Sunday 30 August 2009

SPIDEY AND THE DEFENDERS vs MEPHISTO


This was for a cover for Spectacular Spider-man Adventures comic #128 from Panini UK ltd/ Marvel UK published in 2006

pencils Jon Haward, inks Lee Townsend, colours James Offredi

enjoyed drawing this cover and i think it shows the image was re-used inside the comic as a poster so that's where this was scanned from

CHARACTERS COPYRIGHT MARVEL CHARACTERS INC 2009

Saturday 29 August 2009

TRUE BRIT


This character was co-created with Alan Grant in 2000,
a UK version of Mad Max meets the Survivors his first adventure is on view on my website

http://wwww.jonhawardart.com


True Brit was designed to appear in a new kids comic called Ballistic ,alas Ballistic never got off the ground and sadly True Brit was never picked up by any other publisher that would allow us to retain rights so we never finished his story ,a few years later DC comics published a graphic novel called ''True Brit'' featuring Superman being raised as a British chap written by John Cleese and drawn by John Byrne.

Wednesday 26 August 2009

TRIGAN EMPIRE CARD ART WORK


This was drawn in pencil for a convention card in 2004 ,Alan Craddock computer coloured the art over my pencils, i drew this as a homage to Don.

The Trigan Empire appeared in Ranger and Look and Learn magazines from 1965-1982

mainly painted by the late great Don Lawrence ,
i have always loved this comic strip and over the years there has been a few collections produced i have collected.

check out Don's fantastic art from this website

http://www.triganempire.co.uk/home/

Tuesday 25 August 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GENE SIMMONS!


Gene turns 60 today still rocking and going on tour ,Happy birthday to the God of Thunder!

BUFFY


This was drawn for my friend Andy Luker in 2006

Monday 24 August 2009

TIPS FOR BREAKING INTO COMICS AS A CAREER

I've has been getting lots of emails about breaking into comics as a career.

HERE'S MY TOP TIPS:

1. work on a folio of art that shows 3-5 pages of storytelling which shows different skills figure drawing, backgrounds, perspective,layouts,show different camera angles (close up's, longshot, worms eye view), study books like ''HOW TO DRAW COMICS THE MARVEL WAY'' BY STAN LEE AND JOHN BUSCEMA.

Ask a writer for a sample script to work from or redraw one of your favorite comic pages how you would draw them. Editors are not interested in splash pages or pin-ups ,they want to see you can tell a story through the art.

2. checkout major writers forums
like mark millar's which have a creative section show your work there and get feedback.

3. attend a Comic convention and cue to show your work to Editors or publishers to get feedback good or bad.

4. check out what styles are in vogue at the moment ie Manga, retro, classic, realistic, which style would work for you.

5. most companies are not having submissions anymore
,the Editors now check out blogs, websites and places like Deviant art http://www.deviantart.com/#

6.Try to get your work in fanzines or small press to learn your craft but also to learn about deadlines, the big publishers tend to want to use artists who have already had their work published

7. have a thick skin as it takes time to get work and to get to a pro standard, be good at what you do, improve all the time,remember that all feedback is positive, so learn from it - don't irritate people, just be nice to them, always.

8.If you are a writer and you are just starting out again seek small press and fanzines to get your work seen, attend comic conventions and ask Editors or Publishers if they would like a sample of your published work.

Sunday 23 August 2009

COMIC BOOK IDOL NUMBER 6 JOHN BUSCEMA




First i would just like to say I'm a huge fan of John Buscema

My first memory of reading/looking at a American comic was a Sub Mariner comic drawn by John Buscema i was 5yrs old i couldn't read much but the pictures spoke to me and i was hooked and I've loved his work ever since.

I had the pleasure to meet Big John at a U.K.C.A.C (united kingdom comic art convention)in 1994
the show was a tribute to Jack Kirby .
I cued with other fans to see John and he penciled for me a nice head sketch of Conan ,like Kirby John's work had power and impact but also grace ,Stan Lee called him the Michelangelo of comics and i agree with him ,John could do it all drama, style, storytelling, mood, atmosphere great characterisation
in his career he drew so many great comics, it would take ages and a long list to write how many different comics he worked on but some favourites for me growing up where Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Savage Sword of Conan,The Silver Surfer, The Mighty Thor.

young kids ask me how do you draw comics ? i say if you want to learn the basics buy ''HOW TO DRAW COMICS THE MARVEL WAY'' by Stan Lee and John Buscema it's all in the one book.

if you look at my Marvel U.K work or Macbeth or The Tempest you'll see a nod to Buscema like Kirby Big John has influenced a lot of top draw artists and his work will live on and on through reprints of his amazing art.

