Joao Ruas - The clear successor to James Jean as one of those outstanding artists. When he first replaced Jean on Fables as the cover artist, I was sceptical. After this latest image, I no longer am sceptical. This is one of my favourite artists working in comics right now.

Society6 - Definitely something I would like to try in the future. I want to get back into regular drawing and creating artwork, so here’s hoping after all this wedding stuff is over I’ll get a chance to do more of this sort of thing.

James Jean’s Mirada Logo - It’s been a while since I’ve linked to anything from James Jean. He’s still one of my favourite artists in the world, even though he doesn’t do comic book art any more. This is interesting in that is looks NOTHING like a logo. It’s this incredibly detailed illustration, that the company Mirada is using. Not sure how it scales, but it’s a lovely drawing.

Art by Illustration Master Adam Hughes - It’s not a secret what a huge Adam Hughes fan I actually am, of both his art and his very rare writing as well. This overview is an excellent place to start appreciating his work. Now to blow your mind, Adam uses a mouse and photoshop to do all the colouring. Seriously, not a pen, a mouse.

Just to let everyone know, I can now be found firing shots (pretty shortly) on Dribbble. (Thanks to Chris for hooking me up with an invite).

The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains - Neil Gaiman, at the Sydney Opera House, reading a short story, with a quartet behind him and artwork by Eddie Campbell….yeah pretty cool.

Ragnarama - Dunno how I missed this, but Ragnar’s new website. Just started looking at his book Big City and it’s a tour de force of just page after page of amazing art in creating his story. Amazing stuff. If you can get a copy, definitely flick through it.

Audrey Hepburn Portfolio - Amazing sketchbook collection with one of the best subjects ever.

The Daily Zoo 2 - Having just bought the first book, I can tell you that this is an amazing art book, with an amazing story behind it. Draw an animal every day for a year…well two years so far and counting.

The Complete Famous Artist Course - This is one of the best resources for aspiring artists out there - instant bookmark and download.

It Will Come From Japan! - Love me some Paul Pope.

Colosseo Letterpress Poster - Love the attention to detail of course. It’s objects like this that make design something special.

Alphaposter - While I’m talking about love the detail in these posters as well (obviously not as elaborate as the Colosseo poster, but lovely nonetheless).

Dali’s Adventures In Wonderland - You know, to prepare you for the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp fest. Love the statue, always the best Dali work in my opinion.

Lost Art of Inglourious Basterds - Some great looking pieces. Not seen David Choe’s work in YEARS so it’s nice to see he hasn’t shot himself or anything and he’s still producing great work.

So this week was spent doing character designs. With an exhaustive list of 56 characters that need to be created, it’s pretty easy to flip between characters as I build the library and as more ideas become clearer in my head. Like with the writing process, it’s amazing how sometimes your pencil and pen take you in a direction that you didn’t actually originally imagine. It just happens in front of you and comes from no where.

Each time I draw the character I get more comfortable with drawing them and new ideas manifest themselves to better flesh out the character and enhance their look. Hopefully by the time I have to draw them in the final pages I will have the proper feel of the characters.

For these particular drawings I decided to also play around with my water colours. The truth is I’ve not touched a paintbrush and gauche since 2002 or something like that, so to say I’m completely rusty is a little bit of an understatement. In fact I’d so go far as to say, I honestly suck major balls when it comes to painting at the moment from an already limited experience built earlier on in my life. I’ve not developed this skill at all and I can see how my line art has moved forward whereas my painted work has all but stagnated.

The other major point to make is that I don’t have any of my books around me which basically teach me the basics of water colours. In stead I’m basically learning by doing…which is just going to mean taking a hell of a lot longer to get to a decent standard where I’m not ruining the drawing/sketch with my ghastly colour combinations.

This is a small peek. I’ll be sharing more drawings as they come along.

Movie Mr Men - This made me smile a lot. Love how he’s just constantly building this flickr set. Here are some of my favourites:

LOST Posters - Awesome minimalist posters. It’s definitely en vogue nowadays to do these, but I still like them.

Michael Johansson - Click on that link, you’ll not be disappointed (via iso50).

If you’re subscribed to the site, then you’ve no doubt been bombarded this last day with 15 or so ‘new’ posts. These are all part of the illustration section which I’ve been putting together. Regulars of the site for a while will recognise a lot of these images, however there are several new ones and others that have never been shown in this way.

I kept thinking about the best way to put this section together, as there is a lot of stuff I’ve got on my harddisc that’s not seen the soft glow of the internet in years. Hopefully because of the general ease with which this section is maintained, I’ll be constantly uploading images to this section, because I’ve always believed that all art needs to be shown, because it gives you perspective on where you where artistically before and how much you’ve improved in the time passed.

