2000AD Cover Process

I was delighted to be asked to do a cover for 2000AD featuring Angel Zero. I had three rough ideas and Editor Matt Smith chose the nicest or most interesting of the bunch. 

Once we had the idea down I set about the finished drawing. I decided to let Angel hang in space a little more in the final piece.

I had originally hoped to ink and colour the cover myself as I rarely get the chance to do this sort of things these days but a deadline was bumped forward and I ran out of time. Having worked with the wonderful David Baron before I knew he could go straight to colours from the pencils and I think he did me proud here.

There were actually two finished versions as I asked for a strong background colour as well as a simple white version to give Matt a choice. 

And here's the final cover with the banners and the blurb. Matt and the designers at 2000AD did a great job of recognising and maintaining the negative space. A lot of folks get fearful of that and try to fill it with words or ask to add another character etc which can destroy the balance but here it's allowed to breathe.

Word on the street is that it's gone down pretty well with the readers so far which I'm incredibly happy about. I hope I'll get chance to do some more soon! 

Cheers

Lee

Original Artwork/Christmas sale.

Well it's almost that time of year again and nothing says "I love you" more than an original piece of comic art by yours truly. Honest.

As well as a forthcoming Christmas sale over at my new rep Spencer Beck's The Artist's Choice I also have a number of original pieces right here, right now including pages from Ghost Rider, Ultimate X-Men, Wonder Woman, Return of Bruce Wayne, Batman Last Rites, Batgirl etc.

I also have covers available including Wonder Woman, Fear Itself: Defenders, Midnighter and 2000AD.

So, if you're interested, drop me a line.

Your pal
Lee

Wonder Woman 613 Cover Process.

Another cover for Wonder Woman. Pencils by me, Inks: Dave Meikis. Colours: Paul Mounts.

The original brief was for Wonder Woman vs Wonder Woman but it was decided last minute that we'd seen that idea a little too often and the enemy would be revealed as Nemesis.

Knowing Nemesis would have a Scorpion theme I put together a couple of alternatives but it was too late in the day for approval and so I went with the original concept, tweaked to fit the new character.

 

So, here's the final process, pencil through to colours. I hope you like it.

Wonder Woman 612 Cover Process

Okay, here's some more process, this time for a Wonder Woman cover...A change in the scheduled cover for issue 612 -

 

I worked on about 5 rough ideas. One theme seemed to work most and this one was the first version of the image...I then beefed up WW's part a little more to make her more proactive as the brief called for her to be punching something.

Then the finished pencils with added character bursting into dust to give WW something to hit.

As the deadline was so tight for the replacement cover I sent the hi-res file to my inker Dave Meikis to ink via blue-line. As always he did a wonderful job.

And the final magic ingredient - Paul Mounts on colours giving this image a whole new dimension. 

That's it! I hope you like it. Stay tuned for Wonder Woman 613.

Cheers

Lee

Ultimate Comics...

Here's a page from a wee 5 pager I did for Ultimate Fallout. Wonderful inks and colours by Roger Bonet Martinez and Lee Duhig.

Sneak Peak

Quick look at the lower portions of The Deep: issue 4 cover.

Wha' hoppen?

Cover Process - Fear Itself: The Deep Issue 3

Okay it's cover process time again. Here's the one for Issue 3 of The Deep that called for Lyra (The Savage She-Hulk) to be battling the double headed Tiger Shark.

First off was some rough layouts. They were all pretty much the same as this but with slightly differing focal points. The Fear Itself titles have a large banner area so I alway make sure I add it into my roughs.

Then came the finished pencils. I didn't stray too much from the original rough on this one. 

Then it gets inked by the mighty David Meikis, A wonderful inker and all 'round classy dude.  Crisp and clean yet never losing the energy of the pencils, I love working with Dave.

And finally the wonder that is John Rauch, colourist extraordinaire is let loose! The lighting and atmosphere he's created is stunning.