More Christmas

Bugger it.. I missed an opportunity here.. It was pointed out that he should have a Santa hat on... fuck it... I can't think of everything you know...

Happy Christmas.... AGAIN!!!

My Christmas Gift to you!

It aint much I know... but it's a damn sight more than you've given me you rotter!.. Here is a vision of Christmas in the Marvel comics universe (maybe).. and a glimpse at something different I've been working on.. cutesy Super types!... ooh... my secret is out!

Have a great Christmas, and best wishes for the New Year!

Shane

a Zombina T shirt?

You want one dont you... go on.. say you do... wouldn't it make a lovely present for that special person in your life.. I know I'd like one! Go tell the band that you want one for me!

You would if you loved me.

5 of 5 - sax appeal!

Finally.. Her is the sketch version of X Ray Speck.. Zombina's erstwhile 'live' saxomophonist. This bugger has taken forever to get right, and I'm sure the design will change again when I start working it up in Illustrator. It's all the fault of that bloody sax!

I sent the finished characters for 'Zombina' and 'Doc' over to the band and got very positive feedback from them... they now want to see the whole band... YAY! (hence me pulling my finger out and getting 'Spec' done). If you head on over to the 'Zombina Army' myspace page, you will be able to download them as banner artwork... which is kinda neat!

I also submitted a 'tshirt' layout for the guys based on the zombina character.. I might post that in a bit... seeing as it's Christmas and all!

I have man-flu by the way.. it's not looking good!!!

In the words of Professor Hubert Farnsworth...

"GOOD NEWS EVERYONE"..

Just to let you know I have been chosen to be featured in issue 3 of New Sugar (coming shortly). I shall post the link on the blog when it's available. Please show your support and go check it out... there is also a little Q & A in there with me too!

4 of 5

Well... finally got the new Zombina CD... BLOODY MARVELOUS! So to celebrate, here is a sketch of the Bass noodler. I've still not finished the drummer picture off yet (I'm so damn lazy!)..

However.. I do have some 'sneak preview' news... my second book (and follow up to my first book!) is shaping up quite nicely... thanks for asking!

a man on fire!!

Damn.. I'm on a roll.. This pic of Zombina Drummer 'Ben Digo - The beat with 1000 eyes' is so hot off the doodle board it'll make your eyes steam up!

Who knows if I'll get through the entire band.. I'm liking this though, and looking forward to colouring him up!

Arse about face

For your viewing pleasure.. here's the sketch for 'Doc' complete with notes to self.

Return to the Island of the Skeletones

Well.. it's not really an island at all... more like another Manga inspired sketch.. This time it's Zombina's cohort in crime 'Doc Horror'.. really pleased with this one too!

In the words of the Addams Family song.. it's creepy and it's kooky... but definitely not ookie!

What could have been

I've pulled my t-shirt design at Threadless, and I won't be submitting any more. This is mainly because the scoring system is undertaken by (largely) brain dead monkey bums who are so anally retarded that it makes me swear and call them names in the forums on the site.

Quite frankly, life's too short to spend my time shouting obscenities at a monitor... when I spend most of my day at work doing it!

Feast your peepers on what could have been... the greatest t-shirt never made!

Harley Quinn

Finally!

Here's the worked up version of the Harley sketch. As suspected, she doesn't work so well in black and white... and she deserves to be in colour anyway!

There's a tenuous link in style to Mike Mignola somewhere in the design, but I can't put my finger on it!

Perhaps I'll try and enjoy it for what it is instead of analyzing it any more?

zombina...manga style!

To celebrate the release of the elusive new Zombina and the Skeletones album (and as mentioned earlier in this blog) here is my poster to honour the new music. I took a slightly different approach for this one, in that I was doodling away and created a little 'manga' style zombina.. it's kinda reminiscent of the 'taste the blood' era artwork from Art Balthazar, but with my twisted spin on things.. Really please with this, right down to the cuetsy colours and layout (which I built up by messing about in Illustrator).

If you spot the album anywhere, let me know... it's a shy little bugger!!

The T Shirt

Regarding my T-shirt submission at Threadless.com - 

go to: http://threadless.com/critique/395198/Horror Business Workers Union

and leave some feedback.

Thanks

T shirt idea

This is my tshirt submission at Threadless.com.. I could do with as much support as possible to get this off the ground.. It's a cool design (if I do say so myself) and needs to be worn by any self respecting Fiend.

Many thanks

Harley

Continuing the trend.. here's a 'sneak peek' EXCLUSIVE!! This is the sketch for Harley Quinn.. my favourite batman character. Not sure how this is going to work out as a duo-tone image.. but I'm going to have fun working it out!

I'm really pleased with the pose, and I'll refine the face in Illustrator later!

Beware the BAT!

Here's the next one in the series of my batman character interpretations for your viewing pleasure!!.. Pretty pleased with this one too!

beware the black cat!

