Neg 2. Sleepless Phoenix Comic Strip

As I have been working a lot with the Sleepless Phoenix on the blog and my Pin up being featured in last years anthology, I decided to submit a comic strip for this years anthology.

The theme was time and ages, and from this I devised a unique comic strip that goes from the perspective of a hand held camera used by a group of survivors trapped in a bunker after some kind of apocalypse. the camera has a time stamp which will be seen at the bottom of each panel to link the comic to the theme.

Obviously as I am hoping to be published in the anthology, I can't post the entire comic or even a fully finished page. However I can show some of the work I did in development (see older posts) and almost finished pages.

This is a page from the comic. I began by sketching the work in pencil as a rough. I then moved to A3 paper and ruled out the layout of the page that I had come to as well as drawing in detail the comic page, so as not to have rough marks on my inked pages I light-boxed the the pencils lightly on to Bristol Board. After which I worked over the pencil work using dipping pen adding tone and shadow to the original drawing.

Neg 1. Final Poster Design

Having worked on Cold War and other communist propaganda work before, for example El Lissitzsy's Beat the White With a Red Wedge etc. I chose to use similar styles and ideas when colouring my Fox Hunting Poster.

With this in mind I have worked the images to make them look worn and used a very red and orange dominated colour pallet.

After getting to an image I was happy with i experimented with Russian and Soviet text styles until I found one I was happy with.

Quarantined Reveiw

Lately as I am writing and illustrating a comic strip for the next Sleepless Phoenix anthology, i have been looking at further work that Sleepless Phoenix creators have gone on to do, namely the new Markosia graphic novel, Quarentined.

Quarantined is the most recently published graphic novel by Micheal Moreci. However would not be possible without the artwork from Monty Borror, colours from Lauren Anne Sharp, letter work by Jim Campbell, and cover art from Keith Burns.

The story follows a father and son who attempt to survive the Zombie apocalypse in their small town home. The story begins in the stereotypical zombie genre way with the protagonists arguing the best survival method, barricade themselves in the house or find and help others, and also stereotypically they chose the latter. However in keeping to the classic zombie story is in no way a bad thing, in fact horror fans will probably appreciate the old-school feel to the story. It also explores the ideas of not just protection against zombies but protection against other survivors as paranoia builds and issues such as food and water shortages become another focus in survival. In summary Quarantined is a classic zombie story with plenty of nods to the genre, violence is expected but it is not at a level of being gore porn which often ends up happening in this genre.

Read the start of the book at http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=69366

Neg 2. Sleepless Phoenix Character Development

Working further on the Comic strip I shall be submitting to the Sleepless Phoenix Ages Anthology, I have finalised the style that I have worked onto previously posted work. this style I am happy with as I believe it fits the mood of the story as well as the setting, seeing as both are quite dark. I have also worked further on my characters appearances by making full body designs, also in the style which I have worked on. with this in mind I am one step closer to begin work on the pages that I shall submit.

NarratorSuzie (Daughter)MikeBillMora

Neg 1. Anti-Fox Hunting Line Work

This week I have focused solely on getting this work for the Anti Fox Hunting posters finished by Easter. I have put all 4 images together and added suggested tone as well as direction to how the image is viewed by using vertical and horizontal lines, taking Will Eisner and Peter Kuper as inspiration. As well as blocking out the text banner. The next job to be done is to add subtle colour to bring out the foreground, which i shall be doing next week.

Neg 1. Anti-Fox Hunting Ink Work

I have been working further on my Anti-fox hunting images. I have inked the four pencil drawings. However I am yet to edit the images, so there are a few visible mistakes and pencil lines visible, which will be edited in due process.

Top Left.

Bottom Left.

Bottom Right.

Top Right.

Neg 1. Anti-Fox Hunting Pencil Work

I've been working towards finishing my anti-fox hunting posters, and therefore have began pencil sketches towards the final pieces, which shall be pen and colour through the use of Adobe Photoshop. The images are to be viewed as a collection of 4 posters slightly smaller than A3 arranged 2x2 on A1. The story line follows the ribbon flowing through all three images, which will have text in it.

Top Left Corner

Bottom Left Corner

Top Right Corner

Bottom Right Corner