Christmas Commissions Part 1: Attack of the Golf Zombies

Unless your name is Elf, you probably want to put Christmas behind you now. However, for me this is the perfect chance to tell you about a couple of items I carried out just before the festive season... for that very reason.

"Bubbub and His Babe."

This was for a client who wanted some sort of comic book image for his brother-in-law. The guy in question is into comics, specifically Captain America whilst both himself and his girlfriend have in the past dressed up as Capt and The Silk Spectre (from Alan Moore's "Watchmen").

Take into account that the gift reciever is also something of a golfer AND gets the playful monicker "Bubba" thrown at him whilst his girlfriend gets the slightly less imaginative "Babe." It didn't take me too long to imagine a comic cover set on a golf course, featuring zombies as the stock villains. ...I took a slight leap of faith with the zombie theme and checked with the client first using this sketch (whilst pointing out that the zombies will be added later):

If I can offer a bit of advice for illustrators; it's that no amount of information, both written and visual (such as photos) from clients is too much... if you can push them into doing a sketch, do it! Get as much as you can before you begin and make notes, unless you have it in email form already. The pink hat as worn in a photo sent to me for example, is something that the client suggested would be a nice touch and I agree. ...Plus it links the title colour to the image a bit.

 This is the final image.

I used this commission as an excuse to get hold of more Pentel Colour Brush Pens. They are great and unlike say felt tips, the ink doesn't bleed when dry so you can lay down the black first and THEN colour over the top.

Zooooooming in.

I blended a couple of inks in an egg cup to get the skin colour, which doesn't show up very well on this scan. The other thing about inks of course is that unlike felt tips, a brush creates some texture but doesn't scrub the paper horribly. And there we have it, an A3 sized original.

Unused Article Illustrations

The following illustrations were designated for an online article about not getting into a fight with your best friend. For various reasons I decided not to hand them over, but those of you who know me may spot two characters from my long overdue graphic novel idea "Bust-Up." 

We're Gonna Need A Bigger Comedy Night!

Materials used:
Indian Ink and Brush (Windsor and Newton University Series size 3)- (for Darth Vader waves and Jaws - I am aware that Jaws was not the shark's name! It was Bruce). Technical pen for the rest and Photoshop for colour. Texture was made by scanning in a blank sheet of paper and layering. All text drawn by hand.

Ever had one of those days where you just want to draw Darth Vader doing stuff?
Luckily for me this desire coincided with a friend of mine Robert Pipe requesting that I draw a poster/flyer for his London-based comedy night called "The Forgery." Movie themed of course. "Like" the Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheForgeryClub

Click to enlarge.

Ahh Star Wars and Jaws; don't quite know if there will be any sketches involving those two films. "We Brake for Nobody" is a reference from the spoof film Spaceballs (Mel Brooks), I thought I'd put that on there when I realised that my picture of Darth has a slightly oversized helmet, much like "Dark Helmet" (Rick Moranis) obviously.