Scooby-doo, a dinosaur and a cousin?

So, I did this piece for Marita’s cousin, Tristan, who we stayed with earlier this summer. While we visited we were constantly being pulled in Tristan’s role plays involving, Scooby-doo, Dinosaurs, Ghost Werewolf’s, all manner of haunted structures and various “Nano” creatures. So I thought I’d whip something small up for him as a thank you for all the amazing and death defying adventures we embarked on.

PS. Yes I did basically traced Scooby-Doo, as a kid I hated other people interpretations of cartoons/comic characters, so I thought that Tristan may be the same.

PPS Now I love seeing other peoples twists on characters!

Quick Hulk drawing. Nuff said.

So, just doing a quick update of current going ons. Been reading the Hulk Visionaries: Peter David a little bit this week, so I was inspire by Todd McFarlane to do a little sketch. Man, I’ve never paid allot of attention to McFarlane’s work before, but he can really draw, I really love this issues that he drew, and it was interesting to see how is work looked when inked by different people. Theres even a issue where Erik Larsen inks over his pencils, its bloody beautiful. Anyway on to business.

Now, I’ve just finished colouring a ten page story by Jason Franks and Bruce Mutard. I think it came out very well, I’m not sure if I’m allowed to show it off just yet, but I’ll be sure to when I can.

In further Jason Franks related news, I’ve knee deep in a 4 page story that I’m drawing, inking and colouring for the next issue of Blackglass Press’s Kagemono anthology, KAGEMONO: FLOWERS AND SKULLS, which will features the talents of Brendan Halyday, Bobby N, James Andre and many, many more, including Jason Himself of course.

Also I’m three pages into a Mini-comic I’m working on with my lovely girlfriend. I’m aiming for 20 or so pages, cross your fingers that this will all come together in a timely fashion.

And finally I’ve almost finished the cover to Prettiest Nightmare Volume 1 by James Andre. I just need to go to the store and get some white paint, but I’m a little broke right now so I’ve been holding off on that, but I hope to in employed by the end of next week, so I can purchase wonderful things like food, paint, and rent!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Cheers Luke.

Down Under – Bill Bryson
So I was given Down Under just days before I left Australia by the mother of my former and great neighbor. And what a fantastic gift.  The book taught me a great many things about the country that I’ve spent my whole life in, and which I had shamefully yet to learn as much about as I should have.  So, it was only fitting that I learned about all these amazing facts as I flew away to Canada for the next two years.  For me the book was an invaluable resource in understanding Australia’s place in the world, everything that is great about it, and some big things that Australia really needs to think about.  Having an outsider’s perspective on the country that I call home and dearly love was a great insight. If you’re Australian, you need to read this.  Seriously.  And if you’re not, and want to know more about Australia then this is a great first introduction to the place I proudly call home.

A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
While we stayed in Vancouver at Marita’s auntie’s and uncle’s house, I happened to see a copy of this fine book sitting on the shelf, and being nose deep in Down Under I could see the end of the book coming up fast.  So I grabbed it off the shelf and once again, I found a book filled with stuff I wanted to know, but hadn’t asked anyone just yet.  Every few pages, I would stop reading, and tell Marita something that I thought was amazing, she was often less interested, but it’s likely more to do with my retelling than the facts themselves.  Once again, this is a book that demands to be read, and frankly, I think it should be required reading for every Year 9 student.  Carve out some of that useless filler in science class and have them read this.  I reckon this book would open far more doors in the minds of many students than some puny experiments and taking sometimes endless notes off a blackboard (or whiteboard for the new kids out there!).

Filthy Rich – Written by Brian Azzarello, Art by Victor Santos

I read this book on the plane from Vancouver to Winnipeg.  It’s the first book I’ve read in Vertigo’s Crime line. First off, they are handsome little books, the production is first class and have an almost exclusive look and feel to them.  Victor Santos’ art is really the stand out here for me.  I often pull the book of the shelf with a sense of giddiness and flick through the book soaking in all the art I can.  Even though I am myself an artist, I rarely am this enthralled with an artists work.  The story itself is enjoyable enough and does have a very nice noir feel to it and feels somewhat inspired by films like Out of the Past. If you’re a fan of Azzarello, as I am; I’m sure you’ll enjoy this, but as I’ve said above the real draw here is Victor Santos’ artwork.  It’s a wet dream of shadows, sex, and raw testosterone.

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I know I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I finally got to it.  A friend of mine from Kyneton recommended Marquez’ work (Along with Juan Rulfo) to me, and my girlfriend said that some of his books are among the most beautiful that she has read. And frankly I can’t agree more.  This book is a brilliant oral history of family, a town and most of all, the people. I couldn’t believe the how fluid the narration was!  The book pulls you though the history of these people and creates a real sense of nostalgia throughout its 400 odd pages.  Like life, the book just marches on, resolving some plot lines while leaving others hanging in the wind to float away.  The characters live out deep and powerful metaphors in their almost-mythical existences.  And for me, this book has created a love affair with the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  More than any other book in recent years, it has opened my mind to the wonder of life and my desire to engage with it.

