Happy Fishmas..er, Christmas one and all! Just FINished the short TALE for BoomStudios. It's showing up in a future issue of Chthulu Tales, written by Shane Oakley and I have to say, one of the best stories I've had the pleasure of working on. Thanks a lot for the opportunity, Shane. Here's a sneak peek. I've been offline for sometime, motherboard has ceased to exist on my home computer, can't afford to get a new one right now so it'll be sometime in 2009 when I'm back up and running.

Thanks for the support this year and have a great Christmas and New Year. PS---anyone wanting a nice peice of original art in their christmas stocking? I'm selling the HELLBOY peice I did (scroll down a few posts) £60 including next day delivery UK ONLY I'm afraid.

Hi gang I've started work a ten page story for BOOM Studios' CTHULU TALES. It's a great tale set in Cornwall 1910, superbly scribed by Shane Oakley (artist on the Wildstorm ALBION limited series). Thanks to Shane for putting my name forward for this. Here's a page to be going on with.... also, below are a few sketches I did recently, contact me for availabilty.

cheers for now
Dave

This is for direct purchase of one copy of GOTHIC UK only please. This includes postage.

Not long to go now, this time next week I'll be at The ThoughtBubble show in Leeds http://www.thoughtbubblefestival.com/08guests.asp

I'm going to be bringing along some original sketches, which I'll be numbering and selling on the day (along with GOTHIC) to any interested parties. The sketches will feature various characters that are in the stories in the tabloid newsprint comic. Although it's a 48 page paper, don't let that fool you, as I've crammed as much as possible into it. With the earlier material reduced down in size to fit two pages to a page. That's all for now folks.

G'day all. As it was halloween a few days back I thought I'd do a pic of Hellboy getting dragged in the abyss by a bunch of reanimated bones. This is only the third Hellboy illo I've ever done (the other two were sold in auctions for charity some years ago). I'll be at the Leeds ThoughtBubble show in a few weeks time, get over to my table early as I'm planning on doing a few small painted sketches to sell (along with copies of Gothic) to go some way towards paying for the day.

Hope to see some of you there....

cheers

Dave

SNIKT! Here's a pic I did just for the heck of it. If you look closely, you can see how the brawl started. It ain't pretty....

By the hairy hosts of Hoggarth :)

Here's a little magic in the shape of everyone's favourite Doctor (if you suffer from temporal dimensional lapses, that is). Really enjoyed doing something a bit different with this drawing. Hope you guys like it. I'm currently reading through a script for an unusual 'samurai warrior' project, bloody good it is too (pardon the pun). If I take it on, and all goes well, it's liable to take out a good year or so, just tackling pages each weekend as I have to do. It's pretty good so far, and I'm really pleased to have been asked to illustrate it, so it's fingers crossed time again. This will also mean my own stuff will have to take a back seat again, so I apologise in advance to anyone who may have been looking forward to anymore SHJ.

With regards to purchasing a copy of GOTHIC by mail order, it will be £5.00 (the 'indestructible' envelope costs £1) via Paypal to black_boar1@yahoo.com ----UK ONLY. I can post to the US, however, a copy will cost $12.00 and (for some insane reason) will take THREE weeks to get there. I have sent two out to the US so far, and one of those was to Mr Mignola (as a thanks for his gracious cover quote)

Bye for now folks.

Ayeup gang
Here's a different one, I've not really done that many superhero things, teams even less, but here's a JSA pic I've started. Want to try and be fancy with lighting on this one---I'll post the finished thing later....

cheers
Dave

Okay, I'm a bit late again, but I've got an excuse of sorts, been laid up with a cold since coming back from BICS last week. heven't really done much of anything. But I can report what a great time I had at the Birmingham Internationsl Comics Show. I met up with loads of good folk again, Shane Oakley, Gary Crutchley, Colin and Dave from Accent UK, Andy Bloor, John Reppion, Leah Moore, Dez Skinn, Lew Stringer, a really nice chap called Patrick who comes from France (every time there's a comic show over here in the UK) how's that for devotion?. Met a couple of nice folk who work in films, who asked if I fancied doing a GN for them (which they would then put forward to film studios) more on that if it happens. Met a guy who makes really cool retro rayguns, he also asked about a GN possiblity. With the stuff that happened last year I know not to shout about things until something actually happens, so I won't mention them again until something more solid arises. GOTHIC seemed to go down very well, which I'm jazzed about as I was a bit sceptical about putting the print cost on my already overloaded credit card;) Turns out I shouldn't have worried, lots of folk went away with (relatively) cheap original art too. Thanks to everyone who purchased a page of art, and indeed everyone who stopped at my table. Thanks also to the chaps who have commented on this very blog. Just got a pic of the stand this time around, be back next week with some sort of drawing...

cheers all

Hello all----here's a big one!