Banksy film to debut at Sundance - Soo, totally watching this when it comes out. What can I say, I’m one of those poor fools that actually enjoys what the man does. (via @stevemassart)

Iconic TV Posters - by Albert Exergian. Also be sure to check out his site.

A little over a year ago I wrote this, which basically explained what I wanted to do over the year that passed. What’s funny is that I completely forgot that I wrote that (having a blog for as many years as I do, does make events/posts blend into each other). Anyway 1 year later, I can report that I have definitely been moving in the right direction. The first thing I did was go to an art class at Central St.Martins. While the actual lessons taught me sweet fuck all, I learnt soo much from some of the peeps in the class (ok mainly from Mike) but most importantly I remembered what it was like to feel excited about making comics.

A couple of days ago I finally completed my first full comic book story. It’s a four pager for the Observer competition and it’s basically 2 months of my life. Is two months a lot of time to complete 4 pages? Well I was doing other things inbetween, like working, holidays (where I couldn’t take my art with me) etc. Also bearing in mind that some of the things that I did, I’ve either not done, or not done in a while.

This little experience taught me a lot about how difficult making comics can be, but also how amazing the feeling is when you’ve completed the story that was just a thought in your mind, as you built it, cultivated it, nurtured it, watered it, fed it and then ultimately moulded it.

I did need to take a few shortcuts to achieve the deadline. So I ended up computer colouring and lettering; even though I wanted to do both of these things by hand.

With this project firmly under my belt, it’s time to shift focus to actually start drawing more. However there has to be a deadline. A year deadline is not good enough. It’s too far away. It has to be broken down into smaller chunks. Where I do burn the midnight oil to achieve that goal. Could be 5-10 pages per month? Fully pencilled and inked. That’s a little over a page a week.

The thing is I also want to try my hand at some sci-fi as well. The only way I can think of is, to simply write and draw a panel to this other story every day. 1 small panel. The nice thing about that is that I will end up getting speed and it’ll help me try new styles and new ways of doing something different without it affecting a much larger project. It’s all building towards me having my own distinct voice and style and breaking away from influences.

Either way, it’s all exciting times, especially considering I go on sabbatical for 6 months so I have the chance to pursue all the above.

For those wondering why things have been generally pretty quiet around here, it’s due to the competition which I have been beavering away at. I still have some minor tweaks to make and some additional inking to do, but by and large all 4 pages are done. Just got post production to get on with now, special effects (colouring) and sound effects (lettering). Here are the first two pages inked.

Beast and Boo! - The best art I’ve seen for the Disney/Marvel acquisition.

Les 24 heures de la bande dessinée (Edition 2009) - Talk about depressing. I mean seriously. Mike and I tried to do 24hour comic book day. We did 17 hours. Mike was getting there, I wasn’t doing it the right way. But the 2009 edition of the series in France brought out the above entries, which is an insane amount of work, by an insane amount of talented people. Flipping through the comics, you’ll see some rare gems.

Carlos Latuff - In my research for the story I’m writing and drawing, I’ve inadvertently stumbled on a great political cartoonist from Brazil with the Palestinian cause as his main focus. It’s quite fitting really as I’ve only just discovered Naji Al Ali, who is the prototype Middle Eastern political cartoonist. The great thing about Latuff is that his stuff is seen from ‘Arabic’ eyes with a decidedly more ‘Western’ outlook.

I Can’t Stop Thinking - Collection of appendix comics for Scott McCloud’s Reinventing Comics book. I’ve not read it, but these strips and his overall style of using the expanded canvas of the internet with a very very long page, is the only comics that I accept to read of the web. All other attempts fall short for me, because they’re basically recycled printed pages tried to be shoehorned into a website. Fail. All these years later, Scott’s work still stands out as the standard; I’ve not stumbled on anything that is as well put together as this.

Thundercats Concept Art - What could have been, but sadly, won’t be. Hopefully in the years to come, the powers that be will see sense and make this money making machine!

Gummisig - One of the best looking blog/websites I’ve seen in a good long time. It’s the combination of the colours, gridlines, and big bad bold type that does it for me.

SDCC 2009 Dark Horse News - Easily the highlight of the Comicon news for me so far. This press release just made my week.

1. New BlackSad (I've got the first two volumes and the behind the scenes art), great series, I'll be having some of that.

2. Final Fantasy Boxset? Yoshitaka Amano? Yeah bring that on.

3. Furry Water and Mesmo Delivery? Rafael Grampá? You had me at Mesmo Delivery, which I've been trying to get a copy of for a few months now.

4. The Art of Blade of the Immortal - Best news of the convention so far. I didn't even know this existed in Japan. Hiroaki Samura, in colour.

The Observer and Random House Graphic Short Story Competition - Definitely going to be entering this year. The only, only thing I need is the story, four pages long.

Please Love Me - Banksy exhibition near Covent Garden (damn that boy is getting around this summer isn’t he).