No longer with us but never forgotten you can view his official website via this link
http://pages.ca.inter.net/~owenandsusan/

Saturday 22 August 2009

FERG HANDLEY INTERVIEW ON DOWNTHETUBES.NET


It's always been a pleasure working with Ferg Handley comic writer, below is a link to his interview with downthetubes.net it covers his whole career to date.
http://www.downthetubes.net/features/interviews/writers/ferg_handley_200809_01.html

this Spidey page is from one of his favorite stories that i penciled for Spectacular Spider-man Adventures issue 107
the story was called Bounty Hunt
the Kingpin put a price on the head of Spidey so a whole lot of villains came out to hunt down Spidey.

pencils Jon Haward,inks David Roach, colouring Dylan Teaque

the story was reprinted in a Marvel pocket book collection
called
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN ADVENTURES
''NIGHT OF THE GOBLIN''
published by Panini U.K in 2006
book code ISBN 1-846530-05-9


SPIDER-MAN, BLACK CAT, THE PUNISHER COPYRIGHT MARVEL CHARACTERS INC 2009

Friday 21 August 2009

Macbeth Witches designs


The three weird sisters or witches in Macbeth where fun to design.

The play says they have hair on the chins and that they looked un-natural ,the main thing i wanted them to have where different power staff's and different hair styles the faces i wanted to show where ancient and sinister but i didn't want to go to over the top as my brief was that the book was going to be read by an all age audience,

these drawings where drawn in a few hours and where put in the info section of the graphic novel

characters copyright Classical Comics ltd 2008

Thursday 20 August 2009

news and bits and bobs

I recently drew a double page spread for Goodwood Revival meeting programme featuring Sir Stirling Moss the art had to look retro late 50's early 60's in style from the golden age of The Eagle it was a great job to draw when i have permission to show a image i will.

John Charles has coloured my latest Marvel Pocket book cover ''The Amazing Spider-man'' death of Gwen Stacey ,it looks fab i drew it very Romita Sr in style so that's something to look forward to from Panini U.K.

Drawing Hamlet roughs for Classical Comics ,

by the way their Romeo and Juliet graphic novels are being printed now quick text, plain text and original text ,the art looks fab Will Volley has done a fantastic job on this book and Jim Devlin has matched the art with a great colouring job, another winner from the Classical Comics crew.

just heard Classical Comics The Tempest book i worked on will be going to press today so looking forward to seeing it in print,again three versions quick text, plain text and original text,
we all put a lot of time and effort into the book so fingers crossed i hope it gets received as well as Macbeth did.

WASTED issue 3 will feature my character co-created with Alan Grant ''Tales of the Buddha'' before he got enlightened on the cover drawn by
SUPER STAR ARTIST SIMON BISLEY!
this issue will be printed this month by Bad press ltd.

there's other stuff happening like a exhibition featuring my work coming up where and when will be announced soon over 43 pieces of my prime art for sale .

Wednesday 19 August 2009

SPIDEY SMACK DOWN



Another page from ''DOOM TRAVEL'' written by Jim Alexander for Spectacular Spider-man Adventure comic for Panini / Marvel u.k in 2004 ,Here's my pencils and finished coloured art ,again i had fun with the layout and main pic of Spidey fighting the Doom robots .
David Roach did a great job inking this story and Dylan did i think one of his best colouring jobs on this story ,this story was reprinted in a Marvel pocket book format a couple of years ago in the U.K but sadly it's not been published in the U.S

SPIDER-MAN, SUE STORM, DOOM ROBOTS COPYRIGHT MARVEL CHARACTERS INC 2009

Tuesday 18 August 2009

ALL HAIL DOOM !


Drew this for Spectacular Spider-man Adventures comic 2004 for Panini /Marvel U.K ,pencils Jon Haward, inks David Roach and colouring by Dylan Teaque story by Jim Alexander

my Dr Doom was a tribute to John Buscema and Jack Kirby after all these years it's still a nice page.

SUE STORM, SPIDER-MAN, DR DOOM COPYRIGHT MARVEL CHARACTERS INC 2009

Monday 17 August 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN ROMITA JR


happy birthday to John Romita jr ! ,when i was drawing Spectacular Spider-man Adventures comic for Panini/ Marvel U.K i was buying The Amazing Spider-man U.S comic drawn by JRJR to inspire me and to get into the groove of drawing Spidey,

he's my favourite modern Spidey artist and also one of my comic book icons ,he has a great knack of story telling ,showing emotion ,grace and power in his work and he makes drawing look so simple when it's not.

this image just shows how great he is at drawing Spidey but also action.

art by John Romita jr (pencils)
characters copyright Marvel Characters inc 2009

Sunday 16 August 2009

FLAMEBO THE DEMON



This was a character development sketch drawn 1998 for ''HELL COMES TO ELF TOWN'' co created with Alan Grant writer ,the comic strip appeared in issue 7 of Frank Frazetta Fantasy Illustrated magazine in 1999.
i always love drawing monsters and i had fun drawing this guy with his whip made of fire.

