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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 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?
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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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"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 |
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| B&W copy of colour ad for local restaurant. Fee was £100, but decided not to sell 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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| Pencil sample which led to ltg work from IPC. Characters copyright MARVEL COMICS |
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| Set of four cartoon illustrations (sans captions) 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! 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' and TARDIS drawn in 1983, background completed 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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| Drawing done as a gift for someone. 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 around 1981 |
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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 (sans captions) 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. Coloured decades later |
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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 |
