Thunderlizard

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS

2011-09-05T01:03:00.001-07:00

OK. First things first. Yes, I spotted the deliberate spelling mistake... This picture was supposed to be about killer bunnies, not autoimmune diseases... More haste, less speed.

Anyway, ignoring that, this was a piece I did for the leaving portfolio of my friend, Elena Kanaouris. She loves rabbits so everyone did her cute bunnies.

Cute? Bleurgh, quite frankly.

Instead, I went for my movie poster version of the 'classic' creature feature, Night of the Lepus - a truely atrocious film featuring giant killer rabbits on the rampage (Lepus is actually the hare's Latin name, in case you were curious).

Anyway, it was colour pencils on A3 navy blue paper.

It's is also respectfully dedictaed to my friend Kate Lloyd...

BURNT OFFERINGS: T-REX IN A FOREST FIRE

2011-08-10T00:54:00.000-07:00

Mixed Media: Colour pencils and water- and oil-based pastels; and toothbrush

I did this piece on plum-coloured A1-sized (841mm x 594mm) paper. Probably the biggest piece of artwork I've done in a while. It shows a T-rex keeping ahead of a forest fire after scavenging an Edmontosaurus carcass and carrying off its arm.

This artwork is for sale.

Huge thanks to Andrew James for all his help doing the scan of this.

A MAMMOTH FOR ELLIE

2011-06-29T02:09:00.001-07:00

This was an A3 picture I did for my girlfriend, Ellie. She loves mammoths so it seemed appropriate. The medium was colour pencils and pastels on royal blue coloured paper. The original is a little darker and more blended; I also had a quite a lot of trouble with the texture of the paper but it was good practise and experience.

MY LITTLE VAMPIRE MERMAID PONIES

2011-05-19T01:11:00.001-07:00

Binky the Killer Rainbow Pony attacks Glitter in the surf. Glitter is rolling inverted in a desperate attempt to escape...

So this is quite possibly the silliest bit of artwork I've done in a while. It came out of a conversation with my friend, Bridgeen (yes, this is her fault, MLP fans...), about toys ranges we'd love to see. One throw-away comment and the rest, as they say, is history...

The actual image is based on a fantastic and very dynamic photo of a seal being attacked by a great white.

BLUE ON BLUE

2011-05-18T04:57:00.001-07:00

Just a little test peice I did, using colour pencils on blue paper, using pastels here and there. Paper was pretty 'textured' – not the smooth feel I'm used to but it was an interesting experiment.

In case you hadn't guessed, this is a great white.

Charge!!!: Another in the series of endless doodles

2011-04-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

This is sort of meant to be an Einiosaurus, one of my fav horned dinosaurs. Took about 45 mins; the average length of a Production meeting. I'm thinking of taking my table easel along to future ones and making really good use of the time...

Longshot In The Savage Land

2011-02-07T01:24:00.000-08:00

Marcus Scudamore ran Titan's design studio; he left last Friday to set up his own design company, Amazing 15 (15http://amazing15.com/main.html) with fellow art director Martin Stiff - if you're looking for designers and you can find then, then maybe you hire the, er, Amazing 15 team, because they are the best there is. In my opinion anyway.

Meanwhile...

Marcus' favourite superhero is Longshot. Yeah, I didn't really much about him either other than he looks like he should be singing lead in Kajagoogoo. Anyway, this was a peice I produced for the Longshot portfolio we did as a leaving present for Marcus. Naturally, I had to shoehorn dinosaurs into it somehow and what better way than using the Marvel Universe's Savage Land. The dinosaur is a favourite of mine - Pachyrhinosaurus, a horned dinosaur that ironically has no horn to speak of but a lump-like boss (which I kind of went a bit OTT on...). This was fun!

THE ABSENCE

2011-02-07T01:03:00.001-08:00

Martin Stiff was Art Director for Titan Book; he was also creator, writer and artist on his self-published, and now critically acclaimed, comic, The Absence. Martin left Titan on Friday last week and, as has become a bit of Titan tradition, the many varied and talented artists he worked with were encouraged to do a bit of artwork for him as a leaving present.

I chose to do a homage to The Absence - a pin-up if you will. I was aiming for a moody shot of the central character looking whistful on the downs of Southern England, where the comic is set. I also wanted to try my hand at doing clouds in pen and ink. For that I borrowed heavily from my fav artist, Berni Wrightson, and a recnt discovery for me, Franklin Booth, an amazing pen & ink illustrator from the early 20th Century.

