Tuesday, May 31, 2011

So What?

Graeme Neil Reid,IllustrationZombies are everywhere these days, not surprising really, zombies or the undead have always been popular who wouldn't want to draw them? Anyway, this particular decaying gentleman is Animal the lead singer from the punk band Anti-Nowhere League. This image may or may not be part of future album art, I produced it for fun after meeting Animal at a photo shoot and seeing the band play later at a gig. The idea being that I may illustrate a cover for an album and perhaps this could be used at the track listings or something? Anyway its fun and maybe we'll get it sorted and go ahead.

While I'm here I'll just say congrats to Andy, Jon, Tom and (hey why not) myself for hitting the 100 posts mark!

Monday, May 30, 2011

Jonday - Destroyer

A big boss dude for Battles of Azuran:

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©2011 Project Quest.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Tears in the rain




These are some very early production paintings from 2008 for movie, Blood Makes Noise.
This was due to be the next feature for Black Camel pictures but the success of Outpost meant that the sequel took priority.
Set during one rain soaked night in a nondescript city, a corrupt cop who has been infected by a gang of vampires sets out on a bloody vendetta of revenge and redemption.

Up until a couple of years ago I wouldn't have said I was a big fan of Vampire movies but the quality of this script and some of the recent comic books I've read have won me over to them as excellent supervillains.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Unfinished Commission

Difficult to explain this one. It'll be in full colour when it's done.

Friday, May 27, 2011

U is for U.S. Agent and Union Jack





Marvel A - Z week 21: U.S. Agent and Union Jack

Click on the images for larger versions.

These guys are basically the second string Captain America and Captain Britain of the Marvel Universe. The U.S. Agent (John Walker), when he was Super-Patriot, came into conflict with Captain America on various occasions proclaiming that he wasn't patriotic enough. When Steve Rogers quit being Cap (on one of many occassions) the government replaced him with John Walker - probably one of the better C.A. runs (although i've always preferred Captain America comics when Steve Rogers isn't actually Cap) and Kieron Dwyer's art didn't hurt either. At this point Steve Rogers became 'The Captain' and used this costume. When Rogers became Cap again he swapped suits with Walker and Walker then became the U.S. Agent wearing 'The Captain' suit. He's had a few costumes since but i still prefer this one - he's currently crippled after losing an arm and a leg, i'm sure a bionic version will be on route soon.

The current Union Jack is a third generation aristocratic hero - the original grandpappy version having fought beside Captain America in WWII as a member of the Invaders. Versions in between have had various costumes but the current costume (this one) is pretty much identical to the original WWII version.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Transdimensional Dragon - Thursday Guest: Rowena Aitken

Created for James Raggi's Lamentations of the Flame Princess RPG Releases: www.lotfp.com/RPG/ RPG Blog: http://lotfp.blogspot.com/

Originally created for an interior illustration this piece made it onto the back of the box. A very tricky brief as it had to be gaseous, organic, transdimensional and electric; but also had to be a dragon which didn't fit standard dragon stereotypes.


And with this last Thursday post in May we thank Rowena for stepping into the Thursday posts for the last month. Make sure you drop by Rowena's own website to check out more of her work: http://www.rowenaaitken.com/

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Bait and Switch


Artwork from the second expansion set for the Nightfall deckbuilding card game from AEG today. When doing images of stabbing/rending/slashing/chopping I'm never quite sure how much gore to apply to an image, so usually follow the rule that unless it is 18+ it safest to keep it to a minimum. There is a little bit of experimental 3D in there, which I am only 50% convinced about in terms of its usage inside of my inventory. ©AEG 2011

There are a bunch of previews of the next Nightfall card game release here.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Greetingsss!!

Graeme Neil Reid,Illustration,2000adNo time for something new this week, here's an old pencil drawing of someone (some thing) I love to draw.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Jonday - crazy tree spirit dude

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©2011 Project Quest

I was quite pleased with this feller.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Carlsberg don't do comic clubs...

But if they did, It would probably be something like this.

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During the second half of the 90's Glasgow's top comic get together was the SCCAM Club. (Scottish Cartoonist and Comic artists Membership.)
Held in Blackfriars Bar in the Merchant city, the monthly event was a well organised occasion.
Founding Members Tommy Sommerville and Ranald MacColl attracted some of the best talent in the scene as special guests over the 5 years it ran. Opening night saw Will Eisner in attendance, other guests over the years were Cam Kennedy, Gilbert Shelton, Bob Godfrey, Dave Gibbons, Mark Millar and Grant Morrison. That's not including semi regular attendees like Frank Quietly, Robbie Morrison, Gary Erskine and Colin Macneil. On the humour side of the comic world you had Dave Alexander, Somme and Shug90 from Electric Soup/Viz fame. Malky McCormick and Kettle and Christine of newspaper cartooning fame and French cartoonist Tanitoc, and Lorna Miller who were pioneers of their own new and distinctive brand of comic art. Over the years the club organised exhibitions of members work in Zagreb as well as treks to Memorabilia at the NEC and Newcastle's comic con, highlights of which were a free bar courtesy of the Viz team.
Tommy's son Christopher went on to create The Scottish Cartoon Art Studio in '99 of which Tommy himself is still a resident member.
http://www.scottishcartoons.com/

The wee flyer below was done by myself for Cam's appearance in '96.

