Chance to win David Lloyd art, courtesy of Panel Nine

Panel Nine, the "deluxe digital graphic novel" publisher, is giving away an original page of black and white artwork by V for Vendetta artist David Lloyd.

The artwork is taken from from the Kickback graphic novel by Lloyd, recently re-published digitally for the iPad.

Panel Nine Publisher Russell Willis noted: "This is a rare opportunity to get a fabulous piece of original comics artwork by renowned artist David Lloyd. Kickback is a memorable work that is now getting the attention it deserves. It is a brilliant crime-noir thriller by a modern-day master of sequential art."

Kickback is a 96 page full-color graphic novel for the iPad with many behind-the-scenes extras, an exclusive interview with Lloyd and audio commentaries by the artist on his approach and method. The Kickback iPad app is available from the iTunes App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kickback-crime-noir-thriller/id511224450?mt=8

To enter to win this awesome piece of original artwork, just download and subscribe to INFINITY (itunes link), a free iPad magazine about digital comics and graphic novels, also published by Panel Nine, and tap OK give your name and email address when subscribing.

The deadline for entries is 7th September 2012 and the draw for the artwork will be held on 8th September in London, England.

- Full details of the competition are available on the Kickback Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/app.kickback

 

That Funny Little Man... Roy Newby exhibition announced

(with thanks to David Roach and Tim Pilcher) An exhibition by little-known artist Roy Newby, whose work over many decades included numerous comics, will go on show at Phoenix Place in Lewes, East Sussex, later this month.

Roy's work displays an astonishing variety of style and skill, from comic book illustration, recently seen at the Vintage Festival, to fine oils and watercolours.

Described as "a creative inspiration", he was a versatile artist who made a quiet living illustrating comics and magazines for children, teens and twenties, making technical catalogues, painting advertising posters, designing fashion-plates, even political banners, in fact, drawing anything you cared to name. For he was a 'commercial artist', working from the age of 15 in the 1920s until, in his late eighties, he finally stopped attending his weekly life drawing class.

Robbie of Red Hall

David Roach tells us Roy, who died earlier this year aged 96, drew comics in the UK for almost 30 years, appearing in titles such as Girl, Tammy, Poppet, Judy and Valentine.

"He came from a time when you had to be able to draw just about anything, which he certainly could," David says. "While not drawing comics he painted, sketched, doodled and experimented with different styles and while his comic art was highly accomplished, it was never exactly experimental, unlike his paintings... [which] are absolutely stunning, classic examples of post-war realism, [showing] all sorts of influences - Cezanne, Picasso, Modigliani etc.

"Tragically, Roy died very recently before I or any comic historians could speak to him. If only I’d known it would have been fascinating to chat with someone from the golden age of British comics. He apparently never spoke to any comics fans about his career so it’s such a missed opportunity."

• The Funnty Little Man at Phoenix Place, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2PQ. Tel: 01273 813016

The exhibition runs on November 25th 5-9.00pm, November 26th 2-7.00 pm, 27th 11.00am - 4.00pm.

• Roy Newby web site: www.thefunnylittleman.co.uk

• Obituary: The Guardian, Thursday 1st September 2011 

Comic Art Module launches soon at Jordanstone

A module which looks at historical and contemporary comic art practices and will include visits by top British comic creators is due to commence at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at the University of Dundee this month.

The expansive module will be available to current level 3 undergraduate students studying under the Communication Design umbrella.

The module will be a mixture of theoretical and practical lectures, seminars and workshops delivered in the studio and in conjunction with the School of Humanities. The module is unique in the current programmes offered in Scottish art colleges and will run for the duration of Semester 1.

Top industry speakers and guests such as Cam Kennedy, Frank Quietly, Colin MacNeil and David Bishop will make visits to the College, delivering workshops and offering practical and career advice to students.

The comics market is part of an ever expanding multi-million pound industry, which feeds into the games, TV and film markets, and the emerging field of Comics Studies, in which the University of Dundee is leading the way, shows students the various ways in which popular culture engages with industry and commerce.

Freelance designer and animator Phillip Vaughan,
who authored the Comic Art Module
at Duncan of Jordanstone College.

"You only have to look at the recent slew of Hollywood comic book adaptations to see that the comics industry can be very lucrative for a top creator," argues freelance designer and animator Phillip Vaughan, who authored the module and who lectures at Duncan of Jordanstone. "We hope to discover the next big comic book talent here in Duncan of Jordanstone!"