Autumn of the Patriarch - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I’m only going to review two of the books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez that I’ve read recently, and for those taking notes I also read Love in the Time of Cholera, and Memories of My Melancholy Whores.  While I enjoyed both of them, I don’t really feel as if I have much to say on them.
But I do have to say something about Autumn of the Patriarch, this book was a difficult yet thrilling read.  The novel is structured in way that requires all of you to grasp what is going on within its pages.  Written without any paragraphs and at times devoid of full stops; in fact the last chapter runs for 50 odd pages without a full stop.  There are constant change in perspectives, often mid sentence, which doesn’t allow you to sit ideally by and read at your own pace.  Marquez sets the pace, and I imagine this could turn off some readers, but the sheer challenge of conquering the tale of this aging Caribbean dictator had me reading and rereading this book with breathless gusto.  The uninterrupted sentence demanded that I read the last 50 page chapter in one almost endless sitting, holding my concentration in a dizzying focus, trying my hardness not to fall off and the page and out the book.  I would throughly recommend this book,  it’s not easy, but its clearly not meant to be. The book can’t just be dipped into at odd intervals.  If you’re going to read this you need to sit and read it, and only read it, because if your mind wanders off as mine tends to, you’ll relise that you have no idea who’s talking, why they’re talking, and often whats even going on.

Lose #2 - Michael Deforge

Lose Issue 2 Cover

I picked this up at the Scott Pilgrim launch last month from the artist himself, Michael Deforge.  He did the poster for the event at The Beguiling here in Toronto.  While I haven’t read issue one, I think you can get by without doing so, though I do plan to picking it up next time I see it at the store. Deforge’s art is awesome, and the main story is  also oddly captivating as well. I’d totally recommend this book to any lover of short odd comic tales.  Deforge’s art is truly mind-blowing, filled with detail, character and a certain creepiness.  It’s the sort of artwork that you want to just look at and bath in for a while.  I really look forward to reading a longer story by him, or just a whole bunch more of his shorts – either way, I want to read more. Deforge is clearly an awesome talent that is going to produce some amazing work.  He creates the sort of work that makes me want to work so much harder to attempt to capture a fraction of his creativity.
You can buy a copy of the book as well as his other work at his webstore.

Anyways, that’s enough for today.  I’m not sure how often I’ll whip one of these review posts out, but the plan is to do them monthly at the moment.  Hope you enjoyed my little insights to the books I’ve been reading, and please don’t hesitate to add any thoughts below.  I’ve already got a bunch of books to review in the next installment, so until next time!

This video is super important, there is so much miss information out there, and people need to know the facts. The problem of boat people in Australia is myth created by the Howard Government and continues today.

I feel that if anyone actually looks at the facts its quiet obvious that this is really a non issue and a distraction from bigger and more important issues that face Australia and timely processing of asylum seekers, would not only stop dehumanizing a very small group of people that come to Australia in search of a life free of prosecution , but also save the Australian taxpayer millions of dollars a year in pointless offshore processing.

Look at the video and research the facts, make your own decision about this and stop playing into the fear created by successive Australian governments, both Labor and Liberal.

Now onto my first adventure… a couple of weeks ago I attended the launch for the new Scott Pilgrim book*.  First of all,  it was big.  Apparently two thousand people showed up, all for a comic book.  Pretty amazing, huh? I think there were about 200 people at the Tango 9 Launch last year in Melbourne and I was blow away by that, and that was for two books!

Now here’s me, in front of Honest Ed’s which you  might recognize it from the second or third Scott Pilgrim book.  I was chuffed to see it in person, it’s an amazingly big store.  Seriously, like a whole city block big.

Marita picked up a new copy of “Lost at Sea” and got it signed by the great man Bryan Lee O’Malley himself.  I was so star struck that I forgot to get a photo….  We went to grab some coffee before the midnight launch and Marita dove straight into it.

Uber massive line at the Scott Pilgrim Launch!

As you can see in that last photo, the line was massive, at least 800 people deep, it ran right about the corner of the street and it was only 11 o’clock! So sadly Marita and I decide to bail-out.  I know, we suck.  But we didn’t know anybody there, being new to Toronto, so we got a little bored.  So, if you’re into comics, food and coffee, let me know and we can hang out!  Also, I should give a special mention to Michael Deforge who did the awesome poster (below) for the event and was selling his kick ass comic Lose Issue 2, which I really enjoyed.

Anyway, thats it for now.  I’m not sure what I’ll post about next, but I have some new artwork that I’ve been working on, so look forward to that!

Cheers Luke

Malmsbury Arts Festival Poster first version.

