Monday 23 December 2013

Briar In The Bag and Into The Dark We Go!

Hey ho!

Just a quick update.

I can happily say with a sigh of relief from both myself and my drawing hand, that Briar: Part 1 is in the bag and now is in the capable hands of Jordan Boyd for his colouring mastery!

No sooner had I finished that I had to jump into my short for In The Dark Anthology titled 'The Guillotines' Written by Michael Moreci and being coloured by Felipe Sobreiro. I'm honored to have been teamed up with those guys. The story is an awesome 80's teen monster hunter type story and I've had SO much fun with it.
I'm just tying up the last few pages of inks right now, Meanwhile I got a sweet little peek at Felipe's colours last night and I'm so excited for the rest of the pages here's a taster:




 Also here's some bits from my Instagram Feed:

Monday 18 November 2013

Thought Bubble - 2013: Comission Requests



Good day, guys and ghouls!
Just wanted to post up my plan for commission requests at this years Thought Bubble Convention.
I'll be making and order list for 4 maybe 5 pieces on each day. I'd love to take a list to work on before but unfortunately I don't have time to get any done before the convention. so rather than racking up an impossible list on the day I thought I'd line them up before hand. If your interested drop me a DM on Twitter or Email via the address on my blogger profile page.

Prices are:
1 x A4 Penciled and Inked character piece - £30 (add extra £5 for additional characters)
1 x A4 Head Sketch - £15

I'll be doing free pencil sketches in copies of Porcelain and Butterfly Gate if you'd like one :)

Please do pop by our table and say hi!

Friday 15 November 2013

BRIAR : Announcement!

Really happy to finally announce the name of the latest project I've been working on for Improper Books.

We give you 'BRIAR' and here is the cover art (also click the link for interior pages):



 We'll be giving out free previews at the upcoming Thought Bubble Convention in Leeds.
I cant wait to see what you guys and girls think.  We've all really tried to level up with this one. This is Benjamin Read has given me a beautiful and brutal take to work on again and we've thankfully been joined by Matt Gibbs on editing and Jim Campbell on letters and a new member of the Improper Books team Jordan Boyd has taken the helm of colours and is unstoppable!
More details on the tale to come but meanwhile get yourself along to Thought Bubble and get a free copy.


Friday 11 October 2013

Porcelain: Joing the Delcourt ranks and more!




I've been waiting ages to tell people about this but the news is finally out! Yes Improper Books have had the honor of having Porcelain published by French publisher Delcourt. this is a total dream for all of us and not only that they have given us the chance to work on a further 2 books that will follow the Child of Porcelain further into her life! you can read more details HERE!

More news to come!

Thursday 26 September 2013

Forgotten Planet: Pin Up


 Hey guys and gals.
Yesterday I completed a pin up piece for Pete Rogers and Giancarlo Caracuzzo's newest sci fi comic project 'Forgotten Planet'.
They have a Kickstarter running for the project. take a look and jump on board.
The interior art is a thing of beauty and Pete's writing is a guaranteed treat so give it a chance! Well worth the little bit of dosh you can throw in! not long left on the kickstarter timer but still chance to get their ball rolling!

Also I did a quick colour of the pin up, just as a bit of fun.





Tuesday 17 September 2013

Mobscene



Hey, hey!
Just a quick post.
I'd received a tweet by a rather lovely chap, Dave Kirkwood the other day asking if I could spare a sketch and be take part in his Mobster leaflet. The idea is to ask artists far and wide to help with the promotional leaflet for his Micro Mob prints. Myself, I'm just a small blimp compared to some of the other creators who have jumped in and there's more to come! My hero Dave Gibbons has even done one!
But the main thing, is that all funds for his prints go to a good cause. Dave gives the details HERE on his site but in short any profit goes to Teenage Cancer Trust, Cyclist Versus Cancer and When You Wish Upon a Star UK. So how could I or even YOU not take part? 

Jump in with a sketch yourself. It took no time at all for me to throw in one and I'm glad to be a part. So I implore other artists I know or don't to throw a quick sketch in.
Anyway enough about me. Go Check out Dave's Site and get yourself a print! 


Tuesday 3 September 2013

Meanwhile......


Hey, Hey!