Phillip has over 15 years experience in graphic, print and interactive design, motion graphics and the 3D computer games industry and has worked on high profile licenses such as Braveheart, Star Trek, Tom and Jerry, Teletubbies, and Wallace & Gromit, subsequently working as a cut-scene producer for Farscape. He also realised a lifelong ambition and worked with the creators of Judge Dredd on a video game project for Digital Animations.

The students will be tasked to produce an anthology publication in print and in a digital format, utilising their own original concepts and characters. By the end of the module students will be in possession of a creative piece of work which could form part of a portfolio.

The opportunity is to open up an area of undergraduate study that is currently very much underrepresented in the UK, and to take advantage of the increasing demand for courses dealing with comics and graphic novels. The University of Dundee’s commitment to this is seen in the recent launch of the MLitt in Comic Studies by the School of Humanities, led by Dr Chris Murray.

Murray, who is course leader of the postgraduate MLitt in Comics Studies is backing the module at Duncan of Jordanstone, and will assist in delivering it, just as Phillip Vaughan will assist with the delivery of the MLitt course on comics.

"I'm very happy to see Duncan of Jordanstone taking on this course” he says. "It has been obvious for a while looking at the Degree Shows that students at DJCAD are very influenced by comics, so there is a clear demand for this course.

“I’ve supervised dissertations on comics and graphic novels by art students at the College for several years now but it is clear that what they have been looking for has been a creative outlet and a dedicated module in this area," he continues, "so Phil’s course is a very positive development, and fits in very nicely indeed with what I’m doing at the School of Humanities.

"Collaboration between Humanities and the Art College has been a very important part of making the development of Comics Studies at Dundee possible, and we have plans to pursue this further, making Dundee a focal point for comics training, teaching and research”.

• For more information contact: p.b.vaughanATdundee.ac.uk or visit: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad

Glasgow's Hope Street Studios looking for intern

Hope Street Studios in Glasgow are looking for any illustration students interested in a paid internship, who would mainly be doing comic book work but possible storyboarding and design.

Top artist Gary Erskine, who is heading up the hunt, tells downthetubes they're looking for someone from Glasgow and Edinburgh (or within nearby area) as some work involves being on hand at the studio.

Sequential art experience is preferred but not essential.

To apply, please send a link to your Deviant Art site or similar and provide a contact email address.

• Email Gary at garyerskineonlineATbtinternet.com He will follow up with interested parties as soon as possible.

Comic Artists Map their influences in popular Internet 'Meme'

PJ Holden's 'Influence Map'

2000AD artist PJ Holden has joined the growing number of comic artists who have created 'influence maps' of their work, assembling the art of creators that has inspired him into a pleasing graphic (right).

The project is just part of an Internet 'meme' - a phrase coined by the web's credited creator Richard Dawkins back in 1976 -  defined as a concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet, much like an esoteric inside joke.

Among Paul's influences are Steve Dillon, Cam Kennedy, Belfast cartoonist Ian Knox, Gil Kane and Mike McMahon.

"My intent was to start with the guys that probably influenced me in a thousand untold ways, people I read and loved as a kid and probably copied or imitated," he says in his Meme post on Facebook about the map. "Many of whom I haven’t really tapped into since I was 12. Then I wanted to move into people who are more obviously an influence, people who’s styles I’ve conciously borrowed techniques/renderings from.

"I will borrow a rendering style from an artist but i try and keep my art style – the actual shape of my drawing – my own. But, of course, it’s already been influenced by those that have gone before.

"...It’s been quite a trip through memory lane."

The Forbidden Planet International blog recently reported that several artists have recently created these maps, including Adam Cadwell. John Allison, Aaron Diaz and Rene Engström. Others are Hugh Raine, Paul Shinn and Hi-Ex co-organiser Vicky Stonebridge.  Illustrator Marian Bantjes has created her own design of Map, but it's also fascinating.


But this is just a tip of the iceberg, as this search of ace art community site deviantart reveals.

Paul suggests that those interested in creating their own could do worse than check out the http://britishcomicart.blogspot.com for artists who may have influenced you.