Here's something that popped into my head on the way to work this morning.. I put a sketch of Catwoman together during lunch at work and worked it up in Illustrator. It kinda reminds me of some cover work that Shane Glines did on the 'Gotham Girls' comic for DC a few years back, but this pretty much has my stamp on it I think.. I really like it, definitely going to look into this a bit more.. She looks good in colour too.. but you'll have to take my word for that!

PARTY TIME!... in HELL!!!

It's almost that time of year again.. All Hallows Eve is soon to be upon us.. Here is my flyer design for the most happening zombie hop in all of the land.. It's for the CD release party for my buddies 'The Dead Pleasures'.. with artwork by yours truly!! YAY!!.. If you're looking for something to do that night (other than get fat eating treats)... get your glad rags on and slink over to Ironbridge and support the band.. I can't make it unfortunately as I will be hiding under my bed until the morning!!

I've also just realized that I haven't put my web address on the bloody thing.... DOH!!!.. what a tit!...

Bum flaps!!!!

Me am Famous!!

Finally.. A little recognition!! I am one of the featured artists in a brand spanking shiny new online magazine called 'New Sugar'.. You can visit it at :

http://www.newsugar.co.uk/newsugar-issue-1.pdf

and revel in the visual delights on offer... of which mine are (of course) some of the smoothest you will ever lay our eyes on...

The theme of the issue is 'No'.. so go check out all of my Star Wars based images (which would make great t-shirt designs by the way) and a few more treats.. There's even a little question and answer with me in there for your noodling pleasure!..

Chuffed to bits to be part of something new like this.. please show your support.

Remember, it's:

http://www.newsugar.co.uk/newsugar-issue-1.pdf

and tell them I sent you!.. then come back and let me know what you think... I'm lonely here all on my own!

GRRR!

This here is a poster I put together for an american bunch of horror punks called 'Calabrese'. I saw on their website that they were running a fan art competition, so I confidently submitted my design... Suffice to say I didn't win... but the artwork that did win was (quite frankly) shit!

That makes me sound really bitter.. and I suppose (deep down) I am a little.. My artwork was far superior to the winning entries and I'm just wondering what I'm supposed to do to get recognition for what I do..

I love the band and I'm really proud of this poster, but damn... they clearly don't know good work when they see it..

Congratulations to the fans that did win!!

With regards to my poster.. the keen eyed among you may notice that I've used the background in a previous poster (for the Postmortem Maniacs)... well done you!.. but because I didn't win a prize for my hard work...  you don't either!!!!  BWWAAAAHHAAAA HAAAAA HAAA HAAAA!

I'm off to sulk for a bit more now.. The Kittie poster is progressing slowly (because I'm working on a Children's book at the same time) and I've also started a celebratory Zombina poster for their new album.... Oh.. and I'm working on a flyer for the Dead Pleasures too and hopefully a sticker for 'Crrerature Feature.. who really liked my poster designs!

BOO!

Go with the flow!

Seeing as I'm feeling generous, here's a sneak peek at a work in progress! If you look hard enough you'll see the sketch lines in the layout in places.. I'll work this one up in Illustrator soon and decide on (and position) the type whilst I'm at it... I may try a different approach and work on colouring it up in photoshop... but I might not!... can you guess who it might be for?

SCIENCE FICTION DOUBLE FEATURE

Here's 4 posters for 2 more bands - Postmortem Maniacs a UK Based Horror Rock act, I created 2 variations for an A3 poster that they intend to sell at their gigs, and the Creature Feature ones happened while I was experimenting with a character design for the Grim Reaper.. when I started to distort the body the idea for the poster(s) was born. 'Creature Feature' are one of the most original bands out there in my opinion.. if you're a fan of Tim Burton/Danny Elfman you should really go give them a listen!

I sent the layouts for the 2 October gigs to the band this morning, and I'll await their feedback!

Next up... KITTIE are playing Central Station in Wrexham in October.... Hello poster design!!

No Turkeys for Christmas here!

Never one to miss an opportunity to support Zombina and the Skeletones.. how's this for recycling? This is the previous post's Santa pt to good use... this is an excellent bill as both Zombina and The She Creatures are 2 of the UK's most exciting bands.. Go on.. put a ticket on your Christmas List!

a more traditional christmas card... not!

Here is another proposed Christmas Card I've submitted to moo.com and perhaps one that's more in keeping with my usual tastes!.. meet the ghost of christmas night.... Merry Corpsemas!!

The Action Design

Here's another poster I put together the other day. This is for a great band called 'the action design'.. their debut album is due out in September (YAY!) and I thought I'd celebrate it by putting a gig poster together for them. I've done 2 versions, of which this is the first. I reworked the type quite a bit on this one before settling for a pretty standard 'baseline' layout.. I think the simplicity of the 2 colours work pretty well and it kinda has the 'feel' of their music somehow... sounds a bit daft.. but give them a listen and see what you think.

another poster... from the grave!!! BWAAHHAHAHAHA!!

