LEIGH GALLAGHER Comic Book Artist

COMMISSION LIST NOW OPEN!!!!

2012-02-02T03:57:00.000-08:00

YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME??!!!!

Well now you can! I can draw you ANY character you so desire, for you to frame, or have it tattooed on your hairy back!

PRICES:
(Black and white inked single character. No background. Prices include postage & packing, unless mailing abroad)

A4: £55

A3: £110

Full payment is in advance, and via PAYPAL. If interested you can email me at leighgallagher2000@yahoo.co.uk.

Thanks!

L

ORIGINAL ART FOR SALE!!! (BATCH 1)

2012-01-25T08:09:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, thought it was about time I started advertising the sale of my original pages. I've always sold work privately, but I have SO MUCH lying around, I need to start shifting it.

So over this next week I'll be posting up pages from over the years including JUDGE DREDD, DEFOE, AQUILA, LEGO BIONICLE, and whatever else I come across. I'll be sure to post up work with a variety of prices so as not to leave anyone out.

Method of payment shall be Paypal, and all prices shall include postage, unless shipping to outside the UK.

If interested, email me on leighgallagher2000@yahoo.co.uk

HERE WE GO!

DEFOE: QUEEN OF THE ZOMBIES. A3 pencils for the unused cover for the collection. PRICE: £150

WEREWOLF! This was done for a possible trading card for Renegade Arts Entertainment. A very favourite image of mine. Actual inked image size is A4 on an A3 board.

PRICE: £250

SHERLOCK. Recent sketch inspired by the tv show. A4 Pencils. PRICE £60

SERAPH! Pre-lim design for 2000AD's Defoe. A3 pencils. PRICE: £70

HELLBOY. Unpublished. Purely done for myself. Another favourite image of mine. A3 inked illustration.

PRICE: £250

PHONOGRAM: THE SINGLE CLUB. This is the hilarious 4 page backup story "David Kohl: Phonomancer" written by Kieron Gillen. Inked art on 11.5x17 inch board. PRICE: £65 for each individual page.

2000AD ZARJAZ FANZINE COVER. Double spread cover for the "FLESH" inspired issue of Zarjaz issue 10. A3 inked. PRICE £100

2000AD COVER PROG 1709. A3 inked. Separate patch would be included showing an alternate version of Defoe's head. PRICE: £300

QUICK (ISH) SHERLOCK SKETCH!!!!

2012-01-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

It's e-LEIGH-mentary! (Sorry, I nicked that from someone else...)

Steven Moffat (who's work I loved back when he did "Coupling" and now "Doctor Who"!) and Mark Gatiss have done an incredible job, updating BBC's "Sherlock" into a show that I NEVER thought I would describe as a favourite of mine.

And obviously they struck gold when they found Benedict Cumberbatch to take the role of Sherlock, and Martin Freeman as Watson.

Stunning show, and so I felt a sudden urge to do this quick sketch....

L

OH GOD... I'VE JOINED TWITTER!!!

2012-01-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

Yup, I've finally caved in, bit the bullet, spanked the donkey....whatever you wanna call it...

I'll see how it goes for a few weeks, testing the water, spanking the....whatever you wanna call it...

But "follow" me if you want @ArtyGallagher...probably not for kiddies I might add...

L

CREATING 2000AD'S AQUILA!!!

2012-01-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

Hey again,

So enough time has passed since the Aquila Prologue (written by Gordon Rennie, art by me, colours by Dylan Teague, letters by Simon Bowland and logo by Simon Parr) debuted in 2000AD's Prog 2012 (bloggy post HERE), and I'm made up to say it's been VERY well received! So an overly long, uncomfortable awkward hug to everyone that's raved about it!

Got a bunch of stuff to share with you here so gather around...apart from you there...you smell funny.

I'm hoping that I nailed the design of his face first time, though that was probably due to all the research time I had to spend looking up "hot black men"...luckily Nik didn't walk in on me...

Next up, we have a pile of rough designs we considered for Ammit The Devourer--an Egyptian demon known to be part Lion, hippo and crocodile. We eventually settled for a design that was practically none of those things and I came up with a concept that highlighted "The Devourer of Souls" aspect...

This is the one we settled on:

Next we have the making of the final colour page you see at the top of this post, featuring Aquila and The Devourer. Gordon scripted:

PAGE TEN

Panel 1

Splash-page shot. Aquila, grimly walking away from the burning building he was held captive in. Shapes behind him in the smoke and flames. The Devourer. The Egyptian Scales of Judgement. Images from Aquila’s past and (maybe even) future; battles, burning cities, monsters, gods and demons, emperors and conquerors, supernatural creatures from Ancient World mythology. Go wild here, Leigh. If we like the look of it, it’s going into a future story.

CAPTION:

From out of rebellion, a reaper will come.

Down from cruel cross, an avenger descends.

Servant of a demon, slayer of kings,

Hunter of gods and men.

The world will be this gladiator’s arena,

And he shall know no rest,

Until his task is done.

LOST FRAGMENT OF THE SIBYLLINE PROPHECIES, COMPOSED CIRCA 400BC.

Loose pencils:

Inks:

And GLORIOUS colours by that talented twelve year old boy,Dylan Teague:

Which brings us to the final published page lettered by my buddy Simon Bowland, seen at the beginning of this post.Gotta say, I'm pretty damn chuffed with how it turned out!

I'm hoping to be getting the first script of the full series from Gordon in the next couple of weeks and I honestly can't wait!

Catch you soon.

LIVERPOOL MUSEUM COMIC STRIP!!!

2012-01-06T06:53:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! Happy New Year to you all!

Righty, this first post of 2012 is one that I really should have done MONTHS ago, but I've just been caught up in deadline after deadline, that I just haven't found the time.

Good mate of mine, artist John Higgins, recommended me to Paul Gallagher (no relation and bloody nice bloke!), the Curator of Contemporary Collecting at The Museum of Liverpool. The job was to create a massive comic strip depicting the most famous local heroes of Liverpool and Everton football over the years, and the strip would be on display at the new museum in "The Wondrous Place" exhibition.

It was great fun planning this with Paul and designer Rob Harris (more on him later). Paul himself wrote a wonderful little tale of a Grandad and Granddaughter walking through Liverpool's Stanley Park and coming across a football game about to begin. Very soon, the two realise that the players are actually the "ghosts" of our most famous local heroes coming together for one special football game.

Here's the rough layout that I designed after reading his script. Bare in mind that the final image would be blown up to roughly 3 metres x 3 metres....

My original plan was to draw the whole thing on one piece of A1 board, but soon gave myself a big (manly) slap when I realised that there was NO CHANCE I could fit that many footballers into that space. So I had no option but to draw each panel individually on A3 and A4 pages, then forward the coloured files to designer Rob Harris of Haley Sharpe Design, who arranged the panels onto the layout template and lettered the whole strip from Paul's script. Haley Sharpe by the way, were the Lead Exhibition Design Consultants for the museum, and an incredible job they did too!

Here's some random pre-lettered panels.

I was very honoured and proud to be invited to the new museum opening in July with Niki and my dad. It was WAY fancier than the usual events I go to (I had to wear SHOES!) and the building itself on the waterfront is a beautiful piece of architecture. Here's a few photos of our football strip in all it's glory up on the wall:

So thanks once again to John, Paul and Rob. I'm genuinely proud to be part of such a project in my home city, so please be sure to check it out whenever you're in town!

L

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2011-12-25T05:51:00.001-08:00

AQUILA PROLOGUE IN TODAYS 2000AD!!!

2011-12-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

Finally my latest project, AQUILA, is released upon the world in the mega 100 page year ender issue of 2000AD!!! Check out that beautiful cover by Greg Staples!

I'm very proud to be a part of this special issue as I'm sharing it with a lot of good mates of mine--too many to mention, but all the details of this prog can be found on the 2000AD site here.

As for AQUILA, this issue debuts the 10 page prologue to the series starting later in 2012. It's written by Gordon Rennie, drawn by me, coloured by Dylan Teague, and lettered by my mate Simon Bowland (also letterer of my proposal comic to Niki!) Here's the official blurby thing...

Here's the fantastic logo that put a big smile on my face designed by design bot, Simon Parr, based on the scar on Aquila's chest....

And finally here's a few teaser panels THAT WILL MAKE YOU BUY IT!!!!

Bloody made up with how this project has come together, and can't wait to get started on the series next month!
L

JUDGE DREDD: THE ASSASSINATION LIST!!!

2011-11-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

Ok, I PROMISE that soon I'll be back to posting cool "making of" features, etc soon. But I've just had back to back deadlines for AGES...

For now, check out my latest 6 part Judge Dredd story in 2000AD, called "The Assassination list", written by the legendary John Wagner! It's the next chapter in the ongoing "Day Of Chaos" storyline.

The first part is in 2000AD prog 1759 NOW! Here's a teaser panel (before it's sexily coloured by Chris Blythe and lettered lovingly by Annie Parkhouse).

ECBT2000AD INTERVIEW!!!!

2011-10-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

Just a quicky post to tell you to head HERE to the awesome 2000AD fan site EVERYTHING COMES BACK TO 2000AD where I've an interview up, talking about the latest Defoe release, the EXCLUSIVE on what my future project AQUILA is, as well as what else I've got coming up in the future! It's Leigh-tastic!!!

DEFOE:QUEEN OF THE ZOMBIES OUT TODAY!!!

2011-10-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! The moment you'll tell your grandchildren about (or if you're just stuck with a bunch of cats, just tell them, I'm not going to judge)!

The second collection of DEFOE entitled QUEEN OF THE ZOMBIES is officially released today (13th October) just in time for Halloween, from 2000AD/REBELLION.

Once again, written by comics legend, Pat Mills, and illustrated by "The Most Handsome Man in Comics",um, me, this collection expands on the 17th century zombie world of Defoe and his brethren, introducing the likes of insane clock punks, freaks and even angels!

Personally speaking, this book is THE book to get if you're a fan of my work. I'm genuinely proud of it and can't wait to show it off. As with the original collection, I've gone back to update certain panels that I thought needed tweaking, but no where near the amount that I redrew that first time around.

Again, there's going to be a sketchbook section at the back (18 pages!), including the pencil version of what I envisioned the cover could be for this book, before it was decided to stick with the original zombie baby image (you can find the making for that here).

So please head to your local comic book store and tell them I sent you, with a little wink. They won't give you a discount or anything, but who doesn't like to be winked at?

If you're not lucky enough to have a local comic store, you can head to Amazon through the link at the end of this post (though ignore any mention of a hardcover--they cocked that up--it's paperback only). You can't wink at them unfortunately.

Thanks for your support guys, I really appreciate it. I'll have an interview posted on another site soon with even more info. Hope you enjoy the book!