• Fox Orian created the template which seems to be being used by most artists for this 'Meme'; check out his own Map here

• Check out the Influence Maps on deviantart

Valentine Chronicles Comic Art Gallery Opens

The web-based story site The Valentine Chronicles is celebrating its third birthday with a brand new gallery featuring artwork by top UK artists like Alan Davis (ClanDestine, Excalibur, Marvelman), Dylan Teague (Judge Dredd) Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy, Judge Dredd), his image below, left, Sean Phillips (Marvel Zombies, Hellblazer), Jon Hodgson (Dragon Warriors, Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering - check out his official web site for more art) and many more.

Launched in 2007, The Valentine Chronicles was created to generate donations for the Myasthenia Gravis association, a charity dedicated to the research of the auto-immune condition Myasthenia Gravis. The site itself is a 100% free web-site featuring the serialised struggle of retired mercenary Ivan Valentine as he fights to keep his neices alive in a hostile galaxy.

There are currently 13 complete serials and six galleries of artwork to enjoy, all brought to you with no pop-ups and no ads.

Visit the site at: www.thevalentinechronicles.com

All art © respective artists

Comics for Windows Wanted

Mantle Arts, a small UK based arts organisation, is running an interesting project to brighten up a town centre - and is looking for comics artists to get involved.

The project is employing artists to create artwork for empty shop windows in Coalville, Leicestershire and is looking for submissions from sequential artists and illustrators.

To apply, send them your CV, some examples of work (a web link will do) and a paragraph on what you might like to create for a shop window. Email submissions to matthewATmantlearts.org.uk.

The closing date on the brief is 11th January but it might be worth contacting Mantle to se if they can extend that a little as on some online postings they've pushed that back to 15th January.

Based in North West Leicestershire and working across the Midlands, Mantle Arts is a particpatory arts organisation creating arts projects, festivals, events and manage public art commissions.

• The full brief can be downloaded from here: http://www.mantlearts.org.uk/projects/community/introduction/Window-works

Compal Launches Lot Search, Garth Art Up For Auction

The Autumn 2009 auction at British comics auction site Compalcomics, which has just announced an online search facility for all its past lots, closes soon.

This catalogue's star lot is The Beano Comic No 1 with original advertising flyer, an eight-page mini comic in its own right - expected to sell for some £5,000-5,500 - which is closely followed by a Fine copy of Beano Comic Issue 3.

There are also some extraordinary high grade 1930s comics including Boys' Broadcast Issues 1-36, Buzzer 1-36, Crystal / Girls' Crystal 1-62, Detective Weekly 1-97, Hotspur complete years 19-70 and 71-122, Knock-Out 11-20, Radio Fun 11 & 12, Scoops (The UK's first Sci-Fi Weekly, pictured above) Issues 1-20 complete with never seen before No 1 free gift and Wild West Weekly 1-50. All in all a bronco-bustin' 1930s line-up bristling with free gifts.

Beryl The Peril, Black Bob, Dennis The Menace, Beano and Dandy feature 'rare-in-condition' high grade annuals and there are several 1960s Beano bound volumes in complete years.

This auction's artwork section stars Desperate Dan, The Broons and Oor Wullie - and introduces the superb artwork of Martin Asbury who took over Garth from Frank Bellamy in 1976.

The US section highlights some 1950s lurid covers of Crime SuspenStories, Captain Marvel Adventures and a spasmodic run of Detective Comics from 1949 to the 1960s. Amazing Spider-Man #1 and early issues of Fantastic Four, Hulk, Silver Surfer and X-Men mutate for your attention.

In a major revamp to the site ComPal have also created their own online search facility. Comic Book Auction's 11 year, 45 catalogue run of comics, annuals and artwork can be accessed in one searchable database, featuring over 15,000 lots of comic titles, issue numbers, years, prices, grades and descriptions.

• Bids will be accepted until Tuesday 1st September at 8 PM UK time.To go directly to the main page for the catalogue, click here

• Visit Compal at www.compalcomics.com

Sharp Advice on Breaking Into Comics

British comics artist Liam Sharp (publisher of MamTor, artist on Gears of War and, many moons ago, Death's Head II) has just posted a revamped version of his excellent guide to breaking into comics over on DeviantArt.

The post is packed with a huge amount of useful advice and suggestions for aspiring creators, building on an article he first wrote a couple of years back.

"Getting into comics is something a lot of people want to know how to do, but there's a lot of questions you want to ask yourself first," he advises. "There's such a vast array of genre and subgenre, technique, approach, and so on, that it’s important to be clear on where you want to go with your work at the outset – and you have to be really honest and tough with yourself at this stage!