Currently I'm steaming away at my latest Improper Books project. We haven't announced the project officially just yet but I've been posting bits and glimpses on my Instagram Feed recently. I'll keep the details vague until we do actually announce anything properly but i'll say that all the stops are being pulled out art wise and it's Ben's best work writing wise so i cant wait to show off the finished work! Stay tuned....


Friday 23 August 2013

Sketch Saturday @ Grinning Demon Maidstone 24 August



 Hey Ho!
Just a heads up that i'm going to be visiting The Grinning Demon comic shop in Maidstone tomorrow to do some sketch requests, I'll be there from 11am til 4pm .

£5 per A4 head sketch
£15 per A4 character sketch
If you have a copy of Porcelain I'll gladly do a free sketch in the front of the book.
So if your in the area do drop by and say hi! Any questions you have about Porcelain or Improper Books goings on are more than welcome. I'll give you a good chatting to!
Hopefully see you there!

Friday 26 July 2013

Cover Art: In The Dark Anthology


 Here's a little peek at some cover art i did for an up coming Horror anthology 'In The Dark'
the anthology is being pulled together by Rachel Deering. the line up of writers and artists is looking amazing. I'll be doing a little short in that too. I think we're all aiming for that to be out sometime later in the year.

This was coloured by the genius that is Jordan Boyd

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Forbidden Planet International: Porcelain Directors Commentary

 
Myself and Ben were asked to write up an article for their Directors Commentary section on their site. We go over our process of honing ideas, drawing up concepts and pick out a couple of our best bits. 
Really enjoyed working on this. It was a total honor because if you look through the site they get some really great creators to write up their process and thoughts on their projects.
Anyway, have fun!  
 You can read the article HERE
 
 

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Porcelain Internation Release Date! and Interview!






Just thought i should post the information here for anyone who hasn't seen the news yet. 
Porcelain has a date set for the international release. You'll be able to get it in all good comic shops from Wednesday, July 17th in the United Kingdom and Wednesday, July 24th in North America!
More details HERE

Also myself and Ben have recently done a bunch of interviews about Porcelain. All with really great questions revolving around Porcelain and generally working together.
 
One such interview went up HERE for the Geek Pride site. 
Big thanks to Daniela for giving us the time and for the great questions!
I'll post up the others as they go online.

Tuesday 9 July 2013

The Ones That Got Away: Part 2 - Tank Girl




Hey Hey,

Well here's another installment for 'The Ones That Got Away' and this one really is to me THE one that got away from me. it pains me to talk of this loss but here goes....

Nearly a year a go I got wind from a friend that Tank Girl writer Alan Martin had put that he was looking for artists to submit for a new series of that very same girl of tanks.
So me being a well and truely true blood Tank Girl fan thought why the hell not and asked said friend to mention my name and work to Alan. He did. Alan got in touch! We got talking and in between me gushing like a pre-pubescent fan Alan asked me to draw up my Tank Girl.

So I got on with it. We had to approach the publisher with how I would take the series on so I got rough sketching for Alan to see if I could draw his girl right.
If i'm honest I got a bit carried away at first, sure in myself that I 'got' Tank Girl and to put it mildly I was a tad bit excited to be sketching her in an official manner so I naturally wanted to keep it classic and pay a big fat load of homage to Mr Hewlett and Mr Dayglo.
In those respects the first batch turned out well... but it wasn't right. Alan wanted something new and I'd drawn her too young.


So I had another go but aiming to make T.G a bit older but still trying to keep on that classic punk look.






















These were better but still not what Alan wanted.
So we decided to go a completely other way and go for an overall new look, new hair, new clothes just overall something they hadn't tried with Tank Girl before. Alan suggested to head down a sort of WWII French resistance look. So I looked into women fighters of that time, the clothes and guns they used and mixed it up a bit with the mens wear! and so we came up with this:

Sadly as the title of the blog suggests it didn't go all the way. We were both really happy with the final look but somewhere down the line at the publishers end they didn't see it working. This was intended to go somewhere alongside the current series with Mr Cadwell's work which if you compare the art I can totally see why it would clash, so I'm sad but obviously it was for the better.
I'm still in contact with Alan however and we have plans to still do something together just maybe not T.G related. So watch this space.... Alas Tank Girl really is the girl that got away.






