Friday, May 29, 2009

THE BOOK OF LIFE


(A Study in Scarlet © 2009 SelfMadeHero)

Thursday, May 28, 2009

TWO BASKERVILLES REVIEWS AND WATSON WANTS SOME BREAKFAST!!


(A Study in Scarlet © 2009 SelfMadeHero)
Here's Watson waiting for his breakfast.

Following yesterday's review of Dorian, here are a couple of reviews for Holmes - one by author Rafe McGregor and another from the Forbidden Planet international blog by Richard Bruton.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

LESTRADE & A DORIAN REVIEW


(A Study in Scarlet © 2009 SelfMadeHero)
Lestrade makes a brief appearance towards the end of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Here's his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet. I do like Lestrade. Like Watson, he's often misrepresented - mostly as a bumbling incompetent glory hound (again I think the Rathbone films are to blame there).

Also, nice things have been said about Edginton and I's first book, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' here which brightened up my day.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

DRAW SERGE!

Here's my contribution to Jonathan Edwards' wonderful new blog - 'Draw Serge'.

We've had a bank holiday here in the UK over which time I've been decorating my new studio so I've actually had a couple of days off from drawing! A rare event. Painted Holmes in emulsion paints on one of the freshly plastered walls only to paint over it.

Friday, May 22, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE!


(A Study in Scarlet © 2009 SelfMadeHero)
Didn't get any work done today as I had the day off today (maybe I should make Doyle's Birthday a holiday!) but here as promised is another daily dose of Holmes.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

RESONANCE, BIRTHDAYS AND THE PORTAIT OF A STICKMAN


To mark Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday tomorrow - SelfMade asked if I'd draw a picture of Doyle. So here it is.

Also! At 5pm today, I'm interviewed by Alex Fitch over at Resonance 104.4 FM where I talk a little about adapting Baskervilles and Dorian with Edginton. I did during the interview something typically radio unfriendly (to talk about something listerners couldn't see) and started to talk about a scene in which I supplemented the portrait for a stick figure in order to alleviate the pressures of having to paint 'one of the greatest things in modern art' as Lord Henry puts it. So here is the 'stick figure' variation (at the suggestion of my dear friend and fellow HUZZAH!! contributor, Colin Fawcett).

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

SLEEP PERCHANCE TO DREAM


(A Study in Scarlet © 2009 SelfMadeHero)
Ay, there's the rub! Only got five hours of interrupted sleep last night. Sheesh. Also, this just in - there won't be a signing at Gosh! BUT- when the book launches you will be able to obtain a copy of Hound of the Baskervilles there with a specially commissioned and signed bookplate (limited to 200 copies) available there at the end of the month.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

THERE WILL BE FREEMASONS


(A Study in Scarlet © 2009 SelfMadeHero)
Above is a picture of one of the many visitors to 221b.

Jay Eales from Factor Fiction sent me a link to the trailer for the new Sherlock Holmes movie with Downey Jr as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson - directed by Guy Ritchie (making a very Joel Silver sort of film - as in it doesn't look like a Guy Ritchie film). Personally, if it has Sherlock Holmes written on the tin then I'd buy it. I do ravenously collect non-canon Holmes (as does Edginton) - enjoyed the likes of Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear enormously and even collect Solar Pons novels, so I will undoubtebly be going to see this when it comes out. I don't know anything about the plot of this new film of course but I'm willing to bet that there will be freemasons.

By the way, while on the subject of non-canon Holmes films, can I recommend to any reader passing by Billy Wilder's 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes'. There's a reference to this film tucked away within the pages of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'.

Monday, May 18, 2009

THAT MONDAY MORNING FEELING


(A Study in Scarlet © 2009 SelfMadeHero)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

QUEENSBERRY RULES


(A Study in Scarlet © 2009 SelfMadeHero)
Another of Holmes' attributes. Note: Rough lettering on this one. I never serif my "i"s unless its a possessive pronoun. I always rough letter in Manga Studio before exporting into Photoshop where I do a layer of live type for the editors.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

A SKULL & THE SIX-FINGERED MAN


(A Study in Scarlet © 2009 SelfMadeHero)
Yesterday I promised more frequent updates and I started as I mean to go on. So here we are. I've just finished re-doing for a second time a page from the book where Watson lists Holmes' qualities. It has yet to be colored. It's quite a busy page as there are twelve qualities listed in all.

