Never finished only abandoned

Outpost prequel

2012-02-10T13:42:00.001Z

As some of you might be aware, I've spent much of the last year working on a fully painted comic book prequel to the movie Outpost. The art is now complete and the 32 page issue should be out in the very near future along with the release of the sequel, Outpost Black Sun.
Today it was announced by Black Camel Pictures that a third chapter will go into production in April this year. Outpost 3 will be a WW2 based origins story so you may see much of what transpires in the comic come to life on the big screen.

http://www.blackcamel.co.uk/press/outpost-rise-of-the-spetsnaz-readies-for-production/

Be pure Be Vigilant Be Merry

2012-02-08T09:49:00.000Z

Santa De Torquemada. An illo for the 2011/2000ad advent calendar.

Little voices

2012-01-04T14:10:00.000Z

New Vixen art for the new year.

Take home a Vampire Vixen!

2011-11-30T18:49:00.000Z

Over on the Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht Facebook page, there's a chance to win the hard to find debut appearance of Eastern Europe's hottest undead sex bomb.
Originally published in issue 7 of Alan Grant's Wasted magazine, the run sold out very quickly and are hard to find even on Ebay.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vampire-Vixens-of-the-Wehrmacht/179230265443902

Give it a go and good luck!

Ms Luger

2011-11-14T12:24:00.000Z

There's a chance to win a print of this art with you own movie-esque tag line incorporated over at the Vampire Vixens facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vampire-Vixens-of-the-Wehrmacht/179230265443902
Give it a go

Hallowscream

2011-10-05T18:29:00.000+01:00

Adapted a panel from the second Vixens adventure and with a splash of blood, turned it into a pinup for this year's Hallowscream.

The Russians are coming

2011-10-02T13:37:00.008+01:00

I've really always wanted to do one of those classy film noir/venetian blind type of shots. Sam Spade standing at his window with the street lights illuminating him from below.
This is as close as I could get to it. It's not a P.I apartment but an underground bunker so in this scenario the light is coming from an out of shot wall grille. As always, it's best done with some real world reference to keep you right.

Unlike Yorkie, it's not just for men.

2011-09-05T15:46:00.003+01:00

The Vixens get a seriously cool write up on the Horror Cult Films website.
I was always a bit nervous that the strip was seen as just another tits and ass bad girl comic strip aimed squarely at a male audience.
It's with a huge sigh of relief that Bat, a female reviewer for HCF and the first female to review the strip for a website, totally gets it at the level it was intended.

http://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2011/09/vampire-vixens-of-the-wehrmacht/

Not that quick on the draw.

2011-08-29T14:44:00.006+01:00

I didn't realise how rusty I am when it comes to non digital drawing. Worst of it is, there's no bloody undo button. This sketch was for 2000ad fan Ian Leonard.

Waking the Dead

2011-08-27T11:47:00.005+01:00

Even a bullet through the head can't keep an un-dead Nazi down.

And since reply to comments won't work for me, Mr Emperor, there is a reason the blood has run to the side but you'll have to wait until the comic is released to find out why.

Comments issues

2011-08-22T15:46:00.001+01:00

Sorry there has been no reply from me to comments recently. When I try to post a reply it gets caught in a viscious circle of logging in/rejected/logging in etc.

Vampire Vixens on the BBC

2011-08-22T14:56:00.008+01:00

The original painted Vixens cover made a surprise appearance on BBC ArtWorks programme last month. Thanks to the Emperor, the programme link is in the comments.

Do it yourself comics

2011-08-13T23:39:00.008+01:00

I'm looking into costs to see if I can do a dedicated Vampire Vixens one shot next year.
I've been trying out some comic label logos that fit with the style of strip.

Simon made a good call on the logo reading wrong. He confimed a niggle I had right from the beginning. Sometimes playing it straight with the layout is better than trying to get too flash. This is the latest version. As ever comments welcome.

Freddy Krueger Vs Vampire Vixens?

2011-08-10T09:54:00.014+01:00

No not really, but he is holding issue 5 of Scream magazine which by chance also features a review of the Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht. Check out their website for all the latest horror movie, TV and comic news.
http://www.screamhorror.com/

Outpost 2 from 3D to 2D

2011-07-18T10:28:00.009+01:00

Here you have the 3D environment model as featured in the previous post. Now it is painted over with the characters in place and lighting for atmosphere, it should all hopefully gel together and look true to the style of the movie.

Ghost in the Machine.

2011-06-26T16:39:00.005+01:00

These days I work in 3D quite a bit when it comes to comic art. 3D gives me total control and having blocked in the elements of a scene, I can then roam with the camera and pick the optimum viewing angle.

Here is the infamous Relative Field machine as it appears in the movie Outpost. In the current project I'm working on, this room and the machine appear in several key scenes. The slightly extra time spent constructing the basics of the room will save me in long run because having built it once, the model can be used as the backdrop over and over again. I'll be first to admit that my draughtsmanship of perspective in 2D is flawed so having 3D to sketch an environment is a big help.

Outpost 2 medication time

2011-06-24T09:34:00.006+01:00

You won't want this Doctor's pick-me-up.

Z brush day 2

2011-06-21T16:51:00.004+01:00

This Z Brush is the dogs bollocks. So much fun to use and so intuitive. Added a bit of deformation to his swollen eye, some veins and a nasty shotgun wound. Why? just to try out some wet shiny textures and see how nasty I can make it look.

