NARC ILLUSTRATION (APRIL 10)

I've got an illustration in the new issue of NARC Magazine, which is apparently in the shops as I type.  For those of you waiting with bated breath for the rest of the Phil Jupitus/Jarvis Cocker illustration I teased you with earlier in the month, here it is in all it's glory.  Enjoy...

The opinion piece in NARC this month is on the BBC's proposed culling of it's only alternative music radio station 6music (amongst other, equally appalling cut-backs).  Quite rightly, there's been a whole bunch of hoo-hah about it in the press and a lot of celebrities have got behind it.  Hence this celebrity mob illustration.  From left to right: the gorgeous Lauren Laverne (current DJ), Phil Jupitus (former DJ), David Bowie (active campaigner for saving the station), Jarvis Cocker (current DJ) and Lily Allen (who wrote an opinion piece in a newspaper about the situation).  If you don't recognise any of them, sorry.

Although, if it's Lily Allen you don't recognise it's probably because she hasn't got her tits out in this picture.

MUSTARD POSTCARDS

I've been rather busy on the illustration front of late, but have been unable to post anything as none of it has been published yet.  These include some illustrations for Mustard to be used as part of their residency in Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic magazine.  I won't go into this too much yet, as I'm holding off posting these images until the magazine is released in the next week or so.

However, Alex at Mustard liked some of the illustrations so much that he's added them to the Mustard Postcard set which is newly available from the site.  Call it a preview of my Dodgem Logic work, if you like.  He also got me to redo the image from my favourite of their spoof movie posters (written by top UK stand-up  Andrew O'Neil)...

...which involved having to draw Rick Moranis.  Never a chore!

The postcards are really really funny and - ahem - beautifully illustrated.  And more importantly, proceeds from their sale will help get Mustard #5 published (for which I'm also working on some stuff for), so please get on the site and order yourself a set.  They're a mere £3.50 (+ p&p) for 6 and available here.

DOCTOR WHO

Doctor Who is back on telly next week and I'm well excited.  I fucking love Doctor Who.  In tribute, I've done a wee picture of the Eleventh Doctor.  I did one already way back when the casting was first announced, but they didn't have the costume sorted at that point.

Like a lot of people, I was kind of shocked by the casting of Matt Smith (mostly because he is younger than me and I'm not even 30 yet), but the more I see of him in character, the more I come round to him.  The clip on Jonathan Ross last night of him facing up against a bunch of vampire girls is priceless.  He's like a child prodigy going through puberty - this brilliant mind in an awkward, flailing body.  Very endearing and very Doctor Who.  The costume as well seemed an odd choice at first, but that won me over very quickly.  It's the kind of thing a reclusive maths genius would wear to pick up their Nobel Prize.

Emma, on the other hand, is refusing to watch it now that Tennant has left.  She wouldn't even watch him die at Chrismas/New Year - which is just as well, as the whole thing was pretty self-indulgent.  Instead of missing the Tenth Doctor, I was left feeling sorry for the Eleventh - they spent two episodes going on about how mint Tennant is and how shit it'll be when he's gone before unveiling the new Doctor!  It's like Tennant pissed on the baton before passing it over.  Kind of mean, if you ask me.  But anyway, long story short Em is being banished from the room when the new episodes air - I'm not having her sitting there being all negative.

PS - if you like Doctor Who, check out Blogtor Who - as well as having an amazing punning name, it's really good for news and that.

100th POST

So, I've reached 100 posts already.  Yay!  Not bad considering my self-imposed ban on any "this is what I had for breakfast"-style posts.  Must mean I'm being vaguely productive.

I won't go all reflective here - I did all that at the end of last year - but thanks to those lovely folks who continue to follow the blog and leave nice comments about things.  In tribute to you - here's a caricature of, well,  myself.  In all my beardy glory.  Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Size of beard may differ from reality.

CARICATURE: PHIL JUPITUS AND (ANOTHER) JARVIS COCKER

So, yet again I've found myself working all day on an elaborate caricature-based illustration, ending the night only half way through and feeling thoroughly unproductive.  Ho hum.

However, it hasn't been entirely wasteful - I am particularly proud of the following parts of the piece...

Stand-up comedian and Never Mind The Buzzcocks star Phil Jupitus

the ever-amazing Jarvis Cocker

I swear they are connected and not just random caricatures!  Keep checking the blog to see the finished illustration when it is published at the beginning of next month.

PLANET OF THE APES : UPDATE 2

Yay!  I might not have made it into the print edition of the latest issue of Little White Lies, but I'm in the special digital pull-out this issue - Kicking Ass In Six Frames.

THE SLITS POSTER

I've not long finished this poster for Portions For Foxes, advertising an upcoming gig by legendary punk group The Slits.

 

No brief this time, so as usual I did a bit of research on the band and tried to come up with a simple, striking image that had the right feel for the band.  The biting red lips are a little bit kitsch and a little bit Rocky Horror which felt right, then the added lip ring brought it back to punk.  The logo I replicated from their recent album cover, as I always try to keep a familiar element their to attract the fans.

PLANET OF THE APES: UPDATE 1

The good folks over at Bleeding Cool have done a piece on the Little White Lies competition and have highlighted my Planet Of The Apes strip along with a bunch of other potential runners-up.  Some of these are new to me - I'm glad someone did The Thing, as this is one of my Top Three movies of all time.

With mine I wanted to use a movie I loved but felt had potential for humour.  Having looked at the competition, I kind of wish I'd done a second one based on one of my absolute favourites where I summed a film up in key moments rather than comedic narration.  Ah well, c'est la vie.

(Thanks to the lovely Ian Mayor for alerting me to this)

HIVE FOUR

I'm in the upcoming fourth volume of Grimalkin Press' outstanding HIVE anthology series.  Grimalkin Press are a lo-fi American comics publisher who embrace traditional printing techniques to create beautiful, tactile, hand-made work.

There's a preview of my submission and some of the other (vastly superior) work on their blog here, including a strip by my ubertalented webfriend John Kinhart, so have a look and wet your appetite.  I don't have a publication date yet, but I'll let you know when I do.  If you can't wait, HIVE 3 is available via their online store.

UPDATE:  I'm reliably informed that it'll be out some time in April, so keep your eyes peeled, folks.