I was involved with the Times Rugby World cup advertising campaign last year.
Very overdue update - some exciting stuff going on that I will fill you in more about later but a great link here to Brighton Wok who I worked with in June on their new upcoming movie poster - sounds great - look for more info here.
Today's
date 24th May 2007 Had a great time at the Bristol Comic Expo - see some weblogs here and here
had an absolutely great time.
Today's
date February 28th 2007 Hello everyone out there is cobwebsite-land! It's been an enormously long time since I've added anything now, but there is an announcement to make as Neverwhere is all finished and graphic noveled up and that it that. There is a complete list of original artwork from this project here at this very location! We're still missing episode 9, but the rest of it's here, apart from the stuff that has been sold so far. The most expensive pages are the three double page spreads at £400 per spread. Everything else is from £50 to £150 depending on how long it took me to do, the characters drawn etc. It's the largest body of work I have ever done on a single project, and I very much enjoyed working on our adaptation of Mr Gaiman's fabulous novel - Mike Carey did his usual wonderful job and was a joy to collaborate with. Jon Vankin was great fun too, and I do have to thank Mr Tony Luke for his computer wizardry and assistance with the covers - only No 6 was done without his help, and even then he scanned it in and sent it off over the airways for me when it was deadline. Also Tanya and Richard Horie did my best colours so far, and the whole thing looks, well, pretty sweet. I hope you enjoy the results twice as much as I enjoyed working on it (late nights and stress and everything you see) and that my versions of well-loved characters aren't so completely disparate to your own mental images of them that it winds you up completely and sends you into a murderous drug fuelled spree of satanic mayhem, lasting several weeks and eventually being responsible for the deaths of many law-abiding citizens of whatever country you live in. Should you decide to purchase any of these pages please add five pounds for postage - you can pay by paypal or send a cheque to glenn Fabry studios, 116 Rodmell avenue, Saltdean, Brighton, east SUSSEX, UK BN2 8PJ. When the funds clear in my account I'll send your page(s) off in a nice chunky cardboard tube to the required address and great joy may they bring you. Other news - episode #7 of the Garth Ennis / Chris Sprouse 'The Midnighter' from Wildstorm is drawn by me, should be out in a few months - a touching gay samurai epic, with lots of killing! I'm now working on 'Greatest Hits' a six part graphic novel-in-waiting by David Tischman, edited by Shelly Bond at vertigo. It's a sixties rock and roll superhero panorama, it's great fun and I'm just finishing issue one as we speak. It's shaping up very nicely. Here is a preview of the first cover....
No-ones keeping me in the loop about the Preacher HBO series, but it does seem that everyone is pretty serious about it and I've got my fingers crossed for the entire project. Quite a while back a gentleman from HBO emailed me about it since Garth and Steve weren't available via the net, and I phoned his number and we had a chat about how much better Preacher would look as a TV series rather than a movie or three movies. After we spoke the Soprano's were on TV and there was his name on the credits - I just supplied him with the telephone numbers and asked him not to forget me in case they needed any paintings which god knows if they will. That really is the extent of my insider knowledge about the whole affair. I suppose I could always give Garth a shout and I'll let you know if I hear any more. Okay. I'll leave it to you know - whatever IT is!! Hope it's good!! Love Glenn
Today's
date 2nd December 2005 Hello everyone - just thought I'd drop you a line from my crib (US readers - in the UK a crib is a child's bed with latticed sides, so the less said the better). I'm halfway through episode six of Neverwhere oat the moment, with 3 1/2 episodes to go. This is actually the largest project I've been involved with at 202 pages and 10 paintings in total, with all the character and scenery design down to me | (in all of my time on the Preacher covers the only character design I cam up with was Jesse's dog). So how's it all going down with the readers? I decided to get Nikki to trawl through the Internet for some reviews, since I can't even turn on a computer without my head unscrewing from my shoulders. Well the response has been tremendous. From the Comic Book Resources Forum: ''I'm indifferent towards Fabry'' ''Why is Door drawn like a hooker'' ''Not a must-have'' ''His art is not as fabry-ish as his (sometimes annoying) covers'' So everything's going well there then. Actually there were some pretty positive ones as well, but the main bone of contention seems to be the perceived differences between my version of the characters, and the ones in the book or TV series. I've only watched 10 minutes of the TV series back in the day, and I've only just finished reading the book, as I wanted to know what happened in the end, and Mike's script for #9 hadn't shown up. So! In my defense, (well I would be on my side wouldn't I) there are as many different versions of the book as there are readers of it, and I'm drawing my one. (My version that is). Last weekend was a dream come true: A comics convention in Brighton! It cost me £1.30 on the bus to get to Comics Expo '05 and it was worth every penny. Actually it was really, really good. I got to bump into old pals like Liam Sharp, Simon Bisley and John MacRae, saw Charlie Gillespie for the first time in years, Dougie Braithwaite, Sean Phillips and Bryan Talbot were there, Greg Staples too! Didn't get the chance to chat to those guys enough. Basically all of British comic-dom showed up nearly. Marl Millar, Dave Gibbons and John M Burns (and many many more). Dez Skinn was running the show and it looks like it'll be back at the Brighton Metropole next next year. Come down and give it a go. Liams Event Horizon #2 is out, and even more impressive edition than #1. Tony Luke, my old mucker from the Neverwhere covers, was there showing his Dominator/Fakk2 computer short which he made with Kevin (teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) Eastman. Groovy. Also at the con. The strangest thing - kids interested in