Z Brush

2011-06-20T16:56:00.003+01:00

I've just started feeling my way in Z Brush. Wow, what a program. Wish I'd picked it up years ago. It's like Photoshop and a 3d modelling package combined. Sooooo much time to catch up on.

Vampire Vixens put the bite on Best Artist award

2011-06-19T21:59:00.008+01:00

Scooped the Best artist award for Vampire Vixens at the Scottish Independent Comic Book Awards last night. The brilliant Glasgow Con was hosted by Sha Nazir and John Farman and was a great event held in a stunning Rennie Mackintosh building.

Alan Grant scooped the lifetime achievement award, Burke and Hare, best graphic novel and Martin Conaghan, best writer. Cheers to all who voted.
Well chuffed.

Best Artist nomination for Vixens

2011-06-08T10:55:00.003+01:00

I've been very lucky to receive a nomination for best artist at the Scottish Independent Comic Book Awards. The winners will be announced at the Glasgow Comic con on the 18th June.

The other artists in the running are Jim Devlin, Stevie White, Curt Sibling and Will Pickering.
Maybe we can sort out the winner with an old fashioned fist fight out the back?

Vixens on the Forbidden Planet Blog

2011-06-06T07:57:00.002+01:00

A really cool write up about the Vixens from the mighty FP blog. Please take note though, Wasted magazine has not gone forever. It will return later in the year on Drive Thru comics in digital formats for both U.K and U.S markets.

http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2011/vampire-vixens/

2000ad covers uncovered

2011-06-06T07:27:00.003+01:00

Now this is a site I thought I'd never see myself on. No, not Crime watch, the excellent 2000ad Covers Uncovered. My digi painting for Zarjaz 12 has luckily grabbed the attention of Mega 2000ad chronicler Pete Wells and what a nice write up it is. Even the great Boo Cook, who's work I've only discovered in recent times but have greatly admired, chips in a word or two.

http://2000adcovers.blogspot.com/2011/06/alex-and-nigel-zarjaz-cover-artists.html

Dredd in New York

2011-06-01T15:32:00.004+01:00

The 2000ad fanzine Zarjaz has posted up all the covers from past publications as desktop wallpapers, including the yet to be released Zarjaz 12 drawn by some joker with the same name as me.

http://thequaequamblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/wallpapers.html

The Descent

2011-05-23T12:42:00.004+01:00

Some really bad shit going on down there...

Bounty Hunters, we don't need their scum!

2011-05-22T15:30:00.002+01:00

A Fett sketch from the 90's. Always seemed to have a irrational need to date stamp things back then. I'm suprised I didn't put the time on it too.

Shhhh, we're hunting Nazi Wabbit!

2011-05-18T16:20:00.016+01:00

It's all quiet on the Eastern Front as the Army Chaplain and his bloodthirsty vampire
ward make their way toward a Nazi encampment.
Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht features in issue 8 of Wasted along with Gibson Quatrter's Rocking art on War on Drugs, Smuggler's Vacation and Alan Grant/John Haward's Bhudda among many others.

Order online here or check your local Forbidden Planet.
http://www.wastedcomic.com/

The Emperor has scripted an action extravaganza for the third instalment of Vixens. High octane thrills and spills are the order of the day as the evil Vampire Vixens make their explosive debut.
Art duties will start later in the year.

It's a bit of a Sccam!

2011-05-17T22:02:00.010+01:00

During the second half of the 90's Glasgow's top comic get together was the SCCAM Club. (Scottish Cartoonist and Comic artists Mermbership.)
Held in Blackfriars Bar in the Merchant city, the monthly event was a well organised occasion.
Founding Members Tommy Sommerville and Ranald MacColl attracted some of the best talent in the scene as special guests over the 5 years it ran. Opening night saw Will Eisner in attendance, other guests over the years were Cam Kennedy, Gilbert Shelton, Bob Godfrey, Dave Gibbons, Mark Millar and Grant Morrison. That's not including regular attendees like Frank Quietly, Robbie Morrison and Colin Macneil from 2000ad fame and Dave Alexander, Somme (Electric Soup/Viz) Malky McCormick and Kettle and Christine of newspaper cartooning fame and French cartoonist Tanitoc, and Lorna Miller who were pioneers of their own new and distinctive brand of comic art.
Tommy's son Christopher went on to create The Scottish Cartoon Art Studio in '99 of which Tommy himself is still a resident member.
http://www.scottishcartoons.com/

The wee flyer above was done by myself for Cam's appearance in '96.

Special Operations

2011-05-17T09:53:00.005+01:00

Working on this project for the new movie slowly but surely all summer. Will post up some art when I get SS clearance.

Chocks away!

2011-05-09T08:24:00.005+01:00

A book jacket illo featuring what might be a distant cousin of the TMNT.

The name's Doyle, Mr Doyle!

2011-04-29T17:48:00.006+01:00

This is a small thank you (they know why) to the guys who produce Dexters' Half Dozen. A wartime occult action comic book.
I'm thinking a crossover to another certain wartime occult comic might be on the cards one day.
check out their FB page and catch up on the 5 issues already released. http://www.facebook.com/lexronald#!/beardedskull.comics
They're way ahead of me. I've got some catching up to do.

Everything Comes Back to 2000ad, Vixen 2 Review

2011-04-28T10:19:00.002+01:00

Everything comes back to 2000ad, the fan site for the galaxy's greatest comic have reviewed the second Vampire Vixen adventure.
http://2000ad.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/the-vampire-vixens-are-back/

And no I haven't paid them off to say good things about it... not yet.

