Saturday, June 29, 2013

VENOM #37 COVER



Oops! Been a while since I updated the blog, sorry. Truth be told, I've been up to my neck in DEADPOOL pages and various covers. I've also gotten a Tumblr up and running, so check in there if you're one of those fancy Tumblr-rs.

Here's the cover for VENOM 37; out next week. Though I'm no longer drawing the series I'm getting to stay on as cover artist (with Jordie on colours of course) for the time being. Hope you like them.

Dec.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

THIS WEEK; FINAL VENOM, 2D FESTIVAL AND ....... BATMAN!

This week my final issue of VENOM hits the stands. It's the final chapter of the 'Toxic' storyline; it's all been building to this! I've had a blast working on the series this year; from the stand alone issue with Rick Remender, to the Minimum Carnage crossover to this big epic Toxin arc, working on the series with writer Cullen Bunn has been a distinct pleasure. Lee Loughridge excellently matched the tone I was going for with this book, and Joe Caramagna did some gorgeous lettering work. Huge thanks to editor Tom Brennan for offering me the book and for all the encouragement along the way.

I hope you all enjoy the finale.





Also, the very next day sees my LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT story go online. Written by Robert T. Jeschonek with fantastic colours by Matt Wilson, I hope ye all download it via Comixology, or other such wonderful applications. Below is a sneak peek from the story.



But wait! There's more! This weekend is 2D Festival! An excellent FREE Comics Festival that takes place every year in Derry, Northern Ireland. I've been many times and have always had a fantastic experience. This year is 2D's biggest year so if possible I urge everyone to attend. There's a host of excellent panels and workshops; you can read all about them in the festival's excellent programme (see here). Did I mention it's FREE?


There's lots more about the festival on their website. As you can see, it's a busy week this week; plenty to keep you entertained :)

Dec.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

ROBOCOP: LAST STAND



Just announced: I'll be providing covers for Frank Miller's new ROBOCOP: LAST STAND mini-series from BOOM! Studios. Above is the cover for #1, colours by Jordie.

Dec.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

AMERICAN VAMPIRE




Vertigo announced yesterday that they're releasing an AMERICAN VAMPIRE ANTHOLOGY during the summer. As you can see, there's an impressive array of writing and artistic talent contributing to the anthology, and for some reason I'm contributing a story too :)

Dec.

Monday, April 29, 2013

DEADPOOL

Yep, just announced at the X-Men 50th Anniversary panel at C2E2 last weekend, I'll be ta
king over DEADPOOL for the upcomming 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' arc. Here's my cover for the first issue.


Really happy to be working on the book with Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn. Also, I'm delighted to report my issues will be coloured by the amazing Jordie Bellaire!

Dec.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

THE MASSIVE #11 OUT TODAY



Make sure you pick up this issue! It's part of an overall story but it also works as a stand-alone story. I'm so very proud of this issue; it's the first whole issue that Jordie and I got to work together and I think it looks great. Not to mention the great story by Brian Wood and the gorgeous cover by JP Leon. See a preview of the gorgeous colours right here.  I hope you all check it out. As it turns out, it actually is a good example of what my next Marvel project is going to be.

Dec.

Friday, April 19, 2013

IN ONE WEEK: C2E2


In a week's time, both myself and Jordie will be at C2E2; Chicago's premier comic book convention. Myself and Will Sliney went to the first one a few years ago when we were both working for Boom Studios and we had a great time. Really looking forward to returning.

Jordie and I will be in Artists Alley Table T5. Make sure you come by and say hi. I'll be doing commissions ($100 for b+w 9x11 inch pieces) on Friday, Saturday, and some on Sunday. I'll only be taking a certain amount each day though so make sure you swing by early to get on the list.

I'll also be participating in some panels during the convention. During one of these Marvel panels, there'll be a BIG announcement involving myself. Eagle-eyed readers might be able to figure it out.... but keep it to yourself! The announcement will break over the weekend. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Panel schedule below...
 

FRIDAY

Title: MARVEL: Breaking In
Location:
W471
Time: 5:15 – 6:15
Are you a writer or artist?  Ever dream of working for Marvel? Do you find yourself thinking, “I could do that…if I knew how!” Well, here’s your chance!  Join superstar writers and artists including Ryan Stegman (SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN), Shawn Crystal (DEADPOOL), Declan Shalvey (VENOM), Jordie Bellaire (JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY) and Ramón Pérez (WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN), as well as Marvel’s talent scout C.B. Cebulski to find out the answers on how to get your foot in the door and make your job MARVEL!

