First Look: Cover: The Sigillite

So, here's the first of a few new artworks revealed over on the Black Library blog, my cover for Chris Wraight's new audio drama, 'The Sigillite':

(Above)

Malcador, The Sigillite.

Wait... what are those two skulls with the II and XI there for...?

Here's a few close up shots showing the details in more... umm, detail:

(Above)

Strange icons floating above old hands...

(Above)

A flaming 'Aquila' atop a staff, 

great for going to the lavatory at night.

So there you go! Something to chew over until next week, whereupon we shall be riffing on Hot Fuzz and getting all moody in the caves under Calth...

Until then, my friends!

Cover: Judge Dredd Megazine: Issue 326

Well, it's been a long time, hasn't it!

I've been away on secondment recently to Holy Terra, drawing some people fighting - but more about that another time...

In the meantime, here's my cover for this months Judge Dredd Megazine: Issue 326 - "Big Trouble in Hondo-City":

 

(Above)

The final cover, I love that tagline...

The brief was as follows:

"..a giant rampaging monster roaring, destruction all around, with... Inaba and Junko small by comparison in the foreground on their hoverbikes, facing him down..."

I gathered a few reference materials*, namely the fantastic 80's kaiju posters by posters by Noriyoshi Ohrai and others...

(Above)

A selection of reference materials, 

which all serve to influence my ideas.

As always, I started with a thumbnail, or thumbnails in this case, which were sent to Tharg for approval/ revisions: 

(Above)

My two initial ideas, 

I don't like top stray too far from the agreed thumbnail, 

that wouldn't be very professional, would it...

Tharg liked the second one, which had more interaction in the image, which always makes for a dynamic cover.

I might add that I didn't use any reference photos this time, as I wanted to keep this a strictly fantastical affair - I just wanted to try painting my way out of any problems on this one...

After that, we jump a few stages (namely blowing up the pic in Photoshop and painting over it in finer detail - and then painting A BIT MORE) on to the final piece:

(Above)

The final image in all it's technicolour glory ;)

So, feel free to go and buy a copy, support your home-grown comic publishers, writers and artists, enjoy the stories and then buy the next issue.

That's that, until next time, where I think I'll be talking about Paris Comic Con...


*Alas, no gurning in this one, sorry Pete ;)

Last in, first out...

So, by way of kick-starting my blog, Nikki Sixx OD'ing style, I'm going to start by posting my most recent items first.

First up is a sample from this weekends Dr Sketchy sessions, where we were treated to performances and poses by the stunning Beatrix Von Bourbon and funny Velma Von Bon Bon and others...

(Above)

Beatrix Von Bourbon

5min study

Graphite on paper

I've recently been reading up on my Golden Age illustrators and I'd like to think that their influence is creeping into my work in some small way.

Onwards and upwards!

Holy Blog, Batman!

Right, the blog has been dormant too long now... time to remedy that...

PROPER POSTS INCOMING!

 (...in the next few days)

Cover: 2000AD Prog 1773

Another week and another cover for The Galaxies Greatest Comic!

 

(Above)

2000AD: Prog 1773

You know the drill... first some sketches, references (incl. gurning) and painting - Et voilà! You have a cover...!

 

 (Above)

Quick sketches, using the cover template 

as a guide for placement. I kept the colours 

minimal for effect and also give the droids 

some room to play with design and palettes...

 

 (Above)

 Let the gurning commence! 

Good reference can be invaluable.

Also, it can look silly.

But it's still invaluable...

  

 (Above)

Many hours later, here's the final result. 

Lots of painting and resizing of Dante's pupils 

to get the right mix of terror and pain...

 

(Above)

Dante, on the cover. 

A brilliant story - I'm proud to be a small part of it.

...and a Very Happy (Belated) 35th Birthday to Tharg and his Droids at 2000AD - Thank you for being the best and most consistently brilliant comic going and long may you reign over us ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

That's all for now, currently on the drawing board - Jetbikes vs Orks...

Horus Heresy: Know No Fear

It's out.

Go here to get your copy...

...and Black Library are selling wallpapers of it as well, if you like that sort of thing.

Check out my previous post about the cover.

Coming up - Cardiff International Comic Expo and Black Library Live...

Season's Greetings!

A quick festive post to wish old friends and new, personal and professional, a Merry Christmas and the most prosperous of New Years!

"Look to the future now, it's only just begun..."

Skinnyelbows on Game Art at Confetti Nottingham

Hi All,

I'll be doing a quick lecture about Game Art in all its forms at Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies in Nottingham tomorrow at 4pm (that's Thursday, November 10th from 4pm, fact fans!)

(Above)

The Confetti Cafe.

I look forward to meeting new faces, inspiring them and hopefully shedding some light on the realities of working in game development...

I'll see thee then, then!

Skinnyelbows: Now on T-shirts, Hoodies and Stickers...!

Hello All!

