BATMAN: NIGHTWALKER !!!

Hey hey,

My next book was just announced last week! I'm currently working away at DC's Batman: Nightwalker for their New DC Ink line. DC ink is focusing more towards a 'Young Adult' audience but honestly I think any range up from there would be able to pick up Batman Nightwalker and get into some good old fashioned brooding Bruce Wayne dealing with Gotham and Arkham madness. (Am I right in thinking we've never really truly followed Bruce as a Teenager before?). A bit more official info on the latest DC Ink announcement here.

Batman: Nightwalker is a graphic novel adapted from the original pros novel by Marie Lu. Adapted to script by the mighty Stuart Moore, Pencils and Inks by myself and I'm so happy to say that my wife and partner in crime, Laura Trinder, is making her DC debut on colours! The book is going to be grey-scale black and white with a hint of colour now and then and let me tell you, Laura is knocking it out of Gotham's city limits! Letterer to be announced but I'm sure it will be a badass!

The cover art (pictured) was announced last week and I've been posting little sneaky snippets on my Instagram account for a little while so you can steal some peeks there.

Bonus Image! : As part of the first wave of announcing the active projects back in the beginning of the year, DC asked for a super quick promo image. I was away from home at the time and so I only managed to get in a little crappy rough sketch. DC put the image with the project name but didn't properly announce the creative team of Nightwalker at that first showing.

I've been gradually finishing the piece for myself over recent weeks, just as a warm up thing. I finally finished it last week so I thought I'd post it up. It's not been officially DC sanctioned yet so I may get told off for this but hey... 

Page Process : Phonogram 'A Black Parade'

Hey hey,

So finally I've gotten round to pulling together a post on some of my process. I'm aiming to do some more in depth posts than this one, as this project was just a 5 page short and I didn't have much to design. Anyway stay tuned for more process posts, I'll try and make more of a regular thing of it.

So this post covers my work on 'A Black Parade', a short story for back of issue #3 of Phonogram: The Immaterial Girl by Kieron Gillen and Jamie Mckelvie.

                                                 


I'm a fan of the Phonogram series and of both Kieron and Jamie's work in general. By chance I met Kieron at a con a good few years back, we chatted and he looked over my portfolio and asked me to join him on a B-side story for the upcoming 3rd book. A couple of years passed, the book was delayed but Kieron still remembered me and kept me in mind for the B-side.

I'm always grateful for this little job. Kieron not only kept me in mind but also has never forgotten my face when meeting in person. He's put me forward to publishers more than a few times, so the guy really is a true gent. *Salute to Mr Gillen*

Right so, without further ado.

Character Design sketches   

So first off, after reading the script, I'll usually work out the characters that need designing. In this case I had some existing characters to work from but also characters such as the girls Kohl and Kid With Knives are chatting to. 'The Were-Emo' also needed some working out before moving on to the pages. 

 

Thumbnails 

After those designs get a nod of approval I get going with the thumbnails. Typically these are 12 x 8.5 cm.

Page Process

Thumbnail

Pencils
I usually print off the previously seen thumbnails at nearly A3 size.
Then I lightbox the thumbnails, tightening up the line work and adding detail on paper.

Inks
The inks here are traditional ink on Bristol board. I print out the pencils in blue onto Bristol board and then ink over them with a brush, switching to fine liners for straight lines.

Colours
And here we have the magic of colourist Andre May. After inking I'll scan in the inks and clean them up and add any alterations in Photoshop.Then I send Andre the pure black and white inks.
Andre then works what I can only describe as colourful witchcraft.
And so here you have the finished thing!

The pages were lettered by Clayton Cowles. Lettering is itself a whole other art form and essential for the finished page. However, I'm usually not involved in this process. I'll skip it for this post but hopefully cover it more in other posts. 

This is a perfect example of Andre's genius and skill as a colourist. Page 4 really turned out to be something else with his work. In fact I'd say this whole set of pages became something much greater with his work on it.

