Enter: Sandman!

This is this week's Sandman TWART, without colours and before I fixed the values in photoshop.

I really enjoy drawing Spider-Man, but I *love* drawing Sandman. He's big and he's blunt and he looks like he's falling apart. And the stripes are a deceptively simple design element which help define his physique and make him pop. After years of being ambivalent about Steve Ditko, I'm coming round to the idea that he is probably a genius.



And this is the drawing I did to warm up for the Flint Marko piece. I botched the gun, unfortunately, but I enjoyed drawing this austere, 1930s version of Morpheus, a contrast to the be-robed, Robert Smith-esque version of the nineties.

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Return of the TWART

I've been away from ComicTWART for a while but I couldn't resist coming back for this week's subject - FRANKENSTEIN. Or, more specifically, Frankenstein's Monster (although I've always maintained that, as he's effectively the son of Victor Frankenstein, he has as legitimate a right to the name as his creator. But I digress). This was a lot of fun - I liked sticking this shambling wreck of a man inside some fancy Georgian finery. Mr D'Arcy eat yer heart out.


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Doctor Who in TV Action!

This was a present for a friend of mine. He's a big fan of the 1970s comic Countdown, which featured the third Doctor in stunning, fully painted action in every issue. I haven't quite managed to replicate that look (or the quality of the art therein - it really was beautiful stuff), but I've had a decent stab at it. And I really enjoyed drawing Pertwee.

More importantly, my pal *loved* it. Job done!

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How the West was Doomed!

I realised the other day that I haven't drawn anything for my own amusement in a LONG time. So I did this:



That's Hellboy in a Wild West, Ghost Rider mash-up. As you might have guessed, I'm playing a lot of Red Dead Redemption at the moment. Pencils, inks, crayons, letters, colours by me. Here's a few close-ups:


You'll have seen this already, of course. But I'm really chuffed with it, so I wanted to showcase it again.


Wild West Ghost Rider. The best bit of the GR film was when Wild West Ghost Rider and Nic Cage Ghost Rider were racing to the conclusion while "Ghost Riders in the Sky" played. Obvious, yes, but it's the nearest the movie came to actually being stirring.


Aaannd... One more look at Hellboy.

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Batman Jr!

My two favourite panels of the week.



I REALLY enjoyed drawing something in a Liefeld style - fun.

Hellboy!

Pencil, ink, crayon, photoshop

You'll already have seen this if you TWART, but here's a snippet from a page I'm working on. No prizes - it's just for fun.

I've never really drawn Hellboy before - not in earnest, anyway. Not bad, eh?

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Der Flugel-Mensch!

From the last two weeks, this is my favourite page that I drew.



Not much call for Kirby-style histrionics for this particular project, so I've indulged my more Caniff-y, Robbins-y, Romita-y side. I also get to draw my favourite thing - some bozo drawing a comic book page!

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Judgement Day!

Another commission piece, this one from last year. For those not in the know, this shows Jack Kirby's grand cosmic bastard Darkseid being judged by another of Kirby's show-stopping sky gods, Arishem the Judge. Suck it, Darkseid!

I can never decide whether Kirby based the look of Arishem's head on a food processor, or if the food processor guys saw Arishem and said "guys - this is the look we're going for!"

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The Baker Boys!

Another recent commission for Mr K Moorhead esq. I thought C. Baker was going to be the tough one here on account of him being a bit of a pudding (apologies if C Baker is reading this... also, I've got a nerve describing anyone else as a pudding. But at least I've got great eyebrows) and Tom has much more distinctive features. But Colin was an absolute breeze, whereas I sweated hard over Tom Baker's face. So to speak.

Another appearance from the "figure in background drawn in wash" effect, you'll notice. I love it, and I plan on using it all the time from now on.

D

(NB. Prints of my work will shortly be available. Email me at the address to the right if you're interested. I'm also taking commissions, so why not drop me a line if you want me to draw something for you?)

I Bring Sutekh's Gift of Death...

...to all humanity!



Another brilliant commission idea from Kevin Moorhead: Doctor Who meets Quatermass... in the tomb of Sutekh! I decided to present it as a still from a non-existent documentary on horror films of the seventies. Fun stuff.



YOUR EVIL IS MY GOOD!


D

BOOM!

If there's one thing I love drawing, it's explosions.



This is from that secret project which I'm working on for SPOILER Oni Press. I drew it (and the other five pages I've done for this instalment) on the worst paper I could find: real thin, coarse rubbish, three pounds per pad from Staples. Why did I do this? Cos I've noticed my work tensing up a little of late, and I wanted to work on something where I felt I could cut loose, mess about a little, and generally loosen up. And it worked! The paper is barely suitable to wipe one's arse, but I'm doing some of the best work of my life on it. Go, as they say, figure.

So that's fun, isn't it?

Anyway, look out for this, hopefully, early next year. And look out for my co-creator Patrick Keller - dude's going to be HUGE.

D

Into the Abyss!

