TORCHWOOD : Broken

Here's the title page plus two pages of pencils from my latest work on the stands in Torchwood Magazine # 19 which ends the Broken 5 part story ( I began earlier in the year). Hope you like!

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French

I found an evocative still from a French sci-fi flick - this drawing the result. Wish I could remember the name of the film.

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Groovy Aimi

VENDETTA FOR THE SAINT  starring Scots lass Aimi MacDonald - groovy!

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Noir

I've been getting interested in painting again recently. This was done for a competition quite a few years back - part of a set of pix for THE GREAT GATSBY. I've reworked this as a nightime shot - painted in acrylics with digital finishes.

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Elspeth

Those of you who read The Faceless will no doub't remember Elspeth! Naturally she's back and is an integral part of the new plot. Whilst I'd like to keep the pages under cover for now - here's a taste of the style to expect.

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Terry Sharp is coming back!

Work begins on new story ...

Hideous Visage

This was painted for the inside cover of the latest issue of the premier Hammer mag Little Shoppe of Horrors! Throughout most of the film the creature is kept hidden until the finale when Valerie Spalding ( Jennifer Daniel) is trapped in a room with the hideous Reptile.I lifted her hairline and focused on the symmetrical facial design of the monster . If you want to impact horror on a viewer it's a good idea to choose a directly frontal shot ( which particularly works for something like this I feel). I was also torn between showing Valerie's horror stricken face and not . I chose to let the upturned hand indicate the horror so we could focus on the hideous visage.Naturally I ran across the perfect reference shot of Ms Spalding after the art was done.:)

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Warrior Queen

I'm a big fan of Jeff Jones' art. He draws incredible women ( far better than I). Here's a warrior queen with a hint of  his influence I hope!

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Quatermass 2

A friend asked me to draw up a Quatermass 2 image for his web page. Here are the pencil and ink/colour versions. You can access an interview with me about this commission at :

http://quatermass2.webeden.co.uk/#/adrian-salmon/4529661638

Alternatively you can get to the Q2 site via:

http://quatermass2.webeden.co.uk/

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Vworp! Vworp!

First pencil for the VWORP! VWORP! mag *jam* cover! I was asked to loosely base it on Mick McMahon's version. This was inked but I wasn't happy.

Second pencil - much more like it - more energy and less serious. The idea is the doctor is looking at the transfers that came free with Dr Who Weekly way baaaaaack in the '70's.

Finished inks that have been coloured for the final cover. I love Mick McMahon's work but I learned I no longer want to draw like him. A valuable lesson eh ?

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Secret Origins - Benny step by step

The Secret Origins brief  asked for Benny ( Bernice Summerfield) to have just leapt through a train window to find a nazi officer with prisoner. Usually I'd do some thumbnails first to send to Big Finish. I bypassed that and went straight to pencils. Concentrating too much  on the train compartment and making things straightfowardly understandable made for a flat composition. neglecting the dynamism required. This was rejected ( rightly so) and I proceeded to thumbnails.
We jettisoned including the prisoner in the image and opted for a direct showdown between the protagonists. The first layout was more a comic action panel than cover design - the directness of the second with the graphic symbol of the swastika immediately caught the eye. 

I put Benny's head pretty much on the vanishing point and tried to train all the perspective lines towards this .

The monochrome colour scheme with a hint of blue gives a pulpy timeless feel to the image and the red armband immediately catches the viewers eye.

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Squire Hamilton

I recently met John Carson who plays the squire in Hammer's PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES. A true gentlemen - he signed my copy of HOUSE OF HAMMER magazine , Squire Hamilton!

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Knock Knock !

Here's a couple of fiction illustrations I did ( of 8) for the Dr Who Storybook 2010. The story was about sentient doors - written by the very talented Paul Magyrs and called Knock Knock! Again the brush pen was crucial to getting these done!

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Jacqueline Pearce

My favourite genre actress is Jackie Pearce who has always intoxicated me. In THE REPTILE she plays secretive Anna , a girl who has the misfortune to turn into a human snake. There's a beautiful scene I like where she plays the sitar.

Brush pen on watercolour paper.

Night Caller

THE NIGHT CALLER FROM OUTER SPACE is an excellent British 1960's science fiction film starring the wonderful Patricia Haines.

Brush pen on watercolour paper

FRANKENSTEIN MAN AND MONSTER

The monster  image was a pin-up for Tinnell/Vokes ' THE BLACK FOREST graphic novel. The other an image for an online film game.

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CIRCUS OF NIGHTS

 Vampire Circus is my favourite Hammer film , though to be fair there are a couple of near contenders. The illustration features Emil who can turn into a black panther. He presents a rose to the Burgermeister's daughter. 

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DEMON CAT !

Here's Dana Andrews as John Holden about to be menaced by Karswell's demon cat from CURSE OF THE DEMON. Marvellous film - check it out.

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Shandor Sez Dez!

 News :

I'll be interviewing Dez Skinn ( House of Hammer , Dr Who Weekly , Warrior ) at a one off event.