Monday 1 July 2013

Easy Rider

Just got back from a family gathering this weekend for my Dad's 60th. I'd spent some of my spare time before going up doing a couple of pieces of work for my Dad. He's asked for artwork by me for his house since... well god knows, but a long, long time. So I thought it was about time I did something.
My Dad is keen on his vehicles. He's big on his Audi R8 and has a keen love for his purple Harley Davidson Deuce and obviously a bigger love for my Step Mum, so I thought why not combine all those things in a couple of pieces.

 I can proudly say I drew them both from scratch, so it was a good stretch for the vehicle drawing muscles and a much needed exercise. Anyway, I was quite happy with them and thought I'd like to share.


I have to say I owe some credit to one of my favorite artists Sean Gordon Murphy for these pieces.  After seeing a commission piece he'd posted on his Deviant Art page, I knew what I wanted to do for my Dad. Murphy is a master of vehicle drawing so in a way these are also a little tip of the cap to him and his skills.

Saturday 1 June 2013

Butterfly Gate : Finsh Line

Just nearing completion of the second episode of Butterfly Gate, I think we're likely to have a collected print of the first two episodes for later in the year, more on that when we have some solid info. Meanwhile here's a peek at my Instagram feed encase you where curious on what's been going on recently. After this it's straight onto the Next Improper Books project I have lined up with Ben.


Monday 27 May 2013

The Willows

Hey hey!

Little post about a small piece I'd been commissioned to do for my neighbors. They run Shooting Stars Theater Company and are performing a sequel to their award winning production of 'The Wind In The Willows' titled 'Return To The Willows'

They are performing at the Stratford-Upon-Avon Arts Festival and asked us to produce an image based on their story to go into their program leaflet. I penciled and inked the piece and the lovely colour work is by my good partner in crime Laura Trinder




















I've read the script for the show and It's a great little take on what may happen to the stream dwellers after the first story. Great for all ages and some great laugh out loud moments. Be sure that if your in the area or already at the festival to go see their show!

Thursday 2 May 2013

Porcelain: now in 3D!

 
Now this is cool, have you Read Porcelain? remember Uncle's carriage? My Bro made a physical model of the damn thing with his snazy 3D printer. check out his blog HERE!

Friday 26 April 2013

Porcelain: Animated Trailer

Check out this rather rad trailer we put together for Porcelain.
Animated by Mark Kendrick and music by Jonathan Flethcer. For me it captures the feel of the book perfectly. Mark and Jonathan did such a great job.



Monday 22 April 2013

Silent Treatment

Thought I'd post about a little side job I've been working on in the past few of weeks. I'd worked on this along side my current comic work so it took longer than if I'd been working on it on it's own but it had a stretchy deadline so the process had plenty of time for playing around in.

The job was a promotional poster for a short film titled 'Silent Treatment'
Director Mark Lobatto sent me a cut of the film and we worked together on some suitable images. He'd approached me with some sketches of what he had in mind and I saw if I could find anything else that caught an interesting aspect of the film.
Here's the two results of our brain storming. I penciled and inked it much like I do a comic page and Asked colourist Andre May to work his magic on the two.



Here's a little look into the process I worked through for the two pieces.


Friday 12 April 2013

Porcelain: Diamond Code!




Hey hey


Just a little heads up.
As of July 2013 Porcelain will be available through Diamond. you can find details HERE

Basically this means that from July you will be able to order Porcelain through most book/comic shops around all around.So anyone who might have missed the Indie release we just finished you will be able to get you mitts on a copy though pretty well any sellers.

Tuesday 9 April 2013

Full of Pride: guest spot peek

It's been all systems go early this week. I'm hammering away at a couple of jobs I've had. and full swing into Butterfly Gate Episode #2 but I'm saving some of the work up before I go posting much about it or giving any peeks but it wont be long and I cant wait because I'm having so much fun working on that.

Meanwhile, as I said it's all systems go and i'm having a blast. one thing that's helped break things up a bit it that I'm working on (and nearly finished with my little guest spot in the next issue out of 'The Pride' written bu Joe Glass.

This is essentially my first jump into a Superhero-esq comic and so far it's all kinds of fun.
Anyway I'm constantly putting peeks onto my Instagram feed but I thought my blog could do with a little visual too.


Anyway must dash, more to come!


