THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW ROYAL MAIL STAMP!!!

Right, here we go....hope you've been to the toilet, because this is gonna be a big one...

So today sees the launch of a new Royal Mail stamp collection based on famous stage musicals throughout the years. As you can see, one of them is based on The Rocky Horror Show poster that I did bloody ages ago! How cool is that?!

I should add that the very cool Return To The Forbidden Planet stamp was drawn by my fellow comic creator friend, Garen Ewing (creator of The Rainbow Orchid), and you can read all about his Royal Mail story HERE.

Oi! Back to me! So anyway, folks in Britain can either purchase the stamps separately for 97p, from all good Post Offices, or there's also a variety of collector packs also from Post Offices, or online here for everyone else!

So how the hell did a bloke like me get to have his work on an official stamp that's been approved by The Queen? Well I'm very glad you asked.....READ ON!

Waaaaayyyy back in 2005, in the days before I was known for drawing zombies for 2000AD, I was recommended by my good buddy, John Higgins, to Shaun Webb Design--quality graphic designers and all round lovely people. They were after a new version of a poster for the return of The Rocky Horror Show. Shaun had a very clear idea of what he wanted for the poster and submitted this mock up for me...

 Here's the initial pencils....

 This is the inks for the girl. The background was drawn on a separate layer to allow them to move elements around easily. This wasn't the final version of the face...

 Here's the first crack at colouring her, though we decided against the flat colour style and later went for a more blended airbrush approach. Though I do actually like this version....

 I lost track of the number of alternate faces we tried on her. It got to the point where I'd rubbed out and redrawn her so many times, holes were appearing on my paper. Here's just a couple. One, not pictured here, was so bad, I swear it looked like a sex doll....

 This is the separate background. Such a shame the final version didn't use all the cool Berni Wrightson esque machinery on the top.

 And here's a scan of the final poster!

 We later even did a cool Christmas version of it....

 And as a special bonus because you're all looking pretty today, here's a few panels of the special comic strip I did that was in the collectable brochure...

This was a show that toured the entire country. I was jumping up and down like a girl when I saw it on the side of a bus in Oxford, and it was such a great day when it came to Liverpool and a bunch of us went to see it...

So that's my tale....6 years later I got a lovely call from SWD ( who I occasionally still do the odd job for) telling me that it was being turned into a Royal Mail stamp. The moral...?

I don't care! Just get my stamp! ;)

L

PIMPING MY FRIENDS ASSES AGAIN!!!

Yup, just to show that I'm a kind, selfless, sexy individual, here I am once again pointing you in the direction of a few of my friends new projects....

First up, is Geek Syndicate's very own Barry Nugent. The Nuge wrote a best selling supernatural adventure novel called "Fallen Heroes" that has just been adapted into a comic book series (with further spin offs just announced!)to be launched at Cardiff Comic Expo on 26th February and is accepting pre orders NOW. 

Barry's a good guy, a talented writer, and an incredible dancer, which is why myself, Emma Vieceli and Andie Tong all contributed exclusive pin ups to be include in his first edition.

Trust me, Barry's fought through a lot of crap to bring you this epic, and he and his creative team deserve to come out as winners, so check out his site here!

Next up is Andrew Wildman and "Horizon"-- a graphic novel about " love and loss, fear and freedom, a toy robot, and VERY big robots!"

Andrew's a guy with a big heart that I first met on the Draw The World Together campaign, of which he was the Big Kahuna. He's also an incredibly talented creator, most known for his art on Transformers!

Now he's writing and drawing his own graphic novel, but is using this site to collect funding, in return for lots of cool perks! Please check it out! I'm excited to see what a guy like Andrew can achieve when he cuts loose!

Finally, I'd like to pimp the lovely ladies Iz McAuliffe and Stacey Whittle of The Megacast podcast, a spin off show from the equally great Everything Comes Back To 2000AD with Rich and Flint.  Everyone involved in both these podcasts go above and beyond supporting 2000AD with professionalism, humour and talent, that quite frankly puts  actual paid radio djs to shame. And we love them for that.

But the reason I picked this particular episode, is that the girls have recently interviewed my Nemesis: fellow 2000AD artist and professional midget, PJ Holden.

PJ and my other buddy, writer Si Spurrier, have recently debuted an excellent creator owned series called NUMBERCRUNCHER in the JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE that you should definitely check out.

Towards the end of the interview, the girls very kindly asked PJ the question I had submitted:

"If you were in a terrible accident, and the only key to your survival was if I donated either the top half of my body, or the bottom half of my body, which half would you choose to live with for the rest of your life? Bare in mind that both halves requires daily hair maintenance..."


PJ's answer was unexpected, yet commendable, and I decided to illustrate it for your viewing pleasure...

SFX WEEKENDER 2 REPORT!!!

Ok, ok, I'll admit it: I was a little apprehensive about returning to Pontins for this year's SFX WEEKENDER...because y'know....it's Pontins.

But, guess what? I had an AWESOME time! The convention itself had ironed out most of the kinks from last year, but what made it truly great was the company I was in, the fans we met, and all the new friends we made. 

Too many to name (you know who you are!), but a big manly hug to the Rebellion/2000AD/Abaddon Books family (Keith Richardson, Pye Parr, David Thomas Moore and Jenni Hill) for having me along again this year, and just being you!

Obviously I want to thank the entire SFX team for putting on a great show. Seriously, it takes balls, and talent to create something that cool out of, well, Pontins...thanks guys!

Things I learnt:  I want Geek Syndicate's Barry Nugent and David Monteith to teach me some of their above average dance moves...

That I wasn't the only one that took half an hour to figure out how to turn the shower on.

And I never want to see a certain well known writer in his underwear ever again.

Now....PHOTOS!

The Weekender opened to the incredible music of A.C.D.C as the fantastic Area 51 entertainers recreated the opening scene of Iron Man 2, with one of the SFX Magazine team as Iron Man welcoming everyone to the show!

The 2000AD booth, shinier, prettier and sexier than last year, with designer Pye Parr and graphics novel editor Keith Richardson making it look a bit camp.

The first of the Weekender's big ass drawings I did. This one being donated to the charity auction held that day, along side cool stuff like an actual Doctor Who Cyberman helmet, and a day at the SFX offices. And yes, I'm wearing a hat...

This beardy man is fancy pants 2000AD/Abaddon Books writer Al Ewing, pointing at a half eaten hot dog. Al actually wrote the two part Judge Dredd story ,"What The Hitler Saw" that I recently finished drawing, out in 2000AD come April.  We're all posing with the second big ass Dredd pic I did, that was later raffled off.

But then incredible artist Clint Langley turned up, and made me look bad by doing this gorgeous Nemesis piece...git.

Here's the winner of Clint's drawing! Ah, It's nice when it's a kid. Hopefully he'll be the next generation of 2000AD fans.

And this fine man is the winner of my Dredd! Remember: Take care of my baby, or I'll shave off all that lovely long hair whilst you sleep!