This is page one of H.G. Smells. I've attempted to accurately recreate a hot September first-day-back-at-school in the 70s on Grove road in Parkstone (if anyone knows it). Obviously this is home time. The stories should run in a kind of real time so this story is happening a few hours before Kackernory is telling his bedtime story not too far away. I feel that the characters in this story are already well rounded in my imagination and in my scribbled notes and layouts, hopefully this comes across in this first page.
![[huzzahnoir2.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLdDLBBPfTSXRPWrnWAtBD0aOZCN-zriqioFPJjPJkoxY_aiXqD070FccoLIdFOmwjNgUsYhjDfS9Rby_Ma7JXa-i5imDIl2Ytku1_gMjs3jRgRlOJMALTP_pDI6ovoek8_Uhz-zi7Eum/s1600/huzzahnoir2.jpg)
13 comments:
Another nice page Rob,
love that childhood thing of making everyday objects into the fantastic.I'm sure we've all been there.
Best wishes James
Now I've found you blog and wonderful artwork I'm never going to leave. Never.
Lovely stuff.
Nice to see how you've done things differently from an earlier version you let me have a peek at. The drawing is just great, I really like the figure of the mum, you've encapsulated a lot with a few lines, what she's wearing, the slippers - it's evocative of the time and it's lovely. The tone and texture work you're doing looks wonderful too.
Is your use of landscape panels going to be consistent throughout the book, pretty much?
Cheers James and Paul (my blog's got a squatter!)
Hi Faz, no I hadn't planned to go with landscape panels for all the stories (I'll stick to the fixed format for Kackernory). I have to admit to a fondness for long panels either vertical or horizontal though.
In fact, now I look at it, the 4 pages I'm trying to get done before Xmas are pretty much landscape panel free! At the moment they're just scribbles in the sketch pad with mince pie crumbs all over them.
Ah, do you eat like the cookie monster too? I'm always getting funny glances for that.
Excellent. Really excellent. Of all things I love the 'I try really hard' line and the way you have that balloon. But also the sideburns and the platforms.
When I'm drawing someone speaking I always say what they're saying over and over in my head (and sometimes out loud in a mad-bloke-in his-shed kind of way. I must have said that "I try really hard" line hundreds of times and looked like a right bitter and twisted old bugger the whole time I was drawing it.
Hey, it's great here! This work's brilliant. I saw your big orange Dr Who in the mag when it came out and I think it's a cracker. Like the 'Colin in the sea of Baldies' in the new one too.
Glad you like it, Warwick. have to say, I can't stand that Colin pic myself - too ambitious with too little time to do it justice. Actually, I've got a dream job for Doctor Who Adventures coming up - a kind of encyclopedia of classic Who monsters! What fun!
Just popped into say you have a great blog here with lovely work, Rob. Faz recommended your blog to me - wish we'd known about you when Les Cartoonistes were still going... Keep up the lovely work...
Hi Brad
Funny you should say that because you did actually feature my work (uncredited) in the Essential guide to World comics, which, by the way, is one of my favourite books. I was honoured to get a picture in there. It's a fab book, everyone should have a copy.
I did the cover to Glory Glory, on page... (hang on... see - it's always to hand! ) ...78.
Cheers
Rob
Thanks for the kind words about the book, Rob, and I'm really sorry we didn't credit you. If we ever do a second edition (Tim and I talk about it from time to time - and lord knows it needs updating), I'll make sure you get a credit, and we'll feature more recent work from you.
I'm planning a 'Who Monsters' image for the blog in the next week, drawing Dr Who monsters for a job? That's like getting paid for eating cakes.
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