ANDYMATION: The blog of Andy Bloor

Look behind you!

2009-11-13T07:27:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted much art lately, so here's another panel from a recently completed page of 'Fall of the Wolfmen' To find out the identity of the shadowy character behind Jack Grey you'll have to wait until the book comes out next year :-)

Inking a couple of easy pages at the moment then it's back to more time-consuming stuff... got a Predators story and pinup to do after Christmas, so will take a short break from Wolfmen for that.

Will also be starting a new project soon, just for myself... harks back to my love of those Saturday morning cartoons I loved as a kid... will probably never see print but that's ok.

It's just one of those things I have to do for myself really.

Back soon!!

Back for (no) good!

2009-11-11T01:51:00.000-08:00

Back from my hols - a week away in Tenerife with the lads... which was good but at the same time pretty stressful. It's kind of one of those things you have to do and learn from really.

Dave's posted some fantastic reviews of 'Whatever Happened to the World's Fastest Man?' and as they're so good I'll provide links here:

Newsarama

Forbidden Planet

Not much else to say, gonna start cracking back on with Wolfmen inks to meet my deadline of being halfway through the book by the end of the year... yes... nearly Christmas... where has the year gone?

Then I have to decide what project to do afterwards. Wolfmen 3 will take a back seat as I need a break from it for a while. Watch this space for developments.

Wolfmen in progress...

2009-10-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Had a day off work yesterday - all to myself! - and managed to ink virtually two full pages... my hand started hurting after a while, guess I'm not used to all that drawing! From one of those pages is this image, shown here as pencils/inks/tones. Only a few tweaks in this one, some I mess around with more in the inking phase. Then it goes into photoshop for more tweaks :-)

MCM Expo Guide

2009-10-19T06:46:00.001-07:00

Accent UK will be at the MCM Expo this coming weekend, and Diamond UK gave us a whopping 4 pages in their Expo guide which you can view online here:

MCM Expo Guide

Basically it's a 3 page preview of 'Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man?' and an ad (but not an ad) page, highlighting the fact that both Wolfmen and Robots are offered again in the UK section of Novembers Previews catalogue (alongside Fastest Man which is in the USA section).

I had to come up with something that was basically an advert, but wasn't too obvious... very happy with how it turned out. There's an intentional Apple/iTunes vibe to it but works well I think.

Everybody in...

2009-10-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

Well, another week, another page inked. This is the last panel from the most recently completed page, but I wasn't happy with the original version of this, which was to be a quick 'reused background' and just some simple figures placed over the top to try and speed things up. I tried to get it to work but didn't look right so I drew this new panel from scratch this week and am pretty happy with the results.

Sadly, I doubt this will be the last time I have to do this either!

More BICS Pix

2009-10-15T04:43:00.000-07:00

This time something I did for Jon Rennie... he had a very novel idea of everyone doing sketches the same size so he can run an animated banner on his website. You can check them out here:

Clickity Click!

Could have drawn the wolfman a little better but doesn't look too bad compared to the others.

BICS Pix

2009-10-12T02:52:00.000-07:00

Colin sneakily took this pic at BICS as I'd just finished that punk sketch and no sooner as I'd put my pens down then this queue formed!!

Was great fun - if a little terrifying - hopefully they all liked what they ended up with :-)

Got my Predators script today, a fantastically dark take by the talented Mo Ali that should be a fun challenge, hope to start that soon but need to crack on with the Wolfmen inks. No rest for the wicked!

In the dark...

2009-10-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Can't really show much more on the sequence I'm working on so this moody panel will have to do. Finished this page off fairly quickly despite being quite detailed in places. Still on a high from BICS so hoping to use some of that energy to get pages done quicker. Pretty happy with the results so far... time will tell if everyone else agrees.

In other news the mighty talented Gary Crutchley will be lending his talents to a Wolfmen gallery image for book 2. Some great images in so far, at this rate they're gonna be better than the main feature!

Batman BICS 2009

2009-10-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a sketch of Batman done this weekend at BICS... after someone saw this they asked for another Batman too (as long as they bought a copy of Wolfmen :-) ... love the character, could draw him all day.