comics! There were five of them at least. All the kids I've ever seen in conventions over the last few years have been embarrassed ones there with their dads. Hopefully this is a sign that the comics industry will once again rise like a dark Phoenix from the ashes and spread it's wings over a whole new fresh-faced audience eager to get into the marvellous worlds and incredible adventures on offer between the covers of the latest best-selling episodes of the weeklies and monthlies, raising the artists and writers once again to positions of demi god status that they enjoyed back in the hallowed days of yore!! Either that or it's just those five kids! Only 23 shopping days until Christmas! Don't forget you can still purchase from this very website some not that annoying un-Fabryish drawings of Door looking like a Hooker, that you can feel indifferent too in the privacy of your own home!!! All the best and a VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS Cheers, Glenn
Today's
date 28th October 2005 Hello everybody - long time no trousers! If you're at all interested, we're now selling the original artwork from the best selling title 'Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere' through the website. That way we can make a bit of extra cash to throw at the gaping maw of the tax man and finally pay off that leccy bill (hopefully!) Now as I understand it, this is how these things are expected to go: A page or two of lesser known ancillary characters sitting about drinking a cup of coffee will sell for absolutely bugger all, or not shift, no matter how beautifully drawn, whereas a red crayon pinman drawing of Daredevil with his knob out will cost you a small family car. We have priced the pages accordingly. Each page of Neil Caimans' s 'Neverwhere' for sale is the original black and white line drawing, uncoloured and unlettered, signed at the top with page and issue number. No computer effects were used at any pint in the creation of these pages, and no animals were harmed. Well maybe a moth! Sizes are A3 UK and pages are on standard DC paper. There are 24 pages for issue #1 - an extra two. The cover art originals are elements that make up the whole cover for the DC cover. They were finished on the computer. These are the only painted images available that I haven't already sold. Prices range from £40 to £250 per page - double page spreads are no more than £400. Average page price £140. I will write or dedicate
any message that you want on any individual page bought. Artwork
will be delivered not later than seven days after payment
has cleared in the bank. Paypal invoices are included after
each image. If you wish to reserve a page and mail me a cheque
then email here.
Today's
date 16th August 2005 My take on neverwhere... if anybody gives one! It's doing every well apparently - at the moment, the best-selling Vertigo book (thanks people). I've been getting a certain amount of feedback about the treatment of characters in the book and how I've depicted them in the comic. Neil's fans are certainly a committed lot, and everyone has their own point of view - its mental imagery of the individual personalities that make up the story and that's basically my take on it as well: There's as many different versions of a book as there are readers of it. The Endless Nights book was a big hit for Vertigo - New York Times best seller list, first time for a Vertigo graphic novel: they wanted a follow up but Neil Gaiman is a very busy guy - novels, movies, world scrabble championship et al, no time at the moment to capitalise on a major success in the beleaguered comic strip field with a catamnesis (looked that up in Rogets Thesaurus - 24 point score!) What to do - there's Neverwhere of course, which I think was originally a commission for a telly series (could be wrong) and then became a novel. It's been around for as long as the age of out target audience, and no offense to those involved, I don't think that Mr Gaiman was completely happy with the TV version of his book, what with it being made on the budget of a fiver per episode or thereabouts. My part in this came about because of the chapter I drew in Endless Nights. I'd met Neil a couple of times before the invention of electricity and he'd told me he like my work. The destruction chapter in Endless Nights came about because Liberatore (I'm a huge fan of that guy) couldn't do it for whatever reason and Neil suggested me as a pinch hitter (whatever that means) and after a certain amount of insistence from Karen Berger I took it on - I was doing 'The Authority' or 'Thor' at the time and had to fit it in at the rate of a page o as day. Consequently of course it will probably be my most available contribution to the world of graphic sequential rendering for some time to come. A) because it was a big hit and b)because I was rushed and I had to fit it in but I couldn't necessarily give it the attention it deserved. To go off at at right angles, its a but like chatting up women. I'm off the market - now ladies , please no suicides - happily married an and all but when you're at your most needy, there's nothing there, and you couldn't give a toss, you get all the attention. When it comes to work I want to just I just feel like doing it and also not to be rushed or harried, financially comfortable and reasonably happy, dedicated and only concerned with how beautiful or how ugly I can make it. Mostly I am rushed (and in a way thanks god) and harried (moaning now) and whenever I do feel like putting in those extra hours to make something really good, two weeks later the leccy bill arrives and we can't pay it until the cheque comes in. Anyway the upshot of this rushed job was neil Gaiman liked it so I was chosen as artist to take a third short at neverwhere, the lovely novel but woefully under funded TV series of 1994, in comic form top capitalise on the blah di blah di blah. My preparation for this, which is quite frankly the largely body of work which I have so far undertaken, was ton read the novel the first time, and closely ignore the TV version of which I watched one episode back in the day (thought the actor playing the Marquis was excellent) and then just do what cam into my head when Mike Carey's scripts came in. I met Mike for about 5 seconds at the Bristol convention a year ago, hungover and trying to draw a picture of daredevil (me not him) (the hungover bit no the Daredevil thing 0 - when I said me not him I didn't mean that I was Daredevil oh forget it) but he's completely doing the right thing comics wise - pacing dialogue, narrative involvement so it fits in with the 22 pages per episode etc. Seems like a lovely bloke, obviously very talented. The look of the characters and scenery and design is down to me, plus a few stupid jokes and what passes for acting from a bunch of line drawings so it's MY take on the material. They asked me to do it so it's not my fault officer, the general said pull the trigger. And Karen says Neil likes it so there! Lots of love Glenn PS John Vankin is a wonderful man I don't care what people say about him. PPS Thanks again to Tony Luke whose Zen-like knowledge of the intricate workings of the computer have pieced together my rough components for the covers of this epic undertaking. PPPS and thanks also to Tanya & Richard for the superb colouring job Below - Reviews from the Vertigo website here
