Wrong about Spiders

Blistering barnacles, I'm itching to tell the world about this thing that I'm working on with "Glorious" Glen Brunswick! But Glen (and our publishers) want to do the publicity right, so I can't very well blow the whole thing open here, can I? All I can say is it's gonna have a distinct Kirby flavour (natch), which is why Glen gets that "Glorious" handle (a wee riff on Glorious Godfrey and the jokey Stan Lee-isms of Silver Age Marvel)*. And also that I'm halfway through issue two and it looks, I reckon, pretty cool. When it's common knowledge I'll post up some designs and other bits and pieces and you cats can judge for yourselves.

So, let's forget that for the time being. What else is on? Oh, there's that other thing I can't talk about yet. The Doctor Who thing. I can probably say that I'm writing some stuff for DWM - that should be alright. My next script contains the words "Baron Greenback", "Loligo" and "Boomerang". Among lots of others. When it's out, I'll put some design sketches and maybe some bits of script up on here.

In the meantime then...

For Kyle Latino, Orson Crandall from Iron Fist. A real quickie, but I like this okay. He's way cooler in the actual book though.



Because I'm a sucker for a) all things eighties and b) anything Marvel UK, here's a Death's Head:



An' finally, Debs coloured some old sketches I did. I gave her minimal instruction (just a little basic photoshop jargon and some very broad shading tips) and let her get on with it. They look cool! I really dig some of her decisions here: the little light on Hulk's face, the neat offset colours. It's pretty hip.





*I'm "Dynamic" Dan McDaid by the way. If you knew me better, you'd realise this was pretty funny/ironic/inaccurate.

Warm-Up Sketch: inevitable Wolverine sketch

Wolverine versus some ninjas. I did this with Wacom tablet as a warm-up for some games work I've got coming up. I'll post sneaky previews of this as I get through it.

Wacom tablet and photoshop and wasn't Doctor Who good tonight? A real cracker I thought, and the best of this run so far (with Fires of Pompei a close second). But hey now, what about that Next Time trailer? Delicious stuff. What's on Donna's back? My guess - one of the Spiders of Metebelis 3, last seen in Planet of the Spiders. She's got previous with spiders, of course. I hope I'm right!

Seven Songs - I always hit the tape with the rough road styles

Yo. I've been tagged by Mr Mark Cardwell to do this: 'List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to’.
Right you are, then.

1. MGMT. Time to Pretend. Bloody ubiquitous, yet oddly still rather niche electro-indie warbling. Utterly pretentious and overblown, but utterly love with it (even if it was used to trail George "Useless" Lamb's execrable 6Music show recently). It won't embed, but see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVnRzEjpUmE

2. Deacon Blue, Dignity. Terminably unfashionable, probably even at the time. But I'm moving back to Scotland soon (despite being a soft English puff at heart) and nothing says Scotland like this windswept, melancholy yet oddly stirring number.



3. Depeche Mode, Just Can't Get Enough. By contrast to number 2, this one feels so "London", it hurts. Chilly, romantic, kind of gay... it's the perfect music to propel yourself through Camden Town. To. And bits of it sound like they're from the soundtrack to a Sinclair Spectrum game from 1986, which is all to the good.



4. Tyga and Zyntherius, Sunglasses at Night. Speaking of... this comes on my rather rangy old MP3 player, and suddenly I'm walking around like I'm in a videogame. Not one of the nice ones either, one of those doomy fin de siecle jobs where points are scored by killing hookers with a hammer. Bloody brilliant.



5. Roxy Music, Virginia Plain. Oddly, I don't think I even heard this before I saw it spoofed on Big Train a few years ago. I've compensated for that loads since then, of course. Probably my favourite ever song, at the moment: fantastic lyrical jiggery-pokery plus top sleazy Ferry delivery plus some expert keyboard business from Mr Eno equals brilliance - and I love the way it seems to come in from some distant point on the horizon. Won't embed, but hey now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zoi6O-cq9I

Hard not to picture Kevin Eldon singing this while dressed as Chairman Mao though:



6. Bomb the Bass, Bug Powder Dust. Fabulously barmy monologue from Tim Simenon and Justin Warfield, covering everything from Burroughs to Sid and Marty Krofft. Funny, grimy, thrilling stuff.



