To shake off a bit of rust, I redrew a page of a manga book that I had on my desk, Mob Psycho 100 volume 4. This isn't a series known for its super slick art so it's an opportunity to not totally "dispirit" oneself doing a rework (just a little Mob Psycho joke 4 u).
I've posted the original page underneath (which I nicked from a scanlation site rather than try to photograph my book) - the English version uses WHAMM as the sound effect but I am very taken with their SBOMK.
I really...
2022-04-09 07:20:58 +0000 UTC
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Please don't share this, as the art is not in the world yet, but here's the variant cover I did for issue 3 (not 2 as is currently solicited) of IDW's TRANSFORMERS: LAST BOT STANDING. Proud to say that I coloured this myself! The last two years may have been largely miserable for everyone but I'm pleased with the improvements I've made in my practice during that time, if nothing else.
2022-04-08 14:55:21 +0000 UTC
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After two years of quite intense comic-drawing, I'm returning to drawing smaller strips for an indefinite period to rebuild my strength. I wrote a 32-page follow-up to Destroy History: NEMS, did the roughs and everything, and it was very good (I promise), but it was the last rattle of the machine. I never realise that I'm spent until I'm really spent. It's hard when drawing is both your work...
2022-04-05 19:53:31 +0000 UTC
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Your PDF is linked under the cover image - please let me know what you think in the comments.
Thank you for your support!
2022-04-03 22:59:00 +0000 UTC
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Bulbquest "continues"!!!
2022-04-02 07:48:35 +0000 UTC
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Forgive me if I've posted this sequence before - I don't think I have.
When I was making Bobbins.horse in its final run from 2018-2020, I got tighter and tighter with the layouts, they became very complex for a little cartoon strip. Towards the end they became brutal. I think, subconsciously, I was keen to get back to drawing full size pages, but didn't have the energy to commit to them on a daily basis. While looking through my archives today I found a page that I drew in m...
2022-03-31 20:22:02 +0000 UTC
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I've been working on a comic with Max Sarin drawing and Sammy Borras colouring, it will emerge around the same time Steeple volume 3 does. It's just a web thing at the moment, no plans for a print version but it will probably end up in any prospective fourth Steeple volume.
Anyway, here's the cover and a tiny preview of the madness inside.
2022-03-28 14:39:03 +0000 UTC
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I promised you a sketch, here's one. What it indicates... I cannot say
2022-03-24 20:20:45 +0000 UTC
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[Apologies for the recent lack of sketch posts and fun comics. I've been writing pitches and scripts, which has left me little extra time and inspiration. I want to get back to sketching soon! I miss it!]
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Michael Ben Silva writes:
"When did you start consciously ageing your characters? Esther, The Boy, and co. preparing for the end of school days is when I think I first noticed, further heightened by the intro of the Bad Machinery kids. Have yo...
2022-03-23 17:09:44 +0000 UTC
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Andrew Dederer writes:
"Is there a plan or pattern to your character's names? I ask because there seems to be some latent jokes and symbolism behind some of them. First of all, I can't believe Susan made it over 50 issues without having a "Queen of De-nile" joke thrown at her (though maybe that's more an American joke). Along the same lines, is there any meaning behind Esther's name? I mean all the guys want her, massive alcohol consumption t...
2022-03-18 16:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Anna McDuff writes:
"What are your favorite goth bands of the 1980s?"
When I was a teenager, the UK charts were hip deep in goth bands but I didn't really like goth music. I liked dance music, and synth pop. Fields of the Nephilim were the exact opposite of the Rob & Raz featuring Leila K, the Pet Shop Boys and Erasure.
I did enjoy the pounding singles "This Corrosion" and "Dominion" by Sisters of Mercy. And who can forget ...
2022-03-13 12:13:59 +0000 UTC
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ITEM! I'm currently very busy finishing up the Spring Special, coördinating a secret project with Max Sarin, and doing a rare bit of "outside" work so I'm not generating much new nonsense for the Patreon. But I would love, LOVE it if you could give me some new Q&A questions to answer, because I've run out. Previous Q&As are under the Q&A tag.
I'm always happy to answer questions ...
2022-03-09 15:56:41 +0000 UTC
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I'm just finishing up the next Lottie story this week. Given that the script was hastily assembled, I think it's ended up as some of my best work. It'll be available to $3 and up Patreon subscribers in full on April 4th.
Quite what this sneak peek of a powerful "cut-scene" foretells, you'll have to wait and see.
2022-03-07 17:27:03 +0000 UTC
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I've been making Procreate templates for fixed-format strips, so I improvised a comic to try one out. I remembered after I made it that Procreate records your drawing by default, so here's the video. The finished comic is below. It is, sadly, near-gibberish.
2022-02-28 20:09:44 +0000 UTC
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A few weeks ago I drew an impromptu comic for my friend R Stevens of Diesel Sweeties fame, the world's #1 Len Pickering fan. I tried to convince him to take Len for his own comic - I saw the Bobbins patriarch arriving in an established "property" and swiftly dominating proceedings, a bit like Norman Buntz did in Hill St Blues or Robert Downey Jr in Ally McBeal.
Anyway Rich didn't take the bait and all you got was this ghastly comic.
