So I've managed to get a bit more done on this, but between a ripping snowdome session on Friday, a visit to the folks over the weekend and then having gone to London to see the Fellowship of the Ring at the Albert Hall performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra last night (unbelievably amazing with the film playing in the background and all of the original musicians - inc 3 choirs!) I've been a bit busy. Still trying to be super methodical and just basically making sure that it looks as good as I can get it to.


Light pencil scan hasn't come out so well - will have a better version when the pencils are cleaned more so I can darken.

A bit of fun:

Tags: snowdome, work in progress

So got a bit more done last night - it's going pretty slowly but I'm just trying to be clean and methodical with this - rendering water in motion I think has been on of the most time consuming elements I've ever had to draw, though as I said I'm just being methodical and lightly pencilling, peeling back and then going in with tighter line work. Redrew Spider-man slightly, and am pretty pleased with the bloke in the foreground so far, I figured a re-active shot was a bit more dynamic than a bloke staring and watching. Had some issues sorting out the scale in perspective terms but think it's ok now. Hopefully have more done tonight!

Tags: work in progress

Aloha! Well I've been slack in a fairly large way the last two weeks (hell, 2 months) at trying to get anything done. I'm currently starting work on a Spiderman sequential (trying to take it back to something I always thought I would enjoy) so I've posted the script for the first page below:

Devil’s Advocate

Spiderman property of Marvel
Story by Ielle Palmer 2006

PAGE ONE, Six Panels

Panel One: Evening - Fullshot of Spiderman smashing into a park water fountain, kicking up a huge spray every which way. Various people nearby are looking up alarmed.

CAPTION: “He’s not a menace!”

SPIDEY: Oofff!

Panel Two: Medium LS of DOC OC using one of his mechanical arms to lift Spidey up by the jaw and shake him.

CAPTION: “Liz… he’s just misunderstood.”

CAPTION 2: “Ugh, here we go. Harry, make her stop.”

Panel Three: LS of Doc tossing Spidey away towards some benches.

CAPTION: “Oh no, I’m not getting involved, this is between you two.”

Panel Four: CU of Spidey’s thrusting his hands outward, his webs spring outward.

CAPTION: “He’s a freak MJ…”

Panel Five: WA of Spidey. He has sling shoot himself around a lamp-post and is heading back at DOC OC (MS of DOC in the foreground, ready to fight) his foot outstretched so that it’ll be the first thing to hit DOC.

CAPTION: “…They say he’s the reason all these other nutjobs are popping up all over town…”

Panel Six: CU of Spidey’s foot connecting with Doc’s jaw, smashing his face sideways.

CAPTION: “...for godsake, the man’s killed people!”

Okay, I thought I had the thumbnail picture, but here's the layed out board so far, with some more detail shots. I'm gonna try and keep y'all up to date on this one, as this is really me trying to reignite my enthusiasm for comic book artwork.






Drew this whilst watching a movie a couple of nights ago - a fine example of piss poor planning as I've started to drop a background in and it just looks distinctly average and rubbish. Really trying to work on a much cleaner line style though.

Loads of other stuff has been going on, work's been busy and gymnastics has gone really well - landed the first somersault of our group last week and we're now moving on to more advanced floor work (we've got a 2 week easter break) as well as more vaulting and bars. Rreally enjoying it - though currently dragging my body kicking and screaming with that and yoga to a usable level of flexiblity!

Oh, and ResEvil5 kicks ASS!

Tags: work in progress

Okay, I've been waiting really for something/anything to get posting again with. It's been a tough old few weeks but things are starting to perk up (not least with another SnowDome trip this Saturday for my bro's birthday - ROCKIN!) and finally a reason to buy Guitar Hero: http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/conventions-15/stan-bush-to-perform-at-botcon-2009-in-guitar-hero-more-167082/

It's a bit wierd at the moment. I haven't really done any comic book work in ages - I haven't inked, haven't really pencilled AT ALL and can't really seem to restart things. It genuinely is a bit odd, I think with everything that's been happening that I've fully lost my mojo at the moment - each time I go to sit and work I end up thinking 'what's the point?'. I haven't read ANY comic books since September (although at least I've noticed not spending £40+ a month on books!) - I dunno, I guess what I'm saying is that I feel really REALLY out of the loop at the moment. Bristol comic-con is coming up, but as it stands other than going to see friends, not really sure if there's any point in going (it's gonna be smaller and focused on indy books, I haven't got any interesting bits in my folio and I haven't been keeping up with comics at all of late). Ehau, we'll see what happens I guess.

