JEAN GIRAUD AKA MOEBIUS AKA GIR R.I.P

Yesterday one of my all time icons sadly passed away Jean Giraud aka Moebius aka Gir, this has hit me hard like a thump to the heart, you see I have loved this man's work for almost all my life.

He showed me magical worlds beautiful people incredible creatures and inspired me on so many levels, one being you don't have to draw only in one style, Jean was successful at what ever he drew be it westerns, sci-fi, fantasy.
He designed for animation, movies, computer games and had such a huge impact on me growing up via his stories alot of fellow creatives over the next few weeks will say in better words than me how great he was , he was and is a culture icon , we have lost someone truly special and that makes me so sad the world needs more visionaries like Jean.
Thank you Jean for giving me such enjoyment and entertainment and for showing me how wonderful art and the imagination can be.
I will always love your work.
Jon

1998 TRYING TO BRING DAN DARE BACK INTO PRINT PITCH

In 1998 Writer Jim Alexander and I tried to pitch to Fleetway Egmont the return of Dan Dare my agent approached Gill Page of Fleetway with our pitch but Gill said there was no more life in Dan Dare , then two years later the Dan Dare corporation launched Dan Dare pilot of the future CGI animated tv show.

Jim and I had the idea of having Dan appealing to the Babylon 5 and Star Trek fans I redesigned the uniforms and the Mekon to have a darker edge all the art would have been fully painted like my pin up.

1990-1991 DAN DARE PILOT OF THE FUTURE

If memory serves me right i got in touch with David Pugh the then Dan Dare artist for the New Eagle comic in 1989 about buying a Dan Dare comic strip page from him which had also been used for a cover where they had blown up a single frame to re-use.
David told me they where looking for a fill in artist for him when he was away on holidays and to lesson his workload , he asked me if i was still drawing and i said yes i was working for Postman Pat picture weekly drawing Charlie Chalk using coloured markers he said great i use them on my Dare artwork would you like to try out for Dan and the New Eagle ? i said yes !
I drew two comic page samples and character studies for the Editor Barrie Tomlinson one sample had Dan and Digby in classic kit in their space ship Anastasia painted in inks Barrie liked the work but wanted to see Dan based on David's updated combat geared Dare with his laser pistol the second page sample was coloured in markers and pencil (this was years before digital files and emails) to my suprise and delight i was offered the job.

my father was over joyed at this as he had been a regular Eagle reader in the 1950's and admired the skill and colour work and designs of Frank Hampson and co.

My first work on a 6 part Dan Dare story was published 8th Sept 1990 the writer was Tom Tully as far as i know all my scripts where from Tom, Tom used to type his stories on coloured paper i remember yellow paper alot the first adventure was about a Galactic Beauty contest which featured aliens who could morph into humans and who could bend minds at will , Dan had to fight a Alien called Borak to win the day and save everyone it was a ruse to try to get high tech info about Dan's Eagle craft .

 

I would draw my art on layout paper photocopy my pencils and fax my pencils to Barrie once approved i would spray mount my art sheet on card and colour the work with colour markers and pencils once finished the art which was half up from printed size would be posted special delivery to Barrie to repro for publication.
I drew other stories for The New Eagle Year book 1991

a full colour story where Dan and Digby faced a mutated lab monster Digby won the day by destroying the monster with his germs from his cold , another story which was in blue tone over black and white art had the heroes face the Mekon .

I drew art for the Dan Dare Holiday Special in 1991

a black and white Digby story where Digby faced light orb aliens in Scotland while Dan and Digby where on vacation, it even had a guest apperence by the Loch Ness monster!.

I also drew spot illustrations for a text story called A Scouran's best friend also a full colour centre spread
Dan pin -up
my last 6 part Dan Dare story featured the Mekon i was lucky enough to draw a Mekon portrait cover for the second part of the story this story started the 9th march 1991and was set on a orbital space craft featuring the Ringworld circus and dwarf aliens called the Flying Tygons
I enjoyed creating the creatures and space ship designs for these series i could have drawn more but alas in 1991 i developed deep vain thrombosis in my left leg and groin which made me ill for some time .Barrie passed on a story about giant mutant ants to John M Burns to draw , i was delighted not saddened as i was and still am a huge fan of John M Burns art and i enjoyed seeing John's take on Dan and Co

my last New Eagle issue was when the weekly turned into a monthly dated May 1991
Looking back i was pretty green drawing Dan some art could have done with more years experience but at the time i did the best i could during Dan's 40 th anniversary, I grew up with the Dan Dare reprints by Dragons Dream and the fleetway Dan Dare 1974 annual plus the Dan Dare 2000ad versions and Ian Kennedy Dan Dare so it was in a way it was a dream job something i'll alway be proud of.

DAN DARE COPYRIGHT DAN DARE CORP 2012

1987 and 1992 JUDGE DREDD ART SAMPLES

Another flash back of retro art
Judge Dredd sample from March 1987 not bad layout but the figure work is stiff so i can understand why i didn't get a gig with this back in '87

Judge Dredd samples and character studies from 1992.

These samples got me a Tharg Future Shocks gig in a 2000ad special, as you can see the colour sample was very Mick McMahon in style and colouring ...hands up I am a big fan of his, and it comes out drawing Dredd,

these samples have never been on public display, I thought they would be of interest to fans of Dredd and fans of my work.

 ART JON HAWARD characters copyright REBELLION A/S 2012 apart from THE SPIDER

1986 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE SAMPLES

Another find in a folder , this week is retro week , this work has never been shown to the public , way back in 1986 London Editions where producing Masters of the Universe comics in the U.K.
these pages where drawn and written by me to try and get a job on the book , the Editor liked them and i thought i was on my way to a paid gig on the comic but alas it folded before i got commissioned .
This also shows what my work was like when i was 21yrs old trying to learn the craft of storytelling some of the work still looks quite good , so here's He-man vs Skeletor!

yep i even drew He-man winking at the reader :-)

1995 KILLERS THE MURDER MAGAZINE NUMBER 7 BOSTON STRANGLER

Forgot i drew this, yes i'm affraid i have drawn some rum stuff in my time to earn a crust, this job was via Temple Rogers Agency in 1995 comic panels about the Boston Strangler fom a magazine called Killers The Murder Magazine.
I drew the art in Sin City style so here's my art from the dark side of life.

SLAINE COVER FOR ZARJAZ ROUGHS AND FINISHED PENCILS/INKS

Here's my Slaine cover for Zarjaz with my cover rough ideas,
the editorial went for number 3 idea but i must admit i liked number 2 but they all could have worked, i really enjoyed this little tip toe into Slaine's world
This cover and story will be published in November 2012
ZARJAZ

Slaine copyright Rebellion A/S 2012