Sunday, December 26, 2010

Swan Song


A belated Merry Christmas/Season's Greetings to one and all.

I watched the movie Black Swan yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Natalie Portman was amazing in the lead role and towards the end pulled off a bit of a Gloria Swanson 'Sunset Boulevard' moment quite nicely (no pun intended!)

While watching, I did some doodling. The second illustration feels slightly more successful than the first. Or maybe neither are successful, you can decide...


Not really a Xmas post though is it? Well, don't forget, while your stuffing your face with turkey that other old bird: the Queen is stuffing hers with Swan! It is a well known fact that the Royals dine at this time of year on Swan rather than Turkey, and is just another way to let us little proletarians know who's boss...

I will not do into the details of how Prince Philip actually stuffs the bird, but let's just say that it not a stuffing in the traditional sense of the word...


Have a great holiday season and as the late great Dave Allen would say " Goodnight, thank you, and may your God go with you"

Cheers,
-C

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Page 29 and 'You(U)can Kiss(X)my love Bom-mm-mmb(B)'

The latest page is now over at UXBCOMIC.


This page is placement only. I had intended to revise...but again time was against me. Page 29 will in fact become two pages and rather than having the guys just walking towards cam, will show a little more functionality of the suits. My reasons for uploading this page was mainly due to the fact that this will be the last post on the comic site until the new year, completing the first issue(chapter) of the book. So rather than leaving a large gap I thought at the very least I should book-end the end of the year with a semi-complete story; hence the page...

Posting will resume again on the 16th January, giving me a little time to play catch-up over the Holidays!

You may have found that the comic towards the end did become a little too linear. Originally as I was pitching it, I wanted to have a complete little package that tied everything together, so that the reader wasn't scratching his head too much.

Of course I had a synopsis/plot breakdown as well, but I always find the best response is to the visual. So the last couple of pages (27,28,29) on the comic site were tagged on at the end solely for that purpose. Originally I had it scripted that there would be a lot more cutting back and forth between the present and the past. For example: after the monkey incident I had intended that we would cut back to the present and continue with our boys in London. The suit functionality and their current predicament would be hinted at and explained more through the character's dialogue, rather than direct exposition in the form of a narrator.

So I do foresee that further down the line (and once there is a more substantial amount of content)... some serious editing will take place .

Love to hear you thoughts on it!


Oh yeah, and before I forget. I should mention that Foster and Allen just sent me the above pic through the post! Apparently they have written a song about the boy's exploits...

It's called: 'You (U)can Kiss (X) my love Bom-mm-mmb (B)'


Darlin', I am growin' older, mmm
Silver threads among the go-old
Shine upon my brow today-ay-ay, mmm
Life is fading fast away-ay
You can kiss my love bom-mmm-mmmb...


But, my darlin', you will be as you will be
Always young and fair to me
Yes, my darlin', you-ou will be-ee-ee
Always young and fair to me-ee
You can kiss my love bom-mmm-mmmb...


When your hair is silver whi-ite
And your cheeks' no longer bright
With the roses of the May-ay, mmm
I will kiss your lips and say-ay
You can kiss my love bom-mmm-mmmb...


Oh my darlin', you will be, you will be
Always young and fair to me...
Yes, my darlin', you-ou will be-ee-ee
Always young and fair to-oo me
You can kiss my love bom-mmm-mmmb...


Kiss it tenderly, before it ex-plodes up in your face!

BOOM...




Doesn't seem to reflect any of the comic's actual content guys... but powerful stuff anyway. Thanks.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

More Stuff...

Here's some sample pages from something that is not UXB for once! I worked these up some time back(with a writer) for a project that never got any further than the pitch stage. I have also thrown up some of the initial character sketches for the two main characters...

It's a great story with a lot of potential. Hopefully we can return to it at some point...

Covers were to be by this very talented chap.











John Peel

On -This is your life. Mark E, David Gedge and Bowie to name but a few. Worth checking out.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

"Keep your feet off the upholstery Ronnie!"

Yet another page is up over at Uxbcomic.com

I decided not to share the pencil/inks version of this one as you may feel I was taking the piss ;)

So instead; here's some Adam and the Ants for you:



Dirk Wears White Sox is still one of my all-time favourite albums. Makes you wonder what Adam(Stuart Goddard) could have achieved if he hadn't decided to go a more commercial route...

Saturday, November 27, 2010

27

A new page (27) is up over at UXBCOMIC

Little less detail than usual. I love working in silhouettes; this stuff is a little closer to how I would stage some of my story scenes (key script moments) in storyboards...

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Mark 9:47

Page 26 has been uploaded!

