MAKING OF A ZOMBIE BABY PAGE!

Have to make this quick guys. My schedule's pretty damn hectic until the end of the month as I'm finishing the last episode and a half of this book of Defoe. May have to try and pull an all nighter (though to be honest, I think I'm too old for them now--plus I haven't got any cakes, energy drinks or chocolate to get me through it!).

Anyhoo....last weeks zombie baby episode and cover went down as well as I'd hoped--nobody seemed to get their knickers in a twist about the cover in particular, so it looks like we got away with it! BWA HA HAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!! That was supposed to be an evil laugh...

Below is a brief walk through of the making of the first page of that episode. As usual, once I read through Pat Mills' script, I do a very rough layout. What you need to understand is that the layout is just for my own benefit--for 2000AD I don't need to get layouts approved, which is why they usually only make sense to me. I really enjoy this part of the process--it's actually very fun and relaxing working out the story and the compositions.
Next up, we have pencils. As I'm inking myself, I can leave them pretty loose...

Then finally, we have the inks. As you can see, that's where I have to really put the work in. I try to ink as much as I possibly can with a brush first, then go to battle with my fineliner pens!

Right, that's your lot people. Gotta get back to work!

L

EXCLUSIVE DREDD/DEFOE PIC AND SCOTS, MICKS AND HYPERGEEKS OH MY!

Hey guys,

Back from an enjoyable weekend where I consumed WAY too many pasties...

Right,first of all I'd like to guide you into the furry arms of the talented folks at SCOTCH CORNER where I'm today's "guest artist" and contributed a drawing of Judge Dredd with Defoe that I did a year or so ago.

SCOTCH CORNER is a daily art blog, hosted by six uber talented Scottish blokes in skirts--sorry, I mean kilts : Graeme Neil Reid, Gary Erskine, Andy Hepworth, Jon Hodgson, and Thomas Crielly (with one more artist to be announced) and a guest artist once a week.

Everyday a new piece of art is posted, each artist posting on a certain day.

It's a FANTASTIC idea and the guys freely admit "this blog is shamelessly inspired and ripped off from the ELECTIC MICKS."

ELECTIC MICKS will forever be known as the creators, the originators, the mummy and daddies of this very successful style of daily art blog.

It's said that if you speak the names of these seven Irish men out aloud, a tiny leprecahn appears and kicks you in the nuts. I'd rather not risk that, but if you do, their names are Declan Shalvey, Will Sliney, PJ Holden, Stephen Mooney, Stephen Thompson, Nick Roche, and Bob Byrne.

Both these art blogs deserve all the success they get, so please stop by and say hi--you will not regret it. If you do, I'll apologise and say the sacred names of the Irish men three times...

Finally, I'd like to give a big shout out to Edward Kaye of the comic book industry site HYPERGEEK!

Edward reports comic book news, reviews, interviews all the way from Canada, but what's really great is that he's flying the flag for 2000AD, so may the mighty Tharg bless you sir! We humble droids salute you! He's wrote a great piece (click on the link) called:

"2000AD in North America--Why you should be buying it, where you can buy it, and how you can help make it a household name."

He's also starting a new weekly feature called "Thrill Power Thursday" where he'll be talking about the latest 2000AD issues, as well as any other related features he can come up with. But you can read more about his "Statement of Intent" HERE.

Thanks again Edward!

L

THE MAKING OF MY NEXT 2000AD COVER! (UPDATED!)

Hey guys,

Before I go away for the weekend, I wanted to post this "making of" feature for my next Defoe cover for Prog 1643 of 2000AD, which subscribers should be receiving in the morning, and it'll be out in stores from Wednesday.

Oooohhh, I've been looking forward to showing this cover....

Here's what happened: Before the writer of Defoe, Pat Mills, starts writing a "Book" of Defoe, he very kindly asks me for my input of things I'd like to possibly draw in the future, and he'd do his best to put it in if it worked. So a year or so ago, I mentioned a certain scene featuring zombie babies that I thought would be very cool (that scene actually features in this episode of Defoe, so I can't spoil it).

So, inspired by that scene, the idea for this cover just flashed into my head, and I was so certain would work, that I didn't even bother pitching my master and editor, Tharg, different ideas to choose from. I REALLY wanted to draw this idea: Just a simple image of Defoe clearly struggling as he is COVERED in zombie babies!

But even though I thought it could be a great image, I knew it was debatable that Tharg would go for it--after all, if you think of what zombie babies actually are, it's a bit close to the line and could be perceived as "bad taste"...

Anyway, the very crude rough drawing I pitched is below:

So thankfully Tharg liked what he saw, giving me the go ahead to carry on, but understandably voiced his concerns. These being what I predicted: that if the zombie babies looked too much like deceased babies, then obviously some stores may find it too offensive to stock, which is fair enough. It's ok to have zombie babies in the interior story, but it's probably not a good idea to have them on display on shelves in mainstreet stores.

