Jam-Wah: Art, Design & Larks

Cute Octopus Monster!

2012-02-26T18:55:00.000Z

See the cute little (okay, GIANT) octopus trying to make friends with the cruise liner! Awww!

This is the kind of image I'd like to wear on a t-shirt, how about you?

Oh. Wait! Maybe there's a chance that it could be made into a t-shirt! It pretty much depends on you, dear reader, and your generous nature. See, this image is a contest entry into the Cute Monster Design Battle on DeviantART and the top prize is that the design will be made into an official deviantWEAR product (plus $1,500 which I would plough into the setup of Jam-Wah as a studio proper). My entry has come quite late in the day and I need a lot of assistance to beat those who entered last month!

This is how you can help:

GO TO MY ENTRY, 'HUGS' AND CLICK I'D WEAR THIS! ON THE RIGHT OF THE SCREEN.
IF YOU DON'T HAVE A dA ACCOUNT, YOU'LL BE PROMPTED TO CREATE ONE (IT DOESN'T TAKE LONG)
THAT'S IT!

You will have my eternal gratitude, plus my eternal fingernail clippings if you pass this message on to others and help my design reach the top! You would, quite literally, be contributing towards the creation of Jam-Wah as a studio.

Thanks, folks!

24hr MONSTERS! 2012 - early days

2012-02-11T20:16:00.000Z

You know how charity events usually seem to be well handled, organised in advance and with a strong sense of how to get publicity and how to get the donations to the right place? Well, here's a confession. Last year, 24hr MONSTERS! was organised as a last minute venture, with a legion of comic book artists being hurriedly contacted and a lot of trying to figure out selling on eBay.

However, that doesn't mean that the event wasn't a success. We raised over £350 for Comic Relief, which is great! It was also a great learning experience and a lot of fun, to boot.

What would be ideal for the second event (this is hopefully going to become a tradition)? A more calculated approach, more promotion and crucially, the artists and contributors should feel that the money raised matched their generosity. The total raised was nothing to be sniffed at, but some of the artists involved saw their art go for a lot less than it should have. This is one area which can be worked on.

THE LIST

We need:

ARTISTS -- cartoonists, painters, graphic designers, model makers, photographers, textile artists, radical left field creators of all types and abilities.
VOLUNTEERS -- fundraisers, media savvy promotion machines, copywriters, social media experts, web designers and developers, street teams.
IDEAS! -- Last year was a 24hr online art marathon and a 10 day auction. This year could be more! Your suggestions could change everything, so get them in here quick!

At this stage, nothing is totally finalised. It's likely that the theme will still be monster art (although the name 24hrMONSTERS! could apply to the people involved, so even that isn't concrete), and obviously the event will be 24hrs long. Let's consider maybe a physical presence in addition to online. How about a dedicated Twitter feed? Is eBay the best option for selling the artwork? All suggestions are welcome at this point! In fact, maybe a 24hrMONSTERS! Brain Trust is in order...

So watch this space, and e-mail jamie@jam-wah.com with your ideas, art submissions and any offer of assistance!

Bean a Son

2012-01-20T19:43:00.000Z

Hit a point in my last commission where I couldn't proceed without reference so quickly made a Kurt Cobain bean while watching a live Nirvana show on TV.

Thankfully, I changed my mind from the original subject of Hitler.

How do you like your mutants?

2012-01-16T13:43:00.000Z

Abstract and angular, or cute and stubby?

Just a reminder, I'm still creating these on commission at a reduced rate!

Bean Men - £10 ($15)

Geo Portraits - £25 ($38)

FIRE SALE! NOT TECHNICALLY, BUT STILL!

2012-01-13T21:38:00.001Z

I love January. It's a month which begins with resolutions, continues with gradually lengthening days (including my birthday.............. an Audi R8, if you're wondering.........) and ends with the first payday since mid-sodding-December.

Apropos of nothing (certainly not that last point), I've decided that for at least the weekend of 14th-15th January and possibly throughout the days immediately following, I'll be dropping my commission rates significantly, in keeping with another January tradition, and offering a rapid turnaround on orders.

So what's on offer? Glad you asked.

BEAN MEN

Digital hi res file, e-mailed to you within an hour of the first line being drawn

£10 each

GEO PORTRAITS

Digital hi res file, e-mailed to you within an hour of the first line being drawn

£25 each

I will do my very very best to keep to the 'within an hour' promise. I want to be a reliable gent. The basic premise is that you let me know your request (character, style, any particulars you just MUST have in there) and I will add you to the list. First come, first served, but with a quick turnaround you won't be waiting for long. Give me your e-mail address and send the payment via PayPal (address info on confirmation of order) then just sit back and let me take care of your order. You could have a cute and/or abstract character in your inbox before the end of the same day!

Stag and Demon Week

2011-12-15T20:00:00.000Z

How are things? I haven't seen you much this week, have I? Is your mum okay? You'll have to tell me all about Jordan's first day at school. Oh, sorry! Come on in, out of the rain.

Can I get your coat?

Tea?

Just make yourself at home. I've left a couple of illustrations on the table; just put them anywhere.

What? Yeah, one's a stag. Dunno, I just felt like it. Looking to try new stuff, new techniques and all that.

No, it's a demon. Nothing like a dog, what are you on about? It's got a forked tail and tongue. Tongue. TONGUE. Never mind. Well then, you're not getting a t-shirt of it. No, no. Too late now. In fact, here's your tea!

Oh, I'm sorry. Did it stain your trousers? Mwahahahahaaaaa! NOW GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!

The nerve...

We Have A Pope And A Turnip

2011-12-04T16:10:00.001Z

The intro to this blog entry is sponsored by The Spin Doctors.

Hooo, where to start? How about with the fact that I rather stupidly let somebody take a good chunk of my income out of the ATM by walking away and leaving it beeping, leaving me with a deficit just before the festive season? Gah! Hence, I am kinda wanting some pre-Christmas commissions to come my way. If you want some original art for yourself or as a gift, get in touch via the contact page. You would pretty much save me.

Anyway, being the kind of chap who looks on the bright side of life these days, productivity hasn't suffered a jot. In fact, today I put together a movie poster for my portfolio. For once, based on a real (current) movie rather than some fake schlock horror beast from my brain, I checked the local listings and saw a movie called We Have a Pope. To me, it sounds like a Catholic Church version of The King's Speech, but that's beside the point. I thought "Pope... Vatican... iconic stuff" and started sketching. There was a version with cardinals and stuff, but it looked too silly.

Bear in mind, this isn't me trying to get movie poster work, rather editorial illustration work. Went with rough brushes and strayed from my ultra-clean style.

Popey McCloud

As a bonus, here are some warm-up sketches from today and yesterday. Quality's not amazing as they're all mobile phone photos, but I don't care.

Angst Grrrl (quick sketch on Saturday)

Marc Ellerby's Chloe Noonan

Turny Peter, the Turnip Eater

Turny Peter colours

Illustration of the weekend

2011-11-26T21:41:00.001Z

Hey all,

Just wanted to share something. As a rule, movie posters and DVD covers are kinda pedestrian and uninspired but once in a while, something comes along which really stands out. Today I was browsing horror movies in a couple of stores with the mighty Gav Heryng and among the standard fare on offer was this gem.

A little research revealed that the artist is Gary Pullin, whose site is here and contains a ton of horror-related imagery. Shame on me for being late to the party.

Keep Clams and Carrion

2011-11-23T22:04:00.001Z

How quaint. I bet nobody even notices.

Look, it's nobody's fault necessarily.

Read up on the Keep Calm... poster here if you want, but essentially all you need to know is that a WW2 morale-boosting poster issued by the British government has been co-opted by all and sundry since its rediscovery in 2000. I was once a fan of the various parodies that would crop up here and there over the last few years, indeed I believe I still have a Fantastic Four-themed version in my cart at DeviantART from when I was umming and ahhing about how to decorate my flat earlier this year.

Modern Toss made me spit coffee in a shop when I saw this.

Recently, however...

It's getting stupid. While I appreciate that the font (Gotham, or a loose approximation), layout and simplicity is both recognisable and potentially ripe for effective and amusing reinterpretation, every Tom, Dick and Harry is getting in on the act, lessening the impact with each attempt. Primark had some in the window around the time of the Royal Wedding (remember that? Feh) and I would be willing to put seven pounds and fifteen pence (the price of Primark's executive range suit jacket) on the fact that they sold like the proverbial hot cakes. Or crack. It's a sad indictment of the general public's appetite for regurgitated ideas and it makes me want to cry man tears.

Omnomnom is also funny. Sigh.

Hilarious.

Where's all of the originality? Of course, it's everywhere! That isn't the point. These posters aren't being created by design or advertising agencies, serious artists, typographers or anybody with any real hope of breaking the mould. They're the equivalent of this:

In Non-Star Wars, hats were very much 'in'.

People as a whole don't like innovation. How else do you explain reality television? People watching people doing the same stuff they just finished doing earlier. It's possibly a good thing, because we live in an age of rapidly-evolving technology and if everyone was to strive for innovation, the robot apocalypse would be upon us faster than you can say "common sci-fi trope". Instead, we're content to repeat the same actions, drink the same drinks, eat the same food, read the same stories, watch the same films, drive the same cars ad infinitum. Well, apart from when Steve Jobs announces... oh, yeah.

Anyway, I'm drifting here. But you know what? The Keep Calm clan aren't unique in the world of overused 21st Century posters. There's also this fella:

Shiny new prez!

If you need me to link to parodies, pastiches and blatant cash-ins that have cropped up in the wake of Shepard Fairey's artistic lovechild, you might want to go back to sitting in the corner with a ball of string. You CAN'T MOVE ON THE INTERNET for this thing, even after all these years (you can't move on the internet anyway, but you know what I mean). Google it and the world turns into pork. Seriously.

So I would like to take this opportunity to tell the world that you can all stop now. I have created the ultimate parody of both of these in one neat image. There is no point in trying to go further, for you will only look like the guy who still says "NOT!" at the end of a perfectly decent sarcastic remark. Wayne's World was a long time ago. World War 2 was even longer of the agoes. Stop it. Stop. Here, take this and explode in isolation. All hail your new poster overlord.

Are we all done now?

- Jamie

PS: Ed and Josh, the guys on the table next to us at Thought Bubble, had variations on the Keep Calm and the Hope posters. I feel like a prize turd for essentially lumping them in with the rest of the people I'm slagging off, but I will qualify it with this statement: It's bloody hard for freelance artists to make a profit at comic conventions and frankly I think they did the right thing.

* Oh, and I will be making this poster available to buy so I can cash in on the success of others.

Return of the Mack

2011-11-21T23:30:00.001Z

Back from Thought Bubble/TB/Tho Bubs and I would have to place it right up there with one of my all-time weekends. So what if it I spent all my money, got ill after eating fried fish, slept for only six hours over two nights and came home with a good portion of the stock I arrived with? It was an amazing time because of friends, fellow creators, fans (yeah! I have fans!), coffee, beer, rum, roller girls, dancing, The A-Team, aloo potatoes, small press and the irresistible urge to yell "SHOOT HER!", "I know you didn't!" and "Mmmmmolten lava!" over and over again.

Awesome Merchandise, to whom I declared my undying love last week, came through again on two levels. Firstly, by printing my posters to an appropriately awesome standard and secondly by being cool enough to stay behind a short while after closing at the end of their week so I could pick up said posters (me having turned up 35 minutes late because of traffic). All round ace people Mike Bunt and his good lady Kaytie Picklechops put up with our bloke musk in their flat for the weekend, so big thanks to them too. Sharktopus and a pizza called 'Yam Yam Bear' were the pre-cursor to a Friday night of ill-advised debauchery, ending four hours before we had to get ready to leave for the con.