L

AQUILA PREVIEW!!!

2011-09-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

Helloooo...well here's a scan of the official announcement of the new/old (we'll explain that later) series I'll be drawing for 2000AD...AQUILA! Written by Gordon Rennie! All I can say right now is that it's set in Roman times....

We'll have a 10 page prologue coming out at the end of the year, with a full series following at some point. Even though the above image is black and white, the final strip will be coloured by that ridiculously talented artist/ 12 year old boy, Dylan Teague! Can't wait!

For now, I'm busy working on a 6 part Judge Dredd written by THE John Wagner and various bits for the BBC.

Busy, busy busy...

More soon!

L

SOMEONE OLD, SOMEONE NEW!!!

2011-09-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

Yup, I'm back again.

Here's a commission I did for regular viewer of my bloggy, Eric Moore, AKA Mangamax. Eric has started a very interesting new blog entitled SOMEONE OLD, SOMEONE NEW, which asks an artist to draw their own depiction of a classic British comic book character meeting a current day character.

Eric's always been very kind and complimentary towards my work, so it was an honour to add to his collection, drawing my version of Janus Stark vs Defoe, and I'm very happy with how it turned out! You can check out the post HERE, which also shows a couple of my prelim drawings as well, but you have to view the rest of his beautiful collection from the beginning HERE!

PIMPING MY MATE'S ASSES AGAIN!!!!

2011-09-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

OK, planning on doing a few posts over these next couple of days to make up for the dry spell lately due to me working incredibly hard doing the manly work of drawing.

First up: pointing you in the direction of a couple good friends of mine who have got some exceptionally cool stuff out!

Peter Collier is a man with the tiniest ankles I've ever seen in my life, but he's also one of the cleverest men I've known in my life, and so will probably be able to afford a hot tub way before me due to being an exceptional entrepreneur .

He, with his two friends Stephen Cakebread and Ben Ward, set up their own games company this year called HOGROCKET. Their very first game app, TINY INVADERS, is now available on the iTunes store and is quite awesome! It's a ridiculously addictive puzzle game where you play a band of space germs travelling from host to host, in a bid to take over the world by reaching The President!

Addictive gameplay, a soundtrack that will never leave your head, and graphics from a BAFTA award winning animation team, make a game that has " The Leigh Gallagher: Most Handsome Man In Comics" stamp of approval! So head to The app store NOW ! It's well worth it's ridiculously low price! (And I'd really like at least one of us to get a hot tub soon, so we can start "Hot tub Fridays...)

Right, next is....who? Ahh crap, not this guy.....ok, if I have to....this next one is my fellow 2000AD artist (who probably only got the job because 2000AD had to fill their quota of employing little people), and my eternal nemesis, PJ HOLDEN.

Now PJ's always a busy, busy artist, currently working on ROBOCOP VS TERMINATOR (with lovely writer Rob Williams) and the soon to be concluded NUMBERCRUNCHER in the Judge Dredd Megazine (with writer Si Spurrier, who's just as lovely as Rob, but with a lot more hair).

But now, with writer Gordon Rennie (who yours truly shall be working on a new 2000AD series with next year!) has co created....THE DEPT OF MONSTEROLOGY! Never mind the fact that it has a really cool title. Never mind the fact that it has a bloody lovely logo. This series is written by a writer who everyone knows is a genuine talent, with glorious art by PJ that you can tell he's taken his time over. Just look at the preview pages!

Plus, if you didn't get it from the title, it's all about frickin' MONSTERS! I'm actually really jealous PJ's got this gig...

Look for it in the near future published by the nice folks at RENEGADE ARTS ENTERTAINMENT, and check out the Facebook page for lots of behind the scenes cool stuff!

Ok, that's enough of me being selfless....

L

MANCHESTER MCM NEXT WEEKEND!!!!

2011-07-19T05:58:00.000-07:00

Yup, next Saturday 30th July, I'll be appearing at the very first Manchester MCM! I'll be doing the usual sketches, selling prints, as well as copies of the original Defoe 1666 book (The second collection's out in October!).

This is most likely going to be my FINAL convention of the year, as unfortunately future events, like the wonderful Thought Bubble in November happen on the same day as good friends weddings.

So hope to see you there, and thanks to MCM for using Defoe on their poster!

L

LIFE UPDAAAATTTEEEE!!!!

2011-07-19T05:45:00.000-07:00

Wowzers...been a while....how have you been? I really like what you've done with your hair....

Ok, so apologies for the lack of updatage lately. Some may know that we went through a NIGHTMARE house move recently, so dealing with all that as well as trying to fit in deadlines on top, put my dear bloggy at the bottom of the list. On the plus side, I have a fantastic new studio, so expect a new tour very soon! Quite a lot going on right now...

I had a great time at May's London MCM. I'd like to say a special "Hey!" to lovely artist Jade Sarson, who took pity on me sitting alone on the Saturday and was just nice to me...and another "Heeeyyy!" to my friends of that wonderful MONKEY ON MY BACK podcast, Jane and Steve who I had cool time hanging about with in the middle of the madness of the con (then later David Wynne who collared me in the mens room!). One more "Heeeeeyyyy!" goes to my two Bionicle friends Azad3 and Knuckles886 (Sorry I didn't catch your REAL names!) who did a video interview with me about my time on the series. You can find that, and my chubby face (Never get filmed from a low angle!) HERE!

Below is a pre booked commission I brought along for a great guy called Ryan, who's amassing an incredible collection of Preacher illustrations for what is known as "The Preacher Project". Click the link and read the wonderful reason WHY he's doing this....

Next up I was happy to do a couple of sketches out of my usual comfort zone, but still two very favourite characters of mine--Panthro and Doctor Who.

I mentioned in a previous post that I had volunteered for the convention's "Writer vs Artist" challenge, which up until that point, the artists had never won. But this time, we kicked their hairy asses! Below is the winning, sexy ass team of Adam Cadwell, Becky Cloonan, Joe List and the voluntarily bald Gary Erskine!

Finally, I spent the second day of the con with 2000AD, and did my usual big ass Dredd pic to give away. This hideous bunch of chaps lurking around me are incredible artists Simon Davis, Ben Willsher and writer (that I will one day work with) Alec Worley, who DID NOT draw that impressive pic by Clint Langley...

Right, so in other news, my path at 2000AD (check out the cool new website!) has taken an unexpected turn. I'm currently doing some touch ups on pages for the October release of the second Defoe collection "Queen Of The Zombies", but unfortunately that will be the last Defoe work until further notice due to the writer Pat Mills having too much on his plate. Instead, The Mighty Tharg has granted me a brand new series to draw with writer Gordon Rennie! Afraid that's all you're getting from me right now about that one, but I will say that it's another one that requires more bloody research than I'd like!!!

For now, you'll have to make do with my next 2 part Judge Dredd strip in the latest 2000AD JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE issues 312 and 313 out now! Once again I've been teamed up with beardy Al Ewing on writing duties. As I had to do these during the house move, the pages got done in record time! Here's a preview page from the first episode...

Finally, take a look at this....

Yup, tonight I'll be donning the sexy suit to the new Liverpool Museum opening. Loads of incredible stuff to see there, but we'll be there especially to view the MASSIVE football comic strip I've illustrated, mounted on the wall measuring around 3.5 metres by 3 metres. Admittedly I'm a little nervous as I haven't seen it up yet, but I'll be sure to put up a post about this event in the next couple days! I'll leave you with this very tiny teaser from it...

More soon!
L

SPIRIT OF HOPE!!!

2011-06-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Just in the middle of a nightmare house move, but I wanted to take a few minutes to promote the Spirit Of Hope charity comic that I'm proud to be a contributor to.

After the terrible Japan tsunami and New Zealand earthquakes occurred, The Comic Book Alliance reached out to the professional comic community, and the end result is a beautiful comic anthology featuring stories and pin ups by 92 creators to be released in June, with proceeds going to Japan charity Second Harvest, and the New Zealand Red Cross.

Readers here will know that I have wonderful memories of Japan, as Tokyo is where I proposed to Niki last November. The illustration I donated is at the top of this post.

The book will have two fantastic covers to choose from, also seen at the top of this post. You can order it online from The Comic Book Alliance here, and find more about the book from the Facebook page here.

I've seen the pages myself, and you won't regret it ordering it.

Take care,

L

LONDON MCM EXPO 2011 THIS WEEKEND!!! (Updated)

2011-05-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

Helloooooooo.......OK, so even though I'm smack bang in the middle of moving house, I'm still coming to this weekend's LONDON MCM EXPO!!! Not been for a couple years and really looking forward to it.

I have my own table in the Comic Village for Saturday, where as usual, I'll be doing free head sketches and giving grooming tips. On the merchandise front, I'll have some copies of the original Defoe collection ( still awaiting Book 2 out in October!), BUT ALSO I've permission from the great THARG himself to do limited edition prints of some of my favourite 2000AD covers!

Each A3 print is on shiny, shiny card stock and limited to only 25 copies, priced at £10 each, all signed and numbered by me. Once you buy it, you're free to frame it, or glue it to your chest, or eat it in a sandwich....up to you!

The three new prints are as follows.....

2000AD prog 1643(click for info)

2000AD prog 1709(click for info)

Defoe 1666 Book 1(click for info)

On Sunday I'll be spending the day at 2000AD's booth and may do one of those big ass drawings to give away in a raffle. (See the recent SFX Weekender post for an example!)

Also on Sunday, I've signed up for the writers vs artists Pictionary contest at 3pm, where astonishingly the artists have NEVER won! We shall see about that....

(Not really, I'm crap at Pictionary...)

There's a link to the floor plan where you can find me HERE.

See you there!
(UPDATE: Afraid the print quality isn't really what I'd hoped on some of the prints I just picked up, so I'll just have a handful of them to sell this Saturday, sorry.)
L

MAKING OF A DREDD PAGE THAT DOESN'T HAVE DREDD IN IT!!!!!

2011-04-27T03:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Sorry for the wait on these. You know how it is: you start looking in the mirror at "The Most Handsome Man In Comics", and before you know it, two weeks have gone by! Weird...

OK, so here's the making of one of my favourite pages from the two part Judge Dredd story, "What The Hitler Saw" that I worked on from the recent 2000AD Prog 1729. As you know by now, it all starts with a script. This one by the very beardy Al Ewing....

Next up is my VERY rough layout. What I like about the opportunity to work on Dredds is that I'm allowed to go wild with the compositions on my layouts, as opposed to the strict panel grids I use on Defoe. I think this layout works well depicting the sense of struggle between the chubby bloke and the Hitler lookalike.

No reference photos on hand to show I'm afraid, so here's the pencils....

Yup, you guessed it, inks...