Below is the photo reference I used of myself posing as Defoe, followed by the pencilled cover.

Here's the pencil version I sent for approval. I basically just drew them as angry,drooling, dirty babies, with no sign of decay or "zombieness". But Tharg still thought they screamed "deceased babies" so asked if I could make them look more "demony" instead.

It took a while for me to think of a solution that would still make the creatures on the cover relevant to the story inside, but eventually I thought to give the babies scaled skin and sharp teeth. Also at the suggestion of my buddies John Reppion and Leah Moore, they would eventually have red glowing eyes and a more alien green blood pouring from their mouths, so basically they now looked like little monsters which is alot more acceptable. And Tharg thought so too!

Can I just add at this point in the inking I wasn't happy with Defoe's eyes and expression--he seemed a bit too scared, and I originally wanted more "angry desperation", so before I coloured it, I repositioned one of his eyes in Photoshop and messed around with his eyesbrows abit.

Also, Pat quite rightly mentioned that having the inscription of "Killing zombies since 1666" on Defoe's weapon probably wouldn't do us any favours.

And here's the finished colour piece! We got there in the end. Personally, I'm made up with how it turned out and I'm hoping it could be a memorable cover. But of course, it's up to the readers.

Hope you like it!

L

FUTURE COMMENTS

Hey guys,

Just a quick post to let you know that I've enabled comment moderation and that word verification thingy from this point on.

More and more of my friend's sites and favourite forums have been targeted by spammers lately, and it's only a matter of time before this blog is too. So rather than risk wasting a full day deleting unwanted spams, I thought it best to set up this protection first.

On to fun stuff--I'll be posting up the making of my next cover tomorrow night!

See ya.

L

MORE DEFOE TEASERS!

Helloooooo.....

Episode 3 of Defoe is out in this week's 2000AD, but here's some non spoilery teaser panels for later episodes.

Later next week I'll post another "making of" feature for my next cover on Episode 4 of Defoe--can't freakin' wait to show that baby!

Now I gotta get back to finishing this story! Would you believe I still have to draw episodes 9 and 10?!! Bet you didn't think these things get finished so close to publication did ya...

Later.

L

DEFOE COVER UPDATE AND PHONOGRAM

Hey guys, just though i'd give an update to the earlier "making of cover thread". Here's a scan of the cover with all the finalized text and logo, and I'm pretty damn happy with it!

Thankfully up to now, this first episode has been getting the love on the 2000AD message boards so cheers guys! More updates soon...

Also, the short story I drew to be included in IMAGE COMICS' PHONOGRAM issue 3 (check out my earlier post for more info) is finally out after a delay! So stop by your local comic book store and buy this baby!

L

DEFOE TRAILER!!!!

2000AD have just released the trailer for DEFOE coming out in British stores on Wednesday!

I was stunned and happy beyond belief when I saw this beauty. I honestly had no idea this was being made and just watched it with my mouth wide open--a fly flew in, but I didn't care because watching this just made my freakin' day!


I recommend you download the original mp4 file to your desktop at 2000AD's site HERE if you want to watch it full screen or post it on any other sites to spread the word. Or alternatively you can check it out on YOUTUBE HERE.


So until I find out who was responsible for producing such a well made trailer, I just want to say....I LOVE YOU AND I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES.

*UPDATE*

I've just discovered that the talented 2000AD droid's names responsible for the awesome trailer are Julian Hall and Mechanoise. Here's what Julian had to say on the 2000AD forums:

"I've been doing the trailers, mainly to head towards something I have in mind for them. So they're not quite there yet, but hey it's all good to promote some wicked stories I also composed the track this time around and as always worked with top bloke Mechanoise who worked all the production and said what he liked about the tracks direction to stop me starting over...as is so often the case with us creative types ."

Thanks again guys!


L

GEEK SYNDICATE!

Ok, here's the thing....as you know, I work from home which unless you have the proper motivation (usually a deadline) can be a potential exercise in time wasting. Finding the right type of entertainment to leave on while I work has been a bit of a bugger to say the least.

Unless I have a relaxed deadline, dvds are a big no no. Recently I made the mistake of buying the full series of Battlestar Galactica and got so into it, that I'm now a few days off my schedule, and only just starting to claw back the time thanks to a couple of allnighters. (I dont regret it though--that series is bloody great!)

Radio bores the crap out of me and I can't stand it when they make pointless small talk with callers in. (I don't give a crap what you're having for dinner! And no, I don't care that it's Brenda's birthday!)

Music is getting closer, though I still give into temptation to start dancing around my room pretending to be , for example,Robert Palmer singing "Simply Irresistable" . So once again, it's a distraction.

