Why, yes. That’s right. A little more Books Vs Cigarettes over at Geek Syndicate as everyone gets ready for the SFX Weekender!
SFX Or Bust!
1
Tag Archives: Arty Things
Books Vs Cigarettes Webcomic
‘Books vs Cigarettes’ takes a not entirely serious little wander through the world of Genre Lit. It’s the stuff we love but, as with everything, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t come with a sense of humour!
Wondrous words from Danie Ware. Dubious illustration Sarah Anne Langton. And hosted each month by the lovely folk at Geek Syndicate.
Books vs Cigarettes #1 The Perils Of Paranormal Romance Beware smouldering vampires and frisky werewolf’s… nothing good will come of it…
Books vs Cigarettes #2 Post Paranormal Romance Blues When a little light Sword and Sorcery goes tragically wrong…
Books vs Cigarettes #3 Steampunked The lure of the dirigible and corset goes horribly wrong as somebody starts to investigate the world of Steampunk.
Books vs Cigarettes #4 SFX Or Bust! Be prepared… the SFX Weekender is upon us…
Books Vs Cigarettes Sir?
Might I suggest a stroll over to ‘The Geek Syndicate’, those fine purveyors of quality literature, for some comic book adventures Sir? This week the ladies of ‘Books Vs Cigarettes’ encounter Steampunk during a epic yarn of corsets and goggles that is sure to please.
Have your man locate a copy for you directly.
Yuletide Pandemonium
Want a little Pandemonium in your Christmas stocking? Sure you do. As a seasonal follow-up to the very lovely armageddon anthology ‘Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocylpse’ you can now treat yourself to three darkly comedic tales with this dinky download from Team Pornokitsch.
Three unclassifiable short-short stories from three of our favourite unclassifiable authors. Den Patrick contributes “The Shock of the New”, a stirring tale of an alternate WWI (bonus: Tesla cannons!), Archie Black is a fly on the wall at “Villainy Fair”, a gathering of storybook villainnesses and Oz Vance introduces a deeply mediocre band of adventurers in “The Season”
Plus… uhm…. you get a wobbly drawing of the ‘Jurassic Publishing’ dinosaur, all of your very own, as I got busy with the crayons.
Go nuts and grab yourself a Kindle copy of the ’Pandemonium Stocking Stuffer 2011′ on Amazon UK or Amazon US! Full of awesome from top editor folk Anne C Perry and Jared Shurin.
Books Vs Cigarettes… Or ‘My First Webcomic’
Drawing a webcomic sounds fun. Sharpen those pencils and off you go. Easy. Well, till you realise that you actually have no idea what you’re doing. But, Hell, that’s never stopped me before. Armed with wondrous words from Danie Ware a page appeared. And, somewhat bizarrely, people seemed to kinda like it. Including the lovely folk at Geek Syndicate who’ve now given it a home.
The first instalment of ‘Books Vs Cigarettes: A Sly Look At The World Of Geek Publishing’ is up ‘n live with The Geeks justy here!
(Please note future episodes will not include helicopters, forks, dogs, and other things I can’t draw.)
Portal 2 vs Alphonse Mucha
I really wanted to win the Portal 2 poster competition because you …erm… won a Portal poster. Well, it was that really smart 1970s action movie Portal poster right. Signed. Super.
Just design a Portal 2 poster. Okay, Alphonse Mucha designed far more beautiful posters than I ever could so Portal 2 vs Alphonse Mucha.
I Demand A Magnetic Corset
Design Steampunk posters for a Forbidden Planet promotion? Why, yes I’d love to. So whilst digitally stumbling about for a bit of inspiration I found the mighty handy Advertising Archives. It’s a huge collection of promotional graphics from the pre-1900s onwards. Awesome. If you need to fake-up anything, from Art Deco travel posters to 1950s bad girl crime books, this is the very place to start.
Lurking in the archives I found this wonderful poster for Harness Magnetic Corsets. Yes, not just corsets, magnetic corsets! Why, they look totally safe. There’s lots of similarly amusing stuff to take a look at – from times when smoking was just great and the ladies should mainly aspire to a new gas cooker.
I went with ‘dubious looking gas mask’ for the Forbidden Planet poster. Though not after spending a lot of time lost in 1950s Cadillac ads and the apparent joys of crimplene.
If you need to know more there’s a full history of the mildly alarming magnetic corset at The Quack Doctor.
Robot vs Giant Squid!
Today I needed to draw something before the working world of Doctor Who action figures entirely destroyed my brain. Occupational hazard. And I love the Japanese woodblock prints designed by the artists of the ukiyo-e school. Exciting. Sophisticated. Perfect graphic art.
Ukiyo-e is derived from a Buddhist expression. It means ‘picture’ (e) of the ‘floating world’ (ukiyo). A world of urban pleasures and excitement to escape into. The theatres, restaurants, teahouses, geisha and courtesans of shogun era Tokyo.
Well, ‘pictures of the floating world’ sounds just great. I wanted to try to use the feel and style of the ukiyo-e school illustrations. It’s very tempting just to copy the amazing designs but I thought I should try and draw something from my world to escape into.
Robots and giant squid. Obviously.
There’s a great gallery of prints at, well, the Ukiyo-e Gallery if you want o take a look at the real thing.
Smouldering (Anatomically Correct) Babes
Todays job? Design a window display board for the Forbidden Planet art and illustration guides. Nice.
One of the titles to work from was ‘Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth’, by the amazing Andrew Loomis. A stunning illustration resource for anybody who can’t draw hands… well… or any other body parts really. Alex Ross, Dick Giordano and Steve Lieber swear by it apparently. If you want to draw 1950s style smouldering babes, or have never been very sure about noses, step this way. A nice man at just here has free .pdf downloads of many of his outstanding books.
I’m hoping for a future free from hiding badly-drawn feet now.
Sketches
