Good day all
I was just scrolling through some of my images and thought this one might be a good one to post. It's from a fair while back, a couple of years I reckon. I really like doing gothic versions of Batman, tweaking the costume here and there although thinking about it I don't think he's be able to hang onto those roof tiles in those boots. Just had a comment on my last post where someone in the US had just bought my first book SPIRIT OF THE HIGHWAYMAN from their local comic shop...wow, that book is a rarity nowadays. Thanks Lynn, hope you enjoy it :)

Hello everyone...Testing, testing, one two, three...well, it seems like I'm still here (although, technically speaking there is still one hour to go before May 1st is yesterday's news) The warning message is still there, but hopefully it seems ok...whew..

Now I can tell you I did TWO pages of art today, yup a mammoth 13 hour stint at the drawing board....must go an rest my aching hand.

Hello all

The other week I went to the TURF signing in London. Jonathan Ross and Tommy Lee Edwards were signing their new comic at FP on Shaftesbury Avenue. Mr Ross was an absolute gent and, as most know, heavily into his comics. We had a (very) brief chat about Jack Kirby art and his collection and I gave him and Tommy a copy of my newsprint comic GOTHIC, which they wanted signing. Cool.

On the subject of vampires (very tenuous link) here's that Dracula blank cover I did a while back.

As you all know I'm busy on book two of Madam Samurai, however I cannot show anymore development work from the project, very sorry about that but I'll find something else to fill the space with:)

all the best...

Hello all
I'm not sure what's happening with this ftp lark. For a while now, anyone who has a blog here will have noticed the 'Migration alert' on the intro page. FTP blogs are no longer supported after May 1st--which means I needs to shift , ahem, 'Migrate' my stuff for it to continue, however I've hit the 'start migration' tab and nothing happens, it doesn't really give you a guide as to what to do either so I'm stumped. Anyhow, I'll blog until I can no longer blog.

Recently I was asked if I fancied illustrating a victorianised kid gang tale, written by John A.Short. It's being used as part of a teaching module for the NSPCC, it was set in victorian Liverpool and recalls the Tithebarne Street Outrage, in which a man was killed for sixpence! It's a very strong tale about how things can get out of hand and ultimately end in grief. Hopefully it will give the wayward teens of today something to think about. Thanks for getting me involved John.

I'll be back again soon...

And now for something (a bit) different. I've just started work on a short story aimed at wayward teens. I can't say much about it, but the aim is show how things can get out of hand in a gang-related incident. Our tale begins in Victorian Liverpool (see, it's not just London) with the condemned 'villain' of the peice being abruptly awoken from his last night's sleep by the visage of the Grim Reaper....what a way to wake up eh? Must be a Monday.

Yes, friends it's true, I'm officially Addicted to Amazon co.uk (and sometimes .com) I first started noticing there was something wrong when my local comic shop closed down last year. I needed that weekly fix, flipping through those fresh pages, smelling the paper ahhh... you can't beat it. The nearest comic shop is about 20 miles away in Nottingham, so I don't get there very often. I'm so out of touch with the comics scene and I always like to 'look before I buy' (there's nothing worse than buying a comic with a great cover, then finding crap interiors) so it rules out ordering online.

Now I'm forced to buy collections, which is good in a way as I stacked up comics on a weekly basis and only got to reading a few. So, you see, in a round about way I'm saving money. Well, that's what I tell my wife each time the next cardboard packet/ large box arrives:)

This is a my most recent stash....

Here's a thing. A few nights back I got home from work and there was a packet from Amazon. I thought 'that's weird, I'm trying to kick the habit' anyhow I opened it up and there was a blank cover copy of DRACULA, with a request to sketch on it. It was a fun thing to do, and I may well do some for myself sometime down the line----here's the initial stage, I've finished it, put some colour on it and sent it back, but as it was requested as a B'day pressie I don't want to show it here just yet..just in case

Shredded Shirt: Week 1

Good evening lady and gents, here's a strange one... this drawing is in the process of being done for comic colouring veteran Tom Smith (he's worked for all the big comic companies over his twenty+ years in the business). Tom asked if he could add some colour to one of my recent peices and it kind of sparked a possible idea, which I'll tell you more about if anything ever happens. I've called this blog 'Shredded shirt' simply because Doc Savage could not possibly buy quality when it comes to his shirts. No Saville Row for him. Can't be Primark either coz they're good shirts they are. So, this begs the question, where did he buy his trousers?

As I was drawing this a horrible thought occurred to me... I've (nearly) spent twenty years TRYING to get into the comics biz!

Be back soon with 'Shredded Shirt:Week 2---Wolverine'

What's this....TWO posts in the same day?? Here's a drawing I've done over the past three nights, I'll call it Ferocious Twiglets for the hell of it. I've been reading the Horror Stories of R.E.Howard on and off for a while now, mainly before I go to bed. The other night I read a short tale about forest people, it wasn't a Solomon Kane story, but it sparked off a little idea for a drawing. There's a Solomon Kane film coming out soon and the little bits I've seen look pretty good...fingers crossed it will be a good one.

Parlez vous Francais?

