Shameless Self Promotion News Update.

Hi folks!

This Saturday, June 3^rd, in Glesga, I’ve got a small art stall along with Andrea Heins at the Art On The Exchange Fair. The stalls will be set up alongside the Gallery Of Modern Art.
I’ll be selling artwork and cards…

…and Andrea will be selling her photographic work, cards, and perpetual Scottish calendars…

Here’s a wee bit about this wee market >>>

Art on the Exchange is a series of exciting new arts events launching this June in the heart of Glasgow. The events showcase the work of a diverse group of artists and performers resident in Scotland. These creative professionals are gathering to exhibit work, perform live art demonstrations, play live music and perform street theatre. The aim of these artist-run events is to give both the exhibitors, and the community, the opportunity to meet, trade ideas, make collaborations, perform and appreciate the rich vein of creativity alive and well in Glasgow.

Artists’ displays inside gazebos line the right flank of GoMA, Royal Exchange Square – creating the perfect site to display a wealth of original artwork in natural daylight. A variety of paintings, photography, jewellery and ceramics will be exhibited in this fully accessible location, together with live interactive workshops led by artists, designers and makers. It is the ideal setting for raising the profile of the visual arts in Glasgow and marketing the events to visitors and tourists alike.

We’ll be there from 11am until 6pm come rain or shine and as I understand it, it’s tae’be pissing it doon.

Book Cover Photograph News! “The Red Road” By Denise Mina Is Available Now!

Last year I managed to get one of my photographs selected for the cover of the paperback edition of “The Red Road” by Denise Mina. remember? I wrote about it HERE.

It’s still beyond me why the publishers didn’t use a picture of Glasgow’s Red Road Flats or at the very least, a red road, but I’m still happy to have one of my photos on one of Denise Mina’s books.

This is how the book looks:

This was my original photo:

You can buy the book straight from the publishers HERE.
Or from Amazon HERE.
Read an extract from the book HERE.

There’s a pretty good interview with Denise Mina HERE.

That’s all for now, and remember, never judge a book by it’s cover!
See you on the bookshelves.

You May Also Be Interested In…
* Album Cover Artwork: “Love Lust Tales”
* Album Cover Artwork: “A Circus Of Vaginas”
* Al Cook’s “Necropolis”

My Comic-Strip Showcase Interview For ‘The Big Glasgow Comic’.

I was recently interviewed by The Big Glasgow Comic about my comic-strip, Al Cook’s “Necropolis”.
Enjoy!

Al Cook.
Artist/Writer Showcase.

Name:
Al Cook.

Occupation:
Illustrator & Murderer.

Tell me a bit about your comic related work:
I write and illustrate a Horror comic-strip called ‘Al Cook’s “Necropolis”’. It is completely hand drawn with a black BIC biro pen and is set in and around Glasgow’s Necropolis. It started on Halloween, 2010.

Sometimes I think that it’s too sweary but a quick saunter down Glasgow’s High Street proves that it’s nowhere near as sweary as it could and maybe should be. I always tend to fight with myself over things like this. Although, I’ve already covered the subject of Necrophilia. So fuck it.

I’d like my strip to end up one day as a sort of Glaswegian “Tales From The Crypt”. Maybe I’ll rename it “Tales Fae The Crypt”…Heh heh…

Main Influences:
Glasgow, Glasgow Necropolis, night time, prowling around Glasgow Necropolis at night time, drinking red wine. Basically, I like to drink loads of red wine and prowl around Glasgow Necropolis at night time. That’s pretty much my main influences for this comic-strip.

Favourite Heroes?
All the Shakespearos and all the Robert De Niros.

Favourite Villians?
I’ve always liked how The Joker dresses.

Earliest memory of comics?
I never really read comics as a wee boy. I don’t remember them being as available as they are now. That said, I remember buying a few Terminator and Aliens comics in the very early 90’s on the Dark Horse label when I was about 12 because they almost always had cool covers. It was always a bit of a letdown when the inside artwork wasn’t as detailed as the cover but now I get why that is.

Favourite comic?
Well, even as an adult I STILL don’t really read comic books. Someone saw my strip and pointed out a book called “The Bogie Man” by John Wagner & Alan Grant to me. They assumed that I was trying to do something similar with my strip but I’d never heard of it. When I got “The Bogie Man” and read it, it impressed the Hell out of me. The patter, the story, the artwork, the lot! I think it’s a very under mentioned and underappreciated Glaswegian great!

I think the only full mainstream comic book I’ve read is “Watchmen”. I think that it’s a masterpiece. I especially like that it doesn’t treat you like you’re 8 years old. I’m completely uninterested in reading the “Before Watchmen” books.

I like almost anything that comes from the end of Robert Crumb’s pen and I always keep an eye on what he’s up to.

