Topics

Looking ahead, these two momentous issues will be out almost simultaneously (assuming I have counted weeks and months correctly).
August will swing around pretty quickly, and I wonder if The Mighty One already has something special in store for us...
I think it's significant that those two numbers add up to a total of 2000 issues as well...

After visiting the fantastic Orbital exhibition this weekend, I've been looking at Arthur Ranson's website again... about a week ago, he put out a request to find the original art for this:



It's one of his favourites, mine too and I wondered if anyone here knew who has it.

I'd love a large print without the words.

Here's the thing that bothers me most about comic art, to make it economically viable, you really need to be as fast.
How fast?
Well, PJ Holden always says a day a page - no questions! That's the standard you have to hit and no skimping on the quality!
Not wanting to bother anyone, but here for your information from twitter, Simon Fraser has set a new standard... @simonfraser The 1hour 30 minute page http://post.ly/Hf2E
He does admit that he can't do it all the time - still, you've got to know what you're up against!

The cover of the year thread got me thinking...
Since prog 2000 we've had some amazing covers and for the sheer magnitude of approximately 500 of them, see (courtesy of Barney) here and the ten 2000 prog year enders here...

So then, what are your 5 top covers from this bunch - tall order eh?
I'll kick off with these:
1. the one that started the run.

2. the silver anniversary!

3. Henry!

4. The Law...

5. ...the start of my second phase as a committed fan.


There have been so many sit and stare covers amongst them all, but I had five to choose and for a variety of reasons, these are mine.

Interesting and informative.

Hello there - I'm doing some illustrations for a book... and one of the illustrations requires a scene where someone is looking at the display case that houses the Book of Kells. (Trinity College Library Dublin).
Searching the internet has served only to help discover that NO ONE shall photograph the Book of Kells - NO ONE! And I can't find any descriptions that can tell me if the damn thing is housed in the long-room or in it's own special dedicated area...

Has anyone been there?
Can anyone give me a brief description of the room?
Better still, has anyone got a sneaky holiday snap? (preferably of the whole room - I don't need to be accurate with the book - just the location).
I'll be happy to do a sketch for anyone who can help.

So there I am, scouting Twitter, and pjholden has a delicious little link that I think you should all bookmark now.
http://www.arthurranson.com/content/sketches
I've highlighted the sketches - because they'll rock your world dudes!
Some of the site is still under construction - but, at least there's a web prescence for him now.

[2000AD good cheap B@Rgin!! L@@K! :-)]

There has been a rash of new-members joining to off-load their (sadly) unwanted progs.
Some, have been brilliantly listed, other postings have definitely fallen into the poorer thought out category.

I wondered, despite valid reluctance to add rules in the classified section for other sorts of deals, whether it might be worth a sticky at the top there with some tips, guidelines and things of that general nature.

Possibly going as far as advising of some hard-to-take facts:

Sorry, your comics aren't worth very much, please don't throw them away though.

and also, so that we never again have to type:

Where are you based then?

How much do you want for them?

Suggestions on what the sticky could contain would be good - assuming you feel the same way I do upon reading a topic titled: 2000AD good cheap B@Rgin!! L@@K! :-)

Yarrgghhh!!

I'd noticed the 'clock' in the top right before but hadn't looked at the accrued time for a while...
apparently I've been sitting here for 4 days 20 hours and 40 minutes.

Right, I'm off to make myself more useful!

PS. is there someway to stop me seeing how my life is draining away before my very eyes?

I thought it was time to give another 2000AD heavyweight his 15 minutes of fame.
Same basic idea as here, but feel free to draw Wulf, Gronk, Middenface, Durham or any Strontium Dog character - no ref and 15 minutes are the only rules!



larger image if there's nothing showing above!

Not 100% happy with this, but it should get the ball rolling!

I expect all you other aspiring artists are following Kevin Nowlan's Blog... if you are not however, maybe now is the time to start...
Currently he is posting up sketch work, page layouts, pencils and inks from the Man-Bat story in Secret Origins #39, April 1989.
Although he isn't inking the story himself, the process he is showing is both impressive and informative.
It's also great from the point of view that he is showing script pages and you can see his thought process as he breaks down the story into what has to be shown.
I think what he's doing is probably of relevance to just about all the comic creating disciplines actually.