Feel free to pop on over to my REDBUBBLE page to see some of my original designs that you can get on Men and Womens size t-shirts, hoodies and also in sticker form. Here's a sample of the first wave:

Hope you like. We shall see if I sell any, it's a nice way to get some extra use out of my doodles.

I'll be adding more and more as I make them, so be sure to check back from time to time...!

Cover 2000AD Prog 1757

Here's my cover to this weeks 2000AD Prog 1757, "Flight of Angels!":

 

(Above)

2000AD Prog 1757

"Flight of Angels!"

As always it kicks off with a brief from Tharg, who wanted Angel Zero on her glider, zooming at the reader -  guns blazing. BLAM!

I knew John Burns was drawing the strip, so I started to think about the strips he did for Look-In but, as I didn't merely want to imitate Johns superlative style (one of the finest comic draughtsman right now) - I wanted to be sympathetic to the artwork and story - that led me to Arnaldo Putzu, cover artist for Look-in magazine.

Me and my sister used to get Look-in when we were children and, while I never knew his name at the time, I LOVED his covers.

 

(Above)

Arnaldo Putzu at his best...

Using his bold use of colour as my starting point I ran up two thumbnails based on the brief:

(Above)

Two similar but different treatments, 

colour was the driving force on this piece.

Tharg liked the one on the right here, but he made sure I kept her eyes on the reader in the final piece - a small but VERY important point for many covers. 

It's the eyes that can grab the viewer.

Now, the reference shot - here I am rolling about on the floor to get an idea of how you'd hold the guns if you were in that position. I look daft, I know - but you've got to break a few eggs to make an omelette. And I sure look like a stupid egg...

 (Above)

Posing can be fun, rolling around on 

the wooden floor - just be 

careful of splinters.

From there I hit Photoshop hard and painted up the final piece you see below.

(Above)

The full artwork minus cover furniture.

Here's a detail of the piece so you can see it close-up - hopefully the eyes are fixing you with their gaze...

(Above)

"Look into my eyes... "

And with that, Tharg was happy, I was happy, so we're all happy! Right?

Another fun cover for the Galaxies Greatest Comic, it really has to be one of the best gigs in the Universe!

2000AD Prog 1757 is in the shops now! - you'd be crazy to miss out ;)

Until next time, my fellow Earthlings!

Reminder: Games Day 2011

Hello All,

Just a quick reminder to say I shall be attending Games Day 2011 with those lovely folk from The Black Library this coming Sunday the 25th September, 2011 at the Birmingham NEC LG Arena!

So, if you have any of you have copies of my Black Library covered books, Horus Heresy books or posters (there may also be numbered and signed limited edition prints available on the day), feel free to bring them along to get signed. I believe I'll also be taking part in a seminar about the Art of Black Library!

Oh, and there'll be a bunch of people who write words as well, so you can talk to them about sentences and paragraphs or something... ;)

There may even have a special sneak preview of upcoming artworks on my iphone for anyone who asks very, very nicely...

Tickets available here: Games Day UK 2011


UPDATE - it looks like all tickets are sold out, see you all there!

First Look: Cover: Aurelian

Hello All,

So, we've had the Pledge, The Turn and now, the Prestige moment...
Those nice folk at Black Library have now revealed my artwork (in their newsletter) for the new Horus Heresy novella by the über-cool Aaron Dembski-Bowden, titled: Aurelian

(Above)
Intense!
The result of a lot of
Hans Zimmer soundtracks
and a well outlined brief...

Needless to say the messageboards have been getting a lot of heat, people seem to like it, which is always nice to know.

Either way, I'm proud of it. Aaron has a knack of pushing the boundaries of what to expect in a cover and this one didn't fail to push against that. Check out his 'blog for a far wittier take on the cover art.

Sheesh, that boy's a GREAT writer... Cheers Aaron - you wonderful bundle of talent!

Next up on my drawing board, assassins and aliens...

Music To Paint By...

Hello all,

I just finished a nice big cover for my brothers and battle-sisters at Black Library and, by way of a teaser (kind of), I wanted to share the musical inspiration for the piece (the best bit comes in at 2:50 in):



YEEEAAAHHH!

Without giving too much away, this summed up perfectly the mood I wanted to achieve with the piece.

More often than not, I listen to soundtracks when working, mostly Hans Zimmer. Or have my iPhone on shuffle, so it'll keep me amused when it bounces from Lady Gaga to Dragonforce to Ennio Morricone ;)

So, anyone else use particular pieces of music to get them fired up?

Art Prints at Games Day 2011

Hello All,

A quick note that Black Library will be selling limited edition prints of the 'Path of the Seer' cover at Games Day 2011, alongside Jon Sullivans' awesome 'Battle of the Fang' cover:

(Above)
Come buy me at Games Day!

You'll be able to see all the insane* amount of detail that went into the cover in this print, there's even a special tribute to an 80's band in there, if you can find it ;)

See you there...!