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Saturday, May 21, 2011

Anonymous

I am not currently at liberty to say what or who this drawing relates to.

Friday, May 20, 2011

T is for the Thing





Marvel A - Z week 20: The Thing

Click on the images for larger versions.

The Thing was created way back in the early days of Marvel by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as part of the Fantastic Four. He's been a mainstay of that team and the Marvel Universe since and has had various books of his own including the long-running Marvel Two-In-One team-up book and is currently also on one of the Avengers teams. He used to be drawn in a pretty consistent style but of late his look seems to vary quite a bit from artist to artist - probably since the films came out and some artists tried to copy that look and gave him a neck etc. too. I always preferred the look he had from way back on John Buscema's FF run - i like the Byrne version too and at least he explained the new look as part of the storyline as opposed to just artistic choice. So my version is kind of old school for this reason.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Saloon Girls - Thursday Guest: Rowena Aitken

A cover for James "Grim" Desborough's Postmortem Studios Ace of Hearts. This was a great challenge with the lighting!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

charcoal/pencil


A charcoal and pencil sketch I was scribbling a few weeks ago.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Baird and MacDonald

Graeme Neil Reid,IllustrationLast two portraits I've had special permission to show from Shadows over Scotland from Cubicle 7's Cthulhu Britannia game. This time we have John Logie Baird and the wonderfully mustachioed Ramsay MacDonald. These where a mixture of pencil, ink, markers and photoshop.

Shadows over Scotland for Cthulhu Britannia ©2011 Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd

Monday, May 16, 2011

Jonday: Eowyn and the Nazgul

So you may or may not be aware of the ArtOrder community.  Jon Schindehette, head of art on a number of brands including DnD over at Wizards of the Coast runs an artist community with regular activities and challenges.  The latest one was to make an image to illustrate the scene in Lord of the Rings where Eowyn confronts the Witch King.

I couldn't resist, but with lots of projects on the go my time was seriously limited. So I went for a more graphic approach, and wound up with this:

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Sunday, May 15, 2011

The Flight of the Turtle

A recent book jacket illo.

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Don the Beachcomber

I did a couple of portraits of famous 'Mixologists' ( guys who invented famous cocktails) for the bar of a friend of mine. This is Don the Beachcomber, famous for a number of Rhum based cocktails , most notably the Zombie. He also is credited with inventing the Tiki Bar.
Sorry I'm late again.

Friday, May 13, 2011

S is for Silver Surfer






Marvel A - Z week 19: Silver Surfer

Click on the images for larger versions.

The Silver Surfer was created way back in the days of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's run on Fantastic Four and he has been a main part of the Marvel Universe ever since. Norrin Radd sacrficed himself in order to save his home planet from Galactus and became his first herald, scouting the universe to find other planets for Galactus to consume. He regained a conscience when Galactus attacked earth and helped the Fantastic Four see him off - as punishment he was banished to earth and was stuck here for a long while before finally being freed to roam the universe again. He's appeared in many books since and had a fair few series and mini-series of his own over the years - if you can, try to get your hands on the original series to see John Buscema at his best and by far (IMHO) the best version of the surfer still to this day (the Essential collections are great value and the art looks even better in black and white).

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Goblin Skull - Thursday Guest: Rowena Aitken

I have been asked to do a lot of skulls lately and this by far has been the most fun! For Chris Kentlea's Lexicon of Dungeons available here.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Wolf T-shirt


More from Spiral Direct t-shirts this week - a wolf t-shirt design which has just gone up on their website. ©Spiral Direct 2011

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Bowes-Lyon and MacKintosh

Graeme Neil Reid,IllustrationTwo more portraits I've had special permission to show from Shadows over Scotland from Cubicle 7's Cthulhu Britannia game. This time we have Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (or as you might remember her The Queen Mother) and hopefully a familiar face to artists out there Charles Rennie Mackintosh. These where a mixture of pencil, ink, markers and photoshop.

Shadows over Scotland for Cthulhu Britannia ©2011 Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd

Monday, May 9, 2011

Jonday: Goblin vid

So crazy times as ever. Art for The One Ring has to be done for midweek, and there's a crunch on for the Facebook game I work on. Good to be busy.

Anyway, here's a video I put together of the opening stages of some painting process:

Sunday, May 8, 2011

The Vampire Vixens are back in town

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The second blast of exploitation comic capers hits the stand this week as the Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht appear in issue 8 of Wasted. The unlikely wartime duo of the Army Chaplain and the Vampire stick it to those evil Nazis deep in the heart of the Black Forest.
Adolf Hitler even pops up for a guest appearance.