Podcasts, I have found, tend to be the perfect medium. Comic podcasts in particular, as they talk about topics I'm genuinely interested in and I can just simply listen while I draw. I subscribe to alot of them on ITUNES ,they automatically get updated, and the best thing is that they're free!

At the very top of my podcast list is the fantastic GEEK SYNDICATE hosted by David Monteith and Barry Nugent--two genuinely nice blokes who have been best mates since childhood.

The show discusses all things geek--not just comics, but film ,tv and games. These guys are just comedy gold, and unlike other shows, there are no awkward silences, or creepy ass callers. Just wait until you hear them get into rant mode discussing the likes of the latest Smallville episode, or recounting their real life childhood experience with a wolfman in the Halloween special, or trying to sing the Queen song from Flash Gordon (episode 12)...

If I could kidnap these guys and strap them both to my head, I would. But I can't because I'd look like a freakin' idiot , so please check out their website, and/or check them out in ITUNES ( a bit of explicit content by the way, so not for young Bionicle fans) where there is currently 123 episodes to download!

GET YOUR GEEK ON NINJA!!!!

(Uhh...you'll get that if you listen to their show...)

L

FINALLY!

Yup, finally I can start showing some real stuff from Book 3 of Defoe coming to 2000AD in 3 weeks.
These are the various stages I went through for the first of 3 covers I've done for this year. Originally I approached my editor Tharg with a rough drawing of an Indiana Jones type composition with our heroes Defoe and his sidekick the largest images, the main villian known as The Queen of Zombies looking suitably evil above them, and below, an action scene in silhouette of Defoe and his Brethren fighting zombies. But Tharg, quite rightly, but still dissapointingly, pointed out that there wouldn't be any room for a tagline with the figures at the bottom of the page...

So I had another crack at it, keeping the central figures, making the Queen's skull more central, and completely removed the figures at the bottom, instead adding flames around them, and he went for it!

Next up is the pencils. No problems at this stage, though I still wasn't sure whether or not to add pupils to the skull's eyes. Also, I still had no idea how I was gonna colour the flames at this point.

So here's the inks. Wasn't too keen on how it turned out at this stage. Something didn't seem right. So I sent it to a few friends who pointed out that Defoe's hand didn't seem quite right--it looked like his other hand should be holding the gun, so I redrew that whole section and pasted it on. Also, I could tell it was a mistake adding pupils to the skull's eyes, and the fire just looked too cluttered....

And here's the final colour piece with all the changes! This is actually the second attempt at colouring the image as in the first attempt I kept in alot of the line work for the fire and it just looked amatuerish to be honest. So I scrapped it and started again, completely painting over the fire, though it took a LOOOONG time to get to a point where I could let it go...

Finally, here's a scan of the advert in the latest Judge Dredd Megazine that I discovered today and had a big grin on my face when I saw it. It's great to finally see it with some text.

Right, hopefully this'll make up for the absence of blog posts recently. Catch you soon!

L

DRAW THE WORLD TOGETHER CHARITY SKETCHBOOK AUCTION!

Hey guys. Right, a while ago I contributed a sketch to the DRAW THE WORLD TOGETHER charity sketchbook, which features characters from the game CITY OF HEROES.

Here's what artist and DTWT organiser, Andrew Wildman has to say:

"A second chance to grab one of these limited edition City of Heroes sketchbooks. This one #4of10 All are signed by a whole host of artists; Dave Gibbons (cover), Doug Braithwaite, Misako Rocks, Mark Buckingham, Andie Tong, Phil Winslade, Jon Haward, Mike Collins, Bryan Talbot,  Simon Williams, Andrew Wildman, Neil Edwards, Al (Astral Gypsy) Davidson and Boo Cook. And of course, if you dont want to make a bid yourselves you can help out by posting a link to the auction on any forums or blogs that you are active in. Check out the site for more info and a link to the auction.

Many thanks

DtWT

You can go straight to the Ebay auction HERE  and more on the DRAW THE WORLD TOGETHER charity HERE.

L

DEFOE BOOK 3 TEASERS

Ok people, I'm still kind of limited to what I can show for the time being as this doesn't come out in 2000AD till June,but when the time comes I'll be able to show off the 2 covers I've done for the series--one of which may be a little controversial, so a few changes were needed to make it a bit more, well less, controversial...anyhoo, I'm hoping it will make for a classic cover when it's released!

Bye bye.

L

DEFOE 1666 COLLECTION RELEASE DATE!

Hey guys!

Apologies for the lack of posting over this past month--alot's been going on in my private life, plus Tharg at 2000AD has finally given me my final deadlines for Book 3 of Defoe so I've really had to buckle down lately...