* Well, 'insane' may be a bit extreme, but I did dream about swirling lines for nights after...

Cover: 2000AD Prog 1745

Here's my cover to this weeks 2000AD Prog1745, 'First Blood':

(Above)
2000AD Prog 1745:
The MkI Blackbloods
in their menacing glory.

A neat little brief from Tharg, with the BlackBlood MkI's looming over and reaching out to grab the reader... What's not to inspire an artist!

I took a few reference photos - as always, to get an idea of poses and look for any of those subtle shapes that can sometimes lift an image. In this case it was the angle of the little finger when the hand opens like that. Yeah, that was my big discovery in this pic. Little fingers! GO ME!

(Above)
The little finger, the way it's angled - LOOK!

Anyways, I drew up a thumbnail I *felt* delivered on the brief, luckily for me, Tharg the Mighty liked it:

(Above)
I submitted just the one thumbnail this time,
sometimes a risky approach, as I felt it most accurately
portrayed what Tharg was looking for.

So I went ahead and painted up the final image, as you can see here:

(Above)
The final image, painted in Photoshop.

Tharg was happy, I was happy, we're all happy! Am I right?

I still get a thrill doing covers for the Galaxies Greatest Comic, it really has to be one of the best gigs in the Universe!

2000AD Prog 1745 is in the shops on Wednesday - you'd be crazy to miss out ;)

Until next time, my fellow Earthlings!

Interview: Scotch Corner

Just a quick post to point you to a neat little interview with the lovely people over at the Scotch Corner blog, where I talk about how I started off my illustration career and my work in general - go read!


Cool as der cucumber, ja?

First look: Cover: Path of the Renegade

What a week! First off, space marines actually in space; now I introduce you to my new Dark Eldar cover for Andy Chambers' new novel "Path of the Renegade", from Black Library - out early next year.

(Above)
Like the Eldar novels,
I lavished little details on
this image - not immediately
visible in this preview...

And here's the piece in it's front cover glory:

(Above)
The design and type always
sets off the image to a tee!

I'll do a proper post with process, as and when the book comes out - Excellent!

First look: Cover: Know No Fear

Hello one and all!

So, Black Library have put the final (lo-res) image up for the new Dan Abnett Horus Heresy novel, "Know No Fear" and here it is for your perusal:

(Above)
Zero-G punchup!
Ultramarine Primarch, Roboute Guilliman
PUNCHING THE HEAD OFF
a heretic WordBearer

(Above, detail)

The face was inspired
by the previous Ultramarine I painted
for 'Battle for the Abyss'

(Above)

I LOVED adding the details
on this one, the blood globules hanging in space,
the ship detailing and all the rest.

The idea for this image was to have a true 360 degree punch up, so the cover was designed to show some combat if you turned the image round to any angle.

I added a harsh lens-flare with lens dust, the kind of which you see on the NASA Apollo Moon-landing photographs (a great inspiration for this piece)

Well ,that's all for this time, when the book's out I'll do a full process post - sketches and reference. But for now, enjoy the hard vacuum of space...!

Process: Oil Paint: Still Life 2011

Hello All,

A quick diversion, if you will - to the realms of oil painting...

Here's a process summary of a little still life I finished in-between jobs:

(Above)
The basic set-up in the studio.
An oil decanter, grapes, silver bowl
and a platter.

(Above)
Process.
The bowl feels overworked.
Next painting I'm going to vary the
rendering between looser strokes
and refined areas of detail

(Above)

Still Life, 2011
Oil on Canvas
8"x10"

It was done in one afternoon, approx. 4hrs, in that quick 'alla prima' approach that I enjoy.

The next paintings are a larger format and a more complex subject material - my children!

Until the next time...

First look: Cover: Age of Darkness

Hello One and All!

Here's a nice clean version of the new, NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING ANTHOLOGY "Age of Darkness" from BL Publishing, showing a slightly evil Horus grinding an Imperial Fist Marine into the dirt (a certain Christian Dunn's idea - so BLAME HIM!):

(Above)
Horus is *starting* to go all evil,
so he's not TOTALLY spiked up yet...

As is usual, I started off with draughting out thumbnails - just two thumbnail ideas this time, as I had a pretty set idea as to how I wanted this cover to look. Luckily, Black Library were happy with them and chose the first thumbnail to work from. Then it was simply a case of paint, Paint, PAINT!

(Above)
The initial thumbnails,
BL correctly stated I'd made
his armour too purple -
n00b mistake ;)

(Above)
Horus Detail, armour heavily based
on the classic Adrian Smith
Horus vs Emperor art.

(Above)
OOF! BOOT TO THE HEAD!
See his panicked eye behind his eye-lens -
that's me, that is ;)

Cool, so that's the skinny on the new Heresy cover - I'm off to finish putting some more spikes on this here certain xenos cover I'm currently working on...