Scribblings

dawson-esque

2012-02-22T10:03:00.002Z

Victoria Line. 7pm ish. 8th February.

sportswear

2012-02-21T10:48:00.005Z

Clapham Junction. 17th February. 3pm-ish.

carrying a child's ball

2012-02-16T11:22:00.000Z

Gipsy Hill to London Bridge. 11am-ish. 14th January.

pop your collar

2012-02-15T10:49:00.002Z

Tulse Hill to Farringdon. 9am-ish. Valentine's Day.

mocata

2012-02-14T13:36:00.003Z

Charles Gray's hypnotic, Satan-worshipping character from 1968's 'The Devil Rides Out'. Drawn for James Howard's 'Draw Hammer Horror' blog.

hairstyles

2012-02-10T12:35:00.002Z

seats

2012-02-07T10:31:00.005Z

Brighton to London. 4pm ish, Saturday, 4th February.

the middle class

2012-02-07T10:11:00.004Z

I was contacted the other week, to see if I'd pitch to illustrate a book about 'the middle class'.

I was shortlisted with a few others, but in the end, someone else got the gig. Never mind. It certainly sounds like a lot of fun and I'll try and remember to link to it once it's out.

Anyway. Here's a couple of little roughs I put together for the publishers.

minus three

2012-02-03T11:22:00.001Z

Blackfriars. 6pm ish. 2nd Feb.

drinkers

2012-01-13T10:52:00.007Z

I went to the pub last night with Jacob. We sat and nattered, and I drew a few of the other people in there. These two sketches are the best of the bunch.

Both drawn at Westow House, SE19. 12th January, 2012. (That second woman was on a date, we thought).

caped, but winged

2012-01-12T16:39:00.003Z

Her arm was in a blue, foamy, sling-type-of-thing. Brockley. 9am-ish, 11th January.

nautical

2012-01-11T11:41:00.000Z

Poster for Fieldhead's Canadian tour in February.

dave

2012-01-06T12:19:00.001Z

My old mate Dave, for a laugh. He said that I'd made him look exhausted.

trombone case

2012-01-05T09:56:00.002Z

Sheffield to London St Pancras train. 4th January, 2012. About 5pm.

RIP

2012-01-03T12:35:00.000Z

The great, great Ronald Searle has died.

mike mignola's hellboy

2011-12-20T11:51:00.005Z

I decided on a quiet night in last night, and had a stab at drawing Mike Mignola's Hellboy. I came to the character late; seeing the film before ever reading the comics (sorry, fanboys) - which may explain why I've drawn too many fingers on his 'big hand'. Apparently it's meant to have three fingers, not four. Like a Disney glove.

Anyway. This was fun. The most fun I've had drawing in a while, in fact (and with a touch of serendipity, James Howard - on twitter - was about to suggest that people 'draw hellboy', so I submitted mine. You can see the rest of the submissions here).

Initial sketch.

Finished line art.

Colour final.

christmas cards

2011-12-18T13:05:00.000Z

'ow do

2011-12-09T13:06:00.002Z

Leeds to London train. 6pm ish. 8th December, 2011.

odd couple

2011-12-01T11:37:00.003Z

London Bridge. 9am. 1st December, 2011.

sempé

2011-12-01T10:17:00.001Z

A short piece I wrote about the new Jean Jacques Sempé exhibition, at Paris' Hôtel de Ville, for Vingt Paris magazine.

tired

2011-11-21T09:47:00.001Z

Farringdon. 2pm. 18th November.

swept back

2011-11-18T10:04:00.002Z

North Dulwich. Around 6.30pm, 17th November.

seaside fun

2011-11-10T14:17:00.006Z

A friend was telling me how, next week, she's off to see Rihanna, at the O2 in Greenwich.

She last went along to see Beyonce, and the time before that, she'd also been to see Beyonce. But the time before that was eleven years ago, and she was visiting the O2 in its previous incarnation: The Millennium Dome.

What was it like? I asked. Rubbish, she said, all of the stuff inside was just dreadful.

Oh, I said. I did some of that stuff.

