Comics Land comp copies!

Here are some wonky photos of my comp copies of the first series of Comics Land. They're lovely hardcovers and my art director did such an awesome job on the book design!

 



 

Calendar for January!

I was a bit slow on the uptake for this, but I thought I'd make a calendar a month for people to use! I'll try and get a bit more adventurous with the design as I go on but for now, here's a sea dog for January! The calendar is purely for personal use only - thanks! :D

Comics Land!

HUZZAH! I can finally blab about the awesome kid's books I've been working on! For the last year, I've been drawing a set of graphic novels for 5-7 year olds with the absolutely awesome Stone Arch Books, who I met at the New York Comic Con way back in 2010. I was over-the-moon when nearly 2 years later, I got an email asking if I'd like to work on a series for them. YES! It has turned out to be the best job I've ever had! :P

 

The series is called Comics Land and the books feature dinosaurs, robots, aliens and a whole lot of how-comics-work info for kids. The first two books, Dinosaurs For Breakfast and Snorkeling With Sea-Bots will be out at the beginning of March. I'm currently working on a second series of books which I also can't wait to share as the stories are so much fun and feature monkeys, goats and a whole lot of beans! I love that they've been designed as introductory comics for children and I really hope kids (and grown-ups!) will enjoy them. Here are some bits and pieces from the first series! All of the pages are minus the text and dialogue for the minute, but I'll be posting photos of the innards of the books when I get my copies.

 

 

Quite possibly my favourite book of the four is Dinosaurs for Breakfast! The main characters are a boy and his pet dinosaur, who keeps growing as the story progresses. Drawing dinosaurs is never a chore, especially when I get to make them look cute!

 



 

 

Josh and Rexy, before he starts to grow!

 

 

Josh looking after his egg - what will it hatch into?

 

Snorkeling With Sea-Bots -  Kolten goes snorkeling and discovers that the movements of the sea are controlled by a city of robots! Too much fun to draw an underwater robot city - pics coming soon! :P

 



 

 

Kolten and Rip the Sea-Bot.

 

I wish I could find a robot when I go snorkeling...

 

 

The New Kid From Planet Glorf - Sean goes into school after forgetting his book and finds an alien kid playing with objects from the classroom! I realised after designing Nurk, the alien boy, that he kind of looks like a space Axolotl!

 

 

 

Nurk of Glorf and Sean of Earth!

Nurk thinks a book is meant for cooling down.

 

 

Blastoff To The Secret Side Of The Moon! - Aaron finds a spaceship behind his house and after accidentally taking off, a secret amusement park on the dark side of the moon! I got to draw tons of aliens for this book! :P

 

 

 Aaron and an alien friend!

 

Aaron at the ship's controls (I loved drawing this!)

 

I'm currently drawing the second series of Comics Land which is somehow even more fun than the first. I've had such a great time drawing these books and I'm really proud to have been asked to draw 8 of them; I really hope people get a kick out of them because the writers have come up with some stories that are very funny, very cool and full of amazing characters. I'll keep you posted on series 2! :P

Another Sneaky Peek...

I'm still hard at work on series 2 of the awesome American kid's books I'm working on; the deadline is slowly creeping up and I'm enjoying every minute of the books I've done thus far. Here's a peek of something from the third book - a nautilus! Is he a major character? Is he just in the background? Did I draw it because I like any excuse to be able to draw a nautilus? Keep watching to find out! :P

2013 is Sasquatch Time!

Well, 2013 has already started off awesomely, as I got home from my Christmas break to find this in the post! One of my amazing arty fiends, Beck Seashols, made this fantastic crochet version of Sasquatch after I sent her the book. He site pride of place with my other crochet goodies!

Sneaky Peek...

Here's a very vague sneak peek at one of the kid's books I'm working on at the moment! I've finished 2 of the 5 I have on at the moment, but still have 3 to slog through before the mid-Feb deadline. I'm getting there though! :P

Big Step for 2013!

Well, I've made a big step that I've been working towards since I graduated from University waaaaaaaaaay back in 2003: I've finally quit the day job and am now an officially freelance illustrator. A lot of factors have stopped this from happening sooner over the years such as not having much money after graduation, taking a few wrong turns, etc. But the last 5 years years have been pretty much nothing but solid work towards this goal and I can't believe that it's now actually happening!

2012 has been a huge year for me; I've pretty much been working on a book a month for the year, and that doesn't include my own self-published work. I got to work on a dream job (which I will be able to announce soon) which has now been extended to early 2013 and maybe (big maybe) beyond that. Hopefully this will lead to more work with the publishers in question, and it's also looking like I can justify a trip to the San Diego Comic Con next year as the publishers go every year, my books will be there (yeep!) and my partner currently works for IDW who will also be there.