And here's a scan of the final printed page with colours by the lovely Eva De La Cruz, and lettering by the seductive Annie Parkhouse (I've never met Annie, but I'm guessing she is.)

Another post coming up in the next couple days about a piece I did for a Japan charity book coming out soon.

Bye bye.

L

NEW JUDGE DREDD STORY OUT TODAY!!!!

2011-04-06T04:30:00.000-07:00

Helloooooooo.....

Ok so in this weeks 2000AD Prog 1728 begins the two part Judge Dredd "What The Hitler Saw", written by beardy Al Ewing, art by me, lovely colours by Eva De La Cruz, and sexy letters by Annie Parkhouse!

It's bloody great to have another crack at Dredd! I'll do a making of a page post soon, but for now, there was a nice surprise hidden for me on the first page....

A closer look at the credits box....

Finally proof of what you've known all this time, but were too afraid to admit....

(A big kiss to 2000AD's Simon Parr!)

GENRE FOR JAPAN CHARITY AUCTION!!!

2011-03-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Busy, busy, busy here at Gallagher Towers (or spare room in an end terraced house) working on stuff I'll blog about soon.

But in the meantime, please head to the Genre For Japan website, whose charity auction begins tomorrow! You can bid for cool items as varied as signed books, having your manuscript critiqued by an editor, or even appearing as a character in a novel!

I'm contributing the prize of your favourite 2000AD character drawn A3 size (black/white, single character, no background). Item number 99.

The auction ends on Sunday 3rd April.

As you know, I got engaged last November in Tokyo, so I'd really like this auction to go well!

GO BID!!!

L

THE LOVECRAFT ANTHOLOGY!!!

2011-03-10T07:16:00.000-08:00

(Cover by Ben Templesmith)

Hey guys,

Here's a nice surprise I got in the mail! The 120 page Lovecraft Anthology Volume 1!

It's an interesting side job I took on last year for Self Made Hero, illustrating an 18 page version of H.P.Lovecraft's "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", adapted by my old, old lovely friends John Reppion and Leah Moore.

Definitely different to my usual style, I was asked to do this in colour. I've only ever coloured covers for 2000AD, so this is my first fully coloured strip, so be gentle on me.

As well as our adaption, the book features another six stories, all told by incredibly talented creators, and they are genuinely all fantastic, making a really nice package.

The official launch of the book is taking place on 15th April at the H.P.LOVECRAFT REANIMATED event, held at London's The Horse Hospital.

So ask for it at your local comic book store, book store, or find it online here!

And look out for a feature about the book with interviews with myself and other creators involved, in next months Judge Dredd Megazine.

Here's a few teaser panels....

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW ROYAL MAIL STAMP!!!

2011-02-24T07:22:00.000-08:00

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! ;)

PIMPING MY FRIENDS ASSES AGAIN!!!

2011-02-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2011-02-11T18:01:00.000-08:00

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!

SFX WEEKENDER 2!!!

2011-01-19T11:50:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

Due to OVERWHELMING DEMAND from at least two people after last years event in Camber Sands Pontins, I'll be returning for another round at the SFX WEEKENDER 2, on the 4th-5th February.

Once again I'll be with the droids of 2000AD, sharing art duties with Clint Langley and signing with writers Pat Mills and beardy Al Ewing!

I can assure you that even though my name's not featured on the site as yet, I will be there! Trust me, I ain't spending 5 hours on a train for nothing!

Hope to see you there.

A NEW YEAR....

2011-01-10T18:17:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

Hope you all had a memorable holiday period! Me, I'm really looking forward to a fresh start this year....

Don't get me wrong, it had it's unbelievable moments like Niki agreeing to marry me(!), as well as some of my favourite people in the world having equally great life changing news, but professionally .... eeesh...I've never had a year like this where so many "clients" have attempted to take advantage of me. Seriously, I can't beliiiieeeeve the amount of people who think that we freelance artists survive by drinking the sweat from strangers armpits....NEVER AGAIN!

For a couple of examples, I'm talking about deluded @sshole musicians who see themselves as Jesus, and publishers who have had successful movies out wanting to pay me with books that I'm not even interested in reading (oh, and didn't even send those in the end!)...

So, I've learnt a lot of lessons, and this new year, I'm going all out to make sure that this is going to be a damn good one!

As well as working on Book 5 of Defoe and prepping the second graphic novel collection (out in October), I'm developing brand new projects to pitch, including finally finishing my children's picture book.

Above, you'll see a taster of what I'm working on now for 2000AD-- still my favourite company to work for, and the one that I kiss every night before I go to bed!

Apologies dear sweet reader, if this was seen as a rant. I honestly just want you to feel as inspired as I do right now. My God, I just wanna kick some creative ass this year! (And that pleb who thinks he's Jesus.)

Oh, and I also want to finally send this application form off to Total Wipeout....

Take care, and good luck to us all!

MAKING OF A DRUNKEN DRUID GETTING SURPRISED BY A REPTILIAN ANGEL THINGY!!!

2010-12-23T20:08:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS!

Y'know, nothing says "Christmas" more than a scene featuring a 17th century drunken druid guy, getting surprised by a scary ass reptilian Seraph angel in a dark corridor. And by a STARTLING coincidence I happen to have one here!!!

So here's the making of one of my favourite pages from Book Four of 2000AD's "Defoe: A Murder of Angels", from script to final printed page.

Script by Pat Mills...

My original design for the Seraph Angel...
Rough layout...
Loose pencils...
Finished inks...
Final printed page with lettering by Elle De Ville...
Right, bugger off now and have a fantastic Christmas!!!

(And don't forget to leave out some mince pies for the reptilian angel thingy when he climbs down your chimney...)

JUDGE DEATH COMMISSION!!!

2010-12-07T15:32:00.001-08:00

Hey guys, Just a quick one here. I don't usually have much time to take on private commission work, but a couple of weeks ago, Pete Wells of the wonderful site 2000AD COVERS UNCOVERED caught me at a good time. Asking for an image of the classic Dredd villian, Judge Death, he basically gave me free reign....
Here's the very loose rough I got to him for approval...

...with the pencils shortly after. Sorry about the quality--I had to take a photo, as in a very short space of time I have found myself without a working A3 scanner, laptop AND iMac (piece of crap! Should've stuck to bloody pcs...)

Hope you like it, and please check out Pete's 2000AD COVERS UNCOVERED, which shows every new 2000AD cover without logos and text, and even some making of features!

Right, I've got a Judge Dredd story to get done so catch you later!

THOUGHT BUBBLE 2010 REPORT!!!

2010-11-25T08:20:00.000-08:00

....And it was gooood......

Third year in a row that I have had a FANTASTIC weekend at Thought Bubble! And a large portion of that is due to the incredible Lisa Wood and her team of very lovely folk! (Hi to the other Leigh!)

I don't know why, but for some reason I always seem to be accepted more at this convention, and sold a pile of stuff! Next time I'll be sure to bring a bigger variety of prints, as I was surprised how popular the zombie ones were.

Once again, I met too many cool people to mention, but a shout out to my "neighbour", 2000AD legendary artist D'Israeli (a guy I've wanted to meet for a long time!) and his lovely girlfriend, and also hi to the folks of the Monkey On My Back podcast who I had a great chat with and shared my tasty, tasty doughnuts (I won't mention that they were queuing for D'Iraeli, not me *ahem*)!

The day ended with one of the best kormas I've ever had with some good friends, and a great aftershow party where, as usual, I couldn't find the time to talk with everyone I wanted to.

Here's a compilation of all but two of the sketches I did that day, with some close ups of my favourites. Enjoy, and see you there next year!

(PS: And thanks for all the thumbs up to the hat! It shall return next year!)

LEEDS THOUGHT BUBBLE 2010!!!

2010-11-16T02:44:00.001-08:00

Yup, it's that time of year again where I attend one of my favourite cons of the year!

As always I'll be selling books, doing FREE head sketches, and I'll see if I have time to do any inked drawings to sell.

Also, I'd like to add that I shall be trying out a new hat look that day, so please be honest and tell me if I pull it off or not....

So I'll see you guys this Saturday 20th November! You can find all the details for this wonderful event here!

THE MAKING OF THE 2000AD PROG 1709 COVER!!!

2010-11-12T05:54:00.000-08:00

ALRIGHTY! We're back to normal business after an INSANE time....Again I'd like to thank everyone for their kind messages. I'll admit that the amount of attention around the net STUNNED Niki and I, but it's genuinely heartwarming to know that there's so many lovely folk out there.

Ok, I'm a week late posting about this for obvious reasons, but the final part of Defoe: A Murder of Angels appeared in last week's 2000AD Prog 1709 (that you'll still be able to find in all good comic shops!). I had a lot of fun doing this cover so read on....

Right, I actually screwed up with this first rough idea that I submitted months earlier. It was going to be a cool Bernie Wrightson-esque image with the two monsters fighting and Defoe jumping in. BUT, as I was about to draw it, I realized that I bollocked up the timing, as it showed a character that DIED the previous episode.....
So after begging for Tharg's forgiveness, he suggested a cover with the lizard angel about to kill Defoe, and so I had a think on the train, and scribbled down these two ideas on the move...
When I got home, I did them in more detail and sent them to the Big Kahuna, who approved the first idea....

Here's the loose pencils....
And here's the inks, which I THOUGHT were fine, but then I decided I'd send it to Pat Mills one weekend as we were talking, who suggested I show more of Defoe's face...
And he was right (plus you don't argue with the creator of 2000AD!), so here's a patch I did to digitally paste over the original.

I really enjoyed colouring this piece. I had to research various lizard skins for it...
And here's the two different backgrounds I offered. Luckily they went for the red version which I thought "popped" more!

Finally it was then sent to 2000AD designer Pye Parr, who did a cool job adding the logo and text which you can see at the top of this post!

Ok, more "Making of" posts coming up over the next week. Take care for now!

AND THE ANSWER WAS.....

2010-11-04T17:30:00.001-07:00

OF COURSE SHE SAID YES!!! Did you not see me in the comic?! Im dreamy!

Seriously, thank you so much for all the kind words guys. It was a bit of a headache to plan as I didnt have time to do the lettering before I left to meet her in Shanghai. I had to draft in my good mate, 2000AD/MARVEL/DYNAMITE letterer Simon Bowland, as well as sneaking away to mess around with the coloring a bit on my other mates laptop, and getting up at dawn to silently finish it whilst she was asleep in bed 3 feet away from me.

The final reveal was done in a lovely hotel room overlooking the incredible view of the Tokyo skyline at night!

Back to work in a couple of days so catch you soon you lovely people!

Leigh and Niki (The future Mrs Gallagher)

A message for Niki....

2010-11-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

(Click to enlarge.)

I MET SIMON PEGG!!!

2010-10-22T03:20:00.000-07:00

It was worth queuing up 3 hours in the cold for.