At the time, I was working for a set building company in South London and, as a break from the work we were doing with Disneyland Paris (more here) a few of us began work on something for the Dome called (dreadfully) 'The Living Island Zone'.

The idea was that we would replicate a kind of candy-striped, end of pier, seaside look. And then we'd contractually plaster it with incongruous messages about the environment. A quick google turned up a couple of things I'd made with my friend Greer, in a warehouse in Woolwich.

It all looks pretty ropey and amateur now, twelve years later. To be honest, it didn't look that amazing back then. The mermaid's right hand is on backwards, for God's sake. But it's still funny to think that someone has a family photo of their daughter, beaming away under a sign that says '24,000 deaths are linked to air pollution each year' (I've no idea who the kid is).

happy hallowe'en folks

2011-10-31T11:56:00.002Z

disapproving look

2011-10-26T12:01:00.001+01:00

Hassocks. About 6.45pm. 25th October.

opera fan

2011-09-06T15:48:00.001+01:00

The magazine she was reading was called Opera, you see.
Crystal Palace. Wednesday 31st August, 2011. About 8am.

two

2011-08-17T10:35:00.003+01:00

Brockley and London Bridge. 16th August. Between 5.30 and 6pm-ish.

mini menagerie

2011-08-11T16:52:00.009+01:00

A couple of animals for Kino Creative.

joker

2011-08-04T12:03:00.005+01:00

A few days ago, the brilliant I.N.J Culbard posed an online challenge - to draw Batman's arch-nemesis, the Joker. As is always the way, I'm late with my attempt. It was fun taking part, though.

pratt

2011-07-27T10:09:00.002+01:00

I wrote about Italian comic book legend Hugo Pratt (well, Corto Maltese) for Vingt Paris Magazine.

triptychs

2011-07-19T10:48:00.007+01:00

Blimey, it's been a bit quiet on here. Sorry about that. There are two reasons, really: I've been busy with other things, but most importantly, I've been unable to draw anything I really like. What's the cartoon equivalent of writer's block again? I've got a bit of that, I think.

Perhaps I'm just rusty; so I've resolved to try and get something down on paper every night. Even if it's awful, and I don't like it, I'll at least try to turn in a 'completed' drawing. The pictures above are from the last couple of nights; done for a friend who's pitching an idea for an online game. They took far too long, but at least I finished 'em.

finger tapping

2011-06-28T11:32:00.002+01:00

London Bridge, around 6.30pm, 27th June.

peppermint patty

2011-06-02T12:02:00.001+01:00

Dalston Junction (well, of course). 1st June. 7.45pm, ish.

pink lady

2011-05-10T10:56:00.002+01:00

On the train from Gipsy Hill to London Bridge. About 8.20am. 10th May.

german, I think

2011-04-08T14:04:00.005+01:00

Circle Line towards Kings Cross. 8th April. About 10.15am.

self

2011-04-05T13:56:00.001+01:00

you can serge that again

2011-03-31T16:32:00.002+01:00

A big thank you to Jonathan Edwards for putting my second attempt at Serge Gainsbourg on his wonderful 'Draw Serge' blog.

longhair

2011-03-31T15:51:00.000+01:00

East London Line. 30th March. 6pm ish.

everyone should wear hats like this

2011-03-16T10:38:00.003Z

St Pancras station. 9am, ish. 16th March, 2011.
(Don't usually say this - but maybe better if you click for 'larger').

baby and bags

2011-03-15T11:49:00.003Z

Norwood Junction. 3.45pm (ish), 14th March, 2011.

dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner

2011-03-08T11:15:00.003Z

An idle doodle, really.

cam-ay-ra

2011-03-03T15:39:00.002Z

faces

2011-02-25T14:10:00.002Z

unfinished street scene

2011-02-14T19:54:00.005Z

I found some pictures (from the tail end of 2007) that I hadn't seen in a while, the other day; pictures that I'd zipped into folders and then burned to CDs. That's one of the things about working electronically, I suppose; there's no physical piece, and it's all too easy to mislay what you've done. Anyway...