Back in Black

2011-04-27T11:04:00.018+01:00

The Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht return for more bullets and mayhem in issue 8 of Wasted, due out on Thursday May 5

For this second instalment we are deep in the heart of the Black Forest inside Nazi Germany and our heroes are up to their neck's in trouble.

Canada's own Gibson Quarter provides the strikingly cool cover art for issue 8 and the usual gang of Wasted suspects make their appearance within the glossy pages.

Issue 7 of Wasted sold out in record time so get your order in early at the Bad Press site: http://www.wastedcomic.com/
Or check your local Forbidden Planet or newsagent to avoid disappointment.

The Good, Bad but not so Ugly Spy Who Loved Me

2011-04-13T07:50:00.009+01:00

It's almost time to start sending off the second Vixen strip for review to some of the UK's top comic sites.
I made this new promo image to go along with the press pack and it came out as an unusual mix of James Bond meets Sergio Leone.

Gloom Machine

2011-04-12T09:50:00.005+01:00

http://gloommachine.hollowviolin.com/ There's a new comic/mag out in Australia which looks like a nice mix of 2000ad meets Deadline. It's a bit pricey when you factor in postage, (£10 per issue) but I've asked them if they are considering a download service cos I think it would go down well in the UK.

It features Aussie artist BMB who i've known about for a while via the 2000ad forum. His art is amazing and he illustrates his own brilliant Mad Max style web comic, Kranburn. http://kranburn.thewebcomic.com/

The more voices sounding out for a download version the more chance we'll get it.

Give em a shout via their FB page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/beautifulgloommachine

"Flea bitten range bums don't usually stop in Lago..."

2011-04-11T21:22:00.011+01:00

A bit off topic here for a small change.

One of my geek passions are Western movies and about a year ago I found this blog called "The Great Silence."

It's run by a guy from California called Kevin Closson and as well as being very knowledgeable about Western movie locations in and around the Golden State, he knows just as much about real world western ghost towns.

http://the-great-silence.blogspot.com/2007/09/high-plains-drifter.html

If I had the money, the time (and an understanding wife) this is the kind of tourism that would be right up my street. The Mono Lake location from High Plains Drifter has some amazingly beautiful scenery and the site shows many high resolution shots from then and now. There's also some informative video footage on the location.

To top it off, the location sits within a relatively short distance from two real frontier towns, Bodie and Aurora.

Having done a bit of homework on these towns, Aurora has a more interesting past with regard to outlaws and vigilante gangs but the town has practically disappeared having been stripped of it's brick in the 1930's. Mark Twain spent time here during the gold rush period and recorded his experiences in the book 'Roughing it'

Bodie on the other hand is a protected site and is kept in a state of arrested decay.

Kevin's site also has detailed features on the locations from True Grit and several other of John Wayne's notable movies. There's also a great deal of info and photographs taken first hand in the town of Bodie.

If Westerns are your thing and for me the real western history stuff is even more of a hook, you'll find this blog a great read. Kevin also likes the Vampire Vixens too so he's doubly cool in my book.

Steampunk-ed colour update

2011-04-11T10:05:00.008+01:00

This was the Steampunk image as I originally painted it in colour. The sepia version is my final take and the one I'm most happy with. I thought it would be worthwhile showing the colour original since some people might prefer seeing it this way.

I bring you Grimm Tidings...

2011-04-09T21:21:00.016+01:00

In late 2009 an artist made a guest appearance on the Sunday guest spot of art blog Scotch Corner and his work made an instant and positive impression. His illustration style was fresh and appealing and his colour palette was outstanding and unusual in equal measure. In many ways his colour choices reminded me of the early work of Jamie Grant who went on to be one of the industry's top colourists on titles such as All Star Superman and We3 We are of course talking about Matthew Soffe who is one of the most hard working and talented artists working in the small press scene today. The roster of titles his work has appeared in is an impressive testament to his industrious work schedule, Dogbreath, Back From The Depths, Starscape, Paragon, The End is Nigh, Something Wicked, Fractal Fiction, Zarjaz and Murky Depths to name just a few.

Currently he is colourist on graphic novel 'My Maker and I' as well as other titles for Accent UK. I've seen some snippets from this and it looks amazing.

His 2000ad related art just screams out to be seen in the comic proper and personally I hope he keeps plugging away in that department.

He's one of my favourite artists I hope you check out his blog and website for more great art from My Grimm Brother.

http://mygrimmbrother.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html

http://mattsoffe.weebly.com/

And now for something completely diffirent...

2011-04-06T16:13:00.010+01:00

A steam punk-esque location in old London town. Something a bit diffirent from Vampire Nazis. I tried to capture that movement/exposure error that you see in many early photographs, except for that one guy in the dead centre of shot who stays perfectly still and seems to be staring back at us. Maybe we've caught him kerb crawling?

Vixen in the UK Wallpaper

2011-04-01T08:24:00.011+01:00

Here's the Vixen in the UK promo poster turned into a wallpaper for anyone who would like a Vamp on their desktop.

Sorry I still haven't managed to get around to the i-phone version for those that asked via Facebook. I'm hanging my head in shame now. I could make excuses about being too busy but it would just be a lie. I forgot. Off to the naughty step.

I'll rectify it at the weekend if you can re-send me the dimensions please. Cheers.

Roughing it at 20,000 ft.

2011-03-28T12:05:00.006+01:00

The final strip is a long way off but these are some of my roughs for a sequence in the third episode of Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht. Sketched and painted in B/W using Photoshop for a rough idea of lighting and pace. The third installment is all action from start to finish and takes place high above the English Channel. It also marks the first strip appearance of the villains, the Nazi Vampire Vixens.

