Hello everyone
Last weekend I got to the drawing board, did a few odds and ends, and (nearly) completed one page from the samurai gn--- here it is. The last few panels need finishing off, but you get the picture. This page is a flashback sequence, depicting the end of the Satsuma rebellion and introducing the main character (as a young girl) for the first time. The script called for a ravaged battlefield, with crows swooping for any rich pickings (or finger ends) and the gradual arrival of raindrops, next few panels show peasants foraging for gold or other precious items no longer coveted by the dead.

GRAEME NEIL REID is a hero. Why do I say that? Well, he's just illustrated a best-selling book, which I happened to see on the shelves at ASDA at the weekend http://www.asda-entertainment.co.uk/asda/7066670.product It is a very lush volume by the two authors of the best-selling 'DANGEROUS' series. HEROES through the ages bought to life in superb detail, there's well over 100 pen and ink drawings within this hefty tome. Well worth this £10 tag at the above link, between 10 and 20 notes elsewhere. Go out and get your hands on one today, but beware... it's heavy!

Anyway, in news from Black Boar towers, I've been beavering away on the gn over the past few weekends, as well as doing other stuff. I'll have some stage by stage pics soon...stay tuned.

I've just started work on AccentUk's VICTORIANA cover... featuring my old pal, Jack. Avid blog readers will know that WHITECHAPEL FREAK (a Ripper tale with a twist) was my second self-published work, and this image is a revisit to one of the interior pages. If you didn't know about WHITECHAPEL FREAK (and want to desperately own one)I have a few copies of the colourised version which I picked up at Bristol recently.

Thanks for stopping by...
cheers

Hello everyone
The other week I happened to catch Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame on TV, it has to be one of my favourite animated tales, all those 3d rendered cityscapes and old gothic architecture, beautiful stuff. But not only did it look great, the heart of it was great too... only top animators such as those who work at Disney could evoke emotion in only the tiniest of movements (this example being when Quasimodo takes the hand of Esmeralda, and the prince, and puts them in each others hand, despite the fact that he adores her too) this brought me to thinking I could do a 'Master of Storytelling' article every now and again. I have many, many artists and writers I could go on about.

One such extraordinary talent is the American artist/creator WINSOR MCCAY, he lovingly drew many editorial cartoons, strips and illustrations in the early 20th century. His most famous creation was Little Nemo in Slumberland. This stuff was UNBELIEVABLE for the time period, heck it still blows you away now. How he managed to produce large tabloid sized page every week is beyond me. Which brings me neatly onto this week's illustration by me...my attempt at recreating a dream-type illustration of Nemo...

Here's another small update,folks (just to keep everyone on their toes). Another werewolf drawing, it won't win any awards for being great BUT at least it's looking like what it should;) I've done about 4 werewolves recently and this one is one of the better ones. Gotta get back on the gn this weekend, I'll be back week.

cheers all
Dave

Good day everyone. Here's the Manbat peice, in progress and finished.

BY CROM! Hello all, after a relatively laid back Comic Expo last week I'm back at the drawing board today, here's something different for me, my first CONAN attempt done as a request for a French collector. Strangely enough I'm currently reading R.E.Howard's HORROR tales (superb Greg Staples illustrations dotted throughout) it's a cracker of a book, and it got me thinking it would be great to get the chance to illustrate some of his short stories one day. Are you reading this Dark Horse!!?;)

During the week I finished a ManBat peice for my good friend Brian Jones, his good wife must be driven totally bats by his insatiable hobby:) Aren't they all though eh?

Just one last chance to plug something before the SPExpo in Bristol... Cthulhu Tales issue 12 has my first ever (and quite possibly last) US published story. A 10 pager written by Shane Oakley, I've raved about it previously, I'll have some precious copies with me at the show. Also, I recently fought off the apaches to get my copy of WESTERN...in it I have a six page tale written by John and Leah, I don't have any copies for sale, but my table pals WILL... get 'em signed by numerous contributors at the same time. Talking of John and Leah they very graciously gave me a shot at a 'page test' for Dracula and Sherlock Holmes, very kind of them to put my name forward, but sadly Dynamite didn't like my style. I picked up SHERLOCK HOLMES today, to see what the chosen artist did... and I have to say it's a great job and the story unfolds very nicely indeed...go out and buy it now! Same with the Dracula comic, I checked out the artist...a very talented newcomer CORLTON WORLEY has PAINTED it. Why not order both, you won't be disappointed.

