Doctor Who - Tuesday

In 2011, the fine bergers (burgers? Whatever) at IDW asked me to contribute to that year's Doctor Who Annual. At the time, I was a bit down on the show - I didn't really "get" Amy Pond, and I still wasn't entirely sold on Matt Smith's Doctor Who... I was reminded of what it was like to be a Sylvester McCoy fan in the late eightes; here I was, thinking that Sylv and Sophie (his companion) were the best thing since sliced bread, then I join the Doctor Who Appreciation Society (DWAS for short) and it turns out that all the sour-puss grown ups think he's terrible, the show's in decline, and things haven't been the same since Tom left. Well, regrettably, I'm one of those sourpusses now. Bah.

But then Neil Gaiman wrote an absolutely belting episode, and suddenly it was love all over again. Perfect timing, as IDW wanted 16 pages filled by RIGHT NOW.

So here they are... RIGHT NOW (click to enlarge):

In case the plot isn't clear from these pages: Doctor Who is imprisoned by an exiled minor royal who is planning to take back the British throne with the help of some evil cyborg cat-type-things. Doctor Who is *slightly* prepared for this turn of events: Amy Pond is on the cyborg cat mothership preparing to stage a revolution, and Rory Williams has used some psychic paper to put himself on the throne as a decoy. This plot was described by Gary Russell as "utterly mad", and I can't say I disagree. But the show - particularly the modern show - is an endlessly active plot factory, so to stay ahead of whatever the production team is planning requires an act of utter madness. And I should know, cos I'd had two (possibly more) different plots shot down for being too similar to something that was coming up.

And despite its superficial eccentricity, I think "Doctor Who - Tuesday" (so called, because Amy is recounting these events to her mum in some sort of - we can assume - Space Time Telegraph, and these events represent a typical Tuesday) pretty squarely represents what the show's like these days: Amy is super-confident, Rory's a well-meaning drip and Doctor Who is, well, the best thing since sliced bread.

So... my art got panned by Who fans (cos it was too cartoony, I think), but looking back I think it's pretty bloody boss. And I had a good time, which is the main thing.

- Dan

Eyes Down!

A little snippet from a little somethin' somethin'.

THUMP!

A recent panel from Time Share, coming soon - honest - from Oni Press.

KNEEL!

I was very excited about the new Man of Steel trailer. I've got some small reservations from what I've seen so far - it feels like the film is going to move VERY SLOWLY through the whole "will Clark Kent live up to his destiny" business, then cram a metric ton of collateral damage and fisticuffs into the last half hour. OR (more likely), it'll be very, very long indeed - essentially two films bolted together - which seems to be a given with these summer b-busters at the moment. The Hobbit's just shy of three hours apparently. Three hours! Christ.

And then there's the whole bit with the world being too big, and Ma Kent (for it is she) advising him to "make it small". Weird, creepy advice, though not a patch on Pa Kent's "kill 'em all and let God sort it out" admonishment. I bet when these bits turn up in the movie they'll be incredibly potent and effective, but they're maybe a bit too ambiguous for the purposes of a trailer (particularly with all that soaring, inspirational warbling going on in the background - I'm not supposed to find Pa Kent's "maybe" stirring, am I?)

But balls to all that, because as soon as Superman takes off into the sky the whole thing suddenly makes thrilling sense. And then this guy turns up:

Michael Shannon as Zod. He's going to be the best thing in the film, you wait and see.

Sketchy stuff

A page of sketchy stuff, featuring some oblique spoilers for a couple of projects I've got coming up. Hmm!

YOU'RE Thor??

Thor warm-up sketch on a cold November evening.

Time Share - just the colours

HOT off the presses, here's the colours for a page of Time Share I just finished. No inks, cos I don't want to spoil the plot (and I think the colours look pretty nifty by themselves...!)

FRANKENSTEIN: RIP?

Finally finished this Frankenstein commish. Loads of fun, though I think I enjoyed drawing his 'orrible teeth the most.

Monster Monster!

Quick sketch of Alec and Abbey from Swamp Thing, one of the best couples in comics history. There might be inks (and colours?) in this thing's future.

EDIT: And here it is! I over did the background texture, and messed up a nice detail I had planned, but it's otherwise not bad. Sigh. I knew I'd lose something with the inks, I always bloody do. Still a nice drawing though.

FRANKENSTEIN LIVE!

Sorry, that's supposed to read "Frankenstein Lives!" I'll fix it.

Ink study for a commission I'm working on. Trying to figure who my Creature will be, and I've kind of settled on a cross between Mary Shelley and Hammer Horror. I love drawing this guy! "I want to drink your blood!" - classic!

The Fuzz - IN COLOUR

A gritty-ass panel from Alex de Campi's forthcoming ASHES. 

Hulk... pensive

Digital sketch. Trying to use my power of Photoshop FOR GOOD.

Here comes the fuzz!

A snippet of a page from Alex di Campi's Ashes. I love drawing SWAT guys!

DOOOOOOM!!!

Latveria's favourite son in some borderline upskirt action. Why, you can almost see his Cosmic Cube!

Sorry.

D

She Ain't Buyin' It

A panel from Time Share - coming soon.

MONSTER!

I completely botched today's page, so I made it up to myself by drawing Devil Dinosaur and Moonboy. 

Really wanted to work the monolith from 2001 in there as well, but couldn't figure it out. Ah well - next time.

Goddamn, I loved doing this. Jack Kirby, you were the best.

She's on the Phone...

A panel from Alex de Campi's forthcoming ASHES. I've seen some of the other art in this book and I must say it looks BLOODY LOVELY so far.

Glasgow Comic Con

Dan’s too busy to write up his visit to the Glasgow con so I, in my role as Best Girlfriend Ever, am doing it for him.

It’s a fairly small con but the guest list was excellent – Rufus Dayglo, Alan Grant, Jon Haward, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Jim Starlin, John Wagner, as well as various small press publishers. 

Dan before the crowds

Loads of people came for sketches and poor old Dan didn’t stop all day – 40 sketches by 3pm! Suffice to say, he was knackered by the end of it, but still a happy bunny. We sold out of sketchbooks and met some very nice people - including Twitterfriends Mark Toner and Colin Bell. Here are some of Dan's sketches from that day:

Godzilla

Cthulhu

Commissioner Gordon

Dan, Rufus and Jon

Braveheart

Drawing Matt Smith

Man-Thing in progress

The finished Man-Thing

Hellboy pencils

Robin and Superman

Drawing the Hulk

Magneto

Penguin

Love that Joker!

Cosplayers - Scottish Spider-Man with Storm

On a break outside the venue and another sketch for a nice man and his son. 

Request of the day goes to Colin Bell for asking for Dan’s own character- Sky-Knight (watch this space!) 

Captain America

Last sketch of the day – Spider-Man/Peter Parker 

Thanks to everyone who came along to chat and who bought a sketchbook. Also to Sha Nazir for organising the event and inviting us.

Deborah