ARTWORK COPYRIGHT JON HAWARD/ ALAN GRANT 1998-2009

Saturday 15 August 2009

TURKISH DELIGHT MACBETH GOES BACK TO PRESS


Just heard that Macbeth Turkish version has sold so well it's getting another print run in Turkey, great news for everyone who worked on the book.

MACBETH COPYRIGHT CLASSICAL COMICS LTD 2009

Monday 10 August 2009

AWAY FOR A BREAK



away for a break for a week so there will be no new uploads till i get back from my stay in sunny Spalding,

so I'll leave you with these two Marvel pocket book covers these books are now available to buy at your friendly local bookshop!!

COVER ART: pencils Jon Haward, inks Gary Erskine and colouring Junior Tomlin 2009

published by PANINI UK LTD

ARTWORK CHARACTERS COPYRIGHT MARVEL CHARACTERS INC 2009

Sunday 9 August 2009

MACBETH REVIEW FROM THE U.S




http://www.examiner.com/x-18362-Austin-Childrens-Books-Examiner~y2009m8d7-Classical-Comics-makes-Shakespeare-accessable-to-all

MACBETH COPYRIGHT CLASSICAL COMICS LTD 2009

Saturday 8 August 2009

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S THE TEMPEST


This two page spread was drawn last year its the start of the play/ graphic novel.
Prospero using his magic starts a storm to wreck the ships of King Alonso of Naples.

pencils Jon Haward, inks Gary Erskine, lettering and colouring Nigel Dobbyn

artwork copyright Classical Comics ltd 2009

Friday 7 August 2009

TOMB RAIDER SAMPLES 1997



Drew these in 1997

coloured them with inks, markers and pencils ,i tried for a manga meets european art style with the art i was pleased with the end results and i sent copies of the art to the offices of Eidos in the U.K,

they liked the work and sent them off to Top Cow who where producing Tomb Raider comics based in the U.S ,sadly never got any feedback from them so i never got to draw Lara.

I've shown these pages at a few exhibitions and on my website over the years but i thought i would show them on the blog.

TOMB RAIDER COPYRIGHT EIDOS 2009

Thursday 6 August 2009

BATMAN & DOC SAVAGE 2000 PITCH TO DC COMICS



I have been looking at my old folders of pitches / samples and I've found these ,

I drew these pencil pages and sent them to DC Comics in 2000, i had a reply saying they didn't have the rights to publish Doc Savage so that was that.

Now there will be a shared universe where The Spirit, Doc Savage and Batman can hang out and fight crime very cool and i look forward to seeing those adventures!.

my Bats was based on Bruce Timm's Batman and Doc was based on James Bama's version any way hope you enjoy seeing these pages.

CHARACTERS COPYRIGHT DC COMICS INC 2009

Wednesday 5 August 2009

HULK POCKET BOOK COVER FOR PANINI


This was fun to draw Hulk vs Ka-Zar in the Savage Land alongside his loyal tiger Zabu ,this was inked by Gary Erskine and coloured by Junior Tomlin , the Editor Ed Hammond asked me to draw it in Herb Trimpe and Marie Severin style

HULK SMASH PUNY BLONDE GUY!!!!

CHARACTERS COPYRIGHT MARVEL CHARACTERS INC DRAWN 2008

Tuesday 4 August 2009

SPIDEY IN THE GRIP OF THE GOBLIN!!


This was drawn in 2007 for another Marvel pocket book cover for Panini /Marvel U.K ,this was inked by David Roach and coloured by Junior Tomlin

CHARACTERS COPYRIGHT MARVEL CHHARACTERS INC 2009

Sunday 2 August 2009

MIKEYCON 1ST AUGUST 2009






Went to London yesterday to meet up with friends Mike Perkins, Mike Carey, Laurence Campbell, John Charles and Lee Townsend with my friend Stu who took these photos, we met up at a pub near Orbital Comics where the two Mikes where going to sign books for fans i was lucky to get a signed copy of The Stand by Perky. the beer was great , the company was great .

also that day i went to the Royal Academy to see the art show of John William Waterhouse and i was blown away by how beautiful his work was but also how many artists i saw in his work who i love who obviously where inspired by his art, a show well worth visiting if you are in London