If you like everything that is unholy, in bad taste, Carry On bawdy humour and a bit of blood n' guts thrown in for good measure, this is for you.
Certified non politically correct and proud of it!

Working on a Cover

I'm a bit busy right now, working on a cover...this cover in fact.

Friday, May 6, 2011

R is for Rulk





Marvel A - Z week 18: Rulk

Click on the images for larger versions.

A few years back,roughly when the second Hulk movie came out Marvel went into over drive with the Hulk - from there being just one Hulk suddenly he had a huge extended family and a multitude of titles to go with them. A bit like Marvel is doing with the umpteen Captain America and Thor comics kicking about recently since the movies were announced. Complete overkill in my opinion and just tends to dilute the core titles - but then again Marvel has been doing that for a while with X-Men, Wolverine, Deadpool and even the Avengers over the last few years. Anyhoo, i digress... so Rulk / Red Hulk was created along with Hulk ending up with two sons and a daughter (all fully grown of course), extra She-Hulks appeared (three now i think, 2 green and 1 red) and Rick Jones became a blue Hulk/abomination. Seems to have calmed down a bit and i think only two books still exist on a regular monthly basis now, but not really sure why they need so many variations of (essentially) the same character-espescially when they decided to kill off (after turning him into a bad guy) Doc. Samson who was at least a bit different from the 'new' characters.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Corpse Candle - Thursday Guest: Rowena Aitken

Its May and we welcome Rowena Aitken to join us for a whole month of Thursday posts while Gary is on extended leave. We thought we'd ask Rowena some questions to help introduce her to you all.

What was your first published work?
That was for Mongoose's Traveller 8: Dilettante

Who or what inspires you?
Nature mostly, you see some crazy-beautiful things out there in the big wide world! Organic things, very sort of Mucha style; flowing hair, flowing bodies, dynamic poses, multi-limbed cephalopod molluscs, water, the colour teal. Very girly things really that are the complete opposite of what I've been drawing lately!

What would be your dream job to illustrate?
That's a hard one! Right now I'd really love to just do a big organic colour project, something quite graphic yet painterly; possibly creature based stuff.

What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
Right now I'm working on art for a re-release of Black Monastery for Frog God Games, pretty intense project with some great art briefs.

If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
It was between art and biology at school, 6th year studies for these were scheduled at the same time so it was one or the other. If I'd gone down the biology route it would have been probably forensic pathology! I'm still obsessed by the human body, anatomy - human and animal, by the awesomeness of nature.

This has been my fav piece to work on lately, was a lot of fun and trying to work a bit looser than normal. A sneak preview for Tome of Horrors Complete by Frog God Games.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

When I were young...


I first started freelancing wanting to do comics, comics, comics and somehow along the way found I'd been doing fantasy illustration instead for ten years. How did that happen? Dunno, but it did. I drew this not long before I went to Japan in 2001, a rough, and unfinished set of sketches of (I think...) Judge Inaba, from Hondo Cit (both properties of Rebellion, I'm guessing). I was in love with her for a bit. Her and Halo Jones. And Judge Anderson.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Doyle and Fleming

Graeme Neil Reid,IllustrationI recently produced six portrait pictures for a gaming supplement called Shadows over Scotland for Cubicle 7's Cthulhu Britannia game and I've had special permission to show you them before it see's print. Here's two chaps that you might know, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sir Alexander Fleming. These where a mixture of pencil, ink, markers and photoshop.

Shadows over Scotland for Cthulhu Britannia ©2011 Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd

Monday, May 2, 2011

Jonday: Smaug

Appearing in SFX magazine this month:
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Like much of the art I have made for The One Ring rpg, the design of Smaug is taken directly from Tolkien's own paintings, with a hopefully appropriate update to match the times and the style of the other game art I have made. It was very important to me that Smaug show his (highly dubious) character, and be clearly capable of speech. The idea of him somewhat gleefully hosing fire into Erebor through pursed lips seemed to fit that idea.




I have also taken the opportunity to update my website with some new images: www.jonhodgson.com

Middle-earth, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises and are used under license by Sophisticated Games Ltd and their respective licensees.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Dexters' Half Dozen

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Maurice (Shit House) Doyle is the muscle factor in the fighting unit that makes up Dexters' Half Dozen.
The comic of the same name has been ongoing since 2007 and is up to it's 5th issue with six soon to be released. Produced by Jamie Lambert and Dave Clifford, Dexters' Half Dozen is a great WW2 romp with undead Nazis, Werewolves and occultism. It's a genre i'm very much involved with at the moment and I really enjoyed illustrating their formidable henchman.
I hear there is a collected book in the works too, so if it's your thing and you've come in late, keep your eyes and ears open for the release.

http://en-gb.facebook.com/beardedskull.comics
http://www.myspace.com/beardedskullcomics