The con itself was a learning experience. Four creators sharing one table is not practical. Next time, I'm going solo despite the additional cost. It was brilliant to share with Gary, Dan and Gav as we had a real laugh, but I think the jumble sale-esque appearance of our table let us down somewhat and I suppose having fun is kinda only part of the gig. Sales are a big part too. I also learned the importance of a speedy commission. Grant Perkins, our good mate, was pumping out five minute marker sketches and they were looking great. My first commission took two hours! Vector work is s-l-o-w, so maybe a 'sketch now, vector later' deal could be the way forward.

Sketchington Cardbury

The mid-con party was... yeah. I was drunk and dancing again. Kieron Gillen played Reel2Real and made my decade.

Morning set-up

Sunday morning, bright and early and hungover and caffeine-fuelled.

This is the first year Thought Bubble has hosted a two-day convention and the Sunday was pretty quiet possibly owing to the broken cash machine which was, for many people, the only convenient place to get their spends for the second day, but it allowed me to have a wander around Saville's Hall and speak to Adam Cadwell, Kayla Hillier and Marc Ellerby. Picked up their The Everyday, Galavant and Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter respectively. Missed Jonathan Edwards, though. Sods.

Also sods is the fact that two of my biggest inspirations were there and I missed both of them! Olly Moss and Mick McMahon just managed to be somewhere I wasn't for the whole weekend. Maybe it's for the best, as I'd have probably turned into a raving mad goblin creature and lost all of my professional demeanor (ha!).

Quicker than vectors, but I couldn't Ctrl+Z the jaundiced thumbs...

Anyway, I got to practice new styles, rid myself of a few of my comics, draw Juggernaut for a kid called Logan (which seemed entirely apt) and speak at length to a lovely lady whose name I stupidly forgot to ask although she both bought a print from me and was one of the organisers of the Glasgow Comic Con in July this year. Cool beans!

All hail Gary Heaney, king of the dance floor.

Thought Bubble 2011

2011-11-18T12:34:00.001Z

Here's the deal:

Tomorrow and Sunday (19th and 20th November), I'll be looking all sexy-like at Table 10 in Royal Armouries Hall, showing off my wares at the 5th annual Thought Bubble comics festival in Leeds. It's a great con, although 'con' doesn't really feel like the right term. It's a friendly, interactive, educational and above all else, FUN festival of all things comics.

There are some amazing guests: Tim Sale, Adam Hughes, David Aja, Gail Simone, Cameron Stewart among the internationals hitting Yorkshire, joining homegrown talent like the Etherington Brothers, Mick McMahon (EEEE!), Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Adam Cadwell and Kayla Hillier (she's Canadian, but she lives here so it counts) and many many more.

On Table 10, in addition to myself there will be a bevy of creative talent, probably rotating as numb bum syndrome dictates. Dan Hill, writer extraordinaire will be publicising The Adventures of Sir Harry Chiselton; Gav Heryng and Gary Heaney will also be showing their artistic prowess to all and sundry. Good mates, all.

Our mutual pals and all-round good eggs, Grant and Eva Perkins, will be attending but not on our table (too good for us, you see...) so say hello to them, too. You won't be able to miss them, they'll be the ones who chloroform you and let you wake up with a missing kidney and a copy of Spirit of Hope in your hand.

I may as well put up my price list here for all you tech-savvy folk.

Sketch card (black and white) - £5
Sketch card (colour) - £8
Bean Man (pencil sketch plus digital file via e-mail/bluetooth) - £10
Geo portraits (pencil sketch plus digital file via e-mail/bluetooth) - £20
A3 prints (Dead World/Death Spore/No Shit Sherlock/Where the Dead Dwell) - £8
Hex Heroes poster (A2) - £15

And remember, you bring me an egg nog latte from Starbucks and I will propose to you. I will not marry you however, unless I really want to.

Geek appeal?

2011-11-17T00:04:00.001Z

Today, I thought of an idea which I want to make into the next official Jam-Wah project (Hex Heroes being the last, since the b-movie thing became a bit sporadic). It's a series of illustrations based around a concept which I think might be good enough to get noticed if I play it right. So what's the problem?

Everything I've done up to this point has been steeped in pop culture and geekyness. The more I think about dropping that side of things and concentrating on more varied and 'serious' art, the more I wonder whether that would lose all the momentum I've gained over the last few years (such as it is). Still, there's no reward without risk and a change is as good as a rest and a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and I shot the sheriff.

What I'm saying is that this blog should soon be a bit more pretentious. Just be ready, yeah?

Oh, and this weekend is Thought Bubble! I'll be sharing a table with my esteemed colleagues Gav Heryng, Dan Hill and Gary Heaney in the Royal Armouries Hall in Leeds. Can't speak for the others, but I'll be selling prints of the four b-movie posters and a larger format Hex Heroes poster, plus doing both sketch card and digital commissions. I will probably also be hungover, so if you come along, bring coffee and I'll love you forever (Starbucks' Egg Nog Latte will earn you a proposal of marriage*).

*May not be legally binding.

Awesome Merchandise!

2011-11-14T09:50:00.000Z

Just a quick Monday morning shout-out to Awesome Merchandise, based in Leeds. They've rescued Christmas (okay, Thought Bubble) for me despite my floundering!

Check them out for all manner of exciting products!

www.awesomemerchandise.com

Jeff Universe

2011-11-13T22:32:00.001Z

Back in the long, long time ago in a land populated by college students, dreamers and Placebo fans, I read about a new animated series called South Park. It seemed to have a lot of comedy potential, but what made it stand out for me was the idea that it was seemingly possible to have a popular animation using crude, almost rudimentary artistic skills. Wow! I only had a rudimentary artistic skill at the time, so suddenly this opened up a whole mess of options!

I could be the creator of a brand new animated comedy show, written and designed by me (but with the animation handled by experts, I would decide later - delegation was an art I mastered when I was nineteen). How hard could it be to put together a winning show and get it broadcast on primetime TV? Okay, so that was a leading question which doesn't really require an answer. In any case it would inevitably come in the form of a punchline. Fortunately, my teenage slacker nature rendered the point moot and I never got past the concept stages. No harm done.

What I came up with, however, was Jeff Universe. Via a dozen or so filters applied to the core concept to ensure I didn't just create South Park, the characters formed and became something my brain won't allow me to leave alone. The central character - the eponymous Jeff - wore a coat which he bought at a charity shop and which was in fact donated in error by a wizard's housekeeper. The coat could teleport Jeff and others to crazy alternate universes, which would allow for varied episodes, experimental art techniques (I suppose you could argue that Family Guy eventually did this in their Road to the Multiverse episode) and ridiculous situations. There was a recurring antagonist; the coat's former owner and evil wizard, Wendal. Other characters included Beth (Jeff's girlfriend), Marcus (a vampire), Mister Mackranakan (a less-than-pleasant college tutor) and Phoebe (a bohemian art student).

The reason I bring this up is that today I drew Jeff for the first time in five years. Now I want to bring the guys back (this happens to me a lot, you may have noticed), maybe not as a potential animation but in some form or other. We'll see. Anyway, here are the 2006 models, followed by the 2011 model. I hope you can see improvement...

Thursday, your punishment...

2011-11-10T23:23:00.001Z

...for behaving like a Tuesday or a Wednesday or something is that I only wish to spend seven minutes on piece of art just for you. The rest of it, you'll have to share with Friday. Don't look at me like that, you brought this on yourself.

Progress is overrated

2011-11-09T23:58:00.000Z

If any of you followed my work back in 2006-7 you may remember that after a little experimentation, I developed a style which became known as 'bean men'. It got me work, got attention and did its job. I became a little bored with the stagnant nature though, so I dropped it to get all crazy mit der other stuff.

But get this! The beans are back in town and hopefully will be leading to some cool work which I don't know if I can spill about yet (another oh-so mysterious project...) These are just examples of the style produced on spec, but it's been cool to re-visit the old methods.

Comics to be sold...

2011-11-07T01:22:00.000Z

Oy-oy! Here's a list of the comics I'm planning to sell. Most are listed by title, followed by available issues. Where there isn't a significant number of issues, I've left them out. They're headed to charity. At the end is a list of Issue Ones and Issue Zeroes that I happened to find. Apologies for the length of this list and the boring post in general.

Wildcats vol 2 1, 3-8, 10-28

Wildcats vol 3 1-2, 5-7, 17, 21-24

Wildcats vol 4 1

Wildcats vol 5 4

X-Men: Children of the Atom 1, 3, 6

ShockRockets 1-6

Sleeper 1, 9-10

Sleeper Season Two 10

Midnight Kiss 1

Hope Falls 1

Atomic Robo: Dogs of War 1

Invincible 9, 17, 34, 44, 56, 77, 79

Anna Mercury 2 1-3

Marshal Law 1-3, 5-6

Marshal Law (misc) Kingdom of the Blind, The Hateful Dead

Brightest Day 0

'76 1, 3-5

The Authority 24-28

100 Bullets 18, 23, 26-27, 31, 33, 36

Mr Majestic 1-3, 7, 9

Watchmen (Millennium Edition) 1

Watchmen (1986)   2

Marvel Team-Up (2005) 7, 14, 17, 19

Hero By Night 1-4

Scion 4-5, 20, 25-26

Captain Marvel vol 4 1-5, 16, 20, 23

Batman vol 1 655-658

Batman & Robin (2009) 1-2, 13-14

Transformers (US) 44, 62

Transformers: Generation 2 1, 4-10

Transformers (UK)

Transformers (1st mini) 1-3, 56

Transformers (2nd mini) 3-6

Transformers: War Within 1, 5

Transformers: War Within: The Dark Ages 1-2, 6

Transformers: War Within: The Age of Wrath 1

Transformers: Armada 1-3, 7, 14-15

Transformers Summer Special 1

Transformers (Ongoing) 5, 7

Transformers: Infiltration 0, 3-5

Transformers: Stormbringer 1-4

Transfomers: Escalation 4, 6

Transformers: Devastation 1-2, 6

Transformers: All Hail Megatron 6, 13

Transformers: Spotlight Optimus Prime, Sideswipe, Prowl

Transformers: Megatron: Origin 2

Transformers (Ongoing) 3-5, 9-10, 20-23, 26

Transformers/Gi Joe 1-3

Daredevil vol 1 182, 232-233, 263, 265, 276-280

Daredevil vol 2 1-34, 36-50, 56, 58-61, 64, 66, 68, 70-71, 75, 77- 78, 81, 84, 88, 101, 501-504

Daredevil: Ninja 1-3

Daredevil specials Yellow #4, DD/Bullseye: the Target #1, Reborn 1-3

Cable 24, 28, 33, 38, 43, 49, 53, 58, 71-74, 80, 82, 87, 97, 107, Annual (99)

X-Men/New X-Men/X-Men: Legacy (1991)   -1, 2, 4-11, 14-20, 23, 27-29, 43, 45, 48, 50-51, 53-55, 57, 59-60, 62-93, 95-98, 100-102, 104-108, 112-113, 115-122, 124-134, 137-139, 143-148, 150-152, 156, 164, 166, 168, 184, 186, 188-191, 200, 231, 234-235, Annual (2001)

X-Force vol 1   1-5, 7-11, 13-14, 16, 18, 20-22, 24-27, 31, 39, 44-58, 61, 63-67, 69-86, 89-91, 102, 104, 108, 119-129