This was one of them. It was an exercise really, and wasn't really heading anywhere; rather, it was an excuse for me to try out a simple colour scheme and to mess about with 'layers' option on Photoshop. I quite like it, though.

It's nice to have a bit of a break from a drawing sometimes; and to be able to come back to it with fresh eyes and a bit of perspective. Only when what I've done isn't complete bloody rubbish, of course.

angoulême

2011-02-08T14:46:00.000Z

A short piece I wrote about the Angoulême Bande Dessinnee festival for Vingt Paris.

headscarf

2011-02-03T12:39:00.000Z

Peckham Rye. Just after nine in the morning.
3rd February.

Mike McMahon

2011-01-31T09:33:00.008Z

In the early nineties, Jim Boswell and me walked into a Macclesfield pub with photocopied, stapled issues of our first self-produced comic. Amazingly - people bought them.

It was called 'Weird City', it cost a quid, and - let's be honest - it was very much of its time (but I do feel our naive attempts still have a kind of clumsy charm to them). But as I say. People handed over their pounds, and we had fun. When I get the chance, I will scan a few copies and put them up here.

Regrettably for me, my contributions dwindled to nothing almost immediately - leaving Jim as editor. As I buggered off to University, he started attending 'graphic narrative' courses (or whatever they were called) in Manchester, and soon a bunch of new people were contributing - making the comic much, much better, really. Weird City ended up being called 'a potential jewel in the small press crown' in some review or other, and, by the time the thing folded, in 1994, Jim had also managed to convince Glenn Fabry to draw a cover, after interviewing him about his work.

I'll transcribe that interview another time, but for the time being, here's one that was printed with the fantastic Mike McMahon. Considered the definitive 'Judge Dredd' artist by many, McMahon was a huge influence on many of the cartoonists I've spoken to who were kids in the early 80's - and who, as kids, had religiously bought 2000AD - 'The Galaxy's Greatest Comic'.

(The interview was by Peter Walker, by the way. Some time in '93).

Weird City: How did you first get into comics?

Mike McMahon: I sent some samples to the War Picture library editor, and he thought they were alright, but he didn't want to use them. So he sent me round to an agent, who was a nice middle class guy who assumed my name was Mike. Everyone really calls me Mick. I didn't want to upset him so I said 'yeah, that's right. My name's Mike.' I've been stuck with that ever since! But he did get me into 2000AD.

WC: What was your favourite 2000AD character to work on?

Mike: Slaine. It was the first one I did where I thought I knew what I was doing. Looking back I don't think I did, but I thought I did so I enjoyed it a lot more than the other things. Usually when I draw things I worry all the time. For every line I make, I've rubbed out a dozen.

WC: the artwork you did on Slaine seemed to be more 'your style'. Did you have to adopt a cleaner style for Judge Dredd? Did they make you do that?

Mike: No. No-one's ever made me do anything. That's why I like working for Fleetway or IPC. I can really do what I like. Whereas when I've been working for America, the people who are managing the companies have all got their own opinion. They get a lot of 'house-styles' in America. Well, they used to. I don't really look at any comics now, but I imagine they do with a lot of these 'X Comics' they bring out. These 'Image Comics' or whatever.

WC: With Slaine, your technique seemed to go more and more towards an almost 'pencil' style. Was that planned, or did it just happen?

Mike: No. I was drawing that and I totally lost confidence - and I could only draw on tracing paper! I'd do a drawing and trace it onto tracing paper and then mount it down. And I noticed all these little white gaps, so I thought I'd better carry on doing it like that.

Eventually I got to the point where so much of my stuff was being reprinted in colour that I thought 'I know, I can play this up' and make it impossible for it to be reprinted in colour. Which it was!

WC: How do you feel when characters like Slaine change with other artists. For example, your Slaine and Simon Bisley's look like two different people!

Mike: Yeah, well, Bisley's a much better artist than me, so it's bound to be different! He's a painter isn't he? An illustrator. I quite like seeing things done differently by other artists. It usually gives me new ideas as well - not that I copy them.

WC: What are you working on at the moment?