Springtime for Hitler...

2011-03-26T17:02:00.010Z

It's 1901 and Adolf makes his first appearance in Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht as a 12 year old boy.

Even as a young lad, he's already developed all the trademarks of a megalomaniac, the heavy toothbrush moustache and the distinctive side swept haircut. By the time he reached power, his stylist must have persuaded him to drop the Lederhosen for a smart fascist uniform.

But who is that casting the looming shadow over him? All will be revealed in Wasted 8 due out in early May.

Remember, don't be a dummkopf. Turn your clocks forward tonight.

Bite Club

2011-03-20T20:14:00.005Z

This strongman has bitten off more than he can chew!

I'm just polishing off the last panel of the second Vampire Vixens adventure as we speak. The full strip should be hitting the stands in full glorious technicolour in Wasted 8. Due out the first week of May.

Can't get Wasted

2011-03-14T07:48:00.002Z

The Bad Press site reports that their stock of Wasted 7 has sold out after only 5 weeks of it's quarterly run.
If you want to catch the latest edition, check out your local newsagent or Forbidden Planet where you might still be able to get the odd copy.

Wasted 8 is due out in early May.

Bringing The Mean Machine to life

2011-03-13T14:57:00.005Z

I've posted the final art from this slide before but thought it might be relevant to show it again with the addition of a simplified breakdown of how it was done.

I don't do much in the way of breakdowns because I'm quite disorganised and tend to flatten PSD's as I go along. This one I kept separated because someone had asked to see my work flow.

After a rough sketch, I tone the sketch to get my lighting right. (I tend to work in B/W for my lighting and modelling of the shape because it keeps it simple).
I then tint the B/W image with the colour scheme I want using filters. Once I'm relatively happy with the colour blocking, I flatten the whole thing then embellish all the detailing on top.

In my early attempts at digital painting, I tended to get bogged down with colour too early and ended up with a mess. The B/W toning process allows me to experiment with colour schemes on a new level until I find one that works.

There will be blood!

2011-03-01T20:26:00.005Z

Hell hath no fury like a Vixen scorned!
The bullets start flying in episode two and Hitler's goose stepping occult division take on the wrong end of her MP40.

Cannibal Queen Desktop

2011-02-25T08:13:00.005Z

Her eyes say she wants you, but not in the way you think...

The Desktop Bombshell has proved quite popular going by the number of hits it's received so I've made up a new one for those who like a bit of variety.
Cannibal Queen was one of my favourite posts from last summer so here it is in all it's desktop gory glory.

Again it's 1920X1200 but I'll make up some customised ones for iPhone over the next couple of days and add them to their respective posts, so check back later if you would like one of those.

Desktop Bombshell

2011-02-22T16:34:00.003Z

I have this 1920 x 1200 Vixen desktop image for anyone who wants to dowload it for their PC

Vixens old school

2011-02-17T11:26:00.003Z

A quick pen and ink style sketch of the Vamp

British Horror Film Blog

2011-02-15T13:30:00.001Z

The BHF blog give the Vixens a glowing mention.
http://britishhorrorfilms.blogspot.com/2011/02/vampire-vixens-of-wermacht-come-on.html

If you want blood...

2011-02-12T22:01:00.002Z

You'll have to wait until episode two.
But it was today, while I was painting this panel and our girl starts to get nasty that the Vixens strip really started to look like a vampire comic.

Back from the Dead

2011-02-09T13:37:00.002Z

The Vixen's Facebook page has arisen from it's grave after it was deleted on Friday last week.
A big, big thank you to everyone for their support through reviews, Tweets and comments.
I have no doubt your support played a major part in the it's reinstatement.
Cheers!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Vampire-Vixens-of-the-Wehrmacht/179230265443902

New Review.

2011-02-07T15:23:00.005Z

One of my favourite web sites of late, "Everything comes back to 2000ad" have reviewed the first instalment of Vixens and with a huge sigh of relief from me, it's gone down well.
http://2000ad.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/vampire-vixens-of-the-wehrmacht/

For Your Eyes Only

2011-02-05T20:14:00.004Z

With a mob of bloodthirsty pagan Witches and Warlocks bearing down on her, our heroine has a trick or two up her sleeve.

Sorry about the censorship of the pic but after the Face book carry on, I'm treading very carefully. I don't want to lose my Blogger site too.

As you can guess from the title, the viewpoint of this panel was influenced by the poster art from the Bond movie of the same name.

Vampire Vixens Banned from Facebook

2011-02-05T08:17:00.006Z

For any of you that were following the Vampire Vixen Facebook page, I'm sorry but Facebook has removed it and I've been issued with a warning that "hateful and threatening" content will not be tolerated.
It's a shame they never read the FB info page because they would have quickly found that it's not a Nazi propaganda device but quite an old fashioned style war story with a supernatural element, namely Vampires. The villains are still the Nazis and it's no different to the way they are depicted in films like Raiders of the Lost Ark or where Eagles Dare, i.e. they are despicable.

To say that I'm angry of what Facebook seem to think I was promoting is an understatement.

VV Day

2011-02-04T15:03:00.002Z

Wasted 7 hits the streets this weekend and Bad Press have put together this rather nifty little ad to promote it. The Vampire Vixens strip is in full colour so track down a copy of Wasted before the Nazis put a blanket ban on all news coverage.

