LONG FORM SPACECAT...

I've started working on big comics project, probably a graphic novel, starring MC Spacecat and DJ Tyrone. It's planned as a funny look at the history of Hip Hop, youth culture and growing up in the UK.  I've just started writing/storyboarding the whole shebang to get a feel for the flow, then I'll start drawing properly in the New Year, tighten up the story, plug any holes and make it work!

It'll be in colour, so I'm testing out some colouring ideas in Photoshop... watch this space comic book fans!

THE FULLY FUNCTIONING PERSON...

My latest mini-comic is out now as a PDF through Gumroad.  Centred on Carl Rogers' Person Centred Therapy, this is a fun and informative look at the stages in becoming a 'whole' person... Only a squid!

https://gumroad.com/morgancreates

MINI-COMIC OUT NOW!

My first mini-comic, Patches McGinley 'When it all falls apart' is now available! 

Please go to: http://morgangleave.bigcartel.com/product/patches-mcginley-when-it-all-falls-apart-mini-comic to order one. 

Raising awareness of Mental Health issues. Supporting Blurt Foundation and Mind, and now only £2.00 including delivery.  Personalised envelope sketches too!

PATCHES McGINLEY MINI-COMIC

Out this week is a new mini-comic starring Patches McGinley, tackling the issues of depression, anxiety and stress.  You can email me at morgan@morgangleave.co.uk if you'd like one. They will be ready to order and post out at the end of the week. Folded A5 black and white, £2.00 including postage.

Update! You can pre-order from: http://morgangleave.bigcartel.com/

FIZZ AND ARABELLA...

Also working on a zine starring our cat and dog as detectives.   Black and white, hand-drawn and lettered, then photocopied.  Back to basics and using Rotring pens again!

Kitty Cards

Last summer, whilst on holiday on the Isle of Wight, my grandson and I came up with 'Kitty Cards', a funny trading card idea.  We came up with about a hundred kitties, and I sketched quite a few, including 'Cthulhu Kitty', seen here.  

Recently, my grandson brought the idea of doing Kitty Cards up again.  I've laid out most of what I have dubbed the first wave of 14 cards, and five, including Cthulhu Kitty here, are done as finished digital artwork.

The original idea was to make a small amount of the cards myself to give out free at art shows and events to kids.  Kids love free stuff and collecting, and it's also a good way of getting my art out there too.  I'm looking into getting the cards produced properly and how to get packages made like old-fashioned bubble gum and card packs.  It's amazing that in this high technology world we live in, that a little bit of card with some funky art on it can still grab people's attention and imagination.  If anyone has contacts in the trading card business... please let me know!

I am genuinely having a blast putting these cards together.  If you see me at shows and events, please ask me if I have any left, as I think they'll go fast!

YOUNG BOB TITLE PAGE

So, last week I announced that I'd finished storyboarding 'Young Bob', my comic about a young hero set in  a funny version of 1950s London.  I've laid out the first few pages already, and decided after trying some ink and digital colour panels, that the artwork is going to be digital full colour, working over my original pencil layouts.

I'm fairly certain I said it'll take a while to create (it's 48 pages of art, plus covers), but once a fair chunk is done, I'll be serialising it online with a printed version to follow.

For now, and to give a taste of the artwork style, I created a title page last night.  Enjoy.

BLIMEY! I'VE STORYBOARDED A WHOLE COMIC!

Afternoon all!  After the shocking revelation that I’ve actually finished storyboarding my all-ages comic ‘Young Bob’ yesterday after originally writing years ago, my thoughts have turned to actually making the darned thing!

I’m starting from scratch in terms of drawing, deciding to go the digital route for finished artwork, as I want the colours to POP!  There’s a long road ahead, drawing, editing, scanning, redrawing in Illustrator, lettering, and so on… I’m going to publish Young Bob on the web first, in weekly instalments, then hope to get him into print.  He deserves it!

My questions to all you lovely folks out there is how to keep my copyright safe whilst publishing on the web (my wife is very keen on this part), and how to fund the printed version?  After all, I’m an unknown quantity in the comics world, so why would someone trust me and invest in publishing when they don’t know me?  The printed version is a long way off yet, and I should be able to fund part of it myself, but I’d like to have some other folks on board too… 

Let me know what you think. Cheers!

PLAY TIME!

Back on a Lego tip...

 

 

Maggie's got a new ride...

 

It's all gone wrong for Milhouse...

 

Boy Maggie, you sure have grown...