X-Force vol 2 1, 5, 13, 21

X-Force (mini-series) 1

Uncanny X-Force 3, 5, 5.1, 6, 8, 10-11

X-Statix 1-8

Uncanny X-Men -1, 169, 226, 238, 240, 243, 265, 275, 277, 280-281, 283, 288, 292, 294, 295, 316, 323-337, 339-353, 355-389, 391-400, 402-417, 419, 445, 464- 465, 475, 477-480, 482, 486-488, 491, 494, 496, 516, 521-522, 524, Annuals (1990, 2001)

Astonishing X-Men (mini) 1-3

Astonishing X-Men vol 1 1-4, 6-18, 20-22, 25, 27-28

Wolverine vol 1 42, 69, 75, 77-79, 88, 93-97, 99-100, 105, 107-108, 111-112, 114-115, 117-118, 120, 123-134, 139-140, 143-147, 150, 154, 158, 165, 170, 182, Annuals (1996, 1999)

Wolverine vol 2 23-27, 30, 50, 73-74

Captain America vol 1 445, 452-454

Captain America vol 2 (Heroes Reborn) 9

Captain America vol 3 (Heroes Return) 1-15, 17-24

Captain America vol 4 (Marvel Knights) 2, 4-9

Captain America vol 5 (Brubaker/Epting) 1, 11, 14

Amazing Spider-Man vol 1 426, 430, 441

Amazing Spider-Man vol 2 1-2, 4, 14, 21-24, 33-35, 37, 40-41, 43-44, 46-50, 500, 509, 513, 525, 529, 532-539, 541, 543-544, 546, 555-557, 568-569, 571-2, 576, 611, 622, 652, 665

Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Spider-Man, 1990) 4, 35, 65, 67, 83, 87-98

Peter Parker: Spider-Man vol 2 1-4, 6, 9, 12, 21, 23-24, 29-30, 33-35, 39-40, 44, 47, 49

Web of Spider-Man 101, Annual 2 (1986)

Spectacular Spider-Man vol 1 140, 145-148, 150, 153-155, 171-172, 232, 244, 255

Spectacular Spider-Man vol 2 2-3

Sensational Spider-Man 2-3, 11, 26-27

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 2099 15, 32, 41

Complete Spider-Man (UK)   16, 18, 23

Spider-Man specials Dead Man's Hand, Blue #1, Backlash/Spidey #1, Mangaverse #1

X-Men specials Prime, Omega, Prelude to Schism 1-2

Civil War 1-7

Secret Invasion 1-6

X-Men: Schism 1

The Mighty Thor vol 2 1, 7, 22, 30-31, 41 (plus #1 Rough Cut), 615, 618-619

Iron Man vol 1 216, 222, 266, 330

Iron Man vol 2 (Heroes Reborn) 5-6

Iron Man vol 3 (Heroes Return) 5, 8, 18, 27, 30, 33-34, 50-51, 53-55

Invincible Iron Man 4, 25

Iron Man vol 4 (Extremis) 1-2, 4-6, 27

Avengers vol 1 259, 267, 269-270, 338-339, 363

Avengers vol 2 (Heroes Reborn) 1-8, 13

Avengers vol 3 (Heroes Return) 0, 26-27, 33-34, 59-63, 77, 500-501, Finale

New Avengers 1, 3-4, 11-12, 15, 18, 20-21, 31-35, 38, 40, 42, 46, 48-49, Finale

Mighty Avengers 1, 4, 10, 12, 14-17, 21-22, 26, 32, 35, 36

Avengers (2010) 2, 12.1, 13

Avengers Forever 1-12

Deadpool vol 1 0, 2-35, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46-47, 51, 58, 62-63, 66-68, Annual (1998)

Agent X 1-2, 5-7, 9, 13-15

US War Machine 1-12

Ultimate Spider-Man 1-3, 6-39, 66, 70, 72-76, 78, 85, 89, 91-92, 95, 98-100, 102, 104, 114, 121, 128, 131, Annual 2

Ultimate X-Men 1, 3-4, 8-31, 33, 39, 48, 52, 55-58, 63, 65, 70, 73-77, 79, 84, 94

Ultimates 1 1-13

Ultimates 2 1-4, 6-13, Annual 2

Ultimate Marvel Team Up 4-8, 10-12, Super Special

Ultimate Human 1, 3-4

Ultimate Nightmare 2-3

Ultimate Secret 1

Ultimate Extinction 5

Ultimate War 1-4

Ultimate Six 1-3, 7

Powers vol 1 4, 6, 10-30, Giant-Sized Annual

Powers vol 2 3-6, 9-10, 15-16, 18, 24-25, 29-30

Alias 2-3, 6-19, 21, 24

Astonishing Tales 1-3, 5, 6

Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown 1-4

Wolverine: Origin 1-6

Weapon X (AoA) 1-3

Thunderbolts 0-2, 10-20, 22-24, 27-31, 33, 36-37, 39, 44-46, 49-50, 60, 76-77, 110-111, 114-115, 119, 146, 158

Fantastic Four vol 1 263, 292, 377

Fantastic Four vol 2 (Heroes Reborn) 4, 6-7, 9-10

Fantastic Four vol 3 (Heroes Return) 4-9, 12, 14, 16, 24, 28-29, 36, 55, 554-557, 559-560, 562-563, 579

Hulk 20, 25, 28

The Incredible Hulk vol 1 162, 317, 436, 451, 462

The Incredible Hulk vol 2 15, 19, 21, 36-37, 39-49, 607

Ronin 2-4

Sentry 1-4, Sentry/X-Men, Sentry vs the Void

Issue Ones: Nextwave, 1602, The Traveller, Truth, Gun Theory, Mr Stuffins, Daredevil (2011), Battler Britton, Fighting American: Rules of the Game, All-New Exiles, Marvel Boy (MK), Young Liars, Space Doubles, Marvel Fumetti Book, Awesome Holiday Special (Youngblood/Kaboom), Locke & Key, Universe X, Pax Romana, Angel (MK), Ultimate FF, Ultimate DD/Elektra, Ultimate Origins, Ultimate Iron Man, Ultimates, iZombie, Captain Britain and MI13 (2nd print), Painkiller Jane, Hellspawn, 300, Hawaiian Dick, Darker Image, Doc Frankenstein, Killraven (Linsner), Raise the Dead, Fury (MAX), LoEG 2, TMNT (1996), Bodycount, War Heroes, Nemesis, Kill Audio, Buck Rogers, Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine, Majestic (DC)

Issue Zeroes Sky Between Branches, Gen 13, Rising Stars

It's a life-changing clearout with the Dandy Warhols part one!

2011-11-06T19:57:00.000Z

This entry has nothing to do with the Dandy Warhols. I was merely indulging my penchant for combining sentences with song titles.

Anyhoo... you may have noticed that I occasionally lapse into comic book mode. I have long periods of having nothing to do with them, and then I blog about the state of the industry. Accepting the fact that I'm hardly in a position to change anything about distribution models or widespread acceptance of non-superhero comics has made me step back and consider a future with no comic book stuff at all. The trouble is that every so often, something drags me in. It could be that I have a spare 30 minutes and re-read an old Joe Kelly Deadpool issue, which eventually snowballs into a reading frenzy and a desire to create a comedy superhero book.

That ends now. No more distractions.

Another motivating factor is that my flat, which doubles as my studio and trebles as my office, sadly also quadruples as the perfect illustration of a manchild's lair. Picture the apartment in The 40-Year Old Virgin, minus... well, most of the stuff... but there's still a proliferation of comic books, graphic novels, DVDs and games consoles which I never use. If all of this stuff served any other purpose than nostalgia, I'd keep the lot. As it is, I'm getting rid of everything.

Literally, all of it.

I'm unsure how it's going to work, as there are well over 1000 comics in various states of disrepair. A few complete runs/sets but mostly partial collections. Ebay is an option, but as well as letting my childhood go for £2.67, there would be many trips to the Post Office in my future. What I might do is offer the most attractive packages on this blog and throw in a commission as a sweetener. What I will certainly be doing is taking a ton of comics to Oxfam Books and also offering some to doctors' surgeries, dentists' practices and the like for use in waiting rooms.

So, before I complete the inventory (a thankless task which is removing my sanity, brain cell by dolphin), I'm offering the chance now for anybody who may be missing a vital issue of an out-of-print run to come forward. I might just have it. You might get it for free. If you commission me to draw something for you, I'll throw in a comic too.

Lastly, a PAL Sega Saturn, Dreamcast and a Nintendo 64 plus games are also up for grabs.

Where the Dead Dwell

2011-10-29T21:37:00.000+01:00

With the Halloween excitement around the corner (or here already, or something) it's about time I did something to ~~cash in~~ celebrate it! This happens to come about at the exact time that I need to produce some prints to take to Thought Bubble in HOLY BALLS LESS THAN 3 WEEKS NOW.

I watched the remake of The Amityville Horror for inspiration and it turned out not to be inspiring. In fact, my complaint about the original was that nothing much happened so when the 2005 version proved to me that something happening was a bad thing, I guess I realised I just don't like the story. Whatever.

Anyway, I have a theory about horror movies which I have often commented about to whoever will listen (usually when drunk) so why not impart this knowledge right here?

The theory goes like this: the scariest movies are the ones which use religion as a basis for the scares. There's something deeply unsettling about tying a well-known, in many cases accepted without question, story/characters into your fiction. Regardless of whether you are religious or not, we've all been around churches at some point, all heard a sermon, all seen people pray, all heard tales or derivations of tales from The Bible or the equivalent book in another religion (I'm in no way religious which accounts for my ignorance when it comes to the names of said books) and the fact that these things are a part of everyday modern life (and history) means that a horror story dealing with demonic possession or graveyards, ghosts etc do the job better than a 'slasher' or a monster of some kind.

In any case, they unsettle me. Like I said, I'm not religious but it's hard not to feel like there's a little extra fear deep-seated in my subconscious which only comes out when Hollywood whispers "Remember when the vicar mentioned the devil when you were at that Harvest Festival thing in the village chapel as a kid? Well, this is what he looks like..." AAARGH! Even then?!

Pfff.

So here's my exorcism-themed image. Girls are always on the ceiling in these things, right? Good. Then my work here is done.

You can buy it here, just so you know...

Ever Living

2011-10-16T13:57:00.000+01:00

I was going to pontificate some more on the relative merits of taking risks in publishing, but then I decided that it would be better to just show you the cover of Third Earth's favourite health and fitness magazine.

Thought Bubble choices

2011-10-13T17:42:00.001+01:00

This is all a bit last minute, but before it gets too close to the date of the Thought Bubble convention (19th November, fact seekers) I need to put in my order for prints and posters to sell on the day(s).

Trouble is, I'm not going to use copyrighted characters because of... y'know... legality and ethics and all that, which leaves my movie posters, Hex Heroes and a few others. I'm going to post the candidates below and I'd really appreciate a few opinions on which of them you would buy as a poster.*

(For info, I'm going to offer 4 designs as A3 sized prints and 1 design as either an A2 or A1 poster)

*No obligation or anything, I suppose...

Once Upon a Time Machine

2011-10-11T00:11:00.000+01:00

Title page by Farel Dalrymple

I may have mentioned this before, but probably cryptically and a long time ago, when dinosaurs ruled this blog, so now it feels like minty fresh news, yes? Good.

In 2009 and 2010 I was working on what was destined to become my swan song in comics (which may not turn out to be, but that's another story), a reinterpretation of the classic Three Little Pigs fairy tale set in the future. Showing some remarkably un-me-like stubborn determination, I plotted, scripted, illustrated and (partially) lettered eight pages, which now waits patiently alongside a few dozen other tales in a collection of future fairy tale comics known as Once Upon a Time Machine.