Zarjaz 12 - Undercity Dredd

2011-01-30T15:36:00.004Z

Dredd brings the Law to the Undercity on the cover of Zarjaz 12 due out later this year. The full wraparound cover will be viewable at a later date on the Quaequam Blog so check it out when Bolt one fires on the full preview.

Out of his jurisdiction...

2011-01-30T09:39:00.002Z

No Quarter Given!

2011-01-29T10:00:00.020Z

Since I started to take an interest in comic art again, there's one guy's art that stood out straight away, a guy who's prolific presence told me there was a new boy in town and he wasn't taking prisoners.

I'd seen his illos pop up on Deviant art and a stunning dino cover on Futurequake 15 shouted out he was a definite talent to be reckoned with. When I started buying Wasted he was there too, pointing Johnny K's 45 straight into my face. But when his sublime Dredd and Mean machine art knocked me off page 3 of Dev Art's most popular Dredd images, I knew there was gonna be trouble!

Gibson's art really is amazingly dynamic. Everything has motion and his layouts are brilliantly inventive but at the same time still easy to follow, a hard task to combine well.

My favourite GQ strip work has to be War on Drugs and the uncompromising Johnny K.

Working on an Alan Grant script does seem to bring out the best in people and I think GQ especially shines on the art duties here. I've seen his WOD cover for issue 8 of Wasted and it is truly the benchmark of what a Wasted cover should be.

Check out the GQ blog for the latest War on Drugs bulletins as well as other cool things.

http://gibsonquarter27art.blogspot.com/

Hi-Ex Preview the Vixens.

2011-01-25T11:16:00.001Z

http://hiexcomics.blogspot.com/2011/01/vampire-vixens-of-wehrmacht.html

If you go down to the woods today......

2011-01-23T13:45:00.002Z

You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today
You better go in disguise.

For every Hun that ever there was
Will gather there for certain because
Today's the day the Nazi's raise the un-dead!

A sneak preview from Episode 2.

Vampire Outpost

2011-01-11T11:19:00.002Z

The Vixens get a plug from the Outpost 2 movie page.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Outpost-2-Black-Sun/156213642943

First Blood

2011-01-09T15:30:00.013Z

These are a selection of some of the strip panels from Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht which will be released in just four weeks time in Issue 7 of Bad Press's magazine Wasted.

At the time of release I will also have a limited run of A3 posters featuring The "Vixens in the U.K." art pinup. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lvLo50XJHkU/TKXLXJdOnoI/AAAAAAAAAks/KuAjLq8LX5I/s1600/Vixens_inTheUK_SC.jpg
If you fancy one, these will be available to buy at some of the trade shows and marts this year or by contacting myself or Bad Press Ltd.
Since the enlarge function doesn't seem to be working at the moment, a larger image is available here:
http://www.2000adonline.com/forum/index.php/topic,27612.1245.html

Last years clearance

2011-01-01T20:17:00.025Z

Hello everyone and happy new year.

While the Vampire Vixens are taking up all my time, I'm clearing archive material until there is some bang up to date art to show.

The Pacific City Archives, the animated episodes that provided the back story to Crackdown 2 took up a major amount of 2009-10 for me. Originally six episodes long, episode 5 and 6 were combined in an effort to streamline the story. Although final art was never created for the deleted scenes, I did work on some roughs to visualise the key scenes in the very early stages of production. Here is some of that art in both colour and B/W

The Bridge

This was a scene I was very sad to see go. The defence wall blocking the bridge to the infected parts of the city is overrun by a horde of infected Freaks. By dawn there is only the wreckage of their onslaught and a gaping hole in the city wall.

The End

This was the original final shot of the whole series with the Agency building towering above, then a slow fade to the sinister looking new Agents and the Agency logo burning in the background.

Press Conference These are the first shots of the deleted episode. It was a slow zoom out from the logo until we find ourselves in the middle of a highly staged Agency press conference.

As well as the animated episodes I created a couple of T shirt Images.

I had to provide a Crackdown 2 cover for Game Informer magazine in August 2009. This was my first draft version using a montage of images from the animated episodes. In the end they went for a completely original image as you can see here,

http://alexronald68.blogspot.com/2010/01/this-was-first-ever-cover-image-that-i.html

I don't know if any of you do this but as I work I create a sheet of previously completed images which I add to as a go along. The sheet works for me in two ways. It provides me with a quick reference style sheet and forces me to keep up to the standard of what's been done before so that there is (hopefully) no dips in quality. By the end of this project (15 months) this sheet became very large.

Convention sketches

2010-12-28T19:31:00.007Z

When I used to draw comics for a living, going to conventions was all part of the business. Although I looked forward to these events, on the day I actually found the experience a bit uncomfortable. The discussion and signing tables were a daunting experience, I much preferred to chat to punters at the bar where it was a lot more informal. Needless to say I didn't go to too many conventions in a professional capacity. In saying that, as a twenty something comics fan, it was a great experience to meet the folk who's strips you had grown up with.
Anyway, these are the only two sketches that I have copies of, both dating from the mid to late 90's

As far as I'm aware Kev O'Neill is the only artist to draw Marshal Law in a comic strip. Apart from Dredd, he has to be one of my favourite anti heroes and was largely responsible for re-kindling my interest in comics as an adult. It was a lot of fun to do my own take on the Super Hero Hunter!

Having Santa for Christmas dinner?

2010-12-14T00:01:00.008Z

Santa is beginning to fear he may be the main course!
She's the Pepe Le Pew of vampire babes. Feared and loathed but a true romantic with a heart of gold and an insatiable lust for blood (nobody's perfect.)

Best wishes to you all for Christmas. Have a good one.

