Thursday, December 19, 2013

Ninth Assassin designs

These were the final two assassin designs I submitted for the 'Darth Vader and The Ninth Assassin' series. They went with the second one in the end.


Friday, December 13, 2013

The Manhattan Projects

I read the first three volumes of Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra's 'The Manhattan Projects' recently. It's excellent stuff with a really bold look thanks to Pitarra and a very strong colour design by Jordie Bellaire (a little of which I tried to use in this shot). This is their alternate-universe version of Nazi rocket scientist Wernher von Braun.


Monday, November 11, 2013

Fantastic Four Vs. Super-Skrull


This is a commission I got through my association with John Byrne from Greg Goldstein at IDW back in August 2012. Mr Byrne doesn't care for colorholds (tinting the lineart), so it made for an interesting gig. This is the first time it's being seen in public.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Paul Bolgers Hound

Paul Bolger is a filmmaker, animator and illustrator based in Co.Kilkenny who has been planning a version of the Cuchulainn myth for as long as I've known him and quite a few years before that.
It looks to be a fantastic comic and film, please vote for it on this Guinness Arts Grant site to help him achieve the funding needed....






Here is the voting link  - 


ICN have run a little article too and also put up some final art for people to see here - 


Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Half Past Deadline

So, Mr. Mooney's excellent first issue of Half Past Danger is out today. I hope you'll all buy many, many copies. I know I will! (not really, he better give me a free one) Anyway here's my not-at-all finished piece in honour of this happy day.



Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Dial T For Tomorrowness

Tomorrow's the day. Here's a photo from the Big Bang comic shop in Dundrum, Dublin showing the first issue's arrival with their deliveries. I still haven't seen an actual copy myself, but from all accounts it looks pretty decent!



All I can do now is wait to see how it's received. The past 20 months have flown by so fast, it's crazy. Thankfully the book seems to have taken on some real momentum, and is garnering an awful lot of good will. I'm honestly truly grateful and humbled by that fact.

So. Roll on tomorrow...

BONUS!

Here's my fearless EIC Chris Ryall holding up a couple of copies of the second issue. I still haven't seen issue 1!






Sunday, May 19, 2013

Nick Roche - Issue 5 Variant Cover


Today's entry comes from the fabulously talented (and flamboyant) Nickelback Roche. Nick was at IDW way back even before I was, and blazed the Irish skidmarks therein. A master of all things Transformable, Nick always shows a whole different set of chops when unleashed on some honest-to-goodness human characters, like the HPD cast.  (Or are they..? They are.)

Nick has been pulling double-duty on HPD so far, along with being one of an elite-ish cadre of variant cover artists, he's been helping out a lot on the scripting front with numerous proof-reads and many excellent suggestions. I stole a couple of his lines verbatim for my pitch for the book. You're welcome, Nick.

It'd be hugely remiss of me not to point out the amazing Josh Burcham's colour work on this piece; as usual he took what Nick did and sprinkled gold dust over it. Josh coloured my favourite Nick-related TF project to date, Last Stand of The Wreckers, and I urge anybody that hasn't read that book by this point to find that sucker and eyehale it.


And yes, to those wondering, I DID ask Nick would he add a teeny Grimlock to the T-Rex portion of the cover, maybe peeking out of the jungle.

He, and Hasbro's lawyers, graciously declined.



Saturday, May 18, 2013

Big Bang Exclusive - HPD Launch Print


This is the print that'll be handed out Free with the first 100 copies of HPD issue 1 sold at the launch night in The Big bang store in Dundrum on Wednesday next from 6:00pm. Well, the first 99, since I plan on stealing one for myself.

I'm told the original art should be hanging on a wall somewhere in there too, so keep at least one eye open.

Can't wait for the launch party that night; seems like there'll be loads of Ireland's best and brightest joining us, and promises to be great fun altogether.

I'll also be signing copies of the first issue on the following Saturday the 25th, in Sub City Comics on Exchequer Street in town, from 2-4 in the afternoon, for those that can't make it out to the launch on Wednesday. Hopefully I'll see ye all at one or the other!

Friday, May 17, 2013

It's PJ!!