SATURDAY
Title: MARVEL: Superior Spider-Man
Location:
W474
Time: 2:00 – 3:00
Doctor Octopus has taken over Spider-Man’s body and vowed to become a SUPERIOR Spider-Man!  But what lies in store for the web-slinger? Find out the details right here! That’s right, True Believers! Executive Editor Tom Brevoort, Editor Ellie Pyle, Mark Waid (DAREDEVIL), Josh Fialkov (ALPHA), Nick Spencer (SECRET AVENGERS), Chris Samnee (DAREDEVIL), Declan Shalvey (VENOM), Ryan Stegman (SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN) and Arune Singh (Director of Communications) will be taking any and all questions from YOU the fans! This is one panel that no Spidey fan can miss!

SUNDAY
Title: MARVEL: X-Men
Location: W474
Time:
12:45 - 1:45
As new mutants emerge around the world, the mutant race may just be able to bounce back! Or at least it COULD, without the looming threats of Apocalypse, the Sentinels, and Cyclops himself!  Join us for an all-star panel featuring Executive Editor Tom Brevoort, Editor Jordan D. White, Rick Remender (UNCANNY AVENGERS), Brian Wood (X-MEN), Ramón Pérez (WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN), Declan Shalvey (VENOM) and Arune Singh (Director of Communications) to get all the details about what’s coming next for Marvel’s mutant heroes!
Hope to see you there!

Dec.

Sexy Update; I'll also be signing at the Marvel booth at the following times...

FRIDAY
1-2

SATURDAY
3-4

SUNDAY
2-3

 

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

VENOM #34 OUT TODAY!



Yes, run immediately to your nearest comic book depository! (Or buy digitally here)

Dec.

Monday, April 15, 2013

VENOM #34 OUT THIS WEEK


VENOM #34, the penultimate chapter of the current 'Toxic' arc is out this week. It's a pretty crazy issue and was a lot of hard work but I'm really happy with how it all came out. You can see a coloured and lettered preview here. Basically; Venom and Toxin FIGHT. Make sure you pick it up from your local comic shop and digitally this Wednesday!

Dec.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

VENOM #38 COVER




Marvel just released the cover to Venom #38 by myself and Jordie. I'm really, really happy with it; the editor let us try something a little more ambitious and we're really grateful for that as it's resulted in one of the best pieces we've done together, I think.

Dec.

Friday, April 05, 2013

VENOM #33 LAYOUTS



I keep meaning to post my layouts more often but generally forget to. Here are my layouts for Venom 33, which just came out this week. If you picked up the issue, you can see that the finished artwork pretty much stayed true to these layouts. For those who don't know, I actually lightbox these layouts (drawn 10x7.5cm) onto the Marvel artboard in order to keep all the compostitional elements as close as possible to what I did in the layouts. I spend a couple of days on layouts as that's where I figure out all my storytelling, lettering placements and figure out what reference I'm going to need. It's arguably THE most important process of making a comic, which is why it's also probably the most difficult and rewarding part.

Dec.

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

VENOM #33 OUT TODAY




Available in all good comic shops and available digitally on Comixology. Available tomorrow in the UK/Ireland (due to bank holiday).

Very happy with this issue. Also the first issue I've illustrated for Marvel where I've also drawn the cover.

Speaking of covers, I also provided the cover for WINTER SOLDIER #17, also out this week. Both covers coloured by Jordie.




Dec

Saturday, March 30, 2013

VENOM 33 PREVIEW
A preview for VENOM #33 went online today. It's the mid-point of the current Toxic arc; it all kicks off here! My first Venom cover is for this issue too. See the preview here.

Dec.

Friday, March 22, 2013

DS ON THE TV



Earlier today I was on RTE ONE's Morning Edition programme discussing Irish Comics. I'd like to think it's worth a watch. You can see the whole programme on the RTE Player or just listen to the section on it's own (blurrier video) below.




Dec.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

MORNING EDITION



Hey folks, if you live in Ireland and are near a TV on Friday morning, tune into RTE ONE around 9.00AM where I'll be discussing Irish Comics along with Lightning Strike editor Eoin McAuley. It will also be streaming afterwards on the in the RTE Player later in the day.

Also, the lecture in Trinity that I was part of last week was recorded by the good folk of the Irish Pubcast. See here to listen to the panel and Q and A in full. It was good fun.

Dec.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

CULLEN BUNN INTERVIEWED ON 'VENOM'


An interview with VENOM writer Cullen Bunn went online today where he talks about what's still to come in our 'Toxic' arc. Some preview pages with the piece too, make sure you check it out here!