Below - Review from Aint it Cool News here
Today's
date 9th June 2005 Hi Kids! It's me again. I'm 2/3 the way through #3 of the graphic novel version of Neverwhere by neil Gaiman, adapted by Mike Carey, coloured by the team of Tanya & Richard Horie and things, albeit a bit tardy (my fault) look promising. I'm attempting to improve on my previous efforts in graphic sequential rendering with each consecutive comic I do for America, and so far, fingers crossed, touch wood, it's working out. I did 'Kev' in a blind rush, I did Howard the Duck and Global frequency in even more of a blind rush, calmed down a bit for Thor, and evened out on More Kev. I'm pissed off with myself for the Howard thing. Steve Gerber and Howard demanded so much more but \I was caught in a trap (I couldn't turn back (because I love you too much baby). Basically I lost a 6 month cover deal on the Authority because of Sept 11th. Took on whatever was offered and double booked myself, churned it out and c'est la vie - I've been re-reading Howard and Steve Gerber rocks and Phil 'King of Drapery' Winslade did a masterful job: it was a childhood dream but adulthood buggered it up. Well I did, it's all my fault, come clean. Back in the days of Slaine I worked for 3-4 days on a page mostly but for the US now it's 3/4 a page a day, a fair old workload in comparison, and I want to do a good job on everything: sometimes churning it out can give you a good result - more energy & vibrancy - or it can do your head in and end up as a stultified mess. Also spending too much time on things can end up with you being fed up with the image, or a static quality infusing itself on the piece; So I've got to find a way to do good work more quickly, and I haven't worked out a hack method that would let me go back to being any good after I've drawn the pin men and crappy elbows of the comics version of Macdonalds. To help myself out on this, I'm looking at a lot of my favourite black & white artists: These are Gil Kane, Jack Davis, Jim Holdaway, Brian Bolland, John M Burns and BoucQ - and Moebius when he did Lt. Blueberry. Their is all over my recent B & W efforts. What I myself can offer is solid anatomy, sense of movement, storytelling, characterisation and humour; I'm trying to make my characters act. To me, comics are all about making a 5 million dollar movie on a 2 million dollar budget, with a biro. I'm avoiding everything about 'Neverwhere' apart from the scripts and the book. I watched an episode of the TV series back in the 1990's and I'm avoiding any influences from them that I might dimly remember the Marquis of Carabis in my version is a cross between Captain jack Sparrow and the mouth at the beginnings the Rocky Horror Show: Richard is basically Tim from the office with a bit of Jackie Chan round the face. Door has a squid dreadlock hairdo and an eye tattoo shaped like a keyhole. All the denizons of London below are like the more extreme new romantic clubbers from the days when a night out was more like a fancy dress party; the bad guys croup and Vandemar are like the fox and the cat in Pinochio - Vanmdemar is dressed as a teddy boy, a British youth movement whose adherents very worryingly kept on going with the Edwardian day-glo suits and flick knives well into their 40's and 50's. In all my years of comic strips until now, the only main characters I've designed up until this point have been Kev and the dog from Preacher: All the others were redesigns on established characters like Slaine or my versions of archetypes like Judge Dredd or Daredevil; - Also this book is very drapery driven, hardly anyone in it is showing off their muscles (lots of cleavage though). It's all about how to draw clothes, so I'm giving it a go. I've got this crappy grey jacket that's never been ironed and I sit in front the off the mirror in my studio waving my arms about to see where the creases go. Liam Sharpes 'Event Horizon' is doing fantastic business, went down a storm at the Bristol Convention and is well worth your hard earned cash. For me Chris Weston's Heinrich Maneuver is a fantastic new character in the making, can't wait to see more of him. Liam's work is exactly the way it should be. I love to see his arty side in full swing, he's like an evil barbarian Edward Burne-Jones. Read the SFX review here - and I did the gorgeous girl alternative cover! See more about Mamtor here It's a very tasty package with more that just a hint of golden-age Heavy Metal about it, and hopefully will be around for a long time to come. Diamond have already ordered 2 reprintings as demand has outstripped supply. Good on you lads, keep up with the brilliant work: I'm going to be doing some more stuff for issue 2, of which more later. Congratulations to my good friends Alan Mitchell & Tanya on the birth of their daughter Annu. That's it for now - my current checklist at the moment: Graphic Novels & Books: Dead or Alive collected Preacher covers by me & Garth (DC Vertigo) Slain the King (by Pat MIlls Titan Books) Thor - Vikings (Marvel Comics Graphic Novel by Garth Ennis) The Authority Kev (Wildstorm Graphic Novel by Garth Again) Endless Nights (one of seven chapters by DC Vertigo by Neil Gaiman) Monogram (My sketchbook in print) Muscles in Motion (my sketchbook in print again but with more text) Anatomy for Fantasy Artists (some of my writing and drawing plus a load of other people in their) Howard the Duck (by Steve Gerber, one chapter) Global Frequency (by Warren Ellis) 3 covers for Sal Abbinanti 8 Magic the Gathering cards 5 covers for the Magnificent Kevin by Garth Ennis & Carlos Esquerra for Wildstorm comics: chapter three of the Kev: Authority saga Event Horizon: Alternative cover Mamtor Publishing - sold out! Neverwhere ( buy neil Gaiman & Mike Carey for DC Vertigo. Thanks once again to computer genius Tony Luke for pressing the right buttons and helping me with, and meet my deadlines for the covers of Kev & Neverwhere I don't know which end of the computer the toast pops out of: all of this website is my lovely wife Nikki's work; I'm always getting messages from computer types saying what a great job I've done but I don't even know how to answer an email by myself Love to you all Glenn
