WRITING ABOUT WRITING AND DRAWING AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS - OH, AND A DOC FATHOM UPDATE!!

Just finished writing three blog pieces for SelfMadeHero - the first is about the inspiration for some of the .... design work for At the Mountains of Madness.

The second article is with regard to some of the architecture in the book.

And lastly there's a reasonably lengthy article about the actual process of adapting, which compared to the other two is relatively spoiler lite. But that said - these articles are otherwise spoiler heavy - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!

In other news: I was pleasantly surprised by some of the response that DOC FATHOM* has been getting! Now, if only I could find a way to make it so....
*For those only just tuning in....

DOC FATHOM!!

(Doc Fathom ©2010 I.N.J. Culbard)

Yet another pitch never pitched for Zuda - this time Doc Fathom which supposes quite simply that Atlantis never sank (and that it existed in the first place naturally). Very much a pulp adventure story of rather ridiculous proportions. These pages here are sans dialogue - the first page did at one point sport a Doc Fathom logo with the sub heading of Chapter 1. The Beast of '33.

MONSTROUS

(Monstrous ©2010 I.N.J. Culbard)

This is a really old never pitched Zuda Pitch I was trying to get together. One of many. I'd work up a few pages/panels and then get sidetracked with the day job drawing Holmes. Eventually Zuda closed its doors and I missed my shot. Time waits for no man.

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS NOW AVAILABLE!!

This is the bookplate I produced for Gosh! A portrait of H.P. Lovecraft sitting in Miskatonic Library. You can get the bookplate edition in the next couple of days. They do have copies of At the Mountains of Madness in stock and if you want a bookplate edition I am reliably informed they will put one aside for you.

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS REVIEWS!!

My adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness is out this Thursday and here's the first three reviews to come in.

The first comes from Ernesto Priego's blog, Butterfly Hunt.

The second comes from Barry Nugent and Geek Syndicate.

And the third from Richard Bruton and the Forbidden Planet International blog.

Additionally there will be a bookplate edition from Gosh! in London.

COCKED, LOCKED AND READY TO ROCK!!

The chap in the middle of this pick, Professor Armitage, has a starring role in The Dunwich Horror (adapted by Rob Davis with art by me), which will appear in Volume 1 of the Lovecraft Anthology coming out next April from SelfMadeHero. He has a cameo in At the Mountains of Madness too, as does the Miskatonic library. I chose to do Dunwich Horror for the Anthology because I wanted to do more with Armitage - Lovecraft's stories are so wonderfully interconnected so my interpretation of Armitage and the Miskatonic library remain consistent.

THE HORROR, THE HORROR!!

Just some of what I've been coloring today from pages I drew for the upcoming Lovecraft Anthology...

In other news, At the Mountains of Madness will be in all good book shops on October the 28th!!

ONE HUNDRED BROKEN FIGHTING MEN

(The Valley of Fear @SelfMadeHero)

Round up the usual suspects.

I have been drawing a lot of criminals today. The Valley of Fear certainly does have its fair share, including head bad guy number 1, the greatest fictional villain of them all, Moriarty!

I do quite enjoy drawing extras - characters that won't likely appear again in the story. Here we have a line up of unsavory associates of that Napoleon of Crime. Pickpockets, blackmailers, cardsharps... each and every one a ne'er-do-well of some description or other.

MORE VALLEY

(The Valley of Fear @SelfMadeHero)

ANOTHER PANEL FROM VALLEY OF FEAR

(The Valley of Fear @SelfMadeHero)

DOWN IN THE VALLEY

(The Valley of Fear @SelfMadeHero)

I have been drawing a lot of square panels lately for our latest Sherlock Holmes adaptation, The Valley of Fear. Here's one.

CERTIFIED MADNESS!!

My advance copies of At the Mountains of Madness arrived today!! Very excited!! Must calm down!! Maybe later!!

Rather pleased with the gate fold cover which means you get pretty much all of that cover I did ON THE COVER!! and not just on the outside but on reverse side too!!

The book is out in just a few weeks time and you can order your copy here!!

KALEIDOSCOPIC & A SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION

(The Valley of Fear @SelfMadeHero)

I'll be attending Kaleidoscopic this Friday where Edginton and I will be talking about Sherlock Holmes.