1001 by Nelson Evergreen

King Humpty by Ryan Ottley

The Crossing by Charles Fetherolf

There are some great new and upcoming creators involved, alongside some big names and veterans; Cary Nord (Conan, Ultimate Human), Marcio Takara (The Incredibles, Incorruptible), Khoi Pham (Mighty Avengers, X-Men: Legacy), Farel Dalrymple (Omega the Unknown, Pop Gun War), Ryan Ottley (Invincible, Haunt)... the list goes on. The most ridiculous thing about it is that so far it hasn't found a publisher.

With the comic book industry's current climate making any book not about super heroes or a licensed property a risk, maybe it's not so surprising that Once Upon a Time Machine isn't being snapped up, despite the names involved and the quality of the work created. Seriously, I've been privy to a lot of the development and it's no exaggeration to say that I'm as enthusiastic about this book's prospects as I was when Popgun: vol one was being put together (yeah, I was originally slated to be in that award-winning anthology until things went awry. Grr.) so there's obviously a missing piece here. Maybe the right person/publisher hasn't seen it at the right time? I dunno. In any case, the quality is there, the hook is there, the names are there and now... the exposure seems to be there. Bleeding Cool picked up on the project, happily putting a "look what you're missing!" spin on it, which only seems fair.

What I (and I'm sure everyone involved in this book) would love is for anybody who likes the look of Once Upon a Time Machine so far to make some noise about it, give it a profile boost so publishers know there's a market for it! Share, share, share!

Oh, go on then. I'll show you some of the art from my story, too...

Now then, get thee to the Facebook Page and tell everyone!

Curious Robot

2011-10-10T15:12:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone. Today I will be attempting some vague, heavy-handed 'satire'.

The thingy of wotsit

2011-10-09T18:37:00.000+01:00

I have important things to do, so I'll have to make this a brief entry.

If you can tell who this is, I've done my job. If not... I'll try again.

Turn This Opportunity Yes

2011-10-02T18:42:00.001+01:00

What's the best movie ever made?

Wrong.

It's Sexy Beast. I'm not a Brit gangster film fan, which is a good job as this is only a Brit gangster film in passing. It's more of a comedy psychological thriller, with Don Logan rightfully taking his place amongst the greatest screen baddies mostly due to the incredible script, but also because of Ben Kingsley's perfect delivery of all of Don's lines.

So if you've seen the film, you'll maybe get some of the stuff I've included in this portfolio piece. If you haven't... come back when you've watched it. You sicken me.

Dead World

2011-10-02T03:26:00.001+01:00

Huh. So it's now 3.21am here and I've just finished a fourteen hour stint on an illustration which I hadn't even thought about 30 minutes before the urge to draw a car hit me. I nearly stopped when I got the pencils completed at 11pm but powered through.

The result is another in the B-movie poster series and I'm currently very happy with it. It's certainly the most fun I've had in a LONG time when drawing. Might post the process tomorrow, actually. It involved models, Google Image Search, typo-detail paper, layout paper, bristol board, Photoshop, Illustrator and masking tape.

Dear god, I'm tired. Night.

Now I have a machine gun

2011-10-01T17:11:00.002+01:00

Feedback to the previous post was mostly muted, with the odd Marlon Brando comment thrown in. As it turns out, the portrait was of just some bloke, not Bruce Willis. That's not going to get me anywhere if I'm trying to represent real people, now is it?

Fortunately, when I was eating a sandwich yesterday I started drawing John McClane again, from memory and with a ballpoint pen on the back of a piece of scrap paper. I suppose it's ironic that when I was hardly trying, I came up with something far more successful than when I had tons of research, tools and techniques to hand. Far more successful? Well, I guess that's for others to say (again). I wait with baited breath for the reaction.

For the record, I re-pencilled the image, scanned it and vectored the piece, adding a Beretta 92fs which was a bit of a nightmare to put together and isn't 100% accurate, but then neither is Bruce, probably. Two versions, one more closely cropped focusing on McClane and one playing with guns.

Yippee-ki-yay, Muddy Funsters!

2011-09-28T22:26:00.000+01:00

Forgive me, dear internet, for I have been absent owing to a nasty bout of the pox. Fortunately, the engraver hadn't started on my tombstone before I took a turn for the wurst (German meat markets always bring me around when I'm ill), so I return with new art!

Typically for me, rather than follow my previous path I've decided I need a better portfolio for spot illustration work. I'm a geek ("NO!" I hear you say; it's true, my friends) so I'm shooting for pop culture mags and the like. Iconic movie moments are a good place to start. So I didn't.

Instead, I tried to use a hybrid of my geometric style and my hand-drawn, more representative approach to recreate that image of Bruce Willis that he seems to pull off in EVERY SINGLE MOVIE HE MAKES. You know the one. He's holding a gun, stalking a bad guy or stealthily moving down a corridor or walkway, sneaking through a garden trying not to be seen. He's lit from below. He's maybe a little nervous. His eyes suddenly bulge. Every. Single. Movie. (Maybe)

Anyway, here it is. Not absolutely convinced I got the likeness down, so I'd appreciate feedback.

X-Rock

2011-09-20T00:08:00.000+01:00

The gang's all here! Whaddya think? (I'm thinking maybe overkill...)

X-Rock: Rogue

2011-09-19T23:58:00.001+01:00

Before I call it a night, here's the final member of X-Rock... Rogue on bass!

X-Rock: Beast

2011-09-18T17:24:00.001+01:00

Only a couple more elements to go before X-Rock is done. Behold...

Hank McCoy, the Bangin' Beast!

Supermanananananan

2011-09-15T22:30:00.000+01:00

Hola.

I originally set aside tonight for working on a long-term project, but more immediate concerns took over and I thought building my gallery would be a better idea. Keeps things fresh. Behold, my first ever drawing of Superman!

This is the kind of work I'm offering on my commissions page (see up top), so if you look at this and go "Cooooo! Lawks! Spiffy!" then just think how much your wall would thank you for one of your own...

Today's update brought to you by Lucozade, M&Ms and Beck. "One by one, I'll knock ya out!"

Norkons

2011-09-12T21:19:00.002+01:00

Before I started Bames Jond I was putting together a plan for a very different webcomic. I still may do this, as it's based on a whole bunch of characters my brother Ben and I created when we were kids and it was by far the most anarchic, ridiculous and violent thing I've ever done. Back then, it was called The Smellball Comic and it was very much like The Beano or The Dandy or Whizzer and Chips, but with a great deal of death and mutilation. Recently, I chose the name Norkons which was the town the characters all lived in, as it allowed for Smellball himself to not have to be the focus.

Here is the first test strip I did. It's a bit rough as I was experimenting with a way to retain the childlike style but using digital tools. If I go ahead with the project long-term, I think it'll be pencilled and inked traditionally as I don't particularly like the result of this strip.

Commission window is OPEN

2011-09-10T14:41:00.000+01:00

Hard times call for hard work. All the long-term planning in the world isn't going to buy food this week, so it's time I offered commissions. If you're interested, you can get in touch with me in any number of ways but e-mail is preferred (jamie@jam-wah.com). It would also be a big help if this were to be shared on your preferred social networking site!

The price list is as follows:

Sketch cards (style as above): $12 each, or 8 for $80

Sketch cards will be sent by mail. Payment will be required prior to mailing, upon client's receipt of a jpeg scan showing the art in question.

Geo portraits (high-resolution digital file delivered via e-mail plus the original sketch by mail): $75

A $25 deposit is requested upfront on these pieces. The remaining balance is payable on receipt of a low-resolution JPEG file, after which the high-resolution TIF file will be e-mailed to the client's nominated address.

Digital non-portraits (high-resolution digital file delivered by e-mail): $125

A $55 deposit is requested upfront on these pieces. The remaining balance is payable on receipt of a low-resolution JPEG file, after which the high-resolution TIF file will be e-mailed to the client's nominated address.

Bean Men (high-resolution digital file delivered via e-mail plus the original sketch by mail): $25 each

Payable on receipt of a low-resolution JPEG file, after which the high-resolution TIF file will be e-mailed to the client's nominated address.

Other commission types will be considered, so please e-mail for a quote.

DISCLAIMER: These commissions are offered for personal use only and should not be used to promote or advertise any business or event. Commercial rates are available upon request via jamie@jam-wah.com. Unless specifically requested by the client during the commission process, I will display these pieces in my online galleries (albeit at a lower resolution) and in my portfolio. Prices are not inclusive of postage costs, which will be determined by the size and weight of the package. Physical artwork will be protected before sending to avoid damage en route. While I will make every effort to ensure your artwork is received intact, I cannot be held responsible for any or loss of items or damage sustained in transit. Payment through PayPal would be preferred, but if this is not possible please contact me for details on other methods. Careful, that coffee's hot.

X-Rock: Nightcrawler

2011-09-04T23:51:00.000+01:00

Ladies and gentlemen, on lead guitar...

... the one and only Kurt Wagner!

Fuelled

2011-09-04T18:02:00.002+01:00

Finally, an image which combines my love of 70s muscle cars, the black/white/orange colour scheme and vector graphics. I've wanted to do this for some time.

Considering making this an official Jam-Wah t-shirt, which may or may not be available at Thought Bubble in November. I suppose it depends on whether anybody likes it.

2000AD Covered

2011-09-04T10:21:00.000+01:00

Helloooo.

Recently, I had a job which was a 'drop everything' deal, hence my lessened activity around these parts. I had to be all mysterious about it, but apparently it's now been announced so here goes...

I just got gosh-darned published by 2000AD. After a fashion, at least. Basically, my frequent collaborator Grant Perkins contacted me with an offer I couldn't refuse. Rebellion wanted us to work for them. "I refuse!" said I (as if). It's a cover to a collection of Future Shocks stories by such comics legends as Grant Morrison, Kevin O'Neill, Brian Bolland, Steve Moore and... well, you can see in the image with your eyes.

Grant provided the pencils and the muscle, I provided the colours and the dance moves.

In the immortal words of TimeLife, "you can't buy it in the shops". Only 2000AD subscribers get a copy, so it's an investment on your part if you go for it, but you get some fine comics and when I die spectacularly at the hands of a Nazi shark while heroically defending the realm, it might be worth something.

Looky looky, senator! Mesa logo is on 2000AD cover. Is all bombad!

Scan is from 2000AD Prog 1750 (on sale 7th Sept) - provided by Pete Wells

I'm going to check whether it's cool to show the various stages of the creation process in a future blog entry for anyone who's interested.

X-Rock: Banshee

2011-08-29T22:35:00.000+01:00

Okay, last one for a while as I have important stuff to get on with, but if there's going to be an X-Men rock band, I think it's only appropriate to have Sean Cassidy aka Banshee on vocals, yeah?

When I get the time, I'll finish the rest and draw a full band shot (maybe more than one). So you know, the band consists of:

Wolverine (rhythm guitar), Banshee (vocals), Nightcrawler (lead guitar), Rogue (bass) and Beast (drums).

X-Rock: Wolverine

2011-08-29T01:15:00.000+01:00

Ever wonder what the X-Men would look like as a rock band?

I enjoyed drawing this as a warm-up for what I'm hoping is going to be a fully digital project in a similar style. Think I might do some more X-Rock portraits when I have the time, since I already have a few sketches. Rogue on low-slung bass, anyone?

Bit different.