Dec.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

VENOM 36 COVER


Marvel Solicitations went online today, among them was a new cover I drew for VENOM. Coloured by Jordie!

Dec.

Thursday, March 07, 2013

IRISH COMIC BOOK MONTH: TRINITY LECTURE



In case you didn't know, March is Irish Comic Book Month. Hope everyone supports some Irish comics this month! To celebrate this, the good folk at Lightning Strike and Atomic Diner are holding a talk discussing Irish Comic Book production. Guests include myself, Stephen Mooney, Robert Curley, Darrin O'Toole, Robert Carey and Ciarán Marcantonio so a wide spectrum of Irish comics are covered; from those working in mainstream comics, to creator owned comics, to self-published comics, etc. 

The Lecture will be hosted in the Trinity Arts Building, Room 2041B, The Uí Chadhain Lecture at 7.15pm. Free for all to attend; just make sure you get there early as i believe places are limited. Hope to see ye there.


Dec.

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

VENOM #32 WINTER SOLDIER #16 OUT TOMORROW! [PREVIEW]




Yes, #32 of Venom is out tomorrow! Make sure you pick up a copy at your local comic shop of via Comixology. Things get more complicated for Flash in his new digs. See come coloured and lettered preview pages by Lee Loughridge and Joe Caramagna here.

Also out tomorrow is Winter Soldier #16 by Jason Latour and Nic Klein (preview here). I drew the cover for it, so pick that up too!

Friday, March 01, 2013

COMIC HEROES INTERVIEW



Was interviewed by Mike Molcher for COMIC HEROES Magazine. Came out great. Above is the first page but you can read the whole feature in the newest issue (Issue 17) available is all good newsagents and also digitally available here

Dec.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

LONDON SUPER COMIC CON



This weekend I'll be at London Super Comic Con. Above are some Spidey-related commission I've done for the show. I'll be signing and sketching during the weekend at the Close Encounters table (table D317-322) along with fellow Micks Stephen Mooney and Will Sliney. Nick Roche should be around the place too, so make sure you stop by and say hello!

Dec.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #22 COVER



Was very happy to be asked to contribute a cover for IDW's TNMT series. Was asked for a Shredder/ The Foot cover. Would have been cool to draw the actual Turtles but saying that, had a blast working on this piece. With this cover, I think that means I've officially worked for every major American comic book publisher (Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and now IDW), which is nice.

I asked colourist Nolan Woodard to wok with me on this cover and expected him to make this piece look extra-impressive. Clearly, that's exactly what he did. Below is the colour rough i did, along with the pencils and finished inks.




Dec.



Tuesday, February 12, 2013

HALF PAST DANGER #2 VARIANT COVER



Yesterday on Twitter I unveiled the line art of my cover for Stephen Mooney's upcoming HALF PAST DANGER series from IDW. This cover is a variant for #2; in order to get this cover you HAVE to make sure you order it at your local comic book shop. It won't be otherwise available digitally or in print.

Was very flattered to be asked to contribute a cover to the series. It already has come fantastic variants illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards and Nick Runge so to be included with those artists is quite an honour. I'm quite confident that series colourist Jordie Bellaire is going to make this cover shine in colour too.

I HIGHLY recommend you all keep an eye out for HALF PAST DANGER #1, which should be solicited any day now. It's an excellent high adventure series, in the vein of classic Spielberg. It's got Nazis, dinosaurs, feisty dames, one sharp-witted Irishman and the best work Stephen Mooney has produced in his already impressive career. In what's been a great year for creator owned comics, I really hope you all give this new series a try this May form IDW. For lots more on the series, including the variant cover I previously mentioned, be sure to see the progress-blog for the series at www.halfpastdanger.com

Dec.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

WINTER SOLDIER #15 COVER PROCESS

Eagle-eyed blog readers will have noticed by now that I've been contributing covers to Marvel's WINTER SOLDIER. The series was already a favourite of mine, and with issue 15 it was changing hands to the excellent creative team of Jason Latour and Nic Klein. Series Editor Lauren Sankovich contacted me about providing covers for the first arc by this new team. As fans of both creators (I was a huge fan of Jason's artwork, as well as his writing on LOOSE ENDS as well as Nic's phenomenal work on DANCER for Image) and a fan of the series in general, I was more than happy to be a part of this really dynamic creative team, in some small way.

As this is my first Marvel cover for a series I'm quite passionate about, I thought it appropriate to peel back the curtain a bit and take you through the process of creating the cover.

