2012 looks set to be a good year for new comics and graphic albums, with the new Strip Magazine leading the way. Launched last October by Print Media Productions, Strip Magazine is described by the Publishers as ‘an adventure anthology comic featuring some great art and stories from some brilliant creators, including PJ Holden, John McCrea, Michael Penick, John Ridgway and many more!’ 

For more information about the Convention and Strip Magazine, please follow the links below.

It doesn’t end there either, as comic artist Tim Perkins recently published the first of his graphic novel series, Worlds End, Volume 1, The Riders on the Storm. Described as a ‘Science Fusion’ concept, Worlds End combines science-fiction and fantasy in an ‘all-ages friendly’ adventure.

Tim has a blog called Wizards Keep which has all the background information generally. To accompany the first volume being published, a very inviting website for Worlds End has also been launched.

Good luck to everyone concerned with these and other forthcoming publishing projects, onwards and upwards!

Chuck Yeager Page 1.

The two images shown here are pages from a story about the flight pioneer Chuck Yeager. The comic-strip look produced by Nick, can add to the eclectic ‘classic comic’ visual style of Dorad & Sirius generally, along with CGI models created by Mark Hirst and the large body of digital artwork that Marko Keränen has already provided.

Chuck Yeager Page 2.

You can see more of Nick’s work at his new website Nick Spender Illustrator.

At the same time, Marko Keränen’s website Lighthouse has been recently updated, with a gallery of illustrations generally, along with more recent work which he’s created as a comic artist.

While continuing with updating Lighthouse, Marko has been designing a new floating structure for Dorad & Sirius. Here’s a ‘sneak-peek’ of one version in a test render.

An ideal cetacean human home.

…Well, in a sense.

By conducting an extensive search in the video archive (in other words, sorting through things in the loft), I found my last remaining copy of the TV pilot, McMurdo – A Telecomic. Unfortunately, as the video above is from a VHS tape, much of the visual quality provided by Quantel Paintbox is lost in the low-bandwidth recording, but at least it shows the ‘Telecomic’ idea as it was at the time.

McMurdo - A Storyboard.

As well as the McMurdo pilot, there will be other videos as extra features in a similar way as this blog, with Dorad & Sirius now having a channel on YouTube.

On the tube!

As recently announced on the Down The Tubes site, David has set up a charity called Bus Fare, helping refugees and migrant workers visit their families, having been separated by either political or economic necessity. To raise money for the charity, David is selling some of his past artwork, including several Dan Dare boards from New Eagle.

Below is the promotional poster for the Bus Fare website, the photograph itself was taken on the Silk Route through the Nubra Valley, Ladakh.

Plenty of room on top!

If you are interested in buying David’s artwork and finding out more about the charity, please follow the link to Bus Fare below.

Additional artwork for sale, not currently on the site, can be seen at David’s Facebook Fan Page. So why not take a look and if possible, support a good cause.

Thank-you.

Welcome to TV21.

On the weekend of October 22nd – 24th, Fanderson – The Official Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society, held its latest full convention, TV21: Adventure In The 21st Century, at the hotel Ramada Bristol City.

The convention venue.

As with past conventions, TV21 featured numerous guests associated with Gerry Anderson’s productions, along with screenings of episodes and rare material, plus an exhibition room with artwork, models and props.

Artwork, models and props.

While certain areas such as the Dealers Room and Registration were open from 2pm on the Friday, the convention fully got under way that evening, with a special screening of the Barry Gray Centenary Concert, which had taken place at London’s Royal Festival Hall in November ’08.

On the Saturday, a unique item was the official launch and book-signing by Shane Rimmer, for his autobiography From Thunderbirds To Pterodactyls; the book itself being the first released title from the new imprint Signum Books (featured in an earlier post).

Shane Rimmer and yours truly.

The exhibition room featured a large collection of published artwork, including many boards by Mike Noble for TV Century 21.

Artwork by Mike Noble and Don Lawrence.

A Century 21 art gallery.

Also on display, Fireball XL5 artwork by Dan Dare creator, Frank Hampson.

Frank Hampson meets Century 21!

Among a display of original models and replicas, there were several examples from Space: 1999.

The iconic Eagle from Space: 1999.

It was clear from the general atmosphere that everyone, including the hotel staff, had enjoyed the weekend. Many thanks to Fanderson and everyone involved in making TV21 such a great event.

Signs of the times!

For more TV21 information, click on Fanderson’s own convention website.

More TV21 convention pictures here.

It's all in the mind!

Here’s Marko’s latest comic artwork test, this time dealing with the concept of teleporting across space. While in the context of the fiction, the telepathically linked humans and dolphins are able to teleport almost instantaneously over vast distances, it would be uninteresting visually if a spaceship was seen having arrived at a point in space, without having shown any representation of the teleporting process itself.

The ability of humans and dolphins to teleport over light years of space, offers plenty of scope for trying out imaginative ideas visually within the storyline.

Edited by Chris Bentley, who has written and edited several Gerry Anderson related books, the Century 21 series presents digitally restored reprints of classic adventures from TV Century 21 and the later comic Countdown.

A website for the new company has also been launched, which although in the process of being built, already has a feature on the history of TV Century 21. For more information about Signum Books generally, click here.

Having been teleported across many light years of space, over several stages, the spaceship Paxford arrives at a newly discovered Earth-like planet.

Panels of Paxford.

Here’s a ‘sneak-peek’ at another comic artwork test by Marko. As in the previous post, the images combine the features of Vue 8 and Manga Studio EX 4. As Marko said: “I used the Paxford 3D model for this one and added some characters too (extras I guess)”.

At this stage, the main point of the tests is to create examples of a distinctive overall look, by combining CGI elements with hand drawing and natural tones. So as the D&S tag line says, ‘evolution and imagination’.

Here’s a ‘sneak-peek’ at an early test, where renders from Vue were converted to a background tone with Manga Studio. People and other details were added with Manga Studio’s painting tools. The speech balloons were also added to round-off the ‘comic artwork’ look.

The Vue from here.

Manga Studio clearly has great potential for giving Dorad & Sirius the look of a classic comic adventure concept combined with up-to-date techniques. So then, onwards and upwards!

Described as ‘a celebration of all kinds of comics for all kinds of people’, the festival will include guest discussions about Eagle, which has a special significance as the event takes place shortly after the sixtieth anniversary of both the comic and Dan Dare on April 14th.