Check out this link people. PJ, in yet another example of what an instructive gentleman he is, provides an indepth look and deconstruction of his first published Dredd! Nearly 10 years ago, but still looks fresh as a daisy, that's why he's a pro!

[£11.50 + P&P]

Hi Everyone,
I'm going to have a batch of Zarjaz T-shirts produced. It's just the new logo that I designed for the fanzine... if you'd like one please put a reply in this thread and also PM me your desired colour and size.


design


colours

Sizes are: S (35/37"), M (38/40"), L (41/43"), XL (44/46"), XXL (47/49"), 3XL (50/52")
the price will be £11.50 + P&P... it'll be screen printed in two colours on a Fruit of the Loom 205gsm T-shirt, or similar, not a cheap and thin one!

If I get more than 20 orders the price may go down slightly, I'm not going to try to hard sell this as a bargain and if you are interested I'll have to ask for £5 deposit... I can accept paypal or a cheque through the post (let me know what you'd prefer in the PM also). Please check your size carefully as I'll be unlikely to give you your money back if the T-shirt doesn't fit - sorry!

I'd like to get my order in by the end of the month, so let me know by Fri 28th at the latest... I should have the T-shirts by mid to late Sept...

I've been working on a couple of Spider-man sample pages... Story, art and letters by me. 2000AD is still my first love, but working on different characters keeps the enthusiasm up, especially when you are doing everything!





I'd appreciate any feedback as I'm planning on showing these in my portfolio at BICS later in the year. I'll only be showing the inks, but it'd be nice to have the coloured and lettered pages as a sort of calling card to leave for Marvel/Panini... any thoughts?

PS. colours were a little rushed!

Here are a selection of pin-ups I've done. All conventional wisdom says don't show pin-ups as editors aren't interested, mainly because they won't hire you to do covers... well, it's EXTREMELY unlikely anyway.

Creatively and as exercises for keeping your enthusiasm up, I think they're worthwhile doing from time-to-time. I think they're a great way to provide interesting variety in your portfolio also.
I'm not 100% sure about showing them to editors or not but I do think you can grab attention a little bit with them.

Again, entering into the spirit of courting criticism. Something I submitted to a chap who prints (art) books containing lovely pictures by some pretty cool individuals. link



This second one was done as another 'cover' excercise and as a submission to a blog that I thought was kind of funny.



The next one, I've shown to Tharg and his comment was that there was something off in the foreshortening of the arms. Fair comment I think - I still think it's a pretty cool pin up and I'm not unhappy with it, but I can respect the criticism because I can kind of see what he means.



I was lucky enough to have received a bit of help on this one from PJ Holden who made some great modifications early on:

...I've made a couple of MINOR mods to your dredd pic, which, I think, makes it slightly more '2000ad'

The first: I've increased the size of Dredd's left hand - foreshortening. It's a great pose - but needs a little more push!

The second: I've decreased the size of Dredds helmet... call it personal preference, if you like (and it probably is) but I think Dredd's helmet needs to appear as part and parcel of his head - so tightly fitted and snug that that chin and helmet are one unit.

for ref, this was the original sketch and the revised version:



...and I had some pretty enlightening crits from Dylan Teague too:

"...overall I think it's a nice pic, good perspective nice colouring and solid drawing. The problem is, it just isn't Dredd, he's not powerful enough and even looks a bit vulnerable in this scene. It's not a case of his physique, though his head could maybe be a little smaller, its more down to his attitude and framing in the drawing. I think a lower angle would have helped so that he wasn't overpowered by the buildings, remember, it's Dredd - he has to dominate the pic!!"

Things there to be borne in mind - not only for pin-ups, but for strip work... I think certain inherent errors I've been making are clear from the comments made, and that made the pin-up all the more valuable to me as I have garnered some real insights into what Dredd is about, how he is viewed and the technical things I need to look out for. Within the confines of a strip where there are many other considerations - it's probably easier to overlook that which is staring you in the face!