Hopefully I'll be able to get SHANE OAKLEYs (and Alan Grant's) CHANNEL EVIL this weekend at Bristol. Signing off for now.

It's official...I'm as crazy as a coot! Got 30 of these suckers done now, four are sold so far. For all those chaps that have requested I put one aside, I won't be taking all 60 (mainly because I probably won't do any more now, except those direct in front of folk at the show) there will be plenty left to scribble on later, so no worries there. Now I just need to sort out all the stuff I'm taking...

Hi gang
Been busy collating, stapling, trimming and sketching this weekend. So far I've done 21 painted sketches. This year I've decided to do a sketch on EVERY one of the 60 books...I must be insane (either that or just plain crazy). OBSCURA the 2009 sketchbook from Black Boar Press is 40-pages of art which you may not get chance to see. Cover sketch-wise I've done quite a few mainstream characters, Hulk, Batman, Joker, Hellboy, Wolverine as well as a few of my familiar old favourites (SHJ, the Highwayman, Ripper). These normally go pretty quickly, and are a great way to help cover the cost of the weekend at Bristol. I'll be sketching on some of the covers over the weekend of course, so if you are heading to the Small Press Expo next Saturday (May9) make you way to my table sharpish;) I'll be sharing with AccentUK. Sunday I'll be sharing their table at the main event (great idea Mr West). If you cannot attend the show then I can do a custom-made one especially for you, just send an email to me at black_boar1@yahoo.com with your sketch request.

I'VE BEEN FRAMED!

Hello gang
Has it been touted round that I'm paying for 'followers'?..jeez I've got seven. Yay, anyhow here's some news for you seven (thanks, mum). I've recently had the good fortune to get an opportunity to do ten 'sketch covers' for the Comics Guaranty (US spelling)Company, or CGC as we know them. To be precise Sean McCloughlin of NYComics asked me to scrawl on blank covers of DARK AVENGERS No.1. drawing requests ranging from 'Swampthing carrying Cap America' to Christopher Lee's Dracula and Venom, Spidey, Wolverine, Hellboy etc. These will be slabbed and graded by the good folk at CGC. What a coop. I'll post one as soon as I see them in these sealed goodness.

I've done a few commissions also, the image above is the finished custom-framed articles. The guy who asked for them was really pleased with the results (he has no internet access so everything was organised by his work buddy, including sending emails back and forth and choosing the frames, so take a bow Patrick). I loved how the framer got that brickwork effect into both frames, great stuff.

I've also completed a Hellboy commission to be picked up at the Bristol show, some of these images will appear in a sketchbook if I get chance to do one, but this time it will be a very limited run of 50. Again, more on that nearer the time.

Signing off for now,

Dave

Hello..oooooooOOOOOO

Another commission peice from a chap in the US. A companion to the 'Lurker' vampire I did the other week. I'm getting a bit more experience with werewolves just lately. At least this one doesn't look like next door's alsation. A few of you have asked if I'll be at Bristol this year, the answer is yes, but in the small press event held near the main event. I'm thinking about producing a sketchbook, of say, just 50 copies, let me know if you may be interested. I don't know any specifics yet, I'll let you all know when I've collated possible content.
The CTHULHU TALES issue went down well, according to Shane. Hop over to his blog here

http://shaneoakley.blogspot.com/

He has a new comic coming out soon called CHANNEL EVIL, written by grand master, Alan Grant...with pictures by Mr Oakley...this has to be great! Get down to your comic shop (if you have one) and order it right now.

That's it for now gang,

back soon

VAMPIRE WEEKEND
Hello all,
Been busy this weekend, hunched over the drawing board, working into the small hours under the flickering glow of the oil lamp I pulled out all the stops on a couple of vampire peices. Nosferatu's Shadow - I tried to get some of that old Germanic 20s look into it. The dread in the woman's eye's as she realises she is frozen to the spot by the Count in the doorway.
The other peice I've called 'Lurker', due to the ominous figure in the background...he's just a little bit too late for his Miller's Court rendezvous.

