Ian Richardson

Just showing a few more examples of the work i'm doing with Ian Richardson. These are just practice pieces, trying to get a consistent style down. Dredd was the best look so far for me.

This Daredevil piece didn't work out so well, its got a lot to be done to it to get it up to scratch, and for a start it needs to be on inked lines for that more illustratory look, its very messy on these loose pencils.

And this is the first piece we did together, well the first real 'piece'... a Wolalina commission he had from a while back. I Think this may be then furthest I have pushed an image so far... I grow more pleased with it by the day... it took a long while of hating!

Rad! Oh and heres the Link to Ian online if you need to contact him...

http://pencilsandstrings.deviantart.com/

An Illustration... of my own doing!

Well, a couple days back I was offered a commission to create a full illustration to be used as a wedding gift... Me, the comic book colourist! A wedding illustration! Just odd haha :)

Alot of the time people dont take the time to check out a description for a piece of work I've done, and this leads to a misunderstanding of what a colourist is! I think this was one of those times. After getting in touch with the client and explaining that i'm primarily a colourist, and that what I do solely involves bringing images or pages to life through colour and direction and rarely is the lineart ever mine (I like to be honest regarding my limitations) , they were still adamant I was the man for the job... what a nice faith filled person, I could have well and truly cocked this up so to speak!

I dont get to draw very often so i'm always quite rusty, and this in turn leads to self doubt with whether i'm going to be able to come up with the goods. But this piece was fine as it was a more graphic approach. I was given a brief outline and some influences to check out and left to it... Makes a change from all the editorial red tape I usually deal with in comics work (change this, change that... $%@* off!!!)

I was told the guy was a handsome joker, and the girl struck me as a little Audrey Hepburn (Ihad a few select photos to reference so the likenesses are spot on). They were to be Honeymooning in NY. Art influences were Lichstenstein, Lowry and some of my own old graphic stuff. I added a vintage deco vibe (thinking back to old holiday posters from the 40's-50's) and just went at it. Put my own twist in there, threw in a little subtle humour and just let the piece grow on its own. I was asked to make a few minor changes which were fine as they made the piece as a whole alot better, which can never be a bad thing. Sent it off and they loved it... result, fear dissipating, reflief consuming ;)

Its not my usual work for sure, but I do actually really like it... The lineart works with this level of simplicity, the washed out colours and textures sit well and the NY theme was carried off to a decent extent... all in all i'm pretty pleased with it for a days work (90% of the time was spent headbutting my desk through stress and frustration at being so shit at drawing anything right now! Everyone know the feeling i'm talking about).

Anyway, again I hope you like. And get in touch if you'd like something like this :D



RAD!

latest favourite piece...

Okay... here's an image, at last!

This was joint piece between myself and Ian Richardson. Ian was responsible for the awesome pencils (they were a private commission piece from a fan of his). I just worked the magic with the colours as part of a practice between the two of us in defining a style.

Pretty pleased with this as it turned out how I wanted... I do need to get the lineart to fade out a bit more on future pieces though, but for the dark and gritty Judge Dredd it suited the image overall. Remember to check out Ian over at Deviant... http://www.pencilsandstrings.deviantart.com/

Hope you like , RAD!

2nd day running...

Regular as clockwork now eh? Well, we'll see haha.

So yeah, i'm just gonna throw you guys a few links to various projects mentioned in yesterdays post. I know that a few people who read this will only have checked out a facebook, or a myspace... or even somehow found it through Google (not likely)! So i'll direct you first to my main arts profile, on DeviantART.

Some people have problems with people using this site as a serious portfolio or storage, dont know why, some people can be snobby about it, but they tend to be stable professionals already. Its a great little community and to be blunt its probably one of the main reasons I picked my arts career back up... the positivity and comraderie literally spur you on.

www.spidermanfan2099.deviantart.com

Its like my arts facebook!

My Portfolio site is also located within DeviantART, but in an isolated kind of way that sets ita apart! I'll be working on getting a proper website up and running in the year, but for now this is fairly easy to tailor with the images being crisp and the site easy to navigate.

www.2099colours.daportfolio.com

For the aformentioned collaboration pieces alongside Snareser and Ian Richardson, check out these Links...

Ian Richardson - www.pencilsandstrings.deviantart.com

Snareser - www.snareser.deviantart.com

My commission prices can be located on the homepage of my Deviant Profile... if you ever need anything, a quote can be obtained from me privately through Spidermanfan2099@yahoo.co.uk.

Have fun, and until tomorrow... RAD!

News and saucy times!

Well, so much for posting regularly (is that how you spell it?), just never remember to update stuff... I'm not the most organised person when it comes to a domestic habitat (as such with the new job as a comic book colourist/illustrator). At work in a normal 9-5 environment such as an office or store, i'm pretty tidy and neat, organised chaos as a nigh on non-visible undertone.

So, i'm finishing up the 1st issue of the Lonely comic book right now, pages 16-22. Its been in the works a long time, all the artists and Editors involved run full time jobs so new pages were treated with time and effort. I'm still a beginner colourist in my eyes, as I've been involved in the industry on the outskirts for 2 years coming Dec '10, and thats not long. There's still alot to learn, but i'm definitely getting there. I'd really like some feedback from some professionals in the industry... I alway appreciate comments and praise (like everyone) from friends and family, but we all know thats not the same. I should ask myself why someday as its a pretty retarded veiw on the whole.

I need to invest some time thinking about my colour schemes and choices. With a near infinite array of combinations and effects rendered I should be more creative... and I also need to speed the @$&* up!! I am too damn slow. I sometimes think I might actually just be lazy, but I'm also too scared to admit to that 100%, because of the passion I feel for getting to be creative. That alone time you get whilst investing yourself in something visual that you can share with others is unrivaled.

I've been touting myself out to the general internet community. Posting 'available for work' ads in the right places, and when not getting paid work putting that time to practice pieces to get myself noticed. Working at the moment on private penciler & colourist collaboration commissions with Snareser over at DeviantART. Also doing the same with Ian Richardson, who had a brief stint at 2000AD and Marvel. Ian and I are working at a more illustratory approach to our work, somewhere between Adam Hughes and Adi Granov but with my own twist. We've had a few nice pieces, but the last one was a bomb for Ian. I see what I did wrong with it now and can't wait to get a fresh inked piece from Ian to get over the mistakes I made before... namely with not considering print processes regarding darker colours and tones. I'll get there! We've had a some interest but nothing solid has appeared yet (dont laugh at that unless you're 12 years old!), but its early in the game.

Had a few private commissions on colours, and also an illustration commission (a wedding gift!!)

Still doing p/t at the store, cutting the hours down though :)

Oh, and I became the new colourist for the web comic Saviour... but more on that later! Still negotiating a few things, but should get the first pages by the 1st. I'll update you all with relevant links to my currnet projects tomorrow... its almost time for bed and I have work at 6.45am!!

Oh and did I say... I'm a comic book colourist! How cool is that?!