“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?” Steve Jobs - Great quote, great collection of posters as well.

David Mazzucchelli at MoCCA - Talking all about Asterios Polyp. Definitely an interview one needs to read after finishing off the book.

Joe the Barbarian - Never seen or bought anything by Sean Gordon Murphy, but the pages I’ve been seeing from him definitely make him one of those new and upcoming artists to look out for (I really hope I’m right by saying he’s new and isn’t a veteran of like 20 years in the industry or something like that).

Far Arden - The full graphic novel which got published this week. I was about to pick this up, but I had a few other more pressing purchases to make. After reading the actual history of this book’s creation however I am definitely interested in having a closer look at this. 288 hours, is basically 12 24hour days of comic book creating over the span of a year, creating 288 page graphic novel. In the next year I will definitely be doing a couple of these 24 hour sessions, but using them only as ways to create the basic thumbnails and roughs (maybe even some of the dialogue as well), in order to speed the process.

In case you’ve not gone out and bought this, you owe it to yourself, really you do. Don’t believe me, here are a couple (one, two) of reviews.

I read a few things about this a little while ago, but it’s only until I actually saw these amazing images by Richard Wilkinson that I actually decided to go out and investigate further.

Basically ‘Little Brother’ is a creatives commons licesenced book, by Cory Doctorow and apparently it’s pretty damn good (winning awards left right and centre at the moment), with the kicker being you can download it for free and remix it if you want. I’ll be sure to review once I’ve finished reading it.

The Art and Illustration of Kevin Dart - One for the inspiration folder.

Habibi - Production of Craig Thompson’s next book Habibi looks set to be a massive tome, bigger than his previous one.

James Stokoe Won Ton Soup - The last time I was actually excited about a new comic book series from Oni was YEARS ago. Don’t know how I missed this, but the title alone just sounds like great fun.

OokahBlog - Pascale’s blog, who’s in my art class (which sadly ends tomorrow evening). So much work seems to go into any one post, but some how it’s a pretty engaging scroll. In a day and age where I can’t be bothered typing out more than a couple of lines, she’s creating montages and cartoons for her posts.

Banksy vs The Bristol Museum - One word, awesome.

Joshua Middleton Website Revamped - Have always loved the man’s minimalist style. If I had a comment, it would be that the blog was actually properly integrated into the site, rather than bringing it in via a frame (or whatever is being used). The gallery section is the place to head first to though, with the ‘Sky Between Branches’ section as the top area to look at (damn that’s been in the making for close to a century).

The art of UP - It’s all in the details, and this gives a small glimpse of that detail. Like they say at Pixar, sand the underside of the drawer.

Been a while since I’ve written anything significant on the site, but alas I’ve been busy with the task of creating Aitus Moralis. The big significance is that after nearly 6 years of talking about this story, I’ve finally finished the first fully pencilled page of the book. I’ll probably post it at some point once I’ve sorted out the best way to show my artwork in an easy to maintain gallery (I’m leaning to using Google Picasa at this point in time).

This is significant because I’ve managed to do this page of art while working. This kind of dispells the thoughts that i had previously that my brain cannot cope with splitting engineering in the day and artwork in the evening, but actually it can.

The real issue is finding the muse to get on and do it. I found it by going to a course. The energy of the people around me creating artwork was enough for me to actually get on with it and move forward. I’m still learning but if you don’t draw you’ll never learn, you’ll never get any better. Nobody created their masterpiece from day one, or even day two, but you have to start somewhere .

Danny Gardner concept spaceship art - Bastard is only 19 years old. How depressing.

Travis Charest’s Blog - Seems it’s only been up for a little over a month. The good news is that the man seems to be getting more drawing done now than I’ve seen from him in years. The better news is that he’s even more depressingly good than what he was a few years ago. If anything the little Metabaron sabbatical did him some good in honing his already IMMENSE talent. Park this one under easily one of my favourite artists of all time.

Switch Display Options - Added to my collection of options I might use for my eventual illustrations category on the site.

That’s what I want to be surrounded by right now. Creative brains drawing, sculpting, moulding, painting, etching whatever. Over the years I have definitely understood that your enthusiasm and energy is boosted by those around you. You gravitate to people with positive energy because they make you want to actually get on with life as well. Your surroundings play such an incredible part in this.

For years I have been lamenting the fact that I’ve not been able to get creative with my art. I’ve not been able to nurture the graphic novel that I’ve been writing for nigh on 5 years now. The truth the story is all the better for this incubation time because although the idea was sound (the very basic idea) the execution was lacking.

Yesterday I went and saw a collection of student movies (this isn’t a review of the work that was presented, but more of an observation, when you have no budget, the story has to work cleverly within these constraints - which i don’t feel was captured). The one thing i took from the evening however was the collection of minds in the room and how they all fed off each other.