On the horizon: Spider-man 4 announced, Iron Man 2 starting principle photography in a few weeks and Fox talking about rebooting/sequelling Fantastic 4 and Daredevil. Things could get interesting...

Oh, and as I should mention it I guess, here is my review of Watchmen (I'll keep it short!)

Shit.

For a more indepth review - Good adaptation doesn't mean good film, doesn't hang together properly and Zack Snyder needs to lay off the gore and actually try to direct rather than work from the Michael Bay school of cinema.



Oh, and just about to finish reading Ender's Game. It's REALLY good.

It's been a long time since I updated this (well, for me anyway) and to be honest it's been a bit intentional. I've spent the last 2 weeks or so just trying to a) Keep my head above water at work and b) just relax a bit. I'm pleased to report that I'm doing pretty well at both for the moment.

After a trip to Hobbycraft yesterday, I sat down and had my first ever dabble with watercolours. I did a full lineart pencil sketch in quite high detail and next time I'll definately not bother as much - as I ended up inking afterwards a bit to give it some more pop. I stuck a texture in the background in Photoshop for shits and giggles and have posted below. Not quite sure what was going on from a design perspective, I was thinking wasteland mutant scavenger, so where the sarong came from is anyone's guess. Oh, and in my head, all zombies/mutants wear CK boxers lol.



Below are the finished pencils/washes for a painting I've started based on a sketch I did a while back.



Here are the backdated Sketch blog gubbins for the last week or so as well:



I like the little robot dude, and the bit on the right was a bit of a laugh - my interpretation of the Devil wearing Prada :-P



I was VERY tired when I drew the antro-characters, quite a lot of fun and different to what I normally do!


Always used to love drawing spaceships when I was younger, so I thought I'd have a noodle at some designs

Tags: finished page, sketch blog, watercolour paper, watercolours
Current Mood: busy
Listening to...: Guano Apes - Lord of the Boards

Been a very busy week, haven't had chance to update this. Here's a couple of quick bits for the sketch blog over the last couple of days.

Tags: sketch blog

So I accidentally played Xbox for around 5 hrs yesterday. Only realised as the batteries ran out in my control pad. Oops! Anyhow, Skate 2 is very, VERY good. Or at least I likes it anyhow!

Sketch blog entries for the last couple of days:





I've actually blown up the second one and started to correct it (and complete it) in roughs to lightbox, as I quite fancy having a go at glazing/colouring it - Really want get a bit more up to speed on just adding quick colour to finish off sketches, as I'm inspired seeing Mark Pearce's work (talented bastard!) and how he adds a dash of Photoshop to really set off his illustrations making them really pop. For those that don't know who or what I'm talking about, check out this dude's Deviant page - NOW! http://hemaniscool.deviantart.com/

In other news, read earlier that a CGI Tom and Jerry movie is purportedly in the works - Let's please hope this ends up in the 'oh-my-god-what-were-we-thinking-i'm-never-doing-so-much-coke-again-on-a-comissioning-night-please-seriously-what-the-fuck' pile of ideas that Hollywood invariably creates with these half assed ideas. I mean seriously, I know I can 'sometimes' be a skeptic to Hollywood, but EVEN if it's faithful, has a huge horde of violence and slapstick gags, EVEN IF all of that is in there - HOW THE FUCK WILL THIS NOT JUST BE THE GARFIELD MOVIE AGAIN??

Still, off to Bristol tonight which is cool!

Tags: skate 2, sketch blog
Listening to...: Funeral For A Friend - Hours

A scan of the finished Sisko pencils. Now just gotta work out how to ink the f*cker.

