Monday 26 December 2011

Deck the Halls


My 2000AD forum advent calendar submission for 2011. The advent calendar is organised by that fine chap Pete Wells (check out his awesome 2000AD Covers Uncovered blog). Every day in December members of the forum post a Christmas themed drawing, photo, poem, song or whatever they feel like. I use the calendar as an opportunity to produce a page or two of comic art which is always tricky in the busy Xmas period. I couldn't submit this year's piece due to unforeseen circumstances so I managed to post these pages early on Christmas day so kind of missed the boat – I don't think many people got to see it. Kind of bit off more than I could chew as there were many difficult things I had to draw – these efforts give me the greatest respect for those who produce comics for a living. I spent ages planning this and had to finish it in a rush. By the way, Zombo is a character from 2000AD who is a gentleman zombie created by Henry Flint and Al Ewing. Do check out the hilarious Zombo graphic novel.

Violent night

My effort for the 2000AD forum Xmas advent calendar from 2010. I produced page 1 more quickly that page 2 and I prefer the looser quality. There are references that non-readers of Judge Dredd might not get. Page 1 panel 4 shows Judge Death – one of the dark Judges. Slab = pavement / sidewalk. Mutie = a mutant – they have largely been kicked out of Mega City One and are discriminated against. The character on page 2 panel 1 is a mutant who appeared in the brilliant Dredd tale 'Sex, Vi and Vidslugs' written by Al Ewing and drawn by Mike Collins (see review). Perp = perpetrator, criminal. Resyk = where the dead go for body parts to be recycled.  


The night before Christmas



My submission to the 2000AD forum Xmas advent calendar from 2009. For non-Judge Dredd readers, a 'juve' is a youngster and 'cubes' are prison cells.

Thursday 8 December 2011

King-size Mach Zero


Seeing as Hulk and Steranko are being discussed over on Secret Oranges I thought I'd upload another 2000AD forum competition entry from a few years ago. The task was to re-imagine a classic comic cover. I always figured Mach Zero was 2000AD's version of the Hulk so I took the content of the cover of 2000AD prog165 and drew it match the composition of Steranko's superb King-size Hulk, which is one of my favourite comic covers. It kind of tied in as both have rocks / masonry about to crush the main character. Interestingly, the Hulk face wasn't drawn by Steranko but by Marie Severin. Below middle is the published version with the Marie Severin drawn head and on the right is the original full Steranko version. I think Marie Severin did a damn good job. Not common practice now I would imagine, but it did happen from time to time in the past. As a kid I was always puzzled why Superman's face (by Curt Swan) didn't match the rest of the comic (Jack Kirby).

Monday 24 October 2011

Jenny Greenteeth

For the Whitechapel forum challenge to redesign Jenny Greenteeth. "… a figure in English folklore. A river hag, she would pull children or the elderly into the water and drown them. She was often described as green-skinned, with long hair, and sharp teeth." Was chuffed this was chosen to appear on the Bleeding Cool website homepage. 

Saturday 14 May 2011

Judge Anderson


For the Weekly Themed Art Blog. Drawn at 3.30 - 6am after I was woken up by the neighbours downstairs who were playing loud music.

Saturday 7 May 2011

Amazing Adult Fantasy


Contribution from way back to Whitechapel, the Warren Ellis web forum. Brief was to create a cover for Amazing Fantasy (the comic that Spider-Man first appeared in). The idea is that the brief has been lost or there has been a bit of Chinese whispers and the title of the comic is now Amazing Adult Fantasy. 

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Axel Pressbutton

Another Weekly Themed Art Blog contribution, the brief being 'Non-2000ad UK comic characters'. I first came across Axel Pressbutton (the psychotic cyborg) in the superb Warrior anthology comic which launched in 1982. Writen by Steve Moore and brilliantly drawn by Steve Dillon. The character first appeared in 1979, created by Pedro Henry (Steve Moore) and Curt Vile (Alan Moore). The full title of the original series was 'Dempster Dingbunger is my name, Sputwang is my nation, the depths of space gob in my face… the stars my degradation'. This image turned out to be so labour intensive I missed the blog deadline. 

Monday 2 May 2011

Shakara!


My contribution to the Weekly Themed Art Blog. Shakara is no easy customer to draw but I guess that could be said about many 2000AD characters. As time was limited I drew this on paper – far speedier for me that drawing on computer.

Saturday 30 April 2011

The Jaw


Close-up of my avatar.

The Return of Rico



Blast from the past here. 2000AD art comp entry from a few years ago, on the theme 'Classic 2000AD moments'. Based on the superb Pat Mills and Mike McMahon tale 'The Return of Rico' which really made an impact on me as a kid. It was like nothing I had come across on my diet of Marvel UK comics. The story revealed that Judge Dredd had a clone brother, Rico, who turned out to be a bent Judge who Dredd sentenced to twenty years hard labour on the prison colony of Titan – with body parts modified so he could breathe in a vacuum. Rico then came to take revenge on his brother. Reprinted in the excellent Judge Dredd Case Files 01.

Am I on?

Because you demanded it – well, one or two art chaps have suggested that I get blogging, so I finally got round to setting this up. Guess I'll mainly be chucking in stuff produced for the 2000ad art comps and the Weekly Themed Art Blog. Got a bit of a backlog of pieces to upload so it'll be a mixture of new and old for now.