Seriously, I NEVER usually do stuff like this. I'm not generally the type to get wowed by celebrities, but this was different. Simon Pegg is now, rightly so, a massive name in Hollywood, but one show will always remain special to people like me: SPACED.

Much like his character, Tim, I too was living in a house full of ...strange...people, whilst desperately trying to break into the comic book business. So the episode where he finally gets his big break at "Dark Star Comics" (basically 2000AD) meant a lot to me and gave me hope for the future (Yes, I KNOW it's bloody made up!).

So, here I am, years later, finally working for 2000AD myself, and I just wanted to express my gratitude to him by giving him a drawing of him, as a mutant, with his favourite character, Strontium Dog. The line he's saying riffs off one of the famous 2000AD references in the show.

I gave it to him as he was signing copies of his new book, "Nerd Do Well" in Liverpool's Waterstones, and as you can tell from the photo, he seemed to like it! Even gave me a very cool shout out on Twitter ....which I'm still not joining despite everyone poking the crap out of me about it...

I love it when you meet one of your heroes, and they're just as cool in real life.

THE GET WELL CARLOS PROJECT!!!

2010-10-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here's yet another victim of my deadlines--not getting a chance to report on this piece.

Ok, so a while back writer, and now Saint, Mark J Howard got in touch with a host of 2000AD fans and creators, to do an unbelievably nice thing for the legendary artist Carlos Ezquerra, who was in recovery from Lung Cancer.

The project was to create a comic with each contributer doing a page, depicting whatever they wanted to, as long as it expressed what they felt toward Carlos. My illustration is above, but my god, this was just one of many, and it's times like this that makes you proud of the fanbase. You can follow the thread on the 2000AD boards here.

For a limited time, you can download the public pdf of the full comic HERE or HERE. And if you choose to download, they ask that you please donate to a Cancer charity.

Enjoy the comic. It really is a great read. Thanks!

UPDATE: Also there is a second volume being put together now, just not in secret and with a longer deadline so we should be able to scoop up anyone else who wants to contribute.

INTERVIEWS AND PODCASTS!!!

2010-10-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, little late reporting these as I've been in a deadline nightmare, but first up:

I've been interviewed in the latest JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE 303! Have to say, it was very nice to see that much space dedicated to my waffle, and NO, I won't tell you what big name artist I yelled at years ago....

Next, I've made another appearance on that great podcast "EVERYTHING COMES BACK TO 2000AD"! This time, the hosts Rich and Flint left the room and let the REAL pros take over! Enter: the foxy Stacey Whittle (of Small Press Big Mouth), 2000AD artist Jon Davis Hunt, a brief stop over from my nemesis artist PJ Holden, and me!

We had a great time reviewing Rich and Flint's work on the latest strips for ZARJAZ /DOGBREATH, with some added advice for any upcoming creators out there. You can find this show here!

Finally, I was approached by the Bionicle fan podcast, THE THREE VIRTUES, for an interview about my time as the artist on the series and had a really fun chat with them. Seriously, these guys are incredibly professional considering their age (14-16!), and a lot more enterprising then I ever was back then! They'll go far. And they didn't mind me eating a family sized cheese cake through the show.

They haven't put it up on the main site yet, but you can download it HERE or look up the show on iTunes!

2000AD PROG 1704 COVER PROCESS!!!

2010-09-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

I AM A TOOL.

Yeah, you heard me. This was one of those moments where I should listen to my own advice and know that YOU ARE NEVER AS GOOD AS WHAT YOU THINK YOU ARE!!! Read on....

Ok, this is the cover process for this weeks issue of 2000AD. I wanted to depict a scene with Defoe fighting his now zombified ex comrade, The Spiriter, and especially show how the zombies are flying in this episode.

Here's my initial idea that I put down, but didn't submit to Tharg as I wasn't happy with the composition yet, but I was happy with the idea....
After a few obscene photos (that you will not see) I settled on this rough, that was approved by the boss....
Now, I decided early on that I wanted to do this as a digital painting, similar to that of the Defoe 1666 book collection cover found here. So with that in mind, I only pencilled this image, and darkened it up in Photoshop to paint over later....
And here, is what I thought was the finished cover painting that I was initially quite proud of. That, my friends, was the horrible trap I fell in to...

Much like a 10 year old boy running up to his parents to show off a crappy crayon picture of an anatomically incorrect donkey, I emailed this painting to Tharg shouting "Look at me! Look at how clever I am!"....to have him (quite rightly) REJECT IT!

"But...but...but...", I whined to my girlfriend, "He's NEVER turned down ANY of my work before!" (wipes nose on sleeve)

He was completely right of course. As he explained, he thought the image didn't look defined enough, looked a bit blobby, and that he generally preferred my line work. Looking at it now, I can see a DOZEN more problems with it, but it's strange how at the time, you're completely oblivious to them....
So the problem I had was how to add line work to a painting, which is harder than you'd think. Here's the ink line layer that I added in Photoshop, but realized quite early that we'd have to compromise and have it "half and half" and hope that the boss still went for it.
Here's the finished image! It took a while to clean it up around the line work, and as you can see I also recoloured various things that I realized were glaringly naff, including making Defoe's eyes a lot more defined. Thankfully this extra work paid off, and the boss approved it....
Being the impatient type, I did this quick cover mock up, using an older issue's text...
But of course by now, 2000AD have a lovely new redesign, and thanks to designer Simon Parr, here's the final cover that you can find in stores NOW!!! And that is a clever tagline...
And there ends my tale. The moral? DON'T BE A COCKY SOD!

STARSHIPSOFA STORIES!!!

2010-09-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Just a quick one to pimp the latest issue of the newly Hugo Award winning StarShipSofa Stories (volume 2). Quite a while back Dee Cunniffe got in touch to see if I'd like to do an illustration to go with one of the many prose pieces, of which I picked a story called "Bitterseed" written by Ted Kosmatka.

They have an impressive line up of talent of this book--Neil Gaiman for one--but what's also cool is this nifty trailer which you can find on Youtube here!

Check it out and bye for now.

MAKING OF A DEFOE PAGE!!!

2010-09-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

I REALLY shouldn't be on here. I'm currently rushing to get the final episode of Defoe: A Murder of Angels finished in record time, but y'know what? I just love you all too damn much, it hurts, so here I am with another post.

This is the creation of a page from Episode 3, from script to printed page. First up, here's Pat Mill's script. Thankfully his scripts are never overly detailed and straight to the point, so they're a pleasure to read, especially when I'm on a tight deadline.
Here's my RIDICULOUSLY rough layout. Unlike working for the big American companies, we 2000AD droids don't need to have our layouts looked over by the editor, so they only need to make sense to myself luckily.
Here's my pencils. As I ink myself, I generally don't bother pencilling any background detail like bricks etc.... I'll spare you the sight of my reference photos this time, in the name of public decency....
Here's my inks. As you can see, there's a lot that's been added in the backgrounds. once again, I probably overdid it with the crosshatching, but I'm very pleased with how that second panel turned out. My god, I frikkin' LOVE drawing crocodiles, or alligators (whatever the hell it is)!
Finally, here's the published page, wonderfully lettered by Ellie De Ville (cool name!). As you'll notice, the dialogue's changed a bit, as generally Pat likes to do some rewrites once he's seen my final art.
That's it for now! Be sure to pick up this week's 2000AD prog 1703 with Episode 4 of Defoe, where one of the Brethren DIES!

And check back here next week where I'll do the making of my next cover!

DEFOE (GETS SNAPPY) COVER PROCESS!!!

2010-09-04T16:31:00.001-07:00

Aaarrgh....having one of those days where nothing I draw is working and I'm rubbing holes in my art boards.

So, here I am, with a handy distraction: The making of this coming Wenesday's cover to 2000AD prog 1701! For those who picked up this week's prog 1700, you'll know that there's a scene in Defoe featuring a crocodile eating zombies in The Tower of London moat, and so here's the rough cover idea that was approved by Tharg with a pun-tastic tag line that I half-joked should be used on the final cover....

A quick manly reference photo that I loosely based it on...

My SECOND crack at the pencils....
Here's the inks. Knowing that I'd be colouring it, I thought ahead and decided not to ink in the area around the gun flash as I wanted to be able to select those lines cleanly when I played with it later in Photoshop. Likewise, I knew ahead I'd be "airbrushing" the black clothing of Defoe into the green of the water, so didn't bother with any background crosshatching.
Final colours. Pretty happy with it, especially with the light coming through the water. Though looking at it months later, I'm not too impressed with the drawing of the zombie in the croc's mouth. Considering how bloody many I've had to draw over the years, I should have done a better job of the fella. No Jaffa Cakes for me tonight....
Now THIS made my freakin' day! On the last page of prog 1700 I was stunned to see this full page advert featuring the new cover with my "DEFOE GETS SNAPPY" tag line! Do you get it?! "SNAPPY" because there's a CROCODILE and Defoe's a grumpy bastard....ahhh forget it ........."SNAPPY"!!!

(And a big thanks to editorial droid Matt Smith and designer bot Simon Parr!)
And here's a scan of the final cover out this Wednesday, with a far more sensible tag line (not as good as mine though *grumble grumble*).
That's your lot for now. Should have quite a few "making of" features coming up now that Defoe's back, so catch you ladies soon!

DEFOE'S BACK! AND ANOTHER INTERVIEW!!!

2010-08-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well, Defoe is returning in this Wednesday's 2000AD prog 1700, which is a big deal! It's a great jumping on point for new 2000AD readers as it's not only the start of Defoe, but also 4 other new stories dipped in sticky Thrill Power!!!

In the run up to Wednesday, that hairy Welsh bloke, Richard McAuliffe (from Everything Comes Back to 2000AD) is interviewing creators featured in the prog, for the Geek Syndicate site. He's already interviewed Rob Williams, and Pat Mills, but now, it's time to make way for THE INTERVIEW OF LEIGH GALLAGHER!!!

(Warning: sexy, sexy contents inside.)

And buy 2000AD 1700 in stores on Wednesday!

MAKING OF A ZARJAZ COVER!!!

2010-08-05T16:49:00.001-07:00

Right, here's a brief departure from my usual stuff...

Around 6 months ago Dave Evans, editor of the 2000AD fanzines "Dogbreath" and "Zarjaz" contacted me about doing a cover for "Zarjaz" issue 10 (out in October) based on one of the interior stories.

That story was "FLESH: Extinction" written by Mark Howard, drawn by Chris Geary, and inspired by my current writer Pat Mills' classic "FLESH" series for 2000AD.

