The wage don't fit

Oh fiddle de dee eh gentle reader?  My once-mighty blog is getting more and more neglected with each passing week.

Whilst I seem to struggle to find time to update this part of the web, rest assured that I'm still fairly active with my ramblings on curtain twitcher.

To you, my dear reader, I shall update you with what I'm up to over the coming months.

I shall be sharing a table with pesky Bolton at Thought Bubble in Leeds on 23rd-24th November 2013.

I shall also be sharing a table with pesky Bolton at the Volume book fair at the new library in Birmingham on 5th-7th December 2103.

AND.... I've just booked a table at this very lovely looking show in Birmingham in August next year....

It's all go.....

RT

I love my shirt

What ho gang.

A quickie for you today.  The following be a table centre piece that I got asked to do AGES ago for a (similarly obsessed with comics) chum.  The table theme was 'Marvel loves Disney', and I got asked to draw a Gene Colan-ish Iron Man trying to woo Tiana from 'The Princess and the Frog'.  I figure that as the wedding has now passed, and the happy couple are safely off on their honeymoon, I should be safe to post this.

I'll also sneak in a quick piccie that I've done as part of a children's book pitch for another chum.  It's a couple of kids from the book sentenced to a hard dinnertime litter picking.  I was quite chuffed with how this one turned out.

AND the Grinning Mask #3 is safely inked.  The excitement reaches fever pitch.

RT

Solomon bites the worm

What ho there my gentle reader. 

Once again I make my merry way to my oh-so neglected blog to try to make up for the lack of stuff on here.  I must blame that pesky twitter thing for this.  In this day and age, it often seems easier to hastily post stuff on there leaving this once-mighty blog to quietly weep bitter digital tears to itself.

Still, I return here to happily report that myself and Mr. Bolton have booked an exhibitor table at the (I'm told) splendid Thought Bubble convention in Leeds.  This on top of our previously reported table at Bristol Expo in May.  Blimey.  I may get some tour t-shirts printed up with these two gargantuan dates.

I'm also happy to report that I've now finished pencilling issue 3 of the Grinning Mask.  I may well be dooming myself to failure but I should get it ready for Bristol.  Form an orderly queue now.....

Your chum

RT 

'Quick! Let's get out of here before he witters on some more!'

Stop Making Sense

....or how I've tried to make a 'Talking Heads' page more interesting.  I'm sure that I'm not the only comics artist out there who struggles with making panel after panel of folk talking look interesting?  Please tell me I'm not?

This is a layout page from the mini project I'm working on which I mentioned here previously.  I imagine that I'm fairly safe to announce now that it's with writer Stephen Aryan and fabbo artist Adam Bolton.  Hurrah indeed.  Go check out their stuff and hunt down a copy of Adam's rather lovely looking 'Where's My Shoggoth?' book what he has created with Ian Thomas.

This mini project is currently being worked up into a pitch and rest assured my gentle reader, that I'll keep you posted about this one as it nears completion.  

Toodle pip chums,

RT

Sad Tooth Sign

Amongst other things, I'm currently working on a bit of a collaborative thing.  This is all at a very early stage at the moment, and so I don't want to reveal too much.  Nonetheless, I can probably scratch together a few things to blog about.

I'm working from a script (by A.N. Other) and putting together pencilled layouts for A.N. Other II to provide finished pencils and inks.  This suits me down to the ground, as I am (or so I've been told) quite nifty with page layouts / storytelling.  This also means that I can leave A.N. Other II to correct my slightly ropey anatomy.....

I must say that the finished tester stuff is looking super-duper so far, and rest assured gentle reader that as soon as I can jot a few more bits about this one, I will.

In the meantime, for those wierdos like myself who are interested in the stages that go into a finished comic page, I'll post a couple of panels.  Rough layouts at A4, blown up to A3 and then traced to make a tighter pencilled layout.

 

In other news, I've taken the plunge to join Curtain Twitter.  Shock! Horror!  Come follow me why don't you?

RT

Devo-lution

What ho chums,

For today's ramblings, I'll put together a quick piece about a cover I've recently completed for a fabbo up-coming anthology by the Midlands Comics Collective. 

First, a very rough A4 pencil sketch
 

 

Blow it up to A3 and start pencilling on layout paper (my current pencilling paper of choice)

 

Then inks onto tracing paper taped over the layout.  This method means I'm not as precious with inking as I may be on super-expensive Bristol Board...

Scan it in and have a quick dabble at colours

 

Add some more layers of watercolours, drop the lettering in, and Bob's your uncle (he certainly is as well).

This anthology (as you may have guessed) is all loosely based on the end of the world and features contributions from the very talented Midlands Comics Collective, including (I'm reliably informed) a 'lost classic' from the splendid Hunt Emerson. 

If you happen to be at Kapow this weekend and providing the printers haven't fibbed to us about deadlines, then you should be able to grab a copy from fellow Midlands Comics Chum and top bloke Josh Clarke.  Tell him I sent you.
  
To further whet your appetites, I'll attach a snippet from my contribution to the anthology.
 

Until next time.
RT

Son of a Gun

Grrr.  I'm merrily working away at some exciting stuff but not allowing myself to post too much about them yet.  Fear not chums!  I'm sure that I can post a wee snippet of pencils from a bigger piece for the internet world to patronisingly snigger at.
RT

Working Man Blues

Sorry for the lack of posts lately folks. I'm super-duper busy on a few projects at the mo including four pages for an anthology, four pages for Too Much Sex and Violence, some colouring work and a few things of my own I want to get out there (so to speak).
Anyway, I'll post a work in progress pencils panel from the afore-mentioned Too Much Sex and Violence here for you.
Until next time,
RT

Little Things (that keep us together)

Sketchbook time again folks.....



It's Ben Grimm. How ridiculously therapeutic is the Thing to draw? There's something about all of the scales that make him quite soothing to sketch.

It's a mean looking Doomlord - no doubt planning the destruction of the human race or something like that? Despite spending years reading Eagle as a kid, I couldn't quite remember how his nose went? Oh well, it turned out alright.

I would absolutely love to draw a Doomlord story......

RT

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH

Afternoon folks,

I've now finished all of the pencils for my BICS comic project and am getting on with the inking. Hurrah for me. If you're at BICS this year and feel like supporting a starving comics artist, do pop along to the Midlands Comics Collective table and get yourself a copy of this. Check out the rest of the stuff on the table as well - by the sounds of it, there should be plenty of goodies there in time for your delectation.



I'm also getting a bit fed up of drawing screaming faces. The more astute amongst you may have noticed that this is a horror comic - much in the EC tradition.


I think that I might draw some more 'Archie and the Sweep' for some light relief.....

RT

Yet more pencils.....

.....in progress.


I've just finished pencilling page twelve of a hefty-and-rather-ominous-sounding twenty one, of my BICS comic / project.

Behold ye a couple of snippets for folk to take a peep at.


Right then. Back to it.....

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.....

Another week.....

.....another post.

Right then, so what have I been working on this week then?

I'm currently working on a comic of my very own which I'm hoping to get together in time for the British Comics Show. There's going to be a few late nights ahead to get it together, but if nothing else, I'll be a few pages better off in my portfolio.

Anyway, it's all scripted and laid out, and I'm currently wading through pencils.





Fun, fun, fun eh? I'll post more stuff as the weeks progress...

As a final treat this week, I'll post an inking sample to balance up the pencils. Yep, it's everyone's favourite mutant. These are my inks over Joe Ward's pencils, and is my first foray into digital inking using my Wacom tablet. As test pieces go, I'm quite chuffed with it.



Once again chums, any comments criticisms etc will be gratefully received.