"If you're into the capes and tights and you want to go mainstream you’re going to have to want it incredibly badly, as the competition is the most extreme I’ve ever known it right now," he warns. "...Right across the industry there's an enormous amount of competition.

"One thing I'm not seeing at cons is break-the-mould, edgy and accomplished new types of comic art," Liam notes. "Invariably it's by-numbers superhero fare of a fairly similar standard - what I would typify as three or four years off pro-standard but showing promise. I often wonder when we're going to see the next Sienkewicz, the next great stylist. Originality is not only becoming rarer, it seems less desired - either by the industry or the fans, who want above all else consistency."

• Packed with advice on indie publishing and promotion, you can read Liam's article in full on DeviantArt here.

2000AD Covers Uncovered

Being a huge 2000AD fan and collector of its artwork, Pete Wells gets a thrill from seeing covers and artwork for the comic in their original state. Back in early July, he announced he'd decided to write a blog where he can upload as many logoless covers as he can get his hands on so fans can see the artists' original visions without all other gubbins - the masthead, barcode box, cover lines etc. - cluttering up the page.

One month on, there's some fabulous stuff on the site, including this unused Judge Dredd cover by Frank Milller and the story behind it, too.

Pete's also uploaded work in progress and uncoloured stuff too. Check the blog out at: 2000adcovers.blogspot.com

Apollo 11: Behind the Scenes?

Contributions to our 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing Comics Celebration album on the downthetubes forum are coming in daily, with this latest gem from comics, storyboard artist and illustrator Martin Baines, a tongue-in-cheek tip of the hat to the film Capricorn One, which capitalised on deeply ingrained claims that the moon landings never happened by positing a faked landing on Mars, all shot in a remote film studio.

Martin's credits include work for Match of the Day Magazine, Spaceship Away and many other magazines: he's represented by Smudged Pencil.

Here at downthetubes we're unconvinced by sceptics - given voice recently by character Tyrone Dobbs in Coronation Street, of all places - that the moon landings never happened, but Martin's art gave us a laugh.

Other contributors so far include Bugpowder contributor Dan Fish with a strip called "The Moon's A Balloon", the Etherington Brothers, Mike Nicoll, Malcolm Kirk, Doctor Who illustrator Colin Howard, games artist Gary Hall and Bob Bello.

More contributions from comics artists and illustrators to help mark this major anniversary for space exploration are very welcome: we see it as an opportunity to present a portfolio of themed work based on space and space exploration (real or imagined) that should generate press interest given the upcoming anniversary.

The album can be “embedded” on any web site. If there’s a strong response to this, we may also do a MyEbook version.

Text pieces are also welcomed: we're not quite sure how to present those yet, perhaps in another part of the downthetubes forum. We don’t want writers to be left out.

If you don't want to join our forum and upload art but would like to join in with the celebrations, simply send your work to johnfreeman6-moonlandinganniversaryart@yahoo.co.uk. Please ensure images are no larger than 2MB in size.

• Visit the downthetubes forum at: http://downthetubes.ning.com

Cameron's A-Z of Awesomeness

(via FPI Blog); Neill Cameron is hard at work on his latest project: The A-Z of Awesomeness. Well into its stride (he's just delivered "Nina and the Neurons Neutralising the Ninky-Nonk with Nitrogen", it was originally inspired by Garen Ewing’s A-Z of Comic Book Characters.

"That was fantastic and looked like a lot of fun to do," Neill says of Garen's project, but he widened the remit for his attempt, from comic strips to the wider world of pop cultural entertainment.

Neill’s taking a letter a day and welcomes suggestions via his weblog, the project's facebook group or his twitter.

You may suggest characters from film, animation, TV, literature... "anything, really, so long as it is awesome," says Neill.

Manwha 100 Opening Report

Last week David Baillie was our downthetubes roving reporter lucky enough to be invited to a private view of the new Manwha 100 exhibition in London which, if the name hasn’t already given the game away, celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Korean comics... Heres how the evening went...

The Manhwa: A Language of Unlimited Imaginations Launch Party was a lavish affair, abundantly attended as it was by Korean officials, journalists, people in spectacular costumes and cartoonists from both the UK and Korea. As Tripwire's Joel Meadows snapped photos, Mark Stafford (of Cherubs fame) quaffed copious amounts of free wine and Leon 'Doc' Hewitt discussed the technological implications of setting up a Manwha webcomics portal with a like-minded Korean tech-savvy businessman, I stuffed my face with an exotic delicacy I had just discovered in the finger buffet.

