Batman

In the current issue of SFX magazine the best Sci-fi mag in the world (OK I'm biased) as well as my usual spot illustrating The steamed Nick Setchfields words for Deveopment Hell I was asked if I'd like to do 6 drawings of Batman for an article about what it would really be like to be the Caped Crusader.

They didn't want my usual cartoony line and wash style but something a bit more Neal Adams so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out my new skills as a digital painter. And here are the results. I was pretty pleased with how they turned out though Batman's torso on the Psychiatrist one is a bit shit. I should have just modelled his rippling muscles myself. Yeah, right! We all have our delusions.

A fan at last!

I very rarely get any feedback from all the comic strips and cartoons that I do for various publications but this response from a reader of SFX magazine makes up for it. Glowing, I think, is the word. Posting this is shameless trumpet blowing but why the hell not?

From the SFX inbox:

Please convey my note of appreciation to your amazing ilustrator of the "Alien Bestiary" (SFX 222, pages 64 and 65), Mr. Paul Cemmick, it was a superb piece of art and one of the most beautiful things I've seen in your magazine, in over 10 years of reading and subscribing it.
Even that nuissance of a character, ALF, was superb!
I imagine the drawings were done in India Ink, but they were so vivid and so detailed, I could almost smell the hydrosulphuric acid dripping out of the Xenomorph from "Alien"...

Well done!


GASPAR GARÇÃO
Portalegre, Portugal

Greta

At last night's life drawing class a hot roomful of sweating artists (well, I was perspiring delicately) struggled to capture the Lithuania curves of lovely Greta. I'd decided to get out of my comfort zone and try a medium I hadn't used in years- charcoal. The results are mixed, I think but it's an interesting challenge. I'll have another bash at it soon. Here are the best efforts.

Bill Carman

Lately I've been finding a lot of talented gits on the internet whose work I've been blissfully ignorant of until now. It seems there are many talented gits out there producing fabulous work and here's my latest discovery- Bill Carman.
Maybe you've heard of him before but I hadn't and his work is strange, weird and beautiful all at the same time . Reminds me a little bit of two other heroes- Sean Tan and Carlos Nine. You can see more of his stuff on his blog at-
http://billcarman.blogspot.co.uk/

More digital paintings

I'm still trying to get to grips with the fine art of digital painting. It's good fun and I think I'm making progress thanks to the tutorials in Imagine FX magazine. Here are my two latest efforts. I found a great shot of the young Orson Welles (I'm a huge fan of the huge man) and fancied trying a speed painting of it in an hour. It was a few minutes over the hour but possible in that time as I was working in black and white which speeds things up a bit. Then after seeing George Parkin's Facebook posting about seeing Elvis Costello live I got the idea for the other one. I've long been a fan of the Boris Karloff version of Frankenstein's monster so this was a good excuse to paint him. I was hoping to bash this one out in a couple of hours but it took most of the day. Anyway, I was quite pleased with it so I think I'm making progress. More tomorrow.

Frankie

At Jake's Thursday lunchtime class yesterday the model was the amazing Frankie whose hair reaches nearly to the ground and who always reminds me of a silent movie star. She's always a treat to draw and here are my favourites from the session.

Johanna

In last night's session at the Sussex Arts Club we were once again lucky enough to have the elegant and wonderful Johanna as our model. She's shortly moving to Edinburgh with her partner and she'll be missed in Brighton. Here are my best efforts. I may take a leaf out of Geo Parkin's book and try to work one up in  a more graphic style. But then Geo makes it look very easy and I'm sure it's not. Hey ho!