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A collection of vital visuals, daily, centred on comic books and cinema. Because their beauty must be preserved.
There are so many lovely images sitting on my computer that I would like to share with y’all, however most of them have yet to be previewed or even mentioned by the publishers that have commissioned them so I am unable to let u feast upon their chromadelic goodness for a while. This one, however, has just been previewed by DC Comics. It’s the variant cover to The Shade issue 9 (which I have also drawn the interiors for) and will be published shortly (as of this typing). I’m quite proud of it because of reasons. I hope some of you like it too (and then go buy the comic/legitimate digital download).
This is the cover to Higher Earth issue 3, which was just unleashed for solicits today it appears. Sometimes the previews for my covers get chucked into the cyber-web without being colour corrected back from CYMK to RGB, and so they may look a little garish if one sees them on comics news sites. On tumblr however, I control the vertical, horizontal, and diagonal, as well as the colour profiles. One thing that ran thru my mind as I made this cover was how pretty much all the work I am doing now will be seen on those gorgeous GORGEOUS high definition tablet screens such as the new iPad, and how that affects what sort of detail I put into the art. This particular cover has some small figures, but it was important to ensure that when the digi-crowd zoom in on the art that there is something else waiting for them in the pixels, so I drew detail which wouldn’t normally show up in print with that in mind. And all for the same page rates! Us freelancers, we’re crazy.
Another cover to release into the wild. It’s for another new series published by BOOM! and is written by my long-suffering Gutsville collaborator Simon Spurrier, so it will be a good read. I have noticed of late, that the colour settings I have for print often lead to my images looking rather lighter than intended when viewed on a computer screen. I suspect this one will suffer that a touch, but the print version will look as I intended. All of this will be redundant once I start making comics purely for the wonder that is the retina screen of the new iPad. I’ll probably have to increase the resolution of everything as well, come to think of it…
The book this is the cover for is published on the 14th of March I think. It’s a repackaged volume of Alan Moore DC Universe stories, and includes the Killing Joke. It’s nice to be able to post some of this stuff after it has simmered in my Hard Drive for so long…
“I drew Alan cos I’m a fan of his work and his musings… I always admire folks who can communicate their everyday thoughts in a colourful and compelling manner, plus he seems to have an excellent sense of humour so I figured he wouldn’t be offended if he ever saw this image. As to why he is flowing from the ink bottle, well it started out as a simple portrait and then I got the idea to make him a wizard, and then that just turned into a genie, which was enhanced by the ink bottle as it ties it all in with the printed matter/comic book inking thang.”
- Frazer Irving
Well, this saves me having find my own scan and upload it. Splendid.
The final stage in this process I’m showing you (well, unless I decide to post the actual published version after despite it probably already being on the internet) has the drawing finished and what I considered to be the final colours also. However, the hooded dude on the left needed to be another hooded character, so that was on the list for correcting, as was the colour of Catwoman’s goggles. It’s good that my eagle-eyed editor spotted these errors in time, otherwise it could have been quite confusing for the readers. Also note the small figure of Robin on the right trying to get into the frame. This is my idea of a joke.
DC comics for April 2011: Frazer Irving has a great style, but this is a fantastically arresting visual for the cover of Xombi #2. Perhaps it’s my Catholic upbringing, but a nun with guns shooting you makes me laugh.
DC comics for November: I posted the cover for the first issue, which also used the jigsaw theme that is used again in Arkham Reborn #2, both by Frazer Irving. I don’t begrudge an artist reusing an idea, especially when it works well and looks so good.
The Source had this eye-popping cover for Arkham Reborn #1, drawn by Frazer Irving. It sticks with you, doesn’t it?