Today's
date 20th January 2005 Hello! It's been a very very long time since I've dusted the cobwebs off the site, and the simple reason is this: not enough hours in the day or money in the bank, what with the mortgage and the kids and the deadlines and the bloody exchange rate; all the work there is to do and all the work that hasn't been done or hasn't been done well enough. I've still got to finish your girl with the lizard in Monument valley (you know who you are) I promise that I'll do it this month (February). Things that have been done For Quarto Publishing - 'Dynamic Anatomy for Fantasy Artists' - a collection of tips and hints and original artwork for different body types for aspiring pencil pushers. Originally I was to be the sole contributor but in the end I did the muscley woman, the ogre, the goblin, the cover, various illustrations and a step by step painting and some of the writing, which was mostly rewritten or edited in such a way that it bears little resemblance to my original text. (They took all the stupid jokes out),. But I believe that the main thrust of the information disclosed is sort of intact: There are some good drawings and painting in it - Liam Sharpe (of whom more later) also contributes (and Greg Staples too). Kate and Claire were good to work with but at the end of the day we couldn't access enough archive material and they pay bugger all. Monogram My collected sketchbooks, printed up by IDM publishing and Maria Cabardo, hard cover, biog, lots of drawings of women leaping about. These sketches were done to give me a reliable source of information about the human figure in motion and you can see some of them on this site all animated up. They weren't meant for publication, but they were lying around when Maria visited so she took them and printed them up. Available from here for £25 and I'll do a little sketch and sign them for you: you can also get them from Bud Plant or Diamond, but I wouldn't see any cash for that (we sold them retail). It's quite a thick book (as in width) with some of my best work in it. DC / Marvel 'Thor-Vikings' by me and Garth Ennis is still available (I think), 'The Authority - Kev and more Kev' are going to be collected as a graphic novel in April 2005 from Wildstorm. It got good reviews as a monthly and is very rude and funny. Cheers Garth again. Apparently it's been 10 years since Preacher first started and DC Vertigo are reissuing all the books with a makeover (I don't mean a free visit to Trisha, they've glammed the package up or something). 'Endless Nights' by Neil,Gaiman, for which I supplied the artwork for one of the chapters, has led to an adaptation in comic form of one of his novels 'Neverwhere', scripted by the very talented Mike Carey and drawn and inked by me with covers by me and the fabulous Tony Luke and his computer trickery. (Tony's going from strength to strength with his computer generated metal death god 'Dominator' - 3 more movies in the pipeline: find the details on Tony's Renga site. You can bet though that you'll be able to read 'Neil Gaiman' much much larger than any of us plebs on the covers: nine issues due out imminently and by far the main body of my work right now, and the best stuff I've done for interiors for some time now. Other Work Magic the Gathering cards for Wizards of the Coast - I've painted three of these so far with another three to do next week and hopefully it'll be on ongoing gig. The weird thing about it though is this: there's possibly five guys in the whole country painting these things (Kev Walker and Greg Staples do some incredible work on them - bastards!) the main body of these artists being from the US. One of the very best guys John Avon is British, and get this, our kids go to the same school! In fact I saw him before I knew him in the school playground Nikki had sequestered all these books he was chucking out for the school library. What are the chances of that happening (as harry Hill would say). I know you Americans sometimes think that there are only 35 people in this country - sometimes it feels like it! Atomika Two of my best paintings recently have been done for Sal Abbinanti, Alex Ross's art agent, who's putting together this comic about a Russian superhero made of cobalt who walks around in a red toga. (More information is available incidentally). Sal introduced himself to me in San Diego. He's a big, likable, confident guy, well-connected, well-dressed, the business: he'd seen some of my paintings at Simon Powell's underground art vault and commissioned me to do some stuff for him. The down (or up) side of the equation is that the other painters on this project are Alex Ross and Bill Sienkiewicz, the biggest bloody names in the world of sequential graphical narration (comic books n.b.) So this means I have to be on top of my game ion that company, and everything I do for Sal has to be as good as I can possibly make it...I try to kind of take that a[roach with everything I do but that really puts the pressure on...... Atomeka (with an e...) Have reprinted 'Bricktop'n from A1 magazine in one handy volume - very, very silly - the story I mean! OK - this is the way my life is right now... 6.30-7.30am Kids wake up, wake us up, sometimes I get up first, usually Nikki 8.30am Kids go to school 8.45am gym 2 or 3 times a week or breakfast. Dodgy knee 9.30-10am Down to work 12 noon cup of tea, read mail. 5pm make kids tea and muck around a bit. 7.30pm bed time clean teeth, read stories. 'Groo' is very popular with Tom (8) right now. 8pm back in studio, work through to 11pm some nights. Some nights 1 or 2 am. 6.30am Groundhog Day OK folks - will keep you updated a bit more regularly - More later ...Glenn PS Look on Liams new website for details of his new magazine to which I will be one of many contributors.
