Above: Deep space is no place to be all alone while out on the lash.
Dave Evans editor of the 2000ad Fanzine Zarjaz sent me a new
Strontium Dog script by Shaun Avery on 05/03/2013. After reading this great little story I replied to accept and
Dave sent the commissioning email on 07/03/13. Having just accepted this new script I was conscious of the
fact that I had just finished the first six pages of a twenty four page Baby
Jay story with a tight deadline.
The Zarjaz editorial team, Dave Evans and Richmond Clements were in the process of going through
and checking the final eighteen pages of script, with the scriptwriters Alistair Mclean and Richard Swabey so that I could
crack on with the art. Now for some strange reason I thought all twenty four pages
of baby jays were going in the next edition of Zarjaz (this was totally my
fault) and therefore from 15/02/13 I was working like crazy in my spare time to
get the work done before the end of May.
On 01/05/13 Dave sent me a deadline reminder for Shaun’s
Strontium Dog story which was due to be published in ‘Dogbreath’ at the end of
May.
I finished the last pages of Baby Jays on 09/05/13. With
less than two weeks until the Strontium Dog deadline I managed to send Bolt and
Richmond the finished art for 'All that I have' on 18/05/13. I did my best not to rush the artwork. In fact I actually made sure that I took my
time on certain details like backgrounds, the technology, facial detail. I also
used anatomy books to try and make sure that my figure work didn’t look stiff. To finish Bolt added a lovely little pencil insert on page one by talented artist Dan Cornwell. http://dancornwell.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/2000ad-art-comp/
Above: Rough page layouts for pages 1 and 2 with text box placements represented.
Above: Rough page layouts for pages 3 and 4.
Above: Rough page layouts for pages 5 and 6.
Above: I spent some time rough sketching Johnny Alphas face before penciling the finished artwork.
Above: Space was tight on each page so I produced rough sketches for some of the gun fight scenes to see what I could fit in to each panel.
Above: Rough designs for characters and spaceships.
Above: Two pages of finished pencils.
Strontium Dog All that I have has been published in
Dogbreath 27 with the wonderful Ben Willsher cover and can be bought through the
Future Quake online shop here. http://www.futurequake.co.uk/shop.php
Reviews for Dogbreath 27 can be read via these links.