Hullo.

Did this poster last night. Nice and simple.. I was really please with the sketch of Doyle.. shame that I can't get the same 'feel' from the digital illustrations... maybe I need to learn painter!

Welcome to the asylum

Here are a series of posters for the upcoming tour by Victorian crumpet Emile Autumn.. just variations on a theme, but I do like them all... probably the white backdrop is my favourite as the face blends away a little and I love the logo typography I did.. My fiancee prefers the pink backdrop though.. see what you think... and go check Emile out later.

Stickers from beyond!!

Stickers £4.99
Buy this on MOO.com


Well... technically they are from those delightful people at MOO.com in old London Town.. They are really nice stickers.. I can highly recommend them!

back from the dead?

Been a while... but that's because I am now a dad!!! My gorgeous girlfiend gave birth to a beautiful baby boy (who I wanted to call 'pubert' after the Addams Family movie) on the 06 07 08!!!

Anyways... Christmas is coming don't you know!

Dead again!

Just so you know. Been speaking to Billy from the Dead Pleasures, and they liked my poster design (and my suggestion for a T-shirt) so much that he has approached their label with a view to using the artwork for a T-shirt... be great if they did produce them! Looking forward to the album coming out sometime soon now... go check them out www.deadpleasures.net

Pythia poster

Did this poster the other day for Gothic Metal band Pythia.. The singer Emily had this to say about it after I emailed it to them.. (quote) "It's very nice"... High praise indeed!

More Merchandise

If you head on over to-

www.moo.com/designs/designers/horrorbusiness

The nice people at MOO have very kindly added me to their select designer list. This means that you can use my frightful creations to make your own stickers, postcards, gift cards and such.

Go have fun!

My first Book!!! YAY ME!

Heroes & Villa...

Illustrations of ev...

By Shane

Book Preview

Dead Alive!

Did this poster last night. Took one of the zombies from the Dead Pleasures album cover artwork and removed his head (YEAH!!) then simplified it to an outline image and rendered it in Black and White.. for something that looks so simple it actually took quite a while as I was messing with the line and the layout. I went for black and white to keep the cost low if the band wanted to print any flyers to promote it, I also wanted to have a go at creating an iconic image that was reminiscent of the famous Misfits 'fiend skull'. I think I nailed it with this.. it'd make an awesome t-shirt! The band are playing at Peppers in Wrexham on July 5th and it's FREE.. so get your arses down there and cheer them on... See you there!

The Dead shall RISE!

This is an exciting one! The top pic was the brief that I was set by an up and coming British Horror Punk band from Telford- The Dead Pleasures, after I'd pestered them to let me create some artwork for them. I was charged with creating a gatefold CD cover layout for their forthcoming debut album - A Chorus of Corpses (July 2008- Robot Monster records). The middle pic was my rough draft layout for the cover, and at the bottom is the finished, full colour artwork (no tracklisting though and I think that the logo is different now). I worked pretty closely with Billy (the Bassist/Vocalist) to get the picture they wanted, but in all honesty we nailed it pretty quickly. I can't wait for the album to come out (they are a great band- for fans of the Horror Rock Genre) and to see them play at Pepper's in Wrexham at the begining of July!

The Ghastly Ones

This here was a recent personal project I did for a splendid band called 'The Ghastly Ones'. I highly recommend that you check them out at some point (if you're not already familiar with them that is!). I started the project with a doodle of the guitarist in my lunch at work and then put the rest of the band together over the afternoon (when I should have been working!!) before working them up in Illustrator at home. They were playing at Tiki Invasion 2 at the time, so I used it as an excuse to put a poster together. I do a lot of my work like this, but the way I form the characters has changed over time.. I think that my drawing style is loosening up and the lines are more flowing, rather than basing everything on geometric shapes (as you'll see from some of my other work). I was really pleased with this in the end, it came together really well.

Greetings from beyond!!

Howdee Doodee People.

As this is my first post, just thought I'd say hello really. What I plan on doing is keeping (those who are interested) up to date with my developing portfolio of Award Winning artistry!! and boring you silly in the process. I am in the process if re-inventing myself at the moment, and this might be an interesting way of documenting the struggle to become a recognized artist.. did I mention I was Award Winning? I'll dig out a picture of me at the awards and post it to you to prove it.

I have a new website being laid to rest and risen from the grave as I type and also a book of character designs on the way. The fixation with Horror stems from a Christmas Card project I set myself one year (that I may revisit one day) and rolled on from there. I enjoy the subversion of creating relatively cute looking versions of fearsome/feared creatures, as my natural illustrative style is very simple and sits well with the idea.

I also enjoy creating artwork around bands/music (like most Designers/Illustrators).. but I'll go into that a bit more when I post some samples!

You can check out my old website at www.horrorbusiness.co.uk