Monday 31 August 2015

BABE OF THE DAY - COTE DE PABLO...



"So much for this new toilet design," thinks COTE DE PABLO.
"There's no hole in the seat or any plumbing to flush it all away."  Not
that it matters much as she's forgotten to drop her kecks anyway.  I'd
wash 'em out as soon as you can, luv.  Before they turn crispy.

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - FANTASTIC #54


Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

This was the third merged issue of FANTASTIC & TERRIFIC, and the reason it stands out in my memory is because I remember seeing it lying on a newsagent's counter in the local shopping area of the neighbourhood next to mine.  I don't think I bought it then, but acquired it later, probably in a bunch of Fantastics that a friend gave to me.

Whenever I look at this cover today, I'm back in that dingy, old-fashioned newsagent's where I bought many a comic in the days of my youth, way back in the swinging '60s.  I visit there often, but only in memory, alas.  What memories, if any, does this particular cover summon forth for you?  Reveal all in the comments section.

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - STAR WARS WEEKLY #1

Copyright relevant owner

STAR WARS - the comic that saved MARVEL.  Not the British edition you see above, but the American one.  Apparently, Marvel's fortunes were on the wane and if it hadn't been for them acquiring the rights to GEORGE LUCAS's space fantasy epic,  they may not have been around for DISNEY to acquire a few years back.

Funny how these things work out, eh?  The Marvel U.K. weekly didn't have quite the impact as the U.S. monthly, but I think we can safely assume that it did okay for itself.  The Force was with it!

BABE OF THE DAY - CINDY CRAWFORD...



Okay, you've had more than enough time to
comment on my art, so given the meagre response
it's generated, most of you obviously think it's sh*t.
Never mind, here's a piccie you won't turn up your
noses at - the crackin' CINDY CRAWFORD!
(Turn and face the camera, you tease.)

Sunday 30 August 2015

NOT JUST A LETTERER...


'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 a schoolboy, and have produced artwork for publication (and for which I was actually 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?

******

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!

Pencil caricature (using my pseudonym) done as a gift for someone


"As you dislike a certain cartoonist's version of DESPERATE DAN, then why not do it
yourself?"
someone dared.  So I did!  Characters copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

B&W copy of colour ad for local restaurant.  Fee was £100, but decided not to sell in the end

2000 A.D. pin-up.  I was paid for it, but don't know if it was ever
published.  Characters copyright REBELLION PUBLISHING

Pencil sample which led to ltg work from IPC.  Characters copyright MARVEL COMICS




Set of four cartoon illustrations (sans captions) for Equestrian event programme

Cartoon illustration for local business

Acrylic ink caricature of a friend's son

Pencil caricature done as a gift for someone

Parody of AMAZING FANTASY #15 splash page

Cartoon strip for local business

Proposed strip (at the request of BOB PAYNTER) for OINK! while at the preparation
stage.  Never got any feedback, but a similar character appeared a few months later

WILLIAM HARTNELL 'DOCTOR' and TARDIS drawn in 1983, background completed in 2013

Acrylic ink portrait done as a gift for someone after much
badgering.  Yeah, you can see my heart wasn't really  in it

Drawing done as a gift for someone.  Copyright KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, Inc

Newspaper ad drawn as a teenager for local business

Photocopy of pencil drawing done for my own amusement around 1981


Instruction leaflet for local business's delivery drivers

Newspaper ad for Glasgow hairdressers


Acrylic ink caricature done as a gift for someone

Logo for The ILLUSTRATED COMIC JOURNAL

Drawing done as a gift for someone


Pair of flyers for local business

Proposed logo for Glasgow Con.  Don't know if it was used or not


Cartoons (sans captions) for two camping posters done in my late teens/early 20s

Logo for local business

Acrylic ink caricature done as a gift for someone

Quick caricature done as a gift for someone



Fun & Activity booklet produced for local business

Acrylic ink caricature done as a gift for someone

Unfinished pencil caricature


Comic strip drawn for The BOOTS NEWS when I was 17.  Coloured decades later

Pencil drawing done as a teenager

Unpublished strip for local paper.  Others were published though


Cartoon strip drawn for my own amusement


Character copyright DC COMICS

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


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