By the way, he doesn't have a beard. To find out what that's all about you have to read the comic. If you've not seen The Absence, check out Martin's website:

http://absencecomic.blogspot.com/

Cretaceous Baitball

2011-02-03T01:05:00.000-08:00

This was a bit of a blast from the past. Italian paleo-buddy of mine, Fabio Manucci, posted this on his blog (http://jurassicitalyblog.splinder.com/post/23974632/volti-della-paleoart-interviste-i-parte) the other day as part of an interview I did for him a while back.

It's been ages since I've seen this artwork; I did it about six years ago (I think!) then sold it soon after.

This was largely inspired by my favourite episode of awesome BBC series, Blue Planet. 'Open Ocean' features several scenes of baitballs under attack by various predators and I just figured it would be kind of cool to transpose that to the Cretaceous Inland Seaway. A trio of the huge predatory fish Xiphactinus and a sword-nosed Protosphyraena are charging the baitball, breaking it up. In the background, three elasmosaurs get in on the action. The prehistoric 'penguins' are the flightless toothed bird Hesperornis.

A DRAGON FOR GENIE

2011-01-10T03:16:00.001-08:00

This was a piece I did for my friend, Bridgeen. She liked it because apparently it was cute and creepy at the same time. Go figure...

THE KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON: "A MODERN CLASSIC"

2010-12-16T01:47:00.000-08:00

It's funny how the past comes back to haunt you.

It was recently brought to my attention that Comic Heroes #4 features a review of my beloved Knights of Pendragon, recently collected for the first time by Panini; it comes complete with new cover by my good friend and the original series artist, Gary Erskine (opposite). The review runs as follows:

Inspector Dai Thomas has a problem. He keeps dreaming about hideous, violent death and, even as he finds himself drawn into a series of unusually creative murders, Dai realises something else. His dreams are leading him somewhere and, worse, his dreams are changing him. Aided by Captain Britain and journalist Kate McLellan, Dai finds himself drawn into a battle older than history, one that he may not survive…

Knights of Pendragon is a modern classic, it’s really that simple. The central premise is literate, smart, utterly English and neatly woven into the Marvel continuity. Dai is a painfully human hero, fragile and cautious and at the same time desperate to embrace the world he finds himself in. The supporting characters are equally impressive, Kate in particular proving to be a genuinely sympathetic female lead, while the use of Marvel characters like Captain Britain and Union Jack is brave, grounded and feels real.

The whole book is illustrated with the combination of intensity and fragility that Gary Erskine’s best work embodies and Knights of Pendragon is smart, horrific and long overlooked. If you’re a superhero or a horror fan, this unusual piece of work is a must-read.

Many thanks to Alasdair Stuart for such a glowing review. Made me proud that my baby's all grown up.

Pendragon (or KOP as we all used to shorthand it as) has always been very special to me. I was just the editor but I worked closely with my friends Dan Abnett (nay, New York Times bestselling author Dan Abnett) and John Tomlinson (currently writing Judge Dredd in 2000 AD) in developing the story, as well providing my own insights and ideas on the various green issues I had an interest in (particularly shark fishing, cane toads and whaling). I owe a big thank-you to Brady Webb at Panini for allowing my to contribute a forward to the collection – and not changing some of the more contentious comments I made. After all, KOP had a rather difficult upbringing and ruffled a few feathers at Marvel US (Yes, I did used to work at Marvel UK, you know...).

One story that never made it into the forward followed my rather sudden departure from Marvel. It had always been tradition that when an editor left, all the artists that worked for him or her would usually do some sort of personalised piece for them that would then be presented as a portfolio. I was never given that opportunity (it still stings me to this day...) Moreover, KOP was never collected by Marvel UK (go figure...) so John, bless his heart, and with his own money, paid for a slipcased, hardback collection of the first 18 issues – a one-off and one of my most prized possessions. The credits ran "story by Dan Abnett, John Tomlinson & Steve White". That meant a lot to me.

KOP is now 20 years old and it's great to see it finally receiving the kudos it should have had at the time. And for anyone interested, Kate McLellan was based on supermodel Tatjana Patitz; this justified Gary's habit of buying Vogue, a habit I believe he continues to this day.