Monday 18 March 2013

Sketches: Last for a while

Helloski!

Here's the one sketch i did at Demoncon. I took probably ALL day and two attempts penciling this out for what i thought was a raffle prize. Turned out I wasn't entered as a prize in the end *sniff* but luckily a fellow artist wanted a commission off me so they took this off me. well i took it home and polished it off with inks so getting this to them tomorrow.
I've possibly enjoyed this piece the most out of any I've done recently. Maybe because it's my own characters but just had a lot of fun playing with it.

On the subject of Commissions I'm actually going to take a hiatus off from taking commissions on. I've got a lot of work on and I can get obsessed getting these done to a good standard. So I'm going to officially cut it out for a while and get my head down with all the work and put that time towards getting some short strips and a full short comic done.
I'll be getting to some conventions in the year and will do some sketches then but in the meantime no commissions being taken folks!

Take it easy
C
 

Thursday 14 March 2013

Demoncon 5

Hey Hey!
I'm going to be attending my first convention of the year this weekend. you can find me at Demoncon in at the Exchange Studio, Hazlitt Arts Centre, Maidstone, Kent. I'll be selling copies of Porcelain and previews of Butterfly Gate. I'll also be sketching and signing and generally chatting so if you see me and the Porcelain Banner do stop by and have a chat. I'll be taking on Commissions too so if you have any requests, don't be shy!

Friday 8 March 2013

Sketch inks: I.W.D Lady Of The Tanks

In the name of  International Women's Day I decided to warm up digitally inking an old sketch of Tank Girl.
One of my favorite of the female species in comics. Have a great day ladies :)


I think this Tank Girl pose needs a note: 'After Ashley Wood And Rufus Dayglo' :)

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Creator Owned Day: Mother Troll

In the name of 'Creator Owned Day' which is today! I thought i'd share a little peek at a character who will feature in a series i'm attempting to write and draw myself.
 I've only really started so the plot so far is thin and has a long, LONG way to go. plus I have a little short story I want to try before I go into anything too ambitious!

Anyway here you go, I've quickly digitally inked this sketch straight from my notebook. So far she's just known as 'Mother Troll'


Tuesday 26 February 2013

Porcelain: In Shops TOMORROW!

Hey, Hey!

Here's just a reminder of that book what I done. because it's getting released tomorrow!!!!

a big load of love from myself, Ben and Andre has gone into that book and well everyone involved in Improper so please if you have the spare time and spare pennies get a copy! The link i'm about to share has  a free preview PDF so you can wet your appetite for the full book. also some of the first reviews to come in.

You can read that HERE

Thursday 21 February 2013

House Of Betty: Interview and Review of Porcelain


Here's a little quick fire question time I did with the lovely people of House of Betty. you can Read that HERE

They also have given one of the first full reviews of Porcelain. really recommend anyone interested in my first full Graphic Novel having a read of this. ever so slightly but not a lot spoilery.
Big Thanks To Oz of H.O.B for the very kind review :)

You can Read that House Of Betty Porcelain Review HERE

Monday 18 February 2013

The Ones That Got Away: Part 1 - Wrath Of The Titans

More often than not as an illustrator you might have a project come your way and despite doing a chunk of work towards it, it wont see that light of day. That's just the way things go sometimes, you might get out-pitched by someone else or it just bypasses the right people.
2012 was a great year for me, I found I had more offers than I could take on and plenty that I would kill to work on. Some of those just slipped through my fingers... but that's just the gamble of pitching.
One that slipped through was for 'Wrath Of The Titans'. My eldest brother Tim Wildgoose was Armoury Supervisor on Wrath and wanted to pitch a promotional prequel comic to the director. Tim asked me to help with a little script he'd written and I drew some character sketches and a test page.


The script Tim had written was great, it was a 'Lone Wolf and Cub' style story with a drunk, rough looking Perseus carrying his son whilst fending off the odd demi-god.

We actually had full support from the Director and main actor and it all looked so promising but when it came to the studio's end it was unfortunately left alone. It was a great shame mainly for me as to work on a comic with my eldest brother would have been awesome but alas it just didn't happen..



Interestingly Tim had such good ideas in the script that some bits actually made it into the film. Apparently the idea of blindfolding statues of Zeus, so he couldn't witness the blasphemy's of humans made it into the actual film. So if you watch it, keep a sharp eye!