 

Who you callin' short?

STONED ARABELLA

A good day for development today, as I finally got round to starting work on my music based comic 'Stoned Arabella'.

The basis is simple... three women form a heavy stoner rock band and we follow their ascent/descent in the music world, through gigs, recording, writing and living together.  With me so far?  Good.

The differences come in to start with in the art. It's all in CMYK, no other colours. There are some shades and opacity, but no blending.  Oh, and the finished art is done in Illustrator. No lines, just solid shapes.  I want every comic I work on to be different, and to push my creativity with every one too.  All of the main characters are women.  I hope, real women.  No prissy teen queens or super bimbos with boobs bigger than their brains.  There's enough of those in comics already.  I've had a weak/blind spot when it came to drawing women and having female characters in my stories.  I feel like I'm really getting the hang of drawing, and hopefully, writing them now.  And it's the first proper mature reader story I've done too...

There's not enough women in comics, which is ironic, as I'm male and writing this...  It does seem to be getting better, but it's still a male dominated industry, both in terms of talent and characters.  Stoned Arabella (the name of the band my three women make up) is my humble attempt to get more realistic female characters out there, and maybe give female readers a few more characters they can relate to.  And it's about the music and life I love.

There are some great female creators out there: Jill Thompson, Colleen Doran, Chynna Clugston, Hope Larson and Christine Norrie to name but a few.  I recommend you check out their work.  And if you're a women and think you should be in comics, do it.  I love creating comics for everyone, and you could too.

Cheers, Morgan

BAG BOY DOUBLE WHAMMY! (AT LAST...)

Well it’s been a while, but Bag Boy is done.  This story anyway.  I’m not sure if there’ll be more.  Let me explain.

I started Bag Boy as a fun project, to do some pure superhero comics that are homage to Jack Kirby and the Marvel titles from the 60s.  I was late coming to them, but after reading some trades earlier this year, I was hooked, and finally got Kirby.  I always kind of liked his stuff, but was never a fan boy.  I think Mignola changed that.  Now there is someone I’m a fan boy of…

I digress…  I was having really good fun doing Bag Boy and just about keeping up with a page a week schedule.  Then someone left a comment on one of the posts, stating they owned the Bag Boy name and character, and it really put me off my stride.  I’d already story boarded the end of this story arc, but the comment, left by an Alan Smithee (I know…), stopped me in my tracks.  I tried to track them down, but as they’d used a pseudonym, it wasn't going to happen.  I didn't finish the last two episodes and was pretty down in the dumps.

I did a bit more searching, and there are a lot of very similar characters to my Bag Boy, but not just like mine.  I should have researched more at the start, but I just wanted to get cracking.  There have been no more comments, and I've got the story finished.  I’m really happy with it, and might return to the character again.  After all, under the bag, there’s a young boy called Jack, and he’s the real hero.  And who is the Bag Lady?  Jack may well be back under another superhero identity.  Maybe that’s the next chapter?  Jack may explore his identity and reasons for wanting to be a hero.

So, there you go.  A double whammy of episodes to finish the story; and explanation as to why it took a while to finish it; and what might come next.  As I already have another comic under way, Jack will probably have time to catch his breath before his next adventure begins.

Enjoy! (Click on the pics below to see them bigger. It's worth it!)

THE KING OF RABBITS...

Something clicked this week, and a new short Patches McGinley story appeared.  

There's a few changes to the last time Patches was seen.  Ink and brush replace Sharpie; no penciling, flowing with the brush; minimal dialogue; and most importantly, an odd little story that is an exercise in the joy of storytelling and feeling free.  I hope readers young and old like it, as I think this style could stick around for a while.

So indulge me, please. I'm enjoying the sheer fun of creating comics and seeing where they take me. Please click on the pages below to see them larger, and feel free to comment. It'd be really nice to see what you think.

TESTING, TESTING...

Here's a test panel from a new short Patches McGinley story I'm working on at present. It's drawn up and scanned, I'll start coloring (sic) and lettering tonight.

I'm experimenting (again) with style by drawing 'without a safety net', as Sean Phillips would put it (during his amazing run on Hellblazer). That is, no penciling, just brush and ink.  I like the spontaneity of it, and it looks cool with colours too. It makes a nice change, and is nice to do after getting a little 'burnt out' on drawing.

The story should be done in a few days, and will be posted here. I think there'll be some more short (and odd) Patches stories soon.

MIGNOLA...