Malmsbury Arts Festival Poster Final Version.

Firstly we have the Malmsbury Arts Festival poster that I did ages ago. The first version was a little to dark for then, so I scaled it back a little and we you can see the final result above. Overall, I wasn’t really happy with either version of the post, and in retrospect I think a different idea might have been better.

Now, above you can see the remaining Chapters of Prettiest Nightmare Volume 1. You’ll have to wait til the book is published to read the rest of the story, or visit James Andres blog, sorry no links, you’ll have to find it on your own! I was really happy with how the second half of this came together. Now all I have to do is the cover…

Thats it for now, yes it wasn’t at all a very productive few months, but something is better than nothing, isn’t it?

Til next time.

Cheers

Luke.

Hopefully this will allow to create more comics, drawings, artwork. Hopefully. I’ve found this road, on which comics are made, is tougher and harder than I could have ever thought. Confidence wanes, inspiration evaporates, time drifts by. But thats not to say that I’ve given up, just that I’ve come to a hurdle(ie a funk) thats taken me longer to get over than I thought it would. I’m not sure when I’ll be out of it, but I’ll keep drawing and line by line, I’ll find my way out if it.

Well now thats off my chest I hope to be post some new artwork in the next couple of weeks.  If anyone has any stories of how they found there way out of a funk, or just wants to commiserate feel free to email me at lukepickett.artist@gmail.com.

Cheers Luke.

PS. I recently did this little drawing for a client….and yes, it was a ton of fun to draw.

1996 push down and slide across out two two dollar coins, one one dollar and two fifty cent coins along the scratched science room desk. Ok Dennis, I can chuck in six bucks, what can I get for that, will that get me stoned? Yeah. Cause I smoked a joint before, and all it got me was a hole burnt in the flyscreen of my room. This shit is good, it’s buddha. Fuckin hell, sounds strong. Yeah mate, it’s the best, wait’ll the weekend, you’ll see… Crush crossed legged back shed floorboards, from the cane chair he passes down a packed tin foil cone piece packed stinking lighter torn bottle bong. Don’t spill it. Nah, so this shit is strong? Yeah, fuckin oath it is, just smoke it, like I told you. Chickclicchicclichickclick. That’s it. Three or four pipes later he plays broken. Request a song, but he doesn’t know it and plays one I don’t know. Soon sitting outside on a rusty metal chair he runs out with no shirt. I’M A FUCKIN KOALA! Nipples = eyes, a grey oval detergent top pushed onto his skinny solar plexus = nose and his belly button = mouth. Hahahahahaha I think I may piss myself or fall off the seat. Laugh for five full minutes until my floating funny face tingly aches. Ah fuck this, let’s go for a walk, I gotta buy something to drink. What you doing tonight? Goingtoaparty. Yeah? Yeah, I’m probably gonna fuck Rachel, already fingered her twice. Fucckk… Yeah she’s alright, what are you going to do? Don’t know, think I might go home and read. Hahaha you’re stoned mate. Am I? Let us look at your eyes, fuck, they look like little arses, try to keep em open ay. Like this? Christ, they’re red as! Yours aren’t red at all. Tolerance build up, man. Hehehecoughcough. We spongey step down the cracked concrete path padding past the inner city sheep paddock, looking in houses wondering if anyone else is smashed in them, wondering how the clouds grow so high, what’s their motivation, through the park cutting across the oval and screaming hoarse at the sound dome and then we’re at the supermarket. Man, you go in there and buy a fuckin Cocoanut bar, believe me… What, why, where are you going? I’m takin in this (holds up a badly worn and totally fake boating licence) and going in to get something to get me smashed. Alright. Waiting on the cold soft blue seat outside six spinning minutes later unwrap the Cocoanut bar. Slowly unwrap it. Oh, the smell! POP! AH FUCK! Holding a busted brown bag and a bottle. Hahaha, scared ya, so here he is, wasted, how is it? Bite in. Jeeeesuu-Happening?

Words by James Andre Pictures By Luke Pickett

Today I’m posting a piece I did back in January for a band that didn’t realize that they had to pay for artwork. I’ve pulled off the logo and what not and I’m posting the workings that I have as well as the finished piece. Overall the artwork come off really well I think.

A quick piece of advice to any band looking to get artwork done, if you don’t have the money to pay for artwork, just approach the artist/s you want to work with on it and be honest before the job starts. I’m general more than willing to work out a deal with them, in exchange for the artwork. To the point where sometimes a couple of free pizzas from place you work might be enough to call it a deal. Its all about being honest people.

Metal Cover layouts

Metal Cover Process shot 1

Metal Cover Process shot 2

The finished piece!

Anyhow, hope some people like it. I worked really hard on it during that 40 degree period in late January, I had sweat pouring off me and I felt like the dude in the piece as I power though those couple of days.  Anyhow til next time.