I've got more projects that I haven't had a chance or been allowed to mention so hopefully if the old clients/partners don't mind, I'll be able to post some more near misses. So stay tuned!














Friday 15 February 2013

An Improper Valentines gift


Hello there!
Yesterday we at Improper Books released the free one page comic myself and Benjamin Read created for Valentines day. This is a slightly alternative Pagan-esq Valentines gift, check out our little piece 'Wood-Wife'

*note: this is mildly NSFW and definitely not for youngling readers*


Stay tuned as I'm hoping next week I'll be allowed to post about the process of making this little short.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Porcelain: Indie Launch! Buy it! Buy it!


Very Happy to announce the release date information on my first long form comic Porcelain: A Gothic Fairy Tale


On Wednesday February 27th, 2013 we are releasing a limited print of the book will be available from Page 45 (Nottingham), Travelling Man (Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and York), Gosh! (London) and Orbital Comics (London), and is currently available to pre-orderfrom said shops.

If you're interested in the book or just want to know more here's a little outline of the story.

'Porcelain is set within a world that’s a darkly magical echo of our own. It follows the story of a street urchin, known as Child, who leaves the cold streets of a snowy city behind when she climbs the high wall into the Porcelain Maker’s secret garden in a bid to steal whatever she can.'

You can download a PDF preview of the book HERE

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Porcelain: Keeping It In The Family



Here's an interesting peek behind the scenes of Porcelain.
One of my elder brothers is a bit of a dab hand at...well probably everything but more recently he's become quite a mind blower with Google Sketch Up.
Working on a project like Porcelain Continuity an be a bitch, so to help with the reference i often make a Sketch up of certain rooms so I can keep my bearings and remember where i left say a globe in a room or how many shelves i had on a book shelf.
It's also pretty handy when working out where to place a vanishing point and helps me figure out a new way to approach and angle of a room.
One main help it can give is with complicated props. i'm quite rubbish on Sketch Up when it comes to individual props or something more complicated than a vase or window. This is where my brother Tim came in to help and helped me with some of the grander and more complicated set pieces.

I was going to write up a post myself about his help but he went and did it for his own blog. so i'll let him do the rest of the talking. You can read that HERE

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Super 8: The Involvement!

When reading my bio, I’m pretty sure a lot of people have scratched their heads and thought: Wait a minute… Super 8?  If you’re new to my work then it’s likely the Super 8 connection seems unlikely or you remember the DC short by Peter Tomasi and Tommy Lee Edwards. But yes, my partner in comic crime Benjamin Read and I teamed up for the UK promotion of the film, we worked on a promotional website that had a bundle of Super 8 goodies.

The set up was to have an interactive desk of our hero Joe. On said desk is a comic entitled Monsters From The Morgue! Throughout the film the kids are making a horror movie and the comic is one inspiration for the kids when making their film.


We had a lot of fun working on this as we got to take it back to the 70’s and make a completely zany B movie short. So we were quite in our Sci-Fi element.

I have to say out of the whole project, the most fun I had was on the cover.
This had to look as authentic as possible. So we went for the heroic detective shielding the screaming dame. (Although this isn’t exactly how the interiors plot turns out) for reference we looked heavily at the covers from ‘Tales Of The Zombie’. Those covers often had a very beautiful painted style. I didn’t quite get the subtle beauty of those classics but it was a fun attempt. The cover lettering was custom made by Laura Trinder. She also worked on the fake retro advertisements and other bits outside of the website.

In the early stages of development we played with a few different ideas for the comic. One such route we tried, but sadly didn’t continue, was a sort of prequel short based around Charles himself.  Here are a couple of sketches done for that.


 
I’d also tried out my hand at some other bits for the desk interactions if you look through the desk you’ll find a storyboard sketchbook. This again was intended to be an item to back up the film the kids are making in the film. The intention was that one of the kids drew these rough storyboards. I think it’s plain to see from my version that I had a bit of trouble adapting my art style to look more like a youngster with not much art training. 


So again sadly these weren’t used but to be fair I hadn’t really met the authentic look!
People who will have watched the film will notice the story of these isn’t strictly what happens in the kid’s film. We were doing this purely from what we knew from the teaser trailer.

You can find the full website this work is on HERE