It's not all black and white!!!

there are many shades of grey...

especially when Newcastle United are concerned... but in the greyness once in a while an epic moment of true class shows..fortunately for us it was last night against middlesborough...who provided the greyness...
I am in the process of inking a whole page.Woo..yes a whole page..taking my time about it....as i try to discover the art of inking..the art of inking digitally using a tablet pc....the art of inking digitally using a tablet pc and not spending the rest of my life doing it...i think i'm getting there...[note to self not to use as many pencil strokes on subsequent pages as it adds to my already behemoth task of creating, pencilling, inking and colouring TIOBCT...
My goal finish inking this 'Hero' page and one or two standard pages..then I'm going to start talking to publishers, agents, whoever..whilst i continue to produce the story of course...
another small test selection of ink n rough paint...using combination of Manga Studio and Photoshop...

War at the movies!!!

Having just been introduced to the wonders of Spotify a most excellent mp3 library....I can now listen merrily away whilst I work..
Hope to have another page of TIOBCT finished today...In the meanwhile here's one I made earlier...For some inexplicable reason I have added the album 'War at the Movies' to my Spotify playlist...so am currently listening to 'Bridge over the River Kwai' which I'm sure was the same theme as 'The Machine Gunners' which used to be on BBC...or vice versa..
and now moved to my all time favourite...The Great Escape!!! there's nothing better than drawing to film scores...little trick I picked up from Iain McCaig - Phantom Menace concept artist (and I've just remembered Jethro Tull album painter who spookily have just been added to another folky playlist with Lindisfarne and Dylan)..
anyhoo...here it is...

I'm Spartan..no..I'm Spartan!!

Actually I'm an Athenian or at least my father is..and Geordie on my mother's side..but in days gone by my family were Ionian..near Ephesus..
enough history..more action...
As any learned Roman historian will tell you...the Roman's stole most of their civilisation from the Greeks..Oh! I thought the Romans invented the phalanx and the shield formations of the tortoise...nope..Greeks...Where the Greeks stole it from is another matter...
Here is some work inspired by 300, Spartacus, Gladiator and err..Roger Rabbit... that's right you heard Roger Rabbit.. the product of a wandering mind...if you look carefully you might even find a Mr Incredible..

Mark Jobe of Quay Studios www.quaystudios.com who is kindly lending me the mac with which I am writing this very blog and scanning and manipulating the artwork which you see before you..had a most excellent idea. That I should create a virtual exhibition space for some of my work...(specifically an old photography project that has been lying in My mam's attic for many a year..)...a 3d environment gallery space with some 2d artwork contained therein..Brilliant idea...definitely going to get on that...as soon as I've finished this infernal comic...I'm easily distracted by new (and old) ideas...

Been testing (or playing depend on your perspective) with Manga Studio to ink up the pencilwork..have to say Manga Studio is the greatest program ever to have graced the rectangular shaped display unit that self projects all manner of wonders into my eyes..It's the greatest..in a Muhammed Ali way.. Manga Studio is king...(in a world of software for inking pencilled drawings..)

We're going to need a bigger...errr..planet..

Hot on the heels of my first artistic blogging experience...Maverick comic artist AKA (one of my many aliases) hailing deep from the reaches of cyberspace decides to go off on a tangent and scan one of his illustrations created whilst in Spain in the wilderness...in fact that's all you'll see for a little while till he starts putting up actual comic artwork for 'The Island of Bone Chilling Terror!!!'which is going to require him to do some actual work..The Illustration is part of a new style he (speaking in the third person in an attempt to acquire the air of eccentric artist) calls it 'Scream of Consciousness'...it's Kung Fu Art.the style of no style... and this piece is called

sp. Cantcarryon cantcarryus

The story so far....a B-Movie Odyssey

well anybody who knows me...and that brings up all kinds of questions like how well do you know anybody?..what does it mean 'to know'? anybody who knows me knows i've been working on various different 'Top secret' projects...for many a year now...
Well let me take you on a whirlwind journey of time..the back story to where I am now with Comic Book Concept -The Island of Bone Chilling Terror!!!'
years past...
started a company called Bailey Bros. in Newcastle and tried foolishly to realise an idea as an animated feature film...I couldn't draw...so I hired a couple of guys..one great character artist Andy Smith and a mate's dad Colin Todd to do some backgrounds...anyway got some attention did a small trailer..pitch book..in short still working on the damn thing after falling out with a very small production company who wanted to take me to the cleaners..and did...my own fault..

Anyway came up with another idea because a film company in New York asked if i had any otehr ideas..to which I of course replied yes..even though i didn;'t.. so I had to come witha B-Movie idea to tag on the back of my other really 'Top Secret' project..so I came up with...a B-Movie..'the Hero with a thousand faces' ripped off from Joseph Campbell (the title at least..)

and thought you want a story?..I'll give you a story you want it to follow a traditional hero story structure..that's exactly what i'll create to the letter...in a B-Movie stylee! and so it was born, did a pitch book and sketches and printed and sent them off...and then..my business sank without a trace mostly dueto my own mismanagement and a distinct lack of arsedness about worrying about how I was going to fund coming up with concepts spend months developing them and not actually earn any money..i lasted 18 months and managed to hire two people with an office (the size of a cupboard)..I'm amazed i lasted as long as i did...

And then I decided I needed to know more about what it takes to make a film..so i headed for London and after a brief sojourn as a tea boy (read runner), a very brief careerin the merchant bank business..I embarked upon a career in visual effects...which was great..I worked on James Bond, the Dark Knight...and then thought Jeesus!! I need a break I'm going on holiday...so I went on holiday for two months..started revisiting my old ideas..finally found a drawing style i was happy with (after teaching myself over many years) and started drawing..i decided not to return to the VFX studio.. because a) I'm an idiot and b) i wanted to finish my graphic novel and c) I was too happy sitting by the pool in Spain at my Mam's place...
So here I am..returned to Newcastle..in a friends studio..drawing and finally trying to finish the pencilling of the Graphic Novel...The Island of Bone Chilling Terror!!! I will quite literally keep you posted as to my progress...
so here we go.. it's been a long time coming..about 6 years...a small image of a section of artwork..in black and white...