‘Sammy’. A Hand Drawn Comic Strip.

From Pencil To Paper To Pen To Pencil To Photoshop To Poster.

Hi folks,

I’ve been working on a poster for Glasgow band, The Attic Lights, who’re doing a wee set of FREE gigs up ra North ae Scotland during the Summer. And here it is here…

The text has obviously still to go on it but I’m not dealing with that part because I’m not very good at it. Another thing I’m not very good at is Photoshop. As a matter of fact, I’ve never ever used it and so I got help with the colours in this illustration. Pretty pleased with how it turned out! I must learn how to use Photoshop myself.

Everything else is hand drawn and here’s the Pencil To Paper To Pen To Pencil To Photoshop To Poster of it all…

EDIT:
The band added their text on…

The Attic Lights sound like THIS and they are playing…
Thursday, July 16th, 2015: Twa Tams. Perth.
Friday, July 17th, 2015: Hootananny, Inverness.
Saturday, July 18th, 2015: The Arch Inn, Ullapool.

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“The Scottish Hippo” By Alasdair Gray.

Seemingly inspired by “The Hippopotamus” by T.S. Elliot, here is Alasdair Gray‘s poem, “The Scottish Hippo”, and it’s beautiful accompanying illustrations…

The Scottish Hippo by Alasdair Gray

The muckle hippopotamus
spelders in glaur apo’ his kite.
A solid fact he seems tae some.
They arena right.

The hippo’s coorse digestive tract
erodes through frequent emptying.
The KIRK’s the only solid fact
that winna ding.

In gaitherin o’ warldly gear
the hippo often gangs agley.
The KIRK can hunker on her rear
and draw her pay.

The apples hippo gapes tae pree
are oot the reach o’ sic a brute.
The KIRK’s refreshed frae yont the sea
wi’ juicy fruit.

A hippo, fashed by fleshy thorn,
ejaculates in congress grubby.
The KIRK bel-cantos nicht and morn,
GOD is her hubby.

When cloud o’ mirk obscures creation
the hippo wakes tae hunt its meat.
The KIRK’s suspendit animation
can sleep and eat.

Behold the hippopotamus arise,
clap his broad wings and, soaring,
claim the skies!
Angles sing him in,
saints bring him in
to paradise!

In pure flood
of lamb’s blood
he’s laundered neat.
To gold harp
in f-sharp
he warbles sweet.

Clean o’ stain
amang his ain
each martyred virgin is his jo.
The auld KIRK
in the auld mirk
foozles below.

You May Also Be Interested In…
* Al Cook’s “Necropolis”
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Behind Al Cook’s “Necropolis”: Nailing Him Up.

This feels like a wee secret art class!
But it’s not.

Today I’m going to show you the ‘Behind The Scenes’ drawings of “The Crucifixion“, the latest installment of Al Cook’s “Necropolis”, my comic strip. Actually, ‘Behind The Scenes’ isn’t exactly what this is. It’s more like a collection of daft and drunken squiggles and the illustration panels they turned into.

First thing’s first. I doodle ALL the time! Doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing. Whatever I’m doing, I’m usually doodling whilst doing it. I’ve been doodling images of Christ on the Cross since I was a wee boy and so it seemed like a good idea to use those as the basis for my next strip.

I usually don’t like to plan things out as much as I did with “The Crucifixion” and I almost never do any ‘preparation’ drawings but here’s how it all happened…

* 2 scribbly drunken sketches done at a bar:

* Planning for the layout of the first couple of panels:

* The completed first and second panel illustrations:

* Quick sketches to give me an idea of what should be in shadow etc…

* The completed illustration panels:

* Idea sketches for the look of the Roman headgear…

* Halfway through applying the biro ink to the pencil lines of the final illustration:

* The completed illustration:

* A layout sketch done very quickly by the looks of it:

* The completed illustration:

* I found it quite difficult to illustrate someone removing a Roman helmet. The angle of it bugged me for a week. I must have drawn it 20 different ways before sketching out this idea:

* The completed illustration (Which I’m still not happy with):

* I wrote the comic strip as I went along and one of the main problems with that is that I don’t work in order. Like my brain, I’m sort of out of order. For instance, the first panel was first one drawn and then I worked from the middle panel backwards and then from the end panel backwards. It’s just the way that works best for me but sometimes, …sometimes I get stuck for a line of dialogue and have to improvise on the spot…

* Note to self:

* The final illustration before I drew over it with black biro pen:

* Detail:

* The completed panel:

* I fished this out of the bin 3 days after I’d put it there. Sometimes the best ideas are the first ones!…

* The finished illustration:

You can view the fully finished strip HERE.

If any of this was of any help to you with anything drawing or illustration-related then please drop me a line.

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* Behind Al Cook’s “Necropolis”: Blood Test
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Al Cook’s “Necropolis”: The Crucifixion.

Awrite n’ that, big man?
Here’s the latest unfunny from my comic-strip, Al Cook’s “Necropolis”.
Share it with your pals if you have any.

View this as it’s meant to be viewed by clicking HERE.
Keep up to date with the twits on Twitter HERE and if you have any hate mail or death threats please ONLY use the Facebook Page which is HERE.

You may Also Be Interested In…
* Behind A Cook’s “Necropolis”: Nailing Him Up.
* Please Give Blood
* Cracking Open A Cold One