THE PREPOSTEROUS BOLLOX OF THE SITUATION
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She has such an interestingly beautiful face
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Rose Leslie by Rebecca Miller for Bust
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Carice van Houten by Janey van Ierland
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Drew Barrymore
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Léa Seydoux
I’m just finishing up my (late!) pages for issue 4 of Rol Hirst’s Too Much Sex & Violence - this time, I get to draw Dorothy Kaye, proprietor of Fathomsby’s premier sex shop, Dot To Dot. This is the first panel, given a dash of colour (but not too much - it is Oop North, after all!).
Reluctantly, this is my last appearance in TMS&V, as I think I should probably devote drawing time to some of my own works; I’ve always had more scripts and projects than artists to draw them, and - though I’m currently blessed with talents like Tim Keable, Chris Doherty, David Frankum and FH Navarro to work with - I still have two or three comics on the back burner, and I think I’m happy enough with my art that I should give them a go. And that’s mostly thanks to Rol, who has consistently given me a home to practice my scribblings over the last few years. Click through and buy some comics from him - he’s a nice bloke.
- Andrew Cheverton.
The brand new issue of Rol Hirst’s Too Much Sex And Violence is out now.
It’s time to go back to Fathomsby and catch up with its strange, perverted and outlandish residents. See Harry Hall wallow in drunken regret. Join Dermot and Dorothy for dinner. Find out how Wonderful scratches that lonely itch. Learn the secret origin of DJ Frank Epstein. Discover what sordid thoughts Kathy Marr encounters when she arrives in town. Examine a two-dicked corpse with FME Imogen Redback. And meet Julia Gore, Jasper Badtouch, Bernie Clunge, Kristoph Plott and the uptight manager of Das Uberblick Hotel. It’s our most depraved issue yet…
Above is the front cover (a montage featuring all of the interior artists) and the back cover, which I had the honour of contributing. All of my art for this issue will be on sale at the upcoming Bristol Comic Expo, about which more later. For now, head on over to Rol’s shop and treat yourself to Too Much Sex And Violence, available in both print and digital.
- Andrew Cheverton.
Here is a preview of one of my pages for the next issue of Rol Hirst’s Too Much Sex & Violence; I get to draw Vampire DJ Gary Gore and his sister Julia - click on any of the images to expand. These are the various stages I go through to finish a page of comics. It takes me about a year. (No, I jest! It’s a bit less than a year.)
1 - Rough layouts. Depending on who you ask, very rough. Professionals like Dave Gibbons will advise adding black areas here to show your page flow, but I find that only confuses what is already a mass of random squiggles that only mean anything to me, and that less day by day. Draw in your speech balloons, kids - your writer and/or letterer will thank you.
2 - Pencils. I use a blue pencil that won’t show up when I scan it; this saves me a lot of rubbing out, which ruins the inking more often than not. Here I have omitted the seated character you probably couldn’t make out to the right edge of panel one, and adjusted the depth and angle to the penultimate panel.
3 - Inks (or ‘tracing’). I prevaricate here mightily, mostly because I’ve somehow convinced myself that the pencilling doesn’t entirely embarrass me and I’m scared to ruin it with ink, which is so much more permanent. Also, yes, I still draw with pen, paper and ink; none of that Undo safety net here (also, I can’t work computers). For this page, I’ve decided that the ornate bed and the wicker heart were too fiddly, so I’ve completely redrawn them. Where I’m sure I want solid shadows, I ink them in.
4 - Tones. I do this quite primitively (note: your definition of ‘primitive’ may vary - other artists’ reactions to my description of how I tone comics range from quietly impressed to “You’re an idiot.”). As you can see, at this stage I’ve also added some last-minute black shadows to the page.
5 - Texture. This is infinitely simpler than the toning. I just pick through a bunch of paper textures I have collected and lay them over the art. If you’re lucky, one will look good simply by using it as an Overlay (which won’t cover up the white areas like the vampire character’s skin and the panel gutters); if not, then find one you like and crop the white areas back out.
And there you have it. Too Much Sex & Violence 3 will be published soon.
- Andrew Cheverton.
Here is a small preview of a panel from my pages for issue 3 of Rol Hirst’s Too Much Sex & Violence; this time I got to illustrate vampire DJ Gary Gore and his faithful assistant Mel (shown here), as well as designing Gary’s sister, the troubled Julia Gore.
- Andrew Cheverton.
My design sketch for the vampire Julia Gore, first appearing in Rol Hirst’s upcoming Too Much Sex & Violence 3.
From the script:
“We haven’t really seen Julia Gore before (apart from her hanging feet at the end of Gary’s section last issue) so you get to design her. She’s skinny and hippy-punky looking. Think Polly Jean Harvey in her younger days. Julia looks in her early 20s – that was her age when she became a vampire.”
I’ve inked my three pages and just finished off the toning. More later.
- Andrew Cheverton.
I’m currently drawing three pages for Rol Hirst’s Too Much Sex & Violence 3; for this issue I have vampire DJ Gary Gore and his so-far unseen sister Julia, whom I get to design. Here’s my version of Gary, based on the sterling visual creations of Kelvin Green (issue 1) and Ryan Taylor (issue 2). Rol has really made the rotating teams of artists per issue work for TMS&V, and it’s very exciting to add to the whole, especially as everyone is so gracious about the little visual differences each artist brings to the characters.
- Andrew Cheverton.
Rol Hirst writes:
“…yes, it’s true, the wait is almost over. TOO MUCH SEX & VIOLENCE #2 will be available by the end of the week. Here’s the official unveiling of the cover to whet your appetites… Whatever you’re imagining right now… believe me, it’s worse. Much, much worse. Heh.”
I’m currently pencilling my three pages for Too Much Sex & Violence 3 - I’ve got Gary Gore, Vampire DJ, and his sister Julia this issue - and I’ve seen a PDF of issue 2 for research purposes. You’re going to want to read it. When people look back and say, “Do you remember where you were when Too Much Sex & Violence 2 came out?”, you’re going to want to say you were there.
- Andrew Cheverton.
(via angry-candy)
The first issue of Rol Hirst’s new ongoing comic TOO MUCH SEX & VIOLENCE is now available to buy from Rol’s Comic Shop.
“Welcome to the northern seaside town of Fathomsby; home to retired super-heroes, monster DJs, mutant prostitutes, pier-owning gangsters, disgruntled policemen and a…