Elephantmen: Band of Brothers - colours

2010-12-03T02:41:00.000-08:00

Here's Andrew James' excellent colours for my Elephentmen piece. Very low-key and understated, in the spirit of the source material.

Elephantmen: Band of Brothers

2010-11-26T01:14:00.000-08:00

This is the finished pencils I did for a pin-up to be featured in Richard Starking's Elephantmen comic.

It's modeled on a shot used in the Band of Brothers DVD. I wanted to show the Elephantmen with the same grim resignation as they prepare to go into battle once more. They're sporting various injuries as though this is a lull in the fighting. In a tip of the hat to my fascination with the 'Nam, the rhino is wearing a towel around his neck, as the grunts used to do in the jungle.

I also tried for a mix of Moritat's comic versions and the actual animals. It was a week's work and I had a fantastic time doing it.

Doodles: Sixth in an Unlimited Series

2010-11-02T09:47:00.001-07:00

This is my sabre-tooth on a mountainside. I imagined him (or her) looking down soulfully at some distant prey animal far below. This was about an hour's work. The meeting was meant to be short and sweet but dragged on and I started adding rock. Then more rock. Then clouds. I had a great time though. Technically, sabre-tooths had short tails like a lynx, but I like the longer one. Makes it more familiar somehow.

Doodles: Fifth in an Unlimited Series

2010-10-21T01:06:00.001-07:00

Brushing up on my shark skills with this one. The length of the meeting (about an hour and a half) meant I could really go to town on the line work. Had I had the space, I probably could have finished the whole damn fish...

Doodles: Forth in an Unlimited Series

2010-10-14T01:28:00.003-07:00

A long meeting gave me plenty of time on this one so no surprise that this is my favourite so far. I was trying for some sort of Brachiosaurid, but it also turned into a nice exercise in negative space for the misty background. Maybe the time has come to do something other than dinosaurs...

Doodles: Third in an Unlimited Series

2010-10-06T01:02:00.000-07:00

I thought this was going to be a quick meeting so I just thought, "Oh well, I'll just bang out a quick T-rex sort-of-thing," not anticipating anything publishable. I should have known better. Time dragged. So I add the background. You know, for fun... Then the vegetation... Faced with killer boredom, I then threw in the water and the branch. I had plans for a tree line but then someone called a halt and I was free. Still, I quite like this one...

Doodles: Second in an Unlimited Series

2010-09-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

This was a long meeting... I had a lot of time to work up a fairly textured Triceratops with a blue biro.

ELLIE AND KEANU

2010-09-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

This was a leaving present for my good friend Ellie Graham. I was just one several people (including renowned comic artist, Jock) to do a piece based on Ellie's fav computer game, Gears of War, and the role she loves to play - that of sniper. I named the gun in honour of her beloved and sad Keanu Reeves, and as a tip of the hat to Full Metal Jacket.

I modified mine a little so it was less in keeping with the game and more in keeping with Ellie as a big game hunter. After I had to get a dinosaur in there somehow...

PUNCHFACE V ZOMBIE MONKEY

2010-08-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

It was a war as old as time... Punchface met his mortal enemy, Zombie Monkey (OK so he's a gorilla and technically an ape, but let's not split hairs...), in dreaded combat. Exhausted, near death, Punchface finally managed to slip beneath the crushing undead simian embrace to deliver his signature gut punch, leaving his enemy gasping for entrails...

So, yeah, this was fun. If you are unfamiliar with Ned Hartley's famous (nay, 'infamous') Punchface, for shame! Check out the webite:

http://punchfacecomic.blogspot.com/2010/08/return-of-zombie-monkey.html

Or join the Facebook group!

OK, Chewie, punch it...

Doodles: first in an unlimited series...

2010-08-12T02:48:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of meetings at Titan. And pre-meet meetings. This usually means there's plenty of time to doodle. The average meeting time is between 45 mins and an hour. Having been to so many it's given plenty of time to sharpen up on my sketching - which has not gone unnoticed. My trusty sidekick Andrew James even got hold of a plain paper pad for me as he was getting annoyed I was doing them on lined paper. He thought I should start posting them so I thought what the hell...

This was a sabre-toothed cat I did on Tues. It took about 45 mins, using my trusty red biro. I wanted to make it look like it was sitting on high cliffs looking down on potential prey. Clouds and birds of prey swirl above it...

