I Believe in Father Christmas

2016…bastard year that it is…took another great from us this month. ProgRock doyen, and progenitor of THE greatest Christmas song EVER, Greg Lake, slipped away from us. I wanted to mark the occasion so I drew this…it's my Christmas Card to you all.
As we coast gently into Christmas remember, as Greg says in the song, the Christmas we get we deserve…so please make sure you earn, emotionally, the best Christmas you can possibly have.
Season's Greetings Planet Earth.

Excelsior Out!!

Welcome to The People's Republic of WITTERTAINIA!

In the light of the world's current political meltdown we need a country of our own. Somewhere that represents our values, our interests, our inherent love of Jason Isaacs. The great Witterpedia has the answer…the newly formed island province (probably in the Aegean Sea) of WITTERTAINIA!! I was asked to contribute currency designs (see attached) and I thought I would contribute a "Welcome to..." sign, done in a style to honour a certain "Old Trot"…a political leaning I share with the good doctor.

I hope Wittertainers everywhere take this on board and begin the clamour to gain political recognition for our little slice of cinematic heaven!!

Show we're LOVING THE SHOW STEVE, wondering if it's TOBY JONES OR NO-BY JONES & saying HELLO TO JASON ISAACS!!

EXCELSIOR OUT!!

Save us from Trumpville!!

The final colour piece of my attempt to insult one of the most ignorant, divisive lunatics ever to occupy the Oval Office. God help us all!!!

Excelsior Out!!

#NotMyPresident!

In the light of the Socio-Political disaster that we are all currently "enjoying" I cannot stand idly by without comment. So here it is...the rough pencil/tone version of my response to Brexit/Trumpville. Finished version to follow...and may God have mercy on our souls!!

Excelsior out!!

FANTV...The Lunatics have taken over the asylum!!

My caricature tribute to the guys and gals of FanTV! Tom and I were on Toby Tarrant's show on October 21st...and throughly enjoyed it! We'll be on again this Friday (November 11th) talking about Newcastle United and England!

Sky channel 212 Freeview 524

Excelsior out!!

VISIONARIES: Sometimes a strange notion...

Above is the pencil rough for, the first piece, in a project I'm calling "Visonaries". With it I intend to caricature my favourite directors, and their work. 

I'm starting with the great Guillermo Del Toro; in the image he is cradling his latest, multi tentacled, creation which is, in turn, reaching out to others of Guillermo's cannon.

Excelsior Out!!

Jason and the ARGUENAUTS

Suggested by a photoshop meme by the devoted Wittertainer @Witterpedia_net, the above piece is a mash up of three of my favourite things: Wittertainment (naturally), Jason Isaacs (hello, of course) and the late, great, Mr Ray Harryhausen.
Hope all concerned get a giggle out of it and thanks to @Witterpedia_net for a kick ass idea.

Excelsior Out!!

The Doctor is IN!!

In preparation for the release of Marvel's "Dr Strange" movie I have completed my caricature tribute. I cannot adequately express how excited I am by this movie, as the good doctor was always one of my favourites growing up. Steve Ditko's mind boggling visuals and Stan Lee's cod Shakespearean epithets really blew my impressionable mind. This creative comic powerhouse gives Scott Derrickson and co a mountain to climb in order to do the character justice. However everything I've seen to do with this movie has soothed my troubled nerves…it looks AWESOME!!!!
I urge one and all to dash out and see it when it materialises on October 28th.

Excelsior Out!! 

By The Hoary Host of Hoggoth!!

Sharing my pencil rough for my Dr Strange tribute (colour version to follow soon). It's a piece very much in the vein of my caricature hero Mort Drucker…intended to invoke a "Mad Magazine" vibe. Hope it hit's the spot.
The movie's director, Scott Derrickson, is goodly enough to follow me on Twitter so I'm hoping to impress him enough to snag a couple of tickets to the London premiere. Can't blame a guy for trying, right?

Excelsior Out!!

BAAADDDAAASSS!!

Ron Perlman is a man whose ass is BAD!!! Let's get that out of the way before we start...but he is also a gifted, fearless and powerful character actor...with REAL character. He has played a dizzying variety of roles since he ambled on our movie screens, in 1981, in the prehistoric fable "Quest for Fire". Ron's sublime, unselfconscious, captivating performance; in that movie, announced a precocious talent...destined for greatness. Since then he's been behind some of the most nuanced prosthetic performances in movie history (Amoukar,Vincent, Hellboy), emotionally muscular action men (Johner,Rienhardt) and more exotic fare such as transgender computer hacker Phil in "3,2,1...Frankie Go Boom". 
My unabashed admiration for Ron has lead me to try and capture him in an illustration. Above is a caricature portrait that seeks to show something specific about him. I've tried to catch a particular vulnerability behind his flinty, badass exterior. 
It's well documented that the Hellboy movies were designed to be a trilogy, thus far we've had "Hellboy" & "Hellboy2: The Golden Army". Both Ron & director Guillermo Del Toro want to complete it but, due to an inexplicably limp box office return on the first two, it looks like that trilogy may never come to fruition. I know that this situation is a source of frustration for both men...but Ron in particular suffers the injustice of it.
I have therefore shown him flipping Hollywood the Hellboy bird but, behind his eyes, I wanted to show some of that hurt...I think I have managed that but I'll leave it to the wider audience to decide.
For my own part I hope against hope that someone, anyone, will float Guillermo and Ron the necessary dollars to complete the story...a story of one of the most unique creations in comic book history. Whomsoever has the balls to do that will be judged by history as a person of wisdom and character. In the meantime all we can do is keep the faith and stand strong for the Red Right Hand of Doom!!