2011-08-28T19:57:00.002+01:00

Suited and booted

2011-08-24T20:41:00.000+01:00

Firstly, apologies for the scarcity of new art on this blog. I had a tight deadline which I actually beat like a ginger stepchild (I'm ginger, so I can say that... although I'm not big on domestic violence, you understand), but since that day passed, my attention has been caught on a few projects I'm planning. I'll try to be a little helpful and less vague.

I plan on submitting three comics to CLiNT magazine. I know, I know, I keep on saying that I'm DONE WITH COMICS and all of that, but my reasons for quitting were always based around the fact that the style of art I am known for is not something which allows for a career in comics. It takes too long for a monthly gig to be realistic, put it that way. Handy for me, then, that one of the planned submissions is already drawn in full (in fact, it was completed in 2007) so all that remains is to remaster and quality check, then pitch! The second is something I've been drawing for over a year and really need to finish. It's a short, so no worries. The third, I plan on writing but not drawing. You haven't seen anything of my writing yet, I suppose, unless you count these blogs and my Bames Jond strip. It's not perfect, but it can make fish cry. What does this mean? It means that I'm looking out for the perfect artist for this project.

In all likelihood, I'll do my research and approach the artist(s) myself, but if anybody contacts me I'll give them a look. Although the project is still in the planning stage, I know the art needs to be huge, kinetic and off-kilter. I'm thinking James Stokoe, Eric Canete, Sheldon Vella, Sean Gordon Murphy, Andy Kuhn and Dan Hipp. All very distinct from each other, but all BIG.

Anyway, that's a way off.

Also, I'm working on a project with a writer I've enjoyed collaborating with before, Stephen Reedy. Cool bloke and mega talent. I can't show you sketches yet on that.

What this means is that this blog is suddenly getting wordy rather than picturey. I want to do something about that, so when I have any spare time I'll do my best to get some cool art posts on a regular basis. It would be more interesting than all of this waffle.

Oh, and I'm going to be at Thought Bubble in November, so I'll see you there, yeah? Come over and see me at my table (wherever that may be... info to come) and chat for a bit. No pressure will be applied to you for a purchase, but I will be taking commissions and selling prints. Watch this space.

Lady Deathstrike

2011-08-14T19:55:00.000+01:00

Took a break from my main project for 45 minutes or so to sketch a Lady Deathstrike. Not my usual style but I had fun with it. Seemed an appropriate subject considering I've had the 90s X-Men animated series playing in the background as I draw all day.

Line art: Brush pen and markers.
Colours: Photoshop

Riot Here, Riot Now

2011-08-09T23:20:00.000+01:00

So right now, the youth of my city are tearing the place apart. As you probably know, the riots started in London, then spread to Birmingham and Bristol, Liverpool and Leeds and Nottingham. Today they hit Manchester and it's heartbreaking seeing the streets on which I have spent so many pleasant walks strewn with broken bottles and populated by rampant idiots.

It's on TV right now and it's horrible. I'm angry. This is my response, such as it is. Tomorrow I'm hoping to head into the city centre early morning to help with the cleanup before I go to work.

Spider-Man: Webhead 2.0 (Project: Rooftop contest)

2011-08-07T13:42:00.000+01:00

In case you haven't heard of Project: Rooftop, it's a pretty popular site devoted to re-designing comic book superheroes. The concept is not to re-imagine the characters, but just improve on their current costume. They hold regular contests with prizes and last night I figured I'd have a go at the latest one; to re-design Spider-Man.

Spider-Man is... okay. There have been some great artists working on the books such as John Romita Jr, Sal Buscema, Todd McFarlane, Chris Bachalo and tons more. In fact, as I'm still a bit of a Joe Madureira fan I'm really looking forward to Avenging Spider-Man (wish Tim Townsend was inking, though). It's pretty much the definition of mainstream comics, along with Superman and Batman.

He's not unnoticeable though, eh?

If I was a super-athletic spidery person swinging around New York City and fighting crime, I wouldn't want to give the bad guys a heads-up by dressing in bright red and blue. He's like the anti-ninja. Wouldn't it be better to look at least a little camouflaged before busting up a bank robbery or stopping a mugging?

City camouflage? I'd base it on steel, asphalt and bricks. So I did. The orange is maybe a little strong, but at the end of the day I've got to make some concession to the fact that it's a superhero, not John Major. The mini web cape thing is my homage to Miguel O'Hara (Spider-Man 2099, who I have already covered in this blog... keep up). I'm actually really happy with this design, but I'm up against some very strong competition so I expect to lose badly. Ah, well. Maybe I'll adapt it into my own character one day...

Hex Heroes promo vid

2011-08-06T20:53:00.000+01:00

Expanding my skill set to match the children of the YouTube generation by creating videos. This is all new, but I figured that I may as well make a short promo for Hex Heroes, just to see how/if it works.

Music: Sequinsizer - The Beta Band

Fun with 3D

2011-08-06T18:18:00.000+01:00

If there's one buzzword in the entertainment industry right now, it's "3D". I guess it's not technically a word in its own right, but SHUT UP.

Anyway, why should Hollywood have all of the fun? Obviously, the technology to create Real-D work is beyond the reach of us mere mortals and our piffling, sad little wallets, but I believe the old version from the '50s was fun, yeah? Anyway, monster b-movies are better than CGI epics, so old 3D (known as stereoscopic) is the cool one.

A quick Google search brings up a number of tutorials on creating the stereoscopic effect. Some are based on photographic work, some on simple illustrations. I've been experimenting with the different methods using older artwork which I've chosen on 'pop' potential and depth of field criteria. In fact, it's made me realise how few images I've created with real depth to them. C'est la vie. The first is based on Transformers: Animated and the second is Zombrecht, from the Hex Heroes project completed this spring.

Now, I'll admit to not having in my possession a 'proper' set of stereoscopic glasses to view these, but I'm nothing if not a master of ingenuity and so I crafted my own. The A-Team would be proud. Broken specs, red marker, blue marker. Bish bash bosh.

So... how successful were these experiments? My eyes are now totally screwed from playing with red and blue for hours, so I'm relying on YOU to tell me. No, not you, sorry. I meant the person behind... not... y-- the one with the brown hair and glasses. Yes, YOU sir/madam!

(Basically... you).

Another Red Skull

2011-07-31T18:21:00.001+01:00

I'm enjoying drawing this guy recently. Thought I should have a go at rendering him in my geometric style. I'd like to hear your thoughts on how successful this is.

Zipwire result!

2011-07-30T10:46:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I updated about the charity zipwire stunt.

First of all, I want to apologise for the lack of a video. It exists somewhere but trying to get a copy is proving a nightmare. Instead, I'm going to bombard you with pictures of the event and the good news which came from it.

For those of you who haven't got a clue what I'm talking about... in March, myself and a number of my work colleagues zipped across Old Trafford football stadium to raise money for Francis House Children's Hospice. It was fun, but freezing. And I was wearing a hand-made skirt/dress/She-Ra costume (because it was a suggestion from the highest donor).

The great news is that the company we work for matched our total raised, which means that in total we raised £4001 for the hospice! Massive thanks to everyone who donated something, as you effectively gave twice without knowing it.

Onto the pictures and the embarrassment. It was all very amusing at the time, but a few months later... well, I'm just dressed in drag, aren't I?

Boat Floaters

2011-07-24T14:03:00.001+01:00

Alas, I have no new art to show ya this week, at least not right now. Lots of stuff on the hob, but I either can't announce it or it's still in a state not fit for public consumption. Add to this all the planning for exhibiting at Thought Bubble in November and... just life... well, it's a wonder I've had time to even type this. But type it I will and I am. Doing. Or something.

I think today I'll give you a glimpse into the kind of art which inspires me, along with links to the artists themselves so you can learn more. Whether or not you can see their influence in my art is debatable, but it all makes me want to be a better artist.

Mick McMahon - One of the most celebrated artists of 2000AD's Judge Dredd, his style has evolved over the years but has never been pedestrian. His use of abstraction, playing with form and structure, has always appealed to my eye. Particularly, his work on The Last American from Epic Comics stuck with me as an example of a comic book artist at the top of his game.

Jon Burgerman - One of the artists you can blame for changing my mind over my preferred career. Before I came across Burgerman's work, I was only into comic art, really. When I realised it was possible to draw like this and be successful, I immediately saw it as a more appealing field. Burgerman manages to infuse innocence and cheeky attitude into all of his characters, but more than that, has a very distinctive and unmistakable style which works best, for me, when he goes all-out and uses converging lines, overlaps and more design elements in his compositions. The results are somewhere between kids' cartoons and the kind of highbrow modern art you'd see in MOMA or Tate Modern.

TADO - The most lively, cute, colourful and marketable artwork I think I've ever seen. There are, to be honest, a lot of illustrators who try for this style, with varying results (the number of graphic design and illustration magazines who use them on a monthly basis bears this out) but TADO are the absolute masters of their world. You want to know why I choose to work with vectors? Granted, I took it in a very different direction, but that's because I can't compete with this! I could look at these pieces for ages. It's like ODing on gummi bears.

Olly Moss - If you've heard of me but haven't heard of Olly Moss, there's something seriously wrong with you. Or you've known me for a few years. Moss has become a kinda cult figure in the illustration, design and pop culture worlds and rightly so. His invention is astounding. Mostly, I'm a fan of his retro movie poster work, a regular feature in Empire movie magazine, which distills iconic films into their most recognisable elements and somehow manages to always incorporate that into the layout and composition of the final piece. If you are an artist in my position, you have two choices when faced with a new Olly Moss piece: give up and become a farmer, or use it as a kick in the arse. I choose the latter, thankfully.

Bill Sienkiewicz - I've posted a video rather than an image here because, although I've always enjoyed Bill's comic work on books like Stray Toasters, Elektra: Assassin and others, it wasn't until I saw this example of his technique that he really became an influence, more through attitude than anything else. Sienkiewicz's section starts at 4m 20s, but for contrast, it's worth watching the whole video. The first artist is John Buscema, who is a comic book legend. His section is good enough (actually, the Captain America on the video link is his, FYI), but when Sienkiewicz gets going, he is just fearless. Look at the experimentation; the tools he uses.Whether the results are your cup of tea or not, just you try mistaking it for the work of another artist.

So there you go. As far as inspiration goes, that's what floats my boat. There are (many) more of course, but off the top of my head, these are the biggies at the moment.

Another Geo Portrait

2011-07-19T22:45:00.000+01:00

One of my all-time favourite comic books is the initial Peter David/Rick Leonardi run of Spider-Man 2099. Seriously, you need to check it out. For a 1990s Marvel comic, it was unbelievably subtle, inventive and the writing and art was appropriately ahead of its time (in my humble opinion).

While there are other projects keeping me from being able to update this blog as much as I'd like to, these portraits are quick enough to keep things lively!

Saturday morning's all right for blogging

2011-07-16T10:44:00.000+01:00

I'll blog properly later, but this is a quick one to update you fine people of a couple of things.

First, if there are any Transformers fans in the hizzouse (ugh), check out the preview for IDW's ongoing TF series, issue #22. It's written by James Roberts, who not only has almost the best name ever but also was one of the guys responsible for the excellent Last Stand of the Wreckers last year. Art by the ever-impressive Alex Milne.

Second, I've started a new webcomic, Bames Jond. It's kind of a cheat, as all I've done is re-write (hopefully) amusing dialogue over existing James Bond newspaper strips. It updates every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the first strip is up NOW!

Head's Up, Marvel! It's Marvel Heads Up!

2011-07-15T14:04:00.000+01:00

A ridiculously talented artist and pal o' mine, William Blankenship, has created what I think might be one of my favourite pieces of art this year. I've enjoyed watching the progress of this piece on Facebook and Twitter, but to see it finished... wow.

