (it probably would of broke his manly heart if he knew it was being used to store arty things in and not manly tools.) All this Toolbox has done is sat by my desk for the last couple of years with a pile of comics and magazines on it. For a Toolbox, it’s had a pretty comfy life. And yet… my one is falling to pieces. The top comes off, the hinge that runs along the back is broke and it doesn’t lock properly. Must Toolboxes spend their life being carried to worksites everyday. Or being thrown around in the back of a transit van. Being covered in paint or having heavy tools dropped in them. I know my Toolbox leads a mollycoddled, bohemian life, but my Toolbox really needs to man up.

Sinister Smile.

A nice big panel to start the weekend off right. I kind of like the look I got on this character’s face. If one shot sums up what this guy is like and about, it’s this shot. And the less said about the drunk guy in the background, the better.

Was delighted last night when I found they had a copy of a film I’ve been wanting to see for ages, up on Youtube. Yeah, it’s a movie that only has a rating of 2.5 out of 10 on IMDb. But I liked The Corpse Grinders. A movie where the dead are grinded up into cat food, which then makes household cats have a taste for human flesh. What’s not to love? And the poster is awesome too. Ok… if you dislike cheap looking B-Movies then you probably won’t like it. And the print’s not great, and for some reason it has long gaps cut into this version. But I thought it was one of the best films I’ve seen in a while.

I’m gonna have to find some spare time and see what other dodgy flicks Youtube has up.

Thriller.

Kind of glad I’ve got an older copy of Plants Vs Zombies with recent news that they’re retiring the Michael Jackson Zombie in future copies. I’ve had this game months and I still laugh when I see him dance across the screen. If your going to get a copy, don’t download it, get on CD. Then you’ll probably get a copy with him in it. Sure, the new afro zombie looks alright… but he’s no Michael Jackson Zombie.

I can’t watch Youtube videos of Plants Vs Zombies, as every time a sun appears, I have to stop myself from trying to click on it. I’m positive this game is what brought on my fathom air clicking a couple of weeks back. If I was a stronger man I’d just delete this crack like game off my desktop. But then what about all the flowers I’ve been growing in my virtual greenhouse? Maybe I can wean myself off this game with Dead Rising 2 when it comes out. God, I hope they do a good copy for the PC.

Tiny Parasites.

When I’m not complaining about the state of public pavements like a middle-aged, Daily Mail reader. Sometimes I like to draw comics. Above is a recent example. I do like this shot. It’s a little bit of humour before things get very, very dark.

God, my hands are itchy! I keep finding tiny little bug-bites all over myself, but mostly on my hands. They’re so itchy I just want to chew my hands off.