Hi Everybody Thought I'd write an update for this site as I've just been slagged off in Comics International for leaving it alone for so long!. The simple reason is of course that I'm a bit busy at the moment: There's family life of course. I can just squeeze in 5 minutes of quality time with Nikki, Tom and Kitty before launching into all the things I'm late with which are: The Authority: More Kev - one and a half issues done, including three painted covers. I've just seen the colours for issue #1 and read the script for issue #3 - both look and scan wonderfully, without giving too much away, there is a scene which includes a swamp fill of zombies, (I can never get enough of them, especially after developing repetitive strain injury in my forearm drawing hundreds of the buggers for 'Thor - Vikings'(currently out as a collection he adds as an afterthought)and one that you could help me with - a pile of pornographic videos with derivative titles. Garth came up with 'School of Cock' and so far I've added 'A.I. - Artificial Insemination', 'Jurassic Pork', 'Wanksters of New York', Baredevil', Humping Nemo', 'The Cat in the Twat', Starsky & Crotch' (thanks Nikki) and although I know it's actually a real porn 'ET The Extra testicle' because it's funny. I need some more funny ones, real or made up so if you have a good idea email me here and it could make it to the Authority. I'd just like to thank Tony Luke for helping me out with the Authority covers. He scans in the originals and jpegs them off to California after a bit of mucking about with the filters. He's very kind to do this as these days he's a very busy man, very much on top of his game with the 'Dominator' franchise. Also I'd like to thank Gary Lawford (Garibaldi) for his help not only in drawing loads of the buildings in 'Thor Vikings' but posing as Kev;s mate in the Authority. Liam Sharpe's in there too as 'Tiny', as are some of his mates and his local pub. I'm also working on some paintings for private commissions. I've nearly finished a Preacher one for John Bamber that I'll make up some prints of, and there's a woman in the desert with a Gila monster round her shoulders, a Marvelman I've got to do soon - prints of that I should think as well - plus my fantasy anatomy book for Quarto publishing; and it looks like my sketchbooks are going to be in print by the time I go to San Diego convention, which I'm going to attend. I'm going to Bristol this year as well, hoping to sell some original artwork and prints to pay for the San Diego trip. I'm having to do all this to make up for the lousy exchange rate and I'm just - only just, mind - able to pay the bills. A pound for two dollars! Gawd help us! I'll let you know how it all progresses and I'll try not to leave it so long next time. All the very best, Glenn Hello out there everyone in computerland Haven't written for a while, as I've been slaving away on Thor- Vikings for ages - there's about 2 weeks to go on it and then I'll never draw another Zombie Viking as long as I live. I ended up with RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) in my foream from drawing Zombie Vikings and now I wear an elasticated bandage (on my arm) and a pair of ear muffs(on my ears) so I don't have to listen to people saying 'repetitive strain injury in your right arm? How did you get that? (snigger, snigger)' Zombie bloody Vikings that's how! Anyway - anyone seen Daredevil on DVD yet? On disc two in the comics section that's my (unused) cover for Daredevil the Target #2 on Joe Quesada's desk, and they show a fair bit of #1's artwork during the Kevin Smith interview. I couldn't work out whether he was still working on the story or not, but if anyone gets back to me on that I'll let you know. The Sandman Book 'Endless Nights' is now out (I worked on the 'Destruction' story. First stuff-(apart from a trading card of Destruction-that I have done for that esteemed Vertigo mainstay. The book itself is a treat and looks ravishing. The other artists working on it are a bit too bloody talented if you ask me, and Neil Gaiman's done a fantastic job. I'm just writing now because Shelley from DC phoned this afternoon to say it's sold out of it's 100,000 print run in the first week - so my God I bet Karen Berger's doing handsprings down 5th Avenue. Many thanks to Chris Chuckry for supplying the wonderful colours on my pages - well be working together in a few months:- I've got the last few Zombie Vikings to do, then book two of Kev for 'The Authority' (Wildstorm). I've read Garth's script for issue 1 and it's a hoot: If you like the last story, you'll love this one, and I promise I'll tidy the inking up - for the first book I just banged out the drawings because I hadn't done comic strip work for 12 years and didn't want to bugger up my deadlines, but now, after a few books, I can do the stuff a bit smoother (I hope!) over