If he's not working for Marvel by the end of the year, I'll eat my hat. Or your hat. That way, I'm not down one hat.

Check out his site: http://www.bohemian-zen.com/

Huey Lewis Blues

2011-07-14T23:34:00.000+01:00

It's not hip anymore.

Quick sketch - Red Skull

2011-07-14T09:57:00.001+01:00

I'm doing a series of warm-up sketches doubling as development for a 'Villains of Captain America' piece I'm putting together. Today it's the Red Skull, that Nazi turd.

Shaking up comics - an ambitious idea?

2011-07-11T21:55:00.000+01:00

Here's my pitch:

I think comics are the best they've ever been right now.

I think that comic creators are the best they've ever been right now.

I also think comics are in as much danger as they've ever been right now.

It doesn't compute on that level. Recently, I've blogged and discussed the whys and wherefores of this problem with a number of people and it seems that the one thing we can all agree on is that comics need to be shaken up, but that shake-up has to come from someone other than the complacent publishers owned by corporations.

Mark Zuckerberg didn't create Facebook while he was the CEO of Microsoft, looking for a way to beat the competition. The Arctic Monkeys didn't build a huge following on MySpace and sell 363,000 copies of their debut album in the UK alone because they happened to know thousands of people who'd do them a favour. J.K. Rowling didn't write the first Harry Potter novel and revitalise children's literature off the back of an established wizard craze. These kind of revolutions come from unexpected places and unexpected people who are willing to do what others aren't, or can't.

Unrealistic as it may sound, that's what I want to do with comics.

It would be all too easy to sit back and watch the industry we love peter out. Books will become more expensive and audiences will shrink, because nobody out there in the wider world is going to be convinced by another reboot of Superman. We can look to the Great White Hope that is digital comics, but what if it doesn't work?

What I'm proposing is a group, a committee, of passionate comic creators and fans who can see past current comic book business models, current marketing strategies and the limits that comic books have put on themselves since Wertham screwed them over; people who can see things a little differently, coming together online and throwing out ideas that are designed make genuine changes to the comic book industry. Backed up with research, accumulated know-how and most importantly, the drive to see it through as a concept initially and, if possible, as a reality. This may ultimately lead to the creation of a new comic book studio, official think tank, publisher, consultancy group or just a helpful ideas blog for creators and comic book professionals in all fields to consider. It really depends on how this thing develops.

Think of this as comics activism. Whether it's altruistic or opportunistic is up to the members of the group and the resources we have.

There's a world of difference between wishing things were better and wanting them to be.

I want to change things.

If you're in agreement and want to help, e-mail me and let's talk.

Art Dump Sunday

2011-07-10T14:08:00.000+01:00

Don't worry, I won't go off on a rant today. I just want to update this blog with some art.

It's a mixed bag. A couple of comic book portraits, a work-in-progress of my next b-movie poster, 'Nazi Night Surgeon', a warm-up sketch of a character from Adam Cadwell's excellent comic 'Blood Blokes' and... oh, what's this?

Why, it's the design for the soon-to-be-a-giant-wall-sticker Hex Heroes final piece! See?! I do sometimes finish things!

Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Why more people aren't reading comics

2011-07-09T19:32:00.000+01:00

Literally, the only image of comics on sale in a non-specialist shop that I could find on Google.

Imagine if the distribution model for comic books changed, but the products didn't. Right? You have any number of the 90+ books published monthly by Marvel and DC and currently distributed by Diamond via the Direct Market to specialist comic book stores, but now they're on shelves in every major supermarket, drugstore and newsagent across the US. Maybe beyond, into major English-speaking territories. Comics are here! Hurrah!

Except they're on sale in the same place as DVDs, video games, CDs, lifestyle magazines, books, clothing, lottery tickets, Red Bull, iPods, ice cream, coffee, action figures, trampolines, go-karts and board games. Suddenly, the comic book economy meets the non-comic book economy and I defy anyone other than the most ardent comic book junkie to argue that a single issue in the current format is good value when compared to the vast majority of items in those stores. They will not move quickly.

A new reader walks in and sees a shiny new display of comic books. "Wow, I didn't realise they still published Spiderman" (lack of hyphen intended, as I'm sure that guy wouldn't know, bless him). He flicks through it, impressed by the art and intrigued by the characters. He wonders what else Marvel publish. He browses a while and, although many of the books appeal, it's something of a mystery how he's going to know he's picked books that will make sense. This one says 'Part 4 of 7', so it goes back on the shelf. He takes some DC, too. "Hey, look! I know that Green Lantern guy from the movie last year!" (I'm setting this in 2012, because I'm optimistic like that).

All done, he puts eight titles in his cart and continues his shop. When he comes to the checkout, those books account for 20% of his spend.

Obviously, it's a scenario I've dreamed up, but there's nothing to say that couldn't happen. This guy wants to read comics, but a high percentage of a spend in a grocery shop would be significant enough that the customer would have to at least make a conscious decision as to whether that is sustainable. And remember, this is eight books. Not even as many as the Big 2 would hope for each customer to buy.

My all-time favourite Savage Dragon page(s). Art by Erik Larsen/Dylan McCrae

Erik Larsen, creator of Savage Dragon and original Image Comics founder, proposed a new way of thinking regarding comic books last year. It works, if you ask me. I'd argue that the featured characters maybe should be split, however, maybe in order of public awareness. If you put Spider-Man as the full-length lead strip, with two more strips behind it (say, Luke Cage & Iron Fist and Silver Surfer, for argument's sake). Price it reasonably, like the $5.95 mentioned above. Not only is that an impulse buy, but there's no reason all three strips couldn't be good enough to a) keep the customer coming back month after month and b) suggest to them that other books, like that Hulk/Black Widow/Punisher one, might be of equal quality. Throw in Green Lantern/The Question/Hawkman and he's got nine stories for under $18. That's value.

For Marvel and DC, it seems to me that if they don't either go down this route, or release individual characters' stories in volumes on an ad hoc basis, the monthly books are doomed.

Uncanny X-Force. One of the very best of the current superhero books, but is it enough to win new readers? (Art by Mark Brooks/Dean White)

But that's only dealing with the Marvel/DC superhero set which have been in vogue since the 1960s. Why think in revolutionary terms if you're only going to roll over and accept the continued domination of a single genre (it's not a genre, actually)? Let's stay with the above scenario. Comics are in supermarkets, etc. Who will buy them? Kids? Parents? Teens? Adults with geek tendencies? Housewives? Middle managers? Pensioners? Teachers? Blue collar workers? CEOs?

Yeah, I wouldn't read it either, but not all books are for me. Why should comics be any different?

Assuming independent companies can afford a presence in the store, the balance is still likely to be 90% skewed towards corporately-owned superhero titles. That rules out a huge part of a potential readership.

I pray to The Giant Prawn Overlord that publishers are wise enough to publish trashy romance, melodrama, historic fiction, classics, war stories, non-fiction, chick lit, detective stories and the like. The equivalents of all of these are available in novel and DVD form. There is no reason in the world why a divorced lady of forty-seven with no prior experience of comics shouldn't be able to find and purchase a comic book about a struggling musician in a small Alaskan town.

There's no proven market for that kind of thing in comics, true. Maybe in novels? Maybe in TV movies? Some people like those true life 'girl in a well' movies and I bet would buy a similar comic if there wasn't the stigma attached (mostly because of superheroes) and if the writing and art was good. There's no point in doing it half-arsed.

I was fortunate enough to have a few beers with Andy Diggle last week and I got a bit ranty when we started talking about what was wrong with comics, proclaiming that "somebody should make Hamish MacBeth: the Comic".

I was serious, and I think the consensus amongst attendees was that yes, it should be possible, but it's VERY unlikely. But everyone else was drunk, too. Using that logic, I didn't embarrass myself...

Here's the thing: I love comics and I want to see them thrive again, but every time I see a new comic which looks like it might be a bold attempt at something new, then a zombie or a robot or a ghost turns up, I die a little. We should have today's superstar writers and artists working on comics that don't require a nerd degree to find interesting.

I'm going to round this out with a series of links to comic book-related projects which are daring to be different. I humbly submit that these folks are getting it right:

CLiNT - Mark Millar's baby, published by Titan Magazines. A monthly (now 6-weekly) anthology title for the FHM crowd. Features mature readers' properties in reprint form, mostly, but available in supermarkets and newsagents.
Witch - from Kickstart Comics. This article explains the reason I chose this better than I could.
Womanthology - setting some kind of record for the fastest-funded comic book project on Kickstarter, the brainchild of awesome artist Renae De Liz is a mammoth, all-female hardcover comic book to be published by IDW. What's remarkable about this is the astronomical popularity in such a short time. Take note.
Cinebook - a UK publisher of European reprints. The European system works in a way I think the Direct Market prohibits, but I see this as being a viable alternative. Comics published when completed, in volumes of varying size and with finite stories.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. If you think you can add something that we should all check out, by all means, please comment.

Note: I searched on Google for the phrase "breaking new ground in comics" and the first hit was a New York Times article from 1992. Yes, 1992.

June means commissions!

2011-06-02T11:30:00.000+01:00

Hey gang,

I just moved into a new apartment and the first month of payments has hit the ol' bank balance pretty hard. For this reason, I'm opening up commissions for June only. Prices are as follows:

Pencil sketch (head/shoulders) - $12
As above, but inked - $16
As above, but inked and coloured (watercolours/markers/mixed media) - $28
(additional rates apply for more than one character)

Pencil sketch (full figure) - $20
As above, but inked - $28
As above, but inked and coloured (watercolours/markers/mixed media) - $36

(additional rates apply for more than one character)

Vector portrait (RGB digital file) - $50

Sketch card (full colour) - $10, or 10 for $80

For more detailed work, such as scenes with backgrounds, posters etc, please contact me for a quote.

If you or anyone you know would like some unique art, please check through my gallery and get in touch before
the spots are all booked up!

***Please note these rates are for personal collections only. Commercial rates are higher and will not be discussed in a public forum. Please contact me for info. All artwork is produced on a first come, first served basis. I reserve the right to stop taking commissions at any time owing to workload.***

Happy Wednesday: Comics

2011-06-01T23:55:00.000+01:00

I'm going to attempt to update this blog every Wednesday to regale you with facts, tales and overly verbose and grammatically unsound paragraphs about things which make me happy. While this is self-serving in the extreme, I'd be happy to see some comments from you giving your opinion on what you like about the topic. Wednesday sucks, pretty much, so this blog is all about positivity.

The inaugural entry is an obvious choice for me. I love comics, so that's where I start.

Comics have shaped my life in many ways. I've learned things about US, European and Japanese culture through reading comics. I've discovered a need to create art as a direct result of reading comics. Comics have taught me life lessons, instilled morals (to some degree) and put me in touch with a great number of talented people, many of which I'm proud to say are my friends.

I think some people hear 'comics' and think of The Beano or The Dandy. Most of these people would be British, I suppose. Some think of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk et al. I would bet the majority of those people would be North American or British again. Rarely does the word 'comics' conjure up the immediate mental image of Stray Toasters, The Boy Who Made Silence or The Nightly News.

It should.

I'm as guilty as most, though. I think 'movie' and I picture a huge cinema screen, darkness, popcorn and I can hear the Pearl & Dean theme tune. I think 'books' and I picture a library or bookstore. I think 'comics' and my mind immediately throws up an image of Wolverine as drawn by Leinil Francis Yu. A specific image of a specific character in a specific genre. Not an experience (although the issue the image is from was great).

