polarized double

 The recent 2OOO AD character imagery I turned out last post  has kick-started a desire in me once again to try out a couple of overtly-cartoon-styled efforts of famous characters, although I have kept these in a fairly rough , vital state. It is a long time since I even bothered to attempt this sort of thing: at one stage, I would have given my eye teeth to land a job doing 'ghostings' of established characters for D C Thomson and others as a route to regular cartoon work: today, I have completely lost interest on this score, I much prefer the freedom offered by taking over complete control over every aspect of my cartoons: ideas/character design/choice of colors etc etc. In the 80s I done a wee bit of work for UK comics publisher D C Thomson --certainly enough to get a flavor of this sort of work----and although I loved this invaluable experience at the time [being 'chucked in' at the deep end like this is by far the quickest way to learn this craft] I remember gettin

Here we see me finally backtracking on a pledge I made way back in 2011, when I started up this site:  I vowed to feature original-to-me characters and concepts only, however a recent  public site I joined is running an art competition for their members, and I have bitten the bullet and decided to join in. One caveat that also applies to me: entrants have to adapt existing [established in the sci-fi comics enthusiasts' world] characters from the UK comic 2000 AD  into thematic imagery,  and that is what we see here--- ---so let's get this out of the way with a disclaimer: COPYRIGHT  2015 REBELLION OK, I have selected 2000 AD comic as in my view it is the only real creative ongoing comic still standing in the UK market: the once-booming British comics market is a poor shadow of it's past glories, with even long-running fixtures like the DANDY obsolete and out-of-the-running, online endeavours to create comics on computer screen have not really taken off in any big way, and

' Flogging a dead horse' was the title of a lame Pistols compilation that was released about 1980, and this description is yet another tag I have shamelessly lifted for a new post title-----I am just finishing off a competition entry for a new forum I have recently joined, and that image will be on here next---quite different from my other stuff up until now. This post is sort of a filler job until then, however, a closer look can be attained of recent cartoon artwork, the various composites, before they are all put together. NEXT BLOG ENTRY:   all-new material plate one:     the fighting behemoths, in loving close-up plate two:    the cleaned-up characters, minus color plate three:  the half-complete composite [the background elements are not finalized here] plate four: the Fay Wray-like jungle girl, added in as a seperate element

I've been doing a skipload of finished, polished-looking stuff recently, and although it is certainly worthwhile, the actual part of drawing I enjoy the most--by far---are the quick, lightning-fast sketches done on pencil and paper, this is where the real creative work lies, everything else is just planning-and-polish. My ideal cartoon job would to get paid for just doing the pencil roughs ALONE------and such a job indeed exists, if practically dying out altogether these days; being a cartoon animator in a film or TV studio. I did actually work at Amblin Animation in London in the early 90s, but to be honest it was dire what I was doing: endless clean-up and filling-in, not a great deal to do with creating bold new cartoons from scratch [like what I am doing here]. Anyway, although I admit that the end results of computerized polish is deeply impressive and is here to stay, I personally get fed up of all the endless switching back-and-forth adjusting colors/ opacity/ using the mous

Today with Digital Technology, of course, it is very easy simply to strike up a copy of an existing color version, and drain all the color out, for that elusive '1933 movie' effect--------for best results, the artist is actually better to draw and color the entire cartoon using black/white/ grey, but as seen here, this instant desaturated version puts over an acceptable early talkie atmosphere.

Here we see the second in my new series, KONGTOONS: and this sucker is hewn in Full Technicolor, no less.  This image looks much more accomplished when viewed large-scale, so hit that expand button, dear reader, as  there is a fair bit in this one, much more detail than I usually bother with these days, but this is pretty much what I was looking for-------This cartoon has a spacious, epic look, but the reality is that it was actually put together using just two sheets of A4 paper---three, if you also count the Fay Wray-a-like  tiny foreground character,and word balloon, added as a seperate pass and shrunken way down. I have also provided a seperate MONOCHROMATIC version, which turned out a lot better than I envisaged, unlike the previous Kongtoon, this one here is just a quick 'desaturate' job on a copy of the color version, but that 1933 b/w vibe is most apparant: this version will be screened on here shortly. Explanations for the uninitiated:  the Victorian-styled boxing stan

Here is the first in a brand 'new' series I am tailoring for an American site:  it's a specialist themed batch of cartoons based on a phenomenon I have enjoyed  a lifelong interest in :  the legend known as KING KONG, so lovingly sent up as KOONG KING in the fantasy-world as populated by the Baby Boomer cast. These cartoons  are screened on a specialist forum that covers this subject [and other vintage fantasy films] but I will also be adding them on here for your delecation----AND delight. Many of these cartoons are in pre-production, and as they are of a specialist nature, [that is, not aimed at casual cartoon fans] I have to explain some of the references and details, so here we go: This is set in 1933, in a speak-easy-type setting: the guy drinking with Kong is his animator, Willis O'Brien, who was known to enjoy a drink or two. 'Coop' as uttered by Kong is the producer of the film, Merian C Cooper.   There is a 'hidden' pair of pliers in every carto

Back in my youthful daze, the term supplementary benefit was the equivalent of todays' 'jobseekers' allowance' in the Yoo-Kay, or 'the sup' as it was affectionately known by long-term shirkers of the period---and I am delighted to adapt this very British term to a post heading. Here we see a closer look at the artwork culled-and-cobbled in order to put forth the previously posted FORUM SHIFT image......wider shots like this often lack finer details, so I am adding 'em on here . Plate One: a close-p of the Baby Boomer cast, drawn as a seperate element: BB himself is often drawn larger for ease, then shrunken down Plate Two: a better view of the 'tory forum' Medievel-styled wall, with unused statue artwork-----the 'miss ccbc' reference is a cartoonist in-joke Plate Three:    a closer view of the sun/red velvet curtain, with unused nude statue element.

I  am on the cusp of submitting new cartoons to TWO seperate  new sites that encourage original artwork, and quite intruigingly, the subjectmatter is tailored for them specifically, so it is quite a break from the past, which is usually a healthy thing. The finished image below is a satire, referencing my crossover from the last forum that  I added new cartoons onto, on the way to pastures new.........here is hoping I have better luck with my new  cartoon outlets. One of them specializes in original characters that belong to them, but no problems there.......it is good discipline and they encourage quirky originality.... clue:   this forum reflects the only ongoing  traditional British comic, bar one . The other forum I am adding new cartoons to  is me tackling a VERY specialized subject----to the extent I will have to add notes on here as the details are obscure to well over 95 per cent of the population. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS FROM THIS SUBJECT WILL BE ADDED SOON