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-All the Time Before Time process books are out! My mum took care of all the orders in the days after the last newsletter. She doesn't read these but for the record, I just want to thank her here. I had talked to her about maybe trying out a Kickstarter, but knew all the fulfillment would be something I couldn't wrap my head around. She volunteered to do it (not for free, mind!) as she's got a great head for all that stuff. That was the deciding factor as to whether or not I would do that project. If I'm being honest, it's been nice to work with her on this, been a good excuse to talk to her more over the weeks, and I genuinely had a good time finishing off all the final fulfillment stuff with her at her house. I probably am more keen to do another kickstarter sometime just to repeat that experience.
-I've been offered to write a short story for Marvel. Am probably too busy to take it on, but it's fun, short and I have an idea... I just need to get it down on paper.
-News came out that Paul Bolger's HOUND is getting the fancy hardcover omnibus collection over at Dark Horse. I did the below piece for this collection, which I'm really happy with. I remember being really stressed/overloaded when needing to get this in for Paul, so was aiming to do something simple, but in the end it was something that really chilled me out and ended up very happy with the final drawing.
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-I spent the remaining days at my mum's place working on script notes for Time Before Time and layouts for PROJECT GRAVITY PART DEUX and making a start on PROJECT BOUNTY. Once I got back to the studio, I nailed down those layouts and got a TBT cover done, a Marvel cover (seen below), and a cover forfor a one shot I've written, codenamed PROJECT HUNTER.
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PROJECT HUNTER [WIP]
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I'm currently working on some PROJECT BLACK CIRCLE pages, I'd been sitting on it for months, so finished pencilling it and am now inking it before I have to get stuck in on GRAVITY PART DEUX. Feels great to be working on this project again, but after a couple of months working on non-paying creator owned work, I've got to make some money!
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PROJECT BLACK CIRCLE [WIP]
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Okay, I've been harping on about PROJECT GRAVITY for a while now and giving away nothing about it.
Here's a little peek from it. DO NOT SHARE ONLINE!
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Shhhhhhhhh!
I genuinely can't show anything else as any other panel is a spoiler, but I'm VERY excited for you to see what it is. I've never really worked on anything like this before. As I've mentioned before, it's been a very interesting challenge creatively, and it's pushed me as a storyteller in various ways.
Between us, you are going to find out what it is this week. Hope you think it's as exciting as I've found it to be.
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The TIME BEFORE TIME Vol 1 trade paperback is all locked in. Man, it feels great to have this baby in the can. We've all been working on this book for so long, and now to have the first trade ready to send to the printers is a very rewarding feeling.
Here's the gorgeous wraparound design by Sasha E Head.
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Yes, I am milking that Hickman quote as much as humanly possible.
I wanted the trade cover to be evocative of the series covers I've drawn, but have a more design-heavy approach. So, I sent Sasha a rough and after she worked her magic, she came back with the above. It's been really cool to be able to bounce things back and forth with Sasha, though it's very clear to see she took a very rough idea of mine and elevated it into something very different.
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Actually... this was the cover we were originally going to use. Sasha designed the front and took a drawing I had done of the main characters 'falling' through time. As what has happened a lot on this series, I've drawn something and after sitting on it for a bit, decided I wasn't happy with it. Brilliant work by Sasha, but I felt my drawing of Nadia was all messed up. We were going to go ahead with it, but I just felt it in my gut that it wasn't working, so Sasha was very good to let me tweak the idea a bit more and do new drawings of the main characters.
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The below was a tweak on the previous idea, with Tat and Nadia running along timelines, rather than 'falling through' time. Felt more direct and fave us more negative space for Sasha to play with. You can see how the final is build up from this rough, and I'm much happier with it as a result. Honestly my favourite part of the wraparound piece is all the gorgeous design stuff on the back cover, which I had nothing to do with.
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The covers are more 'illustrative' with a design approach in mind, but I definitely wanted the trade covers to mesh illustration and design more. I remember going to the first Offset, (which was an annual design conference in Dublin that ran annually for a long time) where there were designers and illustrators speaking. I went to all the talks. It was clear to see a lot of design students that were at the conference, but would clear the room when it was an illustrator on stage. That was infuriating... I was there to see the Illustrators for sure, but seeing the designers talk was brilliant for inspiring ideas too. Ever since then, I really appreciate design that incorporates illustration in a meaningful way.