And if you're puzzling over the (ace) lyrics, here's a comprehensive guide. God bless the internet: http://www.sauna.org/kiulu/powder.html

7. Dexys Midnight Runners, Because of You. Or as it's better known, the Theme from Brush Strokes. It's a thing of delicate beauty anyway, only enhanced by its association with a bittersweet sitcom from my youth. And it's "our song" if you know what I mean and I think you do.

Alright, that's me lot. Who's next? Maybe Jay, Roger, Carly, Fred, Francesco, and Mattcrap would like to have a go?

Warm Up Sketch: BLAM!

Hot cowboy action!
Drawn with brush and PITT pens, in m'sketchbook. Yee-haw.

Warm-Up Sketch: Darkseid 08

It's going to be a big year for DC Comics' premiere bastard!

Warm-Up Sketch

For Gene Colan.

Pentel brush pen and PITT pen. Sorry it's not better. Gene's terribly ill at the moment, so if you want to donate a little something, you can click here.

Warm-Up Sketch: ELKA!

For the excellent Warwick Johnson Cadwell - here's a pic of Elka, Swedish Troll-Slayer par excellence. Another insanely fun character to draw. Warwick, if you're ever looking for pin-ups let me know (and I'll probably have a crack at Gelatina quite soon...)

Pentel brush pen and PITT pen on printer paper.

Warm-Up Sketch: Marshall Law

Here's a sketch of Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill's seminal (and frankly rather alarming) creation, Marshall Law. I loved/feared the Lawman when I was an impressionable teen, and got into some trouble when my old man found a copy of Strip! (which featured some ML naughtiness) in my room.

Pentel brush pen and PITT pen on printer paper, with photoshop

I really enjoyed drawing this, and I think it shows. Thanks to Mighty Mark Cardwell for the suggestion.

Warm-Up Sketch: Savage Dragon

He's surprisingly tricky to get right! And I think I've messed up slightly here. It was fun, tho. That's just some generic baddy he's smacking up there, by the way. I think he's called Gunhands or something.

Pentel brush pen on printer paper then a bit of photoshop "magic".

Warm-Up Sketches: Hellboy, Mister Miracle and the Shadow

I watched Hellboy last night. Sadly, it's still not very good. Lots of problems, but the main one is that there just isn't enough Jeffrey Tambor. I bent the missus' ear off during the film's dreary, CGI-soaked climax, by continually going "where's Jeffrey Tambor? I hope Jeffrey Tambor's alright. Are they going to cut back to Jeffrey Tambor?" This in spite of having seen the film before. They cut back to JT a little way into the credits as a sort of joke, showing him panicking in the dark as something evil approached, and apparently missing the fact that elsewhere in the film some effort had been made to expand his character beyond the role of comic support, and even to offer him as a kind of replacement father figure for HB (cf. the bit with the cigar). Anyway, this typifies this rather odd, flat, strangely schizophrenic film - a film which should be Die Hard meets the Exorcist, but which too often feels more like Spy Kids 4: Cthulhu Returns.

Anyway, I sketched a movie-ish HB. I hope you like it.

Brush pen on printer paper. Took about ten minutes and it shows.

...aaaand, I also did a slightly wonky Mister Miracle for Wilfredo Torres. Sorry WT - I've got a better one in the works.

Pentel brush pen and photoshop and I watched the most amazing thing on the internet last night. US broadcaster Keith Olbermann - who I hadn't heard of before - attacking GWB in the most erudite, comprehensive, and fantastically rabid way imaginable. Manic, thrilling stuff, and nearly enough to give my bad liberal self a semi. Here's a link, if you're interested. To my US viewers, this is probably ancient news, so sorry about that.