GAYZILLA!!!!

2010-07-12T07:26:00.001-07:00

Gayzilla was a pin-up I did for my friend and work colleague, Martin Eden. He's following the success of his self-published, award-nominated comic, The O-Men, with a technicolour successor, Spandex, about a team of gay superheroes. Martin recently set up a facebook gallery for Spandex pin-ups, called Japandex, and I was more than happy to contribute, especially when he asked me to do Gayzilla.

I've been a long-time fan of Art Adams and loved his Godzilla comics so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to have a crack at that sort of style. I actually went straight into the inks on this one with just very basic pencils for position. Had a lot of fun.

There's some incredible artwork on the Japandex site. Check them out on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=183778&id=137375331859&saved#!/photo.php?pid=5207360&id=137375331859

Or take a look at them on the Spandex website:

http://spandexcomic.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!

ELEPHANTS FOR CATH

2010-04-13T06:45:00.001-07:00

This was a wedding present I did for my friend Cath. I discovered that she loved elephants and thought I'd have a go at drawing some for her. I didn't want to do the usual 'sweeping majestically across the Serengeti' sort of thing but recently I'd seen some great images of elephants swimming, and this seemed the perfect opportunity to try for something a little different.

It was the usual mixed media, using markers, pencils and pastels

G.I. BLUE

2010-02-15T04:17:00.000-08:00

A tip of the hat to Andrew James' great colours for the Rogue Trooper piece I did a while back. He did a man's job. Looks like we're in business...

BIRTHDAY BATGIRL

2009-12-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

This was a bit of fun.
One of the things about working in the Titan comics department is there are lots of talented people who love to draw and enjoy the occasional opportunity to customise birthdays cards for our friends. My lovely colleague Rona has recently taken the reins of Batman Legends and we thought it would be nice to celebrate this with a special birthday card, so come October (when four out of the six editors have their birthdays...), I thought I'd have a go. Rona is particularly fond of the artwork of J.H. Williams III on Detective Comics' Batwoman strip so I figured I'd do something in that stylee.
I pencilled and inked the card. Rona proved to have a very interesting (and gorgeous) face to draw and as faces aren't my strong point, I went mental trying to get it right. Cue resident genius Andrew James: with a little Photoshop wizardy he made a few nip/tucks and, viola! He also added a wonderfully subtle colour job to my inks. I doff my cap to his work!

MINE FOR LIFE: CHARLEY'S WAR VOL.6

2009-12-03T09:34:00.000-08:00

The new Charley's War volume (#6) is now available. I only mention it because it includes a feature I wrote on the relatively unknown but fascinating and brutal war fought beneath the trenches. Miners from both sides did everything they could to quite literally undermine the fortifications and morale of their opponents. I had a great time researching it and would love to have written more.

Anyway, I recommend this - and the entire series if you've missed it.

ROGUE TROOPER INKS

2009-11-24T09:29:00.001-08:00

This weekend was spent leaning over a hot drawing board inking my Rogue Trooper peice. I'm a big Berni Wrightson fan - his inking on the plates he did for Frankenstein are are amongst my favourite pieces of artwork ever. Anyway, immitation is the sincerest form of flattery so I modelled my own style very much on his, and boy did I suffer for it. Still it looks far worse than it was to do. All in the wrist action.

My friend Andrew James has taken it upon himself to colour this. I await the results with interest and I hope it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship...

LORDS AND FRIGHTEN LADIES: THE RETURN OF THE LORDS OF MISRULE

2009-10-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

THE LORDS OF MISRULE HARDCOVER IS NOW AVAILABLE!

Published by Radical Comics, the new Lords of Misrule hardback collects not just the six-issue mini-series published by Dark Horse, but the original graphic novel released under the auspices of Tundra, drawn by Gary "can't draw elephant knees for toffee" Erskine, and written by John "I was Tharg the Mighty once, you know" Tomlinson. Plus there's all the short stories we did and the whole thing has a sensational colour job by J.M. Ringuet.

On a personal note, it's fantastic to see Lords out there again. It's been the gift that keeps on giving for everyone involved creatively but this I guess is the version we'd always hoped for.

Now for the movie rights...