So I’ve decided (and I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier) to try and find a studio to share with a bunch of artists. Now if it was up to me I’d round up the crazy Danes, maybe a couple of Americans get a big warehouse in London on the waterfront and have us create awesome stuff, pushing each other creatively…something which clearly cannot happen.

I’ll be sure to post the results of my research in my hunt for a design studio to get creative in.

Images Reveal McG’s Terminator Salvation Vision - The last time I saw something like this was the production art for ‘The Matrix’. Hopefully the story won’t suck.

In anticipation of the new Watchmen movie (hopefully coming to a cinema near you), there is actually a slew of great books on offer to enhance the whole experience. If you’ve not read the source material, SHAME ON YOU. Your homework is to buy the Absolute Edition of this masterpiece and get reading. If you’ve already done that, don’t forget to grab the Dave Gibbons artbook, Watching the Watchmen.

If you are more into movie related books (I personally do like a good one), there is the standard Film companion (which is probably the weakest offering actually) as you can have the Art of the Film which is bound to be more interesting, especially when you get work by such greats as Adam Hughes (who has always been one of my favourite artists of all time). But possibly my favourite tie in book of the entire movie might have to be the Portraits book, which is a collection of black and white photographs taken during the making of the movie.

Don’t forget to read these books while listening to the official soundtrack. Yeah this movie is going to make someone a TON of money, some definitely from me.

The problem is that 2008 lacked focus for these areas, so it’s time to provide them with a slight bit of structure. I doubt I’ll be able to meet these deadlines, although I might try and attempt to do something about it, the harsh reality is that life will no doubt get in the way; however it’s better to have some structure than none at all.

Japan Photo Album

Finish the script

Clemency

Character Designs

Broken Kode

Kickback Exhibition - Art from David Lloyd (you know of V for Vendetta fame)

Awesome work from Audrey Kawasaki - I especially like the colour palette that she chooses for her work.

The art of Pixar - A fan-curated gallery of inspiring artwork, good stuff in there.

Skine.art is an awesome blog of moleskin contributors from around the world. Of note are some awesome illustrators from Sweden and Brazil.

Continuing my illustrators you should look at theme comes the awesome work of Jake Parker. I really like his pen and ink stuff more than his painted work, however both are all shades of great. Definitely going to pick up that little illustrated book of his.

Ian Kim based out of LA is definitely a rising talent to watch in the illustration work. His stuff does have that James Jean quality to it.

I saw the PATH graphic novel in the comic book store the other day, but the cover design left a lot to be desired from. However I am all over the artwork on the inside. I’ve got to say that those are some of the funkiest character designs I’ve seen in a while and the colour tones that have been chosen for the art really work with the character’s expressions.

The latest Banksy art is a stonker. I’ve not seen this up close yet, but I’m definitely going to be going down the road and checking it out. One Nation Under CCTV is an awesome feat of getting something done undetected in this city. I get pulled on camera something like 300 times a day! And that is what I love about Banksy, there is a message, which he does in a very funny way and presents some magic, in a ‘how the hell did he do that?’ sort of way.

Awesome.

It’s been a while since i’ve done something like this, but I can’t help myself, i’ve been sitting on this for months now.

Freakangles by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield. Freakangel is a long form weekly comic (seems like 5 pages a week) that’s going to debut in February 2008. At some point I’m sure it’ll come out in print. This is pretty old news, but I only just noticed how good that bastard kid Paul Duffield. I know age shouldn’t matter much, but at 23 the little runt is far too good for his age. Go have a look at his stuff. The good news is that it seems that Paul will be doing some cover work for Ellis’s usually visually sub-par work published by Avatar (and also the reason I’ve only ever brought one Avatar book by Warren). It’s not that I think the art that’s published by Avatar is bad as such, it’s all technically adequate I guess, however it lacks a certain amount of finesse and class that Paul is bringing to the table, especially with his cover work for the new Ellis series, Anna Mercury.

Comics are just as much a visual medium as they are a written one; if the creators forget that, and see the art as something any monkey can contribute towards, they’ve missed the point COMPLETELY. It’s something I’ve noticed recently. When was the last time comic artwork truly inspired the reader? From my point of view, there are few artists that do that currently. Joshua Middleton is definitely one of them, as is James Jean, Tony Harris is always incredible to look at, Tomer Hanuka is another up and comer.

New Si Scott creme-your-pants-work. It’s been a while since I was thoroughly impressed by a new artist (in the same way I am with say James Jean). Si has been getting extremely good and his latest collection of work called Resonate is an awesome collection of work.

A brieft message. Obviously I missed the launch of this little gem. It’s a website of 200 word essays and thoughts on design that are accompanied by illustrations that change the look of every post. Awesome execution. While it borrows heavily from Khoi’s own Subtraction (in the comments section), it is great and inspiring to see what they’ll come up with next.