Merry Christmas from Bhuna and other updates

Bloody hell, it's been ages since I updated my blog. I've been busy illustrating a 2 page Spencer Nero story for Paragon Comics which will be out next year. Make sure you buy a copy. Here's a taster of what's to come.

The Ruthless Rhymer and one of his victims

Probably to most normal scene I've ever drawn

Now that's been sent for lettering it's freed me up to enter the yearly 2000ad forum advent calender. Have a look here and see what a bunch of talented bastards they all are. It's not 2000ad related, but what the hell.

From left to right: Dirk Van Dom, Cruz, Tucker and yours truly

And here's a picture of Nightcrawler for this months Stockport Comic Collective blog which will be updated at the end of the month.

Now that my 'drawing board' is clear, I'll be working on 'Killing Moon' for Pigdog Press. (which is me by the way but it sounds good!) I'm just waiting for the script for issue one to be finished. I'll be posting up the concepts and taster pics at the in a months or so.

Dredd, The Joker and Spencer Nero

Well it's been a while since I updated my blog. So here's what I've been up to.

These have been for the Stockport Comic Collective blog which I participate in.










































I've also been asked to illustrate a two page Spencer Nero page story for Paragon Comics. So here's a few concept sketches I've done for this tale.

Swamp Thing, Tucker and exciting news

Here's this months entry to the Stockport Comic Collective blog. The theme for this months was errrmm... Swamp Thing

I've also ran up a logo from Buck Tucker Enemy of Love which will be featured in Vanguard #3 coming soon!

Now the exciting news - but I don't want to give too much away. 

Myself and Matt Soffe has been given the OK to ink (me) and colour (Matt) some pencils by an absolute UK comic book legend! Therefore I have called this little project 'Operation Gods Work'

You wouldn't let these two look after your kids!

Bloody hell, two blog posts in a day!!

Some quick fun sketches of Buck Tucker and Cruz from Vanguard dressed as a teddy bear and a bunny for some strange reason!

Happy 50th Birthday Sergio Pani

My boss and all round top bloke, Sergio Pani turned 50 this week. 'Happy Birthday Serg!'

His family have has a fantastic book produced celebrating the life of Serg. I was asked to send a birthday message that was going to be featured in the book. But because I'm crap at words I thought I'd draw a few personal pictures for him.

Serg is a massive AC Milan fan, so I asked his son, Raff who his favourite all time AC Milan player was and the answer was BARASI. So here's Barasi and Sergio together. Two legends together. The text behind Serg translates to 'A True Legend'

I also found out that during Espania '82 Serg buggered off to Spain to watch Italy win the world cup. So I though it might be a nice idea to immortalise him as a member of the Italy 82 winning squad as a Panini Football card

Now I don't see much of my stuff in print, so it was really nice to see the above pics printed out. Thanks to Scan Plus in Manchester for printing them off.

Hellboy & Tucker

Over at the Stockport Comic Collect blog this months chosen character is Hellboy!

And here's a little taster from the up and coming Buck Tucker - Q-Pids story for Vanguard #3 It looks like Tucker has been up to his old tricks! Vanguard #3 will be out in the Autumn

You Lucky Tucker!!

Supremo writer and editor of Vanguard Comics, Mr. Dirk Van Dom is giving four special edition collectors cards as a freebie for Vanguard #3.

As Dirk is currently in Japan, each of the cards will have a Japaense theme to them. Dirk asked me to come up with something featuring Buck Tucker and his would be victim - Katarina Cruz (see Speed Date 2).

Buck Tucker will also feature in Buck Tucker: Q-Pids which is an action packed 2 pager with a cracking cliff hanger at the end of the story.

Dirk says "Buck Tucker was a pretty messed up, intense and emotionally unstable guy in life, filled with hate and twisted to the core. Now that he's dead, he's much more relaxed about everything. Well, you would be wouldn't you? Here we find him getting all hot and bothered while receiving a massage from old 'flame' (read: attempted murder victim) Katarina Cruz in a Mount Fuji onsen, in the fourth and final "Vanguard in Japan" postcard image."

Vanguard #3 - COMING SOON (A bit like Tucker really!)

Dennis the Chav!

This months character for the Stockport Comic Collective blog is Dennis the Menace... chosen by yours my very good self.

Now Dennis the Menace has been around since the 50's and is a British institute. However, little has changed since then... until now. Thinking about it Dennis is nothing more that a an anti-social bully. So here is my take on Dennis 21st century style. Now with a potty mouth!

Old school inking vs Manga Studio EX4

Now I've never ever had any confidence when it comes to inking. I think because when you put ink down on paper it is permanent. So you really only get one chance to get it right, or use a hell of a lot of tipex sorting your cock-ups out.

For the last few years I've been using a great programme called Manga Studio (EX4 version) which is used by pros and amateurs alike. As well as being able to use layer, their version of tipex is a simple 'Ctrl and Z' away, so you can make as many cock-ups as you like!!

A very talented artist called Matt Soffe has been raving about a brush pen that he uses to ink which is made by Pentel. Check out his blog here. So I bought one to try out and have destroyed quite a few pencils trying to get the hang of it.