 August will see the release of DR WHO: COLD BLOODED WAR - a one shot I've drawn for IDW Comics starring old foes the Ice Warriors and Draconians ! Coloured  by Kris Carter - I'll post examples when I can.

Upcoming is A Study In Terror for Neil Vokes' ELEGY book. I've seen some of his pages and they're a real treat. My back up strip is a psychothriller. I'll be drawing that soon .

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Torchwood Dog Fight!

Where does time fly to? Seems like only yesterday I was posting here but the clock says different. I'm in the latest issue of Titan's Torchwood mag - it was great to be asked to draw this episode called Broken - written by Gary Russell!

The flash from the past is from a MEGAZINE fiction called DOG FIGHT - it's in the style I worked up for Terry Sharp - though stylistically I'm wading through new/old waters at present drawing a black and white strip to be coloured by somebody else. It's a secret and it's huge fun...

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Cyber Man

Of all the Dr Who creations I've drawn - I'm probably best known as the artist of The Cybermen - a 24 part story I drew back in the early 1990's. I'll be featuring an extensive post on this personal landmark series soon. Meantime he's a blog first - never reproduced anywhere - my take on the modern era Cybermen!

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Baron Frankenstein ( A Terry Sharp film)

Waiting in the wings for quite awhile to be drawn is Terry Sharp's first gothic feature - BARON FRANKENSTEIN. Legend has it that two pencil layouts exist in the Studio - but for now may I unveil our main protagonists! My good friend Bob Tinnell wrote the tale - he also scribed our graphic novel THE FACELESS: A Terry Sharp Story which is available from Amazon. We both intend to get back to the big guy and I'll certainly be highlighting my favourite 1960's film director and fighter of Evil - here at the blog.

BARON FRANKENSTEIN was initially shelved for various reasons - running at 30 plus pages in colour - finding an opportunity for that much free time was a task. Also I'd just finished drawing UNIVERSAL MONSTERS for Dr Who Magazine and frankly - bad pun intended - I was burned on gothic. Yes it can happen. Anyway here's the pix.:)

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Little Shoppe Of Horrors

Issue 22 of the brilliant Hammer Horror mag Little Shoppe Of Horrors is available now - this highlights Hammer's groovy 1970 Drac flicks! I must backtrack though to 1979. I was at my first fantasy convention - Terence Fisher in attendance - yep I'm that old .:) I was rummaging through the dealers room - I'd already bought a set of Twins of Evil front of house stills and a Vampire Circus quad poster - when I cam across a couple of very early issues of LSOH. A quick scan alerted me to the fact I needed these. I think I was thrilled to see such top quality artwork being used. I decided there and then I'd draw up some pieces and send them on ( ah to be 14 again:). Of course I never sent my crude attempts at drawing Hammer scenes - but the fire had been lit.

Fast forward a number of years - I meet my great artistic pal Neil Vokes ( http://vokesfolks.blogspot.com/) - Neil suggested me to Dick Klemensen and childhood dream came true. I drew up an Ingrid Pitt from Vampire Lovers and Maddie Smith from the same film. I've been fortunate enough to be in every issue since and trust me the artistic competition is daunting ( we are talking Bruce Timm for instance!!) - knees start wobbling.:)

Below you'll find the first of a number of LSOH pieces I'll be sharing. I pencilled Caroline Munro twice - you can see which one I submitted. I actually think the piece not used had the better idea - but the likeness worried me.

You can get LSOH at http://www.littleshoppeofhorrors.com/ and from next issue , Diamond won't be distributing it - so Dick's website is a must.

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Reality Tv - Dr Who !

I was asked to supply four illustrations for a Doctor Who Magazine feature about alien invasion. The subjects chosen were the Cyberking from the latest Christmas Special episode , the Autons ( a groovy 1970's menace) , the Lochness monster ( the rather formidable Zygon pet) and The Daleks of course - from the latest incarnation of the show. The deadline was under a week and the Dalek spread stretched over two pages - so even if I drew it print size ( which I did) - time was very tight

The office supplied me screenshots of the Cyberking ( a cgi construct) . Whilst these were a mighty help they lacked alot of detail - personal interpretation the obvious answer. This one ended up having a chunky Mick McMahon look and was all the better for it. I loved drawing the Autons best. I skimmed through the Target novelisation looking for a suitable scene. I didn't want to just show 'em crashing through a shop window - but actually facing the Army ( which we never see in SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE but it's in the book). The Lochness Monster was arguably the trickiest - trying to fit in all the elements including the Zygon tracker drove me a little nuts - the addition of a filter on the monsters flesh made me very happy in the end. The Daleks had to pencilled in an evening and inked/coloured the next day. I used the clone brush to add extra Daleks to the sky. To me it's the least successful because frankly the deadline wasn't enough for my exacting standards.I inked the majority of these with a brush pen ( crudely in places) before scanning on and adding solid blacks before colouring.I enjoyed the frenetic pace of decision.

I genuinely loved doing this job - reminded of the time I had to do some new Dr Who Weetabix cards for the magazine. I guess I'm just a 1970's Auton boy at heart. Can you spot the mistake in the Auton pencils and final piece? The pace was that mental...

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