...and lastly but not leastly, I did a Shadow for my pal Mark Cardwell. Hope you like it, chum.

Pentel brush pen on printer paper, with some photoshop colours thrown over it.

More suggestions for Warm-Up Sketches please! I'm spending more time on these than I should, but they are a lot of fun. NB. I'm not prepared to draw Keith Olbermann.

Warm-Up Sketch: Morpheus

I think someone asked for a Sandman, right? Anyway, here's a Sandman...

Warm-Up Sketch: Bozo/Robo

Pentel brush pen and blah blah blah on etc.

For Kyle Latino and Mr Matthew Crap, Bozo the Iron Man VS Atomic Robo!

Doc Savage - Thick and Fast!

I thought this might look a bit nifty with some pulpy colouring on it...

Warm-Up Sketch - Doc Savage

This was done with a Pentel Brush pen and 2B pencil on printer paper, with a little bit of PITT fineline for the fire and sundry details.

I actually did this in the middle of the night on account of being bored and unable to sleep, which means I am already breaking the Warm-Up Sketch rules. Never mind, I hope you like it anyway. Next up... Dream from Sandman, or Atomic Robo, or Mister Miracle (cheers to Kyle Latino, Mattcrap and Wilfredo Torres for the suggestions - keep 'em coming!)

Dan

Warm-up sketch - Static Shock

As requested by David, a sketch of DC/Milestone character Static. This was a warm-up before starting the business of the day, and jolly good fun it was too. I really enjoyed drawing a character outside my comfort zone - and I aim to do more. Suggestions please!

Unimportant Newsflash!

The first one was done with acrylic black ink and an ink wash. I think I might have posted it before - sorry about that. The second one is a Wacom/PS jobby.

I REALLY like drawing the Thing!

If anyone out there in Internet Land wants me to draw the Thing for them, I will happily draw the Thing for them.

Atcherlly, that reminds me: I am always available for commissions. Get in touch via the email /comment section and let me know what you want.

Website thrills

Hello there! I thought you might like to know that my website has just undergone a rather snazzy re-design courtesy of my divine better half. Why not have a look here: http//danmcdaid.com then pop back and let me know what you think?

Now here's a picture of Witchblade. Hurrah.

Excitement Alert!

Sorry I done no posts in ages. Bad blogger, indeed. The word is that I'm writing and drawing A LOT at the moment (stuff which I can't even talk about, boo), which leaves little brain room for blogging. But I still love you all!

Now, what's coming out this week? Oh yeah, DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE 394 WHICH HAS MY COMIC STRIP IN IT is coming out. Woo! It's £3.99 from all good newsagents. Buy loads and make me very happy.

In the meantime, here's an honest to goodness guide to process on one of the pages, from roughs to pencils to inks to colours. I hope you get a kick out of it.


First, the roughs. These are done at a5 size and really quickly. I work out where I'm going to spot the blacks and how the page should be shaded. I did these last year and since then I've discovered the joy of thumbnails, so I now do very tiny pages then work up.


The pencils. I start out using an HB pencil and work it out really loosely, then I go over it with a mechanical pencil to get it (kinda) tight. These days, I tend to just ink off the initial rough lines.


Inks. From being a fairly hesitant inker a few years ago, I now do most of my drawing with the brush. Inking is the best bit, for me.


Colours. This is probably my least favourite part of the process - I love black and white anyway, and by this time I'm ready to never look at these pages again. But I'm also a control freak, so I really like to colour things my way. What can I do about this? I dunno - maybe drugs are the answer.

Well, that's all! Please comment!

Dan

Back in my game design days, I worked on something called The Black Project. It never came to anything, but if it had it would have been a sort of squad-based free-roaming shoot 'em up a la Vice City. Like Vice City, it would also have been set in the past - ie the year 197x. Unlike Vice City, it probably would have sucked.