Ahh, Mike Mignola.  Probably the biggest influence on my comic work, and without doubt, at the top of the pile of my favourite artists ever.

Without even realising(to start off with), I've been a fan of his work for a very long time, back to his earlier DC days, with Cosmic Odyssey and Gotham by Gaslight.  When I could, I'd buy anything that Mignola had worked on (even the original Rocket Raccoon!), and can remember picking up the first collected Hellboy, Seed of Destruction, twenty years ago. Twenty years, just think about that... I'm reeling.

Needless to say, Hellboy rapidly became my favourite comic book, avidly collecting every thing I could, and digging the way his universe expanded with the BPRD titles.  Mignola and his world are a big influence on my work in comics, culminating in Patches McGinley last year.

I could write for ages about Mignola and the big red guy, but I won't.  I'll let my art do the talking instead, with a watercolour piece I did last night to celebrate Hellboy's 20th Birthday.  It's my take on him at twenty, full of adolescent piss and vinegar (As Tom Waits might put it... there's another Hellboy connection...), acne riddled, and smoking Lucky Strikes.  (And before anyone says, I realised I'd forgotten his tail this morning!  Call it artistic licence!)

Happy Birthday Hellboy. Have a cigar on me!

#DRAWVADER

He's done it again! (And he said he wouldn't...) Another #draw thread from the @themooks is #DrawVader.  There's some brilliant entries so far, and here's mine. So much variety! You should check them all out...

BAG BOY EPISODE 4!

POW!  Didn't see that coming did ya?  Here's episode 4 of Bag Boy!  I'm really pleased with this episode, as I'm pushing myself to create better art every time, and challenge myself to create something special. I'm really happy with the colours and drawing on this one... Onwards and upwards Bag Boy fans!

As ever, to enjoy the new episode in it's full glory, please click on the pic below.

BAG BOY! EPISODE 3

Finally!  After almost a month of waiting, Bag Boy Episode 3 is finished!  I've been catching up with design and illustration projects, then creating a pitch for my graphic novel, Young Bob, last week. Something had to give, and unfortunately, it was Bag Boy...

I hope you all enjoy the episode, as I'm really pleased  how it's turned out. As ever, please click on the pic below to see the large version. I've got Episode 4 plotted in my head, and will be laying it out this evening.  (It's going to get weirder and more Kirby-esque...) Fingers crossed, it'll be back to a more regular schedule from now on!

WITH THE DWARVES...

When I posted up the #drawchallenge pieces a few days back, I missed one.  Red Dwarf. This is the second time I've drawn the crew of the short crimson one. I painted them all on a leather jacket of an old friend many moons ago. Sadly, he died a few years back, which was tragic, as he was younger than me, and it seemed like such a waste...

I'm sure he would loved this take on the dwarves too.  Enjoy.

MARQUIS DE PLUME

I love Ashley Wood's world. His art, his toys, his stories... So I'm really pleased that I've finished a piece celebrating the latest release from his World War Robot range, Marquis de Plume. Brush, ink and digital colour. Boom.

#DRAWCHALLENGE

Catching up with #drawchallenge set by my good buddy Dave, here are the latest batch: Fresh Prince, Buffy and District 9. I've been loving mixing up the mediums (pencil crayon, ink, digital), and drawing characters that I haven't drawn before.

I have Fight Club next... Enjoy!

#DRAWLYNCH

The latest #draw thread set up by the @themooks is #DrawLynch.  There's already been some fantastic entries so far, and I've done two this time!  You should check them all out! Here are mine...

Oh, and Bag Boy! Episode 3 is written and pencilled, but I need to get some new brushes for inking!

BAG BOY! EPISODE 2

Happy Sunday comic fans!  Here's the next exciting episode of Bag Boy! introducing his first villain, The King!  Comments are very welcome... Enjoy!

Click on the pic to see the full size comic!

BAG BOY!

Surprise!  Earlier this week, I starting making daily comics for fun. Whilst I was doodling ideas and characters, a funny little dude with a paper bag on his head and a towel for a cape appeared. Hmmm... 
 
Before I knew it, Bag Boy! was born.  A young English kid, obsessed with the American dream, dresses up as a superhero and looks for bad guys to foil.  I plotted the first episode, put out some teasers, and cracked on with the artwork.  The plan is to get one comic out a week, forming a big old love song to classic superhero comics, America and childhood.  Hope you dig it!

Here's Episode 1: START! (Click to see the bigger size!)

FIZZ BOMB!