Mike: Well, I was doing a thing called 'Tattered Banners' for Vertigo, written by Keith Giffen, but the script apparently fell down the back of a bureau! And after a lot of excuses for three or four weeks, nothing arrived, so I've started doing Judge Dredd again. I've had the script since October. When I've done that, I'll go back to Tattered Banners.

WC: Who wrote the Dredd story?

Mike: John Wagner. It's very good; very funny. I think that's what's missing a lot of the time with new material these days. The trouble with many new people is that the do a script and they think that makes them a writer. I mean, I never try to write because I could never reach the standards that should be achieved. But that doesn't seem to bother a lot of people.

WC: So what, to you, is a good standard of writing?

Mike: Well, it's hard to put your finger on it. But to me, it's someone who would never think of drawing a comic. Someone ike John Wagner, who isn't really interested in the 'comics scene'. The standards he achieves are very personal - obviously they don't come across like that - but they reflect his weird sense of humour.

WC: Don't you think the bad guys in Judge Dredd are often more interesting than Dredd himself?

Mike: That's always been the case. When John created the thing, Dredd quickly became a dull, boring character - just shooting and killing people. John was interested in the people that lived in the city: not just the villains, but the general population - the fat people, and things like that.

They're all just eccentrics, because of where they live and the time they live in. I think the style of the script was that Dredd was a clone, a machine, or whatever you want to call him. And the emphasis was really on his victims. That was quite a good formula, but now they've muddied the waters by trying to make Dredd an interesting character. But you can't have an interesting character if you can't see his face!

WC: Is it true that you drew the potential layouts for the Judge Dredd film?

Mike: No! I don't even know if there is a film. Is there? I suppose that whoever is going to be Dredd isn't going to want to wear a helmet all through the film are they? I mean, it could be anybody under there. He even wears it in bed!

WC: you've recently done a 'Legends of the Dark Knight' story, haven't you? Who wrote that?

Mike: Chuck Dixon.I thought I'd get on the bandwagon! For the first time in my life I'd do this just to get some money! Apparently the storyline clashed with another Batman story by Mark Badger. I've never seen it, but it's a very similar plot, which has never happened before in American comics! So mine had to be shelved.

WC: What do you think about artists who have imitated your style, or stolen some of your images?

Mike: I don't mind that. I don't like it when they trace things, though. You know, it took me a day to draw and it takes them ten minutes. They turn up in a lot of places. They fool me, I'll tell you! I can't see the point of copying things - you might as well go and work on the Stock Exchange. All they want is money, don't they? There's no fun in it.

WC: Is there anything personally that you'd like to work on?

Mike: No. My attitude tends to be that there are things I don't want to work on. I know what I can't do, like love stories. Or sports comics!

Whatever I'm doing, I want to find something that I can get out of it. I usually spend about a month wrestling with how I want to present a new story. Which means I'm not making much money a lot of the time! But I create for myself a world I can believe in - that I can explore, more than the actual subject matter. The subject matter is important, but I need to have some sort of a 'hande' to hold on to. That I can twist as I draw it.

WC: Do you find working from home distracting?

Mike: Well, it all depends if there's cricket on. I'm very easily distracted. Any excuse not to do it! You know - the ice cream van. If it's the world cup, then that's it.

WC: Do you work in short, concentrated bursts, or does it occasionally come together well?

Mike: The deadline has a lot to do with it! When I drew the Alien Legion book, my wife helped me colour it, and I did 45 pages in seven weeks, which is something I've never done in my life! I'll never do it again, I expect.

Sometimes I spend a month doing a first episode of something, which is five or six pages. I wish I knew how to work. I don't think I ever will!

currant bun

2011-01-14T13:28:00.000Z

Brockley. 9.30am(ish). 14th January.

satchel

2011-01-13T14:19:00.000Z

Whitechapel Overground, 11th January. 5.40pm

eat drink and be merry!

2010-12-15T13:28:00.015Z

What you'll need
Some thin card, scissors, paper glue and a colour printer. And maybe an adult to help.

Step one
Print out the image below, and glue it onto the thin card.

Step two
Once the glue has dried, use your scissors and cut along the dotted lines. Take the piece you have cut out, and fold it in two. This is the main part of your card.