Should you wish to purchase one, here's your chance. Please help support these struggling creators:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lords-Misrule-Dan-Abnett/dp/0980233585/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254760411&sr=1-1

ROGUE TROOPER: EVAC UNDER FIRE

2009-09-07T03:23:00.000-07:00

This was just a bit of fun to do. I've always had a soft spot for 2000 AD's Rogue Trooper - mainly because I wrote the strip a few years back for the comic. This time, though, I wanted to see if could draw him. The inspiration for this came from a photo from the Vietnam War; it shows wounded Marines being evacuated on the back of a tank. One of the medics had a toy octopus in the strap around his helmet; in this case, I've replaced it with a teddy. I also imagined Rogue chilling out with a slurpy whilst catching a lift on the retreating tank, the two war machines indifferent to the suffering around them. Or maybe I'm seeing too much into it... Anyway, I having the inking to look forward to now...

PRIMEVAL

2009-08-13T00:55:00.000-07:00

This is a sample piece based on a spin-off novel from the TV show, Primeval. The story features a T-rex on the rampage in Siberia. I chose to illustrate it with the dinosaur menacingly searching out one of the characters from the show.

IT'S MILLER TIME

2009-03-18T01:54:00.000-07:00

Being a big fan of Sin City and Frank Miller's artwork in particular, I felt SpongeBob leant himself very much to this specific story arc... Never saw print in the comic, sadly...

WRITING: SCI-FI ART

2009-03-04T00:47:00.000-08:00

It's not all about the art...

This is a great book produced by Ilex Press and available right now! I was asked to contribute a section on concept art and had a great time writing about the likes of H. R Giger, Syd Mead, Wayne Barlowe, the art of Star Wars and animated movies.

Check it out!

PORTFOLIO: EATING REX

2009-03-03T00:42:00.000-08:00

Mixed Media (markers, pencils, pastels, gouache, toothbrush)

This was a piece done to jazz up a failing partwork, the idea being that kids love gore (which they do). I wanted to give it a little action as well, rather than just gore for the sake of it - a toothbrush proved remarkably effective in producing flying blood.

The original is now in a private collection.

DK DINOS

2009-03-02T08:06:00.001-08:00

Markers & Ink

This was fun. I loved doing these. I was asked to do a more 'comicy' style for a feature on the first dinosaurs in DK Find-Out so came up with these versions of Plateosaurus and Coelophysis

PORTFOLIO: ACHELOUSAURUS

2009-03-02T07:55:00.000-08:00

Mixed Media (the usual...)

This was done for a greeting card in the USA. It shows the Ceratopsian, Achelousaurus, chilling out in a mud wallow.

HULK SAD

2009-03-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

Inks

This was an picture I did for my friend Ned's 30th birthday. He's a massive Hulk fan and I had everyone I could think of do a drawing of his hero for him. This was my contribution, paying homeage to my favourite drawing from Berni Wrightson's Frankenstein plates. I went slightly mad doing all the foliage!

THE ROARING BOYS

2009-03-02T06:45:00.000-08:00

Mixed Media (markers, pencils, gouache, pastels)

This was a private commission I did from a US buyer. He wanted a couple of fighting Smilodons so I came up with this – I wanted more action than violence. All the rocks and trees were actually from reference pictures I snapped whilst in Yosemite National Park a few years ago.

BAD DAY

2009-03-02T06:18:00.000-08:00

Inks

Just an idea I had for an image to go with a short story I'd written about a miserable day, rain-soaked day in the life of a young Albertosaurus. This is very much a tip of the hat to one of favourite artists: Berni Wrightson.

WOLVERINE IN THE SAVAGE LAND - "THANKSGIVING TURKEY"

2007-08-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

A portfolio piece produced for the 2002 Bristol Comic Convention.
Wolverine is my favourite comic character, and I had a great time matching him up against a Phorusrhacoid, a carnivorous flightless bird from South America, which died out relatively recently. The artwork is now scientifically out of date; it was recently thought these 'terror birds' had re-evolved arms, but that is now thought to be unture. Ho hum. The fickle world of palaeontology.

AMBUSH: SMILDON & BISON LATIFRONS

2007-08-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

A sunset ambush by a pack of Smilodon fatalis on a herd of Bison latifrons, the so-called ‘super bison’. One of fav pics, I did this on spec and sold it quickly to a private buyer. Could have sold it several times over.

