Wasted #5 -So fresh and so Clean!

I’m working on the next issue of Wasted right now –number 5, and I’m really looking forward to this one coming out in the fall. It’s gonna have Gary Erskine on inks, and my pencils as seen here. I’m to have 5 pages in this issue.

Going forward, Johnny K and the ‘War on Drugs’ strips, will now have the latest and greatest art I can make. Wasted has now burned through the inventory of pages that I’d had banked over the last few years- including the ones I’d originally done for Wasted’s predecessor, ‘Northern Lightz’ magazine. Over the last few issues I think my art has been a bit uneven in places, mainly due to some of it being done 2 years ago! However, that’s all history now. I’m really happy to get my newest stuff out there, as I’ve learned a lot and improved dramatically in how I approach my pages. I think that the stories will be stronger for it. When compared to the older WOD work, I’m now trying to be more dynamic and exciting in the layouts and the ‘movement’ of my art…I hope it shows!

I’ll post up here when it hits the stands in the fall.

Cheers!

Get the lead out!

It occurs to me it’s been a little while since I actually posted any new art here on my ART blog. There’s a good reason for that, and it’s that things have been crazy busy with the cons, travel, and life in general. I’m also working on stuff right now that won’t be published for a while, so it’s a bit too early to show it off just yet. That said, I suppose I can always throw a sneak peek of a rough panel from page 2 of the next ‘War on Drugs’ strip ….


At the moment I’m working on 3 projects. They all have deadlines that are WAY to close for my liking. Basically, I’m a very busy boy right now! I’m penciling Wasted’s pages for issue 5, then I’m doing 7 pages for ‘ Holmes INC.’ with FTP. ( For folks that like art production stuff , very early details of that can be found over here.) I’ll be talking about FTP and Holmes INC more as we get closer to the launch of this one. Lastly, I’ve got a long delayed 8 pages for the O.G. over at 7th wave productions. Hang in there Luke, they’ll be over to you soon, I swear!

Many thanks to all the folks who came by the Fan Expo last weekend and said hello! I really enjoyed my 2 days there, and it went really well for me. I sold out of my Wolverine prints, (don’t worry I’m making more for the next con), all the Wasted magazines I had, and my sketchbooks also sold out! I’m planning to take some time and re-do the format for my next sketch book. I’m thinking I’ll balance it a bit by including both finished pages (like the Dredd page here)and the ‘sketchier’ stuff like Johnny K above. What do you folks think? Do you like to see ‘sketchy’ stuff, finished art, or both from the artists you like? I’m certainly gonna think this one over before I put out my next sketchbook. Feel free to LMK what you think. I’m just an email or comment post away.

A special shout out to the guy who brought me the pre-made, home-made ‘Wasted’ War on Drugs PAPER for me to draw on. My photo was taken a few times while I was sketching a Narcobitch for him, so if I get a picture I’ll post it up here to show you what I’m talking about. Trust me, it was a very cool!

Now back to the drawing board.

Bristol con wrapped. Toronto Fan Expo soon!

I’m back from what can only be described as a fantastic weekend at Bristol con. It was really tiring, but very, very enjoyable. I caught up with some old friends I hadn’t seen in a while, and made lots of new friends as well.

Big shouts out to the Glasgow light house crew - Jamie, Vince, Rob, Gary. Thanks for the hospitality, curry lunch, and translating the heavily accented Glaswegian waitress for me!

Bristol is a beautiful town. I had the good fortune of arriving 2 days before the con to visit friends. Those days were amazing. I lucked out with the weather, 25 and sunny the whole time I was there. Perfect weather for having a few pints, eh Paul?

The con itself was a bit weird in that it was split between 2 hotels that were a 5 minute walk from each other. I’ve never seen any con set up like this before, but it worked out fine. Upon arrival I realized a great bit of good fortune. Purely by luck, I was stationed right beside the Futurequake table! Awesome. This meant that Dave, Richmond and myself were able to spend time chatting away when there was a lull in the action. Top chaps those guys. The show was busy for me. I sold quite a few prints, ‘Wasted’ magazines which I was able to sign for folks, and sketched away for free as I’m known to do. With the exception of Nick Dyer’s Dredd, I didn’t really get any sketches myself. I was solo, and didn’t want to leave my table for very long. Big props to those kind folks who brought me caffeine to keep me going, you guys are saints.

