Japandex Day Seven!

ANDREW JAMES - '20TH CENTURY BOYZ'
What can I say about Andrew? Well first up, he's yet another of my workmates who's contributed to Japandex - I work with a lot of talented people, don't I!
And secondly, I don't know how he does it... He really is a talent. At work, he'll do paintings for people's birthdays or leavings...but he'll most...ly just get on with it, often without telling anyone, and we suddenly get a work of art the next day. Incredible.
Andrew wrote and drew his own web-series Dubious Tales for several years, you can read it all here: http://www.dubious-tales.com/
Like most of us, he fancied a break from that long-running series, and now he focuses a lot these days on freelance stuff and doing the aforementioned stuff for work, and relaxing (?).
We chatted briefly at work about this picture. Andrew is a massive, massive fan of the 20th Century Boys manga, and he often wears the 20CB t-shirts at work. We had a chuckle about different title possibilities (ask your nearest Japanese chum what the lettering here actually means lol).
I was so pleased with this pic. He based it on this:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/20th%20Century%20Boys/SoulBroRyu/028.jpg
I think it's stunning. Neon looks as cute and fluorescent as he always should - actually, he probably looks cuter than I've ever drawn him myself, curses!

Japandex Day Six!

MEMOIRS OF A DIVA by GARY SIMPSON
This is one of the first Japandexes I received, aaaages ago! It’s by my very good chum Gary Simpson, who lives in Newcastle. Gary’s a hugely talented writer and has had a ‘Future Shock’ published in 2000AD! Jealousss!
He currently writes horror stuff in his spare time, some of it is illustrated, like ‘Slaughterhouse’ and ‘Beast’. I reckon he could be the next Stephen King!

Japandex June Day Five!

MANGA DIVA by LANA SAOUD
Meet Lana Saoud. Lana got in touch with me really early on, and her style was the most exciting and innovative thing I’ve seen in a long time. I asked Lana to draw a version of a Diva pic I did a while ago, and she did it really quickly. I looove the hair. Love it.
Lana lives in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. She tells me she got into manga first, and discovered DC and Marvel comics when she was 17, fascinated by how colourful they all were. One issue that really affected her was a Wolverine Giant Special with story and art by Tsutomu Nihei - a beautiful cross between manga and US comics. It really made her want to do her own comics.
Lana says she hasn’t seen comics sold anywhere in her area, but still manages to get them from Ebay - and she particularly loves Arkham Asylum and the Batman villains. I’d love to see her draw a Batman comic - it’d be wicked!
Lana’s currently working on a new project, but in the meantime, I highly recommend you check out her other art - it’s so unique and strong. Love it.
www.mad-arab.deviantart.com/gallery
If you’d like to contact Lana, she is at emo_rainbow_muffin@hotmail.com
NEXT: Memoirs of a Diva

Japandex Day Four!

Japandex in June - Day Four!
'SPANDEX SWEETHEART' by Martin Stiff
Martin saw my shout-out for Japandex artists on Facebook and we started talking about it - we're colleagues at my day job, Martin is a designer there.
We were chatting away and Martin mentioned that he really liked the novels of Haruki Murakami which was such a weird coincidence as I was currently reading The Wind-up Bird Chronicles - my first taste of the author.
Martin said he'd like to do a take on the cover to Sputnik Sweetheart, and I really love that cover - although there are different versions of the cover, and I'm not sure if Martin had a different one in mind. I really wanted this one!
His pic is beautiful - reminds me a lot of David Mack.
Martin is currently working on a graphic novel called The Absence, and you can read all about it here http://absencecomic.blogspot.com/. It's great - I'd say it's Eddie Campbell meets Strangehaven. (I really don't know how Martin does all this with a very young daughter and a lovely wife - I can barely find time to draw myself, and I live alone!!)

Japandex Day Three!

STEPHEN DOWNEY - 'SEVEN SPANDEX'
Like Cosmo White, I met Stephen at the Birmingham comic con last year. My god, this man should be working at DC or Marvel NOW!!!! His artwork is amazing, very fresh, very detailed, pure genius.
I asked Stephen to have a go at this particular pic - it's a take on one of the movie posters for Seven Samurai which I had on my wall for quite a while - gorgeous colours. I love what Stephen did with it.
Stephen did a graphic novel with Insomnia, called Cancertown, and he's providing art for a Torchwood Magazine comic story - issue 23, which will be out in August. But I think the world needs to see more of his artwork, definitely.
You can see Stephen's portfolio here http://stephendowney.carbonmade.com/projects/2275828 and contact him here stephendowneyonline@hotmail.com.

(Still room to join in on Japandex if you want to! It'd be nice to fill the month of June, so I'd need about 10 more people. Go on, give it a go! Artists of any standard are most welcome!!)

Tomorrow: SPANDEX SWEETHEART...

Japandex Day Two!

EL KANAOURIS – ‘LI’L JAPANDEX’
Isn’t this amazing?
I work with El, she is a designer at my day job place, and she said she had a little idea and went away, and I didn’t hear much about it for a while… So to suddenly get this turn up in my email inbox… Wow… Cute eh? I particularly love Butch and Mr Muscles, and I love the fact that Diva has no boobs ha ha!
It’s so good that I am developing a small project called ‘Li’l Spandex’ with El, which should be a lot of fun. Stay tuned for more details!
If you would like to hire El for any artwork (do it, she’s awesome!!!), just drop her a line at ellk@02.co.uk

Japandex!!!

Japandex has begun!!!
As issue two of Spandex is partly set in Japan, I had the idea to organise a series of artwork in hom-age to Japanese movies and culture with a cheeky Spandex twist! I've had about 15 entries so far and they are all a-ma-zing. I'm so excited about it!
So forgive me if I take over this blog over the next month with these pics, but I love each and every one of them to bits!
So here's the first one - It was supposed to debut on 1 June, but I couldn't wait, so I'm a few hours early!

COSMO WHITE'S 'LUST IN TRANSLATION'
This is the first Japandex art-piece I received, so Cosmo gets the honour of being the first to get shown!
...I met Cosmo at last year's Birmingham comic con - I was actually doing portfolio sessions for my day job. His artwork is beautiful and the colouring is breath-taking - especially for me, I love blues and purples, and he uses a lot of those (so I loved the idea of him drawing Indigo).
When I came up with the idea to do Japandex, Cosmo was one of the first people I approached, and apparently this took him just a day to create - blimey!
Most people who have seen it absolutely love this pic - myself included.
If you'd like to know more, check out http://www.comicspace.com/cosmo/ and you can contact the man himself at cosmowhite@googlemail.com if you would like him to draw for you.

A quick Japandex note: I have around 20 artists working on drawings, but it'd be really nice to fill up the entire month of June. If you'd like to get involved I still have about 10 places left - please drop me a line at martrpeden@yahoo.co.uk

Tomorrow/2 June:
L'IL SPANDEX...