The Korean ambassador, upon noticing this, crossed the busy floor and politely informed me that they were called tok and apparently are very difficult to source here in London. I tried to thank him for the information, but my mouth was full of gooey rice.

A diplomatic disaster was narrowly averted when Sean 'Necessary Monsters' Azzopardi loudly declared he wasn't eating anything that looked like eyeballs.

Still busy chewing, I took the opportunity to wander around the exhibition and couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the work on show. Anyone who, like me, is addicted to visiting the Cartoon Museum on Little Russell Street will not want to miss Manwha 100. The Art Toon Art gallery area features the work of twelve contemporary Manwha artists, cherry-picked from the annual 'Masterpieces Meet Comics' exhibition which specialises in the cross-over between fine art and comics, and provides an intriguing hint at where the art form might be headed today.

Also on offer was a selection of work from some of the recognised masters of Manhwa – including artists such as Min-Woo Hyung and Kwang-Mook Lim. Meanwhile, in the back, Chul-Ho Park was hectically sketching and signing prints for fans in a room decorated with facsimiles of his comic pages.

The pièce de résistance of this exhibition, however, is the Manwha Bang (‘bang’ being the Korean word for ‘room’) which features a stunning library of Manwha titles in both English and Korean in a relaxing lounge setting. Having returned when the place isn’t flooded with people stuffing their face with Korean cakes and wine, I can thoroughly recommend The Great Catsy and Priest, among dozens of other titles. Interestingly, Manwha reads left to right like English language comics, so if you’re the sort of reader normally turned off by the initial cognitive dissonance of reverse reading Manga, this will be right up your street.

Now – can anyone tell me where I can find more tok?

• Manwha 100 runs until 24h June at the Cultural Korean Centre, 1-2 The Strand, just off Trafalgar Square. (Although the entrance is actually on Northumberland Avenue. You can’t miss it there’s a big Korean flag outside which can be seen as soon as your turn the corner.)

Tel: 020 7004 2600

Web Link: http://london.korean-culture.org

Signed Star Trek Klingons Art on eBay

One of my 'day' jobs is reviewing Star Trek comics for Titan's Star Trek Magazine - and I was recently thrilled to see US artist JK Woodward's work grace the latest IDW-published Star Trek: Klingons title.

I first came across his stunning art via the independent title Crazy Mary, written by Michael Colbert, which I adapted for mobile and is distributed on ROK Comics: but most people reading this will be more familiar with his work on X-Men and other US titles.

Anyway, if you enjoy his work as much as me, there's now a chance to owning a piece of very cool Star Trek art from the new book. Michael Colbert's wife - who sadly lost her grandmother to cancer very recently - is involved with the American Cancer Society's ”Relay for Life” project, dedicated to raising money for cancer research.

JK has donated an original page from the Klingons book for auction on E-Bay. "This thing has Klingon war ships, the Enterprise B, Kang and all done by JK’s brilliant hand," Michael enthuses. "The page will be signed by JK and every dime will go to the charity goal."

"This is a win win for everybody and it would be great if folk bid on it."

While we're mainly about British comics here on downthetubes I'm more than happy to help a friend promote and support a very good cause.

• The e-bay link is: ebay KLINGONS!

London Hosts Centenary Manwha Exhibition

The Korea Creative Content Agency and Korean Cultural Centre UK have announced a celebration of the centenary of Korean comics, known as manhwa, with a host of interrelated special exhibitions, events and film screenings, starting next week.

Manhwa: A Language of Unlimited Imaginations, which opens on 21 May, celebrates manwha's 100th anniversary, a popular art form in Korea which began with the first publication of Doyoung Lee's political cartoons in the newspaper Daehanminbo, which was founded on 2nd June 1909.

As an art form, manhwa is used to comment on a wide variety of topics. It can often spotlight societal injustices. Sometimes, manhwa tells marvelous tales of dreamy romance. At other times, the art form simply uses its simplified figures and their exaggerated gestures to provide amusement and entertainment.

To this day, as with western comics, manhwa continues to evolve and hold a special place within the hearts and minds of Korean society.