Needless to say, I've not done any Madam Samurai this weekend, but I'll be back to it next week, fresh as a daisy. Signing off for now....

It's that time again.
WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN? Well, I have to say 'I got no work done today because' we (wife and I) went to see Zack Snyder's (that doesn't sound right) WATCHMEN. We thought it was a damn near perfect interpretation. Once again, taking Dave Gibbons's panels and converting them to celluloid realism as only he can. I know that Alan Moore does not find his other interpretations 'entirely agreeable', but this one surely rises above anything that has gone before. They've done it proud (in my book, at least) but I don't want to start a war.

There was a down side to going to the pictures (apart from the price), I didn't get to do any sketching on Saturday, so just one page of Madam Samurai this weekend.

...now for something completely different

A few months ago I was asked if I fancied doing a Cursed Earth Dredd commission. I sketched it out and then got involved with the other stuff I've been doing lately. Last night I thought I'd start it proper. The idea is that Dredd is fighting off some mutant cave dwellers. I'd really like to concentrate on the lighting with this one, the main source being the flare from the lawgiver. Here's the first part of inking, I've darkenened it just to try and show the pencil marks.

Also, some of you may notice that blackboar.co.uk does not exist anymore, from now on I'll just be using this blog for any announcements etc (which is pretty much what I've been doing for a while anyways).

Cthulu Tales#12 from Boom Studios came out last week, I'm waiting for my comp copies, hope I get em soon.

That's me done, back soon.

Hi Chaps (and chapesses...possibly) Here's the finished page for all to see. You will notice a few changes here and there, which were not on the initial pencil rough. I try to fill as much of the panel as possible even if I know it may be covered by a speech bubble. I'm going to be putting a load of stuff on ebay over the next few weeks. Under 'David Hitchcock' so try and get over there (sorry, UK only for the ebay stuff)
all the best,

Dave

Hello all

I recently started a fairly lengthy gn for Scar Comics/Bigger Pictures, written by screen writer Gary Young-- with the aim that it will be used as a tool to promote it as a movie. It's called MADAM SAMURAI, the tale is set in victorian London at the time of the notorious Ripper murders. What's the oriental connection you may ask? How the heck should I know, I just draw the pictures ;) No seriously, it's a great tale and one that has a great 'feel' about it.

I plan on doing a bit of a 'diary' type thing, the 'production of a graphic novel' if you will. Let me know if you would be interested in seeing it make progress, and I'll make every effort to update with interesting stuff like sketches, snippets, notes etc which you won't see elsewhere.

On this post I thought it would be good to show the THUMBNAIL---which is done on A4 and gives me the general layout of the page. The A3 size original pencils--- using the thumbnail arrangement I can then adjust various angles, panels to make better use of the page. I'll finish this page tomorrow and post it on Monday. This is, of course, no different from how I imagine any other artist to work (but it gives you a chance to see some scribbling)

For those who never got round to getting a copy of GOTHIC, I posted the first story here.... sorry, you'll have to fill in stuff to view it but it won't take long.

http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=browse&status=ns

Bye for now..

Werewolves/ wolfmen are difficult to draw

Hello all, I've recently realised the above as I've just done a pin-up image for the upcoming Accent UK title Wolfmen2. I take my hat off to Andy Bloor, who has the task of drawing LOADS of em...one was enough for me (well, four actually) see, one slight hair out of place, and your wolf looks like a dog! See first aborted attempt. Finished one shown above
To check out the series go here http://www.accentukcomics.com/

That's me done for now,

Dave

Good day all
Yes, it's been a while, apologies for that. I've been off doing normal stuff, playing computer games and reading comics (sometimes the other way round). I've just heard that the Cthulu Tales story I did is now in issue 12 (not 11 as originally quoted) I'm looking forward to seeing it, and I hope that my comic shop will have one, though I don't hold out much hope as I've not seen one for a few months.

Not done much sketching for a month or so, but just finished this Batman v Scarecrow illo for a very nice chap called Brian Jones---check out his great Batman gallery here
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=5528

That's all for now folks.

Dave

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)