Wallbanger

The cover of a fanzine I did for Eve Harvey a long time ago. Now coloured digitally.

Bembridge

An old fanzine cover given the digital colour treatment. Don't blame me for the pun - that was Sam Long.

Scary

(Mixed media)

This week's subject from Illustration Friday is Scary. This is a reworking of a cover for a fanzine, TRAPDOOR.

Comfort Zone

This is my entry to this week's Cartoonists' Forum Cartoon Competition, using the given caption. It's a reworking of an old Out of the Blue fanzine cover.

On the Shelf

(Mixed media)

I took this down from the shelf today, reworked it and .... back on the shelf it goes.

RIP: Mike Glicksohn

Posted in memory of my old friend Mike who died in Toronto today aged 65. He was a a Hugo Award-winning fanzine editor, a fannish giant and above all a great guy. I can't believe he's gone.

The Cartoonist's Hat

(Marker, digital colour)

"It's perhaps important to point out that I find cartooning and painting almost totally incompatible, in that they each require a different mindset. When I wear my cartoonist's hat I cannot paint and vice versa."

"In 1973 .... I gave up all thought of art college. The cartoonist's hat was firmly on for the next 15 years."

"If [painting] keeps me sane, it's worth it, but every now and again I find my head itching for the cartoonist's hat."

Those are quotes from an article I wrote for my fanzine, PIE in the SKY, in 1992 and serve to demonstrate the ongoing difficulty I find in working in both fields at the same time. It ought not to be so difficult. I've mentioned before that Wayne Thiebaud draws a cartoon every day and while I'm far too modest to put myself in the same paddock as Thiebaud, if he can do it, I don't see why I can't. Maybe not every day, but I don't see why painting and cartooning can't co-exist in my art practice.

All of which is by way of announcing the opening of my new blog - The Cartoonist's Hat. There's more work to be done on it in terms of banner headings and the like, but I've copied across all the cartoons from Boogie Street, together with contributions to Moleskine International Exchanges. From now on Moly work and pieces done for Illustration Friday will appear only on The Cartoonist's Hat. If you'd like to keep up with those things, why not subscribe to posts using the handy widget in the sidebar?

Resolve

Kevin and Harry resolved never to drink there again.

(Fibretip, digital colour)

Another fanzine cover, this time entirely my own, from a fanzine produced in 1982. Now with added digital colour for Illustration Friday 's brief, Resolve.

Clandestine

Clandestine (Epsilon 11)

Pencils: Rob Hansen; Inks and digital colour: Harry Bell

[Used with Rob's permission]

Back in the 1980s, my old friend Rob Hansen and I collaborated on some fanzine covers. This one, dated 1982, was for Rob's own fanzine, Epsilon, and I did the inking over his pencils. The subject seemed to suit this week's Illustration Friday subject, Clandestine, so this time round I added some digital colour.