The following is a picture I pencilled then inked in Manga Studio and then inked 'trying' to use the brush pen.  There's no reason for the different backgrounds other than me titting about on photoshop. This was done for a new blog call Stockport Comix Collective which I'm participating in.

Old school Ink 

Manga Studio ink

Buck Tucker - Enemy of Love

Now that Vanguard #2 is on sale, I though I'd show you the complete page, how I put it all together and some photo references I used to help create the page..

You can download for FREE Vanguard #2 here.. If you do, please leave feedback for Dirk Van Dom who have taken his time and effort to put the comic together.

Pencils

 Inked via Manga Studio EX

 Coloured and textured in Photoshop

And then finally lettered

You are Legend - Thank you Ron Smith

Two updates in a week. Aren't I spoiling you.

The 2000ad forum has been put together a one off print for legendary comic-book artist Ron Smith.

Ron's getting on a bit now and has worked in the British comic book industry for over 50 years. He first came to my attention when he took over the art duties for The Day the Law Died back in 1979 and his artwork blow me away! Since then, the majority of his work was illustrating Judge Dredd, The Daily Star Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper (Friday). He's not shy about doing the odd crown scene either.

Here's the page that I've done, just to say 'Thank You'. It's also the first script I've written too. Cheers Ron, you are a Legend!

Buck Tucker - Enemy of Love in Vanguard #2

Bloody hell, I can't believe it's three months since I updated my blog.

The next instalment of everyone's favourite psychopath - Buck Tucker is featured in Vanguard #2. If you downloaded this years Hallowscream you'll know that in the end Tucker got what was coming to him. So what the f**k is going on now!

Enemy of Love is written as always by Dirk Von Dom and it looks like Mr Tucker has taken a change in direction.

As well as Buck Tucker - Enemy of Love, this issue of Vanguard sees the continuation of the stories that began in issue 1. As before, art duties on International Woman of Mystery tale"Atomic Call" are by David Blankley, while Louis Carter continues to produce some brilliantly bizarre artwork on sci-fi, fantasy epic "Halo and the Gryphon". This issue's violent installment of 1800's "When Good Donkey's Go Bad" tale "Mammoth-Jack" features a change of artist however, as my good friend El Chivo takes over pencilling duties from Owen Watts. 


Here's the Deal (From Dirks Blog - don't you just love copy & paste!):
OPTION 1) READ FOR FREE!!
Yes, that's right, I've decided to put this issue up online to be viewed, in it's entirety, for free. Why? Well, because I would like a lot of people to read it, to be blunt. Although I practically sold my entire print one of issue 1 over the course of five or six months, that still only came to a small number of copies distributed (less than 50). Which means less than 50 people read the comic. I'd certainly like to have more of a readership than that but since it's difficult to persuade people to part with their cash for something they can't see in the flesh before they take a chance on, I thought this might be the way to go. That, and the fact that I will be in Japan for at least the next six months and the postage costs back to the UK would be ridiculous! So, with that in mind, you can, right this very minute, make your way HERE and enjoy the comic. 

The only thing I would ask in return is that you throw a few comments our way upon reading. The beauty of that site is that you can comment on each page as you read, so if something comes to mind, if you like something or hate something, if you have suggestions for how we could improve things, you can very quickly make a note of it before going to the next page. I would love to know what you think of the stories/writing and I'm sure my collaborators would love to know how you find their art so please do take a few seconds to do this.

Note - only issue 2 is available to view. I didn't think it would be fair to those who purchased a copy of issue 1 to then make it available for free, so I haven't done so. However, there is sufficient recaps given in the strips themselves that this shouldn't hinder your enjoyment of the comic. If you haven't read issue 1 and what you see here intrigues you enough that you would like to, I still have a few copies left which I would be more than happy to sell to you - failing that, the issue is also available to view as a myebook for the ridiculously low price of 50p - click HERE to access it.

OPTION 2 - BUY A PRINT COPY AND READ IT IN THE FLESH!
So, now that I've told you how you can read the comic for free, you're probably not going to be all that interested in paying for a print copy, are you. NEVERTHELESS, if you are the type of person (like me) who prefers his comics 'in the flesh' and likes to hold some really, physical paper in his hand whilst reading, let me see if I can entice you. Because for those who DO avail of a print copy of the comic there are a couple of extras. 

Firstly, you will receive - absolutely free - a copy of "Speed Date", a 16 page full-colour A5 comic that collects together both parts of slaser-serial killer story "Speed Date", which originally appeared in Hallowscream's 2010 and 2011 issues. Art on part 1 is by Ghostpockets and on part 2 by Bhuna. The story comes wrapped in a pair of beautiful covers rendered by Bhuna - check out his awesome "after Bill Sienkiewicz" homage: 

As Dirk is buggering off to the Land of the Rise Sun for a bit, I'll have a few copies that I can send out on his behalf. So if you want a copy of Vanguard #2, a FREE copy of Speed Date and some FREE nice little limited edition post cards, then just get in contaft with me.