It's been a busy week here, well I've been away in Lisbon actually, which was very nice indeed. Just two days before that GOTHIC rolled off the press. I'm very pleased with the look of it too. I attended FantasyCon in Notts, mainly to see Dave mcKean who kindly posed for this pic. How cool is that? I think he liked the paper too, which is a bonus. Other stuff happened there as well...but more on that IF anything comes of it;) I'm doing a few bits and bobs to take to BICS next week...here's a sneak peek. Back soon....

Hello you.

I know there's someone out there... isn't there? Here's a picture to look at anyway. This batman original will be for sale at the BICS show, it won't be part of the '£30 a page' promotion I'm doing for GOTHIC though I'm afraid. Anbody interested in advance, just make me an offer. I'm only selling art in an effort to try and get some cash fast so that I can start paying of the cost of the GOTHIC printrun (as I don't really want it hanging on my credit card for too long) ;)

More from me soon....

Goin' bats!
I'm having a bash at another Batman peice. A collector on Comic Art Fans.com asked if I fancied doing a commission for him... a suitably gothic looking Batman. It occurred to me that one of the gargoyles looked a bit like the Joker, so I was going to call it 'Familarity'... not sure though, what do you think?

I'll post the finished pic in a few days, when I can get access to a scanner.

Hello everyone.

Well, as promised, here's the list of stuff in GOTHIC. First of all we have a short Witch Hunt tale, which (ha) was originally going to be a 'times past' story in Gary Spencer Millidge's 10th Anniversary of Strangehaven, I was proud to be asked to be part of that. Then a small wordless tale called 'Treasure' which was one of my first published stories... ever. Then a brand new 'sepia toned' Springheeled Jack story. Up next is LUSCA, written by Leah Moore and John Reppion. A salty sea-monster tale (or should that be 'tentacle') our first collaboration for Accent UK. Then 'IMMORTAL', a tale of a very, very old vampire (originally a 100 edition s/n mini comic)..whew... is it time for a break yet?

Then it's time for a great zombie story, written by John and Leah, again for Accent UK, used with permission of the chaps at said establishment. If I was doing a collection of stuff that I'm proud of, which I hope GOTHIC is, I could not leave out THE BRIDGE. Again, a wordless tale, based on the brilliant AMBROSE BIERCE story 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'. I did this as a 100 issue mini comic, wayback in 2002. And to finish off, there's a gallery of commissions and unpublished bits and bobs. All in all a fairly extensive collection. Here's another version of the cover to be getting on with (but I'm not happy with it yet);).

For those of you who were interested in getting some original art, I've put a BATMAN victoriana peice on ebay co.uk....click here.

Just a quickie here chaps (and chapesses). First draft of what the GOTHIC cover (might) look like. A rundown of contents to follow soon....

WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?
Hello all, I've been doing some bank holiday sketching. This spread will (hopefully) be finished tomorrow and I plan to include it in the GOTHIC newspaper/comic. It will be a 48-page one shot including some short stories, some of you may have seen them printed in Accent UK's anthologies BUT you wouldn't have seen them presented in sepia tones and various other shades.

FOR THE LTD EDITION COLLECTOR
I'm selling a selection of original art pages from GOTHIC----(1 page per copy) at £30each. I'll put a few on ebay (as pre-order) soon. Let me know if you may be interested in this, and I can give you first dibs on the pages.

all the best,
Dave

Here it is, finished yesterday, but only just got to posting.

Dave

IT'S A MIRACLE!

1.I have a day off work. 2.I'm drawing and 3.Miracle Man.

Collectors have asked (on numerous occasions) if I would draw Miracle Man, in the past I've always steered clear of trying to draw 'super-types' for some reason I seem to have trouble with them. Sitting here today, I suddenly thought 'I'll have a go at Marvel Man'. I'm in awe of folk like Alan Davis, Bryan Hitch and many others who always seem to make ACTION look effortless. It's only when you have a crack yourself you realise just how talented those chaps are. I'll update the pic soon.

cheers

Dave

Here's the finished thing guys. I thought the boots could be from his Antarctic exploration days ;)

FROM THE DRAWING DESK

I've decided to make these blogs a little more 'hands on', a 'work in progress' type of thing I guess. Here's what I've been up to this afternoon, yes I should have been mowing the evergrowing grass, but I opted for doing this instead. A few years ago I drew a Victorian version of Batman, which I was going to submit to DC, I saw one of their editors at a show here in the UK, and they said they already had too many elseworlds tales. So that was that. I ended up selling the original in the charity auction, and I was surprised that it raised about 200 quid.

For some strange reason it popped into my head today, this is all I've done so far, but I'll probably sell it after, the only difference being that this time the 'charity' will be my own ;)

bye for now, but I'll be back with the finished version soon.