It's unfair, because my love of comics is a love of the artform as a whole. My tastes happen to fall into the superhero genre (you know, I don't actually think 'superhero' is a genre either, but I digress) arena, I'll admit, but that hardly precludes the rest of comicdom from getting a look-in. I love comics which try something different and I love comics which are no-frills but solid. I just love comics.

Examples? European titles like IR$, Orbital, XIII and the classics like Tin Tin, Asterix and Lucky Luke are what I would call fantastic no-frills comics. Look at the number of panels per page and you begin to see how it's not always necessary to have 'splash pages' (full page panels, usually depicting a dramatic moment -- I'm aware not everybody is a comic book reader...) and fancy layouts. Most of the European books I've read are technically incredible, with sharp storytelling and a narrative flow which is hard to find elsewhere.

Then you have the uniquely British 2000AD. I like it, although I'm not quite sure I 'get' it. I will say, however, that I'm very glad it exists, providing an anarchic alternative on UK shelves to the licensed kiddie fare and reprints of US titles.

I grew up on licensed titles, so I find them to be more worthwhile than most. Transformers was my gateway into comics, having already been a fan of the cartoon and toys. Thundercats, too and it certainly didn't hurt that Masters of the Universe had a mini-comic packaged with each action figure in the 80s (one of those mini-comics taught me what an obelisk was. I later saw a real one and remembered what it was because of a comic. It also helped me understand the Obelix pun in the Asterix books, so it came full circle). If they continue to lead kids into reading comics as a hobby, then more licensed books, please.

US superhero titles have become the bread-and-butter of the industry and seemingly Hollywood's industry too. They're great fun, bombastic and sensational and its hard to argue that the top talent in the world is engaged in them in some form or another. In the last decade or so, they've matured greatly along with their readership, meaning we now have a strange brew of characters with kooky names and costumes involved in distinctly non-kooky scenarios and real-world issues. An odd place for a genre (hmm...) to find itself, for sure.

This isn't even scratching the surface. Not even close. I can't categorise well enough to carry on as above. When you consider the variety on hand with comics like The Walking Dead, Bone, Cerebus, Pride of Baghdad, Moonshadow, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Corporate Skull, American Jesus, Transmetropolitan, Planetary, Tumor, Sweets, Atomic Robo, 100 Bullets, SuperTron, Scalped, The Originals, Pax Romana, Axe Cop, I See a Darkness and The Perry Bible Fellowship... a comic reader who limits themselves to and, as a by-product, limits the market to primarily one type of comic book is not what I'd call a person who loves comics. Just as a book reader who only ever reads Mills & Boon novels is not what I'd consider to be a person who loves books.

I heartily recommend all of the aforementioned books, strips and webcomics. Buy them, read them, support them, love them (but not physically). If you've never read a comic before, don't dismiss them out of hand. It's a medium, not a sub-culture. There just happens to be a vocal and visible majority of fans who make it seem that way (and more power to them).

So.... yeah, I love comics. Another happy blog this time next week.

Toodles!

DC and the big risk

2011-05-31T22:56:00.001+01:00

Hey hey. Been a while and all that.

So I just read this story and I'm posting this journal as a knee-jerk reaction to the news, as it tends to be when my passion bubbles to the surface. Bear in mind I know nothing other than the story in this link: USA Today - and the various comic book pros chatting about it on Twitter.

Excerpts:

Starting this summer, the publisher will re-number its entire DC Universe of titles, revamping famous characters such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and others from its 76-year history for a more modern and diverse 21st century'

'In September, more than 50 more first issues will debut, introducing readers to stories that are grounded in each character's specific legend but also reflect today's real-world themes and events. Lee spearheaded the redesign of more than 50 costumes to make characters more identifiable and accessible to comic fans new and old."We looked at what was going on in the marketplace and felt we really want to inject new life in our characters and line," says Dan DiDio, who co-publishes DC with Lee. "This was a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today's audience."

This is MASSIVE. I know that nothing ever really changes for long in comics and it's already been said more than once that this initiative will last a year at best, but I don't know about that (and I'm as jaded as they come).

I am not a DC fan, not by any stretch of the imagination. Vertigo is cool enough, I liked Wildstorm back in the days of Casey/Phillips' Wildcats vol.2, but the main DCU has always felt so damned archaic to me. The artists, fine as they are, all seem to be of a certain ilk that harkens back to the glory days of comics (maybe not, but this is the impression I get). Jiminez, Van Sciver, Rags Morales et al are what I'd call VERY traditional comic book artists. Occasionally, an artist such as Jock or Eduardo Risso or Phil Noto draws something that I would consider buying, but then there's the baggage of the characters to put me right off again.

As a total outsider, every single issue of a DCU book I've ever read has left me bewildered except for Grant Morrison's first few Batman issues (once Andy Kubert left, I lost interest, incidentally). What I'm saying is that it takes an amazing writer/artist combo to get me to even consider a DCU book. Even then, I might hate the colours. Seriously, DC don't 'do' exciting in my head.

Anyway, I would have to assume that this major relaunch/re-branding/re-introduction of the DCU is intended to gain readers like me, ie: Marvel guys who see DC books as what their parents' generation might have been reading. Am I interested? Well... yes, actually.

It depends on how they do it. I'm kinda seeing this as a Heroes Reborn rather than Ultimate (sorry for the Marvel analogies...) deal, mostly because they have no backup plan to speak of. If the books tank, there won't be 'regular' Batman and 'regular' Aquaman to read instead. That is a ballsy move, my friends. But if it is a Heroes Reborn for the Distinguished Competition, then that would suggest that the books, nay, the whole line was considered as stale and redundant as the Marvel Heroes books wiped out in Onslaught: Marvel Universe.

Is that right? Am I then in the majority? To my eyes, DC had been experiencing an upswing in popularity recently amongst the core faithful, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the need for change was so glaring that every book needed to be re-introduced. That (not-so) silent acknowledgement goes a long way towards getting my pounds (I'm British, but even I admit that 'dollars' sounds better in that context).

Things will need to happen for me to stay, however. I'm sorry, but you can't have names like Scott Free, Edward Nygma, Killer Croc and Harley Quinn and not expect me to immediately sigh at the cheesiness of it all. Even Green Lantern. Yeah, there's a movie coming out and as a spectacle, it looks okay, so nothing's changing there, but he's called GREEN LANTERN. It's like calling yourself HOT SOFA or something. What might go some way to redeeming those bizarre (but in many cases, the product of creative minds from the 'daddy-o' era or earlier, so hardly surprising) choices would be a willingness to put unlikely talent on the books and have a different approach. It's what excited me about Marvel around the millennium, when Quesada started bringing heretofore unseen talent to their biggest books and finally we saw characters' potential. X-Men was amazing again, Daredevil became the best it had ever been, even JMS's Spidey was a great step forward (he screwed up later, though...).

If DC manage to bring that kind of revolution to bear, it might just let me forget there's a green character called Martian Manhunter who wears PVC bondage gear.

None of this explains why I think it'll last as a concept. Here's the part that made me spit my coffee:

In an even more important move in the competitive comics industry, DC is making issues of all the renumbered titles available digitally via apps and a DC website the same day they arrive in comic shops. It marks the first time a major comics publisher has done so with its popular superhero titles.

The general consensus seems to be that this should have happened a long time ago. Not just some titles, not just previews, but actually giving people with an appetite for comics, a phone/tablet and a dearth of comic shops in their area the chance to read the books that everyone spoils the same day.

This is an industry where the death of a major character and most often the payoff of a massive storyline shrouded in secrecy doesn't even stay secret until the day of the book's release. It's hard enough to avoid spoilers if you pick up your books at the store at lunchtime, unless you stay offline for 24 hours beforehand. The monthly release schedule isn't going to change, but the fans and comic sites have taken most of the surprise out of reading these ongoing stories. That's why I think it's very important to allow people access to these stories as soon as they're published and I applaud DC for taking this measure. It might finally answer the question of how much of a market there really is for digital comics. Good on Graphicly, too. I forsee their stock rising.

50 books, though... Jeez, that's a big risk and a big part of what's wrong with comics these days (in my opinion), but that's a topic for another day...

B-Movie poster #1 - Death Spore

2011-05-15T17:39:00.000+01:00

'Allo!

Lack of update caused by irregular sleeping pattern, life upheaval and logo design which I can't show. Just so you know.

Never mind excuses, though. I have a little something to show you. As a part of my ongoing efforts to diversify my skill set and not just rely on vector graphics, my new project is a series of B-movie posters (fake ones based on silly titles I think up, you understand) which I'm creating using traditional methods. That is to say, I'm using Photoshop, but at least the motor skills are traditional. In the spirit of "showing your working out" from school, I thought I'd update the old bloggerooski with the various stages of the process of the first piece in the series, 'Death Spore'!

After a few thumbnails with a number of different compositions (sorry, didn't scan them...) I settled on the image of a typical white American suburban couple in the 1950s preparing for a horrific experience in their own home. I quickly roughed out the poster on typo-detail paper with a thick chisel-head marker and a technical pen.

Happy enough with this, I looked into the kind of colours and styles used by movie poster artists back in the days of yore. There was a lot of vivid yellow, for some reason. I loved the gaudiness of the palette. Seriously, look into it. It's a lost art. My first pass was pretty much what I ended up with, with a few minor exceptions.

Okay. It's got some energy to it (in all honesty, I think the final image lost a little of the energy but that's par for the course) and now it's time to tighten up the figures. For the first time in a long time, I actually hand-drew the foreground figures and scanned it. As it was A3 and I have an A4 scanner, I had to scan in two chunks and mess around aligning them. Scanning sucks...

Anyway, I put it into Illustrator and added the text.

Where's the titular Death Spore, you ask? Why, I decided to construct the monstrosity using a photo collage of various objects. I don't think spores look inherently threatening, and the 50s monster was often plant-based or hairy/scaly/slimy, so I needed to use elements of different things. This is a squid, cabbage, cauliflower and limpets all smooshed together (and posterized! Yay for cheap effects!).

That's the basic structure of the fella. I just needed to make him spore-like. At this point, I put all of the elements together and digitally painted the whole thing. I'm actually really happy with it. Obviously, it could be improved as any art could, but this is where I leave it. The jewelery on the wife looked a bit too fiddly so I left it out, except for the ring (in case you were wondering). Excuse the watermark, but as I'm going to be selling the prints of these posters in the near future, I'd like to retain some semblance of ownership in the meantime.

Hope you enjoyed this little insight into the process. See you all later!

Having Goals

2011-05-02T17:59:00.001+01:00

Let's talk goals. I could probably pull a bunch of quotes out of self-help books or refer you to websites which will postulate and analyse this point to death, but instead I'm going to give you my perspective on this topic and the reasoning behind my perspective.

Nobody ever reached their goal without taking risks.

Nobody ever knew there were risks worth taking until they realised their goal.

Seems obvious now I've typed it out, but it took me three decades to understand it. Even now, I'm fighting the urge to just disregard it, but that's just my nature. For years, I thought the will to create art and the belief that I'd make it would carry me through to a successful career. To a certain degree, that can work for some, but merely the belief that you'll succeed without an actual goal is a fast track to nowhere. You can end up as just another of the many 'aspiring' guys who just keep ploughing through the work in front of them, with a vague plan, but no real direction in which to aim.

I thought I had a goal. Many people do. What I had was an ambition. I imagine many people make that mistake, too.

An ambition is "I want to be a race car driver."

A goal is "I will be driving in Le Mans 24hr by the age of twenty-five".

