Attempts at the sample scripts

[Professor Bear]

I wanna colour them pages bad - are there inked versions?

As PJ said, stiffness in the odd panel is the main drawback visually and it'd be a shame to let that hold back something so blatantly stylised and unique.  Also, I'm sure it's just me, but from the second panel on page one onwards, I found the shape of the buildings in the backgrounds increasingly disturbing.

[locustsofdeath!]

I love it, Radiator. Brilliant stuff. Your work really appeals to me!

[Van Dom]

Hey I like that, Radiator. Very funky and unique! I'm getting a Mike McMahon vibe off it. Nice!

[Kerrin]

Flippin' ace Radman. Like you say, there are things to work on, but overall I love it.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

I'm about to favourite every f[spoiler]u[/spoiler]cking page of this over at DeviantArt. Just you try and stop me.

[radiator]

Thanks peeps. The response has been a lot more positive than I expected, but hey there's still time to bring some harsh criticism.

Some very interesting and helpful observations from PJ especially - I must admit that though I knew some of the panel compositions were very flat and dull the 'stiffness' of the figures wasn't something that was entirely obvious to me until you pointed it out. Certainly something to concentrate on in the future!

As for the other point about the suitability of my style for 2000ad, it's not something that I'm going to lose sleep over  - I'm not seriously touting for work (I've never submitted anything to Tharg) and I won't be any time soon, if ever. I'm aware that my work has a certain 'Marmite' quality - some friends of mine 'get' it, whereas others seem completely uninterested, so I'm used to getting a mixed response.

I draw how I draw - I'm simply not interested in trying for a more 'realistic' style, and if anything my style gets more and more pronounced as time goes by. Though I am capable of drawing in different ways, I consider this my 'true' style and this is the stuff I'm passionate about - I wouldn't want to tone it down.

Unfortunately, my main enemy is time. For the last year I've been incredibly busy at work (I rarely get home before 10pm and often work 7 day weeks), and I barely have any free time at all these days - I would love to spend all day on this stuff but the fact is even if I have a whole spare day to dedicate to drawing, it will take me half of it to warm up enough to draw anything at all - let alone strip work which is extremely difficult, time consuming and demanding.

I wanna colour them pages bad - are there inked versions?

That would be amazing - I have inked most of it, but tbh did such a horrible job that ideally I'd like to do it again. If you're serious send me a pm and I'll try and get a high res file over to you at some point. As long as you promise to colour the buildings gray and not pink!

I'd love to colour them myself - I actually think half the strength of my work is in the colouring - but as above, I don't have the time at present, and have only got as far as doing some basic separations.

[pauljholden]

As for the other point about the suitability of my style for 2000ad, it's not something that I'm going to lose sleep over  - I'm not seriously touting for work (I've never submitted anything to Tharg) and I won't be any time soon, if ever. I'm aware that my work has a certain 'Marmite' quality - some friends of mine 'get' it, whereas others seem completely uninterested, so I'm used to getting a mixed response.

I draw how I draw - I'm simply not interested in trying for a more 'realistic' style, and if anything my style gets more and more pronounced as time goes by. Though I am capable of drawing in different ways, I consider this my 'true' style and this is the stuff I'm passionate about - I wouldn't want to tone it down.

Good for you - far better to have a voice than not (and, I didn't mean to sound overly negative in the previous post - the only person who can decide if you're right for 2000AD is the editor, and different editors have had different tastes over the years - but Matt's tastes - thank god, seem fairly broad, so certainly worth a punt!

-pj

[radiator]

the only person who can decide if you're right for 2000AD is the editor, and different editors have had different tastes over the years - but Matt's tastes - thank god, seem fairly broad, so certainly worth a punt!

Yeah - Matt has commissioned a lot of interesting stuff from artists like D'Israeli, Steve Roberts, Rufus, Guy Davis, even your own more out-there stuff, all of which is as stylised, if not more so than my work. As I said, I'm not even currently trying to get comic work, but it's a nice daydream.

[pauljholden]

10 years or so ago it was an idle daydream for me too - cut my hours down in my dayjob to try and make a half hearted go at it. Sorta worked out ok.

-pj

[radiator]

Well, I'm a freelancer so my work-life can be very unpredictable. I made a conscious decision some time ago that if, worst case scenario, I find myself with no work for the next six months, I'm just gonna stay at home every day and throw myself into my illustration and comic work and really try and make a go of it.

[staticgirl]

I love that style of yours - it's so different to the usual way of depicting MC1 that it becomes very fresh.

[Professor Bear]

You have mail, Radiator.

I'm a bit worried you assumed I'd colour the phallic buildings pink.
They'd be brown if anything - that's how I roll.

[HigashiDragon]

Hi there

New to the forum so please be gentle

I've just finished a submission piece and was hoping for some constructive feed back before posting.

I'd stumbled across this thread and forum a little while ago and was pleased to see an active and useful conversation taking place about submissions.

Great stuff!!

The piece can be seen at

http://www.comicspace.com/higashidragon/comics.php?action=gallery&comic_id=28393
or
http://www.kre8uk.net/illustration/judgedredd1.php

Thanks in advance for your time

[puggdogg]

They look great Dragon. The images flow from one to the next. The line art and style fits well. You've left plenty of room for dialogue in all the right places. The only thing that doesn't sit right with me anyway is the BLAM text on the first and last pages. One of these days I really need to give the scripts a go. I've done several works for comics in the past i.e. colourist, cover artist, pin ups and non-sequential interior art. But never proper sequential art.

[staticgirl]

I like that style, Dragon.  i like the shadows and the expressions on peoples faces - there's some good storytelling.