So I came up with this rough, based on the main creature....
...but then Dave informed me it was actually a DOUBLE SPREAD they needed, so after cursing his name I figured out the other side, that involved as little extra drawing as possible.
As you can tell, my pencils were pretty rough, and I realized that the perspective was completely wrong when looking at the ground area. I was trying to have him on the edge of a cliff, but it wasn't working, so I redrew it as I inked.
Alot better me thinks! Plus adding the tentacle in the foreground on the left gave it a nice sense of depth I thought...
Finally, colouring! Not much to add here, though I'm not sure if I prefer the black and white version. Pretty happy with it though, and it was nice to draw something completely different to my usual stuff!

DEFOE: A MURDER OF ANGELS TEASERS!!!

2010-07-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

Gggnnnnn....must not...show....the ...really cool...stuff...I've just drawn!

I REALLY wish I could show you the latest pages of Defoe (coming out in September's 2000AD) but Tharg would cut off one of my balls (leaving me with only three) so you'll have to make do with these non-spoilery panels....

SOMETHING FROM THE VAULTS 5!!!

2010-07-05T03:56:00.000-07:00

Right, here's one I don't think I've shared before...

After Vertigo's The Witching finished in 2004-05, I decided to knock out this Swamp Thing pic just for a sample. Pretty happy with it especially as I did the whole thing in one night...
Nothing came of it and it remained unpublished, and years later when I was working on LEGO BIONICLE, I *GASP* re-used the background for this page....
Don't tell anyone! It'll be our secret, ok?

MORE "I'M IN A ROCK 'N' ROLL BAND!!!

2010-07-05T03:13:00.000-07:00

OK, so the BBC's "I'M IN A ROCK 'N' ROLL BAND" finished some weeks ago (previous posts HERE and HERE), but here's a few more pieces I did for it...

This Ian Brown pic was the sample I did when I was first approached by SUMCREATIVE....

And here's the KISS Olympics! Not really my usual art style but I had to stick to the style already established by the original artist.

Right, I'm off to sort out another post to make up for the lack of them lately, you lucky, lucky ladies...

2D FESTIVAL!!!

2010-06-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

GAH!!! Yes I KNOW I'm way late with this "report", but y'know, deadlines, so I apologise....

Anyhoo, as you know I very kindly got an invite to Derry's 2D Festival a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say Niki and I had an AMAZING time!

I've never been looked after so well at a convention before--they literally did everything for us apart from bathe us! Come to think of it....WHY didn't they bathe us dammit?! Next year I demand to be bathed!

We flew in on the Friday, interrupting the wonderful comic workshops being held at the time, but wasn't needed until a panel discussion that night in the PUB, entitled "Everyone's a Critic", about blogging, podcasts, and social network sites. I was on that panel with shiny headed Gary Erskine, bearded Sunnyside Comics Aaron Abernethy, the also bearded Mark Cardwell from Bad Librarianship Now, and hosted by the lovely Emma Vieceli, who did not have a beard.

Never done a panel in a pub before--have to say it's a surprising great place to have them! The talks basically just turn into a big pissed up laughathon! This actual panel is going to be aired on a future episode of Sunnyside Comics, so I'll update with a link

soon...

Instead of baby sitting me for the day, Niki went on a WAGs day trip around Derry with our good friend Mhairi and friend. I usually worry about Niki having a good time at conventions, but it was nice to know she was getting having a great time with the girls, probably talking about boobs and stuff...

And so Saturday was when I got to work, with Vieceli as my neighbour (and I couldn't think of a better neighbour to have!)) What's great about 2D is that it's a FREE event and very family orientated as well. We spent the whole day sketching for anyone that asked, and I later joined artists Ilya and Mark Stafford for the "Monster Me" sketching session (and did my back in!) where we drew some lovely people as grotesque monsters, though a bit worried about the 6 year old who asked to be drawn as "Kick Ass"... Gutted I was stuck with a crappy disposable camera that was useless so I don't have any evidence of sketches I'm afraid. But it's a genuinely good feeling handing over a sketch to a kid that you know is going to cherish it...

Later on it was back to the pub for our 2000AD panel with big daddy Pat Mills, Colin Wilson, Glenn Fabry, my old nemesis PJ Holden and myself. I'll be the first to admit we had a ropey start as we didn't really know what we were doing, but after the first 5 minutes we definately pulled it together and created a thing of utter BEAUTY. We got some great anecdotes, and funny moments like the entire crowd chanting for Pat to hug me, myself having to deny accusations that I looked like Gok Wan after my photo kept on appearing on the slideshow behind us, and after I shared a comment from Pat about my "zombie hands looking too sad" the crowd started doing "Jazz hands"! Unbelievable. We had so many lovely compliments from folk after that... See? Who needs Al Ewing with his Tharg mask doing his Orville the Duck impersonations!!!

I met so many lovely people, but special shout outs to: Eclectic Micks' Nick Roche and Stephen Mooney with lovely wife Jacintha (who REALLY isn't helping my Gok Wan case). Also the rest of the Sunnyside Comics team , Scott Ferguson and Karen Quinn--the only person on this Earth who apparently has the power to put that utter nutjob PJ in his place (seriously, he was like a hamster on crack!)! Wez and Sean are a couple of talented film makers who interviewed a bunch of the guests and I look forward to seeing how good my hair looked on camera...

Speaking of Sunnyside, they did a funny as hell podcast on 2D that can be found here!

Titan Books editor Steve White sat at my table for a while sketching, and left behind a BEAUTIFUL dinosaur sketch that is now framed in my studio. (pic at the bottom of this post!)

Finally, I obviously have to say a huge thank you to organisers David Campbell, Garry Leach, Ciaran Flanagan and Bridin Crilly. Those guys were amazing and if you need me back next year I'll be there if you bathe me this time... with a loofah.

(Photos courtesy of Ciaran Flanagan and Bec Hill)

(Sketch by the awesome Steve White)

BRISTOL COMIC CON REPORT!!!

2010-05-28T18:21:00.001-07:00

WOW...what a weekend! I honestly had the BEST weekend at last weekend's Bristol convention!

I've not been in years, but Bristol was THE con to go to when trying to break in. I have to say, it was nice being there after all this time and not having to keep an eye out for an editor to pimp my work to...

This time, it was all about hanging at the 2000AD table with my new friends (Rebellion's Pye Parr, Luke Preece and Wiggz), and catching up with a lot of my old friends. And so much fun was had! It genuinely put me on such a high for days afterwards!

Check out these photos, all courtesy of Rebellion's Wiggz...
Above is me pencilling the big ass Dredd pic that would be later given away to a lucky chappy in a draw.
The finished piece! I'm telling you though, that gun was a pain in the ass to draw...whoever designed it needs a punch in the balls...

The next day I decided to tackle something a bit easier for the give away prize--a zombie. Hey kids, it's 2000AD artist Lee Carter!
The finished piece! It was harder than I thought finding the time to do this, as I gladly did sketches for anyone that asked, but also had to finish it before our 2000AD panel that writer Al Ewing was in charge of. The panel in question definitely had its bizarre moments like Al doing an Orville impersonation with the discarded skin of Tharg...?!
Here's me handing the zombie pic over to Jen, the well deserved winner! She even left me a nice message afterwards--makes it all worth it!
I was introduced to a lovely American bloke by the name of Jimmy Aquino of the fantastic podcast, Comic News Insider, who was obviously drunk because he asked to interview me the next day! Make with the clicky HERE to listen to a very funny show--my interview can be found around the 41 minute mark....I warn you, I do attempt to do a Welsh impersonation...

Thank you so much to all of those who stopped by the 2000AD booth to say hi. And good luck to all of you who showed us their portfolios--I've never been to a con where I've seen so many talents that deserve to be getting professional work--hang in there guys, your time will definately come!

I also met Cosmo--possibly the coolest 10 year old I've ever met in my life, and future comic book artist...or actor...

And finally thanks to all my friends, old and new, who made me laugh so bloody hard--you know who you are....

CONVENTION APPEARANCES!!!

2010-05-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one guys to let you know that I'll be at The Bristol International Comic and Small Press Expo on the 22nd-23rd May. You'll be able to find me at the 2000AD table all weekend! And just like at the previous SFX Weekender, myself, Clint Langley and whatever other droids are available, will be doing HUGE drawings that you can win in a raffle, of which you can get a ticket with every purchase!

Also, on the 4th and 5th of June, I'm a guest of the 2D Comics Festival in Northern Ireland, Derry! Never been to Ireland before and I can't wait!

DEFOE "A MURDER OF ANGELS" UPDATE!!!

2010-05-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

Still quite a wait until Defoe returns to 2000AD in September, but that's fine by me, as I have LOADS to still do anyway!

Obviously I can't show much at this point, but above is a couple of non spoilery panels ( And yes, Defoe is pissed in that shot!).

Even though this is Book 4 of Defoe, Pat Mills and I are discussing Book 5, and I'm proud to say that he thought my idea for a story point (and cover) featuring Mungo's codpiece was "Excellent"...so that's nice....

"I'M IN A ROCK'N'ROLL BAND" UPDATE!!!

2010-05-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

Well, BBC2's "I'M IN A ROCK 'N' ROLL BAND!" has recently aired Episode 2. More info on the series can be found on the BBC website HERE. A blog post on "the making of" can be found HERE.

For any Brits, you can view the series on BBC iPlayer HERE!

Below are some of the drawings I did for the main title sequence, which were then sent to my old mate Alan OBrien (drawn as the lead singer!) of SUMCREATIVE who did an unbelievable job jazzing it up with computery animation and wacky effects!

I've attached some screen shots of the final sequence that obviously don't do it any justice...

By the way, even though you may not see my name in every episode's credits, I HAVE worked on every episode...don't ask...

And yes, I drew myself as the drummer....what? You're just jealous cos I'm in a band...

"I'M IN A ROCK 'N' ROLL BAND" ON BBC2!!!

2010-04-30T04:08:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

You'd better be watching BBC2's "I'M IN A ROCK 'N' ROLL BAND!"-- a 6 part series starting this Saturday night at 21.40!!!

I was brought in by post production company SumCreative to join artists Mike Collins and Steve Beaumont on illustrating a pile of semi animated cutaway scenes of anecdotes told by top rock legends like Iggy Pop, Sting and Gene Simmons!!!

By the time I'd been brought in to help on this job, an artistic style had already been established, so don't expect to see any "Defoe" style renderings--this will look more like my "Bionicle" style

What you'll be able to see of my work in particular:

--The shadowy band members in the main title sequence (pay close attention to the drummer, who looks particulary attractive *ahem*)...

--I've been inking a large number of Steve Beaumont's pencils.

--I'm pencilling/inking some full scenes later on in the series, one of which involves the legendary KISS!!!

All these images have been coloured, animated and beautifully jazzed up with computery wizardry by the top people at SumCreative who have produced opening title/credit sequences for shows that I can guarantee that you've seen and been impressed by...