it's 4 issue run. After that I've a six issue limited series for Vertigo lined up, and after that some form of surgery will probably be required (suggestions on the back of a £5 note to the above address). PS Tony Luke's film 'Dominator' got it's world premiere at the Duke of York's cinema in Brighton last week. It's Britain's first wholly computer animated movie, he made it in his shed and it rocks. There should be a link to his website from here. It was a great nite out. I spoke to Doug Bradley who co-produced it (Pinhead in hellraiser 1, 2 and 3) at the pre-film party and Liam Sharpe turned up, all the way from Derby with some copies of his possessed' out from Wildstorm now. I think it's his best work yet and deserves to be a huge hit. Incidentally Liam, his buddy Ben, and Gary Lawford, who all appear in Kev#1 as various SAS soldier buddies of Kev will all be back as conic strip characters in Kev#2. many thanks to Gary by the way for helping me with the cityscape backgrounds in the Thor books when my RSI caused problems. Well that's it for now. Next time I write I expect you to have watched Dominator and Daredevil on DVD, bought a copy of 'Endless Nights' and Thor 1,2 ,3 and 4 - I still to go, tidied up and done your homework and participated in some form of physical exercise while cutting down on the beer and chocolate. And no swearing. All the best and see you soon! Glenn PS - I will be selling the
interior art from 'Endless Nights' as a job lot at some point
in October when I get it back so if anyone wants to email
me an outrageous offer for all 17 pages then I look forward
to hearing from you! Hi Everyone. Just thought I'd let you know
how things are going. My hi-tech research facilities go into overdrive (£1.50 eBay) On a personal note I was pretty happy with the b & w pages, and I've stuck a few on the site. I hope they all come out OK in colour. No I've gone from 50-odd images a year to 4-5 pages per week of average 5 pictures per page my workload (and output) has increased exponentially and I haven't kept up with the site as I should: I'm getting about 250 hits a week at the moment: I'm assuming they're all the same 250 people, hoping week after week that something new will be added. Why not add your name to the Guestbook We could get a little club going. Oh and stick a question on the discussion board if you like. If we all stormed Wigan pier like the Vikings we could overthrow the government (maybe). I'd get t-shirts printed at least. Other stuff: I've done an episode of 17 pages for the Gaiman/Sandman book 'Endless Nights' - great colours by the way, and next on the line after two more Thor books is a four part Authority story by the sainted Mr Ennis featured the beleaguered 'Kev' and his misadventures with Tigers, the Authority and war in general. In the meantime, apart from just looking to keep up with the deplorable exchange rate, I'll be looking at things by Gil Kane and Jack Davis. How good were they! Cheers, Glenn Oh and you can have a look at some of my
sketches here Wow - I wasn't expecting that! Personally I'm pretty pleased with about nine pages of the drawings. I'm trying to be tighter on this than on the Kev work, and there are problems I need to sort out: the hands are mostly bad, for example, I need to do a smoother line, it's all a bit too knobbly. I'm immersing myself in Gil Kane (and Akira for backgrounds) in an attempt to subconsciously fix this. I promise you, gentle reader, that I'm trying my hardest to give of my best here. I will keep you informed of the the development of this project. Nearly done with the Infogrames 'Dungeons and Dragons' paintings. I'm just about to start Garth's 'Thor' series, 5 issues and painted covers. I have to apologise to anyone who has expressed interest in private commissions over the last few months: I'm sewn up for the next six months at least (which for me is cool). It's rubbish being self-employed these days. I hope you'll bear with me , I need the day job. If anyone's interested in signing me up for a weekly pay cheque and a sinecure please don't be shy (oh bollocks - I'll probably be at Macdonalds next week). Interestingly enough I was at the National Portrait gallery on Friday and I saw the free show there as I was smooching about.One of the three outstanding paintings in the show was by Phil Hale who's made the transition to fine artist. If you're in the London area it's well worth dropping by. Personal Note: have become emotionally attached to next door cat Woody. We've been feeding him while his owners have been on holiday and since then he's been hanging around my studio door. When I went into the house in Tuesday he was in the kitchen eating our cat's food as they (all four of them) looked in stunned disbelief. He's twelve with no teeth - what a bunch of pussies. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY - oh sod it.
