Wednesday, October 31, 2007

HAPPY HALLOWEEN



















Wanted to do a sketch, but didn't have the time. Instead, here's my first, proper take of the Frankenstein Monster that i did while trying out for the Frankenstein job. He's different in the book, but from this you can get an idea of what he looks like.

Dec.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

BAT SKETCH

While at Birmingham i did this little Batman sketch. Nothing fancy, but i quite liked it.




















So, i thought for a larf i'd colour it up a little (this blog could do with a bit of colour from time to time). No need to point out how crap the colours are, i just thought i'd have a go at colouring something loosely, while trying to add a bit of texture to it.






















Dec.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

MONSTER INKS



















Here's the inks to yesterdays panel. Getting to draw more scenes with the Monster now, which i'm enjoying a lot.

Dec.

Friday, October 26, 2007

MONSTER PENCILS





















I posted a section of this scene before, but it was from my layouts. This is from the pencilled page. Inks soon.

Dec.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY




















Drooooool. This is the Kevin Nowlan piece i managed to get at Birmingham. Oh god, i'm so happy with it, i could mate with it.

Seriously.



Dec.

Monday, October 22, 2007

THE BIRMINGHAM INTERNATIONAL COMICS SHOW (BICS)

Man, what a weekend. It started in Dublin at 6.30am waking up on my mates couch rushing to have a quick shower before my buddy Matt, his girlfriend Nara and myself had to catch a taxi to the airport. At the airport we met Mooney, Thompson, Lisa and one Mr. Fran Johnston.

We seperated once we landed in Birmingham, so we could all get settled in our respective hotels (or hostel in my case). I met the irish guys for a cup of tea (how irish)and left them so i could meet up again with Matt and Nara. We went to a bar we found last year and started drinking. This was around 2 o clock. We were soon joined my the patron saint of Brum, Ben McCool and who must be the patron saint of Croatia, Esad Ribic. There, i was drinking 8% cider! Thankfully i took a break to meet Will Sliney off the bus. We rejoined the irish crew for some grub and went back to the bar. Gotta say, it was great to be out in Brum with the irish crew. I've been going to British cons for years and at last year's Brum i had 2 or 3 irish mates at it. This time, it was more like 10. That was brilliant.

Friday night was the launch party, and boy, what a party it was. Met up with Andy Winter who i worked with on Hero Killers and David Baillie, who wrote me a story for Your Round. I may have had a bit to drink. I'm sure there were many witnesses to support this fact. Oh yeah, and these pictures do the same.....
















Nara and myself hamming it up for the camera.
















Another Croatian/Irish photo. This time Esad Ribic and me.















The Irish crowd. Stephen Mooney, Will Sliney, Stephen Thompson, Me and a very happy Lisa Jackson.















Good ol' boys Willy McSliney and Dec O'Shalvinator.















Things degenerate rapidly. Will, me, Niki Robinson, Leigh Gallagher, Andy Baker (servicing Matt Hollingsworth) and Matt servicing me.

The next day i had to get up early to meet and greet the clamtastic Bob Byrne. Safe to say, i was a bit rough, but after a greasy breakfast and some witty banter i was all set for the con. It was held in the very impressive Millenium Point building(sorry, no pictures). The Bristol conventions in May ars split between two buildings, and last years Birmingham convention had dealers and exhibitors divided into seperate rooms, so it was great that this year, everyone was all under one roof, with a seperate hall for talks/panels. Again, no photos. Why do i have no photos of the actual con, only the bars afterwards. My Saturday was spent sitting with Bob Byrne at my table, next to Si Spurrier, who was wonderful company. I met up with my employers, the good people at Classical Comics, and met and greeted lots of familiar faces. A friend of mine from Limerick, Alma O' Carroll had her first comic out, Redemption's Flame, and it's absolutely brilliant. I knew Alma had promise, but he's come on in huge strides in the last few months. See some of her work here. And here she is sketching....
















Saturday evening brought some more drinking, and some more posing...















Will, me, a cheeky Mooney, and a smiley Thompson.















Me and Bob Byrne.















A bottle of whiskey, Sir Michael of Wright, myself and Benny McCool (with a justifiably bemused looking Liam Sharp in the background).




















Team Anger; Guilia Brusco, Esad Ribic and me.















Team .....uh .......4 A.M. Bob Byrne, Lorcan McGrane, me (now with karate action), Lee O' Connor and Dom Reardon

I woke on Sunday, surprised that i had no hangover. More of the same on Sunday, which was great. I went to Matt's colouring panel, which was really interesting. Definately a highlight of the weekend. By the time it was over, i wanted to colour everything around me! Another highlight was when i managed to get a big A3 sketch off one of my favourite artists, Kevin Nowlan. I was so excited when i heard he was attending the show. I don't geek out much these days, but man, i had to when it came to Mr. Nowlan. Mike Mingnola was there too, but i got a sketch off him in San Diego last year, so i was happy. Very happy.



