Vampire Vixens get loose on Feb 5th

2010-12-13T20:11:00.022Z

The Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht make their debut appearance in issue 7 of Bad Press's quarterly magazine Wasted. (Released Feb 5th)

Visually the strip is coming very much from the Grindhouse, Nazisploitation cinema of the late 70s early 80s.

Combine that look with a dash of Dad's Army/Carry On bawdy humour and you have the idea in a nutshell, (plus the occasional splattering of ultra gore and vampire violence never goes wrong just when you need it.)

The excellent scripts are coming in hard and fast from the prolific and enigmatic Emperor and a sterling job on the lettering, not to mention editorial guidance, from none other than Jim Campbell.

The image above is slightly different from the one going to press. The editorial team felt the presence of a swastika on the front cover might send out the wrong message so an Iron cross motif was made to substitute it. This is the original cover as I intended it to be. Not one to let anything go to waste, the swastika flag was worked into one of the promo posters for the evil vixen, (see two posts below) and actually works much better as a backdrop to the main villain.

Check out the Bad Press blog for a chance to win signed books by Simon Bisley and Frank Quietly. Winners to be announced in the above issue.

http://wastedcomic.blogspot.com/2010/12/bad-press-festive-competition.html

"This is our land!"

2010-11-26T23:22:00.008Z

This is a tiny portion of a cover image I've been working on. The vibe was very much influenced by the look and feel of two of my favourite post apocalyptic movies of the 80's, Escape from New York and The Bronx Warriors. I'll show the full image once I get the go ahead from the publisher.
"Snake Plissken, I've heard of you......I heard you were dead!"

Uber Vampire Villain

2010-11-07T13:55:00.010Z

This is the latest poster promo Image for Vampire Vixens. This girl is leader of the evil Vixens and Hitler's ultimate undead assassin.

The idea for this image came from the poster art for the Untouchables.

Dropping bombs and shopping for clothes.

2010-10-29T10:53:00.010+01:00

An odd combination but there have it. Below is the final art for the second Vixens promo poster.
Why do Nazi Vixens not burn in the moring sun I hear you ask? All will be revealed (eventually)
I few months ago I started to give serious thought to how these Vampire babes should look. I decided to try out dressing them by working over a fashion template, which is basically Barbie doll proportions and very unrealistic. I was amazed at how good an oufit looked when applied to this body shape. I suppose that's why fashion designers work to this template. It's just a shame that the majorty of humans don't conform to the drawings.

So these roughs act as my guide to how the girls will look in the posters and the posters then act as a much tighter style guide when it comes to them making their appearance in the strip.

Simples!

The bad guys are coming!

2010-10-27T08:17:00.006+01:00

This is a work in progress of the second of the A2 Vixen posters due for release next year.
These days I always work from as much relevant photo ref as I can possibly gather.

These are just some of the reference image combinations I'm using on this one to get the style, colour and texture as close to reality as possible, but not too close.

Those mirror like, shining eyes of the Vampires in Salem's Lot have always stuck with me since I was a teenager and I just couldn't resist using that effect for the evil Vixens.

Vixens in the UK

2010-10-01T12:51:00.003+01:00

Bad girl gone good? Or bad girl getting badder?

Outpost 2 Latest

2010-09-06T13:59:00.004+01:00

This one is from the recent batch of concept images for the fothcoming movie Outpost 2. Don't want to explain too much about who and what's in it because it might give too much away. Safe to say that the lighting in this one draws a lot of inspiration from John Carpenter's The Fog.

My favourite city, geeking out and Amy Pond!

2010-08-31T21:02:00.016+01:00

No new art I can actually show at the moment so here's a short break from the usual programming.....

I turned 42 at the beginning of August and spent my birthday in one of my favourite places, London. It was my wife and daughter's first visit to the city and they fell in love with the place too. It's been twelve years since I was there last but after this short trip I think it's going to be our destination for a bit longer next year.

I've unintentionally turned my 9 year old, Erin into as big a Sci-Fi geek as her old Dad. The beauty of that is I can now visit conventions under the pretext that it's really her that's dragging me along.

The plan only works up to a point though, like when Kenny Baker asks, "Who shall I sign it to?" and Erin says "My Dad"

It really was a thrill for me to meet Paul Freeman from Raiders of the Lost Ark. In fact it was his appearance that made the con a definite must see for me. His turn as Colin in the Long Good Friday is also a great performance even though I'm pretty sure he doesn't say a single word before Pierce Brosnan dispatches him to the great swimming pool in the sky.

Erin has become a huge Dr Who fan since it restarted a couple of years ago. Her favourite is David Tennant but the chance to meet one of the past generations of Doctors was too much to resist. This was her chance to get a picture signed to herself.

The big one for Erin was to meet Karen Gillan. She was smiling for hours after this one having had a wee chat and a picture signed.

Have to admit, the Doctor's latest companion is even more attractive in person than she appears on screen.

Lethal light

2010-08-19T18:56:00.007+01:00

These six shots are from a deleted scene from the Crackdown 2 animated backstory. Agency scientists test out their new Sunburst device on a captured night creature.

I coloured these scenes to match the kind of lighting you get in a photographer's darkroom. The thinking being if red light is safe for film, it would be safe for a light sensitive being. Safe that is until they turn on their device, BOOM!

Selling a Concept

2010-08-19T18:46:00.003+01:00

This was the very first art created for Crackdown 2. Dating back 2 years, this is the image which sold Microsoft on the idea of Pacific City being a dark nightmarish hell hole. It was just a few months later that full production started on the animated episodes, The Pacific City Archives.