Tags: finished page, pencils

Skate 2 has arrived a day early!!! It's not out til tomorrow and I haz it! Muwuhahahahahaha! I think I know what I'm doing tonight...

All in all this was quite a quick finish - I think in total I've not spent more than 3 or so hours on this. Now I've got to work out how I'm going to convert this grey scale to inks lol. Fortunately I tried to work in cross hatch rather than blended render, so it should just be a bit more straight forward (he says...) but we'll see.

Something still doesn't quite sit right about his face, but I'm hoping I'll work that out before inking tonight.

Had a lot of fun playing Xbox live last night with a bunch of friends from Uni I haven't hung out with in ages - with the party play function enabled, a group of 6 of us chatted and played either together or in seperate games and it was v. cool - really sociable.

Tags: finished page, pencils, xbox 360
Current Mood: busy

I'm such a sucker for doing 'fan art' - although I prefer doing it when there's a purpose behind it (like when I did all the Transformers stuff for War Journal). Anyhow, here's a hour or so's thru work on a mock DS9 cover, featuring the bearded captain himself!



A lot more work to go, and using heavy photo reference - still got to work out how to interpret various different tones in the image, and just how far to go with shading etc and what I should leave for colours.

Really enjoying this Spiderman game at the mo - the spectacular aerials combat sequences and over the top super villain set pieces have served to remind a jaded comic book super hero fan why he liked them in the first place :-)

Think I feel a Spider-man splash coming on... he he he.

P.S - This counts as my sketch blog for the day! :-P

Tags: sketch blog, wip pencils
Current Mood: tired

An attempt yesterday lunch at drawing a character I've nerver really done before (or indeed a type of character!)

Watched a TERRIBLE movie last night (that ironically had really nice vis effects work) called Supernova with James Spader(sp?). Seriously, semi-soft porn style as I think the director chucked a whole bunch of sex scenes in to try and make a dull plot interesting, there were some nice touches in the concept of faster than light travel though - as one of the crews pods breaks and he is merged with the glass of the front of it - bit gruesome and quite well done! As was the way the ship jumped - kinda Tron, solar sailer simulator style along a beam - this, aside from set design, was probably the only real redeeming feature of the movie. Acting wasn't bad. Just a shite plot with terrible exposition in the first minute.

Moogs, Jess, you'd probably love it lol.

Tags: sketch blog
Listening to...: Hayseed Dixie

Sent this by one of the guys at work - I think it's funny, or at the least very well done :-)

http://www.noob.us/entertainment/mac-vs-pc-transformers-style/

Sent this one by Charlene - Had me in STITCHES at my desk, think I'll be watching more of this guy's work...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/472-Sonic-Unleashed

Just a quickie - at most 10 mins - figure I'd have a crack at trying to do a wierd forshortening. Like the head and hand at least!

Been looking bk at the Hulk page I finished last night. Know how/where I'd improve for the next one, I think though more than anything it's just getting used to the pencilling workflow/process again - as once it clicked (about 3/4 way thru the page!) if flowed a lot more. Just need to be a bit more prepared and methodical.

Tags: sketch blog

Well, I think it counts anyway. Finished up the Hulk page - background's a bit looser than I'd have liked, but truth be told the rubble was getting a bit tedious and I figured to over detail drew the eye from the central focus. Also, the meticulous 'tight render' style is quite a labour intensive style - either that or it's my natural tendancy to work too quickly and loosely to begin with!

Anyhow, here he is - The Hunted Man.

Tags: finished page, incredible hulk, pencils, sketch blog
Listening to...: Next - Michael Crichton [audiobook]

So this weekend Charlene and I drove to Oxford to pick up a drafting chair I won on eBay for £5 [near mint condition and easily £100+ new - SCORE!] and have a look around while we were there. Very nice city centre, even if it was really cold - loads of cool old buildings, though trying to get out of there at rush hour was a bit of a pig. Anyhow, here's the now complete workspace! Gotta say that it made sticking a couple of hours in on Sunday a real pleasure as it's just so damn comfy, and touch wood my shoulder hasn't played up again yet!