Have also been in discussion this week with SelfMadeHero about future projects... exciting times! Also I noticed quite a few people have cottoned on to this MEME that's spreading... called an Influence Map. So, without further ado, here's my seven-per-cent solution.

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS SNEAK PEAK 5

(At the Mountains of Madness © 2010 SelfMadeHero)

This is the full wraparound art for the At The Mountains of Madness cover. Finished the interior art today. Yay!

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS SNEAK PEEK 4

(At the Mountains of Madness © 2010 SelfMadeHero)

A double page spread (with ample bleed I might add). Pages 28 and 29 to be precise. When I set about working on this book I wanted it to be significantly different to the Sherlock Holmes books I've been working on. This book was my first opportunity to work in full splash double page spreads and the process has been one I'm certainly keen to adopt for future projects. The scene as centrefold. I've left off the text here because it is a bit 'spoilery' - that said, I've always liked seeing pages with empty balloons. Reminds me of what reading comics was like before I could read.

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS SNEAK PEEK 3

(At the Mountains of Madness © 2010 SelfMadeHero)

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE POWYS

I got back yesterday from the Guardian Hay festival in Hay-on-Wye where Edginton and I did a talk about the Holmes books we've been working on for SelfMadeHero to a packed out tent of 200 people (it was originally supposed to be 50!)

And I have to say, the festival organisers and our publishers, SelfMadeHero, looked after us tremendously well.

Hay-on Wye is a book town. The first of its kind. Richard Booth (the King of Hay-on-Wye) changed Hay from a small market town into a book town for book lovers and it's full of second-hand bookshops. Had I died and gone to heaven? It was an almost surreal experience. And Booth's own bookshop itself is absolutely wonderful. I was stood in the theology section when I was approached by the bookshop cat. I was so giddy with the idea of being in a small town with millions of books it wouldn't really have been such an unusual occurrance if the cat had asked me if I would have liked a glass of red wine!

Glorious bliss. I hope to return one day.

LAUGHTER IS NOT THE BEST MEDICINE

So.

I attended the Bristol Comic convention this year. Just 10 days after another hernia operation. I thought I was fine. No heavy lifting - had kept myself sensible for a good few days and not raced back to work - I had rested! Little did I know that meeting up with HUZZAH!! squadies at the con (the likes of my dearest brethren, Colin Fawcett, Dave Taylor and Rob Davis) would result in me ending up in Bristol A&E on Friday night. And why? All because Rob Davis cracked a joke that made me laugh SO hard I actually did quite literally bust a stitch. We were sat in the bar in the Mercure Hotel and after an evening of raucous laughter I got up and noticed a flowering circle of red blood appearing on my t-shirt that signaled I was bleeding and quite badly. So Col, gawd bless him, ensured I got to hospital and got sorted. The night ended with me at one in the morning getting patched up proper and sent back.

But this of course meant that on the Saturday I could not lean over a desk in the traditional hunched manner of an artist and do sketches for people. And for that I apologize. I only wish I'd had the presense of mind to those who asked to say 'but if you find me at the bar do say 'hey, how about that sketch' because the bar counter is higher up = no leaning involved I could quite easily do a sketch - but alas no.

Anyway. More now on who I met:

Simon Gane. The illustriously illustrated illustrator. Lovely chap. Helped me narrow down my choices of tattoos as he has many and they are marvelous.

Garen Ewing. Equally lovely chap. Flattered he thought I would look like Holmes (I suspect he was disappointed).

(The Sign of the Four © 2010 SelfMadeHero)

Interesting conversation regarding goofs! Fair play. Managed to nab a copy of Rainbow Orchid vol.2. Just beautiful.

Overall a lovely time was had even if Friday night was a bit of a horror. Bought a lot of books from Cinebook as has become traditionally the case. They're set to start publishing Valerian & Laureline in July and I cannot wait!!! Only wish I'd got to speak to Geek Syndicate. Damn!! Maybe next time, gadget!!!

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS SNEAK PEEK 2

(At the Mountains of Madness © 2010 SelfMadeHero)

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS SNEAK PEEK

(At the Mountains of Madness © 2010 SelfMadeHero)