SHOOT 'EM UP!

Howdy pards, just finished a short western, scribed by Messrs Moore and Reppion. It's a great tale with lots of clever stuff packed into the six pages. MRS HENRY will be in the upcoming WESTERN anthology from AccentUK, out in May 2009. I missed the ROBOTS book due to the Bloomsbury thing I was slaving over at the time. Here's a sneak peek...

Hello chaps
Just a small update for now. The old website has become defunct, so from now on I'll be just posting new bits on this 'ere blog. I'll be advertising my next project through PREVIEWS soon. Here's the advert for your perusal, let me know what you think. Your feedback is important, it let's me know if I'm on the right track with stuff you'd like to see. More info soon.

Hello all

Is it my imagination, or are these blogs getting a little more regular? A little good news came my way recently, as that book publisher contacted me with a small compensation package for work carried out. I was delighted to hear that news as I really thought there'd be no chance of getting anything for the wasted months. It's a long road yet, but the gesture has been made. Nothing else of interest to report except that I've done a few 'try-outs' of late (can't say anymore than that at present, as it seems I have a tendency to jinx)

Here's a pic from one of the projects....

Hello you pair. It's been a bit busy just lately at Black Boar HQ. There was recently a great article on British Small Press in the latest issue of Imagine FX (Adi Granov Iron Man cover) writer Kieron Gillen very kindly asked if I fancied being part of it, I couldn't refuse could I? Also a book called 'Comic Art NOW' by Dez Skinn is due to hit the bookshops anytime now. It's a collection of artists showcasing their various styles, the idea being that bigwig businesses can tap up their creative types directly. Once again, I'm in that too, with my own little 'victorian corner'. Thanks go to Dez for deeming me worthy to be part of it. I've just done a commission for a chap in the states..Daredevil v. Werewolf, he specifically asked for a Wrightson werewolf (as opposed to a Lon Chaney).

I'm contemplating getting another newsprint collection together, who would say 'yea' to a colour (perhaps sepia tone) and black and white comic/paper reprinting a few of my earlier short stories, plus new material - probably about 48 pages in length?. Maybe, I could use part of it to show unseen sketchwork etc? let me know if you would like to see anything in particular. Working title...GOTHIC - A (kind of) retrospective.

Hello one and all

Here's one of my highly irregular posts, must get a little more frequent with them;)

I've not done that much in the way of drawing lately. The book I was supposed to be illustrating was dogged with problems from the beginning, from the changing editorship to lack of communication (from their end) and after me doing so much stuff for them without any sign of payment I decided enough was enough. I was surprised that a big company such as Bloomsbury(US) could be so bad to work for, this was a harsh lesson to learn, and just goes to show that there is so much 'red tape' to these things---I still don't know what the heck happened, as they were 'loving' the stuff I did for them. Oh well.

A few weeks back I suddenly felt like drawing a victorian X-Men scene (you know how you do) here it is for your perusal. I'll talk again soon....promise.

all the best

Dave (PS - the city scene was one of the coloured pages from the book)

Hello one and all

A few things have happened lately which may deserve a small blogette. Firstly, a few weeks ago I got a great surprise when I was sent a hefty tome in the post from Peter Normanton, editor of 'From The Tomb' a superb British Horror magazine--it was a great 500+ page book showcasing 50 of the best horror tales over the past 50 years. He was kind enough to deem one of my short stories in that category, and when you consider some of the other creators in there (Steve Niles, Mike Kaluta, Pete Von Sholly, Frank Brunner, Vince Locke, Bruce Jones, Michael T Gilbert et al) it's no mean feat. It's a very well produced book, with high production values (except I have a small gripe--the printer transposed the LAST page of my tale, it's now page 2) I'm not sure how someone can get numbered jpgs in th wrong order, but there you go. Nevertheless my friends, buy this book, you can't go wrong.

Secondly, I've been busy doing 3 pages a week, as well as the day job, for the past 6 weeks---for that book I mentioned in previous posts---for want of a better name, I have called the YO-YO book. Why, I hear you all ask? Well, namely because as of this writing, it's been halted again. Apparently the powers-that-be have changed their minds with regards to the black and white decision, they now insist on COLOUR again, which I can't provide. I have attempted to split the sum they were paying me with a pro colourist, however his fee is the same as that they were offering for me to draw all 132 pages!!! A predicament for sure, and one that I'm pretty naffed off about as I stupidly did them 132 pages of A4 roughs for the whole book, 20 finished pages and numerous character drawings (all of which they allegedly loved) all before signing on the dotted line. Something I won't be doing again.

The coloured page sample above is one of the pages Andy Elder did as a test peice. I would be okay about splitting the money for the book (ahem) but I don't think it would be enough for either of our time and efforts. I'm awaiting to here from them...ahhhh another familiar story