WALKING WOUNDED

Didn't sleep last night. Extreme agony in my left shoulder. Pain killers weren't working - electric blankets weren't working. Really son-of-a-bitch painful. So I went to see the doc this morning and found out I have tendinitis. So I'm on anti-inflammatories for the next ten days and grateful it isn't my right shoulder. If it doesn't calm down by the time I run out of anti-inflammatories then they (the them) are going to inject steroids into my shoulder. Nice.

Ya boo sucks.

STICK A FORK IN ME, I'M DONE

The Picture of Dorian Gray is done! Finished it today!!!

I also bagged an 8 page story for Dark Horse which I did last weekend, with Ian Edginton at the typewriter and me at the drawing board. A short tale of daring do, action and adventure. Should be appearing on Dark Horse Presents (their MySpace page) in a week or so). I had precious little time to do it in, given my Dorian schedule was so close to d-day.

I've spent the last two months working seven days a week. I'm looking forward to the weekend. In fact, tomorrow morning, I'm having the day off. Yay! Something I rarely do.

I'm going to find it pretty weird not working on Dorian again. I'm going to miss the old devil.

'Lover's to bed, tis almost fairy time. I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn ...'

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

Well, according to the good people at Self Made Hero and their imprint Eye Classics, this is that graphic novel I've been working on for the past few months now. ;-)

I can't show any of the work I've done on it here just yet, but you can see from the sidebar of the article one of the paintings I did of Dorian. Only the most famous fictional paintings there is. No pressure. No siree.

Click the title to see the page.

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

A Graphic Adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Novel

“If it were I who was to be forever young and the picture that was to grow old!
...I would give my soul for that!”

This graphic novel rejuvenates Oscar Wilde’s classic The Picture of Dorian Gray, the story of a man who, exhilarated by his friends’ praise of his youth and beauty, asks to be able to retain them eternally. When he discovers that his wish has been granted and that the portrait painted by his friend Basil will age instead of him, Dorian’s naivety turns into narcissism and a feeling of invulnerability. Influenced by the decadent aristocrat Lord Henry, he soon embarks upon a career of selfish hedonism, breaking several lives on the way. But while Dorian thinks himself unaccountable for his sins, the portrait shows him the true darkness of his soul. Ultimately, Dorian will find out that although you can ignore your conscience for a while, it always catches up with you... In this dark tale, the master of provocation Oscar Wilde gives a modern turn to the Gothic genre, fusing the Faustian theme with moral ambiguity and dandy attitude.

In other news, we took a trip a few weeks ago to visit my mother in London. I found stashed away in a cupboard two packs of photocopy paper I used to draw on way back when I used to live at my mum's, so this will be my late teens as I was out by 19 .... so a good chunk of years ago. And it was the very best drawing paper. I've not really been able to find any with quite the same bite. So I was really pleased. Back in the day I used to get through so many 500 sheet packs in like a matter of weeks that trees would quake in fear when I walked past them.
I'm in drawing heaven right now, drawing on these pages with my old Col-Erase 20044 Blue pencils (my weapon of choice). Bliss.