BICS 2009... a review

2009-10-05T03:14:00.000-07:00

Well, back at work today from spending two great days at BICS over the weekend.

Aside from feeling pretty tired driving there and back both days I throughly enjoyed myself. There seemed to be less 'professional' creators this year but tbh, the show didn't really miss as it meant punters had more spare cash to buy small press/independent comics.

I was on the Accent UK stand most of the time, sharing a table with Garen Ewing - creator of the wonderful 'Rainbow Orchid'. This was the first time I met Garen and it was a pleasure to finally meet him and get him to sign and sketch in my copy of his book.

Met up and had a natter with some fellow creators there - Marleen Lowe (at her first con), Gary Crutchley (yes we must meet up soon!), Dave Hitchcock (who's Madam Samurai pages were jaw-droppingly stunning!), Chris Doherty, Kev Mullins (very nice Predators pages there Kev!!), Jason Cobley and of course, Garen.

Sales were good, and as expected 'Whatever Happened to the World's Fastest Man?' sold very well, as did 'Zombies' and 'Wolfmen' (considering the book's been out 2 years that was superb). I bought a few bits and bobs - A signed 'Grandville' from the one and only Bryan Talbot, 'Burke and Hare' from Martin Conaghan at the Insomnia stand, 'Harker' 8 from the brilliant team of Roger Gibson and Vince Danks... having 'spoken' to them on email it was a pleasure to finally meet them face to face and tell them how much I enjoy their book. And judging from their sales I wasn't the only one! Lastly I got a copy of Razorjack (and a very cool 'Wolfmen' sketch) from legendary artist John Higgins (Watchmen, Judge Dredd etc) more on that later!!

On Sunday which is normally a quieter day... I was asked to do a sketch. Now I've never done a 'live' sketch before and was a bit worried that it might turn out a bit crap... but the lad seemed to like it and before I knew it there was a queue of people all asking for sketches. I think it did 'The Shadow', 'Doctor Strange', 'Thanos' and a wolfman or two. It was great fun if a little terrifying! Dave tells me they seemed happy with the results so I'll take his word for it :-)

Certainly helped sales though, shifted a few more 'Wolfmen' which is great and bodes well for the second book out next year. I had people come up and say how much they liked my stuff and the book in particular which always helps and gives you that extra push to crack on knowing that there is an audience for what you're doing and more importantly - they like it.

Had a very nice comment from a guy from Gosh! Comics who commented on how good he thought my design was for Dave's 'Strange Times' book too, which was very nice indeed.

Overall great fun - thanks to Dave and Colin for letting me be a part of it, and also to everyone who stopped by and bought something.... see you next year!

Birmingham International Comics Show (BICS)

2009-09-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

Is this coming weekend - and Accent UK (and me!) will be there to meet fellow creators and obviously spend hard earned money on comics!

I will be at the AUK stand most of the time, and when not there probably wandering around aimlessly trying to find people I made a note of meeting.

Really looking forward to this, Marleen Lowe will be there to sign copies of 'Whatever Happened to the World's Fastest Man?' and I will happily do a sketch if anyone wants one. I'm also bringing some original art to sell too, incase anyone wants any.

Just got a week of work (and another page of Wolfmen 2 to ink) to go!

More wolfmen!

2009-09-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

Mainly as this is what I'm working on primarily - when I've done some work on stuff for Predators and the other top-secret project I'm working on with the mighty Dave West I'll post that too, just incase anyone is bored with werewolves (and who can ever really be bored with werewolves?).

This image is from an action sequence early in book 2... seems someone has shot part of this critters ear off... but who?

Wolfmen first full page!!

2009-09-23T04:07:00.000-07:00

Not the first completed page, but one that I've shown Dave and so quite happy to put it up on here so that folk can see there is some progress!

Felt sick as a dog yesterday, so no work and no drawing... getting really behind on the schedule I wanted for WM2, and am not at the place I wanted to be for BICS. Gonna have to pull my finger out if I want his done in time for Bristol next year. Looks like it's not going to happen but I'll give it a go.

When I read Dave Hitchcock's blog and he's up to page 60 of his superb samurai story already, I feel a right slacker!

Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man

2009-09-21T02:07:00.001-07:00

Is here at last. Colin very kindly mailed me some copies so I finally had chance to see it all printed in lovely colour and black and white.

It does look superb and congrats must go Dave for writing such a good story and of course Marleen, for her superb artwork. My contribution was minimal, just designing the overall look of the book to hopefully make it stand out a little, and I also drew a little pinup in it that I completely forgot to add a credit for inside the book!

As long as that was the only error in it then I'm a happy man... looking forward to launching it as BICS on the 3rd and 4th October, if you're coming, pop over and say hello - and of course buy some comics :-D

Who's afraid of the big bad...

2009-09-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

...Wolfman?

More to be revealed soon... not a great deal done this last week... hope for better this week. BICS soon so looking forward to that. Oh and Fastest Man is done and will be in our grubby hands this week. Good times :-)

Watch out for that wheel!!

2009-09-04T04:09:00.001-07:00

Work is done on another page of Wolfmen 2 (aka Fall of the Wolfmen)... as always there are things I wish I had time to re-draw but sometimes you just have to get it done and move to the next page... otherwise it would never get done. Quite happy with this page and this panel in particular. To find out what's going on you'll just have to buy the book when it comes out :-D

In other news Dave and Marleen's 'Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man?' is officially at the printers and should be back in a couple of weeks time. It's a great book, getting well deserved positive reviews and let's hope it sells as well as we think it will.

John Reppion & Leah Moore interview

2009-08-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

Just happened across this interview with the lovely John Reppion and Leah Moore on downthetubes. Sadly John and Leah won't be writing me a story for 'Predators' due to the impending arrival of a little Moore-Reppion (or is that Reppion-Moore?). Totally understandable and I hope everything goes well for all of them. I just hope that I'll get the chance to work with them again some day.

They do however say some very nice things about me in the interview which is very nice (and I didn't pay them, honest!).

"Andy Bloor is another artist we've had the pleasure of working with through Accent UK. He has this wonderfully bold scratchboard/woodcut type style that just jumps off the page. I highly recommend Wolfmen written by Dave West and drawn by Andy."

Linky!

That's gotta hurt!

2009-08-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure it does as Grey exacts his revenge against a member of The Wolfmen in another sneaky look at some of my scribblings for Fall Of The Wolfmen... more soon!

Strange Times

2009-08-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

The collected edition of Dave's 'Strange Times' strip is back from the printers and available for sale soon from the Accent UK website. I did the design work on the book and also contributed a pinup image as did some other more talented folk like Shane Oakley, Garen Ewing and Indio himself.

I'm looking forward to getting my copy... I've not seen it yet but have read the book several times when working on the pages. It's a smashing little book that's a deserved part of any collection.

Whatever Happened to the World's Fastest Man

2009-08-07T04:05:00.000-07:00

Finally finished my pinup for the book this week and just a little bit of work to do on the interior design of the book and we're there I think. Needless to say the reviews this has been getting are well deserved for both Dave and Marleen... and although my contribution is only a small one in the book, I'm still really, really happy to be in it.

The look of the book is like no other comic I think, and both Dave and I have worked very hard to get this right... I think this will surprise many people when they see it (fingers crossed of course!).

There's a very nice film 'story' in it too that I couldn't help but smile when Dave sent it over :-)

As a little insight into my work (for those interested) above shows the various stages of the pinup.

Pencils first, scanned in and then I inked some bits in illustrator then imported them into photoshop and then printed the whole page out (at 30% cyan, slightly larger scale) and did the majority of the inking the old fashioned way. Finally, the art was scanned back in and greytoned in my very basic style that works for my stuff I think.

Overall I'm pretty happy with it... doesn't hold a candle to Marleens' superb work, but what can?

Western review - a corker!!

2009-07-29T02:32:00.000-07:00

Came across this on Facebook - what a cracking review:

Hypergeek Western review

There's also a really good (like 11/10!) review of Dave and Marleen's 'Whatever Happened to the World's Fastest Man' book on there too!

There's someone at the door...

2009-07-21T04:41:00.001-07:00

All will be revealed soon...

Long time no blogging...

2009-07-13T07:00:00.001-07:00

Well... has it been that long for the 3 people that read this blog? Yes it has... to be honest I kind of forgot all about it until today and thought I'd best update it a little with what's been going on.

