RETURN OF....THE STUDIO TOUR!!!!!!

Hey there!

For those of you who don't know, I did a very in depth studio tour way back here.

Since then, I've made quite a few changes....read on.....
As you can see, my shiny, expensive drafting table has finally arrived! So it was a tearful farewell to my old, loyal, homemade table of 12 years or so. It served me well....

This baby is specially weighted so I can adjust the height or rotation at the press of a foot pedal, with a lever to change the tilt. Also got me one of those "daylight lamps"--we'll see if they're any better than regular lamps....

With the table I also purchased this special stationary tray that fits onto the side of it.
Earlier this year I got sick of going through laptops like underwear, so decided to join the cult of the IMac. Had a pisser of a time trying to get my A3 Mustek scanner to be compatable with it. If anyone has a similar problem, let me know and I'll push you in the right direction.

And beside my moniter is the Judge Dredd helmet replica I puchased from Termight Replicas.
Yeah, I'm vain enough to put up my display stand in my room....do YOU have one?! No! So shut up and leave me alone....
Here's my other baby....my life sized Iron Man bust! This was my present to myself after I finished the DC/Lego Bionicle series. Ah, bollocks....I forgot to turn on his light up eyes....



Ok, that your lot! Very happy I got this organized in time for the New Year. Feels like a fresh start, and you wouldn't believe how many refuse sacks of crap I threw out (why the hell did I still have books by Franz Kafka???!!! I don't even read!)

There may even be a THIRD studio tour in six months if we get this house extension sorted out...

Hope you enjoyed this updated tour!

L

SOMETHING FROM THE VAULTS 2!!!!

Well it's still a bit too soon to show off the latest stuff, so as promised, here's another "Golden Oldie"....we're jumping into the Deloreon, speeding up to 88mph, and travelling all the way back to 2003 when everywhere was green fields and we all rode horses or something.

Like in the previous "Something in the Vaults 1" I was STILL working in a Liverpool cinema, very sick of serving the public and VERY sick of still trying to break into the comic book business--despite by this point having been auditioned a few times by DC/Vertigo comics with no luck.

I was getting desperate now. I was so fed up, I had actually made a decision that if I didn't get a professional comic book commission by my 25th birthday, I was going to pursue an alternate artistic job, like game design, instead...

But it must have been fate, as ONE WEEK before my 25th birthday, I got granted my very first "Future Shock" story by 2000AD...I still remember this day very clearly, as I was standing in the cinema foyer and got a call from my sister telling me the news, and I started jumping up and down like a freakin' maniac in front of everyone!

The Future Shock was a tale called "Bad Thoughts", published in Prog 1342, written by Richard McTighe, pencilled by myself, inked incredibly well by Dylan Teague (one of the very rare times I've been happy with an inkers work over my own, and haven't wanted to cry my soul out like girl), and lettered by the late Tom Frame.

And so here are the pencilled pages for my VERY FIRST 2000AD job....enjoy! (And don't forget it's 7 years old.)

MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU LOVELY PEOPLE!!!

Hey guys, I've got another "Something From The Vaults" coming soon, but in the meantime I'd like to wish you all a fantastic holiday and New Year. Sorry I didn't have time to come up with a festive drawing--you'll all have to make do with this image above!

I'd like to thank everyone sincerely for contributing to a great year I've had, and especially being kind enough to visit this bloggy regularly. I wish you all success in whatever it is you strive for.

I've finally managed to cross off a major thing in my "Life List", this being to have a collection of my work on shelves that I'm proud of, and I've done that with Defoe 1666 and also the recently released Bionicle collection! Hopefully 2010 will be a year that I can cross another thing off that list (Heather Grahem, Michelle Ryan and baby oil)....

Anyhoo, sorry again for the delay in posting more drawings--I'm currently in the process of revamping my studio, with the big difference being a brand spanking new drafting table! I love it so much, I'm gonna give it a girl's name....

Have fun and lots of mince pies!

L

SOMETHING FROM THE VAULTS 1

Hey guys,

Apologies for the ABYSMAL lack of posts this last couple of weeks. I'm at that awkward time when it's too soon to show my latest stuff, as well as signing a "confidential agreement" about another piece of work.

So, as I'm feeling guilty about this, I've decided to start this "Something From The Vaults" feature. Everytime I'm stuck for new work to post, I'll have a look through my dusty files and see what I can find. Generally I've shied away from posting old stuff, as I don't want casual browsers to see it and think that's the standard I'm at now, but I thought "Screw it"....it may be good for me to see these old horrors as well.

First up, we travel allllllllllll the way back to around 2001, when I was still working in a Liverpool cinema trying to break in. I actually have a chap named Marc Sobel to thank for getting me noticed by DC/Vertigo. He'd written a nice little story called "Starfish" that I had illustrated, and we eventually met at one of the UK conventions where Vertigo editor Shelly Bond was looking at portfolios.

Unfortunately, I had to leave before having a chance to show our work, but Marc stuck around to meet her. She must have liked what she saw as a while later she called me up to try me out for the then in development, "Fables" (which I'm sure alot of you have heard of).

Below are the two pencilled sample pages I submitted featuring Snow White and Bigby Wolf, but obviously didn't get the gig. With 'Fables" being the big hit it is today, it makes you wonder what my life would be like now if I'd got it! But hey, I aint complaining! I couldn't be happier how my life has turned out now!

Catch you soon!

L

JUDGE DREDD COVER TEASER!!!

Well my 2 part Judge Dredd story will be out in the JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE 293, January 6th!!!

The above image is a tiny section of my colour cover for February's Megazine 294.

I'm currently working my way through episode 1 of the latest Defoe book for 2000AD, entitled "A Murder of Angels" once again written by Pat Mills, so it shouldn't be long before I start posting up more teaser panels of tasty, crunchy zombie goodness.

Hopefully 2010 will be a year that I can move forward on other personal projects that I've had to postpone due to "proper" work. So whilst I'm working on Defoe, I'll be making an effort not to take on extra work in favour of finishing the children's picture book that I'm writing and drawing. It's a project I actually began around 3 years ago, and only yesterday dug it out from under the dust and Krispy Kreme wrappers, and was gobsmacked as to how freakin' cool it still looks! I know, modest....

Bye bye.

L