Sooo....here's an update on Defoe's (and mine) first ever trade collection. August 15th is the date you need to put in your diaries, or just write it on your forehead so you won't forget. It's already available for preorder at AMAZON and also at FORBIDDEN PLANET INTERNATIONAL (who also very kindly named it as a "top graphic novel pick" in the latest news letter! Thanks guys!)

I'll have to see what I can do about the officials listings on these sites as it doesn't have much info this early, and if anybody who's already read Defoe when it was serialised in 2000AD would like to leave an Amazon review, I won't complain!

Also, the cover on the listings isn't the final cover--I should know as I recently finished a digital painting for it, and I'm VERY happy with it...a little peak of it is posted above. Once I get clearance from my bosses I'll post the FULL image.

Normal service to this bloggy will resume next week when I'll post some new panels!

Later

L

JOHN HIGGIN'S RAZORJACK

Here's what some well known folks in the business say about my old buddy, John Higgins (colourist of WATCHMAN , artist for 2000AD,THE HILLS HAVE EYES, THUNDERBOLT JAXON, HELLBLAZER) whose fantastic self written, drawn and coloured mini series RAZORJACK is finally getting collected at the end of March from COMX...

"John Higgins sickens me. He can write, pencil, ink and colour allseemingly effortlessly. Had he just performed neuro-surgery on a young child this morning too, I would not be at all surprised."

--Mark Millar Writer of The Authority: Wanted, The Ultimates, Civil War, Kick-Ass.

"It's always a pleasure to see John's work, and Razorjack is one of his best-kept secrets. If there's any justice, this new collection should find the audience the story has always deserved."

--Garth Ennis: Writer of Preacher, Punisher, The Boys.

"Razorjack delivers something rare: A solid story and artistic brilliance by John Higgins. It must be nice to be getting better with age." --Jimmy Palmiotti: Writer of The Hills Have eyes: The Beginning, Jonah Hex, Vampire Hunter D: american Wasteland.

"I've always thought Razorjack was a killer concept. A cosmic horror story of huge-scope, breath-taking visuals and insane ambition: Unique, wonderful, quintessential John Higgins."

--Mike Carey: Writer of Lucifer, X-Men, Hellblazer, Crossing Midnight .

To me, John is kind of like the slightly dirty uncle I never had, but also a huge mentor to me when I was struggling to break into the comics business.

We met many years ago when he did a talk in a Liverpool library and I was drawing a story about an incredibly handsome man (ahem) fighting villians with rubber chickens strapped to his body,for a smallpress comic. Luckily for me, he saw some potential in my work and was actually kind enough to contact me just to say hi.

From that point on we stayed in touch, he invited me to hang out with his wonderful family, and gave me invaluable advice about my work to the point where he felt confident enough in my abilities to actually let me look after his Luton studio and home for a few months while he was in America--an incredibly daunting, but worthwhile experience made all the more easier by the fact that he had a fantastic bunch of friends who welcomed me, and it was across the hall from a modelling agency...

He threw some big jobs my way as well, most notably as his inker for a LEVI'S 3D comicbook that was distributed in stores worldwide (You should have seen how excited I got when I saw the displays when on holiday in Spain!), and of course the ROCKY HORROR SHOW theatre poster (You should have seen how excited I got when I saw in on the side of a bus!)

Years later, you can imagine how it was a very proud moment for me when Defoe shared it's 2000AD debut with his Pat Mills' written story Greysuit...

So there you go. I wouldn't be the artist I am today if it hadn't been for John Higgins. Take my advice and ask for RAZORJACK at your local comic store, book store, or you can order from Amazon HERE!

There's a great inteview with the man himself HERE.

Thanks guys,

L

DEFOE NEWS!

So another reason why I've been so busy is that just before I left for the Hi Ex con, I found out that Defoe was finally getting a trade collection! A big surprise for myself and Pat, as we thought it wasn't going to be discussed until we finished Book 3 which I'm currently working on, but it's actually collecting the first 2 books!

Now, as I'm obviously a nut job, I requested that I be allowed to go back and redraw alot of panels that quite frankly, looking back now, are pretty bad. I like to think I've grown as an artist over the 2 and a half years since I started working on Defoe, and plus, this is my first ever trade collection so I want to be able to look at it without cringing. This is the CURSE of being a comic book artist...

I had to be careful not to get too obsessive about it though--as much as I'd love to redraw the whole thing, I made sure just to stick to redrawing the worst offenders, so I'm very grateful to my bosses at 2000AD for letting me do this.

No idea as to when in 2009 it'll be released, as we still need to work out a cover as well, but I'll let you know!

L

HI EX 2009

Sorry it's a bit late with this report--been busy as hell since I got back that weekend.

A big thanks to Rich and Vicky for arranging a great con in Inverness, despite the obvious uphill struggle everytime a fellow creator unfortunately cancelled.

