....Surprise!
I know I've not been around this 'ol blog lately, but things are happening on the drawing board. At the moment The Signal Man project has 'leaves on the track' (US readers may be thinking 'uh?') well, here in the UK if there is a delay in journeys, the railway very often blame 'leaves on the track'... but, there is a good reason for this particular delay. A few weeks ago I got a mail from a huge UK comics icon, who invited me to be part of a new project he was working on.

I said 'Yes' :)

sadly I can't tell you anything else right now, but I can show these bits for your perusal. Check back soon for more details folks!

My contribution to the MOEBIUS charity book has turned out to be a bit colossal. let me explain, first of all it's A2 in size, so it's taking some time to cover that white area. I've made it difficult for myself by attempting to draw it in his unique style, which is a bugger when you come to drawing clouds - his have great depth and form, mine, i'm not so sure. Still, I'm really enjoying the challenge and hopefully I'll finish it this weekend. Though, now, I'm not sure whether I should leave it black and white, or put some colour on it...decisions, decisions.

Back soon folks,

Hello all
Well, a few weeks ago the genius that was MOEBIUS died. My first contact with Moebius's work was in the early 80's Heavy metal issues, it could have been earlier than that, but I think it's safe to say that he has left an indelible mark in many minds. In later years his work never seemed to get translated, but I had managed to get a few Arzach albums, just to look in awe at the incredible imagination which he committed to paper.

Last week I was asked to contribute to a charity book (to be published by the chaps that produced the French version of Springheeled Jack). A few days into the idea and over 100 artists joined up---that surely is a sign of appreciation for the man.

I started my peice last night, attempting to use a 'Moebius-like' line, I'll post a few more development pics soon. I'm quite excited by this opportunity, but I guess he did fire folk's imagination. A little like Jack Kirby did.

Train of Thought: The Diary of the Signal Man No.1
Hello Everyone, thanks for stopping by.

With this tale being an adaptation of a Charles Dickens short ghost story, you would expect to see somewhat large text boxes running throughout. This page is no exception. Here we have my initial A4 roughs and a page just being roughly sketched out, these two panels in particular have a great deal of exposition in them. This is why I always tend to sketch out as much of the copy as possible during the thumbnail stages, it also gives me an idea of exactly how much of the panel will be obscured.

As I get further into this story I realised there is scope to dust off my artistic licence, more of which to come in the next post.

If you'll pardon the pun I'm getting stoked up with this thing folks:) Thanks for asking me onboard Mr Cobley.

Hello all

After I did last week's Signal Man page I got thinking about how it should be printed etc. I plan on possibly gauging interest via this blog and Facebook, then possibly just printing to the initial orders, that way you will have something that will hopefully become a sought after item in 100 years time;) Just as a test I changed this page into sepia, what d'thee reckon? Should it be mono, sepia or actual colour?

Speaking of tests, just as a precursor to actual orders, can anyone WHO MAY BE interested in a copy hit the LIKE button on the FB link. This is just for gauging purposes only. Thanks.

Hello one and all
Just produced page 2 of The Signal Man and it got me thinking that sitting in a signal box can be a very solitary existence, a little like sitting at a drawing board really, so it's good to get feedback on this ere blog. I'm assuming everyone is familiar with this Dickens classic, but just in case you are not... get your ticket and board The Signal Man express. We'll make stops along the way, delving into the production diary, stoking up the imagination as we go.

Last week I was asked to contribute a convention sketch to Club Batman (on facebook), here's the finished pic in case you didn't see it elsewhere.

Greetings blog readers
I spent time recently roughing out the Charles Dickens short story The Signal Man, adapted by Jason Cobley who has written many a fine tale and adapted numerous literary classics such as Dracula,Frankenstein and recently When the Inspector Calls. We are currently not decided upon how or when it will be published but here's the first page to be going on with (sans text, of course). I'll be back with a diary-type/ from-the-drawing-board-development-thing, which will start soon. So make sure you check back here regularly.

I've heard that many of you in the US were unable to purchase either of the Madam Samurai books, through some problem at Diamond distribution, but fear not, as they are both available digitally on GRAPHICLY.com they are well worth checking out, if I do say so myself;)
Here's a few pics to whet your collective appetites.