2022-02-22 17:26:19 +0000 UTC
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- When Lissa Treiman left Giant Days after issue 6, we reached out to a few artists to fill what was a huge hole. I felt like it was an impossible job. The samples we got were all really good, though - it's not fair to show the ones of people who weren't chosen, but I think it's okay to show Max Sarin's pages (from issue 4's script) as they got the gig.
2022-02-21 11:36:14 +0000 UTC
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Memories of Sea Magus Tours washed over me last week.
And in a special feature presentation, Des Fishman offers up some of his various "doings" to the world of advertising, culminating in his take on the Google Pixel ad that chafes me the most. No more of that poor daft lad looking at his bloody freck...
2022-02-16 08:49:44 +0000 UTC
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Okay, so there's Desmond's uncle Ken, the Furry Orb, and Eggsy Maximus. Who will break cover first? Keep an eye out for these lads. Rumour has it that one of them has been nominated for an award.
2022-02-14 17:25:14 +0000 UTC
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I designed a couple of limited edition coffee mugs for NY coffee shop Cafe Grumpy (as seen in HBO's 'Girls') back in the day. While looking for something unrelated today, I found the art for a tote bag I designed for them in 2015. I have absolutely no memory of making this. The tote was never produced.
2022-02-08 13:42:45 +0000 UTC
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NOW AVAILABLE TO PATREON SUBSCRIBERS AT ALL TIERS, $1 AND UP!
RE-UPPING FOR BATMAN DAY 2022! PATREON SUBSCRIBERS, ENJOY THIS STORY IN HI-RES PDF FORMAT - THE WAY BILL FINGER AND JERRY ROBINSON WANTED YOU TO SEE IT!
Here it is as a PDF download, Giant Days x Batman. There's a little explanatory message on the second page to le...
2022-02-06 23:59:59 +0000 UTC
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2022-02-02 15:30:16 +0000 UTC
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Here are my hourly comics from last year. No hourly comics this year, I was marooned in Darlington last night on a broken southbound LNER train and spent the night in a Leeds Premier Inn. Now home, I'm too tired and travelled-out for the odyssey of the hourly.
Within moments of arrival at the P. Inn I was given carte blanche by the woman at the front desk to violently rock the vending mach...
2022-02-01 15:56:20 +0000 UTC
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I just put the best colour version of this that I have up on Instagram, I don't have the hi-res colour artwork on file as it was finished by Sarah Stern (who coloured By Night and issues 1-5 of Steeple), but here's the B&W work with all the bits that were covered by trade dress.
If memory serves, I looked for pictures of comic shops, then warped one to make it more dynamic as the basis for the cover.
The comic itself was a big chunk of Bad Machinery 7, which was the only volum...
2022-01-27 15:05:53 +0000 UTC
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New Lottie stories will appear under the 'Solver' umbrella (and derivations thereof), this was the title I pitched Wicked Things to Boom under but it did not pass muster. I still like it, though the more I write it down, the less it makes sense as a word.
2022-01-25 16:38:58 +0000 UTC
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After my slight wobble at the end of last week, I've had a bit of a reshuffle of the schedule, looked deep into the inner landscape, and worked out a (fairly) gentle Lottie story that I think you'll enjoy, one that won't send me into an early grave. I'll post some process material over the coming weeks. For my own good, I will be spending most of this week on light duties (tidying up, listless leaning against fence posts, half-hearted painting of grubby household woodwork), getting much neede...
2022-01-24 17:59:17 +0000 UTC
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GOOD NEWS ITEM
I'm just putting the finishing touches to a special story that will run on badmachinery.com in February and March. I think it will go down well but I'm never too sure. I could be a smoking ruin after it concludes. But $3/mo and up (Beanie tier) Patreon subscribers will get the whole thing on day one and I am excited to upload this thing for you.
LESS GOOD, SOME MIGHT SAY
In less positive news, having worked on writing a Lottie story called "T...
2022-01-20 18:02:45 +0000 UTC
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Steeple volume 3 has begun to show up on bookshop searches so I can reveal this now, it's Max Sarin's beautiful cover for the book. The 160-page book is out August 23rd (TBC) and covers Christmas With Clovis, Author Unknown and Clotted Crime.
Pretty nice, right?
2022-01-19 16:25:59 +0000 UTC
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I've drawn a little strip in Procreate just to keep the Patreon ticking along. I've begun to find different ways of working in it, fun new lines and methods of attack. Sadly I've not used them wisely on this occasion but there's always a chance that the next comic could be "the one".
2022-01-16 17:29:56 +0000 UTC
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In 2016, I drew a cover for Squirrel Girl. That's right, Marvel Comics, home of Woodgod and Spitfire & The Troubleshooters, let me, Johnny A, draw a cover for a comic. Should they have? History will decide.
In the process of drawing this cover, I learned (from its filename) that the Squirrel Girl logo was designed by Mike Allred. There you are, the Marvel facts you come to this Patreon for ...
2022-01-07 11:50:54 +0000 UTC
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It's Christmas Day tomorrow, so here, in its entirety, for all to enjoy, is this year's festive spectacular. Best wishes to all my readers and thanks to all my Patreon subscribers for keeping the show on the road this year. All being well, I have some real treats for you in the new year.
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2021-12-24 15:22:25 +0000 UTC
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