Comic Strip Tease-r

2010-07-29T14:42:00.005+01:00

Coming to Wasted.
Catch them before they catch you!

Wipe them out, all of them!

2010-07-29T07:56:00.002+01:00

Getting Wasted

2010-07-25T11:49:00.002+01:00

I've got a project in the very early stages of development for next year. Will update with more info as and when I can.

One clue........Vampires?

Crackdown motion comic becomes a real comic.

2010-07-09T19:30:00.021+01:00

I just found out this week that the visuals I worked on for the Crackdown 2 motion comic have been turned into both a printed and a PDF comic. It must have been put together in house at Microsoft.

Some of the panel layouts are not ideal but the art was designed to work as an animation on 16:9 wide screen TVs so some of it is a bit fudged to fit. Still, it's a decent effort and I think whoever put it all together did a pretty good job. For me it's good to see how the artwork looks as a comic with speech bubbles and narrative etc. On the plus side, some of those super wide images are viewable in their entirety and the censorship or removal of certain shots from the videos has been returned as I originally intended it to look in this comic.

It seems the comic is only available as a promo piece for pre-order customers so there's going to be very few around. (No cheering there, I know who you are!)

Bleeding Cool

2010-07-09T11:39:00.002+01:00

Back from my hols and I discover I've had a mention on Bleeding cool!
Cheers Emperor!

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/06/30/video-alex-ronald-from-missionary-to-crackdown/

Starscape Comic

2010-07-06T20:33:00.014+01:00

This is the cover art for Starscape story paper, the new format comic coming from Chris Smillie later in the year. Commissioned in January, the cover art had originally been designed as something totally different and only changed on Sunday when I had a last minute brainstorm. I asked Chris if he minded me going down the route of Heavy Metal magazine and creating a kick ass babe who is totally unrelated to any story within the book.

Big influences for this were many of the the cinema posters from the 80's cannibal movies. Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Ferox etc. They always tended to involve scantily clad western women and Mayan type tribesmen painted in white to appear ghostly. With this I incorporated the two. Frank Frazetta's Conan art also gave me good pointers for style and colour.

The name's Bond

2010-06-25T21:37:00.018+01:00

On Sunday I received probably the best Father's day present ever when my two girls gave me a ticket to the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh. One of my great cinema heroes, Sean Connery was there in person to give a small talk to a sell out audience before a showing of the film he's most proud of, The Man Who Would Be King. It was a great night and a great thrill for me to see the original Bond in person. Cheers Kimberley and Erin!

Episode 5 of Pacific City Archives, The end.

2010-06-25T12:33:00.012+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7sEs3ZacVo&feature=watch_response

Episode 5 is up. Hope you like it.

Slightly over a years work all done and dusted now.
It's been a great experience and opportunity and GNet have done a wonderful job animating the whole thing.

Episode 5 features some of the largest images I've ever had to work with. To allow for slow panning and camera shake effects, the art had to be multiple times the resolution of an HD TV. This scaled down example gives an idea of how the large the image is in proportion to the TV screen.

Something new.......

2010-06-14T18:27:00.008+01:00

This is a cropped down snippet of something i'm doing.
I don't think it needs much explaining, the title says it all.
I hope you like it.

"We'll be right back after this message from our sponsor"

2010-06-09T00:00:00.026+01:00

Episode 3 of the Crackdown 2 motion comic is available to view here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGNohqsOguM&fea

This episode was designed to be a light comic relief from the death and mayhem of the two previous and forthcoming parts of the story. The script for this particular segment was strongly inspired by the nuclear attack public service films from the 50's.

I painted this entire episode in B/W and created a TV overlay folder which added scan lines, picture interference and the option for sepia or blue tint to create the dated TV picture look. In the end the production house in LA went for the straight B/W artwork. I've uploaded my original images to let you see my take on it.

The shot above was removed from the final cut. This highlights the bite wound that the mother had received earlier in the day. Too caught up in their TV show, the father and son fail to notice Mom's transform into an undead battle axe from hell!

Opinion on this episode has been divided. Some love it, others think it's dated look is too far removed from the futuristic setting of Pacific city. It was intended to be a light hearted interlude. Right or wrong, we felt the cheesy style of those 50's commercials complimented the theme.

Public enemy

2010-06-03T08:20:00.009+01:00

In a dingy bedsit, Catalina Thorne plans her payback on Pacific city.
I went for sunset lighting on this for maximum shadow/light effect. Also, reddish orange colours are my favourite so any excuse to use them...

Name check

2010-06-03T08:07:00.006+01:00

Years ago when I worked on Dredd you could slip in the odd name of friends on city blocks or as graffiti on the walls. In December when I was working on the art for episode 2 of Crackdown, I had recently made the acquaintance of Pete Wells, The Emperor and Matt Soffe on the 2000ad forum boards. In a small way I repeated that name check tradition.

If you look very closely you might see some familiar names in the code section of this I.D. badge.

Crackdown Motion Comic Episode 2

2010-06-02T16:56:00.006+01:00

There's something lurking in the shadows and it doesn't like squatters....

Part 2 of the Pacific city archives is out and the beast is loose.
http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/ep-2-of-crackdown-2s-web-comic

"Cops don't like me. So I don't like cops."

