WASTED #5 details and update.

I just got my copy of Wasted #5 in the mail, and finished reading it up.

As always, it’s a hefty comic tome, as it has 64 pages! That’s a good read for your money in my book. The ‘War on Drugs’ I pencilled up has 5 ½ pages in this issue, including 4 of them inked by Gary Erskine, who did a great job. I really enjoy working with him. Check out page 1 below.


WASTED also found another WOD strip that I did about 5 years ago and have since forgotten all about. It involves George Bush as president, so that should give you an idea about when I drew it! Just when I think they have used all my old stuff up, they find another page. ;-)

Some of the other terrific artists in this book are: Jon Haward Kevin Eastman, Kevin o'Neill, Simon Bisley, Alan Kerr, Jim Devlin, Alan Burrows & Curt Sibling. And that’s not all of them!

Please keep an eye out for this at news stands in the U.K. or they can be ordered at http://www.badpressltd.com/
Alan Grant has just sent me a great WOD Narcobitch script for the next issue, which I’m soon to pencil now that I’ve finished up all my other artistic commitments.

I will have 3 other books coming out in the next 3 months, so please check back soon, as I’ll post up the details when the books and their websites are ready.

Cheers!

WASTED #5 is now out!

I've no time for a big update, but more details soon...in the meanwhile, if you see this at your local newsagents in the U.K., you wanna do yourself a favor and grab it!

COLORS ...by Tom Berry

Anyone who knows me, knows I CAN NOT do any type of coloring...at all. Sure, I know good coloring when I see it, but as far as doing it myself? No so much. Luckily there are some fantastic color artists in this world, (who probably all have computers that are much faster than mine!) some of whom like to work over my linework.

You may remember Tom Berry was kind enough to color the Venom Vs. Wolverine pic I did a while back. It looked alot like this:



When Tom saw my Dredd pages over on my Deviantart page, he asked If he could color one up. I emailled him a large scan, and just the weekend he sent along this page:


Pretty spiffy, huh? I dont even want to ask how long it took him, but there are many, many hours of work in there...trust me.

Tom Berry's a really good artist as well, just check his Deviant art site for a real treat!

Thanks Tom, this blog needs a dash of color every now and then. Good job!

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!