* Inks for this page were drawn digitally using Manga Studio. At the time I wasn't confident in a heavy use of black on the figure, so I decided to do it digitally to allow for tweaking as I went. Funnily enough this was one of the pages that changed things for me and made me think of inking digitally more often.

One Door Closes...

Hey, hey!

I've still got the habit of postings peeks at recent work on Instagram and Twitter and not much on here.

I've been working away on a few things recently, unfortunately one door has closed on a project before it managed to really hit the ground but I've been lucky enough to have two more doors of cool stuff open. Also the trusty world of Porcelain has been there for me and I'm always at home working there so it's all good in the Wildgoose camp. 

Here's a little peek at some recent postings on Instagram of all the things I've been on. I've got some blogs I really want to write about projects I worked on over the past couple of years and they'll have a big chunk of my behind the scenes process type stuff to them so stay tuned! 

Worldbuilders 2015: Original Art & Book Auction!!

Hey!

So for the second year in a row the Improper Books team have given some of our works to the Worldbuilders/Heifer charity team for their annual auction.
Last year we gave away some copies of our books but this year I think we've really given some good bundles of things to auction.

So if you know me and my work you may also know(And be annoyed) that I haven't sold any original of anything yet (I'm hoping to in the future but still no idea when) Meanwhile this is actually the first chance to get your hands on my actual inked pages.

I've given the guys at Worldbuilders a page of inked artwork to go with a copy of each of the respective books. Also it's not mentioned in the description but with each book that comes with the artwork I've signed and sketched in the font too.

Also if you are new to our works or fancy a pack of it all for someone who hasn't read any of our books then we have also given in 4 bundles of all of our books. in there. so that is Night Post, Porcelain, Porcelain: Bone China, Briar, Butterfly Gate, Night and Dragon and Mulp - Books 1+2.

HERE is a link to the auction listings. If you scroll through you can find our stuff in amongst the other auctions.
There are tons of great little item packs in there so be sure to check out all things  up for bidding. Speaking as a big 'Name Of The Wind'/ Patrick Rothfuss fan there are some achingly good trinkets on there.

Remember this is more importantly for a good cause, a great cause in fact. So bid high!!
I don't want to butcher the explanation for what Worldbuilders do so here is a video by World builders about what they and Heifer do:

Also here are the pages that you can get hold of in the auction (they are all brushed Ink on Bristol board A3 pieces):

Butterfly Gate:  Chapter 2 - Page 31 

Porcelain : A Gothic Fairy Tale
Chapter 3 - Page 1

Porcelain : Bone China
Chapter 2 - Page 22

Briar : Page 31

Signing event at Chaos City Comics! Plus new print!

Hey Just wanted to post up quickly about a signing event I'm at this weekend at Chaos City Comics In St Albans.
We start at 2.00 PM and they have some amazing guys signing and sketching. So pop by and say hey if you are near. I'll be doing the usual free sketch in copies of Porcelain and Butterfly Gate and Chaos City have stock of said books so I'll have all my wares with me. 

Also I'll be selling a limited A3 Colour Matt print I've drawn up especially for this event (pictured above) If any are left after the signing, I'll be selling privately (Contact me via Email or DM me on Twitter)
Though as I say they are limited to just 17 and will be numbered so they may not be around long. They will be £20 each.

The Pride!

Hey, hey!
I've been getting in the coloured pages of my latest short on The Pride comic. The pages are being given a whole other life by the fantastic Ben Wilsonham on colours. I  think this is Ben's first time colouring comic pages beside his own work but he's knocking it out of the park! My short piece should be in the next issue of The Pride Adventures.
 Check out the facebook page of The Pride news and updates on the book. 

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.

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!

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

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

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

In the works..

Hi all, sorry for the radio silence on here, the past few weeks i've been storming away at the inks for Porcelain and have just got chapter 1 finished up, two more to go. Here's a little medley of my photo feed on twitter which i often post on daily, it has a bit of mix a of all the stages.

And yes the idea is somewhat shamelessly stolen from Becky Cloonan's own blog but it's a pretty neat idea if you post progress on twitter alot. so full props to her influence on this post.