Thursday 28 January 2010

Man Out Of Time (Zuda strip)

This is a strip I wrote and drew for Zuda, but I never quite finished it (page 6 is only half done). So anyway here it is for you all to read.









Actually, page six shows how organically these pages were made (I really don't like what there is of page six though). There was very little pencilling as I was drawing them straight into manga and keeping the improvisational feel to it. I had an idea of where it was all going, but I wanted to give it some the HUZZAH feeling of not knowing what was coming next.

Wednesday 20 January 2010

More Merlin

I've been tearing through another Merlin book this last week. As I've said before the essence of these is all about speed and simplicity, combining heavy black with comic storytelling (that's Graphic Novel storytelling for those in the publishing business allergic to the term comics).

I tend to rough all these out whilst watching the DVD of the episode, occasionally pausing to take a screen shot, plot out a scene or compare the text of the book to the TV version. Then it's over to Manga Studio for 'ink don't think' approach.

The idea is to decorate the pages with dramatic storytelling that draws in early readers and retains the attention and focus without detracting from the text. Below are a few spreads from the past week that hopefully will do just that.




Sunday 17 January 2010

The Big Eye-Am



Here's another character from Dinlos, his name is Uriah Eye-Am and he's a young cyclops with a high opinion of himself. As you can see. This is from page one of the Big Eye-Am and will eventually be at the very beginning of the Dinlos book. The plan was to do the full page (there are three panels more to come in this installment), but I've run out of time with Merlin, Horrible Histories and various Soap characters all vying for my attention. Still, Dinlos inches ever forwards.

Tuesday 5 January 2010

Vengeance of Voldar

And HUZZAH!! book two The Vengeance of Voldar is under way! Read the intro page for a summary of what went before or better still click on 'The Story So Far" and read the whole of 2009's HUZZAH.

These two creatures above are Ambulas, sort of giant frog-like modes of transport, poised to dive into the depths of Voldar in search of treasure. They've been 'borrowed' from a museum by a couple of Belamite Treasure Hunters eager to explore the newly uncovered Voldar. Along for the ride (kidnapped?) is the museum's curator, an elderly Bhahiri woman. I designed these ambulas during an experiment whereby I attempted to sit and draw whilst child minding. these are a couple of the sketches I produced. One just got lifted wholesale to the final art.I actually wrote two pages, but didn't have time to draw both. That's probably a good thing as it leaves what happens next more open for the next contributor.

And talking of contributors, we have a stella list this year. On top the usual crowd, Ian Culbard, Dave Taylor, Faz Choudhury, Colin Fawcett, Paul Harrison Davis, D'Israeli and me, there's PJ Holden, Si Fraser, Warwick Johnson Cadwell, Geraint Ford and Sean Longcroft.

A few new HUZZAHers there. My advice from doing it last year would be - don't think about it, just jump in early, panic for a while and then work out what you will do. The longer it goes on the harder it gets to do your first HUZZAH. The most important thing about HUZZAH though is that the only person who knows what will happen is the artist who is doing the current HUZZAH, soon as it leaves their hand the next person to HUZZAH takes control.

Friday 1 January 2010

Devil or Angel

Happy new year! And happy new HUZZAH!! Just put two new pages up on HUZZAH!!NOIR. It's been crawling along through the second half of 2009 but hopefully the next four months will see the story build at pace.

With Sleepy Jackson already established it's now the turn of his lost wife Rosalie (or is that VĂ©ronique). The best Noir Femme Fatales often have a checkered past and the same is true of Rosalie. I like the idea of her as being a total enigma - she could be either devil or angel. This is epitomised by mine and Ian's pictures of her from Chapter Two. In one she is a killer in the dark, in the other she is a nurse, a saviour in the light. We don't know which is the real Rosalie. We don't know who she is or why she's doing what she's doing. That makes her all the more interesting for me.


 
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