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