Once I've got the go ahead, I'll post up some pics to go with this.

But seriously, watch this show! It looks like it's going to be fantastic!

(P.S. Saturdays are officially my favourite day of the week---Total Wipeout, Doctor Who, and now this!!!)

SOMETHING FROM THE VAULTS 4!!!

2010-04-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

You lot had better appreciate this post as it took bloody AGES top scan in!

Waaaaaaay back in 2003-2004 I was given the huge break by Shelly bond of Vertigo to pencil the series, "The Witching", written by Jon Vankin (with some cracking dialogue!) , with inks first by Ron Randall, then later by Dan Green, and covers by Tara McPherson

The series came to an end after 10 issues and I didn't see any trade collections released until last year when DC sent me Spanish and Italian versions. I very much doubt there'll ever be an English version!

This was a long time before I developed a style of my own, but I think the storytelling still stands up. Enjoy!

HI-EX COMIC CONVENTION THIS WEEKEND!!!

2010-03-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I'm not attending this year's Hi-Ex convention in Inverness on 27-28th March, but to relieve my guilty a little, I did this A3 inked drawing of Hellboy for their charity auction.

Even if you can't make the convention, I believe it's still possible to bid for any items you desire by contacting Rich and Vicky via their site.

I'm going to be curious to see how this baby does compared to last years Batman piece I donated....

Have a great time if you're going and tell them I said hi!

SAYING GOODBYE TO JOHN HINKLENTON.

2010-03-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, the sad news arrived that 2000AD artist John Hinklenton has passed away after a legendary fight against the disease MS.

I'm sorry to say I never had the honour of knowing him personally, but his work inspired me from the very first time I opened 2000AD 23 years ago, when I saw the strip "Nemesis in The Two Torquemadas" (written by Pat Mills with whom I work with on Defoe now).

His unique and brutal art style left me with images in my head that I still carry with me now, and I thank him for no doubt being influential in where my career has taken me.

I seriously recommend purchasing the dvd "Here's Johnny", a fantastic documentary about his life, his art, and how he coped with MS.

Below are a few scans of that very issue I still own of 2000AD...

Finally, here's a tribute, written by his good friend Pat Mills to be published in a future issue of the Megazine....

Article for next Megazine. From Pat Mills.

Here’s Johnny

Pat Mills looks back at the career of the extraordinarily talented John Hicklenton who sadly passed away on Friday 19^th March 2010.

A year or so ago, I showed some of Johnny’s pages from Judge Dredd - The Tenth Circle to my co-creator on Requiem Vampire Knight, artist Olivier Ledroit. He looked at them in awe and exclaimed. “How does he sleep at night?!” If you’ve seen the Tenth Circle, you’ll know what Olivier means. Actually, I took it as a compliment as Requiem is also pretty dark .And Johnny slept very well . His art might be disturbing for some, but never for me , for reasons which I think 2000AD fan Jonathan Fisher has summed up best , “John's work is subversive, sublime and perverse yet beautiful and intriguing.”

For me, Johnny is the Jimi Hendrix of comic artists. Easy viewing comic “muzak” he’s not. His grotesque images bear comparison with Gerald Scarfe and Ralph Steadman and are not for the squeamish. Yet his elegant thin line work has much in common with Aubrey Beardsley. Internationally rated by artists such as Moebius, let me take you now on a brief tour of some of his creations.

Johnny’s first work was a future shock written by Neil Gaiman .(Curiously, the only story of Neil’s that 2000AD ever published). Johnny sent it to me and on the basis of this and other grotesqueries, I asked him to draw Nemesis. He at once brought a scary organic sensibility to the Warlock and a psychotic look to Torquemada . This psycho-look he recreated later in the Inspector Ryan stories from Third World War. The racist deranged Ryan was conceived by my co-writer Alan Mitchell and Alan brilliantly directed Johnny on the story, choosing Angela Kincaid to colour it which she did beautifully without destroying the artist’s black line, a common problem with colorists. Many regard the Inspector Ryan series as his finest work and certainly they did in Europe. It was reprinted in graphic album form in German, French and Dutch editions in an elite masterwork series. But never in the UK, alas, although I hope reader requests might persuade Rebellion to follow suit one day.

Then there was our Zombie World Tree of Death saga for Dark Horse USA – about a Satanic cabbalistic map based on the London Underground map which brings demons into our world. It was reprinted recently in the collection “Winter’s Dregs”. (Johnny is credited as Johnny Deadstock after the band he was a part of.) We went to the catacombs in Kensal Green Cemetery to research the story and had an enjoyable Goth day out wandering underground amongst the Victorian caskets wondering, “What if…?”. The black comedy results include exploding coffins with a zombie stuck to the ceiling. The demons featured are also brilliant – my favourite is a wolf with a huge distended belly elevated high above us on tripod-like legs.

The German publisher Extreme , backed by top German band Die Arzte, also loved Johnny’s work . They said they wanted extreme, so we produced the graphic novel Torturer for them set in Cathar France. This was a return to the demonic Inquisition world Johnny first captured in Nemesis. His range of demons seems inexhaustible. Many of them have appeared in his Judge Dredds and especially in The Tenth Circle when Dredd visits Dante’s Inferno. Reproduction problems may not have shown this story to best advantage but I think that’s being looked into now. And who else but Johnny could create man-mountain Hungry Jacko? X Face? Or Darcagis, the demon with stakes through his eyes? And the triple George Bush bleeding oil? I always regretted that Johnny never drew my recent Dredd story “Birthday Boy” about a villain with candles stuck in his face and body. If he had, it would have become as memorable as Pinhead.

Johnny started a biographical novel based on his multi- award winning documentary about his fight against MS. (www.heresjohnnyfilm.com ) It was great, but then he decided to write and draw a fantasy story instead as his final work : 100 months. He completed it just last week. More about 100 months , Pandora and two other Johnny classics – Bedlam and Fearteachers - another time, other than to say they are all fabulous and worth an article to themselves. Once again, it’s other countries that often seem to recognize his talent : 100 Months first sold to two countries in Europe, although I’ve just heard a UK publisher has also picked it up.

But 2000AD was always his first love. His wonderful partner Claire told me, “Please know that Johnny, my beautiful Johnny, was funny, wise and brave to the last - just as he was every other day of his war. The day before 'D-day' he wrote the afterword for Slaine and drew 2 wonderful sketches to sit alongside it.” Clint Langley and I intend to feature these sketches and words in a future Slaine volume dedicated to Johnny.

Sleep well, my dear friend.

Pat Mills March 23, 2010.

SOMETHING FROM THE VAULTS 3!!!!

2010-03-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

Sorry about the quiet few weeks. Too much work to get done, and in all honesty I'm feeling a little off my game right now, so I'm pulling an all nighter tonight to try and get back on track.

For now, here's a little something from 2005, in the horrible period where I had stopped working for Vertigo and was basically out of work for over a year. Out of around 30 editors I had wrote to for work, only around 3 or 4 had the courtesy to reply--one of which was DC's Michael Wright who graciously tried me out for two books--Justice League Unlimited and a new Batgirl series.

Unfortunately the plans for the proposed new Batgirl series fell through, but I got the JLU work! Some of my pencilled pages from that issue can be found at this earlier post.

So here's the few pages I came up with. It's a bit of a secret look at the "casting couch" of the comics world (but without having to take off my pants and pose with donkey). I'm still pretty happy with them, looking back. Though one thing that I'd change is that her thighs look a bit too big and manly on the last page....yeesh...

MAKING OF ANOTHER JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE PAGE!!!

2010-02-13T06:33:00.000-08:00

Wow, two posts in one day you lucky, lucky ladies....

Here's a quick walk through the stages of the first page of my most recent Judge Dredd strip in the latest Megazine (the making of the cover can be found here), from Robbie Morrison's script, to my roughs, pencils and inks, Abigail Ryder's colours, and finally letters by Annie Parkhouse. Enjoy!

SFX WEEKENDER PHOTOS!!!

2010-02-13T04:10:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the lateness of this guys. I've actually been ill with "convention flu" since the day I got back from the SFX Weekender....bit frustrating with all the work I've not been able to do!

Anyhoo....here's some pics! Here's incredible ABC WARRIORS artist Clint Langley and I doing our thing at the 2000AD booth...

Mega stud and 2000AD writer, Al Ewing and I were drafted in to do a workshop where we had to create a comic book page in 45 minutes.....Al asked the audience for suggestions on what the story could be, eventually ending up with a Dredd tale about an MP with a sexbot that rips off his head.....

In all seriousness, I have to say that Al was INCREDIBLE engaging the audience on the microphone...where as the audience had a great view of the back of my head and my ass...

Check out the Ghostbuster creature on both sides of the stage!

Yeah...you aint gonna see the final page...not my best moment...but what the hell do you expect in 45 minutes?! It takes at least 45 HOURS to do a bloody page! The audience seemed to enjoy it though...

The next day, Clint had the FANTASTIC idea for us to do more finished drawings on huge boards for us to later give away as prizes. For every purchace at the 2000AD booth, you would get a raffle ticket. I really hope 2000AD adopt this idea to use at every convention now as it was really popular. Below is Clint's HUGE Judge Dredd on 4 boards together, and my Defoe/zombie piece...

At the last minute, Clint decided to knock out a third prize of this gorgeous demon drawing!

The talented sod doesn't even pencil first--just goes straight to inks!

A big thanks to our lovely PR, Charley Grafton Chuck, who arranged for Clint and I to jump on the stage with Gareth David-Lloyd who played Ianto in one of my favourite shows, Torchwood (!) and give away our drawings!

I'd like to say that Ianto and I swapped emails afterwards...but we didn't...

That's your lot! A big shout out to SFX and 2000AD for the invite and graciously putting us up, and it was great to hang out with mates new and old--the married couple that is Geek Syndicate, the wacky gang of Abaddon Books, Murky Depths, Genki Gear, and of course all the lovely folk who stopped by to say hi and get a sketch! (Apart from the one who got me sick....gggrrrr...)

SFX WEEKENDER!!!

2010-02-02T13:41:00.001-08:00

Probably should have mentioned this alot sooner, but I'm a guest at the SFX Weekender held in Pontins Holiday Park at Camber Sands, Sussex, this Friday and Saturday!

I'm actually joining a batch of fellow 2000AD droids, and in particular I'll be doing a workshop with writer Al Ewing, attempting to create an improvised comic book page in front of a live audience, in um, 45 minutes. Should be interesting....

Never thought I'd see the day that I'd be back at Pontins, but I'm really looking forward to it. Now i just have to think of intelligent things to say to all the authors and tv stars that will be there....

MAKING OF A JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE COVER!!!

2010-02-01T16:45:00.001-08:00

Helloooo.......Above is the cover I did for the latest JUDGE DREDD MAGAZINE 294, out in stores in the next few days, you lucky ladies!