Tried doing some more work on the Philip Tan Batgirl page but it wasn't really flowing - it's such a lo-res scan/f**king hard page to ink; so I picked up the pencils and did some more work on the Hulk page. Starting to enjoy pencilling again, which is nice and found that once I just got into the mentality of just cleaning back and tightening an area that I wasn't happy with, I began to get in the groove and feel much more positive about the page. Will try and get it finished tonight I think - was gonna post a WIP but I think I'll hang fire.

Other than some drinkies on Saturday night in Northampton with some of Charlene's archaeological friends it was quite a quiet one, which all in all was appreciated yesterday - even if we did end up watching half of Krull (urrgh... I want that hour of my life back) - Still MIB:2 was on and I was reminded that I actually quite enjoyed both MIB films, even if they are a bit silly!

Looking forward to seeing The Wrestler when it comes out, looks like it's gonna be a return to form for Aronofsky - so here's to hoping with Robocop I guess.

I hope JP doesn't mind me having swiped this from his Facebook, but I just wanted to share a little more of the aweseomeness that was the Star Trek Experience!



Apologies for no sketch blog today - had to go to the post office. Will see if I can get one together tonight!

Tags: star trek, workspace

Here's todays sketch blog entry. Done in about 20/30 mins on lunch - pencils with a bit of wash. Shite photo, might scan later. As ever, bits I like, bit's I don't. Started off doing tight render but as time pressed I got rougher with the rendering - would probably keep it that way if I got as far as inking with grey n black brush pens. It may be a predictable book, but I still like the Punisher character design!

Tags: punisher, sketch blog

So... the holidays are officially over and we're all back to the suck. Well, work or what not anyhow. I've been debating whether to post resolutions or not, but it's probably not worth it/not interesting so I'll skip to the bits that may have any impact at all.

To the best of my ability, I want to keep a sketch blog - or at least post more sketches and doodles I've been doing as well as finished works, so with that in mind here's a couple from over Christmas:


Thought I'd just do something a bit concepty - a human born in zero G - scifi stylings as ever!


A robot that ISNT a transformer or Iron Man (although technically not a robot, still mecha)

Went to the rugby yesterday with my bro and Dad, Tigers won - Woot! Although it was sodding cold and lo and behold today we have snow. Supposedly the best snow conditions for over a decade are to be had in Europe and American ski resorts as well - Gay. Well, not the conditions, they're great, it's more the 'not being able to go skiing this year' bit. Weak.

Tags: pencils, sketch blog

I mean literally it's after Christmas, not some kind of pseudo-social observation of our emotional trend heading into January. Although that could be fun! *rolls eyes*

Anyhow, we switched our Christmas around at the last minute and went up to my folks for Xmas Day and Boxing Day - went to see the oldies, ate, drank, was a bit merry, played cards and Xbox. The usual really! Then Saturday we headed down to Bournemouth and saw Charlene's rents and oldies - great fun, but all the driving up and down the country has left us a bit whacked. Still, a rescued Christmas from the disaster it could have been!

Had some great presents this year, books (really cool digi painting guides!), smellies, a jumper (Christmas as a grown up - woo!) and a couple of Xbox games (Bioshock and Rainbow Six:Vegas), though I think the one that made me grin the most was this:



JP and Jess - You are both made of awesome lol. Thank you so much for dis!

Bought Call Of Duty: World At War yesterday and have been cracking through that a bit - also working on a page I was sent before Christmas by a guy on the Inkwell boards. Very nice of him, it's a high-ish res Justice League page by Randy Green. Will post it when finished!

Hit 5000 page views on my dA! Woot! I think I started the year on 1000, so let's hope for 10K next Xmas! Speaking of which actually, I'm gonna start work on the ole resolutions list and get it up for New Year's Day (I think Charlene and I are just gonna stay in as the weather for driving is going to suck ass and there isn't anything going on with friends within 200 miles - or that we can really afford!) - I usually don't bother with serious resolutions or whatever, but I guess it's a good way of setting milestones and achievables for the year. Oh well, we'll see what happens I guess!

Tags: christmas, cod5, storm trooper helmet