Here's the final, printed cover.


 When I was working on the cover, Nic hadn't yet signed on to to the book, so I discussed cover concepts with our editor and Jason too. Two elements I was determined to use was the red star associated with Winter Solder, as I thought it was a really strong graphic element that could help make the series covers distinct. For the same reason, I also wanted to keep a limited colour scheme for the series of covers. Thankfully, the editor liked the graphic/conceptual covers I had doing in the past months for other publishers, and Jason has a great eye of design anyway, so my approach was encouraged by the team.

Below are the four strongest cover concepts I had for the first issue. I had more, but I will generally pick the ideas I think are the worst, eliminate them and hand in the best ones. I've found it helpful as in the past, editors can end up picking the ideas you hate the most (though not on this book), so this way, I eliminate the ideas I think are the worst, and never end up working on an idea I'm personally unhappy with. That way, no matter which idea is picked, I'm still happy to work on it.

I handed in these ideas in colour, to help show the unified approach I mentioned earlier. I was working from Jason's overall plot pitch for the series, so while I had no story specifics of this issue to work from, I did have some overall themes and ideas for the series. One strong element to the series was Winter Soldier having to deal with his murderous past, so I honed in on that idea. Winter soldier has had a more Captain America-star emblem on his shoulder in Ed Brubaker's recent run, but I wanted to feature his old Winter Soldier Communist-inspired star to represent his past/guilt. For the rest of the covers, I've illustrated a contemporary Bucky, but have kept the star red. Of the four concepts, I was most happy with version A and C. Everyone liked the idea of the star bleeding; really pushing the blood-on-his-hands idea, and the red of the star connecting both Bucky and his past victims, so we went with version A.
 



It turned out Jason was playing the idea with changing Bucky's star for this new direction, as it marked a new period in Bucky's life so we toyed with a black-star on red and other variations. We went with that idea; I needed the red to make the blood work but we could always change it down the line. I made a mock up of the cover to make sure everything would fit together in the final image (above)

I got to work with Jordie on colours on these covers, and it was pretty cool to bounce stuff back-and-forth with her. She suggested with the background victims, I should just draw them all fully, and she could make a star 'stamp' in photoshop. She could then have more options with placement. I've found I get the best results with Jordie when I give her the space to contribute to the image more. The more Jordie contributes to an image, the better the end result is. Anyone who has seen the covers for Image's COMEBACK series will see this too.




The pencils and inks for the cover. I was on a real Cold War era buzz wile working on these, so for the background victims, I based them all on characters from Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's 'The Lives Of Others', a German film set in that time period.



I think it was Lauren Sankovich, the editor, who suggested that the red stars would be best placed as head-shots, rather than various bullet wounds. I think it was a smart idea, as while my original concept had more shots, the bigger stars as head-shots communicates the idea more efficiently. Jordie added her usual magic and managed to make the star-shots clear, but also keep my drawing visible. Was really impressed with that; I had expected them to be completely covered, but drew them in full to give Jordie more options. She thought the black star wasn't working, so made it red and I think it was the right call. Keeping the star one colour pulls the eye in more, I think. Jordie did a great job; she ended up adding more colours that the extremely limited colour palette I originally had in mind, but with that, she also added a lot more sophistication to each cover, kept the palette as limited as possible and still unified the look of all the covers to this arc; she has done outstanding work.



Here's a detail. I really love the metallic sheen on the shoulder; really makes the star pop too. Managed to separate the star subtly too.

There were some final collaboration and tweaking to the final printed cover; both myself and Jason wanted to keep the Winter Soldier logo one solid colour. In the previous issues, there was a metallic sheen over the logo and while it looked great, we thought it clashed with the more restrained, propaganda-poster feel we were going for. If I recall, Jason and I wanted a red logo, but Jordie and Lauren wanted a grey colour. As you can see, the ladies won, and I can see why; it looks great. Afterwards I was told that Marvel were bringing in a new design element to their Marvel Now line, but thankfully there was enough negative space in the cover to accommodate that.

Well, that's it. Thanks to Lauren, Jason and Jordie for making my first Marvel cover such a rewarding experience. Make sure you go and pick up WINTER SOLDIER #15, OUT TODAY!

Dec.

VENOM #31 OUT TODAY



Yep. New city. New direction.

Bunn, Shalvey, Loughridge and Caramagna for the next 5 issues.

Pick it up!

Dec.