PJ Holden doesn't grace these digi-pages nearly as much as we'd like anymore (that said, the rest've us aren't exactly regular contributors these days...), but he still remains very much a founding member of the Micks. Gone are the days where he'd draw several great images for each theme, then not be able to decide on one, then re-draw it again, then lose the hi-res when the sketchbook is due out, then draw it again...

He's got one interesting attention span. Plus he's got amazing bloody talent. One of the most naturally-gifted of our gang for my money, PJ produces the goods week-in, week-out in the pages of 2000AD and the upcoming, fantastic-looking MONSTEROLOGY.


Thursday, May 16, 2013

Will Sliney + Guest Mick Tom Galvin

Will Sliney is another man who's really supported the book all the way along. He's doing great things over at Marvel and here at home with his Celtic Warrior book, which is selling like hotcakes.

Here, he depicts Irish and his whiskey, two pals ne'er to be separated.

Though, (ambiguous) truth be told, this is pretty much me on any given Friday night in the studio.



BONUS!

This is a pinup done for the book drawn by legendary Irish Storyboard and Layout artist, Tom Galvin.
I worked with Tom for 2 years in Dublin animation company Boulder media, in the BG department, straight after college. Tom is one of the most talented fellas I've ever worked with, and I learned an awful lot from him about basic storytelling and framing techniques, plus annoying youtube clips. We were led by the fearless David O'Sullivan, then head of the BG dept. in Boulder, now drawing The Crimson Blade for Atomic Diner comics!


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Declan Shalvey + Guest Mick Stephen Byrne

Declan has been a huge supporter of the series from day one, really helping me get the message out there and banging the drum for HPD. I owe him a lot, figuratively and literally. Here's his variant cover for the second issue, coloured by the delightfully red-maned Ms. Jordan Bellaire, to whom I am also in fairly constant debt. Top sort, both.


BONUS!
Also! Here's a rather great pinup done by the extraordinarily talented friend to the Micks, Stephen Byrne. Stephen is a Dublin-based comic and freelance artist who's really going places. I'm a genuinely big fan of his work, and am so glad he decided to aim his talents in HPD's direction. DIRECT HIT.



Tuesday, May 14, 2013

HALF PAST DANGER: T-MINUS 1 WEEK

This day next week sees the launch of the first issue of Half Past Danger, the book I've been working on for the last year and a half. It's been a long road, but I couldn't be happier with how things have turned out. I asked the other Micks if it'd be cool to have a week-long buildup here to count down the days to release, and if they'd all contribute a piece for the book. Everybody obliged with some truly amazing stuff; some of which you'll have already seen in one form or another online, but plenty of which you won't.

Tomm kicked things off yesterday with that bloody amazing new piece you can see beneath this post, and he's really set the bar right where I want it to be.

For today's post I'll show again all five of the images I've completed for the regular covers of the series so far, with the sixth and final cover still to come.

In the days to follow I'll post HPD images by each of the other Micks (assuming Thompson finishes his soon enough...). They're all well worth the wait!

Mooney





Sunday, May 12, 2013

Half past danger

Trying to rustle up something as a tribute to Steves upcoming masterpiece ...fun stuff






Saturday, May 11, 2013

Desperately seeking


They say God loves a trier, so he really must have a warm spot in his heart for myself and Dirk Manning. Now I'm back to the Micks after a prolonged absence and we're both back to Farseeker, now titled FARSEEKERS. Dirk went to C2E2 to do his magic and I put this piece together to gussy up the pitch. How far will things go this time around? Too early to say, but we're very hopeful indeed. In any case, I hope to be bringing the rest of our first story arc later this year, by hook or by crook.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Mirror, Mirror

This is one of the first things I've drawn in yonks- it's Ywehbobbobhewy, yucky minor god of magic mirror portals and it's (naturally) for a D&D book called PETTY GODS.
All a bit of cthulhu-y fun.

Oh, and be sure to go and pick up your FREE COPY of CLA$$WAR #1 today as part of Free Comic Book Day at Comixology! Written by Rob Williams, with art by Trevor Hairsine and colors by me.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

BOTTOM

In lieu of anything meaty to share, I thought I'd mark a return to this old place with this stunningly accurate photograph I took earlier today of Richie and Eddie off of 22-year-old sitcom, Bottom, a TV show emphatically not for birds, smashing blouses or not.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Night Ghost Colours

....Aaand the coloured version, which I got done over the weekend. Had a great time working on this; was nice to get revisit to the Atomic Diner characters. Hopefully I'll get the time and opportunity to do more covers further down the line.


