YOUR IN THE WRONG PLACE....

...or maybe I am! This blog has been sitting here busily build traffic over the last year whilst I was off running wild around the world of wordpress. Here was where I posted my random, work in progress ideas up to last year then I got "Mr Manager" on it and stopped drawing as much as I stepped into the role as Managing Director for Uproar Comics.

It's not as if I have completely stopped drawing , I still do covers like the one below for ongoing comic series "Zombies Hi" and I would have to say I've moved a lot more into a colouring role when it comes to comic production.

Here's some of the colouring I've been doing on the series...really quite proud of these pages! Pencil & ink work by the fantastic Ruairi Coleman!

So that's what I've been up to over at Uproar Comics, I do more regular blogging over there if you want to stop by : )

The appeal of the comic

The appeal of the comic 

Comic books seem to go under the radar for a lot of people. Many non comic book fans have brushed them aside and assume the audience for them is limited. Despite the fact that many of the most popular film franchises in Hollywood at the moment come from Marvel comics, and many of the most beloved TV and cinema characters originated in comic form once upon a time. 

Garfield, Superman, Iron Man, Dennis the Menace, they all began in comic books. What many of the ordinary folk do not realise is, while they have moved their hobbies like partypoker, updating Facebook and browsing for new music onto the internet, so have we. There are more comic fans, artists and sites dedicated to our own creations than ever before. So what is the appeal of the comic, that they are missing? 

For starters there isn't only one genre of comic book. Most people associate comics with the supernatural genre, thanks to Marvel creations like Spiderman. However there are plenty of other genres that attract a wide audience too. Horror, humour and science fiction are popular, while action, adventure and fantasy comics have an audience too. 

They aren't just for kids, contrary to popular belief. Once upon a time, the comic audience was below the age of eighteen. There is reasonable evidence to suggest a sizeable amount are adults nowadays. Even women are a target demographic, with many enjoying reading and creating their own. Admittedly most comics are aimed at a male audience, but that is not to say that women can't enjoy them. 

Above all else they are entertaining, and funny, thanks to their quirky and recognizable characters, amusing and action packed plot lines and limitless imagination. They can literally be taken anywhere. So lets not hear anyone suggest they are a dying breed of entertainment. 

ZH desktop wallpaper...

Hey folks, I was messing round in the wee hours of last on photoshop, and Holly gave me the idea of doing up some Zombie Hi desktop wallpapers. So heres me first attempt at one, its proper sized and all, so feel free to click the image and set as your desktop.....

Uproar on Facebook stuff...

So over the last week I've been running a few competitions and like on the Uproar page to get folks interested in Zombies Hi, and it seems to be working a treat.

The competitions, cause the stories Derry based and we're targeting a mainly local audience, have been mainly "name the zombified derry heads" and I stick up pics like this...

...and if they get them right they either get a free copy of Introducing Zombie Hi, or a personalised zombie sketch, like these....

..they seem to want the sketches more than the books. hrmmm. i don't if thats good or bad....??

Pages 1-3 line work, "Zombies HI". . .

Jason the Ghostbuster

Its me mates, wee boy's birthday is coming up in the next few days, and he's mental into Ghostbusters, so I thought I'd make him one. Quick pic just, couldnt be bothered patching 2 A4 scans together in PS.

The Slaughterman...

Quick wee digital sketch from the fantastic book "The Slaughtermans Creed" that I puck up from Stephen Downey at 2D.........

aaaawwww yeaaaahhh

WE ARE A ROCKING....

So I've set up a big cartel site so I can finally start selling our books, the first up is Introducing Zombies Hi, which contains the first installment along with an illustrated prose and a stand alone 12 page comic. Just click on the uproar comics logo at the side to go to the shop. Or click here.

Me and illustrator just had a little affair........

....that's all.

More "Con" sketches, suggested by redditors...

2D's round the corner...

....and just as I did last year I'll have a big folder of free sketches to give away to people. I'll be sketching as well on the day, so its practice too. Here's some of the usual suspects, and if theres any you would like me to do either say in the comments, or facebook or twitter....

**gust of wind**

Yes, that post title is actually a verbal sound effect. Enter the tumble weed. The blog has been very quiet recently, so I had to break the silence with this page from Zombies Hi. I didn't want to be putting up spoilers so this has the least storytelling spoilers in it.

What Ive been up to...

The blog was under siege from a zombie horde for a while, then I kinda slowed up on that project to focus on another. Colouring, something regular viewers would know I never considered a strong point of mines, but recently things have changed. I just needed the practise really.  I was waiting on the writer behind the project's Stephen Coffey to put these up online before I did, and proper order too. The first one here is from the story "Red Ghost" with fantastic artwork from Robert Carey  ( theartofmansloth.blogspot.com , seriously, check this dude out!!)

Secondly, the equally great work from Cormac Hughes from the story "Society of the remarkable suicide". 

"I'm not a procrastinator....."

Pomodoro sketch...

...pomodoro, you know that 25 minute time management technique I was on about, well done this well before the timer went off. I'm pretty slow drawer, and I'm always looking to improve me speed, so going to keep doing this as practise.

Skimming the archives....

.. archives, I like that word. Its as if I have a dusty old room filled with forgotten art locked away in cob web draped drawers, lit by a swinging bare bulbed light dangling from a low ceiling. Yes, it conjures up some imagery for me.  But in reality, archives are just a folder named " Kevins arty stuff ", and in there was the below pieces. The first is the pencils from a recent piece I done for the Eclectic Micks  birthday bonanza , click the link there to see the finished piece sitting nestled amongst some amazingly talented people.

Some of yous may have come across the story I done for the Talesofthe  Christmas season, below is the first  sketch I done for it. EMO kid, Elf, its already a dark christmas in itself.

And finally, these two sketches are different concepts of MARK, I cant tell you who or why he is yet, but in time...so stay tuned folks.

40 minute ink attack......

...Every now and then I like to leave the pencil and just try and throw something out in ink, its not intended to look perfect but rather to try a capture an atmosphere........

Page 4 coloured (finally...)

Some of the survivors...

These are they first attempts at some of the characters that will be appearing in the "Zombies Hi" story. I couldnt have been bothered with scanning each one so I just went down the much handier route and took pictures of them. These were done real quickly so some of the different profiles aren't exact but I'll sort that when i do proper data sheets for each of them. Done 4 of these on a3 bristol board, so there roughly a5 with a good oul pencil.

...and bats and hellboy, just cause their cool. ( they will not be in the story, unfortunately!!)