It's a definite point on which to focus. There's also no rule to say you can't amend that goal, but it should be sufficiently implausible that it constantly inspires you to try harder. Now, say you get to the age of twenty-three and haven't won a local stock car race yet. You might feel disheartened by this, but it's essentially dream-chasing and how many people achieve their dreams? The fact that you're stock car racing is a direct result of knowing the route you needed to take to get to your goal.

If you had stuck with having an ambition, you might still be spending weekends getting pulled over by the cops because you love to drive fast but can't apply it in a productive way.

That's not to say it's always the case, but look again at the two sentences at the top of this entry. Would you feel better about spending a pile of money on equipment, repairs, workshop classes, advanced driving lessons; hours/days/weeks/months of your spare time, sacrificing social activities and potentially a 'normal' life if you didn't know that when you reach your goal, it will all feel worth it?

Well, that's me. I come from a working-class background. Truth be told, I've never really had any money. I've always wanted to make a career from art, but I thought the reason I got to my fourth decade and still haven't made the leap to full-time artist was because of one of the following excuses:

You need lots of money to be able to network, travel, buy tools/equipment/reference, pay collaborators.

Wrong. The internet makes networking and reference easy. Tools are an expense but you can write them off against tax, build your tools gradually or adjust your style to suit what you do have. Collaborators are people, and if you don't talk to them, you'll never know if you can afford them. Besides which, a skill exchange might be an option.

Nobody's hiring illustrators.

Ha! So all those illustrations you see everywhere just appear? True, nobody seems to list job ads in the newspaper asking for a full-time illustrator, but think about it for a second and you'll kick yourself for ever expecting that to be the case. Illustrators are freelancers for the most part, so you find your work or make enough noise that it finds you.

I'm not good enough.

For some things, sure. Right now, maybe. But it's up to others to tell you that. Success stories rarely start with "I applied for my dream job and got it first time". Far more common is the story of the guy who was knocked back by everyone and persisted anyway. While you're persisting, you're growing your skill set.

I'm not cut out for the freelance life.

This is the big one. It may be true. But you know what? YOU HAVEN'T TRIED IT YET! It just so happens that necessity is the mother of invention. It's not by accident that the phrase 'sink or swim' is widely used. Sometimes you surprise yourself. Maybe the very thing holding you back from making a success of yourself is the safety net of a secure income (in a job you hate) and home comforts like TV to help you forget things aren't how you wanted them.

Well, how about that? I just got angry with my past self and his whiny attitude. If any of it rings a bell with you, I can only say that I'm coming around to the idea of taking risks that are worthwhile and I will keep this blog (and/or jam-wah.com when it goes properly live) updated more regularly so you can see how it all goes.

I have a goal. In fact, I have a short-term goal and a long-term goal.

Short-term: I will be working exclusively as a freelance illustrator by the end of 2011. I can't tell you how much that thought scares me. I'm about to up sticks and move house, which will cut down my finances by a huge margin and the last thing I expected to do was think about this as an option, but because I have a goal, I know that I need my online presence to be more regular, I need to spend money on materials, promotion and products (prints/posters, buttons/badges, stickers, t-shirts etc) in a way that is manageable. I need to take on more work that I know I can deliver quickly and with maximum quality. I need to build my brand. If I miss that goal, I'll move the posts further away. It ain't cheating if you keep to the plan.

Long-term: Jam-Wah will be a cutting-edge arts and media studio before I turn forty. This gives me eight years or thereabouts to develop the brand, learn new skills, form relationships with clients and fellow artists and generally make the best damn artwork, designs and products that I/we can muster. I know I can do this, and having the goal makes it something I can plan for accordingly. I may get into debt, lose my hair (what precious strands remain on my poor bonce, anyway) and end up sleeping under my drawing board in my pokey, ice-cold studio (at this point, non-existent) but damn it, when I land that massive contract and that Jam-Wah-produced animated action series premieres on Cartoon Network..

...that'll be a risk that was worth taking.

More art and plans

2011-04-30T13:35:00.000+01:00

Why, hello there!

Poor blog, I am such a neglectful swine. I promise to keep you updated more often. Truth is, I'm a little caught up in househunting and putting together business plans at the moment and, although it's all intended to benefit my career (such as it is), it's currently precluding me from regularly updating my various online ports.

One thing I'm keen to do is to expand my skill set somewhat. I like experimenting and recently it's been fun working in other mediums. You may have noticed that my work is a very clean vector style for the most part. It's my stock-in-trade. While that's fun and seems to be going well, there's nothing wrong with taking a leaf out of David Bowie's book and being an artistic chameleon, right?

With that in mind, I present a... unique... piece of art. The genesis of the idea came from an amusing thought I had after misreading 'Sick Puppies' on a CD cover.

Sick Puppet. Media: Old sock, gel pen, marker, cotton wool, misc food items, wrapping paper, Photoshop.

I apologise if it's a bit vile.

Things on the horizon include a possible table at Thought Bubble '11 at which I intend to sell prints of some of my pieces. Maybe a few Hex Heroes badge buttons and stickers, possibly the big Hex Heroes poster will debut there; also one of my 'Windows' series, Crash. I'm currently beavering away on a few other pieces which will hopefully make an appearance. Of course, I'll be doing commissions on the day as well.

Crash

That's all for now, but very soon I'll update with a total of how much money was raised by 24 Hour MONSTERS! on Red Nose Day. There are still a few pieces of art left to auction which are some of the very best submitted. News on that first, I guess!

Bug Nut!

2011-04-04T07:37:00.000+01:00

Yeah, the winner of the Hex Heroes 2nd tie-break by a margin of one vote (I'd say that it was a close-run thing, but since it was a very short poll, there was only one vote overall!) was indeed...

BUG NUT!

That completes the interactive section of the Hex Heroes project. I'd like to thank everyone who suggested a name and everyone who voted or took the time to help promote this whole thing, from February 2010 until today. It's humbling to see that it matters, even a little, to some of you.

What's next? Well, it's time to put some meat on the bones. That is to say, I'll be looking at ways to apply the characters to different kinds of products. Calendars, playing cards, vinyl toys, t-shirts, posters, stickers and coasters are all under consideration. It's not a case of slapping the art on anything I think will sell, it has to be cool and something that would be a worthwhile purchase.

I'm putting together a poster with all 52 Hex Heroes at the moment, so that will be the (possibly limited-edition) debut product.

There are a few of the characters that I'm less than satisfied with, so I'm going to go back and make a few tiny tweaks to improve the quality (mostly alignment and smoothness of curves issues), but, never fear, they will still be the Hex Heroes you named.

Onwards and upwards!

One winner, one more tie!

2011-03-29T07:23:00.001+01:00

Hex Hero 48 has been named (despite my accidentally calling it Hex Hero 49 in the poll). From now on, he is officially known as...

FRANK!

However, Hex Hero 49 (yes, actually 49 this time) was another tie! So I've put up a very short poll (3 hours) and reset the counter to zero. It's gotta be Bug Nut or Jet...

GO VOTE!

Hex Heroes late March: vote results & tie breakers

2011-03-23T16:39:00.000Z

What were intended to be the final batch of polls closed on 21st March, with a couple of issues...

Two tie breakers!

The results otherwise were:

Hex Hero 47: Maus

Hex Hero 50: The Silicon Valet

Hex Hero 51: Eileen de Muerta

Hex Hero 52: Gas Lamp

All results are collated from both the polls here and on my DeviantART page. The two tie breakers are as follows:

Hex Hero 48: Something's Fishy Dude or Frank

Hex Hero 49: Bug Nut or Jet

Polls are going up ONLY ON THIS SITE for 24 hours. Help the last two Hex Heroes find a name!

Here they are again.

24 Hour MONSTERS! - update

2011-03-21T23:30:00.000Z

Well, how about that? On Friday, 18th March I sat at my desk and drew monsters for 24 hours straight. All in all, I drew six monsters and the videos of this process are all available to view here.

That wasn't all. There were other artists involved in the live drawing...

Andrei Neagu, Gav Heryng and Ben Holliday

... and many artists contributed by donating artwork, both existing work and specially created for this project. Artists include Dylan Teague, Mike Bunt, Simon Williams, Grant Perkins, William Blankenship Jr, Fernando Lucas, Guy Warley, Stevyn Colgan, Chris Howker, Nick Pitarra, Jason Copland, Jason May, Evin Weston, and Mike Mottershead.

There should more to come, too!

All of this is listed on eBay to raise money for Comic Relief. The earliest auctions are due to end on March 22nd, but at present, I think none of them are bringing in the amount they're worth. Please consider bidding on these fantastic pieces of art and you get to feel great about helping a good cause!

AUCTION

You can still donate to the team, even if you don't want to buy art (you insane person!)

RED NOSE DAY SITE

And now a list of thank yous to the people who kept me sane throughout the 24 hours by spreading the word and being damn good company, and to those who donated money to this point (apologies if I forget anyone):

Sue Roberts, Lisa Roberts, Ben Roberts, Laurie Wilsher, Tracy Spencer, Rory Roberts-Spencer, Nikita Spencer, Danny Neighbour, Jill Neighbour, The Neighbours' Kids, Eva Perkins, Gav Appleby, Ryan Dench, Dave Warley, Nicholas Myers, Dave Swan, Mike Harman, Dan Hill, Iain McCullough, CheekeeChappee, Dwight MacPherson, Chris Bachalo, Dane Ault, Haroon Mushtaq, Neill Cameron, Jamie Smart, Eric White, Robert Carey, Annette Waller, Christopher Mount, Donna Holliday, Victoria Roe, Rebecca Dudley and I'm sure there are more! Not forgetting a massive thank you to all of the artists, some of whom joined me for a chat in the wee small hours. That was good stuff!

Oh, and I'm going to do this again. Not sure when yet, but I'll let you know. In case... y'know... you want to help!

My pieces...

The last ever Hex Heroes vote is now live!

2011-03-13T22:51:00.000Z

You may notice that there are now six new polls down the side of this blog post and little tiny thumbnails of the relevant Hex Heroes above them. That's your starting gun, people!

You can now vote on the last six Hex Heroes. This is the final interactive stage of the project. After this, it's all on me to put them into some form of cool art products, so get voting while you can. Polls close at 15:00 GMT on March 21st. At least, I set them to. Last week, Blogger seemed not to understand that GMT is GMT, but hey-ho.

Here they are again for your convenience. Have fun, and may the best name win!

The final six - YOU NAME 'EM!

2011-03-06T19:53:00.000Z

Ladies, gentlemen, pigeons and giant squid... the end is upon us.

Since the end of February 2010, I've been designing Hex Heroes. Originally intended as a series of 60, for a variety of reasons I changed that to a grand total of 52 (although there will be 8 very rare specials coming soon) and though there was a hiatus, here we are with the last six finally unveiled.

As per the process which has been ongoing since the very first character, I will not name these guys. I leave that job to you fine people. I post the characters here, on my DeviantART account and at my Facebook Page so feel free to suggest names in any one of these places. Next Sunday, I will post the final six polls both here and on DeviantART and compile the votes to find the winning names. You have a week to come up with the best names you can for these guys. It's the last time I'll be doing this, so please spread the word. It'd be nice to close the project with a bang!

So... here they are!

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

Hex Heroes Early March: vote results!

2011-03-06T19:19:00.000Z

Wow! Got a good number of votes this time, thanks to everyone!

Also no tie-break, which is something of a relief. So without further ado, the winning names of the penultimate batch of Hex Heroes are as follows:

(Results are compiled from both the blog polls here and the polls at DeviantART here)

42: Colonel Pith
43: Gridlid
44: Waterfellon
45: Danny Burrito
46: Rita the Cleaner

Back later with the final six Hex Heroes. Yes, that's right! The FINAL six.