Yep, the new concept hinted at here. It all arose from a What If? train of thought—what if I decided to go with the idea of using “The Last Club Vamporama” as a springboard for a rebooted concept?
Well, the concept turned a bit… superheroic. To wit:
Here’s a larger version of the Marie action figure, in ink & watercolour pencil…
Who?! Why, this guy:
He’s the first ‘proper’ character I ever created, I believe, back in 1981. For his origin and some very old artwork (haven’t you all wanted to see how dreadful my art was as a kid/youth?!), read on…
Yep, another little hiatus, but honestly I doubt I went a single day without thinking about what to blog next. I did want to commit to keeping this fairly ongoing again. And I will. But those of you who are regular readers, I hope, will feed me a little with feedback so I don’t feel excessively lonely here!
And, yes, some stuff has happened since October 27th. For one thing, Tikki had a trip up North to meet a Westie pal named Marco…
Tikki & Marco in Lincoln, October 28th 2021
For another, it was my COUGHrd birthday on Oct 30.
Hah! So here it finally is!!
I’ve given this a lot of thought. I wasn’t planning to publish it. One of the reasons being that my attempt to do a colour version in Photoshop was looking so horrible (IMO), I couldn’t finish it. There were other reasons. See below the artwork for more details!! (Also, page two etc is below the cut, if you’re reading on the front page!)
Anyhow, finally decided to just put it up here and to hell with it…
One note before you read on: these are “original art” scans, before any clean-ups or adjustment, so what you see it what I drew, warts & all.
Of course, everyone knows that Jack Kirby designed the original version of Spider-Man, which never got used. We know, also, that Kirby pencilled the cover to Spidey’s first appearance, in Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)—because the original cover Ditko drew was rejected by Stan Lee.
But how about Kirby artwork inside this landmark comic? Well, surely, the iconic origin story is fully-pencilled & inked by Mr Ditko. But there’s one aspect I never paid much attention to before—the teeny-tiny Spidey figure at the top right of the opening splash page…
As referenced here… my newest (and final) two-page Club Vamporama strip—which remains unpublished—committed the grave sin of a tangent on panel one of page two.
By way of sneaking some of this strip’s art onto the blog without publishing the full strip… here we go. Notes below.
The third in an apparent “Conan by” series! (Following this and this.)
This one is from Savage Sword of Conan #64 (1981)—a tremendous issue that carries a 42-page lead story drawn by Big John, a “Chane” backup strip by Gil Kane, and… eight Conan pinup pages by the great Alex Toth, of which this is one.
Another compare & contrast, this time with something all-new vs a 2016 original…
Both pieces were done for my friend, Nigel. It was his request & his concept… and I believe this “mythical kiss” might have actually been done for-real in an Archie comic in recent years. Not sure—I pay almost no attention to this stuff!
Anyhow, the composition I came up with in 2016 was A-OK—quite strong—but, my goodness, the execution & rendering was, IMO, absolutely appalling!! Even at the time I felt it was missing the mark, but my problems with it have grown exponentially with the passage of time.
So I deciced to redo it. Nigel deserved better.
Here’s the all-new 2021 version…
Featuring: The Unimaginable Menace of… THE TANGENT!!
Following up the last post, here is a really rather nice Conan pinup by Gil Kane from Savage Sword of Conan #67 (1981). What’s interesting, and unusual, about this piece is the way Gil has rendered the large demons… it’s a very stark chiaroscuro not dissimilar to the technique Frank Miller used a decade later on Sin City. As far as I know, Gil never really did anything else like this… unless anyone can point out other examples?
Anyhow, it’s a strong image.
When I grow up, I wanna be able to draw like this.
It ain’t gonna happen!
Art by John Buscema, from Savage Sword of Conan #222 (1994)—image via Heritage.
Perhaps this was more appropriately posted back in June (the month of his passing), but as September marks his 95th birthday, that’s fine.
It’s hard to believe the great Gene Colan has been gone for ten years. And what a different (but not in the least bit better) world it is today compared to even back then.
Late ’70s Colan cover to DAREDEVIL #154, nicely inked by Steve Leialoha.
Quick post—I originally wrote this as a footnote to the previous post, but I thought I’d make it a separate entry instead, as it has some personal aspects that go on a bit of a tangent…
I’ve had a very spasmodic learning curve in terms of my artwork—and since the mid-’90s, I’ve mostly considered myself to be a writer who can draw a little.
Continuing this theme on the 15th anniversary of Club Vamporama (and the year of its demise!!), and following the Marie comparison, here’s two versions of a CV comic-book-that-never-happened cover.
Directly below is the most-recent version, from my moderately productive 2019 period. I’m still fairly happy with this. I don’t think it’s as cool or effective as the 2019 Marie portrait, but it’s OK.
Following up the Club Vamporama, RIP posting, with deference to the strip’s 15th anniversary, here is a reposting of some older arwork that is amongst the best CV visuals (IMO). It’s a portrait of Marie, showcasing her shapeshifting abilities—her hands look large and somewhat reptilian!—from 2019.
I was quite satisfied with this. Hey, I still am…
