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'Homage' to cover of IRON MAN #150. Hand drawn, no tracing or graph
paper or projectors involved. Characters copyright MARVEL COMICS |
It's not generally known, but although I was primarily a lettering artist throughout my 15 year career in comics, my original ambition was to be an adventure comic strip artist. I started lettering simply to get my size 9s in the door, but when I saw that I could earn more as a letterer than as an artist (on account of being faster at the former than the latter), I stuck mainly with the lettering.
However, I did a bit of drawing as well, adding to panels when re-sizing IPC comic libraries, and doing occasional spot illos when the opportunity presented itself. I also worked as a restoration artist on some MARVEL MASTERWORK volumes, re-inking and even re-creating JACK KIRBY art, which was a huge thrill for me.
However, my frank and forthright views on this blog on the current state of the British comics 'industry' (hah!) has brought me in for criticism from some quarters, with a few disgruntled individuals dismissing me as "only a letterer" and a "Kirby tracer". Thing is, I got my first paying gig as a cartoonist when I was still at school, and have produced artwork for publication (for which I was paid) since even before (during and after) I started freelancing for IPC/FLEETWAY, MARVEL COMICS (and others).
So here are a few examples of pencil and ink artwork ranging from my teenage years right up to adulthood. Quite a few are professional pieces I was paid for, some were freebies for people I know, and the remainder were done simply for my own amusement. I've shown them all before on the blog at various times, but it can't hurt to remind people that I'm certainly more than "only a letterer". Funny how some people who work in comics mistakenly imagine that it's the only legitimate outlet for an artist's work, eh?
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Wow! This is one of the fastest visited posts in my blog's history - and quite a number of them via proxy servers and 'detour' routes too. (Must be from people who don't want me to know they've looked.) And yet, no comments so far. Don't be shy now; tickle my ego by telling me what I know already - some of these images ain't half bad at all!
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| Pencil caricature (using my pseudonym) done as a gift for someone |
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"If you don't like a certain cartoonist's version of DESPERATE DAN, then why
not try drawing it yourself?" someone dared me. So I did! Characters copyright
D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd |
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B&W copy of colour ad for a local restaurant. I was going
to be paid £100 for it, but decided against it in the end |
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2000 A.D. pin-up. I was paid for it, but don't know if it was ever
published. Characters copyright REBELLION PUBLISHING |
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One of the lettering samples which got me the promise of work from
IPC. Pencils by me. Characters copyright MARVEL COMICS |
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| Set of four cartoon illustrations for Equestrian event programme |
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| Cartoon illustration for local business |
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| Acrylic ink caricature of a friend's son |
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| Pencil caricature done as a gift for someone |
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| Parody of AMAZING FANTASY #15 splash page |
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| Cartoon strip for local business |
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Proposed strip (at the request of BOB PAYNTER) for OINK! comic while
at the preparation stage. Never got any feedback, but a similar character
appeared a few months later |
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WILLIAM HARTNELL 'DOCTOR' figure and TARDIS drawn
in 1983, background completed 30 years later, in 2013 |
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Acrylic ink portrait done as a gift for someone after much
badgering. Yeah, you can see my heart wasn't really in it |
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Inked drawing done as a gift for someone. Characters
copyright KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, Inc |
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| Newspaper ad drawn as a teenager for local business |
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| Photocopy of pencil drawing done for my own amusement |
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| Instruction leaflet for local business's delivery drivers |
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| Newspaper ad for Glasgow hairdressers |
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| Acrylic ink caricature done as a gift for someone |
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| Logo for The ILLUSTRATED COMIC JOURNAL |
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| Drawing done as a gift for someone |
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| Pair of flyers for local business |
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| Proposed logo for Glasgow Con. Don't know if it was used or not |
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| Cartoons for two camping posters done in my late teens/early 20s |
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| Logo for local business |
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| Acrylic ink caricature done as a gift for someone |
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| Quick caricature done as a gift for someone |
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| Fun & Activity booklet produced for local business |
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| Acrylic ink caricature done as a gift for someone |
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| Unfinished pencil caricature |
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| Comic strip drawn for The BOOTS NEWS when I was 17 |
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| Pencil drawing done as a teenager |
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| Unpublished strip for local paper. Others were published though |
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| Cartoon strip drawn for my own amusement |
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| Character copyright DC COMICS |
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And finally - a couple of pages of JK artwork I inked. The FF one appeared in an issue
of The JACK KIRBY Collector. Characters copyright MARVEL COMICS |