FUTURE EXTINCTIONS

2007-08-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Mixed media (Pantone markers, gouache, pastels), April 2004. Weldon Owen.
This particular piece was for the Weldon Owen encyclopaedia but looking at what might end up as fossils. As such, I was asked to imagine an evolutionary record for the future. For this, I enlisted the help of palaeontologist and friend Darren Naish, who gave me various ideas on those animals that might outlast humans. These include:
The combat chick or chicken runner if you will: with the destruction of most ground-based herbivores, the superbly generalist chicken steps up to fill the void. They have re-evolved wing claws and the spur cocks used to fight has developed into a raptor-like sickle claw. It still retains the comb of its domestic ancestor.
The pachybara: a pachydermal capybara. Not necessarily a direct descendent of the capybara - just a very large rodent. I did take the capybara as the role model. For instance, the big gland on its head has developed into a large horny boss. In my future, it has stepped up to fill in the niche of the elephant and rhino. I also gave it couple of extended tuck-like incisors for stripping bark. The pachybaras aren't the large sort of pachyderms we know and love; the low-energy ecosystem I had in mind wouldn't probably support animals that big unless they had very slow metabolisms.
The rats: This is the one I've given most thought to. Darren mentioned the miniaturisation and socialisation of the naked mole rat, so I decided to take that and run with it. Now the mole rats are far smaller but more social and have developed vast underground kingdoms like termites. As an exploitable resource, they have their hunters, in this case a highly derived rat that has evolved along the lines of the anteater, pangolin and porcupine. I took the spiny rats of South-East Asia as an example, but because it has had to leave the safety of the shadows to hunt mole rats, its spines have become full-on prickles. It has huge forearms and claws to dig down into the mole rats' burrows then uses an extended snout and a sticky tongue to capture the squirming pink mole rats. It's not very clear from the picture but I like the idea of extended chiselling incisors for digging - rodent teeth are after all continually growing and it wouldn't have to worry about wear.
The mole rats, meanwhile, are fighting back. They have developed a soldier caste like termites - I drew one out in the foreground, with big sharp pointy fangs. I see it as a miniaturised bulldog that swarm to the surface to attack anyone trying to break into the burrow.
Another organism that has developed alongside the spiny rat is the finch, again inspired by Darren's comments. In my future, they have evolved alongside the rats. Like some of Darwin's finches, they have also developed tool skills, but instead of using sticks to impale termites, they follow the big rat in and spear up any mole rats. The spear, sometimes twigs, sometimes discarded rat quills, also acts as stand-off weapon, keeping them away from the soldier mole rats. They are also used to drive off kane toads (asked for by the publishers), which have become another spiny rat acolyte; the toad uses its big sticky tongues to swipe up mole rats blithering around after the rat has dug them out from their nest. Tool-using finches have been selected against the more idiotic birds that ended up poisoning themselves on the toad's huge toxic glands. On this occasion, the toad is raised up on its legs and ballooning up to try and scare off the finches prodding it with their sharp implements.
Behind them, out on the drying flats, a panzer croc ('velocisuchian') is pulling down a chicken runner hen whilst the cock springs to her aid, spurs flashing. The panzer croc is based on the Eocene running crocodile, Pristocampus, and I again used the low-energy Australasian environments as a model with the top carnivore slots filled by reptiles. Again, this was something asked for by Weldon Owen as, personally, I don't see any crocodilians outlasting Homo sapiens.

PERMIAN EXTINCTION

2007-08-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

Mixed media (Pantone markers, gouache, pastels), February 2004. Weldon Owen.
Also for the Weldon Owen book, this illustration is a 'California Split' shot. Helicoprion - the famous 'whorl-toothed' shark - dominates the sea life shown. This restoration is considerably different to the other one this website, and follows the more traditional line now taken by most illustrators (Ray Troll, Richard Ellis). The ray-like fish in the foreground is the Holocephalian, Menaspis. Fleeing the approach of the shark, it is stirring up a field of Crinoids and several of the last known trilobite, Proetida. A trio of the genus Palagoniscum are also darting clear.
On shore, amidst a dying forest of acaucaurians and conifers, a pair of the carnivorous therapsids Inostrancevia and attacking a herd of Scutosaurs on the beach.
I was following the model that the Permian extinction was caused by huge temperature rises as a result of methane gas build-up. This also explains the lurid colours, whilst the therapids on the beach are lit by a nearby forest fire. I wanted to give the whole image an almost hellish appearance.