Being the organized fellow I am, I forgot to pack my camera. So I’m only able to show one picture, and it looks like this. I’m there with Nick Dyer, Richmond Clements and Jim Campbell. I know a number of folks took my picture, and I’m hoping a few of those make it onto facebook or my email in basket. Next year the camera will be the first thing I pack.


My next order of business after catching up on some pages that I owe to Luke, is the Toronto Comicon Fan Appreciation event on June 5th and 6th . Details for that are over here. I’ll have some Wasted and Futurequake magazines with me so drop by and pick one up…they’ll finally be available outside of Europe!

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY…and GUY DAVIS

THE GOOD

Issue #4 of Wasted is now out! It’s available at newsagents across the U.K., and also available over here. This issue’s cover features ‘Narcobitch’ who’s a character that I created with Alan Grant. The coolest thing about this cover, is it’s the first time I’ve seen one of my characters drawn by another comic artist professional. This time out, she was drawn wonderfully by Dave Taylor of Judge Dredd and Batman fame.


THE BAD

There was a mix up with some of my pages and the wrong art was used. Some of the WOD strips I drew were done years back, before I had a vague clue of what I was doing. Now that I’ve learned a thing or 2, (thanks Ty Templeton!) I’ve redrawn many of these old strips to a much better standard. Unfortunately, the new ones were not published, but the old ones accidentally were... So, if you get this issue please print out these 3 pages and glue them over the published ones. ;-) There is talk of doing a Wasted ‘war on drugs’ collected magazine, so all will be made right in the future. But for now…this is the best I can do. The Narcobitch strips were wonderfully inked by Gary Erskine BTW.





THE UGLY

One or 2 of the panels I drew on the old, accidentally published pages. Trust me.


GUY DAVIS

The second time I’ve seen one of my characters drawn by a comic professional was at a con here a few weeks ago. Guy Davis gave a great seminar and then drew up Johnny K from the War on Drugs in his own smooth style. It looks a lot like this:



For folks in the U.K., a quick reminder that I’ll have a table at Bristol-con this weekend. (ash cloud willing that is!) Details can be found over here.


Cheers!

My Interview at fan expo -The video

Here's something neat. I remember giving an interview at the last con, and then I promptly forgot all about it. That was until I was directed to this link

I recall the interviewer being very cute, and the surroundings being very LOUD, so that I had trouble hearing her questions. We talked about quite a few things, but she went with the Frank Quitely angle. See home many times I name drop the guy...Geez, how embarrasing!

I would put the video up here, but I dont own it, so please click over here to check it out.

More Dredd for your head.

Pages 4 and 5...I'll post up the inks soon.
Cheers,
GQ

DREDD-FILLED update!

Time really does fly! Hard to believe I’ll be over in the U.K. at the Bristol con in a few short weeks. Besides prints and sketchbooks, I’m bringing along 6 pages of Judge Dredd sequential samples for the 2000ad Editor. ‘Tharg’ sent me a great little script written by Gordon Rennie, called ‘Last Respects’. It has already been published, but I’ve not seen any of it yet.**

This time out I was asked to make the pages “less cartoony” than some of my previous work in Futurequake. So…if my art looks a bit different this time out, that’s probably why. Hopefully I was successful in this. I tried to think more like Cliff Robinson and less like Humberto Ramos on these pages. I also made sure I did some very tight pencils, even though I’m inking these myself. That’s due to the fact that I plan to send these samples to some other publishers who like to keep the penciller and inker work separate, unlike 2000ad.

These are the first 3 pages, and the next 3 are basically a massively crowded gunfight…you know, the fun stuff to draw!!


**( Rest assured, I’ll track it down when I’m over there and compare it to mine!)