Greetings everyone, this is just a quick note to let off a little excitable steam. June of this year will see a French version of SHJ, to be published by a fledgling company. I have heard great things about the european comic market and I shall be experiencing a show in Paris around June/July when they release Springheeled Jack: Strange Visitor to the masses. Just as a comparison for you, here in blighty a comic show would be considered a mass success if it had 2,000 visitors over the weekend, over in Europe it's 40,000....yikes:)

Happy 2010 everyone:) It's cold outside and with the odd nearby tree ready to go supernova I thought it best to stay inside and do some drawing.

Welll...end of the year again eh? Where does the time go? It's been a while again, so I thought I'd post my last blog for a year. 2009 - It's been a busy one... consisting of about ten A3 pin-ups, 10 Dark Avengers sketch covers for a retailer in the US, 50+ individual painted sketches for my OBSCURA sketchbook, 81 pages for the gn, 156 rough layouts (again for the gn) and a few other odds and sods along the way...that's not too bad considering I can only hit these things at weekends, though recently I have started trying to do something in the way of sketching in the evening here and there too.

Just finished a page that I really liked, here it is in the ink stage...with an additional panel after the shading stage.

Also managed to snag a pic of one of the dark Avengers covers (after being CCGed).
Hope you all had a great Christmas and here's to a Happy and prosperous New Year to you all.

Hello all,
It's been a pretty busy month, not many pages of the book done, but I have roughed out the whole thing now. I normally do an A4 size rough to help with layout etc and now I've finished those, the book will now be a massive 156 pages long, split into two volumes as I speak.

A few weeks ago I went to the Thought Bubble show in Leeds, met up with my buddy Graeme Neil Reid who was showing me some great work from a TV ad he's been working on...cracking stuff, can't wait to see the finished thing. Also met up with Jeremy Briggs, who contributes to DownTheTubes reviews website, Andy Bloor, Dave West and loads more folk.

The good folk at ORBITAL COMICS in London sent me a pic of my Batman postcard on a section of their display, right next to JH Williams3rd and David Hine contributions, I'm in great company there. See the full gallery over at ebay.co.uk and type in 'capedcrusaid' for the full list of original art postcards.

Hello yet again

These posts are getting far too regular:) Last week I made contact with a fantastic comic shop called ORBITAL COMICS in London, they were having a James Jean signing, I asked if I could pre-order a book and get it signed as I couldn't get there. They were really good and not only did I get it signed but a got a sketch in there to boot...that made my day.
Anyway, I scanned their website and noticed that they have loads of art exhibitions and signings all the time----what? A comic shop actually interested in the medium? Wanting to promote it to the masses? Willing to help and make sure the buyer has a great experience...that's new to me. I then saw that they were running an exhibition of original art for a charity, I contacted them and did the above postcard.

http://www.orbitalcomics.com/ The auction will take place on ebay soon.

Hi Folks Here's another Batman commission, the chap asked for a graveyard scene with Bats at his parents grave, but when I actually got to the headstone a little lightbulb lit up...wouldn't it be cool to put his creator's name there instead?

Last week a good friend of mine from the U.S. managed to get a copy of GOTHIC in front of the legend that is Stan-the man-Lee. It was at Pittsburgh Con and Stan had a list of 900 folk who had paid for a signature ticket...as you can see by the picture they moved things along pretty quickly, and they wanted to rid Stan of the item pretty sharpish by the look of things;)---still I guess that's what happens at the top of the tree, but he still has time for the fans and that's pretty special for a guy of his stature in the biz, I reckon he must have found a way to bottle Jack Kirby's pure Cosmic energy while he was working with him in the 60s.....Kirby himself ran out of it in '94 as we all know, but what kind of queues would he have if he was still around eh? Long Live the King. Thanks a lot, Brian, for jumping in that rather small window to get my stuff in front of the great man.

Other news at Black Boar Towers, the next page I'll be doing on the samurai story, will be no.60, by the looks of things this MAY be the halfway mark---I know I mentioned a month or so back that I'd pretty much hit half way back then, but judging by the amount of script left I've a ways to go yet.

That's all for now folks,

Dave

Hi gang
Just a quick update here, got no graphic novel done this past weekend, but I took the time up with this commission instead. I don't normally get many requests for commissions, but I do have a little backlog building now (so if you have asked in the past, apologies that I've not gotten to it yet). In the meantime check this one out.
cheers for now,
Dave

I recently stuck a few things on that well-known auction site and actually SOLD one of them, yes lady and gentlemen someone was actually looking for my name to crop up. The item in question was one of my sketchbooks. The request was for a Ripper sketch on the cover. It was purchased by a girl...for her MOTHER as a birthday gift!! Apparently her mother has the newsprint edition of WHITECHAPEL FREAK also, she obviously has great taste (if a little unhinged in parts). Anyway, best get back to the drawing board.

talk again soon.

Here's the finished article chaps. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, and it takes a lot to make me happy nowadays.

A MATTER OF GRAVE IMPORTANCE

A good few months back a fellow in the US asked if I'd be interested in doing a commission featuring the world's greatest detectives. I thought that sounded pretty original so I accepted. What with the graphic novel I'm drawing I've had to put any commissions aside just lately, and concentrate on the job at hand. I fancied a change of subject matter so set about the task of planning it out during the week...here's the peice so far. As of this writing it's actually completed, but I'll be updating once I get a flatbed scan of it. I'm pretty pleased with, and today I can get back to the book, so a productive weekend methinks:)