MY FAV DIVES - NUMBER 1

2007-06-28T23:55:00.000-07:00

1. The Bajo Seamounts, La Paz, Sea of Cortez, Mexico 27 December 1998.
Just before Christmas 1998, my regular diving buddy, Roger, called me up and asked me what I was doing for Christmas. "Nothing firm," I said. "Fancy going away somewhere?" he asked. Indeed I did. We settled on the Sea of Cortez. I'd just seen a documentary about the El Bajos seamounts, huge towers of rock projecting hundreds of feet up from the sea at the tip of the Baja Pennisula. The real attraction for me was the possibility of seeing the hammerhead sharks that mass there. Cool, I thought to myself, and away we went.
The first trip to the seamounts was on Christmas Day. It couldn't have been worse. The journey to the site was about four hours. The weather was awful, the sea state terrible, and it was the one and only time I've been seasick. When we reached the seamounts and began the dive, visibility ('viz' as we divers like to call it...) sucked. No sharks. Not much of anything. As I headed back to the boat, I wondered if they could just drag me along behind as the thought of spending another trip on that plague-raddled prison barge was not in the least bit appealling.
The trip back was equally awful. Exhausted by illness and the diving, people collapsed where they could. The boat stank of vomit. Then, the crowning, glory, it broke down someway off from La Paz. That was OK as we got to ride the dive centres rather cool speedboat.
On the 27th, we were told we were heading back there. This would be our last chance to see any sharks. Conditions were about as diametrically opposed to the 25th as was possible. The sky was clear blue and huge, the sea lilypond calm. We were escorted to the site by pods of dolphins, spotted leaping manta rays and a large whale, and there was a party atmosphere on the boat.
Now, Rog and myself were sensibly using dry suits - this was, after all, the Pacific Ocean. But there were a group of Japanese novices using thin wet suits (boy did they suffer for that...). They had some pretty hot gear but just didn't know the hell to do with it. We asked the dive marshall if we could go in first, sensibly concluding that any newbies make a shitload of noise and scare anything interesting away. They would also take forever to get in the water. The dive marshall, an ex-Royal Navy Brit named Steve, figured we were pretty experienced divers so was content to let us lead off.
The thing is with the seamounts is that the boat captain has to find them using GPS, then drop an anchor on to the top about 30m down. You then swim down the anchor line. Whilst the captain was doing this, Rog and myself had kitted up and were standing on the stern waiting to jump in. Of course, the captain was having a hell of time finding the site. We were standing, fully kitted, weighted down with dozens of pounds of gear in thick black dry suits under a blazing sun. The dry suits were in danger of rapidly becoming wet suits from the inside out as we sweated and cursed and yearned to jump in that cold blue water.
Finally, we got the nod and in we went. We followed the line down and as we hit the top of the seamounts, I was tightening all my straps (water pressure sucks everything in and suddenly straps that may have been tight at the surface are dangling around you). By chance I happened to look across to my right – and to my amazement saw a quartet of hammerheads going by about 15 feet away.
They were absolutely beautiful - silvery, gunmetal grey, like 50s fighter planes, just gliding by in a slow right turn.
We watched them head away from us into the blue and continued the dive. We saw no more sharks that morning, but we'd been up close and personal enough to be satisified. We also been the only divers on the boat to see any sharks. Initially, no one belived us - thought we were joking.
The second dive, after lunch, though, we picked up a German honeymoon couple who decided to trail, apparently figuring we seemed to be the lucky ones ones on this dive. But we didn't feel lucky. We saw plenty, just no sharks. Time passed and I checked my air. Getting close to quitting time. Then on the seabed I saw a bullseye ray and was looked up to point this out to Rog. However, he was pointing frantically down a gully in the rocks.
Down the far end, going over the top of the gully, was about 50 hammerheads. The formation was starting down the side of the seamount, and was kicked after them, I figured they'd be long gone before we had a chance of getting anywhere near them.
As I turned out I was wrong. As we got to the end of the gully, the hammerheads had circled back and were coming up the side of the seamount. We dropped the air from and suits and were actually standing on the seabed, pearing over the rocks. The sharks passed over the top of us at about 20 feet. There were juveniles, just a couple of feet long, and big adults, eight, maybe ten feet long. Again, I couldn't get past the plane analogy - like a squadron of art deco fighters.
At some point I happened to glance to my left and was somewhat surprised to see a large hammerhead coming head on at us. As it drew uncomfrtably close, I began to back away, actually pushing up against Rog, who looked down at me annoyed, until he saw the shark as well.
Now, the thing is, hammerheads, during the day, do not feed and are perfectly safe to dive with. But faced with a large shark coming on towards you, there is that sudden urge to swing back down the jungle gym of evolution and realise that we once used to be food. I was actually considering pulling my knife and making a last stand before my air ran out on the seabed.
Then, suddenly, the shark snapped away to the left and passed a few feet from us. It was then that I noticed its lower jaw was hanging at a right angle to its snout – it had a broken jaw. Probably explains the close pass - it was probably unable to eat and was starving to death. An ignominious end for so beautiful a creature.
As the sharks passed back over the curve of the seamount, my air was getting pretty critical and we had to ascend. We paused at three metres to do a safety stop and as we hung there, the current took us off and away from the rocks. We were suddenly over nothing but deep, deep, dark blue water. Nothing down there but what your imagination left down there.
Time passes very slowly when you're just hanging there, but sped up when, off in the distance, the hammerheads returned.
Again, you logic it out and you know you're perfectly safe, but it was a heart-stopping moment. No rocks to feel secure against. Just you, the sea and the sharks. However, they seemed to sense our presence and turned aburptly away, and the last we saw of the El Bajo hammerheads was the shoal disappeaing into the gloom.
Back on the surface we had a fair old haul back to the boat, but returned triumphant. The poor German couple had seen no sharks and there followed a sharp exchange on the boat between the newly-weds, presumably along the lines of "I told you we should have followed them." Again, we were the only divers to see any sharks.