But we had a great time, made some great new friends (too many to mention, but you know who you are!), and I actually made sure to give myself breaks from sketching this time! Pretty happy with the overall quality and speed of the sketches this time, seen above. Helps that I was mainly doing them in pencil ...

The charity Auction raising money for Children 1st apparently went very well! There were soooo many cool items donated, and I was very happy to hear that the Batman piece I donated fetched a great price for the charity.

I even managed to get on a couple of panel discussions as well--clearly made a fool of myself on the Zombie panel, gushing to legendary writer Alan Grant about how "The Thirteenth Floor" was such a huge inspiration to me and how it influenced the style I now use for Defoe. He probably left the convention making sure that I wasn't following him...

L

IT'S A BIT OF A BUGGER...

Yeah, it's a bit of a bugger that I can't show you much of the latest book of Defoe that I'm working on--doesn't really make for much of an interesting blog for a start! So that's why I'll just try and post the odd panel that doesn't give anything away.

Another thing that qualifies as being "a bit of a bugger" is that once again I've done exactly what I swore I wouldn't do with this book, and gone completely overboard with the detail! Seriously, when you see this thing in the summer, you're not gonna believe all the crosshatching I've done!

Currently waiting for approval on what would be my third 2000AD cover--though to be honest, it's touch and go, as the idea I suggested is pretty controversial , BUT it has the potential to be a CLASSIC cover if we did it...

L

HI-EX CONVENTION!

I'm gonna be showing my pretty face at Inverness's HI-EX con on 14th-15th February, doing sketches, a couple of panel discussions, and a workshop for the kiddies showing them how to draw Superman and Batman. Should be a blast, so pop along if you're in the area.

No free doughnuts this time though--I aint made of money dammit!

L

STUDIO TOUR!

MERRY XMAS GUYS!

Yup, iiiiiit's Christmas!!!!! I for one can't wait to ride the pony I've asked for from Santa. My lovely lady is asleep in bed and will awaken to the sight of all the Peanut Butter M&M'S she could wish for that I had flown in from America...

I'm currently trying to decide what excuse to use to get out of going to church in 6 and a half hours...

Apologies for the lack of posting lately--I'm not actually allowed to show what I've been working on right now, so you'll have to do with these incredibly un-Chistmassy commisions I did recently.

So for now I'd just like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and hope some of you asked Santa for some Transformer Animated toys (how freakin' cool are they!!)!

L

BIONICLE 15 IS ONLINE!

My final issue of LEGO BIONICLE (listed as 10 on the site) can be viewed in fancy flash animation for free HERE you lucky, lucky girls...

PHONOGRAM:THE SINGLES CLUB #3

Don't you hate it when people have incriminating photos of you with a goat? That's how writer Kieron (no more beard)Gillen and artist Jamie (can't grow a beard)Mckelvie got me to draw a 4 page back up story for issue 3 of PHONOGRAM: THE SINGLES CLUB, out in February!

It's a very clever, witty story for fans of the original series, as well as a great recap for new readers. It involved me using 2 different drawing styles, so I can't wait to see how it's turned out when coloured and lettered...

There's also a SECOND back up strip drawn by Lee O'Connor--God knows what they've got on that guy to make him do this...probably kidnapped his dog or something...

This very cool, imaginative cover is drawn by McKelvie himself. His interior work is even better! Though I would never say that to his face.

So preorder this series at your local comic book shop NOW!

Why are you still reading this??? Go order!!!!
L

LEEDS THOUGHT BUBBLE ROCKED!

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  Wow...what a weekend!

  
  

  Here's what I expected: that me and Niki would be sitting there eating the 10 dozen doughnuts ourselves, watching people walk by, whilst doing a few sketches every now and then, and chatting to whatever artist/writer we'd be lucky enough to sit next to...

  
  

  In reality: I never stopped sketching! 35 sketches! 30-freakin'-5!!! It was great though--the 7 hours just flew by thanks to the incredibly friendly people I met, who patiently waited in line.I took photos of nearly all the sketches I did (shown above, with a few close ups of my favourites).

  
  

  I gotta give a special shoutout to a couple of great kids I met:Dominic and George--these lovely guys actually drew ME a picture in return for their sketches!

  
  

  The most popular requests for sketches were of Hellboy, Batman and Defoe--which put a big smile on my face, so thanks for all the kind comments about mine and Pat Mill's baby.

  
  

  Unfortunately, I didn't see much of the con myself as I was so busy--next time I'll give myself more than one 20 minute break--but EVERYONE has been calling it the best convention ever! So a huge thanks to Lisa and Tamsin for organising a hell of an event.

  
  

  I gotta thank Martin Grund as well--it was all thanks to him that I got an invite in the first place!

