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...
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...
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
...
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.
...
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