Portfolio: Miocene Seafood Buffet

2007-06-03T10:46:00.001-07:00

This pic features one of my fav prehistoric animals - Carcharodon megalodon. The setting is the seas over what is now Maryland USA. Three megs are scavenging an early sperm whale about 20 million years ago. At this time, they co-existed with the great white shark (or a version as near as dammit). To give an idea of size, I have included one bottom right foreground, swimming alongside a battled-scared female meg (shark females tend to be larger than males). Centre shot is a mako shark (Isurus sp.) steaming through the carnage. Shoals of small fish swarm around picking up titbits.

in my considered opinion, artists never do enough battle damage on their sharks.

I own the copyright on this image.

New Blog

2007-06-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

My very first blog. I'll be linking this to my Facebook, where you'll also be able to see samples of my artwork.

Portfolio: Dinosaur Cutaways

2007-06-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Client: Planet Three
Agent: Antbits
Published in: Discovering Dinosaurs

The concept was to produce cutaways of some of the principal animals in Walking With Dinosaurs for a children’s magazine. The cutaway sections were there to highlight interesting anatomical features of the creatures, whilst retaining a life-like, dynamic pose.

Discovering Dinosaurs has now been cancelled. At the last minute, a relaunch issue was compiled, with T Rex Eating (right) showing how the editors were considering a new "gory" house style.

The series also includes a Brachiosaurus. In a later post, I'll show you the genesis of the illustration, from the original sketch sent by the client to the finished piece.

Portfolio: Feathered Dinosaurs

2007-06-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Illustration for a children's comic, Fun to Learn Discovery (published by the Redan Company). This issue featured dinosaurs, but they wanted something other than the usual stuff so I suggested feathered dinosaurs. This picture shows Beipaosaurus and Sinovenator.

Portfolio: Cretaceous Seafood Buffet

2007-06-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Mixed media (Pantone markers, gouache, pastels), 50cm x 60cm, July 2003.

This piece was conceived after watching a documentary featuring great white sharks scavenging a whale. I imagined the numerous large carnivores which would be attracted to the corpse of a large marine reptile. In the picture, the floating carcass is dominated by a Cretoxyrhina, and several smaller Squalicorax - crow sharks - and a Tylosaurus. The little fish are Enchodus, the sabre-toothed herring. The gull-like birds flying overhead are Icthyornis, and the bizarre pterosaur, Nyctosaurus, is gliding into view.

Shortly after completion, I had to modify the Nyctosaurus to incorporate the new discovery of it's strange, sail-like crest.