  
  

  I was lucky enough to be sat inbetween incredible artist Staz Johnson (who has the best hair EVER), and my old friends, writers Leah Moore and John Reppion.

  
  

  Later that night, we hit the big aftershow party at a fantastic casino venue where we hung out with all our good buddies including the likes of Frazer Irving, Emma Vieceli, Jamie McKelvie and Kieron Gillen (who I've done a 4 page story for in PHONOGRAM : THE SINGLES CLUB--more on that soon!). Just a real shame we only see each other at cons. Though I could've done without an unfortunate "vest" incident, and seeing a ridiculous bum crack on display throught the bash...
  

  I even gushed to Iron Man artist, Adi Granov, about how I'm getting the lifesized Iron Man movie bust he designed...I honestly thought I'd outgrown that type of hero worship, but y'know, caught up in the moment and all that...

  
  

  So yeah, an incredible weekend all round. I can't wait till next year!

  
  

  By the way, also posted above 3 of the finished inked pieces I took along with me (afraid I ran out of time to finish the Halo and Dredd pictures.)

  
  

  L
  
  
  
  

MORE WORK IN PROGRESS...

These last two pencils are a bit sketchy as I'm clearly running out of time, and I'm inking them anyway. Bit of a bugger that I don't have time to do a Manga picture as well...ah well...

As you can see, I've had a go at a HALO game image, just for the sake of diversity in genres. No idea whatsover if I'll do it justice as I've never played it before, so if any of you do, feel free to let me know if I ruined your favourite game.

L

WORK IN PROGRESS...

Hey guys,

Just busy doing some original A3 size drawings to sell at this weekend's Leeds Thought Bubble festival found HERE.

Here's a few work-in -progress images for now.I'll be inking them up soon. Planning on doing a few more-- maybe one of HALO, and a Manga character to mix up the genres a bit...

More soon!

L

MY FINAL BIONICLE...

So my final BIONICLE comic, issue 15, is currently flying around the globe (apart from here in Britain--no idea why)!

Obviously it's pretty sad for me, but there's no need to repeat what I said that earlier post and whine like a 6 year old girl. I think I finished my run with a nice looking issue, so here's a selection of my favourite pages --for maximum enjoyment I recommend sitting back in a comfy armchair with an ice cool McDonald's strawberry milkshake and a jacket potato...

Enjoy!

L

(EDIT: As requested, I've added the splash page of Mata Nui rising to this post.)

HE'S BACK!!!

Hellooooooo.....

Well, I'm back from my California road trip refreshed, de-stressed, with absolutely no sun tan whatsover! Me and Niki did so much, that it honestly feels like we've been away for 2 months.

But the alluring scent of my drawing board (I dip it in honey) proved too much, and I've been looking forward to getting back to work (how many people can say that?), and of course I missed all you lovely people.

My only gripe is that I seem to have developed insomnia since getting back! I'm typing this at 3am when I should be in bed dreaming of Gillian Anderson!

Soooo, whilst I was away the LEGO BIONICLE poster I did before I left was shown at a special event with photos posted on the web, meaning that I'm now allowed to post my pencil and ink versions, as shown above! This particular character is a HUGE deal for BIONICLE fans, as they've been waiting literally YEARS to see what he looks like! I hope I didn't let them down.

My final issue for this series is released next month, so more posts from that soon. After that, there should be alot of DEFOE BOOK 3 previews as that's what I'll be concentrating on for the next 7 months or so. I've just had my cover idea approved, so I'll ask Tharg (my 2000AD editor) if I'm allowed to show it early...

Thanks again to everyone who left messages while I was away. If you look at your original comments you should see that I've replied to them.

Catch you soon,

L

APOLOGIES GUYS...

Yeah, sorry guys if anyone's left any messages for me and I've not replied. I'm currently on a road trip around California with limited net access, so I promise to get back to everyone shortly!

I've been horsey riding along DEATH DEFYING cliffs in Yosemite, WRESTLING scorpions and coyotes in Death Valley, and entertaining the studio audience of the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" with my own personal rendition of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me"....

In the meantime, thanks to everyone who's left me a cool message on this blog! Play nice amongst yourself until I return!

Take care for now!

L

LATEST LEGO BIONICLE COMIC ONLINE!

Yup, your eyes do not decieve you--not a hoax, not a mirage...my penultimate issue of BIONICLE can be viewed free online, semi animated HERE !( listed as number 9 on the site)

How good am I to you?!
L

LEEDS THOUGHT BUBBLE!

Helloooooo....

I've been kindly invited by the lovely folks of LEEDS THOUGHT BUBBLE festival to attend the show on Saturday 15th November, and I can't wait!

I'll have a table set up where I'll be doing free sketches for people, as well as selling various bit and pieces like finished drawings of popular characters and maybe limited edition A3 prints of some of my colour work.