[Thrill-Power Overload]

As a vocal member of this newly created 'creative common' it would be remiss not to present the work I've done and submit to criticism here. Please feel free to visit my blog and comment there also - I'd appreciate anything you have to say.

Here are the last round of Judge Dredd samples I produced. I did three pages fully coloured, another in ink and one final page as pencils. I showed them to Tharg at the FP 2000 signing for Thrill-Power Overload and this is what he had to say:

"...try to aim for a more naturalistic style, and see if you can tone down the more cartoony elements of your art. 2000 AD strips should be bold and powerful, so I'm looking for art that really leaps off the page.

The script was "The Informant" from prog 1607 if you wanted to compare.











There are a few things I'd do differently if I were to have another go at this script, but overall I'm fairly happy with these pages.
Since these samples, I have done another couple of strips - for our own Bolt-01 no less - but you'll have to wait to see those...

[How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way]

Let's get the ball rolling with a brief review for what I think are pretty essential books for anyone thinking of trying their hand at comic art.

• How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Buscema
  This is a great place to get acquainted with the basic nuts and bolts of it all. You might be thinking, ahh, that's just a kids book... well, in tone perhaps you're right. I think it's an invaluable resource and I'm not too proud to admit that I've used it very recently - if you haven't already seen, D'Israeli chats about how he found something instructive in it not too long ago either!
• Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner
  I'm pretty sure that anyone who hasn't read this is missing a trick (writers included). This book is an indispensable manual of how to build your comic strip correctly. It deals with everything from pacing and gesture to layout, frame function and established conventions. A further volume - Graphic Storytelling is also well worth a look.
• How To Draw and Sell... Comic Strips by Alan McKenzie
  Not quite as good as the previous two but still pretty informative in a idiot's guide kind of way and in many ways a bit more practical in the advice it gives.
  

Admittedly none of the volumes I'm recommending deal with the digital revolution - but here's a bit of Luddite mentality for you: No amount of fancy machinery is going to help if you don't have the basic skills associated with telling a story. Forget drawing for a moment, if you can't make a basic story flow smoothly and your reader ends up frustrated with confusing flashy page layouts - YOU HAVE FAILED!

There are a few other books, I've read and found useful, key amongst these and all worth at least borrowing from the library (if they have them) are:
Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics and Making Comics all by Scott McCloud
Artists on Comic Art by Mark Salisbury
and The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics by Klaus Janson.

Please feel free to disagree and add to the list in the healthy spirit of discussion. Also please give tips to things you've found helpful or inspiring. Or ask a question like:

Why does Adam Hughes pay homage to Alponse Mucha so often?
Is an exhibition on at the moment worth a look?
Should I try to make my stuff look more like <insert creator's name here>?
Are all those figure reference books I keep seeing worth buying?

Equally, if you've had a chat with an artist/creator at a convention and picked their brains... Let us know about it!

Last year when I put my embarrassing first set of samples together, I posted them up on the Drawingboard - (a great forum for illustrators, artists, comic artists and hobbyists) I was amazed that our own PJ Holden, amongst others, was willing to critique my work.
I've included a link to that forum posting here as I believe it is instructive, both from what someone should expect to hear upon posting samples, but also as an example of the sort of helpful criticism that needs to be given.

[Emperor]

I've been thinking for a long while about requesting a section in the forum for all would-be creators.
There is such a wealth of talent here, all with great insight into the minutiae of comic work. I regularly see postings asking for help, like the recent speech balloons one, and think it would be nice to have a reference point for all the pearls of wisdom that get lost in a sea of unrelated topics.
In a few mails with Emperor, who has been posting links to top tips far and wide I suggested the concept of a one-stop shop for sample scripts, tips and tricks, links to online advice and small press publishers - basically all the things that everyone from prototype script droids to lettering bots need to know as they develop their skills.
I know that Jim and Bolt can give great advice on the lettering front, and I know that some droids that post here are only too happy to offer advice to aspiring creators.
Does anyone else think that this would be a positive addition to the resources on the net?

Whooppee! Bumper package just dropped through the letter box.
Prog
Meg
Comic Con special! (Chris Weston's cover to 1650 - I think!)

My saturday just got filled. Thanks!