Sunday, November 23, 2008

STICKLEBACK CHRISTMAS SPECIAL


Stickleback © 2008 Rebellion Developments/2000AD
Stickleback created by Ian Edginton & D'Israeli.
Drawn by me.


The cat is well and truly out of the bag so I may as well show you a sneak peek from the story I've drawn for the 2000AD Christmas special (Prog 2009) which I mentioned back in September. It's a festive Stickleback story written by Ian Edginton. Stickleback is usually drawn by D'Israeli who's artwork for the series is three things; absolutely gorgeous, distinctly Stickleback and a blooming hard act to follow.

Many thanks to Ian, D'Israeli and Tharg for this opportunity. I had a blast doing it.

Friday, November 21, 2008

PATERSON JOSEPH THE NEW ... POTENTIALLY THE NEW DOCTOR WHO?

This is Phillip Rhys, who play Al Sadiq in the new series 'Survivors' who reels off the cast list and says "Paterson Joseph who's gonna be the n.... potentially the new Doctor Who". See what you make of this:

Thanks to Col for the heads up.

TALK TALK (UPDATED)

I went down to London Town on Sunday to talk to Paul Gravett in front of lots of people at the ICA about Dorian and a little bit about Holmes, the first two pages of which you can see projected on the screen in the background of this picture. That's me on the left, that's Paul Gravett in the middle and that's Ian Edginton on the right.

In other news, here's a review of The Picture of Dorian Gray from The Bookseller.


(click to enlarge)

(UPDATE): And there's also these splendid words:

"Films and graphic novels have a lot in common – indeed I could have used much of this as my storyboards. It's terrific to see Wilde's work in this form and it's a great way to reach a wider audience. The visuals are bold and striking and the text very skillfully abridged."

- Oliver Parker, director of 'The Importance of Being Earnest', 'An Ideal Husband' and the forthcoming 'Dorian Gray'.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

THE VIOLINST


The Hound of the Baskervilles © 2008 SelfMadeHero

BAF'08 STORYBOARD WORKSHOP CANCELLED

I arrived in Bradford just before midnight last night to find there was a problem with reservations and that I didn't have a room at the hotel I was supposed to be staying at. Unfortunately there were no vacancies in any of the other hotels in the whole of Bradford. So I had to get back in my car and drive all the way home again, not getting back till 3am. So, unfortunately due to these unforeseen circumstances the workshop I'd spent so much time preparing for had to, regretably, be canceled. My apologies to anyone who was hoping to attend.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

MORE FROM THE PSYCHOHORIZON


My new plate for WKRR? is up. Please go check it out.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

LIVE FROM THE PSYCHO HORIZON, FROM THE ABSOLUTE NOW


This is apparently what Harrison Ford said about George Lucas' script for Star Wars.

Ah, the Psychohorizon, finally. An infinite corridor of time, space and the mind. Lots of pseudo psychoanalysis like Transference Sickness. Transference itself is a phenomenon found in psychoanalysis but has very little to do with void virgins.

As correctly observed by Rob Davis in the comments section for this plate, this is a Poirot moment. Perhaps a game of motives and alibis is about to begin? We shall see.

Don't know why but I decided this page was all about fours. There's four panels, four sentences and each sentence is four words long.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

ET CETERA

My work on the 2000AD Christmas special is done and I'm looking forward to seeing it in print. I've also got another 3 pager for something else that popped up towards the tail end of last week that needs to be done before the end of this month. More on that as and when I can spill beans.

And now for something completely different. Here's a letter I found addressed to me which mildly amused me.



Now, picture this. The young Master Culbard, to whom the above letter was addressed (I still have the envelope the letter arrived in and no it doesn't have a stamp on it, it has a royal stamp, but not an actual postage stamp with the Queens head on it), was at that time a little boy reading The Hobbit, The Wind in the Willows and The Lion and the Witch in the Wardrobe (the three main books of my childhood at that time) and listening to Mozart, Holst and Wagner (I really wasn't fond of 'pop' music). Some might say a precocious child. Others might say disturbing. And others might say - oh never mind them, they're not important anyway. But I digress. Imagine, if you will, my delight at such a wonderfully naive and innocent age upon reading the following:
"The Prince and Princess of Wales have asked me -"
They specifically asked. They said, "Henrietta dearest, do be a chum and write to that dear fellow and thank him for us would you. It was awfully kind of him to write to us and to spare a moments thought for us given how frightfully busy he is with all this and all that." Or at least that's likely the way I would have seen it aged nine.
"Their Royal Highnesses were most touched by the good wishes you have expressed"
What the heck did I write that gave merit to a letter from Buckingham blooming Palace?

I can only imagine it may have gone something like this:


Thursday, October 30, 2008

DAVID TENNANT QUITS DOCTOR WHO


Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!!! David Tennant has just announced that he's leaving Doctor Who after the next four specials which will be broadcast over the coming year.