Continuing in B&W...
Personal unpaid projects are always the things that take the hit when your faced with the encroaching deadlines of paying work. Don't get me wrong, I fully intend to keep with the page a week upload! Hopefully the colour isn't too much of an issue. I will certainly work back into it once things settle down...

Unless there is a colourist out there who wants to pitch in and give it a go?

40,000 Views.

Myebook - UXB PREVIEW - click here to open my ebook

The guys at ebook send you out a congratulation note every time your book has hit a certain number of views. Apparently the UXB preview has been read(well, viewed) over 40,000 times. Imagine if I was charging a dollar a time? That would be a fair sum of monies... Of course the truth is; if there was a fee involved, the numbers may be significantly lower.

Everybody loves their freebies.

The numbers could also be so high due to dyslexic porn heads reading UXB as XXX.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Nilbog!



George Hardy chimes in on the UXB comic. In return I feel I should give a big shout out to Best Worst Movie, a brilliant documentary about the making of the fantastic Troll 2.

Highly recommended!

Thanks George.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Monkey Sex and Dwarf Tossing!

Or: Monkey tossing off a dwarf!?

No ...not really! But page 24 is up over at UXB Comic
Read it and tell your friends all about the awesome swear words.



Lubbert Das fun fact: The male Proboscis monkey defends his group(average troop is one male with 6-10 females and their young)by honking loudly, baring his teeth, and waving his erect penis at any aggressor!

Of course the monkey in the above comic is not a Proboscis - but his facts were just not as entertaining.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

RED WHITE WITH SOME GREY AREA




These were a couple of test samples I worked up a short time ago when I was prepping for a comic pitch with another writer. The comic itself was never picked up (well, as of yet...)

Musical Interlude...

...with the uber talented Neil Hannon.






Tuesday, November 2, 2010

"I'd knee-cap Martin McGuinness to get my hands on a copy"

The MP for West Belfast, Gerry Adams, has just endorsed UXB.

In a public statement he had this to say:

UXB is an anti-royalist, subversive document that informs as well as ignites. I'd knee-cap Martin McGuinness to get my hands on a copy (not that I would ever condone knee-capping- that's all behind us now! We have to keep looking forward... )

Gerry I presume on having just read UXB.


I feel you may have blown the Royalist connection a little out of proportion and missed the overarching story idea Gerry. However in saying that, I do appreciate your glowing recommendation and interest in the book itself.

Cheers.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Something wicked this way comes....

Page 23 is now up on the comic site (and coloured I might add...) I should have 22 coloured by the end of the week and then I'll be back on track!

Below is the B&W version if you are at all interested:


I can now kick back, relax and watch The Walking Dead on AMC...

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Halloween UXB

I wanted to pop something up Halloween related, so I worked a little ahead of myself and drew up page 32 of UXB. The guy in the pic has a whole back story that I hope to get to at some point...

Have a great Halloween!

Monday, October 25, 2010

UXB is the bomb!

The inimitable Richard Simmons just sent me this fantastic pic!


Thanks Richard, when I finally get to colouring the latest over at:uxbcomic.com I'll think of you swinging by a rope.

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff


In 2001 Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) became the first director of photography in the history of the Academy Awards to win an Honorary Oscar. But the first time he clasped the famous statuette in his hand was a half-century earlier when his Technicolor camerawork was awarded for Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus. Beyond John Huston's The African Queen and King Vidor's War and Peace, the films of the British-Hungarian creative duo (The Red Shoes and A Matter of Life and Death too) guaranteed immortality for the renowned cameraman whose career spanned seventy years. Taken from IMDB.



Beg, borrow or steal (well, maybe not steal as I am sure the film makers could do with the extra cash...) This is a fantastic documentary on a truly great artist.

Highly recommended!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Page 21

The latest is up on the UXB comic site. I enlarged the text (yet again) and played around with the composition and placing of the lettering on this one. It's certainly quite a bit different than the the first attempt...

I'll pop the black and white version up for comparison when I get a chance.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Tony Hadley reviews UXB


Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet has been quoted as saying:

"UXB is absolute Gold!"

I almost wanted to reply with "True!" but felt even though I was just following up on his marvelous wordplay ...it may inadvertently come across as a little egotistical on my part and we certainly would not want that!

Also stepping on his line may not be the greatest idea! That man has a temper...

Thanks Tony! You're the one who is gold!


More reviews as they come in...

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Carlos Ezquerra

For those who don't know. Dear old Carlos Ezquerra the creator/artist of Judge Dredd was recently in hospital due to lung cancer. Thankfully he is now making a speedy recovery.

