Vape! Vape! Vape!

I didn't get the chance to get much drawing done this month so here's one I made earlier, again a 2000ad inspired piece, a rough and ready study of a VC.  I always liked the ungainly, clunky feel of the tech and weaponry that the VCs used....especially the helmets!

...and here's one that I abandoned earlier, or rather, put on the back burner for the time being. Under the working title "VC Drop", I just couldn't get the dynamic, the proportions, the "feel" of this one right so I decided that I would  revisit it at a later date. But there you go. Let no one ever tell you that this drawing malarkey is easy!

Here comes the Judge

  

A pencil study of a British pop cultural icon and byword for heavy handed policing who really needs no introduction ....

  

 

....and this is a rough twenty minute study done on Ingres paper with Conte crayon...room for improvement maybe but I was quite pleased with the composition.

A Tale of the Trenches

This is a page from a strip which I drew for Zarjaz 13. " Rogue Trooper: A Tale of the Trenches" finds the last of the GIs in jeopardy in a cracking, taut litle tale written by Richmond Clements   

This is an image of Morrison, a Souther Grunt and one of the main characters in the story.

Above are a couple of studies of how I imagined the Nort Skimmer craft to look. I  wanted to give it  engines that looked almost too big for it, floating control surfaces and a Messerschmidt type cockpit.

First we take Manhattan!

Red Skies! The initial idea behind this drawing was for a short story about a Soviet fighter squadron which becomes unstuck in time and flies, panic struck and fighting, through a series of alternative / parallel dimensions. In this alternative WW2 / Cold War scene the squadron of Shturmoviks attack skyscraper America. I wanted to put airships in because I  just liked the idea of airships coming under attack and going down in a Hindenburg like inferno!

Major Weir'd

These are a few studies for  Major Weir'd, a character for a horror strip idea which I am currently working on with Tom "Proudhuff" Proudfoot, based upon a real character who lived and died in Edinburgh in the 17th Century. Thomas Weir was a staunch presbyterian, Major in the Covenanter army and pious pillar of Edinburgh society. Weir shocked his peers when he admitted to witchcraft, satanism and incest with his sister. Both were tried and executed, the Major's remains being burnt. However, long after the executions ghostly tales of the Major persisted. His spectral figure with his trademark blackthorn staff, itself reputed to be possessed of demonic power, would be seen carousing in his old dwellings with Satan and his demons....and now the Major, wreathed in hellish sulphurous reek, is getting ready to walk among us again!

Nort Patrol

Here's another 2000AD related piece.  I've always liked the somewhat nightmarish, fetishistic aspect of the Nort battle dress, how it looks sort of daft and scary at the same time. Here a Nort patrol makes its way through the remains of a civilisation laid waste by war...HUH! What is it good for?

Batman

Keeping with the ink and wash I decided to turn my hand to a couple of studies of the Dark Knight. Batman's a character I read only occasionally but he is so hugely iconic that you have to try and draw him or wear the T-shirt or hum the theme tune..., and the brooding, gothic noir of the character makes him one of the best "capes" to draw

I kept this study quite loose and enjoyed laying in the heavy dark washes. I was quite pleased with the "sculptural" light and dark in this one.

....and here's one I made earlier. A few years back I made some little Plaster of Paris casts of the Batman, none of which came out. I thought that they looked like some little icons of a long lost civilisation. I display them in an old sherry box known as The Box of the Failed Batmen.  Holy Post Modernism Batman!

Johnny Alpha

I hadn't drawn using ink and wash for a long, long time so last night I tried it out on this study of Johnny Alpha. Building layers of wash, letting the ink bleed and the brown tinge from the pencil lead gives a nice worn, rusty feel. Not perfect, but fairly pleased with the result...and couldn't help but think that Alpha reminded me of the brilliant Alex Harvey.... albeit a bit more muscled and with glowing mutant eyes!

Zarjaz

These are a couple of panels from the upcoming strips "Rogue Trooper: A Tale of the Trenches"and "Judge Dredd: Rich Pickings" The strips are locked and loaded and scheduled to appear in future issues of the wonderful Zarjaz over at Futurequake Press. Always worth a look!

Duel

This is an image inspired by a series of photos I took one evening, one of which is below. I reckoned "Native American vs Tyrannosaur...what's not to like?"

There are a few more images in the series of fighting toys; Mohawk vs Robot (which I may do at a later date), Bruce Lee vs Robot....Jeez! I've got to get out more!

Rogue Trooper

Still on a 2000ad theme here's an image of everyone's favourite Genetic infantryman inviting the Norts to "Say hello to my little friend". This pic appears on the 2000ad forum but I thought it deserved a place here. I can see lots of room for improvement for my drawing and inking but what makes it for me is the colouring by Tom "Radiator" Berry which is just superb and gives the image a real depth and presence.

Judge Death

Pencil study of one of Dredd's oldest adversaries. I've always imagined that a villain as degenerate as Death would be depraved enough to clothe himself in a uniform made from the  blackened skin and bleached bones of his victims. ...sort of like a dimension jumping Ed Gein. And the stench...

Judge and Sov Judge

Character study for an idea set in the Judge Dredd Universe, a Cursed Earth team-up between a senior MC1 Judge and a radiation raddled Sov Bloc Judge, former adversaries in the Apocalypse War.

Judge Dredd

Detail  of a study of Mega-City One's finest done in gouache and pencil with shit brushes and a bit of techno-tweakery to darken the tones.

Last Stand

Pretty obvious title really. Pencil study of a unit of troopers in some future war scenario kicking arse / getting their arses kicked. The main figure resembles and predates the Soviet cyborg in Cold Warrior

The Colonel

Pencil study for an idea for a character, the idea being that as atonement for his genocidal actions against the Native American people he wanders eternity meting out retribution where necessary.

Assassin

Pencil sketch of a bloke. In a shiny suit. With a gun...with input sockets in his head.

Cold Warrior

Pencil study of a Cyborg. I wanted his armour to look battle scarred and knackered yet still effective and tank-like. The CCCP decal just seemed right and turned him into the product of an alternative Soviet era technology.