Our dog Fizz is lovely and funny. Here's a quick comic about her and her antics!

JOB HUNTING...

Inspired by a funny comment today and the wonderful Dan Berry, I made a comic! Trying to get ideas over and not worry about being too polished. Enjoy!

 

YOUNG PATCHES McGINLEY...

Previously seen in the last issue of the incredible heavy music magazine, ARCHIV HATE, here's the origin of everyone's favourite feline occult investigator...Patches McGinley!

Click on the jpegs for a bigger view and enjoy!  There's more spooky fun in the works too!

 

 

 

 

STAN AND SHARON SAKAI...

Stan Sakai has always been one of my favourite artists.  I’ve been reading Usagi Yojimbo on and off for over twenty years and always keep going back and rereading them, as I love the comics so much. Part of it is the way Sakai blends humour with Samurai folklore, part of it is the art itself, part of it is his beautiful storytelling.

If you are involved in comics in any way, the news of Stan’s wife, Sharon’s health and potentially crippling medical costs is likely to have reached you.  Sharon has to have 24 hour care, and it doesn’t come cheap.  Artists of all kinds, from comic book fans to comic book pros have rallied to Stan and Sharon’s aid, producing incredible art to help them.  As far as I’m aware, no one set this up, folks just donated art, probably because of the love and respect us as a creative family have for Stan and his family.

The wonderful Usagi Yojimbo Dojo site has been helping spread the word of this incredible outpouring across the web.  All of the art donated is going to be auctioned off to help with the costs of Sharon’s care.  I’m proud and humbled by the way in which the comic community has reacted to this.  Personally, I’ve been trying to create something for Stan and Sharon for weeks, and finally cracked it last night. I’m really pleased with it, and hope it can help, even a little.

More details on the auction can be found here: http://garageartstudio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/help-stan-sakai.html

HEROES IN A HALF-SHELL!

Given that I’ve read and drawn comics most of my life, it’s remarkable that I’ve never actually read or drawn the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The only comic story I’ve read with any of them in it was a crossover with Usagi Yojimbo. I did buy and read the wonderful parody of TMNT, Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, and loved it, but never TMNT. Which is funny, given that Hamsters was a parody of a parody…

Sure, I’m VERY aware of the Turtles. Heck, I should think lots of people are, even those that aren’t comic fans. At one point in cultural history, the Turtles were HUGE. I quite like the latest version of them in cartoon form, and the Lego figures are cool, but draw them..?

So it was a pleasant surprise when my good buddy Dave messaged me this morning about another drawing. We started a challenge: call out characters to each other, and get the other to draw them, then share them on Instagram. I got the Turtles. I did a quick skim over the web for some colour reference (damn masks…) and weapons, a quick warm up sketch, then cracked on with full pics of them all. Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello. I had a blast putting them together, and can’t wait for the next challenge, especially if its characters I don’t know so well… Enjoy the drawings!

PS: I gave Dave Hellboy to draw. Let’s see what he comes up with!

 

#DRAW COEN BROS CHARACTERS

Blimey, this one had me stumped.  Plenty of ideas, loads of sketching, but nothing was working... Mooks has his latest #draw thread up embracing the strange world that are the films of the Coen Brothers. 

I love the fact that folks that create something so inspiring, unique, and ever so slightly off-kilter are embraced by the film world. I think most people have seen at least one Coen Brothers film. I need to play a bit of catch up with my viewing, but the earlier stuff is wonderful, and they show no signs of stopping.

So, this wasn't my original idea, but after thinking about the Coen Brothers films I really love, it had to be Fargo. You can see the thread here, there's some wonderful contributions so far!

BREED LIKE RABBITS...

Hooray! The pencilling of Patches McGinley issue two, 'Breed Like Rabbits' is done. Now starts the slightly longer process of colouring, inking, scanning and lettering. 

I'm really enjoying Patches. It flows nicely when I'm plotting stories and drawing them, and now I've decided how the artwork will be done, it's great fun working on them. I think there's about a months work ahead of me before issue two is done, then it's onto Amazon. It's a much bigger story too... 31 pages!

I really hope there'll be printed comics, as as nice as it is to read them online, the thought of real, physical comics makes me warm and fluffy inside. Plus, it's something I've wanted to produce for years.

I'm not sure if I'll have to do a funding drive for a print run, but there will be physical copies available. Even if I have to copy and bind them myself!

I'll leave you lovely lot with a sample of the finished art from issue two... Chief Mulligan at his desk, waiting for news of Patches...