HI EX 2009

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

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

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

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

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

L

IT'S A BIT OF A BUGGER...

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

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

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

L

HI-EX CONVENTION!

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

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

L

STUDIO TOUR!

MERRY XMAS GUYS!

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

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

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

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

L

BIONICLE 15 IS ONLINE!

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

PHONOGRAM:THE SINGLES CLUB #3

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

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

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

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

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

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

LEEDS THOUGHT BUBBLE ROCKED!

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  Wow...what a weekend!

  
  

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

  
  

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

  
  

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

  
  

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

  
  

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

  
  

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

  
  

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

  
  

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

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

  
  

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

  
  

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

  
  

  L
  
  

MORE WORK IN PROGRESS...

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

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

L

WORK IN PROGRESS...

Hey guys,

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

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

More soon!

L

MY FINAL BIONICLE...

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

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

Enjoy!

L

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

HE'S BACK!!!

Hellooooooo.....

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

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

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

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

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

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

Catch you soon,

L

APOLOGIES GUYS...

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

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

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

Take care for now!

L