Friendly Spidey Rivalry

As some of you are aware (and if you're not shame on you) I'm apart of a little collective called The Prophets of Illustration. It consists of me, Fuad Ali, Tom Dryland, Lois Dryland and Hannah MacDouall. Now Tom and I have started a little game of one-upsmanship based around 'Spiderman' in which we trying to see who can come up with a better costume. So far I have done two, a black and red alternative and a steampunk version while Tom has done an armoured spider suit. As it stands now I'm waiting for Tom's comeback to my steampunk, so watch this space.

My first attempt at designing a spider suit.

Tom's spider armour in a very cool pose.

My steampunk Spiderman.

Tom's Grinch Spidey (for lack of a better term).

New: Death Metal

My 'Death and Me' series has become something of a trademark for amoungst people who know my work, but I ran out of ideas a few months ago and haven't done. Thankfully, I had a new one the other day, now I have a flood of ideas. So here it is, the first in a new series of 'Death and Me'.

Inspirations: Comics

Incase you couldn't tell by all the chibi drawings I've done, comics play a big part in my life. The stories have kept me sane, the artwork has kept stunned and both combined have always inspired me.

The Amazing Spider-Man #568

 I have been reading comics for as long as I can remember and I've never got sick of them. When I was a kid I bought them just for the images and drool over how good they were as I never really cared for the stories. That soon changed though after I was given a Spider-Man annual featuring the story "The Sins of My Father". I started reading it as it featured the Hobgoblin and I was curious about who this evil looking villian actually was. As it featured the Osborns, Mary-Jane and various other key elements in the Spider-Man universe it made me go back and actually read the stories. So for my family and friends you find it annoying when I start reading and become antisocial, you can blame my nan for buying me the 1994 Spider-Man annual.

Most of my Chibis.

Random Batman sketch.

I started my collection 'Sonic the Hedgehog' comics (don't judge), but soon I developed some sense I started buying Spider-Man (Marvel) and Batman (DC) comics. They originally were the only characters that had any appeal to me, which looking back at it seems odd as you couldn't get two more different characters. One is a teenager with the powers of a spider who sets out to use them with responsiblity and looking to inspire others, is shy and with practically no social life in the beginning (think I just figured out why I was drawn to him). While the other is a dark, disturbing character who is out to strike fear to the corrupt and unlawful in the world.

Hobgoblin Chibi

McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 cover. (Second printing black and gold edition)

Looking at my collection of old stuff, I seemed to have been drawn to Todd McFarlane's work a lot when I was younger, with my first encounter being the cover above which is still to this day my favourate comicbook cover of all time. McFarlane was also one of the people who created Spawn (Dark Horse), which I fell in love with when I was in my teens. The story, the way it's drawn and the characters are so screwed up that I do wonder what they were on when they created it. I had never seen anything like it before and after a few reads I was hooked.

Another random Batman drawing.

This is actually a tattoo design I did.

Comics have always given me fantastic ideas over the years. And with artists and writers pushing the bounderies of what can be done, I'm sure they will keep inspiring me for many years to come.

Using Instagram A Bit Too Much

Instagram is an app you can download for the iPhone and I've only got into using it recently. Most of the people I know use it and I can see why. It is a quick and easy way to spice up a bland picture a little bit (like most of the examples below) and makes it incredibly easy to share on various social media sites, as well as their own site. Thing is it's so easy that I find myself using it more then playing about with pictures on Photoshop, which can't really be good.  

I mean one of the great things about doing creative stuff in any media is that satisfied feeling you get when you look at the finished product and know your blood, sweat and tears (in my case a lot of swearing) went into it. Learning and practicing the craft then putting the skills into action is one of the most gratifying things you can experience in my opinion, be it drawing, writing, music, photography and so on. Instagram and other apps like it diminish that somewhat as not only is it easy to use, but easy to finish a picture in under a minute, so you're banging out picture after picture after picture. Back in the day making pictures look better then they actually are took real skill, but now it just takes two clicks and you're done. 

Do you think I'm being too harsh? Incidently I'm not saying Intagram is an awful program, after all I am using it. I just think that I would of appreciated stuff like this a lot more 4 years ago as it took a lot of time and effort to create these effects.

The Year That Was 2011

I'll be honest, 2011 has been one of, if not the crappiest year of my life.

I'm not kidding, I mean I've had some low points in my short existance but this past year really has taken me to my limit. I've had my heart broken (in more ways then one), I've had to sit back and watch helplessly as some of my closest people in my life breakdown infront of me. I've lost friends, family and some of my heroes have passed on, my confidence has taken a battering (as has my wallet), I've had nothing close to a proper break, been working non-stop at a job I really cannot stand anymore and my general health has just deteriorated. In the last month I been sick practically everyday and you know it's bad when my friends who are always badgering me to stay out with them are saying go home you look like death. My body has feels like it's breaking down from all the sh*t that's happen and to be honest I've been tempted to let it. I have been on the verge of throwing in the towel, flipping the bird to the world and just giving up. 

The thing about me is, I got a trait that's been built into me that's preventing me from giving up.I have had a lot of crap thrown at me this year, and I'm sure it ain't finished yet, but I will not give in. I need to keep on going, need to keep fighting. I've been taking on crap like this head on my whole life and I'm not letting a particularly bad year be the thing that beats me. But with all the bitterness, loathing and self pity I have in my heart at the momment, how do I move on do you ask? Simple really. With the good I do have in my life.

Although most of this year I would rather forget, I have had a few things that I am thankful for. I've got back in contact with a close friend who I thought I lost years ago, my doodles and illustrations are getting better with each new piece, work has become more bearable, the friends and family I still have in my life are bloody marvelous and have done their best to lift my spirits, one of my commissions has been printed (book cover for Nik Dendera's 'Love Is Suicide' avaliable now on Amazon, go now beat the rush!) and I got teasers of stuff to look forward to next year... Alright it's 'The Dark Knight Rises' but it's something good at least.

There's a lot of cliché when it comes to the New Year, with stuff like 'new year, new beginning' and out with the old, in with the new' but this year I'm going to take them to heart. This year has been terrible, but I'm still here and I'm still breathing (just). I'm gonna take all the good I still got in my life and use it to make 2012 a hell of a lot better then 2011. I can make it better, I will make it better and I will keep on going. I mean, in the immortal words of Jeremy Clarkson, "How hard can it be?"

IT'S CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAAAAAS!!

Merry Christmas :-)

Psycho Snowman

I put a poll up on Facebook about a month ago asking what kind of design I should do for my Christmas cards. The options were traditional, funny, some of my characters or dark. Guess which one got the most votes?

I didn't want to make this look completely psychotic and disturbing, so I tried to give it a 'Nightmare Before Christmas' feel to it. You think I succeeded?