Sea of Joy

Howdy chums,

Welcome one and all to my official pre-Bristol Expo blogpost.  You may be very slightly interested to hear that the Grinning Mask issue 3 has now arrived from the printers and it's looking super-duper.  You may also note that I've upped my printing budget and gone with a USA comic book sized format for this issue.  Not only has it given me more space on a page to fit in lettering, it's also saved me a great deal of dull time spent hunched over a stapler bundling photocopies together.  Can I hear a collective hurrah from the cheap seats?

I have sneaked in a loving homage on the cover and do you know, I'm going to offer a mini competition for the three avid readers of my blog.  First to spot it and get in touch 'wins' a piccie commission of their choice drawn by my fair hand.   If that doesn't cause a global internet sensation then I don't know what will.

Many thanks to the good people at Pulse Print for their patience, and very speedy turnaround times.  Be sure to push your custom their way should you find yourself with a comic to print.

Whilst I'm thanking people, the mighty Forbidden Planet blog ran a mini preview of meself and Mr. Bolton's forthcoming Bristol trip.  What splendid human beings they are.

If you happen to be popping by Bristol this coming weekend, I shall be selling the new Grinning Mask comic in bundles with the first two issues.  Do feel free to part with your hard earned cash at our table.  I shall also have some prints and greetings cards for sale.  I do believe that they make the perfect gift for your fair deserving acquaintances.

I'll also be trying my hand at sketches etc over the weekend, and so if there is anything that you'd like to see drawn in a particularly nervous, ham-fisted manner, then do pop by our table in Old Station.  (Although I know that most folk like super hero sketches in these situations and so I shall probably already be at a disadvantage in the drawing stakes....)

Hope to see you at the weekend in Bristol then gentle reader.

Your chum,
Ryan.

They call me the Creeper...

Ta-da. Finished Creeper sketch. Inking done with a Pentel brush pen, and quick colours in Photoshop.

I'm determined to spend some time practising my inking inbetween the frustrating hours spent pencilling this pesky comic.

By the way, if anyone out there hasn't yet read it, I strongly urge you all to check out 'The World of Steve Ditko'. A great collection by everyone's favourite Objectivist comic book artist.

That's all for now folks.

Messy, messy pencils

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that I'm a bit of a messy penciller. This doesn't make me a bad person though.

Yep, this week has been yet more pencils for my comic (the very same comic which I could do with coming up with a title for).
Despite being a messy penciller, I'm nothing if not methodical. I know folk who jump about a script, tackling pages in any old order. My preferred method of working is to pencil an entire story start to finish before even thinking about the inking. I'm afraid that readers of this blog may have to put up with a couple of weeks of pencils therefore before they get to see any inky stuff.

As well as the comic, I've been doing some painting as well as dipping into my sketchbook. I'll post some piccies of the painting when it's safe to do so, but for now I'll post a quick sketch of the Creeper. I plan to ignore the slightly dodgy anatomy and use this for some much needed inking practice...

Until next time chums.....