Sometimes you get a weird commission which you just can't resist. My other half (as some of you might know) teaches English, which means she get a lot of kids coming up to her with their novels wot they've written. Pretty cute, right? Anyway, this one kid heard that I drew for a living, so he and the missus hatched a plan where I would draw his book's "cover" for him.

This was the brief:

A fireball in the middle of the page, stone above, water forming a loop around the side and something suggestive of wind at the bottom.

And this was the final thing:



It's not as finished as I would like, but I was advised by smarter heads than mine not to work too hard on it, as it was supposed to be a bit of fun. Which it was!

He's going to see this pic tomorrow - hope he likes it.

I think the lightning is a nice touch.

D

C-C-C-Call the Cops!

I'm unaccountably pleased with this modest wee panel. There's not much going on in it, but it's pretty well drawn!

And I think the cop on the right looks a bit like Louis CK - but maybe that's just me!

D

Thunder Road

Cracking bit of Jersey Gods fanart from "Majestic" Michael Rooth (are these smarmy nicknames getting old, yet? I think I might drop them). Anyway - it's a stunner, isn't it? And a great way to send off the series.

There's also a lovely interview with me and Glen over at Comic Book Resources. I really should thank CBR - they've been great supporters of the book since day one (when they did a wicked video interview with Glen, with gorgeous animated inserts), and they've gone out of their way to keep tabs on us as the series has gone on. Thanks, chaps!

Anyway - LINKAGE

And a BIG splash from issue twelve - the spoiler sensitive should look away now (everyone else should click to OMAC-size it)!

SECRET PROJECT 01

This a panel from **** *****, an upcoming strip for *** *****.

I'd love to tell you more, but I've been threatened with punches if I let too much slip. Sorry!

D

Silver Nemesis!

Commission piece for Matt Zitron, inks n' brush on Bristol board.

Silver Nemesis is not a particularly popular Doctor Who story. It's not even particularly good, if I'm honest (too many limp jokes about social workers, a guest appearance from the Queen, a cameo appearance from a mostly forgotten Hollywood star... all bolted onto a plot used two stories earlier by Remembrance of the Daleks). It *does* feature the Cybermen, but it's the silver giants at their most useless - standing around waiting to get shot, falling over at the slightest whiff of gold... sigh.

BUT! It also features a brilliantly evil 16th Century witch, Sylvester McCoy at his most puckish and entertaining, and the awesome Sophie Aldred tearing shit up. Seriously, look at this:



"So who'll be next... and who'll be lucky?" It takes balls to talk to a Cyberman like that. Ace rules.

And that's why I love Silver Nemesis.

D

The Silver Surfer vs... The Daleks!

Pen, black ink and wash, then I applied a blue filter in Photoshop. Galactus was entirely done in wash.

This was another commission for "Masterful" Michael Rooth: the Silver Surfer vs the Daleks! I decided to throw Galactus into the background, so I didn't have to paint lots of stars. And who doesn't love that big, purple, planet-eater?

Daleks aren't necessarily the most fun to draw - lots of straight lines, no expression, they're basically just tanks - but I had some fun throwing in a few different types. We've got a couple of Sixties Daleks, a seventies model, and a new-Who version, all in their trademark hoverbouts!

I'm not sure I would class this as an unqualified success - I wish I'd done more Daleks for one thing - but it was fun. And I LOVE drawing the Surfer!



D

"I Shall Become... a 4!"

Having missed the last few weeks of Comic TWART's, I decided the only way to catch up was to do a mash-up type thing. So here we see the all-new Fantastic Four: The Thing! Hawkman! Belit, Queen of the Black Coast! The Batman!

God, I love comic books.

This must be the unluckiest picture I've ever worked on. EVERYTHING went wrong with it - it got dropped on the floor, I drew a rubbish Batman (now patched over and made invisible by a much better Batman), I drew extraneous legs and wings that needed whiteing out and... God, a myriad other tiny problems.

BUT! I'm incredibly proud of how it worked out. And I'm hoping I can get the lovely Debs to do me some colours - fingers crossed!

EDIT: Faster than light, fellow TWARTist Nathan Fairbairn has coloured the pic. Debs will not be pleased - but I'm thrilled!


D

BOOM!

A Blastaar commission for "Mighty" Mike Rooth.

Click to Kirby-size it!

Kneel before...?

From Jersey Gods #12

They Bang the Drum...

From Jersey Gods #12

"Come With Me If You Want to Live..."

From Jersey Gods #12

RIP

RIP

Johnny Recon - now in DEBBIECOLOR!

Late TWARTer!

I've been insanely busy the last two weeks, but I HAD to make time to catch up on the last two weeks of TWART. This is Mitch Gerards and Scott Dillon's sharp-shooting space goon Johnny Recon. Tomorrow (or maybe the day after - I'm waiting for the lovely Debs to put some colours on the pic): Clara de Noche!

Promethea!

This was a commission piece I did for Michael Rooth. He's a cool guy - and incredibly talented too. Check out his WEBSITE.

Drawn and coloured with a Wacom tablet and Photoshop. Here's the mono version.