Mark Howard brought together a bunch of artists and writers to create a get-well card (in the form of a comic) to give to Carlos. More info can be found over at Kev Levell's blog (who has a strip within and also did the cover) There is also a link to download the comic.

A wonderful gesture to a fantastic artist.

Get well soon Carlos!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

THOMAS SCOTT

My son is working on a project for school whereby he has to research and write a short piece on a ancestor from the past. I have always been telling him stories about my grandfather, Thomas Scott, and how much of an influence he had been in my life so I was quite happy when he informed me that he had decided to do the piece on him.

My mother sent some old photographs over to help him out and I have to say on viewing them it brought back a lot of old memories of sitting as a young child listening to his war stories.


The man himself. This is from a newspaper clipping (Belfast Telegraph)

Aboard the HMS Hawkins. On the back of the photograph is written: "Taken at Buenos Aires."


Most of the pictures have my grandfathers writing on the back with some of the text having been scribbled out due to the obvious censorship at the time. However whoever did the scribbling did not do a very good job as I can still make out most of it. The first line I cannot quite make out but I believe it may be the name of the ship pictured. The rest of it reads: "Destroyer back from the Indomitable. Lost with all hands 4 days later."

This one reads: "Carrier Eagle, almost finished by Stukas today but came through OK. Was sunk few days later."
Reads: "Indomitable has near miss -something else I cannot make out- and then continues: "Destroyed 23 enemy aircraft today."

Attached with the pictures is an old newspaper clipping that may help put a couple of those images in context as it happens to mention the' Indomitable':

"German bombers took up the attack, and out of a heavily escorted convoy of fourteen merchant ships, only five,including the crippled US tanker Ohio, managed to get through to Malta. In addition to the Manchester and the nine merchantmen lost were added to the carrier Eagle, the anti-aircraft cruiser Cairo and the destroyer Foresight, while the carrier Indomitable and the cruisers Nigeria and Kenya were all damaged. It was a heavy price to pay but the arrival of even five of the merchant ships, and especially of the Ohio, enabled air strikes to be restarted from Malta just as Rommel was preparing his offensive to drive the allies out of Egypt."


When I was a young child traveling to his house in Holywood, Belfast, was always something I looked forward to. He was a kind, gentle old soul and always had a welcoming smile.  One of my true joys of the visits was to sit beside him on his old couch and listen wide-eyed to his old war stories. I should mention that he wasn't the type that was constantly talking about 'the war.' To be honest, you would literally have to poke and prod to get anything out of him. He would rather talk about my latest comic book purchases and whatever movie I had recently enjoyed.

In conversation he never spoke down to me, treating me like a child, rather, he would listen and always showed a genuine interest in whatever I was babbling about at the time. He was also the first relative that I can recall showing genuine interest in my drawing abilities and I can recall that he had some serious ability in that department himself as I can remember him drawing on a couple of separate occasions some 'cowboys and indians' for me... the level of detail and draftsmanship still sits strong in my memory.

When he did talk of the war it always varied from the lighthearted to the rather sombre. Like most war veterans he had lost a lot of friends and you could always see it in his face or hear within the tone of his voice when he was getting to a rather sensitive area of the story. As I got older he would give me the full and unexpurgated version of the stories which sometimes led to his emotions getting the better of him.

He boxed while in the Navy and apparently never lost a fight and was also an avid weightlifter; even into his late sixties and seventies he still kept himself in good shape and would walk everywhere. He was a voracious reader with a book always in hand and a mug of coffee as black as tar in the other. He had quite a strong personality and didn't suffer fools lightly (a lot of those war stories involved various altercations and bar-room brawls) Maybe I'll save that for another post...

He died in 1989 at the age of 76 of a heart attack his wife, Elle, having died of cancer ten years previous. As I mentioned he was and still is one of the biggest influences on my life and I still miss his presence greatly.

I think he would feel quite honored that my son was doing a piece on him.

Always remembered.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Midwich Cuckoos

I really do wear my influences on my sleeve...


Another page over at the comic site...

I thought it may be an idea to share the black and whites with you also; like a bonus...or a DVD extra feature that you had never intended to access because it seemed rather pointless.

...

Unless it's a Get Carter commentary with the likes of Michael Caine, Mike Hodges and Wolfgang Suschitzky . You would be a bloody fool not to access that!


Sunday, October 3, 2010

He can save everyone of us!

Here's another:

I wasn't entirely happy with the colour on this one. The first try was a little more experimental but ended up quite washed out in appearance, so I fiddled around it somewhat, to get it to a place where I was a little bit happier and then suddenly realized I was out of time....

I fully intend to revisit some of these pages and rework them when my schedule is a little less hectic- but for now I guess I'll just have to let it go....