I'm expecting things to get harder now that I don't have a day job to back me up, but I only see this as a challenge to work even harder than I have been and this will hopefully lead to more work in 2013. I've put in a lot of work over the last 5 years and I feel elated that it's finally paying off. There was a time when I would sit and hope that work would fall in my lap but I started to learn that the more I put in, the more I got out and that's certainly been true for the last couple of years. I've had a lot of support from my amazing partner, John-Paul Bove , who is also enjoying some success after putting a lot of hard work into his writing and colouring career. Considering he also has a full-time job, this is also a huge achievement in itself!

I cannot imagine doing anything else but this for a living now and I hope that I can prove myself worthy of the title of Freelance Illustrator! :P

Your date's here!

Giveaway winner!

A big thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway - all of the comments were awesome and kept me laughing! The winner was randomly picked through Random.org and the winner is:

jbzen3

Well done! Thanks again all; I'll make sure to do another giveaway after xmas.

Updates and SUPER SASQUATCH GIVEAWAY!

Well, things have exploded into a cavalcade of busyness at the moment; I'm working full steam on 4 books that are due by February. I'm pretty stressed at the moment but hopefully it'll be for the greater good! The books are an awesome continuation of the series I'm working on for the American publishers (hopefully I can talk about these very soon and share some pictures!) so at least it's enjoyable stress! :P Anyway, as I've been a bit slack on my blog I thought I'd do a giveaway!

Up for grabs are a copy of my latest self-published effort, I Know Sasquatch, a sasquatch sticker and a whole bunch of sasquatch prints. All you have to do is leave a sasquatch related comment, along with your email address should you win. I'll pick the winner at random on the 24th of November. Good luck! :D

Happy Halloween!

New book: On The Farm!

Yay! The farm activity book I worked on earlier this year is now listed on Amazon. It comes out in Feb next year and I'm very excited! I've worked on another 4 books in this series, but this is the first whee I did the colour artwork as well as the single colour work. I had a great time with this book and am really looking forward to seeing it when it comes out. I'm also currently working on another book in the series, this one about princesses, so I'm having to channel my girly side! :P

I know Sasquatch!

Hooray! My new book, I Know Sasquatch arrived yesterday! I'll be selling this little chronicle of the day I met Sasquatch in the woods near my house at MCM Expo and Thought Bubble this year. It is also available in my online store!

I Love Katamari!

We Love Katamari is one of my all-time favourite games. I have a first-generation PS2 that still runs, even though it sounds like a lawnmower and WLK is pretty much the game that's always in it. This game never fails to cheer me up and my life-long ambition is to roll up The King Of All Cosmos which I struggle to do every time. One day...

Sketchy Doodles!

I'm trying to get back into the habit of drawing in my sketchbook every day, either before I leave for work, or in the evening when I'm vegging in front of the telly. I'm rather fond of trying to draw things without looking - might do some more of those! :P

Video Game Art Exhibition!

Some of my video game based prints will be displayed at an awesome exhibition as part of the London Games Festival in October! Lots of other talented peeps and game developers will also be exhibiting which should make it a really great show. Team 17 are also part of it which made my 11 year old self squeal for joy and want to get my Amiga out of the loft so I could play Alien Breed. Unfortunately (not too unfortunately though), I'll be at MCM on the weekend of the show itself so I wont be able to see it, but hopefully some pics will make it out! All of the work will be auctioned off to charity so get along to it if you want to own some amazing video game art and donate to a worthy cause.

Little Bitty Dredd!

I went to see Dredd 3D a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty good; I wasn't particularly bothered about watching it and went in with zero expectations and really enjoyed it. The 3D was actually worth seeing and I loved the atmosphere and minimalism. Even though I worked in a comic shop for over 3 years, I never really picked up any 2000AD. I had one issue of it that my mum bought me for holiday reading back in 1994 (was never quite sure what made her pick it up as me and my brother had never bought 2000AD). I still have that comic somewhere and the one story I really remember from it is Slaughterbowl which I can't find anywhere but would love to read again. I'm quite tempted to pick up a couple of the Judge Dredd case files at some point and give Dredd a proper go.

My very talented other half, John-Paul Bove is currently colouring/grey-toning a story for the Judge Dredd Megazine at the moment and also coloured a cover for the upcoming IDW series, drawn by Jim Starlin no less! Anyway, seeing the film gave me a push to actually draw a Dredd (apologies to the many people who have asked me to for years!) and quite enjoyed doodling him and his satisfying colour scheme!

The Rather Odd Alphabet!

My new small press book, The Rather Odd Alphabet was delivered today! It's 32 pages of weird and wonderful animals and words and you'll be able to pick it up from me at all the comic cons I'll be attending. However, if you simply cannot wait that long, it's also available in my online store. Be sure to check out my other books which now have new prices and shipping prices! :D

Upcoming Comic Cons!

I've got a few comic cons left for this year and I should also have a few new books for them too.

Bristol Comic and Zine Fair - a small one day zine fair on the 23rd of September. I've never done this one before so hopefully it'll be a nice little fair!

MCM Expo - I'll be in the Comic Village again this October for more fun and frolics!

Thought Bubble - There's an awesome line-up of creators at TB this year - I cannot wait!

Hope to see you all at one of these!

Noodle Doodle!