I was actually tempted at this point to make Holmes the six-fingered man. But what at first appears apt is often too obvious. For now the six-fingered man shall have to wait.

Friday, May 15, 2009

FREQUENCY


(A Study in Scarlet © 2009 SelfMadeHero)
I did an interview last night for Resonance FM's Panel Borders with Alex Fitch which should be up next week. We talked about Dorian, Holmes and HUZZAH!! which was nice.

Above is a panel from A Study in Scarlet - a schematic of sorts for a sequence where Holmes and Watson are unpacking (you might just be able to see some of the perspective lines if you look closely enough). Those familiar with the first book may notice here additional cupboards etc. With each book, because there's a significant enough difference in time scale, I'm able to go back and tweek some of those early ideas. So 221b's had a little bit of a makeover. Architecturally its exactly the same building - none of the walls are different, all doors and windows are in exactly the same place - but I do get to change the wallpaper and rearrange and often change the furniture which keeps everything fresh for me as I approach each book.

I'm going to now try to keep updating this blog quite regularly, maybe even daily as we move in to the latter half of production on Study - often with choice images from each day - so stay tuned, there's plenty more to come.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

BRISTOL


Back from the Bristol Expo. Had a great weekend. Met a lot of people including many of the fine folk whp contribute to both HUZZAH!! 2009 and HUZZAH!! NOIR. Also had a chance to talk to Dave Gibbons about Manga Studio (after making an ass of myself by getting his name wrong - I was nervous, what can I say?). He was very nice indeed. Also met Paul Cornell (who's name I didn't get wrong - but then he's a 'Paul', it's only if you're a Dave will I get your name wrong as Dave Taylor will no doubt testify), Liam Sharp from Mam Tor at long last, Roger Langridge and Paul Peart-Smith (both of whom are artists who contribute to the excellent Act-i-vate) and many many more.

As you can see from the photograph above SelfMadeHero had a banner outside the hotel (it was HUGE!). I signed a fair few copies of Hound of the Baskervilles - thank you to all those who bought a copy of the book and came up and said hello.

But now its back to work - back to Baker Street and A Study in Scarlet.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

GOSH! BASKERVILLES BOOKPLATE

Over on the Gosh! blog you can see the bookplate which I produced for them.
"Holmes enthusiasts will be pleased and relieved by Edginton & Culbard’s back-to-basics approach, retaining the authentic tone and character of Conan Doyle’s original stories; hence no bumbling Doctor Watson nor deer stalker as added in later cinema and theatre versions."

Friday, May 01, 2009

ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR!


(A Study in Scarlet © 2009 SelfMadeHero)
HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES arrived this morning in the post. My advance copy and I am very very pleased and rather excited now. There's always that awful period of dread before it arrives, always wondering/hoping it printed okay. And I'm very pleased to say it did. SelfMadeHero have done a brilliant job in putting this book together.

The book comes with additional content at the back. A sketchbook which looks at numerous versions of Holmes and Watson from my early sketchbooks, a map of 221B and a four page preview of A Study in Scarlet which I am currently working on.

Now, about that. A Study in Scarlet has been presenting new challenges. It's a slightly different book in so much as its earlier in chronological order to the events which take place in Baskervilles. As such Holmes and Watson look a little younger - Watson returns from the Battle of Maiwand "thin as a laff and brown as a nut" and Holmes has slightly more unruly hair than before to complement a slightly more unruly, arrogant attitude. There's a greater abundance of floppy hair and sideburns generally in the book. And of course 221b gets a slight redesign - structurally exactly the same space, but there will be different furniture and different wallpaper etc.

Above is the first sneak peek from A Study in Scarlet (which comes out this October).

AND I'll be at the Bristol International Comic Expo on 9th and 10th of May. There's a panel scheduled in the Park Suite on the Saturday at 11am and Edginton and I will be signing copies of the book there. Also, later in the month, the book will be on sale at GOSH! in London with an exclusive book plate (limited to 200 copies).