What are you working on at the moment and what is next for you?
Drawing my Necropolis strip with a biro pen is very time consuming as you can imagine so I’m working on a new way of doing it without turning to a computer to do all the hard work for me. I’d also like to develop as an illustrator and especially a storyteller because so far, none of my strips really have stories to them.

The next Necropolis strip has a story to it. It’s called “NAW” and should be available sometime in late November.

I also have a sideline strip about the singer Jon Bon Jovi. It’s called “SHOT THROUGH THE HEART! …The Completely Made-Up Life & Times Of Jon Bon Jovi…” and that’s exactly what it is.

LINKS TO WORK:
* Al Cook’s “Necropolis” can be found HERE

* “SHOT THROUGH THE HEART! …The Completely Made-Up Life & Times Of Jon Bon Jovi…” can be found HERE

You May Also Be Interested In…
* Behind Al Cook’s “Necropolis”: Blood Test
* Behind Al Cook’s “Necropolis”: Nailing Him Up
* Album Artwork: “Love Lust Tales”

SHOT THROUGH THE HEART!

If you happen to put up with me on Twitter, you’ll maybe be aware that I’ve been not so secretly developing a new comic-strip about 80’s and 90’s Hair-Rock ‘Ledge’, Jon Bon Jovi!

Is ‘Hair-Rock’ a term? If it isn’t, I coined it!

The comic-strip is called “SHOT THROUGH THE HEART …The Completely Made Up Life & Times Of Jon Bon Jovi” and the first part was supposed to be finished and available to view on this very blog today! And it WAS…

…Until last night when I noticed that I’d centered the first story around a song which I always thought was by Bon Jovi. Turns out that the song I had chosen was by Robert Palmer and that I’d mistaken it for Bon Jovi because they’d covered it once or twice! That’s what I get for jumping headfirst into something without doing any sort of research.

* Note To Self:
Doing a comic-strip about Bon Jovi? – Listen to Bon Jovi, idiot!

So that meant that my week worth of writing and drawing was all for nothing and that I had to come up with a completely different story altogether for the first strip.

The good news is that I have. The bad news is that it probably won’t be ready for another week.

I started to redraw everything last night and if I do say so myself,  HOOOOOOO I’M HALFWAY THERE!

Here’s how things currently look so far:

I decided to do a strip about Bon Jovi in the first place because I need an outlet for the scenarios I imagine whenever I catch one of their songs on the radio. I don’t imagine it’ll run for more than 15 or so installments but if it attracts even 15 people, I’ll be happy.

I’ll upload the strips onto this here blog when the time comes. The best way to currently keep up to date is to follow me on Twitter but if you do that, you’ll also have to put up with lots of other stuff that will have nothing whatsoever to do with Jon Bon Jovi or comics!

*EDIT! The finished strip can be viewed HERE.

You May Also Be Interested In…
* Al Cook’s “Necropolis”

“Midnight, And The Stars And…Who?”

Here’s an interesting little piece of movie trivia from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining“:

“The 1921 photograph at the end of the film was a genuine 1920’s photo, with Jack Nicholson’s head airbrushed onto the body of another man. Stanley Kubrick originally planned to use extras and shoot the photo himself, but he realized he couldn’t make it look any better than the real thing.”

I’ve always (ALWAYS) known that a real photo was used for the film and I’ve always been fascinated with it and the faces in it for that very reason. As a matter of fact, I even have a framed copy of it in my living room which is always good for creeping visitors out.

But who was removed from the photograph as Jack Nicholson was airbrushed in and what did he look like? Whose arm and body is that doubling for Ol’ Jacky Boy there?

Well, so far as I can tell, history doesn’t seem to have recorded his name but here’s the elusive devil right here:

I’ve spent YEARS trying to track this photo down and it was only recently that I found it on a very informative website dedicated to all things SHINING…

Courtesy of  The Overlook Hotel…

The original, unaltered period photo into which actor Jack Nicholson was composited to create the iconic photograph seen in the final shots of The Shining.

These images were found in a book entitled The Complete Airbrush and Photo-Retouching Manual, which was originally published in 1985. The book also identifies the retouching artist responsible for this work, Joan Honour Smith.

The original photographs of Jack Nicholson are located in the Stanley Kubrick Archive in London, and inspection of them reveals that only Nicholson’s head, collar, and bowtie were used; the rest of the figure is the anonymous man in the original 1923 photograph.

Interestingly, close examination of images from the film reveals that two different photo-composites were used: one for the long tracking shot which pushes down the hall towards the photo, and a different one for the extreme close-up. Nicholson’s composited head rotates from one photo to the next, and his shoulder shifts, partially obscuring the woman holding the cigarette behind him.

You May Also Be Interested In…
* REDRUM
* The Doors Of “The Shining” Cake
* What You May (Or May Not) Have Seen Hidden In The Shining