Harry & Alfie celebrated their first birthday on the 26th April... can't quite believe how quick the last year has gone! They're turning into proper little boys now too, which means burping, farting and causing poor mummy and daddy loads of mischief! Bless' em :-)

Western has got accepted by Diamond which is great news, there's more news on the Accent UK website... orders didn't quite hit the threshold but they allowed it anyway, which is great for getting the book into as many hands as possible and also that it means we can print both 'Whatever Happened to the World's Fastest Man?' and 'Man of Glass'. Superb news for all concerned.

Pencilling on Wolfmen 2 is finally done and I'm now on the orduous task of inking it all... and corrected stuff that didn't look right the first time. I will post some work in progress on here as soon as I get stuck in and get some pages under my belt. I'm inking slightly smaller this time in an effort to speed up the process. I'm also leaving black areas blank as well to be filled with photoshop ink... which will please my poor suffering Pitt pens for using them up too quickly!

Also part way through my pinup for the 'Fastest Man' book, and have also completed all the design work on Dave's 'Strange Times' book... it's a fine looking book and a real testament to Dave's skill as a writer and artist... I'm sure all of you who enjoyed it online and from his little mini-comics will look having it as a collectable hardcover book. I know I will. We just have to give it the final once over and upload it to the printers and let them do their bit. Very exciting stuff.

I'm also got a pinup for next years anthology 'Predators' in production, and have done the cover design for 2011's anthology 'Victoriana' which you can see on the AUK website. The cover was drawn by the mighty Dave Hitchcock, and it was a pleasure to do it too. Dave is without a doubt one of the best artists I've ever met. If there was any justice he'd be working on Hellboy or Batman... you can check out his stuff by following the link to his blog on the right hand side of the page.

Long time friend of Accent UK, Dwight MacPherson had a strip entered in the Zuda Comics competition and only went and won it! Many congrats to Dwight and the rest of the team... which would be yours truly as well, as 'Sidewise' features a logo design by me. Great stuff.

Speaking of 'Predators', I'm very lucky to be working with John Reppion and Leah Moore on a story for this, and I couldn't finish this post without wishing the most heartfelt congratulations to both John and Leah as they are expecting a little addition to the Moore-Reppion household later this year. The very best to you all.

Phew! glad that's over... more soon... promise :-)

Andy

Western in Previews

2009-06-01T02:23:00.000-07:00

Yep, considering Diamond's current stance with regards small press comics/publishers, we at AUK headquarters all feel pretty chuffed that Western got accepted to Previews and is in the June issue (so go pester your local comic dealer to order a copy... or two... or three).

Now it still has to meet their new minimum order threshold so the hard work isn't done yet, infact Dave is busy emailing US stores with a link for them to download a full pdf file I created so they can see the quality of the book and hopefully put some orders in. Fingers crossed!

I'm hoping there might be some art to show on this art blog soon... I'm now working on Dave's Strange Times collected edition, some more Wolfmen 2 art (and the last page I did is probably the worst thing I've drawn for quite some time... hopefully I can correct some of it when I come to ink it) and I still have this pinup for Fastest Man to do, which I'm going to get around to doing very soon. I've got an idea for a pinup for Predators (next years Accent UK anthology) that I want to get moving on too. Lots on as usual.

I'm also deciding what my next project might be after Wolfmen 2... I think a break from that would do me good and enable me to come back refreshed for the third and final book... I've got a great script from Dave that's a possibility. I've also been talking to Cy Dethan, the talented writer behind Insomnia's superb Cancertown book (that's understandably getting a lot of positive buzz) about the chance of doing something too.

Original art sale

2009-05-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking of selling some of my artwork to raise some much needed funds.

I've never done this before as the thought of someone actually wanting to buy some of my work seems odd in itself... but times being what they are, and the work is just sitting there I thought I might give this a go.

I'm currently deciding how best to do it... whether a website listing (with a paypal payment link) or ebay, but haven't thought that far ahead yet.

What will be offered will be all the work from my Accent UK work, namely Twelve, Monsters, Zombies, Robots (both stories), Western and of course Wolfmen.

More news this soon.