"Nelson, Nelson every where..."

"...but plenty a drop to drink."

This perversion of Coleridges's Rime of the Ancient Mariner refers of course to the stellar launches of British comics anthology Nelson at the Cartoon Museum and Gosh comics (covered here) last week.

For the latter event I had a great time scrawling all over Gosh's windows with Sarah Macintyre, Jake and Woodrow Phoenix, the results of which are pictured below:

The source illustration for my window adornment was the character sketch I sent to the editors of Nelson (Rob Davis and Woodrow) prior to drawing my five page chapter for the year 1999.

Yoho ahoy

After several single panels posted, I thought it only right and proper to post a couple of panels in sequence. It may not be apparent from the various images I've posted, but I've seen my style develop quite a lot over the course of the book - I think mainly for the better. However I am prone to torturously examining my drawing, so it's just as likely that no-one will notice any difference when the book is available to read in February 

Stormy, stormy skies

It's certainly high time I posted something, so here's an establishing shot, which kicks off a (hopefully) dramatic section of the book.
I have to thank Warwick Johnson Cadwell for the doom laden clouds as I used a photo he'd taken and posted to Twitter as visual reference. On the off chance you've not visited his blog, I'd hot-foot it over there for a bevy of extraordinarily dynamic drawing.

The Silver Darlings cover & MA show

First off, apologies for the distinctly spartan nature of blog posts lately. I have been furiously drawing, painting and making imperceptible tweaks on Photoshop to prepare for my MA show (more on this later) and to get my book The Silver Darlings ready to print later this year. The book is being published on Blank Slate's awesomely diverse Chalk Marks imprint and I'm delighted to be in the company of some mega talent there. All credit to Kenny Penman and the team at Blank Slate for supporting new creators with such a luxuriant platform...On that note if you haven't already I'd recommend picking up Joe Decie's book The Accidental Salad, his off-key observations brightened an otherwise dismal tube journey and beyond. 


The illustration topping this post is for the wrap-around cover to my Chalk Marks book and below is the hardcover mock-up for my MA show, for which I liberally borrowed from the style of European graphic albums.

Finally on the subject of my MA show, it kicks off tomorrow (2nd September) and runs all the way through to the 8th. Please come on down to Camberwell to take a look and in case you want a preview of some of the work on show saunter over to this link.

The harbour

The calm before the storm...a panel from The Silver Darlings.

It comes calling

I haven't posted much sketch work, but yesterday my brain seized up whilst trying to puzzle the jigsaw of a tricky page layout, so I drew this instead. Just went straight in with the pen, funny how I often enjoy something more if it's not been laboured with pencil.

Toils of a Fisherman

A recent panel of fishermen mending their net from The Silver Darlings.

A Restorative Dredd

A quick sketch, just to freshen up between drawing fisher-folk.

Confronting perspective

I've never really gotten on with tools for rendering perspective, but this viewpoint forced my hand.

A Cricket in Distress

Thought I'd update with a detail of an elegantly dressed but feverishly panicked  cricket whilst I work on my comic.

Hansel and Gretel

A recent illustration for an upcoming production of the Hansel and Gretel opera - A brief respite from writing a doubtless ground-breaking research paper. I'm now in the final stages and then it's open seas for my current comic project.

A Stuck Herring

Potential cover image for my upcoming comic 'The Silver Darlings'. The image is of a herring run through with a white handled gutting knife.

After Donald McGill

A poster created for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama's upcoming production of Albert Herring http://boxoffice.rsamd.ac.uk/peo/show.asp. Given the parochial tone of this comedy about a period of social change in an East Suffolk village, Donald McGill's saucy sea-side postcards seemed the perfect inspiration. A fleeting departure from ink and watercolour, this was created largely in Photoshop as I wanted it to have a more 1950s/60s travel poster style about it to reflect the setting.

Kaleidoscope @ Orbital Comics

Excited to be exhibiting at the Kaleidoscope exhibition this March, kindly put on by Orbital Comics. It features a range of fantastically diverse, new British Cartoonists from the indie comics scene. Details are on the flyer I put together above and the Facebook event details are right here. No doubt I'll be found loitering covertly in the corner hoping to glean some useful feedback. Thanks especially to Camila at Orbital for making this event happen.

The Silver Darlings - Preview

Open publication - Free publishing - More comic

Three preview pages from a new graphic story due to be published under Blankslate's Chalkmarks imprint later this year. The story concerns a few of the fishermen that I've featured in a couple of previous drawings, it's always great when you find something you really want to draw!

The Lass of Lochroyan

A private commission, this turned out to be how I'd envision a Jean Paul Gaultier ad set in a 1970s fisherman's pub. The song they're singing is an old Scottish ballad from a wonderfully musty tome I have, illustrated by the incomparable Arthur Rackham.

Colour vs Monochrome

An experiment in the impact of grey-scale vs glorious technicolour.

Uncharted Seas

Or was it? This short sequence is a preparatory drawing for a new graphic story I'm working on about a Scottish herring fishing family (the cast of characters can be found here). The story itself will be in black and white, but I wanted to experiment a little in colour...on the evidence of the first wash I was ready to cast the drawing into the ocean, however its proof to me at at least, that it's worth seeing things through to their conclusion.

Tea Service

Illustrations produced for a local business. Twee, yes, but I thought the blog could use a splash of colour.

The Bearded Detective - 3 Page Preview

Open publication - Free publishing - More noir

A three page preview of The Bearded Detective - a slice of silver-screen Noir, set in present day Kentish Town, written by Chris Bye with artwork by myself. The first part is planned for mid 2011 (once I've completed a couple of other projects) and stars Stanley Nicholas. He's a very fine detective, but despite his best efforts is more Prince Philip than Philip Marlowe when it comes to wise talking.

The Tall Lady at Home

Channelling all of my fledgling Photoshop skills into creating a "Fuzzy Felt" style.

The Good, the Bad and the Indifferent

A quick college project in which we had to draw 30 - 40 faces, on A1 paper. Inspired by the school tea-towels of old, studded with crudely rendered faces, I drew friends, family and other folk from memory, straight onto the paper with pen and ink. Consequently some faces are good, others I'd make sure I used to scrub encrusted casserole dishes.

There are a few famous faces, a prize to anyone that can spot, Roger Sterling, Batman, Dave Mustaine and the guy that came at me and my three pals with our own skate boards c.15 years ago.