Black Adam

For many happy years I had a regular spot in SFX magazine (with Nick Setchfield the writer) illustrating films that were in the making or had just been announced. Some of these films didn't appear at the cinema for years and Black Adam is a prime example. The film has just come out and I did the drawing at least two years ago. All we knew at the time was that The Rock had been cast as Black Adam and that was it. No idea of the plot or costars. So Nick suggested a fight between Black Adam and Black Adder which was fun for me to draw so that's what we did. I have no idea if the film is any good or not but I've always loved Black Adder.

Old drawers

i've been rumaging through my old drawers having a clear_out and I found a few blasts from the past. There's a drawing i did for the original Spitting Image showing celebrities of the time.

and a cassette cover for a bunch of celebrity answerphone messages.

also, a drawing of George Formby for an album cover.

and finally an idea I had for a kids book about a nurse who is a cat called First Aid Kitty. yet another failed arrempt at hitting the big time! hey ho!

Failed films!

I worked for several years on SFX magazine illustrating films that hadn't yet been made but were in development. Here are two that never saw the light of day or the dark of a cinema- The sequel to the failure that was Green Lantern although it did make a lot of money in Asia apparently. Which might explain the announcement to make Green Lantern 2
but alas, taht particualr lantern was never to shine its light.
Another unrealised project was to make Stan Lee an arse-kicking spy in the 70s when he was still a spritley chap (and alive!). I don't know whether the intention was to have a younger look-alike play

Stan or do one of those computer youngifying effects on him. But anyway, it was another unfulfilled project. There were many more examples of this which I'll post up in the future.

 

Rondo!

 My brother gave me an inspiring book for my birthday on the drawings of Thomas Fluharty in which this great American illustrator used a dark blue crayon to make wonderfully loose and dynamic sketches of people. I thought I’d have a bash so using a double ended red and blue crayon I drew this image of the fabulously ugly Rondo Hatton. Originally a tall and handsome athlete as Rondo got older he was afflicted more and more by a genetic illness called acromegaly which gradually distorted his features and inflicted increasing pain until it killed him at the early age of 51. When his facial features became distorted he was embraced by Hollywood to appear in a string of films including the one I first saw him in- The Pearl of Death starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson. The film was based on one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories with an element added by the film studio- The Creeper (alias The ‘Oxton ‘Orror!) who was a terrifying brute who could snap men’s spines, played unforgettably by Rondo Hatton. He was such a hit in this film that he went on to appear in 6 more before the disease claimed him. He has since become a horror film icon. What a fizzog!

Blast from the Past!

 As I've been working as a free-lance cartoonist since the eighties I have a large backlog of stuff floating around out there and occasionally an old job is washed up on the shore of my desert island. A couple of months ago I was contacted by a chap (sorry, I can't remember his name) who is the owner of twelve pieces of my cartoon artwork. He wanted to know who they were originally drawn for and unfortunately, I have no idea.

After so many years of drawing for many different clients there are gaps in my memory and this is one of them. Looking at the 12 drawings they seem to be for a calendar for a computer company or maybe a computer magazine. Any computer nerds out there may be able to pinpoint the year from the models of the computer equipment depicted. Anyway, here they are. I hope you like them!

Save the Med colouring book

There's a charity based here in Mallorca called Save the Med and they're producing a colouring book for kids so I've done three drawings for them. This was great fun and a good excuse to draw some mermaids and octopuses!

AOIO (Astral Objects in Orbit) a new instrumental by 2BC

Mark

Our model at last night’s life drawing session at SCAC was Mark who was excellent to draw. Here are some of my daubing. He liked the blue one so I gave it to him. I have so many piling up at home I was happy to let it go.

Robert Capa sketches

I went along with a small sketchbook and my Japanese brush pen to see the excellent and extensive Robert Capa exhibition currently showing in Palma de Mallorca.

Robert Capa
Capa on assignment in Spain, using a Filmo 16 mm movie camera, photographed by Gerda Taro.
Born	Endre Ernő Friedmann[1] October 22, 1913 Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Died	May 25, 1954 (aged 40) Thai Binh Province, Vietnam
Resting place	Amawalk Hill Cemetery, New York
Nationality	Hungarian, American (since 1946)
Known for	War photography

Robert Capa (October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-born American war photographer and photojournalist. He is considered by some to be the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history.

Here are my

drawings based on his photographs.

Lionesses

Elle

At last night's life drawing session at The Sussex Arts Club in Brighton we were given the opportunity of drawing the fabulously fit and toned Elle who teaches balancing and circus skills.
I hadn't drawn her before but she's amazing! Here are my better efforts. Thanks for a great session Elle!

Naomi!

At the Sussex County Arts Club life drawing session last night we were honoured to have as our model the very popular titian haired beauty- Naomi Wood. I haven’t drawn her for over a year and she’s still one of the best. These days she’s branching out into writing and is presenting her poetry live next week at the Duke of Wellington pub here in my new adopted funky town of Shoreham by Sea. I think she said it was on Tuesday but check the Wellie’s website if you want to go.

Animal Dynamics final day!

Yesterday was the final day of David Cemmick’s tutorial in sculpting animals (and a bird) at the wonderful Barcelona Academy of Arts. The three women- Gabrielle Trom ( a young Minnesotan who is so talented that she is now teaching at the Academy), Sophie Cahu (a brilliant French scuptor also specialising in the human figure) and Rosa Guilera from Barcelona (a ceramicist who blew us all away with a photo of her latest stunning piece of work) had to finish their bunnies, Kevin Bott ( a retired engineer from Chester who’d never sculpted before) had to finish his macaw parrot and I had to finish my warthog. We had to be done by 3pm when we were to be photographed standing proudly (or sheepishly) beside our efforts for the Academy’s archives! We all done good and David let us all choose a page from his lovely skechbook of zoo studies as a souvenir! Despite the wide range of age and experience in our small group we all learned a lot and had a great time! This was David’s first go at teaching sculpture and he did a fine job! Fingers crossed for more!
As a little bonus, Kev’s son Chris turned up to see his Dad’s brilliant parrot and offered to make a 3D digital scan of it and my warthog. Chris is a special effects wizard for sci-fi films. He did all the creatures in John Carter of Mars and is about to start in robots for a new Netflix TV series.

Once I have the file I can get my nephew Lukas to make a 3D version of it with his new printer! It would have been a bit difficult to bring Warty home with me on the plane as his is screwed to a wooden base board. All in all it was a fun and informative week in gorgeous Barcelona!