Excelsior Out!!

Welcome to TRUMPVILLE!!

Here's an image that speaks for itself!! Jimmy Stewart meets Donald Trump!!! May God's ministers and angels of grace preserve us!!!

Excelsior Out!!!

P.S. Fuck Off Donald!!!

Brave New World

Hopefully Sam can motivate a disperate, feckless group of entitled millionaires to actually win something while wearing an England shirt. Hopefully!

Excelsior Out!

Wittermon…gotta catch 'em…both?

As a founder member of The Church of Wittertainment's "Cartoonist Corner" I've been a little remiss with my illustrations of Mark and Simon. I had planned to do another "Cruise" parody with Mark being tortured by Steven Spielberg over what Jaws is actually about, until @witterpedia_net intervened.
The suggestion was floated that I do a Pokemon caricature featuring our favourite flagship film show presenters…this image pretty much popped into my head, and here it is.


Blimey Charlie!!

Excelsior Out!

A Kind of Magic

My tribute to one of the greatest, most influential, bands this country has ever produced. One of my personal favourites, they always figure, in hard rotation, on my IPod.
A wildly charismatic frontman working with musicians/writers of surpassing skill and artistry created... the majestic Queen. Purveyors of high camp and hard rock, in equal measure, for more than 20 years they reigned supreme in the music industry.
Their musical legacy? Hey…it's a kind of magic!

Excelsior Out!! 

It's all too beautiful...

Having been re-introduced to the delights of Mod band The Small Faces (by my daughter Grace taking me to the brilliant musical "All or nothing") if felt compelled to create this illustration.
A tribute to this wonderful, underappreciated, band...done in a self conciously "retro" style; I have tried to evoke the period to properly frame the band.

Excelsior Out!

Tatooine Sunset: Mark Hamill vs The Kinks

The colour version of Mark Hamill's legendary Kinks interview. Mark's obvious love for his subject matter shone through every word of both interviews…here's hoping a reunion is not far away.

Excelsior Out!

Interviews with a Jedi

A piece inspired by the great Mark Hamill's interviews, in The Big Issue, with Ray & Dave Davies. Surely only a true Jedi could sit down with these two legends and come away unscathed!! This is the lifework…colour to follow.

Excelsior Out!!

Mick and Dave

Two old mates having a lark about for charity created something iconic…something wonderful. The original intention was to perform a duet live, across the Atlantic. When the technology prevented that, heads were scratched. Bowie suggested he and Mick go up in the Space Shuttle to sing to the world! As AWESOME as that would've been Mick pointed out that neither of them were astronauts; forgetting, of course, that Mr Bowie was Major Tom!

Five months on from David's death and still no one is quite coming to terms with it. Doesn't matter what you wear…just as long as you are there.Every guy grab a girl…everywhere around the World there'll be dancing…dancing in the street.

Excelsior Out!

Two Old Pals...Dancing in the Street!

Pencil rough for another Bowie tribute...this time with his old mate Mick!!

And if they did have a passionate, emotional affair in the 70's...good on them. It's Bowie for christ's sake...who wouldn't?

Excelsior Out!

BOWIEOKE!

Ok this is FAKE...but imagine if it came true...and was streamed into cinemas and venues all over the world? It would raise millions for cancer research overnight and be a monumental way to celebrate an authentic genius.

#JustSaying

Excelsior Out!

It's a crash course for the ravers!

My completed Bowie tribute...created in an attempt to mark his passing in my own small way. I tried to capture as many facets of the man as possible but...how can you know the unknowable, how can you represent a dream, how can you draw an inspiration?

It's been over three weeks now since he passed and I still have not come to terms with it...maybe I never will.

He has left us but, rest assured, he has not left us alone. The sound, the vision...the man will never diminish, he has too much work to do. For every confused and broken soul born into this life...Bowie's teachings await. Whatever the pain...he has lived it, whatever the sadness...he has the poetry and however the alienation bites...he is the balm that soothes and say's "It's a crash course for the ravers, it's a drive-in Saturday"

Excelsior Out!

A crack in the sky and a hand reaching down for me.

As part of the "Blackstarman" development process I'm now posting up the finished black linework. In a departure for me i've inked directly over the pencil line and kept some of the loose quality of that original pencil in. It's part of a conscious effort not to "slick" things up all the time, keep textures and accidents in. 

When time allows I'll get to the colour.

Excelsior Out!

And the stars look very different today...

Just over a week ago a great artist left us and, not having come to terms with it or my efforts to mark his passing, I have created this caricature tribute. This is the pencil rough from which I will develop the finished piece. This will take a while but, once complete, maybe I will begin to find the will to finish this chapter of his story.

It hit the world hard, you need only cast a glance at social media to see that, but that which he left behind will endure. As long as there are broken souls to heal or burning hearts to quench...his music will be there. As long as there are minds to blow or lives to change...David Robert Jones will be there to guide us...and, in his tender care, we will find our way home.

Excelsior Out

The Eyes have it...

That which inspires also challenges,informs...and sometimes changes. 

When transcendent, however, this inspiration opens an eye in the heart which can never close again. 

But, as with all things, even transcendence must pass...and when it passes the World fractures. 

Into that fracture pours all expectation, grief, agony and worship.

Finally, all that remains is etched in the soul...eternal.

And that which remains....is...LOVE.

Sons of the Silent Age, they never die they just go to sleep one day.

Excelsior Out