I finally got my Comic Heroes magazine in the post. Jes Bickham the editor mentioned that the work was like "John Higgins and Warren Ellis rolled into one" I can certainly live with that. It's comments such as those and general feedback from my fellow bloggers and friends that make it all seem worthwhile...

Now, I really should get that cheque off to Jes ... I think I mentioned 2,000 dollars if he mentioned Ellis, and now adding Higgins on top of that - Christ Almighty...!

...Did I just think and type that at the same time...!?



-Update: Slight colour rework. Note to self: Try not to put so much detail in the background as it may be unnecessary, especially when you finally come to colouring it.

...

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Another page...

The latest page has been uploaded and a little earlier than planned, I had mentioned that it was going to be every Sunday...but it was complete and just sitting there... so I felt that it may as well be sat on the comic website.

Comics within comics in this one. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not think that has ever been done before.

...

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Comic Heroes and new UXB website.


Jes Bickham, the editor of Comic Heroes very kindly agreed to run a six page preview of UXB in the Sidekick preview comic that comes as a bonus with issue 3. I believe it hits the shelves today (be a little while longer before I see it over here in Canada) Thanks Jes, I owe you one!


Another big thank you to Mr William Li for getting the UXB website up and running in such a short space of time and for doing such a great job! He even coerced me into creating a Twitter account for it- yeah, I know, something I said that I would never do...


I have to say that the Comic Heroes preview did give me that extra little push to finally go online and get the comic out there. I hope to add a page every week to the site and continue to do so until I finish the bloody thing.

Hopefully a few of you will join me.

Cheers.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

UXB Pin-up by Donna Leong.

Just received this painting of UXB from the very talented Donna Leong!


"I finally finished the pin up for UXB. It's my first time painting with Poster Color in this kind of style. At first I was thinking of painting with photoshop, but I really miss real paint.
The woman at the rocks is the main character's mom, but didn't turn out quite like her, unfortunately.."

I think it looks great! The colour palette and the compositions are wonderful! I'm well chuffed...

Thanks Donna(again)

Satoshi Kon


I just found out that the incredibly talented Satoshi Kon passed away on Aug 24th at the age of 46. He was the director of such movies as: 'Perfect blue', 'Millenium Actress', 'Paprika' and Tokyo GodFathers.

He wrote a document(his parting thoughts..) in his final few days that I felt may be worth sharing. It was originally posted posthumously by his family on his blog and has been translated by Makiko Itoh and is available on her blog here: www.makikoitoh.com

If your not weeping into your keyboard by the end- your a stronger man than me...

They are doing a tribute to him over at: www.animenewsnetwork.com

Thanks Donna.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Scrap

This is a UXB page from a section of the comic that I decided to revise. It had some narration from Das over the top, explaining the functionality of the suits- however, in reading through it and with moving into the next issue it just didn't seem to be flowing as well as I had originally thought. So I've replaced it with some imagery that seems a little more apt...

I'm sure I'll find a place for it further down the line. God! Who am I kidding!? It'll probably end up being the opening to issue 3.

Reuse and recycle that's my motto.

Other news: I have decided to put the comic online and update it every week by adding a new page; similar to what Cameron Stuart does with his brilliant Sin Titulo, or even closer to home... the Fractal Friction guys.

Should be up and running by Sep 15th.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Your Vinyl Resting Place?

Sonic Death of the Day: And Vinyly, a British record label, is offering audiophiles a vinyl resting place to beat the band: For a nominal fee of £2000, your postmortem remains will be pressed into an LP containing an audio recording of your choosing.

"Cock, shit, piss; is that it!?" voiced by me, on a loop, backed with the Lone Ranger Theme, would seem pretty apt!?

Via: thedailywh.at

Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Palsak T.

Das from UXB wearing an Angie Palsak T-shirt.


Angie kindly did me a drawing up some time back and I said I would put the image on one of the kids T-shirts. The background image is also one of Angie's paintings.

Hope it's to your liking Angie.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Monster


I thought I would give a mention to Rich and Deborah Burn's upcoming short movie Monster. I did some storyboards for them some time back and now having wrapped the shoot, I just recently got to see the rough edit... and have to say it's looking great!

They also snagged Jodelle Ferland (Silent Hill, Tideland) for the main role.


I can't show too many of the boards as they may give away some of the key plot (and Rich would probably throw a hissy fit and slap me -- oh wait, that's me fast forwarding to when he's a rich and famous Hollywood director and he won't hire me for love or money...!)

Here's a couple that I think are safe:
For more info on the movie, you can go here: www.monstertheshortfilm.com or here: www.richjohnsonstudio.com