But get this....with every free sketch or purchase, I shall be giving away a Krispy Kreme doughnut!!!! Let's see Mark Millar beat that!

Of course, if no one approaches me, that just means more doughnuts for me, so nah,nah....

You'll be able to find me there by looking out for the 2 metre tall stand that I've just had made up (picture attached)!

All the info on the festival can be found here!

Stop by and say hi!

L

BYE, BYE BIONICLE...

Yup, you read it right folks....I guess now it's been officially announced, I can confirm that I'm leaving BIONICLE.

Believe me, this was not an easy decision for me to make. I was planning on drawing BIONICLE throughout 2009 and hopefully beyond, but sudden schedule changes to accommodate an extra issue to next year's run left me unfortunately unable to commit, without seriously impacting on my other professional, and personal commitments.

It was one of those rare moments in life where you have to decide what's really more important to you. Hopefully this decision won't come back to bite me in the ass, but right now, it feels like I made the right choice--though that doesn't mean I don't feel sad about it.

But hey! I'm very happy with the work that I did throughout my run, and my final issue is still to be released in November! And what a great final issue it is (I've attached a teaser panel)! It'll be a very natural end to my time drawing BIONICLE, leaving a clean slate for the next artist to take over (I know who it is, and he's gonna ROCK!).

Bionicle fans should also know that I recently finished a poster that I think will be included in a future Brickmaster magazine.

So thank you so much to the entire LEGO/DC team, and of course all the lovely BIONICLE fans for making me feel welcome. 2008 has been an incredible year for me!

Take care for now.

L

BIONICLE "ENDGAME"

Hellooooo.....well it's that time again...

Right now lots of Lego fans around the universe are recieving issue 14 of BIONICLE, so I'm allowed to post a few scans of my line work, though I've also attached a scan of the cover, wonderfully coloured by Ulises.

This issue introduces the REALLY COOL vehicles piloted by the Bionicles. Seriously, the kids are gonna love playing with these toys--though they're lucky they don't have to draw them! Have you SEEN how frikkin' detailed they are???!!! GAH!!!!!

Take care for now,
L

BZPOWER Interview

I recently got interviewed by a nice chappy called Greg on behalf on the premier BIONICLE fan site, BZPOWER.

We could have discussed poetry, economics, science and religion, but in the end we just stuck to talking about comics and toys...

Click HERE to read my insane ramblings! (Once there, you need to click the highlighted bulk of text)

Next: My interview with PLAYGIRL Magazine.....

Life of a freelancer...

Well so much for taking a month off to recover....unexpected work commitments forced me to cut it down by 2 weeks, so apologies for those waiting for the "studio tour"--I'll get to it as soon as I can. My room is once again covered in Bionicles, cake wrappers and underwear--and you don't wanna see that (though if you do, maybe you should try one of those specialist sites that charge you £20 a month...).

So for now, here's more random Defoe pages. Defoe Book 2 has recently concluded in 2000AD, and seems to have gone down well with readers. I've already got Pat Mill's script for Book 3 and it's fantastic! There's so much happening in the first episode and the pacing is sooo good, I can't wait to get into it!

Also on my list this year is an album cover and a 4 page backup story for these lovely guys.

See ya,

L

Bionicle comic online!

My next Bionicle comic is now on the official Lego Bionicle site for free viewing, and semi animated, you lucky lucky girls! It's listed as number 8 on the site.
You can find it here.

And a few more Defoe...

These DEFOE pages have been out in 2000AD for a while now, so I guess I can post them.

Hopefully these won't be too scary for the Bionicle fans that have been finding their way here.

The final page with Bendigo turning into a zombie is one of my favourites...

I'm back!

Well the craziness of my schedules is over, and I'm taking some downtime for a couple weeks to rejoin the human race, get a hair cut, eat some pasties, and chill out with my incredibly understanding girlfriend.

Here's some uncoloured pages from issue 13 of BIONICLE that's currently being mailed out to a milllion fanclub members around the world...

In the next couple of weeks, I'm hoping to do a bit of a "Studio Tour" so you can see how a freelance comic artist lives. OBVIOUSLY I'm gonna have to take a couple of days to tidy up, so you don't see the reality of half eaten bowls of porridge, 15 Bionicle toys in bits on the floor, and assorted cake wrappers around the base of my bin that I really should have emptied days earlier...but you'll get the general idea...

Zombie Leigh...

Christ...I really do feel like one right now. My life has been...crazy...for the last couple of months, and will be like this for another 2 weeks. Not really something I want to go through again, and when I'm done with these deadlines, I'm taking a month off to recover and rejoin the human race.

In the meantime, here's a few random pages from the first few episodes of Defoe that have already come out.

Catch you in a couple weeks.

L

REEK AND DESTROY...