Harem Scarem! Hello Computer people - it's been a while so I thought I'd put it an update before the cobwebs start clogging the place up. The exciting news this time is - nothing much has happened! I went over to Manchester University in a car with Dez Skinn and Garibaldi a couple of weeks back, a journey made that much more memorable by the fact that the front wheel was in danger of flying off for the last 12 miles. There was a show there with some dealers tables, some familiar faces from the comics tribe including Alan Grant, Steve Yeowell, Kev Walker, Carl Critchlow, and Steve Pugh. I helped matters tremendously by getting half-cut on 3 pints of lager. Everyone in comics is convinced I'm an alcoholic because everytime I see them I've been drinking. These are actually the only times these days that I go out so of course I've been drinking, people keep buying me drinks. Please stop it my professional reputation is in tatters (the fact that I could always turn them down is peripheral and frankly unlikely!). If the turn-out at Manchester was anything to go by, it's more likely that the kids at the show are accompanying the dad's rather than the other way around these days. Many thanks to the whole Sharpe clan - Liam, Chris and the kids and Liam's mum and dad for putting me up over the weekend in Derby. They've lovely place up there - a kind of mancunian version of Ballykissangel. Anyway apart from that it's been nothing but work for the last (nearly two months) on the Dungeons and Dragons thing - the covers finished and so are three of the adverts, I've one more painting to go so I'm hoping it'll all be done and dusted in a week or two which leaves things tight but doable for Thor #1. That's the trouble with self-employment, but it's better to have too much work rather than too little. Congratulations to John and Rachel McCrae,
proud mum and dad of a beautiful bouncing baby boy (Kirby
- cool comic name) by the way. Top parental tip from John
- he'd been warned to get all his sleeping done before the
arrival, but actually cut down on his sleep beforehand so
the transition would be less traumatic. Hi Computer Peoples. This is the latest update for the website. I've finished the first Daredevil installment, we're currently waiting on Mr Smith to supply #2, due to prior commitments with the Daredevil movie. In the interim, 2 projects have arisen: first is another Infogrames piece, the cover and adverts for Dungeons and Dragon's )it's all D's at the minute) for their Xbox game 'Heroes'. and then a four-part Mighty Thor story written by my bestest ever friend Garth Cruickshank (no Ennis Really). People will talk. I can assure you were not choosing curtains or anything. God only knows which (DD, Thor, D & D) will appear first but I will keep you informed. Despite coverage in Comics International and Wizard concerning my print I have only sold a disappointing 14 copies which leaves me tripping over lots of cardboard boxes of the poor girl. It is the life as the French people might say in English. No I won't drop the price as it's unfair to those 14 people (but not my Uncle who got a freebie). Apparently what's needed know are sketches of Marvelman Go on-make me an offer. I tell you what it's rubbish trying to be both a business man and a comic artist, All the best, Glenn Hello - computer people. The time has come for me to fill you in on the erstwhile TOP SECRET Marvel project. Ta Da Ta Daaa! (chorus of rusty trumpets). It's this - Kevin Smith, famous Hollywood star and director has written a four part Daredevil story for Marvel, and I've been chosen to pencil and ink it, and also supply the full-colour cover paintings for it, basically on the strength of my 'should be available finally' Authority book 'Kev' by Garth Ennis. Stuart Moore mooted me for the project - cheers Stuart, and I've been working on it for a bit, first book nearly done as we speak, or rather as I write it down and you read it later. For those of you unfamiliar with the estimable Mr Smith, his film career started with 'Clerks' which was really bloody funny, and then continued with 'Mall Rats' which I haven't seen yet, but has Stan Lee in it, (I saw a clip) 'Chasing Amy' (with Ben 'Daredevil' Affleck) all about how comic artists lead fantastically interesting sex lives with adventurous young lesbians, (It's a documentary I tell you), 'Dogma' with Ben 'Pearl Harbour' Affleck, Matt 'Mr Ripley' Damon and Chris 'he's bloody funny too' Rock, and followed that up with 'Jay and silent bob save the world, 'starring, er, himself and his mate (note to myself look his name up) and also featuring Ben 'Jennifer Lopez' Affleck and Matt 'Good Will Hunting' Damon, which had me laughing out loud with that whole 'clit' sequence (oh get it on video for gods sake). So there you go! I'm not exactly hob nobbing with the stars, (I don't know if they get hob nobs in America) but it's a bit more impressive than saying I'm off down the pub with Brian 'you can't park that car there' Hodgson from Tesco's you have to admit. Garth's met him of course (Kevin Smith not Brian Hodgson) and he's been writing a lot of comics of late since he's a big fan from way back (Kevin Smith not necessarily Garth Ennis). So that's the big news! Alright Richard Bloody Johnson, you were right all along. It's been tough keeping that secret, which I managed t do even on a pissed up weekend in Rathclyn island with Garth and John etc. I accidentally told Liam McCormack-Sharpe and deliberately told Nikki, and now I can unburden myself to you, my fans (Sid and Doris Bonkers). I feel free....freee! Ha Haha! I'll keep you informed as the work progresses. Then of course the high life - sipping cocktails out of Sharon Stones cleavage, that unfortunate dust-up with Sly Stallone and H from Steps outside the ultra-fashionable Dingbat club in trendy Stevenage, the music, the drugs, the personal jets and a lot of other stuff I promise to make up. Speak to you soon and remember - those 'danger high voltage' signs are there for a reason. Cheers - Glenn
