Emmanuel and his story strip.

Wow, I'm horrified to see how long it's been since my last post, so first, as promised all those weeks ago, I'll be posting the work of Emmanuel [no relation to any illustrator] whom I met at the Monde du Jeu. Not only a long time fan of my work, but as you'll see, one of my illustrations inspired him to create a 'comic' strip [or should I say - a 'storyboard'] of what happened before and after the picture I drew for that Fighting Fantasy Book.

I will follow this post very quickly [cough, cough] with two others.
One will feature some new work and to make up for the long hiatus in posting, the other will be a first for me, a Christmas Competition.

The competition will not be easy, but hopefully the prize will make it worthwhile! It will be open to all of my blog followers only [by the time of posting] and those who have ordered private commissions.  More details during next post. This [the next post] will probably be done during the first full week in November, which is, oh yes, next week and the competition will be posted soon thereafter.

But now back to Emmanuel's lovely work, which I think deserves a wider audience. Even if my original post date was missed [cough, cough!].

 and finally all the panels [as pages] created by Emmanuel.

 

To finish, a photograph taken at the Monde du Jeu [by Stefan] of myself [careworn and tired and thus all my wrinkles - that's the one seated on the left] and Emmanuel deep in conversation. My lovely partner, and rock, was beside me on that Friday, and in that photograph, but I had to 'crop' her from the picture because if I showed her face I'd have to die! Why do you women act so? Still, on reflection, and thinking of how [sad git] vain I can be... and looking at my mush ....I blame my father.


Till next time, and I promise it will be very soon.

Mainly photographs

A quick post of mainly photographs. Since my last post I have been fighting and losing a battle with the 'lurgy' [an insidious increasing poor throat, that develops into a cold, then a severe cold, then a 'chest' complete with cough], and can I through the bastard off? Ah you guessed, but I am on the mend, and it was only a debilitating cold and I am not as badly effected as my poor suffering partner who came down with bronchitis.

But to more cheerful matters. For those not bored at looking at someones holiday snaps, and having found my ancient camera [by digital standards] here are a few. For those who are bored by such - look away now before you're damned!

First the hotel views -  from each of its windows [the second was shot through a glass window]

Next from our visit to the Lourve

Walking towards the Pyramid

In the courtyard aliens walked

From the Louvre you can clearly see the Eiffel Tower

In the gardens nearby, as we sat exausted, a young lady fed the birds

As we left a Lion, on guard, distainfully looked on

Hard to see but the face in the tree trunk knows its roots

At the Monde du Jeu, as mentioned I and Joe Dever did a lot of signings. With most of my signings I did little 'doodle' freehand sketches. I recorded a few and have assembled them 'together' so you may see 'what I was up to', as they say.

Paul and Joe look on as Russ uses his ancient digital camera

Having signed I thought it sensible to record a few - most suffered camera shake, but a few turned out reasonably.
So here [below] are a few examples, neither the best nor the worst, of what was done over the three days I was there. A very tiring but also stimulating and enjoyable experience.

So there you have it - some holiday snaps and samples of my 'signing doodles', with thanks to all those who came up to say 'hallo'. I have one more post that I want to do about my time in Paris, related to someone I met at Monde du Jeu. I think his take on a piece of my artwork deserves a wider audience. This will be featured in my next post if the scans arrive on time. Sample below.

If you like this, then wait to see what 'follows'! Till next time.

Update - Monde du Jeu: Paris

Being Mr Efficiency [cough, cough] I've yet to find my camera in my bag and attempt to retrieve the pictures I took. However, others have been been able to send a few more and I'll add some of these below.

Sebastien [Le Grimoire] Angelique 'Rebel' [Manga BoyZ] and Pierre

Authors [Gabriel Feraud, Manga BoyZ], and [Joe Dever, Lone Wolf] while the poor artist slaves on...

Gun toting Manga Boyz model gets my attention, and all she wants is a little drawing

One of the things Joe Dever and I were asked to do was a presentation and talk, supported by a PowerPoint presentation about the Lone Wolf series and examples of some of my work. Not all went to plan, even though Sophie and Paul did an excellent job trying to smoothly interpret my mumblings, for not all the pictures in the presentation were shown. Below are some that were missed [or not enough time was allowed to show them of].

From the Goldhawk series by Ian Livingston

Below are two illustrations supporting a major new fantasy series by horror writer David Wellington.  He's best known for his book "Zombie Island" and his vampire series. The website will be a "multimedia-rich interactive site to support his new series, featuring maps, videos, an interactive glossary and much more".

http://www.davidwellington.net/

City map for David Wellington's new project

 Below are two related pieces for Calific.com. First for the 'Sickly Purple Death Ray' blogspot and the second is the half page backcover for 'Marooned across Space and Time' book1 - the first installment in the forthcoming 'World of Yezmyr' series of science fantasy themed adventure modules.

http://calific.com/

Banner for the 'Sickly Purple Death Ray' Blog 

Back cover illustration for 'Marooned across Time and Space' first in a series for Calific.com

Went back to my roots with this private commission, which shows a 'reworking' of the Githyanki and Githzerai who first appeared in TSR's 'The Fiend Folio'.

More to post later.