Inside this issue is the second and final part of "Dog Soldiers" written by Robbie Morrison, drawn by myself, coloured by Abigail Ryder and lettered by Annie Parkhouse.

The Mighty Tharg asked me to come up with a cover based on the cliff hanger ending of the previous episode, with a werewolf pouncing on Dredd...have a guess which version he picked....

So going with my first idea, with Tharg asking me to flip the image, I went to pencils....though would you believe I actually drew this bugger out at least FIVE times! I was never happy with the Dredd/werewolf ratio, as well as deciding whether or not to show his free hand--in the end, deciding not to as I'd have to make Dredd smaller to fit it in, and I also knew that text would cover that section anyway. But here's ONE of the pencilled pages....
Inks...this actually took a couple goes to get right as well...it was part nerves as well, knowing it was my very first Judge Dredd cover, and not wanting to balls it up.
This here is the rocky background I decided to add on a separate layer so that the graphic design droids at 2000AD wouldn't have to "cut around" the werewolf that I knew would be going over some of the logo.
Colours next...no problems here for once!
I faded out the dense blacks on the background so that the foreground characters could stand out more.
All that was left was to dim down the lights, put some Barry White on, and leave these two alone in a room for 20 minutes...eventually they made this....
Ok, that's your lot for now.....NOW GO AWAY!!!

BLOODY KNACKERED, BUT HERE'S SOME NICE NEWS!

2010-01-15T17:12:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've just finished two all nighters in a row to get this first episode of Defoe done...been a while since I've done that, but nice to know I'm still capable of doing them when I have to! Here's a taster panel below with all the gang together, as it'll be at least 6 months before this comes out!In other news, Defoe 1666 has recently been named in TWO "Best of 2009" lists. A big sloppy kiss to Ed kaye at Hypergeek, and Graeme Neil Reid at the Forbidden Planet International blog!
Finally, I'm very proud that my zombie baby cover for 2000AD prog 1643 was voted as one of the "Top 5 covers of 2009" by some lovely fans at 2000AD forums, and ALSO got a shout out from Richmond Clements on the 2000AD Review site! Thanks guys, it made a nice start to 2010!

JUDGE DREDD "DOG SOLDIERS" PART 1!!!!

2010-01-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

Have to keep this quick guys as I'm in "deadline panic mode" (seriously, what idiot decides to draw every bloody brick of the Tower of London??? Oh right, me...).

Anyway, earlier this week the Judge Dredd Megazine issue 293 appeared in stores today, featuring the first part of the Dredd story "Dog Soldiers", written by Robbie Morrison, drawn by myself, and coloured by Abigail Ryder.

Here's some "page stages"--sorry I couldn't find my rough layouts though.

My first Judge Dredd story! WOOOO!!!!

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

2009-12-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

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!

SOMETHING FROM THE VAULTS 2!!!!

2009-12-27T17:33:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2009-12-24T17:20:00.000-08:00

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!

SOMETHING FROM THE VAULTS 1

2009-12-18T15:56:00.000-08:00

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!

JUDGE DREDD COVER TEASER!!!

2009-12-01T15:12:00.001-08:00

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.

BIONICLE COLLECTION!!!

2009-11-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

For those of you that don't know, I was the 2008 artist for the DC Comics/LEGO BIONICLE series. You can check out my earlier related posts HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and finally HERE. (Blimey, I was busy!)

It was, and still is, a free comic book mailed to a million LEGO Club fans around the globe (but not here in the UK), though you can still find all the issues flash animated on the official LEGO site. Links to the episodes below: (Ignore the numbering on the site--I've just numbered my run.)

Anyhoo, even though DC publish the regular comic book, PAPERCUTZ have the rights to publish the collected editions. Finally my 2008 run has it's own collection in hardback and paperback called "BIONICLE 7: REALM OF FEAR" out NOW!!!

I can't wait to see it! Especially excited to finally get a HARDBACK collection --it feels so grown up....(yes I KNOW it's a kid's book...)

Have to admit, it kind of feels like closure to a marvelous, yet crazy time of my life.

You can find these collections at AMAZON, AMAZON UK and THE BOOK DEPOSITORY. (Don't forget you can choose between hardback and paperback!)

Above is the cover for the collection, and a sketch I did especially to thank the lovely fans at BZPOWER for all their support during my run.

Catch you later!

THOUGHT BUBBLE ROCKED AGAIN!!!

2009-11-24T16:03:00.001-08:00

Well THAT was a kick ass weekend! I really needed cheering up after a really crappy week, and this years Thought Bubble convention in Leeds did the trick!

To the LOVELY Lisa Wood and her team, I'd like to give a big virtual hug to, for the invite, for looking after us, and for just being you! You guys rock.

I was especially happy as it was actually the most succesful convention I've had to date, selling nearly all but two of my Defoe books, as well as a number of zombie prints and copies of The End is Nigh 4. But a HUGE THANK YOU to the generous guys and gals who donated cash for each sketch for the Draw The World Together charity! You are genuinely going to help a little child somewhere in India.

Me and Niki were very glad to be sitting next to Jeremy Briggs and top artist Graeme Neil Reid. That guy needs to be working for 2000AD dammit. It's always nice to have good company at these conventions.

I really do prefer these 1 day conventions--it's more compact, more focused, and less chance of it fizzling out in the next day--being tired from drawing the whole of the previous day and partying all night! The ONLY drawback is that it's so short and sweet, I had way too brief encounters with good friends that I don't see nearly enough.

Speaking of partying, Me and Niki (who can I say is fantastic at talking away to fans whilst I sketch for them) managed to last till 3am at the Alea Casino party, but not before seeing the most incredible sights on the dancefloor...

And a brief rave about our accomodation at the new City Inn--pretty much the most impressive hotel I've stayed at in a long time--there's a bloody iMac in every room! And when Niki dropped her fork at breakfast, I've never seen so many staff rush to her aid like it was her life at stake!

Do I really need to say it? OF COURSE I'll be at next years con!

I leave you with some photos from the event....

This chap asked for a Daredevil/Venom hybrid--turned out quite well!

I apologise for my hair in this pic...

The best costume of the convention!

Finally, a brief glimpse into the secret, shady world of the comic con after party....

MORE DREDD TEASERS AND ERM...

2009-11-17T17:57:00.000-08:00

Well I've finished my two episodes of Judge Dredd for the 2000AD Megazine, so here's some taster panels from episode two! Just working on the cover now, but it genuinely was an honour to set foot in Dredd's world. Hopefully I'll be able able to have another crack at it one day.

As soon as I know when it's getting published I'll let you know, but what I can tell you is that it'll be coloured by fantastic new colourist Abigail Ryder (who recently coloured the gorgeous Kingdom for 2000AD!)

Right...umm...I really didn't think this next item would ever be revealed to the blogging public, but a couple of months ago I did a bit of a jokey, ADULT ONLY sketch of artist extrodinaire PJ HOLDEN, only intended for a certain crowd....but it was recently released on the Eclectic Micks Artblog as punishment for PJ failing to do his day's art post....I WARN YOU IT'S ADULTS ONLY!

Speaking of PJ Holden, it's his turn to have his tiny ass pimped, so please check out his new mini series,BATTLEFIELDS: Happy Valley, written by incredible writer Garth(Preacher)Ennis, published by Dynamite. There's an article about it at CBR here! So go buy it and relieve my guilt!

LEEDS THOUGHT BUBBLE THIS WEEKEND!!!

2009-11-17T16:26:00.000-08:00

Yup, it's that time again!

We had a FANTASTIC time at last year's Thought Bubble, so we're coming back for more baby!!! Lots of events are planned from the 19th November, all the way to the 22nd, but I'll have a table again at this Saturday's main event, all of which you can find the details here!

I'll be selling copies of Defoe , The End is Nigh 4 (which I did the cover for) and a limited edition zombie print. I was actually hoping to have copies of the hardback collection of my Bionicle run, but the release has been delayed...

Not sure if i'll be giving away a free krispy kreme donut with every sketch this time, but I will be sketching for any donations that go towards the charity Draw the World Together!

Hope to see you there guys!

POLISHING MY HELMET!!!!

2009-11-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

Helloooo you lovely people....well last weekend's END IS NIGH event at Bradford's Impressions Gallery was ALOT of fun! Was great to meet up with some buddies, finally see my cover in print, and Michael Molcher himself did a SURPRISINGLY entertaining and educational talk about the Apocalypse! Seriously, he was so good, I was expecting FBI agents to approach him afterwards, asking for his help on case.... And a big thanks to Impressions big kahuna, Sarah, for looking after us so well with cake!

As for the magazine itself, top bloke Ed Kaye of Hypergeek has given it a great review here!

This lovely Judge Dredd helmet arrived at 7.30 this morning from Termight Replicas! I've wanted one of these babies for a LONG time....especially cool as it came just as I'm inking the final pages of my Judge Dredd story! If you're a big 2000AD fan you have to get this! They only made a very limited run but still have a few left--you can find all the info about their products here!

ART FOR HEARTS CHARITY AUCTION

2009-11-01T03:27:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

Before I leave for the Bradford End is Nigh event, I'd like to take a brief departure from the usual stuff to point you in the direction of Ian Stacey's ARTS FOR HEARTS charity Auction.

Ian's set up this blog to help promote the upcoming auction of artwork by children's illustrators, with all proceeds going towards research done by the transplant team at Great Ormand Street Hospital.

I'll be keeping an eye on this as one day I'd like to go into the children's illustration world myself one day.

The auction starts November 2nd and runs for a week. Go check out some of the donated children's illustrations HERE!

THE END IS NIGH EVENT AND MAKING OF THE COVER!!!

2009-10-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

Me again!

Right, a couple of months ago I finished the cover for Michael Molcher's apocalyptic magazine, "THE END IS NIGH" issue 4.

This Sunday 1st November is the official launch at Bradford's Impressions Gallery 12.30pm till 4.30pm! Michael will be doing a talk about the end of the world at 2pm, and for the rest of the afternoon I'll be on hand, as there'll be a drawing /drinking session for anyone that wants to join in (thanks to award winning comic store OK COMICS who will also have lots of apocalypse themed comics for you to browse through or buy, including Defoe!). Should be LOADS of fun! I'm so excited, a little bit of wee just came out....

Anyway, you can find all the details for this FREE event here! All the cool kids will be there!

Impressions Gallery

Centenary Square

Bradford, BD1 1SD.

Tel: 01274 734 635

Right, below is the making of the cover I did for THE END IS NIGH issue 4!

Michael left it up to me as to what I should depict on the cover as long as it was exciting and apocalyptic. What with Swine Flu scaring the crap out of everyone these days, I came up with these two rough ideas with "The Grim Reaper and pigs"...