Just a quick note and update to show you all that I love you, I'm thinking about you, and I've got stuff to plug (what a little corporate capitalist scum bag I've become). The print is , well, lurching off the shelves. I've sold 10 copies. (Thanks you guys!) And two of those are to my cousin Alison and my Uncle Alan but I'm going to be in Comics International next issue. There's an article about this website, a bit of an interview, and probably a competition too. As for rumours about my top-secret Marvel project - I cannot possibly comment until I'm given the all clear, but to quote no less a personage as Joe Quesada 'The new pages are fucking gorgeous!' - so there. Finally The Authority book 'Kev' should be out, or if it aint it will be any second now. I didn't mean finally as in I had nothing else to say: I meant 'Finally The Authority book is out'. Finally I do mean it for now, watch out for Global Frequency #3 as it's got 8 pages of my pencils and inks, and 14 pages inked by the beautiful and charismatic Liam McCormack-Sharpe. Out God knows when, but fairly shortly I think. All the best, Glenn Fast Breaking News! I've just finished my last Howard the Duck painting. Hopefully they'll be more Howard later on. The Authority special 'Kev' by Garth Ennis is out in August, 44 pages and 2 paintings, pencils AND inks and we're pretty pleased with it - so pleased in fact that after the TOP SECRET Marvel project, Kev will return versus the Authority in a 4 part special Garth is due to start work on soon. So if all goes well, I've got a whole years work ahead of me. The only other things are 'Global Frequency' episode 3 - I've done eight pages of it, but due to unforeseen and actually tragic circumstances, the script was delayed until I could no longer work on it in my full capacity since the TOP SECRET etc. has kicked in. But I am pleased to say that Liam McCormack-Sharpe will be helping me with his estimable talents and pens and inks and things to get it finished. The only other work-related news is that I'm doing a limited edition fine art print, signed and numbered, which you will be able to buy straight from this website shortly. And what I am going to do with this is show you how I do it, in stages scanned into this site as I complete the painting from start to finish. I'll tell you the materials and techniques I use and reply to any questions it progresses, so you'll probably just copy it and tell me to sling my hook when I ask you to buy it, you bunch of ...er...lovely people. The first installment is on May 23rd 2002. Hopefully it'll answer a lot of questions I regularly get asked from people interested in my paintings. After that I'm off on holiday with Nikki and the kids, so I won't be at Bristol this year, but I promise I will be there next year (probably with a sackful of unsold prints). Also by the way I saw Kev Sutherlands comedy show 'Rude Health' down here in Brighton the other day which was great - apart from being called 'Fagin' all night (a new beard). See you soon - Glenn
Well, I met my deadlines by the skin of my teeth's skin and then went into shock. Many thanks to John Cedellero for sending me some super-sculpy - a type of space-age clay - with which I've been sculpting a tiny naked woman, who is now my friend. It's been going well but I really have to get back to business. I've actually been warned that both of my current projects are top secret, and my pitch to Vertigo is still under negotiation (wish me luck for that well-wishers). Many thanks to the estimable Gary Leach for taking on the inking for Howard the Duck #3: a fabulous job, as usual, from the great Mr Leach. Coming up: The Authority 44 page Graphic Novelette (with Garth Ennis) - I'm just finishing the second of two painted covers for The Authority. Planetary #3 by Warren Ellis for Wildstorm (pencils & inks, 22 pages & cover I think). More painted covers for Howard the Duck - I should be starting any second. All my paintings are still being purchased by Simon Powell, but my interior artwork will be available to my legion of devoted fans (Sid & Doris Bonkers) when it's returned to me - watch this space for more details. I'm still intending to get some prints out this year, and I'll make enquiries about sculpture if that continues to go well. All the best and take a look at my new question & answer page & soon to be created work in progress page ..... Cheers, Glenn Left - an unfinished duck It's the story of, er, Kev, who is an ex-SAS man drafted in to eliminate The Authority by his mysterious boss. It's also Garth at his funniest, and is a wild rollercoaster ride of white-knuckle tension, that once seen will never ever be forgotten. People will remember where they were the day they pick this one up, I can you, for decades to come. (Sorry bit strong that - too much caffeine). Next up is 'Birds of Prey' and 'Howard the Duck' both with drop-dead deadlines for the end of January. So! No more eating and sleeping for me 'til then! Ah-well sleep is for cissies. I'll write some more, and update the site, at the beginning of February 2002, when I have more time. Till then - be happy. I've finished the first cover and only had a day to do the cover for #2 for solicitation purposes. This is because of the work that I am doing for the Authority (see below). I'll finish off cover #2 by the end of November. In January I'm doing all of #3, in a childhood dream-come-true. Howard was my all time favourite book as long as Steve Gerber was writing it and he's written this one. Bliss. Outlaw Nation Unfortunately, this came to a close at issue #19. What with that, Steve Dillon and Brian Azzurello's 'Authority' is being undermined (I was to be painting the covers for that but it's been dropped from the schedule because of unfortunate similarities to the September 11th disaster). My only painted gig is Howard the Duck and some stuff I'll be doing for the 'Matrix' website. All the best, Glenn Fabry P.S. Thanks to Nikki for all
her hard work on this site. All this for less than minimum
wages and cups of tea. What an angel. |
|
here
]