Rumor has it that Paterson Joseph is to step into the 11th Doctor's shoes, 3-1 according to the BBC against four unlikely ones. Joseph can be seen here playing the Marquis de Carabas in Neverwhere:



And lastly, Russell Tovey was apparently RTD's tip to replace Tennant seen here playing the werewolf in the BBC pilot drama, Being Human (created and written by Doctor Who writer, Toby Whithouse - this show's getting a full series apparently):

Friday, October 24, 2008

HOUND INKS


The Hound of the Baskervilles © 2008 SelfMadeHero

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

WKRR? MWIP!




These are the last two pages of WKRR? I've appeared on. Thought I'd show the full pages as Dave Taylor's gone to all the effort and done a lovely job of sticking the pages together. You can see all the full pages of the strip shown in sequential order over here.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

BACK FROM BIRMINGHAM


Got back from the Birmingham International Comic Show late on Saturday night. What a hoot!

Got to meet up with the lovely folk from SelfMadeHero again, signed some books for some incredibly nice people who were all saying incredibly nice things. And the first copy of Dorian Gray that I signed was for Mark Buckingham and his wife Irma.
I also finally met Sean Phillips and got up to speed with Criminal and managed to get a copy of Seven psychos. Oh, and I got a comp copy of The Girly Comic (from marvelous Jay and Selina at Factor Fiction) which has 'War Canary' in it in full color! And I hooked up again with my dear chums Dave Taylor and Colin Fawcett with whom I ate food and drank wine (we actually got a free lunch).

In other news I'm going to be making more appearances in November. I've off to Bradford to run a workshop at the Bradford Animation Festival on Thursday the 13th of November (at 10:30 in the morning for two hours):
Storyboarding, alongside character design and scriptwriting, is one of the key stages of producing a quality animation. In this two hour workshop, Ian Culbard (animation filmmaker with experience in directing commercials, television, and short films) offers an insight into the skills involved in producing effective storyboards.
That same week I'm dashing off to London to appear on a panel. Over at Paul Gravett's site there's info on a panel I'm going to be on:
Turning Classics Into Comics
Shakespeare, Brontë, Wilde and Dickens are getting visual makeovers as comics. How does prose transfer to panels? What is lost, and found, in translation? Richard Appignanesi and Ian Edgington talk with their visualisers Mustashrik, Chie Kutsuwada and Ian Culbard, and John M Burns and Mike Collins discuss their versions of Jane Eyre and A Christmas Carol. Plus signings.
Supported by Classical Comics, SelfMadeHero & Letraset
Tickets: Each talk - £6, £5 concs, £4 members
Tickets: All three of today's talks - £15, £12 concs, £9 members
Where: Nash & Brandon Rooms, ICA
When: Sunday, 16 November, 6pm to 7.30pm
So November's going to be quite a busy and exciting month for me.

Friday, October 03, 2008

TOK


Snuck this one in late last night. Poor Bronx. I was listening to AC/DC's 'Back in Black' when I started inking. The last panel was drawn to AC/DC's Thunderstruck. I've no idea why I was listening to AC/DC at the time. I don't usually. But it certainly got me in the mood and thankfully spurred me on to finish this panel quite quickly.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES


The Hound of the Baskervilles © 2008 SelfMadeHero

Work is well and truly underway on The Hound of the Baskervilles and momentum's picking up (we're a month in now). Here's an early idea for the cover (this won't be the final cover but you do get to see Holmes here, and an early Watson (Watson's nose is a little different now). We're shaking off the bumbling buffoonery of Nigel Bruce and the deerstalker and the Calabash of Paget and Gillette respectively.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

DEATH RATTLE


Is it heck. My money's on no. What do you reckon?

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

BIRMINGHAM INTERNATIONAL COMICS SHOW SIGNING

I'm going to be signing copies of Dorian Gray along with Ian Edginton (I won't be signing copies of Ian Edginton - that would be weird) at 1pm on Saturday in Birmingham at the Birmingham International Comic Show.

Also, 'War Canary' a story written by Selina Lock and drawn by me, will be appearing in the latest issue of 'The Girly Comic' and will be on sale at the show, so make sure you pick up a copy while you're there.

Meanwhile ... I've done yet another 'plate' for WKRR? As the Astral team take on an Outer God, Mars Mesmer steps up to the plate ...

Monday, September 29, 2008

AICN GIVES "OVER THE HILL" A MENTION

Just a quick note. It's been all comic news of late but here's a teeny bit of animation news; remember that film I co-produced with Split-Second Films last year? Called "Over the Hill" directed by Peter Baynton? I co-produced it, mentored Pete as a director and even did a teeny weeny bit of animation on it.... well it gets a favorable mention over at AICN along with the news that its been entered for Oscar consideration for 2009. Exciting stuff.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

CREEPY


A very quick brush, texture and typeface test for nothing in particular.

More news on something in particular forthcoming as Edginton and I will be producing a story for 2000AD in the very near future. My adventures in comics continue.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

WASTED


Wasted- Matthew Bryan by Raymond Prado from Raymond Prado on Vimeo.

Great music video. Comics related round about the 02.30 mark.

Monday, September 15, 2008

ALAN MOORE KNOWS THE SCORE

This is just part 10. Check out the rest here.