2010-05-29T09:26:00.013+01:00

With those words Clarence Boddiker gave birth to Robocop. The look and feel of this sequence in Crackdown 2 borrows greatly from Murphy's death scene in that movie

The Agency peacekeeper is lured to his death at the hands of The Cell, the underground terrorist movement operating in Pacific city. Originally there were three distinct camera shots of the Cop being killed but in the final cut it was reduced down to two. Each impact was added on separate layers along with a blood splash so that you could see the damage as it happened. I decided not to go as far as dismemberment (as they do in Robocop) because I was pretty sure the client would reject that degree of violence.

Below is one of the deleted shots showing the graffiti punk making good his escape. I've also included my rough storyboard images to let you see how much it developed visually from the first draft.

All five episodes were roughed out in this form before going to full digital painting. These allowed the voice over artists to work to visual cues much earlier in development.

"Hard to recognise the old place."

2010-05-27T08:05:00.007+01:00

This is another wide establishing shot which again hopes to convey the disintegration of Pacific city into a war torn hell hole. The building on the far left and the motorway support on the right are seperate elements which had to be painted behind in order to create a bit of foreground perspective movement. The kind of effect you would see a lot in cartoons from the 70's and 80's.
Practically every image had to be built in layers so you could see round behind things if necessary. Animation duties on these videos were carried out by Gnet in Los Angeles. I'd seen their work before on the Dead Space motion comic and was very impressed with their style.
I learned a lot from the folk at Gnet and they were very patient with me being a motion comic newbie.

4 second heartbreaker.

2010-05-26T16:52:00.012+01:00

This image of Pacific city was probably the most labour intensive of all the images in episode one. From start to finish it took around fifteen hours to complete and in the final cut it's lucky if it appears on screen for 4 seconds. It was originally intended to be a wide panning shot and because of that the original image is roughly twice the width of a HD TV screen resolution. Regardless, I think it's a decent establishing shot and the combination of the street fires and the almost complete lack of electric light, helps to convey the sense of society in meltdown.
The soundtrack to Escape from New York was never off the CD system as I worked on the 30 or so images that comprise episode one. It was the perfect mood music for the type of work I was trying to do.

Crackdown 2 Motion Comic

2010-05-25T19:46:00.022+01:00

Episode 1 of the backstory to Crackdown 2 has been released on the net. I've had to keep this under wraps for a long time but now that it's loose on the streets, you can prepare for an onslaught of stills and some background info over the coming weeks. (whether you want it or not)
If you like social decay, mutants, fascist police and basically anything by John Carpenter then this might be right up your street! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kan693Hr_f8

Above is a still of the very first shot after a fast zoom back from the hood emblem. The original Crackdown had very bright colour schemes and that basically went out the window in Crackdown 2.

The footsoldiers of the Agency are these guys, The Peacekeepers. They are the cannon fodder for the underground resistance/terrorist movement. The original design of these guys was by Paul Simms, one of the top art and design guys at Ruffian and a former DC Thomson artist if memory serves me right. He's got a great clean art style. Check his stuff out on deviant art. http://theboldboy.deviantart.com/

Red Sands 2, Bloody but unbowed!

2010-05-15T08:59:00.013+01:00

The cover image from last months post can now be revealed as the art for Red Sands 2.
Writer Matthew McLaughlin and Artist Bruce McLaren have done a wonderful job of taking the story forward from my 1994 small press original. Dave Evans (Bolt 01) of Zarjaz and Future quake fame rounds it off with some top class lettering.
It's available for free download from Starscape comics and will be released later in the year with the follow up parts as a print version. Issue 1 is also still available as a free download from the same site.

http://www.spitfirecomics.co.uk/ (click comic strips in the blue banner)

Megaverse, Durka Durka!

2010-05-11T23:57:00.004+01:00

This was a cover concept for the yet to be released Sci Fi title, Megaverse. The Ant Wars cover from 2000ad prog 78 was a big influence to the newspaper style design. Another big influence to the vibe was from Toxic, the short lived but sadly missed UK weekly from the early 90's.

"They're coming to get you Barbara!"

2010-05-04T08:27:00.004+01:00

This was an Illustration from a year ago and was my first ever Zombie art. It was a test piece for Microsoft and I was lucky enough to get the Crackdown job based on this. Since it was the first time i'd ever drawn a zombie and being a big Romero fan, I loosely based my undead character on Duane Jones from the original Night of the Living Dead.

Mothcatcher's Latest

2010-05-01T07:04:00.006+01:00

Kris Bird and Kerry Ann Mullaney of Mothcatcher Films are in the early stages of pre production on their latest feature, Harrow's Gate. This is my poster/promo art for them.

He Needs Specsavers!

2010-04-22T13:57:00.013+01:00

This is my cover art for a forthcoming comic book which must remain nameless for the time being but I do have a previous connection with it.
A big influnce on this image was a Maelstrom cover from the Judge Dredd Megazine circa '95 by one of my all time favourite Dredd artists, Colin Macneil.
Some of the other reference material I used were images from Passion of the Christ, probably one of the most stomach churning flicks i've ever seen.

(Truth be told I could only stand watching half of it. I can't handle torture movies)

Last Stand/Crackdown 2

2010-04-15T18:38:00.004+01:00

This is the second of the promo images for Crackdown 2. It was used as a centre spread of a games magazine and highlights the multiplayer co-op function.

In the City

2010-04-09T11:44:00.006+01:00

It's seriously heads down just now on my work for Ruffian Games. Not had any time to do the odd non work related pic that I can show. In the meantime here is a concept image from 2008 for Black Camel Pictures.

I'll soon have many new images to show once Crackdown 2 is released (July) and I have a few other back burner projects in the works including something Oupost 2 related.