Step three

Now to add the greeting. Print out the image below and cut along the dotted lines.

Step five
Take the main part of your card, so the inside is facing you, and glue the message onto the right hand side.

And there you go. Happy Christmas from me to you. Have fun!

Gainsbourg

2010-12-06T12:28:00.001Z

Un grande merci à Jonathan Edwards for including my ropey submission on his wonderful Draw Serge blog.

giraud

2010-12-02T18:51:00.002Z

I wrote about the new Moebius exhibition at la Fondation Cartier, for Vingt Paris.

pencilling...

2010-11-29T12:14:00.001Z

influence map

2010-11-11T15:36:00.005Z

(I'm a bit late to this, but) I've seen a fair few of these 'influence maps' on other cartoon blogs and fancied a go myself.

Of course, it's not exhaustive (how can it be) but it's fair to say that everyone on there has made want to pick up a pencil and have a go myself.

jarvis #2

2010-11-11T14:51:00.006Z

As news of Pulp's reformation is all over the web, I've had another crack at drawing Jarvis Cocker (not the modern bearded version, as such, but certainly a more recent version than this one).

It's just pencil and a quick bit of photoshopping at this stage, but I might work this up into something more finished.

windy day

2010-11-11T11:14:00.003Z

Belvedere Station. 8.15am, 11th November. Click for larger, etc etc.

hallowe'en 2010

2010-10-25T10:49:00.003+01:00

A drawing for Sunday. Have a spoooOOOoky week, everyone. Here's a Spotify playlist to get you even more in the mood.

with apologies to shelton and kahlo

2010-10-22T16:27:00.001+01:00

After a bit of online japery with Mike, here's a quick 'Fat Frida's Cat'.

Alice Neel's 'The Family (John Gruen, Jane Wilson and Julia)'

2010-09-06T13:54:00.002+01:00

I saw this 1970 painting of Neel's in the flesh on Sunday, and loved every inch of it. Exaggerated, beautiful and full of life. And I like the way you can work out the character of each subject from their shoes; the ones on the left are stylish as hell, but could probably kill you dead.

It (and other pieces in the show - all the 1970 onwards stuff, anyway) made me realise how one-note my drawings are; and inspired me to get some more observation into the stuff I've been doing, really. Not that I'd ever be this good, but I've realised how much I rely on tricks; and how I seem to draw the same three or four characters over and over again.

couple of people on berwick street

2010-09-02T10:29:00.004+01:00

Seen on Berwick Street in Soho last night, while I sat with a coffee, biding time.

stripey socks

2010-08-26T15:27:00.000+01:00

Circle line near Farringdon, 8.45am. 25th August 2010.

I Heart NY

2010-07-26T11:19:00.000+01:00

Crewe to London Euston. 24th July. About 5pm.

Goodbye, Cleveland

2010-07-13T10:40:00.004+01:00

Sad to hear that Harvey Pekar has died. I first remember coming across him in the 'Harvey Sez' column in some reprints of Weirdo, when I was about fifteen or sixteen. Since then, I've read tons of his stuff (and taken in the excellent film of 'American Splendor' of course).

There's a real sea of autobiographical comics around, and the majority of them are introspective twaddle. Yet another illustration student talking about yet another unrequited crush? Boring.

Pekar could certainly be self-obsessed, but he was obsessed with the other characters in his life, too. It made you care, and it's what made his writing so interesting.

RIP, indeed.

vegas types

2010-06-28T11:15:00.000+01:00

From the Time Out Guide to Las Vegas.

cherries

2010-06-28T11:10:00.001+01:00

This was for an article on Cherry Red records, from the now defunct Plan B magazine.

milwall fc cap

2010-04-27T17:22:00.001+01:00

London Bridge to East Dulwich. 8pm-ish. 25th April.

motorcycle

2010-04-15T15:35:00.001+01:00

I can't believe I haven't posted this already. Some CD promos for Keith John Adams from last year? It must have been.

