Hector Umbra

Great news! Uli Oesterle's Hector Umbra is finally being published in English by UK publishers Blank Slate. After years of staring at my German copies I'll finally be able to find out exactly what is going on. If you haven't seen Uli's work already click here. His stuff is wonderful. I saw one drawing on a sticker on a lamppost in Munich and I was hooked. Here's my pic of the eponymous hero to celebrate.

Also on the Blank Slate blog there's a release date for two new Darryl Cunningham books, more Mawil and the much anticipated Gungle by the brill Warwick Johnson-Cadwell. 2011 is going to be a pretty good year for comics.

Cumulus in glorious technicolour!

Latest pic of Inspector Cumulus and the first I've seen in colour. He's now penciled in for an early Spring 2011 release. Exciting! More details on the Crazy Label blog.

Sketchbook Vol 1

I've published a collection of drawings from my sketchbook and imaginatively called it "Sketchbook Vol 1". It's 32 pages - Colour cover (270gsm, for those in the know) and black and white interiors (160gsm). It's beautifully printed by Ripe Digital (who I can heartily recommend). If this goes down well I may even do another.

Sketches for the FM Wonder Room cabinets

I did these sketches for the Wonder Room cabinets featuring the Felt Mistress characters. They weren't used in the end so I've posted them here along with a link to the actual finished character in their cabinet.


Prof Wilbur Grumph


Uli Snooks & Rondo


Tabitha Snark & Rolando


Snapper Duvall


Scrimpton Fleeps


Grahhl Lagerfurr


Lady Gaarrgghhh Garrgghhhh

Felt Mistress Selfridges Christmas Window

If you follow me on Twitter or know me on Facebook you've probably seen me go on and on and on about the Felt Mistress window that Louise and I have got at Selfridges' Oxford Street store in London. It's a dream come true so just humour me for a tiny bit longer!

Selfridges theme this Christmas is play and we were delighted to be asked to contribute a dolls house window design to run over the course of their Christmas campaign. We produced a sketch of exactly the type of dolls house that we'd like our characters to inhabit and once it was approved we just ran with it. My illustration was printed onto MDF and the house was constructed by their excellent prop team. Louise made all the characters beautifully and I designed loads of accessories for the interior. We wanted it to be full of funny little details that you perhaps wouldn't notice at first glance. Not everything was produced so I've posted them here ( I'm particularly proud of the Eggheads team shot!) along with the original visuals.

To see how it turned out click HERE.

DoodlePlanet (Halloween Special)

My piece from tonight's DoodlePlanet. I channeled my inner goth! Posca on board.

Inspector Cumulus update

Here's a pic of the Cumulus prototype posted on the Crazy Label Flickr stream today. Look at those hands!!

Archive post - The Ramones

This is one from the vaults. A Mojo album review illustration from August 1999 (sheesh!!). Simon Gane has recently posted an amazing Joey Ramone pic and Warwick Johnson-Cadwell's Ramones pic is now a bit of a classic. I promised on Twitter I'd post mine. It's your turn now, Rob!

Chewie Rockin'

Tonight, for no real reason, I drew Chewbacca playing air guitar. He's listening to ZZ Top's Eliminator. In particular "Sharp Dressed Man".

Wendigo Dancing

Why is the Wendigo dancing? Find out over on Bad Machinery.

Uli Snooks

Here's Uli Snooks (well, my drawing of him). He's one of 37(!) characters that I've designed with Felt Mistress for Selfridges. Uli (and his cane and fellow critic, Rondo) will even be treated to his very own glass cabinet in the Wonder Room. For more details click HERE.

Recent Sketchbook pages

It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you.. without a couple of drawing for you to look at. Been busy of late on stuff for Christmas but here's some recent pages from my sketchbook to fill the gap. Normal service will resume shortly.

Frang Tootle

Here's Frang Tootle. One of (what seems like) "hundreds" of new characters I've designed with my Louise (AKA The Felt Mistress) recently for the Selfridges Wonder Room. Here's my original sketch of Frang alongside the finished 3D version.

Also, for your amusement, is the cover to Frang's seminal album "Songs of Pain and Discomfort". Click HERE to see a short film over of FM's Flickr page.