But I always liked the "hero" character I came up with for BP. He was kind of a cool, post-hippy English badass, one part John Lennon and the rest Michael Caine. I don't remember his name at all now (if anyone from my DR days can recall this or any other details about this project, feel free to drop me a line), but he would have been cool to write for and even cooler to draw. He wore red-tinted Lennon shades, had long hair and 'burns and carried two pistols, one silver and one black (these he called Yin and Yang). Ha.

I couldn't find any drawings to show you what he looked like, so I done some new ones.

BADASS:




FLING:



HE'S FINISHED:



I'd like to do something with him sometime (even though he's probably still owned by the games company I was working for, and even though the whole Mad Mod thing is being pretty comprehensively "done" at the moment by Matt Fraction and Casanova). We'll see.

IN OTHER NEWS - I done something else with my Wacom tablet:

Connor's Hero

A while ago, one of my girlfriend's kids (she's a teacher by the way, not some sort of modern Fagin figure) did a cool drawing of a superhero as a sort of gift to us both. And as a return gift, I did a drawing of his superhero. So here's Connor's superhero and my drawing of Connor's superhero. Cheers Connor!

Wacom to the Jungle

Hello hello. Here's a few Wacom sketches for you to enjoy: Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer and Capt. America (Deceased). CLICK TO MAKE BIGGER!

Busy busy!

TWO MONTHS?! Wow, I really *am* a bad blogger. Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Etc. to you and yours. I've been busy doing Doctor Who stuff as well as doing some designs for a hush-hush project I've got lined up with top writer Glen Brunswick (of Frequency, Killing Girl and Gray Area fame). I should be posting some tasters from these two (terribly exciting) projects soon, but in the meantime here's some odds and sods I done between consuming vast quantities and feeling ever so slightly disappointed with Voyage of the Damned...

First up, a trio of telefantasy heroes, sketched in PS with a wacom. Number Six, Mrs Peel and John Steed. Rough yes, but I think they have something cool going on...





More wacom business: two Batmen!




Arsing about with my new PITT brush pens. These are superb (the pens, not the pics) - only problem is they don't last. If anyone's got any tips on an alternative, I am all ears...

Anyway...

I am now OUT of Comic Book Idol 3. It was lots of fun, has led to a few cool contacts and loads of groovy online friendships, and has generally been the sort of experience I could recommend to anyone. It's the final this week, and it's down to two very talented guys: Jon Reed and Charles Paul Wilson. If I'm being honest, my favourite artists have already gone out, but these two have loads to offer. Reed brings a distinctive voice and plenty of detail and guts, while Charles Paul Wilson (the Third!) is just a damn fine drawer with a good eye for an atmospheric spot black. Anyway, head over to http://forums.comicbookresources.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29 and vote. I reckon CPW III has it in the bag.

What else? Oh yeah, cool stuff is happening with Panini: I've been given the go ahead to start drawing a Doctor Who strip for sometime in the New Year. The script is already written, and I'll be starting the pencils either later this week or early next. Stand by for sneak previews!

In the meantime: sketches!

SONTARANS!



WONDER WOMAN!



BATMAN!



HULK (WITH SHOPPING LIST)!



WOLVERINE!



THAT'S ALL!

What the -?

Things of note:

- I moved from Dundee to London. London is great, except: ACCOMODATION TINY

- I finished draft one of my next script for Doctor Who Magazine. It contains the words "Ringo", "peanuts" and "northampton".

- I got annoyed at how last week's comedy playhouse thing on C4 ripped Arrested Development off blind. One bit in particular, a courtroom scene involving an incompetent lawyer who was a mesh of GOB and Barry Zuckerkorn, and a bible thrown at a woman who was actually disabled (instead of pretending) was very naughty. I really liked the writer's episode of Doctor Who, but this scene had me literally screaming at the telly. Maybe I should just go out on a Friday night.

Oh, and this happened:



I made it through the submissions phase of Comic Book Idol 3, which means I've got a ton of work (and bowel-clenching terror) over the next few weeks. If you love me, vote for me. If you hate me, and you want to see me fail at a high-profile comics job, vote for me and I WON'T LET YOU DOWN.