Japandex Day 10!

MARTIN EDEN - '2046 SPANDEX'
It's me! Ha ha, well it is my party, so I'll take part if I want to!
I love the posters for the movie 2046, so I really wanted to have a go at doing a Spandex version. Look at this - swoon - http://filmandmusicfashion.com/_wizardimages/2046.jpg
I used quite muted colours for this, and it's my old scratchy O Men drawing style, and I also didn't darken the picture in Photoshop like I normally would.
Eagle-eyed readers will point out that 2046 isn't actually a Japanese movie - but the Japandex brief does stretch to Asian culture...!

Japandex Day Nine!

'PINK NINJA ASSASSIN' BY BARRY SPIERS
I first met Barry a few years ago at a Bristol con, where he was showing his portfolio around. Such a talented guy! Soon afterwards, he actually became (no prizes for guessing...) a colleague of mine! Barry is a designer at my workplace, but he does a hell of a lot of illustration work, and has provided loads of covers and artwork for Transformers. He was also one of the artists who contributed to last year's Com.X book, 45.
It gets even more complicated when I tell you that he is the boyf of the artist of Japandex Day Two, El (Li'l Japandex - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=183778&id=137375331859&saved#!/photo.php?pid=4890682&id=137375331859).
I invited Barry to do a Pink Ninja Assassin piccie, based on one of the Ninja Assassin gallery images, and, like El, he disappeared for a few weeks, and then suddenly I got this stunning piece of painted artwork! Cooool!
You can check out Barry's other artwork here: http://barryspiers.carbonmade.com/
Tomorrow: A little something from me!

Japandex Day Eight!

LIBERTY BY BETH STRAKER
Today's picture is by - yes you've guessed it - another workmate hehe (and there are more to come!).
Beth works full time as a designer and also works a lot as an artist, so I invited her to do a li'l Liberty pic. Nice eh?
You can see all of Beth's illustrations here: www.bethanystraker.com
Tomorrow: PINK NINJA ASSASSIN!

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!!)