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.