A warm-up Hulk.

Following on from the last post, here's another Hulk pic. Warwick was intrigued enough by the Hulk's arm in the Bonnie "Prince" Billy strip to ask what the rest of him would look like if I drew him. Here you go, Warwick!

I had a dream...

The other night I dreamt that I had drawn a four panel comic strip titled "What If.. The Hulk Lived In Bonnie "Prince" Billy's Beard?". This week I have made that dream come true! Gabrielle was right!

Influence Map

I saw this interesting meme on John Allison's blog the other day and I couldn't resist joining in. Since then I've seen others from Joe List and Adam Cadwell. I find it fascinating. It was so difficult to shortlist it to just 21. I've missed Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, Aex Toth, Jack Kirby, Javier Olivares, Simon Gane, Guy Burwell, Marc Hempel. Mary Blair, Robert Valley, Philip Bond, Sheilah Beckett and loads more that will probably occur to me as soon as I click "publish post". I need an inspiration atlas! I've chosen the ones that I think have had the biggest impact on the way I draw and chosen images of theirs that reflect this.

Looking at what I've taken from all these great artists made me feel a bit dirty, though. If I had a fraction of the talent of these great artists I'd be more than happy.

UPDATE Yves Chaland! Bruce Timm! Arrghhh!

UPDATE UPDATE Satoshi Kitamura! Egon Schiele! Arrggghhh!

Happy Birthday, Jack Kirby!

Jack Kirby would have been 93 today. Here's the pic I did of the great man for the excellent Kirby-Vision blog.

DoodlePlanet August

Here's my (not quite finished) piece from DoodlePlanet last night. I forgot to take any photos of my own work so this pic is courtesy of Mr John Allison and his "smart" phone. Once I find a clear pic of the finished canvas I'll put it up. Another great night with brilliant work from John Allison, Dan Berry, Julian Kimmings, David Setter (the founder of DP), 8bit and many more. Have a look at the Facebook group for more pics.

I've Inked John Allison!

John Allison, artist and writer of the truly excellent Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery, has invited people to have a go at inking his pencils. An interesting experiment, I thought, so I gave it a go. See the original pencils HERE and John's inked version HERE. I've never inked anyone's pencils but my own before. This is a first!

Mori Girl

Inspired by the Japanese fashion of the same name.

Here. Hair. Here.

I've been drawing big hair again. Will I ever tire of drawing hair? I think not. I'm holding out for that lucrative Herbal Essences contract.

The Grimble Twins

Aw, I used to love it when these guys would appear on Top of the Pops! Eddie (on the right) was such a joker! I can't believe he tried to eat Gary Davies during the Radio One Roadshow! Good job Jakki Brambles was there to distract him. For an extra 10 points - what was the name of the Grimble Twins first UK top 10 single?

UPDATE - The winner of the extra 10 points is Laurie Pink who correctly answered "Tickly Ribs!". Well done, Laurie! A satin Grimble Twins tour jacket stained in the blood of Gary Davies is on it's way to you now!

Zombies!

Here's a recent Insurance Times commission for an article about claimants being given new rights to pursue the insurers of insolvent businesses. In other words, previously dead claims being brought back to life - Zombie insurance!! As you can imagine this was a joy to do. I've even managed a Hitchcock-style cameo - I'm on the left with a pencil sticking out of my head next to Louise with a pin lodged in her eyeball (a REAL injury!). Click on the image to get a better view of the carnage. Original pencils below for, you know, comparison an' that.

Malibu

The nice people at Malibu asked me to decorate one of their new limited edition "blank" bottles as part of their current "Malibu By U" campaign. Here's my contribution.

Selfridges Press Day Sketches

I spent Thursday at Selfridges, London, with Louise (under her guise as Felt Mistress) promoting the range of "couture creatures" that will be sold in their concept store, The Wonder Room, from the Autumn (all very exciting!). I was there to draw members of the press as Felt Mistress characters. In total I drew 37 portraits here's a few of my favourites.

Eliza Trembleshroud

Who is Eliza Trembleshroud? Find out HERE.

Harvey

We're going to miss you, Mr Pekar. RIP Harvey Pekar 1939 - 2010.