Advertising/recruitment art for a new, not for profit, Kim Possible fan project.

A few years ago writer Selina Lock and I created a two page strip about grim reaper in training Angela D’eath.

It was published in The Girly Comic, a small press magazine edited by Selina and Jay Eales and published by their Factor Fiction Press imprint.

Since then the strip has been reprinted numerous times, including the Norwegian Baddis, the UK Web & Mini Comics Thing Anthology, and Science Fiction/Fantasy magazine The Speculator.

In 2009 the best strips from the first nine issues (including Angela D’eath) were collected together in The Girly Comic Book Volume 1, a 276 page hardbound anthology which has long since sold out.

Earlier this year a paperback version of the book was published, and seeing a recent review of the book I decided it was time to revisit the character.

Links

Factorfiction Press

The Girly Comic – Live Journal

The Girly Comic Book Vol 1 at Lulu

The Girly Comic Book Vol 1 – review on Good Reads

Instead of scanning these two pieces from my sketchbook, I took photographs of them using the camera in my Apple ipod touch.

Then still using the ipod, I opened the pictures in the free Adobe mobile editing app, Photoshop Express. Once I had finished editing I saved the pictures to the ipod camera roll and opened the Instagram app. I imported the pictures, chose a filter and posted the final result to my Instagram feed.

Links

Photoshop Express for Apple ios

Photoshop Express for Android

Instagram

Instagram Web Viewer

My Webstagram feed

Yet another sketchbook idea that developed into a finished illustration / character design.

Why Pandora ? I’m not exactly sure, although I did once have plans for a kid’s adventure strip featuring a character called Pandora Jones.

A page from my sketchbook.

The drawing came from a random comment during a conversation I was having with writer John Gatehouse.

My brother Paul (AKA – Laughing Robot) is currently working on a new design for my main website, which will incorporate this blog and my colouring site.

We decided that when the site goes live it should have a new front page, and this illustration of Electric Ali (without the background) will be part of that page.

Link

Laughing Robot

Another drawing that seemed like a good idea at the time

Drawn as an art style sample.

Illustration of Martha Dane, the lead character from one of my favourite Science Fiction novellas, Omnilingual by H. Beam Piper.

The story which first appeared in the February 1957 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, is the tale of a joint military and academic expedition to Mars. It centres around Martha’s attempt to decipher the Martian language, despite the scepticism and/or hostility of her archaeological colleagues.

Links

Omnilingual ebook at Many Books

Omnilingual audiobook at Librivox

Another illustration developed from an idea in my sketchbook.

When I showed the pencils to John Gatehouse, he suggested that the drawing would work as a new design for the lead character of an old comic strip concept of ours called Freya.

An adventure strip dealing with parallel worlds, Freya never really got much further than an initial five page script, a page of pencils and four pages of thumbnails, but maybe one day…