The history of manhwa highlights unique traits within each distinct era of Korean history, and the exhibition throws light on how authors of each generation interacted with the public. Following its birth, manhwa had to endure Korea's tumultuous history under Japanese colonial rule, then survive the country's national liberation, the dark years of the Korean War, and through the dismal military dictatorship.

The 1980's and 90's marked the renaissance of manhwa, while new work from 2000 onwards employs digital media technology offering exhibition visitors the opportunity to interpret present-day Korean comics in a new light and, perhaps, even predict the industry's future.

Within the exhibtion are two special displays. Art Toon Art brings together the work of 12 artists, including Dong-Hwa Kim and Young-Ok Kim, whose work pushes the boundaries of conventional comic book art humorously by reinterpreting famous masterpieces. This small display is derived from the exhibition Masterpieces Meet Comics, which is held annually in Korea and is based on the theme of convergence between comics and art.

Manhwa Illustrations offers a small collection of work by famous graphic illustrators including Min-Woo Hyung and Kwang-Mook Lim, shown together for the first time.

• Manhwa 100: A Centenary of Korean Comics runs from 21 May - 24 June at the Korean Cultural Centre UK, Grand Buildings, 1 - 3 Strand, London WC2N 5BW Tel: 020 7004 2600. Web Link: http://london.korean-culture.org
• A number of tie-in events have also been scheduled: see details below.

Events

• Meet Korean Manhwa Artist Chul-Ho Park
Wednesday 20 May 6.30-7pm

• Live Drawing Performance & Workshop with Manhwa Artist Chul-Ho Park
Thursday 21 May 2-3.30pm
Manhwa artist Chul-Ho Park leads a live drawing workshop with London based journalist and leading authority on Asian comics Paul Gravett.

• Manhwa Bang
Bang is the Korean word for room. It's a social space where you can hang out with friends and read a wide variety of Korean Manhwa.

Film Screenings
Admission to the films is free but tickets must be booked in advance with the Korean Cultural Centre. Tel: 020 7004 2600

• Hello Schoolgirl
Thursday 21 May 6pm
Venue: Multi-Purpose Hall, Korean Cultural Centre UK
Two civil workers at the local district office find love but in distinctly different directions. Written by famous Korean comic artist Pool Kang, featuring Ji-Tae Yu (Oldboy) and K-pop singer turned actor Kang (Attack on the Pin-up Boys).
South Korea 2008 Dir. Jang-Ha Ryu (English Subtitles) 113 min

• The War of Flower
Friday 22 May 4pm
Venue: Cinema Hall, Korean Cultural Centre UK
Go-Ni loses his entire savings and the money that he stole from his sister in the high stakes card game known as "Hwatu." Go-Ni figures out shortly after the game that he was swindled and he spends the next six months tracking down the person that robbed him of his money. Starring Seung-Woo Cho, Hye-Su Kim, Yun-Shik Baek.
South Korea 2006 Dir. Dong-Hun Choi (English Subtitles) 139 min

Who Gazes Upon The Watchmen? Chapter Two

At the beginning of April we reported that four pages of original Watchmen artwork by artist Dave Gibbons that had just sold on eBay, selling for between £4,058 and £5,600. Since then, three more pages have been sold.

The first went for only £1825.81, but then it was page 28 of Chapter 9. (To save you digging out the graphic novel that particular page is simply three panels of space with the Sun, Earth and Mars reducing in size as the view pulls out, not the most riveting subject matter. Still, it was signed by both Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore and came with John Higgins' colourist page).

Next came the page before it. Chapter 9 page 27 shows the smiley face in a crater on Mars - a much more striking image. Again signed by Gibbons and Moore, with its colourist page it went for £2422.13.

The best is left for last however - the original art from Chapter 5 page 4 which is the chapter title page, Fearful Symmetry, showing Rorschach's encounter with Molock. Remember that the most expensive page from the recent batch of sales up to this point was £5600. This one however, just blew the rest of them out of the water.

The final price? After over 1300 page views and 36 bids from thirteen different bidders, three new people bid on it within the last six seconds of the sale, their bids pushing the price up by £1100. The single page of art sold for... £12,601.

Who Gazes Upon The Watchmen?

Now that the fuss about the movie has died down and you have treated yourself to the absolute edition of the graphic novel, to the definitive companion to the graphic novel, to the companion to the film, to the art of the film, to the portraits book, let alone any of the toy figures, how about a page of original artwork of the Watchmen graphic novel to complete the collection?

