Doodles

Not had much time for working on the comic recently. Done a few character sketches while waiting for playblasts etc. at work tho.

The past weeks Von Spleen comic running on my website is something I did a test animation for when I was still considering turning this into an animated short film. I thought it would be interesting for anyone reading the comic to see the animation.

I drew this story and animated this clip almost 2 years ago now, I’ve kind of moved on from it but I still want to put it all out there as it’s still an interesting little story. So if you want more just visit www.dougwilson.co.uk every Mon-Wed-Fri for a new page of the comic.

How to make comics

I’ve been reading a how to draw comics tutorial by Jonathan Lemon who creates Rabbit’s Against Magic. I’m always interested to hear process information from other cartoonists and this was quite helpful in working out my own working method.

http://www.rabbitsagainstmagic.com/how_to.htm

I was intrigued as to how he lays out his comics into the different panel sizes/variations in layout and unfortunately he doesn’t go into detail about how he does three panel and other sized strips. I have found a method for myself and created all the possible template I will need for my new project. Even sketched out the first strip the other day and will try inking it as soon as I can print out the rough.

Building worlds

I've been thinking a lot about what I want to put into my next comic strip project. I’ve found a lot of my work has been a little too left-field and weird and consequently hasn’t really connected with many people.

So in my new project I’ve been trying to build a story around real life events/characters. Not totally a journal comic because I will stray pretty far from reality at times but I am trying to write about things I have experienced and witnessed.

I’ve noticed that the true stories I’ve written out both in comic and text have gotten a much better response than anything else I’ve worked on and I’m keen to see if I can harness that kind of writing into a comic strip.

It is interesting trying to figure out how far to abstract the reality. I was talking it through with my girlfriend and she pointed out that I was getting too high brow with an idea (a character with multiple personality disorder) and I realised that I need to keep the overall idea quite basic so that I can apply any and all events/situations onto the characters. I still think I can use that idea down the road as a storyline but it doesn’t need to be a main character trait. The basic characters need to be simpler so they can fit into any story I give them.

More sketchbook

Getting used to drawing the characters in various poses. Generally designs tend to get simplified the more you draw them, I want to have drawn these guys a lot before I start doing proper strips. It'll always evolve but I want to get any major changes out of the way before I start.

Sketchbook

Here's a sneak peak at my new project, the three main characters and a possible title. Much to do but enjoying working toward something again. Currently writing out scripts/storylines/gags and figuring out a structure. Fun!

Character designs

Some more character sketches for the new project.

Some more sketchbook pages. Hand poses and character posing. Working on a new comic idea which will show up on my website in the near future. I will be posting more development stuff in the next couple of weeks. Just trying to fit it in around work and life!

Here's some development artwork i've been working on for a personal project. Was looking at some jamie hewlett artwork for inspiration on the car design.

Cloudbabies

This is the project I'm currently working on at Studio Liddell. More news and info to come!

Bloodwhat comicbook is now available through Lulu.

£12.

Please share
http://tinyurl.com/3lul46m

I've recently started a new job at Studio Liddell in Manchester as character animator on a childrens TV series. Can't reveal anything about the show but will post any work/info when I can. In the mean time I am fired up for doing my comics stuff again and I think being in a creative atmosphere at work will help me get more done on the side. Plus I have a half hour commute in the mornings which I'm hoping to utilise for writing/brainstorming ideas. Watch this space!

Working on some animal shots and some fight scenes for a new reel focused on VFX and games animation. This is something I have very little experience of so it's fun trying something new and expanding my horizon's a little. Video reference seems to be the mantra from most people in the VFX world so I have studied lots of reference footage and cut together a couple of parts for this shot. Think it's going well but the polish is where it gets difficult. I really want this tiger to look and feel real.

I have been drawing a lot more recently. Hopefully building up to a new film/personal project. I wanted to do some background studies and tests so I took a journey through Flickr and drew some random images. These are both traditional pencil and coloured in photoshop. They bear no relation to the upcoming project. More on that later. Just exercising the drawing muscles at the mo!