Anyway. Have a listen to Keith here...

this place is like a tomb

2010-04-08T12:03:00.001+01:00

Apologies, apologies, apologies. I have been drawing, I just haven't been updating. Lots of things in the pipeline, though.... watch this space.

scribbled on a lined reporters pad

2010-02-04T12:00:00.001Z

Outside Victoria station, about 7pm. 4th February.

the art book

2010-02-02T11:43:00.000Z

Waterloo station, 1st February. About 2pm.

femme fatale

2010-01-27T14:23:00.001Z

startled

2010-01-18T10:05:00.004Z

District Line, near Tower Hill. About 4pm, January 16th.

beard

2010-01-04T13:40:00.003Z

New tour poster.

Happy Christmas

2009-12-15T14:51:00.008Z

What you'll need
Some thin card, scissors, paper glue and a printer. And maybe an adult to help.

Step one
Print out the image below, and glue it onto the thin card.

Step two
Once the glue has dried, use your scissors and cut along the dotted lines. Now, being very careful, cut out the two blue circles.

Step three
Take the piece you have cut out, and fold it in two. This is the main part of your card.

Step four
Now add a greeting. Print out the image below and cut along the dotted lines.

Step five
Take the main part of your card, so the inside is facing you, and glue the message onto its right hand side.

Step six
Put your fingers through the holes, and give Father Christmas a pair of dancing legs!

And there you go. Happy Christmas from me to you. Have a great one.

bobble hat

2009-11-06T16:05:00.000Z

Denmark Hill. 9.30am ish. 6th November

reading the tube map

2009-11-03T14:05:00.001Z

Circle line. 2nd November. 6pm(ish).

slurp

2009-11-02T14:18:00.000Z

parka

2009-10-30T13:45:00.002Z

Geneva airport, 14th September, 2009.

cough

2009-10-27T11:08:00.004Z

image for a gig poster...

standing about

2009-09-07T12:16:00.002+01:00

like a blue-arsed fly (girl)

2009-08-11T10:37:00.002+01:00

woman, pear, robot

2009-07-31T10:00:00.001+01:00

Another old flyer, from two or three years ago, I think.

lightbulb

2009-07-24T15:34:00.003+01:00

A Stars of The Lid poster from November 2007, that I just found lurking on my computer.

beard

2009-07-22T10:36:00.000+01:00

Blackfriars. 21st July, around 9am.

east london type

2009-07-16T10:20:00.001+01:00

Bus through Hackney, 10th July 2009.

profile

2009-07-14T09:39:00.000+01:00

miserable sod

2009-06-29T16:43:00.002+01:00

Blackfriars. 19th June. 6pm-ish.

Jean-Jacques Sempé

2009-06-24T10:37:00.004+01:00

thcweam

2009-05-12T17:20:00.002+01:00

big hair

2009-05-07T11:05:00.000+01:00

ruff and ready

2009-04-24T09:55:00.002+01:00

During the Renaissance, the fashion for wearing enormous ruffs meant that longer spoons had to be produced (another pic for an upcoming book).

earrings; puffa jacket; hood; nintendo ds

2009-04-20T16:28:00.004+01:00

New Cross Gate. 6.50pm, 14th April.

Piccadilly Line (Westbound, near Earls Court). 15th April, 12.25pm.

junior führer

2009-04-08T10:27:00.000+01:00

For an upcoming book; and a piece about 'Names you would no longer consider calling your children'...

european tour poster for the declining winter

2009-03-24T16:26:00.000Z

damo suzuki 2009

2009-03-23T15:43:00.000Z

Damo Suzuki, with his poster.
March 2009.

pointedly ignoring the drunk bloke next to her

2009-03-23T13:05:00.001Z

Brockley. About 6pm, 20th March.

coffee from paul

2009-03-18T10:14:00.001Z

New Cross Gate. 17th March 2009, around 2pm.

are you local?

2009-03-10T11:05:00.000Z

This fellow was in the Prince Regent, in Gloucester Place, last night; steaming drunk and chatting up every woman at the bar.

waiting

2009-03-06T11:44:00.000Z

..for the number 63 bus in glorious, picturesque Peckham. About 4pm, 5th March, 2009.

crossing

2009-03-05T08:31:00.003Z