Sandman: Overture Flats

Here's an update of a few samples of flats for Sandman: Overture #2 and #3.

Joe Q

Two of my favourite pieces to work on recently are both by Joe Quinones. A Guardians of the Galaxy illustration for Variety Magazine - Joe has a great process piece over on his blog here – and selfie cover to Batman '66 #14.

A Dream Come True... Part 2

I just received my copy of Sandman: Overture #2 Special Edition and was pleasantly surprised to see that Dave Stewart had given me a shout-out in his Color Process: From Theory to Execution piece. And a page of flats I worked on was also featured. From reader to collaborator in a little under 20 years!

Slammed

Len O'Grady really knocked it outta the park with his fantastic colors on Walt Simonson's Star Slammers #3 cover. It's been wonderful working on Walt's linework - I can't wait to see what Len does with the rest of the book!

A Dream Come True

 

I guess enough time has passed since Sandman: Overture #1 came out to share some flats I did for the very wonderful Dave Stewart. Working on J.H.'s artwork was amazing, and the whole experience really was a dream come true for me.

More Covers!

Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion #4. Pictures: Declan Shalvey.

Final colours: Jordie Bellaire. © 2013 DC Comics.

Forever Evil: Arkham War #4. Pictures: Jason Fabok.

Final colours: Pete Pantazis. © 2013 DC Comics.

Young Avengers #16/17. Pictures: Jamie McKelvie.

 Final colours: Matt Wilson. © 2013 Marvel.

Illegitimates #1 NYCC Variant. Pictures: Bill Willingham.

Final colours: Len O'Grady. © 2013 IDW.

Q2: The Return of Quantum and Woody #1 NYCC . Pictures: Mark Bright.

Final colours: David Baron. © 2013 Valiant.

Sons of Anarchy #1 NYCC Variant. Pictures: Gabriel Hardman.

Final colours: Matt Wilson. © 2013 Boom! Studios.

 Imagine Agents #3. Pictures: Bachan.

Final colours: Matt Wilson. © 2013 Boom! Studios.

Covers

I just realised that I've worked on lots of awesome covers over the last year, so I finally put a samples page together. I sometimes get the base colors pretty good - sometimes I'm way off – lucky I work with such talented artists! Here's a few highlights:

 The Ghost Train to New Orleans (The Shambling Guides #2).
Pictures: Jamie McKelvie.
Final colours: Jamie McKelvie. © 2013 Orbit.

 

Swamp Thing #19. Pictures: Tim Brase.
Final colours: Matt Wilson. © 2013 DC Comics.

Young Avengers #3 Variant. Pictures: Todd Moore.
Final colours: Matt Wilson. © 2013 DC Comics.

DareDevil Dark Nights #1. Pictures: Lee Weeks.
Final colours: Lee Loughridge. © 2013 Marvel.

Diablo #5 . Pictures: Joseph LaCroix.

Final colours: Lee Loughridge. © 2012 DC Comics.

Finally... Flatting updates

I had a quiet day today - so I managed to upload a bunch of new flats. Here's a brief sample.

Dean White on Captain America

Fantastic interview with Dean White over at Marvel.com about his work on the new Captain America. I did the flats for this – the art by John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson is fantastic stuff, and the finished colors by Lee and Dean are amazing. I'll pop a few flats up in a couple of weeks.

Journey Into Mystery #646

Journey Into Mystery #646 is out now – there's a preview over at CBR – with words by Kathryn Immonen, art by Valerio Schiti and colours by the very talented Jordie Bellaire. I did the flats for this issue – wonderful art to work on.

Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland

Bill Willingham continues his impossible run of prolific, high-quality, highly varied stories based on the idea that all the fables, myths and stories of the world are secretly true, and that they all live together, hidden among the real, "mundy" world. The hardcover Werewolves of the Heartland tells the back-story of Bibgy Wolf – this time as a crack Nazi-hunting guerrilla in the dark forests of Germany. This past comes back to haunt him when he discovers a midwestern town populated entirely by werewolves that have been created by a beautiful, ruthless Nazi scientist who isolated a serum from blood that Bigby left behind when he helped foil a Nazi attempt to revive Frankenstein's monster to fight on their side.

I did the flats for this for Lee – so I've had a sneak peek at the art – it's fantastic. Who would have thought 18 months ago when I put a pre-order for this on Amazon that I would end up working on it!

Devovled

Dynamite Entertianment  announced at NYCC that Rick Remender is writing a new creator-owned series Devolution. Coupled with the breathtaking art of Paul Renaud, Devolution promises to be one of the most unique and innovative comics to be on the stands! I recently did the flats for Lee on the preview pages for this – can't wait to read the first issue.

Wonder Woman #12 Preview

Check out a preview of Wonder Woman #12 over at IGN. Written by the extremely talented Brian Azzarello with some of the cleanest lines around by Cliff Chiang and sumptuous colours by Matt Wilson. Wonder Woman faces a choice: Defend Zeus's throne from Apollo – or defend her closest friend!

Fables Fun

I've been having great fun flatting Fables for Lee - you can check out my flats for #119 over here.

I've just started following @fablescon on Twitter. Its the official source of information (and daily competitions) on the Fabletown and Beyond 2013 convention being held in Rochester, Minnesota in March 2013. I would love to attend - so if anyone wants to fly me out I'd be most grateful :)

Oh My Bog Gods!

I couldn't believe that I got to work on my two favourite bog-gods at the same time this week. You wait ages for one plant elemental and two turn at the same time.

The Man-Thing flats were for Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe #4 for me old mate Lee Loughridge, and the Swampie flats are for DC's Swamp Thing #0 for my new mate Matt Wilson.

The menacing Man-Thing appeared in the first series of horror comics I collected as a teenager— pocket sized Chiller – I used to buy one or two a week for 20p out of a box at a local flea market. The Secret of Swamp Thing was also the first graphic novel I bought in the last 80s. So, this has been a very rewarding week for me.

Saucer Country

I had the pleasure of flatting SAUCER COUNTRY #4 for Lee  – and he did a magic job on final colours. I've been really enjoying my old mate Paul Cornell's take on this 'The X-Files meets The West Wing' story. Check out my flats over here.

Paul's fantastic M.R. James pastiche  'The Occurrence at Slocombe Priory' appears in  StarShipSofa Stories Volume 3 – perfectly accompanied by the illustrations of Tom Crielly.

Wonder Woman

Just a quick sneak peek at another project I've been working on – Wonder Woman! This is a panel from issue 12, written by Brian Azzarello, with pristine art by Cliff Chiang. I've got to say that these are some of the sweetest pages I've ever worked on! A big thank-you to Matt Wilson for letting me flat these!

The Dark Knight Rises

The latest trailer for the Dark Knight Rises is out... I cannot wait!

Speaking of Batman - issue 5 of Batman Arkham City: End Game is now out on the DC Comics app for .99c.  You can find some of my flats here.

Finally a Fable...

I finally got to work on my favourite comic, Fables. It's taken 118 issues but I finally got my grubby hands on some pages. This is really a highlight for me - the only thing better would be Sandman, but that's finished, so not a chance of that! Check out my samples over here.

Also, the third chapter of Batman Arkham City: Endgame just came out - check out some of my flats.

Batman Arkham City Lockdown

I just discovered this great game on the app store. I've been mildly addicted to Infinity Blade II for the past few months, so this makes a pleasant change. The game play is very similar to the Infinity Blade series, and is fiendishly difficult until you start leveling up!

Speaking of Batman - issue 2 of Batman Arkham City: End Game is now out on the DC Comics app for .99c. It looks great on the iPad, so treat yourself to some eye-candy! You can find some of my flats here.