Alan Moore is GREAT fun to draw.

D

My name is Abslom Daak...

Dalek Killer!

(Click for maximum Dalek damage!)

For those of you who don't know, Abslom Daak is what happens when you take Conan the Barbarian, give him Han Solo's blaster and moral outlook, and shove him into Doctor Who. I was mildly obsessed with him for a while in the late 80s, after DWM reintroduced him for their blockbusting Nemesis of the Daleks strip (and gave away a promotional "square" single featuring the big man's theme, by the, uh, Slaves of Kane). There's a school of thought that Daak doesn't belong in Who, that his modus operandi is too brutal, too *macho* for the Doctor's world. But I think that's balls. It's a big universe that the TARDIS is travelling through, and if there isn't room in it for a sweaty, pony-tailed, chainsaw-wielding maniac, then, well... that would be a shame. My run on the strip (which I wrapped the other night - please send condolences to the usual address) definitely takes place in the strange, mono world of Daak, Frobisher, Shayde et al.



Plus, he was created by Steve Moore and Steve Dillon, which gives him an impeccable pedigree as far as I'm concerned.

Mind you - he doesn't just kill Daleks...



D

The Ring - Now in Colour!

Followers of the blog may remember this pic from a way back. Debs (my better half) put some wicked colours down on it, so I thought I'd share:



Pret-ty nifty!

D

TWART week 3 - TORPEDO

A terrible scoundrel, as immortalised by comics greats Alex Toth and Jordi Bernet. GREAT fun to draw.

There's another version - with colours by Debs - on Comic Twart!

Edited to add - I also did a halftone version that I think looks pretty nifty (click for the full effect):



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TWART week 2 - THE ROCKETEER

The colour version! Pencils and inks by me, colours be m'lady Debs (and me, a bit).



Check out the original (and many, MANY other beautiful versions of Dave Stevens' iconic character), HERE.

EDITED TO ADD: This wasn't my first go at the Rocketeer. I did this one, but... gah. Botched the legs, and didn't have time to fix/re-do them.

Cheg on - you am a TWART

I'm not busy enough at the moment, so I decided to join a... what would you call it? A sketch troupe? A Bore of Artists? I dunno, but this is it anyway: http://comictwart.blogspot.com/

I find myself in the company of genuine comic art luminaries, such as:

Mitch Gerads
Mitch Breitweiser
Mike Hawthorne
Tom Fowler
Steve Bryant
Ron Salas
Nathan Fairbairn
Andy Kuhn
Chris Samnee
Evan "Doc" Shaner
... and that Irish guy. Declan something or other.

Pretty bloody heavyweight, I think you'll agree.

So our first week's subject was Zorro. I didn't do the best one (I think that's between Andy Kuhn and Mike Hawthorne - but gawd, they're all ace so far... and I hear Francesco Francavilla's gonna join us later, and he is THE MAN when it comes to Zorro), but mine is pretty cute, I guess:



I really dig the whole "Gay Blade" side of Zorro. He should be having fun - he's living the dream!

I did another one, but rejected it as too... I don't know. It just doesn't work, and I don't know why:



We're going to be doing a sketch a week, a different character each time. When it's my turn to pick a character, I'm gonna choose...

Actually - I'm open to suggestions!

D

Jersey Gods - WIP

Don't think I've done one of these for Jersey Gods, so here goes.

I start off with a very small thumbnail - that's where I work out where the panels are gonna go, what sort of size they're going to be, etc. Sometimes I'm in the mood to do lots of experimental stuff with the panels, sometimes I want to play it straight. This time, I'm keeping it simple. (Don't bother clicking this, by the way - it really is tiny)

A size up. Here's where I start to refine the storytelling a bit. I also use the blank bit of the paper to work some stuff out - what the afro guy will look like, how Zoe's friend is going to be dressed etc.


Pencils. I work solely in blue-line these days. Partly cos you don't have to do a load of erasing at the end, but also cos my brain finds it easier to separate blue from black than grey from black. That makes it easier to concentrate on the inks, when the time comes.


Inks! I use a mix of brush and ink, pitt pens and markers to ink (though I generally favour the brush, cos I love the variation of line it gives me).

And that's it! Exciting stuff, what?

Pow!

Finally coloured last year's Jersey Gods Christmas card...!

Blam!

This was my go at drawing Warwick Johnson Cadwell and John Hoffman's The Nun with Two Guns. I botched it a bit - the original idea was to have her pointing the guns at us, with rosary beads strung between her arms, but I did her head too big and that left no room for the guns. So... no guns. The little "BLAMS" were a pain in the bum to colour (my own fault, I drew them very crudely, lots of open lines, difficult to flat), but they look rather good. And spent cartridges. Oh man, I *love* spent cartridges.

Look for more of this sort of thing in the New Year, fingers crossed!

D

THAMMMM!

Or do I mean MMMMAHT? Whatever, here's a sneak preview of issue ten of JERSEY GODS. Ooh!



After the relatively formal first issues, I'm trying to see if I can have some fun with the layout without breaking the story flow.



D