He went with my first rough drawing, but with the great idea to add other animals who have, or could, become possible infection threats in the future.

Pencils.....It took a while to get a composition that would favour all the animals we wanted to put in. Also, it was a pain in the ass finding decent reference for the animals I used, as I didn't just want to bluff how, for instance, pigs will look running towards you....

I submitted two colour versions to Molcher. This one above I thought was simple and striking with the white background, though he decided to go with the red background below....
Here's the final image! It probably does work better with the red background, and he wisely advised me to tone down the green sliver from their mouths...

Hope you like it anyway. Pretty happy with how it turned out, and it was nice to work on a piece that's a complete departure from my usual stuff! Once I get the file for the lettered version, I'll update this post.

MCM EXPO FUN AND WACKYNESS!!!

2009-10-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well we had a FANTASTIC weekend at the London MCM EXPO! A huge thanks to organizers Emma Vieceli, Anna Peterson and Andrew Ruddick for the invite and all their hard work!

It was our first time being around that many cosplayers, and it made it so entertaining to watch them go by inbetween my sketching for folk. SOME were a bit kinkier than others (not that I was complaining) but these guys put so much effort into their costumes, you can't help but be impressed, and sometimes a little jealous...

Hung out with lots of good mates, made some new ones---basically all the things that makes for a great convention!

I'll be making an effort to go to the next one in May!

I did a short, fun interview with David Monteith from one of my favourite podcasts, Geek Syndicate, in the latest show 137, which you can find here! A great episode about the Expo--my interview can be found around 41 minutes into it!

LOADS of photos below, my favourites being the ones where cosplayers beat the crap out of me....ENJOY!

A cool manga portrait of me and Niki by Asia Alfasi!

Hey ladies, it's Al Ewing!!!

Hey kids, it's Declan Shalvey!

My sketch of Niki....

I just had to end on this guy dressed as 2000AD's Rogue Trooper!!!

LONDON MCM EXPO THIS WEEKEND!!!

2009-10-20T05:39:00.000-07:00

Helloooo....just a reminder that I'll have a table (C7 in the Comics Village) this Saturday only at London's MCM Expo. The actual event is for the whole weekend, but this is a new event for me so I just wanted to spend the Sunday just wandering around, enjoying it as a spectator for once. From what I've heard, this convention is HUGE and there's loads of guests from the world of comics, anime, film and tv, so I can't wait!

Anyway, for the Saturday at my table, I'll be doing the usual sketches, selling copies of the Defoe collection, and I may have some limited edition prints to sell.

See you there--just look out for the zombie baby display stand!

2000AD REVIEW INTERVIEW!!!

2009-10-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

For all of those who aint sick of my jibber jabber (always wanted to say that!) yet, here's another interview I did with Gavin Hanly for his 2000AD REVIEW site!

Whenever Defoe is published in 2000AD, his site is usually one of the first I go to, as their reviewers are pretty good at giving a fair and balanced review. So a big thanks to Gavin for asking me for an interview!

Make with the clicky here to read the interview!

MAKING OF A WEREWOLF PRINT CARD!!!

2009-10-16T17:19:00.001-07:00

Well I can finally show off this werewolf illustration I did for the top blokes at Renegade Arts Entertainment.

The company's Big Kahuna, Alex Finbow, basically said I could draw ANY horror image I liked for their upcoming print card series, so i immediately thought WEREWOLF! I'd just never had the opportunity to illustrate this classic hairy assed monster, and it literally took me 3 minutes to do the rough drawing below.

Before I show the rest of the illustrations, check out Renegade's site here to learn all about the card series, and what top creators they have working on them!

Right, turn the lights off, and get under the bed sheet, whilst we take a brief look at how I created the werewolf...

Below is the 3 minute sketch of my first thought which got approved by Alex. I immediately wanted to have the creature in a forest as it's a naturally creepy environment, and I just love drawing them to be honest.

Here's the more fully realized pencils. I think at the time I may have moved him higher up in the tree so I could feature the moon in the background....um, not quite sure what happened to that....And here's the final inked version! Pretty happy with how it turned out. I actually really enjoyed inking all the hair on the body. I'm just hoping I didn't over complicate the background detail. You have to bare in mind that when printed as the collector card, it gets reduced in size dramatically.
Finally, here's a small preview of all the cool print cards together in the series.

Hope you like it guys. It was a very fun job to do, and believe it or not, you may see me drawing more werewolves alot sooner than you think....

JUDGE DREDD TEASERS !!!

2009-10-13T04:02:00.000-07:00

Apologies for not posting sooner guys. Basically been busy getting the first episode of this Judge Dredd for the Megazine done! Here's a few non-spoilery panels.

When you finally see the full pages, you'll see a significant difference from my usual Defoe pages. Most noticable, I'm using more imaginative layouts and having elements break out of the panels.
Plus I'm cutting back on the usual crosshatching to give the colourist space to do his/her thing...have to say, I'm both nervous and excited at the same time to see how this baby turns out.

No idea when this is due out yet. I've still to do the second episode as well as a cover. As for future posts, I've been told I'll be able to post the cover I did for "The End is Nigh" magazine within the week, so we can have a good natter about that soon over a cup of tea and a custard cream.

By the way, I'd like to say a big thanks and congratulations to Ed Kaye of Hypergeek, who got his first credit in 2000AD Prog 1656 last week, with an interview with both Pat Mills and myself about Defoe!

Catch you soon.

L

MY NEW BABY!!!

2009-10-01T13:08:00.001-07:00

He likes eating corned beef hash....

And it's a boy!!! This beautiful fella's going to be joining me on all my future conventions so look out for us!

Unfortunately I can't make this weekend's Birmingham show (gotta get this Dredd story finished), but I'm signed up for London MCM Expo on Sat 24th October, and also Leeds Thought Bubble on Sat 21st November!

Right, I think he needs feeding again....

POST TRAVELLING MAN SIGNING!!!

2009-09-29T03:27:00.001-07:00

Above: Ian Edginton, Steve Yeowell and Dave Taylor.

Above: Antony Johnston, Me, and Al Ewing.

Girlfriend extrodinare Niki, and comic letterer extrodinare Simon Bowland, turned up for support.

It was a Joker sketch face-off between me and Dave Taylor!

Once again I had a FANTASTIC experience at the day's signing at Manchester's Travelling Man for the "We Love Comics Mini Comic Con"!!! Fans turned out in force to warmly greet myself, writers Al Ewing, Ian Edginton, Antony Johnston, and artists Dave Taylor and Steve Yeowell (who were all top blokes to hang out with). And as you can see, this time I have photos!

A big shout out to the cool customer who made us all enough cakes to feed Russia (though still confused by the cake design we weren't allowed to show the public....).

We were also joined for a night on the town by my lovely girlfriend Niki, and top comic book letterer Simon Bowland (who I can garantee is always working in the middle of the night at the same time as me).

For reasons I cannot disclose, Simon and I found a new hero in writer Al Ewing. All I can say is that Al is a STUD of the highest caliber, and he fully deserves to be on SFX Magazine's "Hot 50" list with Megan Fox from earlier in the year....

So a huge thank you to Haroon (who taught me the meaning of "Whack"), Nabil (who bought us all dinner!), and Abigail Ryder of Travelling Man for inviting us and showing us a good time! And congrats to Abigail for her soon to be published colouring work on Kingdom for 2000AD!

CRAP! QUICKLY BEFORE I LEAVE FOR THE WEEK....

2009-09-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hope to see you there!

POST ORBITAL SIGNING AND PODCAST INTERVIEW!!!

2009-09-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

Hey again,

Before I head off for a week's holiday, here's a couple of things....

Well I had a FANTASTIC weekend in London for the Orbital signing, with my writer Pat Mills and his incredible ABC WARRIORS/SLAIN artist Clint Langley! It's actually the first time I've met these guys in person despite knowing Pat in particular for 3 years(!) and we all got on like old pals.

The lovely guys at Orbital treated us really well, all the fans were cool (though we nearly had to stop some guys from humping Pat's leg), and to top it off, we had a surprise visit from the gang of 2000AD.....including The Mighty Tharg and his Mighty Wife!!!! We had such a cool night afterwards...

So a huge thank you to everyone involved--you actually made me "like" London, and I never thought I'd say that! If I manage to get some photos of the event, I'll update this post.

Right...I'd like to direct you all to the recent podcast interview I

did for the top guys at "Everything Comes Back to 2000AD" who I previously posted about here. If you can stand listening to my god awful scouse accent for an entire hour, then break out the Jelly Babies and put your feet up cos you're in for the ride of your evening!!!

It was good laugh, the boys were gentle with me for my very first podcast interview, and as long as they STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER I'm sure we'll stay good mates! Though I am gutted I forgot to do my Welsh impersonation...

You can find the interview here (click "direct download").

But be warned, there's STRONG LANGUAGE!

Ok, see you in a week guys, and greetings to all my new visitors from the Neil Gaiman Tweeting! (Over 4700 visitors in a day up to now!!!) So a big thanks to Neil, I'm glad you liked it, and cheers to Ed Kaye an Steven Gettis for putting it under his nose!

L (Sorry there's no drawings to post for once...)

PS. Before I forget, my buddies Dave Hendrick and Will Sliney have a great entry in this months Zuda Comics called THE SYMPTOMS, so check it out and vote for it here!

THE GRAVEYARD WRITER!!!

2009-09-08T03:04:00.000-07:00

(UPDATE: Unbelievably, when Neil Gaiman himself got wind of this image via the Twitterverse, thanks to Steve Gettis, my blog received around 5000 hits in 24 hours!)

Hey guys,

Steven Gettis has been bugging me for a whole year to contribute a drawing to his very impressive website where he collects artistic interpretations of literary characters and authors.

The sheer amount of top talent that he's recruited is astounding (God knows what dirt he's got on these guys!), and I'm very proud to be asked to join the gang.

Above is the Neil Gaiman drawing I contributed, obviously inspired by his incredible "Graveyard Book". Generally I shy away from doing "likenesses", but hopefully I haven't done that bad a job this time....

You can find Steve's humongous collection here!

Thank Buffy I can finally cross him off my list now....

Right, back to drawing Dredd...

LONDON ORBITAL COMICS SIGNING!!!

2009-09-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

Well if you ever prayed for your chance to throw rude shaped vegetables at me, here it is!

On Saturday 12th September,2pm at London's Orbital Comics, I'll be signing Defoe 1666 along with writer Pat Mills, who will also be signing with his other incredible ABC Warriors artist, Clint Langley! It's a triple whammy of comic book coolness!

Check out that poster--it's Battle of the Hairdos 2009, but there can only be one winner...

Here's a map of the store's location.

Really looking forward to it, so hope to see you there!