DEFOE is back in 2000AD Prog 1589 this Wednesday and runs for 10 weeks!!!

You can find it in WHSMITHS and all comic shops with good taste.

Written by Pat (creator of 2000AD) Mills, and drawn by me, Leigh (looks good in a mankini) Gallagher, DEFOE will hit you in the gut harder than a midgit with a sledgehammer!!!!!

GO BUY!!!!!!!! (And make my girlfriend understand why I've locked myself in my studio for months!)

L

GENE COLAN CHARITY AUCTION

I can count on one hand the number of artists that have inspired me. Gene Colan is one such artist.The same day I was reading through his classic black and white Tomb of Dracula, looking for inspiration, I heard that he was suffering from liver failure and urgently needs aid. His friend Cliff Meth has arranged an auction, looking for professional artists and writers to contribute artwork or signed books.

I really wished I had time to do a Dracula picture for this, but unfortunately my deadlines are ridiculous right now. Instead I've contributed the original page 1 of 2000AD's Defoe Book 2:Brethren of the Night (a nice moody zombie page)and also a Justice League Unlimited pencil page. This particular page was requested by DC Licencing to be used as a pitch for promotional comic to help kids who wet the bed(???). The project never went any further than this page featuring the characters who would have appeared in the comic.

More about Gene's situation can be found at Cliff's site HERE.

You can bid for the 2000AD Defoe page HERE.

And you can bid for the Justice League page HERE.

Even if you're not interested in these pages, there's plenty of other cool signed stuff from other pros in the business.

Thanks guys!

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED!!!

Justice League Unlimited is by far THE BEST SUPERHERO CARTOON EVER.I have all the dvd boxsets, and the statues have pride of place in my studio.

A couple of years ago, lovely hippy editor Michael Wright gave me a shot at pencilling the JLU. After I wet myself, I accepted this great honour and proceeded to draw the issue wearing my Superman underpants.

Here's some of my pencilled pages. The colour image is a cover I sumitted, but unfortunately was rejected as they already had a regular cover artist...

And yes, that is a man being held hostage with a STAPLER....

My little sister...

Right, here's a pic I did for my sis, Jade.

We're in direct competition for the affections of our parents--me with my doodles, her with a guitar. She's a very talented musician who's supported the likes of Bryan Adams (!), Westlife, The Sugarbabes, Katie Melua, Hanson, and most recently, The Bee Gees (but don't hold that last one against her...)

You can find her Myspace page HERE, so check out her very cool songs and decide for yourself who's the more talented sibling!

BIONICLE!

Ok....so now we come to my other job, drawing the LEGO BIONICLE comic for DC.

This gig came along as a pleasant suprise this year. Though between you and me, I was a bit hesistant to take it on as I thought I had more than enough on my plate drawing Defoe. What changed my mind was that it's four 17 page issues per year, meaning that I could JUST squeeze it in, though at the expense of sleep, and also at the expense of room to move in my studio as LEGO send me every BIONICLE toy for reference! Seriously, I have NO IDEA where my life sized Iron Man bust is going to go when it arrives....

I've been told it has around a MILLION copy print run, but unfortunately it's only available to foreign members of the LEGO Club.....however, you lucky girls can view it for FREE in a fancy Flash animated format HERE! (My run starts from number 7.)

By the way, drawing BIONICLE is the furthest thing away you could get from DEFOE. It's also coloured beautifully by a chap named Ulises Arreola.

Here's some black and white pages from my first issue anyway.

DEFOE:Brethren of the Night...

As I mentioned earlier, Defoe Book 2, Brethren of the Night, is starting in Prog 1589 of the weekly 2000AD. It's 10 episodes of crunchy zombie goodness! Also a big moment for me as it's my first ever 2000AD cover!

More Defoe!

Bloody hell, if I'd known how easy this bloggy business was, I'd have done it AGES ago!

Here's some more images from Defoe's first book...

Hellooooo...

Hey there! Cheers for visiting my little blog here--don't forget to wipe your feet.

I'll try and update this with bits and pieces whenever I can, but for now I'm just gonna throw a pile of my favourite pieces of work on here as an introduction.

The first of my 2 current gigs is drawing DEFOE for the fantastic British comic, 2000AD. It was created by the legendary writer, Pat Mills and myself, so whether that makes me the "mummy" or the "daddy", I don't know...

DEFOE tells the tale of a 17th century zombie hunter, Titus Defoe, set not long after the Great Fire of London. I LOVE drawing this book. The main reason being that I'm a huge fan of early black and white horror strips, like The Thirteenth Floor, and Tomb of Dracula, and Defoe takes me right back to those times.

DEFOE Book 2, Brethren of the Night is coming back to 2000AD prog 1589 in a couple of weeks. You can see the cover to this following these images from Book 1. Hope you like them!