Matt's colouring demo.

Sunday night was a much more relaxed affair. Saw Michael Wright's band SKELTER perform in a very surreal venue, and caught up with my good pal James Hodgkins and fellow organisers of the con, Andy Baker and Shane Chebsey.















The organisers Shane, James and Andy.















PILE-ON!!!!!! The organisers, and a Will and a Matt on top of them.


In the end, I had an absolute blast, even better than last year. Hopefully next year will be even better.

Thanks to everyone who said hi, and thanks to everyone who's photos i robbed for this blog post. I'm looking at you Bob.

Dec.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

HOME

Ahhhh the green hills of county Clare....















After Sub-Con i decided to take a couple of days off to visit some family and friends. Spent a couple of days in Quin and Ennis in County Clare (above) and a few days with friends in Limerick (below)

























After that i did a couple of days work in Stephen Mooney's studio, he being a gracious host as ever. Here's Steve working away on his pages.......
















And the 'guest drawing-board' that i was using, with all my Frankenstein work crap on it....

















Once i'd enough work done, i picked up my mate Matt and his lovely girlfriend Nara from the airport. We spent a couple of days (walking and drinking) around Dublin. Mega thanks to John, Keith and Tony for putting us up for the couple of days.

One of the days we met up with the 'irish gang', ie, Mooney, Thompson, Bob Byrne and their respective partners for a trip to the Guinness brewery, dinner, and a couple of drinks after, which was great. I love meeting up with those guys.
















More drinks at the Porter House followed, and some Croatian Brandy as a nightcap. We all had to be up early for Birmingham......

Dec.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007


SUB-CON REPORT


Couple of weeks late on this, but better late than never. Flew over to Ireland a day or so before Sub-Con. Thanks again to Stephen Mooney for putting me up and letting me share his studio. Thanks to Stephen Thompson for slipping me a few answers on "Buzz". Mooney, Thompson and myself headed into the con on Saturday morning where we met up with Will Sliney, Bob Byrne and all the other usuals.

Have to say, i had a great day. Me and Will shared a table beside Simon Furman, who was a pleasure to talk to. Met a good few folk who were looking for Freak Show sketches. Will signed a fair few copies of Atomic Rocket Group 66 which by the way, looks just brilliant. From what i saw, Thompson was bangin' out a rake of brilliant sketches. Man, i hate that Thompson fella.

I was part of a panel on 'Irish Comics' along with Steve Mooney, Alan Nolan and Will. I really enjoyed it, it was great to hear questions from the crowd about various aspects of irish comics. All of us on the panel joked with each other a lot, which i hope was entertaining for the audience.

Later that evening, Steve Mooney and his girlfriend Jackie, Stephen Thompson and his girlfriend Lisa and me and my girlfriend Will Sliney went for a lovely dinner and a couple of pints. Razor sharp wit was aplenty, but i provided none of it..

Here be some photos from the day....



Will donning a Green Goblin helmet.





















A fan with a sketch i did for him.





















Steve Mooney, Will Sliney and part of Jackie's forehead.
















The Thompsons. Lisa and ....uh ...Thompson.























Dec.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Greetings all. Just a little note to say i'm back in Aberdeen, but need to take a day off to recover from the past 2 weeks. I should have a report of Sub-Con, My visit home and finally, the Birmingham con. I've had an absolute blast, but man am i suffering for it now. More tomorrow.

Dec.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

I'LL SEE YOU ON THE DANCE-FLOOR

After a day of listening to 80's classics at Steve's place, it finally affected my work. Notice Victor's expressive 80's dancing. Dancing on a table and everything. If that's nor 80's i dunno what is. I reckon he's dancing to Duran Duran's 'The Reflex.'

God knows that's how I dance to it....





















Gonna be quiet for the next few days. Once i finish work today i'm meeting up with a mate and showin' him around Dublin for a couple of days, then it's the Birmingham convention in ....uh ....well ...Birmingham. I've been looking forward to this con for ages. Your Round will finally will get a big public launch, i'll get to meet up with old buds, make some new ones hopefully, and the usual antics. Get yourself there if you know what's good for you!!!

I'll be back blogging next week, if i survive the next few days that is.......

Dec.

Monday, October 08, 2007

BACK TO WORK

Yep, i'm back at it today. I'll do a big report on Sub-Con and my week off next week sometime, i need to get crackin on some pages so i can take a few days off to go to Birmingham this week. I took photos and stuff, but i'm back at Steve 'Hot-dog' Mooney's studio doing work, but once i get back to my own studio, i'll do up posts on Sub-Con, my trip home, and the Birmingham show. In the meantime, Will Sliney has a bit about Sub-Con on his blog, and Mooney wrote up a nice little report where he ridicules me during most of it.

Also worth mentioning Will Sliney just got picked up by the Classical Comics crew. Nice one Will!!!!!

Speaking of Classical Comics, here's a piece from the newest batch of Frankenstein layouts......






















Dec.