Monday, February 04, 2013

THIS WEEK: VENOM #31, WINTER SOLDIER #15, SIGNING

This Wednesday sees #31 of Venom hitting the stands. It's the start of a new, longer storyline by Cullen Bunn and myself on the book, and features the return of... well.... maybe you should just pick up the book and see. Below are some black and white pages, but click here to see the great colours by Lee Loughridge and letters by Joe Caramagna. Been working hard on this arc for a while now; I'm very happy to be tackling a more substantial story arc on this series and taking the book in new direction, with Cullen and co.




Also out this week is my first Marvel cover; WINTER SOLDIER #15, by myself and Jordie Bellaire. It's the start of a new direction for the series by writer Jason Latour and artist Nic Klein and I have to say, it's absolutely fantastic stuff and I'm delighted to be the cover artist for this storyline. I actually prefer this arc to the Brubaker issues, which is tough for me to say as I'm a huge Brubaker fan. See a preview for the issue here. See a preview for the issue and pick it up this week at your local comic shop speaking of which....




I'll be signing BOTH books this Wednesday at the Fearless Defenders launch at The Big Bang in Dundrum. Make sure you come along. With these two books of mine, the Megatron Spotlight by Nick Roch and Len O' Grady and Fearless Defenders with art by Will Sliney, it's a pretty big day for Irish comic creators in mainstream comics. See you on Wednesday!

Dec.

Monday, January 28, 2013

THE MASSIVE



Announced last week over on Comics Alliance, Brian Wood's THE MASSIVE is having a 'mini-event' of sorts, consisting of a trilogy of one-shot stories starting with #10. My story will be a shark-centric story in #11. SHARKS! The arc features the above image as connecting covers by one of my favourite artists, JP Leon

This arc of stories also sees Jordie Bellaire take over from Dave Stewart as series colourist. Congrats Jordie!

This means this will be our first collaboration together on a while issue. I can't wait to see how it all comes out. Very happy to be working with Brian again too. The collaborations with him have resulted in some of my best work.

Dec.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

MARVEL COVERED IN APRIL

Solicitations for Marvel's April schedule were released today and I was all over them. First and foremost are 2 issues of VENOM, along with covers by yours truly!

From issue 33 I'm getting to illustrate the covers to my Venom issues covers along with Jordie. starting with the one below....
VENOM #33
CULLEN BUNN (W) DECLAN SHALVEY (A&C)
• It's Venom vs. Toxin in the schoolyard!
• But have these two symbiote-psychos created something far more evil in Philadelphia?!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99


VENOM #34
CULLEN BUNN (W) DECLAN SHALVEY (A&C)
• The Symbiote Slayers are here. You read that correctly.
• Toxin. Venom. Bunn. Shalvey. War.
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99


Cover for issue 34 isn't finished yet, but I'm sure it will be online soon. Otherwise, Jordie and I also did this WINTER SOLDIER cover for Jason Latour and Nic Klein's run on the series. In case I haven't said previously, you HAVE to pick up this series. It's fantastic stuff. 



 WINTER SOLDIER #17
JASON LATOUR (W) NIC KLEIN (A)
Cover by DECLAN SHALVEY
Variant cover by CHRIS BRUNNER
• Writer Jason Latour (Loose Ends, Wolverine) and artist Nic Klein (Dancer, Viking, Doc Savage) begin the third explosive chapter of THE WINTER SOLDIER'S newest deadly mission.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. is crippled, the world is on it's knees and the only thing that stands in the way of THE ELECTRIC GHOST'S devastating master plan is Bucky Barnes!
• But how can Bucky act when the cost of winning this battle may just be the loss of his own future?
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99


This cover took a lot of work; I think I'll do a process-post on it closer to the print date.

So, there's plenty of Shalvey content to pick up in April. Actually, there's more, but I'll wait til next week to talk about that...

Dec.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

CONAN #12 OUT TODAY!


Out today! My final issue on the critically acclaimed series! Go buy it at your local comic shop or on the Dark Horse Comics app!

Dec.

Monday, January 14, 2013

CONAN 12 PREVIEW

My final issue of CONAN is out this Wednesday. I hope you all pick up a copy; feels like some of the best work I've done to date. You can see more of the preview (with amazing Dave Stewart colours) right here.

Dec.

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

NEWSARAMA: VENOM



VENOM writer Cullen Bunn rang in the new year with an interview on Newsarama about our upcoming storyline on the book. Read the interview in full here, along with new preview pages (one of which posted above). It's probably clear at this point that with Flash moving to Philly I'm approaching VENOM as more of a street-level book, and injecting all the mood and atmosphere I can into the streets of Philly. Hope you all pick it up.

Dec.