1950s Monsters

Rediscovered in a cobweb coated corner of my hard drive this morning. 'Always really liked this sketch. I had half a mind at the time to expand it into a riotous street scene full of rampaging teddy monsters and beastly beehives.

Aborted Book Cover

Hey up, just dug this out of the archive. Was invited by Orchard Books to pitch for a cover last year - it didn't go any further than the above rough, but I've still got a soft spot for it.

Jabberwocky

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!


I'm having huge fun with Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. This take on the titular beast may well be a cover version of John Tenniel's frankly quite fearsome original, but I've tried throwing in a bit of extra whiffle and burble to highlight the absurd comedy lurking alongside the weird terror.

3 Billies Prelims...

I quite like the dumb looking troll at the top, he might have to get his own illustration...

Troll vs Goat - Process 1

The Three Billy Goats Gruff has always been one of my favourite fairy tales, thanks in no small part to Robert Lumley's delicious illustrations for Ladybird's Well Loved Tales edition. Lumley's troll, scary yet weirdly cuddly, has lurked in some primal cranny of my skull ever since. Plus it's got goats in it, and goats are superb.

I'm working on a short sequence to illustrate the story's climax. 1: Troll confronts goat. 2: Goat charges at troll. 3: Troll rues the day.

Medusa - Process 2

More process! More colour! I thought it was about time to get back to this fearsome madam. My techniques are moving a little to the left (or maybe the right) at the moment, so going back to an older work-in-progress managed to confuse me quite profoundly for, gosh, a good day or so. Incredible, isn't it? I do worry about my brain sometimes. Quite keen to get this done today/tomorrow, as I'll likely be back on the comic job v. soon.

"New British Comics 2" Cover - Process 1

The pencils are done, along with a ghostly suggestion of the title logo at the top right, ready for some vector action. It's been a while since this blog's seen any colour work, so that's what's coming next...

Woman and Goat

Strange Sorts

For a blog that bills itself as "Nelson Evergreen Gets Sketchy", this place has been a bit low on, well, sketches of late. So! I present to you a bunch of doodly characters, some of whom may well end up on cover of New British Comics Vol 2 later this year. Oh and The Joker.

Medusa - Process 1

Here's my take on the mythic snakehaired petrifier, which owes a fairly whopping debt to Ray Harryhausen's wonderful version from the imminently remade Clash Of The Titans. Gosh, what a great film that is when you're nine... Anyway, I thought I'd pencil this one out first, so as to reintroduce some nice wholesome analogue textures into what has, of late, been a staunchly digital melting pot.


More colour and whatnot to come as and when... I've got about a dozen+ new illustrations on the go at the moment, all using different styles and techniques, and I'm hopping back and forth between them like a giddy fool.

Little Red Riding Hood

You have to have a go at the classics eventually, eh?

Little Red Riding Hood is a horrifying, absurd, hilarious tale. Every child who encounters this scene for the first time must be silently screaming "Yes, yes, yes, it's wearing your grandmother's bonnet and spectacles, but seriously, you know, the teeth, and the fur, and the smell. You deserve everything you get you ridiculous girl... what's that, mum? Crapping myself? Me? No, I'm fine mum, really..."

It's no wonder Red's so often drawn as a bit of a cipher - blank faced and dumb. Still, I've attempted to depict her as a fairly clued-up human being whose brain happens to have been briefly in thrall to the insane fairy tale going on around her, happy to be strung out on it's hazy heightened dream logic, because that's the way this curious world works, that's the way the story goes. This is the "Oh shit" moment where the closest thing she presently has to reality - a lupine nightmare dressed as her grannie - is about to swallow her up.

I'll be back with an update once it's coloured. Oh, and don't forget to click on the drawing if you want to see it up close and proper.