Pages of Watchmen illustrated by Dave Gibbons have been appearing on eBay and selling for amounts that defy any thoughts of a credit crunch. In recent weeks four pages have appeared, most combined with the original colour guide for the page by John Higgins.

Chapter 2 page 26 which has Rorschach visiting the Comedian's grave went for £4800 plus an extra £250 if you wanted the colour guide page.

Chapter 3 page 5 which has Laurie in her dressing gown trying to deal with multiple Doctor Manhattans sold for £5001.77.

Chapter 3 page 27 which has Doctor Manhattan walking on the surface of Mars whilst President Nixon contemplates the losses suffered in a nuclear war sold for £4058.

However those pale in comparison to chapter 3 page 20 in which Doctor Manhattan walks into the deserted Gila Flats Test Base and finds the Polaroid photo. Along with its colour guide it sold for a whopping £5600.

What did appear but did not sell was the original cover for the graphic novel. If you think that the new "group shot" cover to the graphic novel isn't quite as classy as the old "blood splash" cover then you could have bought the art for that original cover as well for less than one thousand pounds. However since it was only 1p less than one thousand pounds no one was interested. Perhaps sanity has prevailed after all.

How to Paint Rorschach

A bit late to the table with this one, but what with trips to London and the ramping up of the first of several new web sites during the day, I've been a bit sidetracked - apologies!

The April issue of ImagineFX – on sale now - boasts world-exclusive cover art from Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, with an in depth workshop ‘How to Paint Rorschach’ and an accompanying video workshop from Dave on our free DVD.

There’s also an eight-page feature looking at the history and influence of the genre-defining comic, with comment from Vertigo Comics president Paul Levitz, Watchmen colourist John Higgins and one of the film’s concept artists Scott Lukowski.

The magazine's DVD also features over nine hours worth of video tuition, along with two fantastic comic creation software trials.

• IFX is on sale in WHSmith, Tesco, and all good newsagents. More info and subscription details at www.imaginefx.com

Texeira Painting Commission List Opens

Mark Texeira has long been one of the best to bring fine art painting to the sequential art world, book covers, galleries and more. Now, it's just been announced, with the last of his painting commissions out the door, that Texeira has a limited amount of space on his schedule to take on a few more full painting commissions.

Now is the chance to get the character of your choice in a full oil, one of a kind, rendition. If you've seen Tex's recent Vampirella, Conan and Wolverine you know... So let your imagination run wild. Who would you choose?

We're sure no-one reading this will be stuck for inspiration if you've see any of Texeira's work on such US comic titles as Ghost Rider, Black Panther, Moon Knight or his creator-owned project Pscythe, as well as an upcoming Wolverine special!

• For More information contact: EvaInk@aol.com
• If there are British artists offering private commissions, let us know and we'll add that information to our Comics Artists links section

Britsh Comics Art on EBay

Artwork from Steel Claw from Valiant, Robot Archie from Lion and Black Bow from Eagle is currently on sale on eBay, more work that was sold off by IPC a couple of years ago when it cleared its archives.

The offerings are all being auctioned by Blase Books as being from the Peter Hansen Five Star Collection IPC Archives, with a stamp of authenticity on the back of the art.

The Steel Claw page by Jesus Blasco, which shows anti-hero Louis Crandell "dematerializing", is taken from the Valiant dated 25th July 1964.

Also on offer for just a few more days is a page of Black Bow by Frank Humphries from Eagle; a page of Kelly's Eye art by Solano Lopez from a 1973 edition of Valiant; and a page of The Spider, fighting Spider-Boy, from Lion by Reg Bunn.

While IPC considered itself within its rights to sell the comic art back in 2007, some surviving artists have hotly contested their claim to ownership of the physical art featured in many past comics, arguing the company only holds rights to publish not ownership to the art. There has been no test case, we believe, as to the ownership of the physical art but we believe it's only a matter of time before there is.

However, it should also be noted that some publishers in the past demanded a fee from the artists for the return of their art. In an upmcoming interview a Misty comic special, veteran girls comic artist John Armstrong indicates this was the demand of Fleetway when he worked on that title.

Rich Johnston then noted in his Lying in the Gutters column for Comic Book Resources that artist Pura Campos was battling to have IPC recognize her ownership of Patty's World, which featured in Princess Tina in the UK but was reprinted in several other countires and still has a massive following in Pura's home country, Spain.