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Night Ghost Inks Complete


Finished inks for this Atomic Diner cover. I'll stick the coloured version up next week, assuming i get it done in time around HPD deadlines.
Nobody tell Dec I posted this on a tuesday (his day for posts, remember those?)
Not like he ever looks at this thing anyway! SCREW YOU DEC!




Sunday, March 31, 2013

Peter and the wolf

This is just my "fan art " copy of the beautiful poster from the stop motion short Peter and the Wolf that won loads of awards a few years back. I love the intensity they achieved in the puppets eyes.


Monday, March 11, 2013

Night Ghost Cover In Progress



Me again! Been neglecting the Micks blog so much lately that I figured I'd post twice in the same day.
This is the cover for an upcoming NIGHT GHOST one-shot, and marks my first work back at Atomic Diner in over 6/7 years (since whenever Dec was on Freakshow and I was doing variant covers, when the hell WAS that?)

I've been working on this bad boy for two days now, and it's still not bloody finished. Probably because it has almost all of the Atomic Diner characters ever ('cept the Freakshow crowd...sniff) on there. Composition for this thing was tricky.

I'll post the finished piece up here whenever I eventually finish it...

Trinity College Lecture





This March is Irish Comic Book Month, and as part of this event two Irish comic book publishers, Lightning Strike and Atomic Diner are hosting a talk discussing Irish Comic Book production in Trinity College Dublin. I've been invited to participate in the lecture, and am delighted to do so, since both my mother and my wife have/are attended this prestigious seat of learning.

Guests include myself(Mooney), Declan ShalveyRobert CurleyDarrin O'TooleRobert Carey and CiarĂĄn Marcantonio, so a wide spectrum of Irish comics are covered; from those working in mainstream comics, to creator owned comics, to self-published comics and so on. 

The Lecture will be hosted in the Trinity Arts Building, Room 2041B at 7.15pm, and is free for all to attend.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

New Amperduke dudes


New Amperduke book in pro-ducks-shun yall http://clamnuts.com/comic/about_tourist_trade/

Friday, February 1, 2013

MEGATRON ARRIVES NEXT WEEK!


The Pencils for the 'Decepticon Hall of Lame' double-page spread from SPOTLIGHT MEGATRON, out next Wednesday. And the issue commemorates my first professional Mick crossover, as Len O' Grady of this parish is the colourist on this bad boy! Come see what happens when Friday and Saturday collide!

Folk in the Dublin area are going to Micked up to the eyeballs all day that day too: I'm doing TWO signings between the hours of 1-6pm in the City Centre (please click http://nickroche.blogspot.ie/2013/01/megatron-only-needs-one-shot.html for details) while Wondrous Will Sliney is celebrating the start of his Marvel career at Big Bang Comics in Dundrum at 6pm. Add to that new releases from Dec and Len on other titles on the same day, and it's quite the week. Thanks for all the support getting us this far, guys.

So yeah, if you can't come along to meet us, please give this book a chance. Not a Transformers fan? This is a self-contained oneshot that aims to be a good comic first, and a Transformers book second. The current batch of writers at IDW, myself included, treat these gigs with a creator-owned zeal; we care because we want you to. So wanna see a fun, action-dominated issue dripping with character, wit and war-mongering where the Leader Of The Bad Guys wakes up to find his Treacherous Lieutenant has run his army into the ground? (It's THAT easy to set it up!) Then please give SPOTLIGHT MEGATRON a spin, available in pulped wood format, or digitally from IDW, Comixology and other places from the future.

Love you, don't die.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Dino-Back

Sorry about the delay. we lost the keys to the blog and have been locked out. Flippin' freezing here. Someone turn on the heating.

Here's something else from last year that's finally started to trickle out to stores - the four-part cover to IDW's Rage of The Dinobots series. The Retailer Incentive variant of the series features a section of this mammoth (that was later, wasn't it?) beastie. #1 & #2 are out now, so get your LCS to keep you a copy of the remaining two and collect the set!

And wait until you see it in glorious Lafuentecolour...

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Winter Soldier Cover Concept

Happy New Years folks! Here's another unused Winter Soldier cover concept to kick off the year :)

Dec.