Anyway, I'm rambling. In the end I'm just really happy when you have a concept of what you want a book to look/feel like, and you end up making something that maybe isn't exactly what you had in mind, but SO close while still being good (if not better!) and has an individual identity, from the design to the art to the colours to the letters. I can honestly say we have a really original looking book that has a feel of its own. And there's some good writing in there too... by Rory.
And as it happens, TIME BEFORE TIME #1 is now only $0.99 on Comixology! EVEN MORE of a reason to try out the series.
Try out TIME BEFORE TIME on Comixology US/ EU
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And as a rare treat, I wanted to show off something amazing.... here is the B variant cover for TIME BEFORE TIME #8 by the incredible Matías Bergara. I'm a massive fan of his work, every time he posts something new, my ego takes a severe body blow. Nevertheless, I was delighted he was gracious enough to provide a variant cover for our book and BOY, what a cover it is. It looks great with the trade dress, but ye'll see that online later this month. Til then, here's the whole cover, for you all to gaze at and likely, drool over.
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Done starting at it eh? Yeah, I know. Bloody incredible.
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Speaking of incredible, finally (yeah, you heard me Chris!) got colours back form Chis O'Halloran for TIME BEFORE TIME #6 (out the same day as the trade, btw!).
I'm chuffed with how they came out, Chris did a great job of having a more restrained approach with rendering so as not to detract from what he'd established on Joe's more design-heavy pages, but he still added in some gradients to support my grey wash rendering approach. A delicate balance, expertly achieved. Thanks Chris.
NOTE: You Decolytes might notice the 'Nirvana' graffitti in this page, it's a reference that applies to the story, but also the codename I had been using for the project here.
I'll be honest; as well as the book is doing, I'm really hoping for a sales bump to justify all the work on the issue, so even if you haven't been reading our book, give this issue a try! First Image comic I've drawn since Injection, that's gotta be worth something, right?
RIGHT...?
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Been a while since I've had 'APPEARANCES' on here.... but I've confirmed for THOUGHT BUBBLE in November! It'll be my only convention appearance of 2021 (though considering a Euro show before the end of the year), and I'm really looking forward to it. I decided not to get a table this year, I was flogging the Bog Bodies Ashcan like crazy last time (man, that feels like a million years ago). This time I'm just going to be doing some signing sessions at the signing tables, and some more at the Cadence Comic Art table. No sketches or anything, and I don't think I'll be doing any commissions for the show as I haven't gotten through my current list.
Looking forward to seeing you all.
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Since there hasn't been any cons for a while, and since outside of Thought Bubble, I really don't know when I'll do another show (I'm aiming to do less shows in future, and try have more of a social life), my guys at Cadence asked if I'd be willing to do some specialised signings as they've partnered with Scott's Collectables. So, if you're looking to get something signed, contact they guys at Scotts collectables. Whatever comics you have needs to be received by 5th November 2021 (UK) / 3rd November 2021 (USA). See here for more.
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Once again, some covers have all been released in the past week or so, showing them here so no one misses out!
This was going to be a peek for this week's newsletter, but Marvel released it a week ago; my variant cover for DARKHAWK #2 by Kyle Higgins and Juanan Ramirez. It's a really fun book, and that design by Pepe Larraz is class, was a lot of fun to draw.
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This is an interesting one, literally turned this around in a day... a variant for EXTREME CARNAGE OMEGA #1. The drawing is actually an old commission I did in 2014, not long after I was on Venom. Marvel asked if I could take the image, colour it and use it as a cover. I wasn't sure originally, as it wasn't designed to be a cover, but once I thought the the tendrils could come up around the logo, I thought it could work. I had to take the original scan and sharpen it up a bit on Photoshop, then playing around with textures more when colouring to break up the negative space.
Turned out pretty well, I think.
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And finally, I've been sitting on this one for a while, I remember posting snippets of me inking it online My first DC Comics work in a good while, a variant cover for #4 of the Black Label mini BATMAN: REPTILIAN. Killer Croc is one of my favourite Bat-villains, once I was offered this cover, this image popped into my head immediately, I'm really happy with how it turned out, and very cool to do a Batman thing again.
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September 8th
DEADPOOL BLACK WHITE BLOOD #2 (C)
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September 15th
TIME BEFORE TIME #5
DIE!NAMITE TP VOL 01 (W)
September 29th
BRZRKR #5 (VC)
DARKHAWK (VC)
BATMAN: REPTILIAN #4 (VC)
October 20, 2021
TIME BEFORE TIME #6 (W/A/C)
TIME BEFORE TIME TP VOL 01 (W)
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