Martin's Illustration Blog

THE MASK MAKER!

2012-01-24T14:32:00.003Z

Happy New Year!

Here's a new self-promotional piece to start me off in 2012!

NOW REPRESENTED BY...

2011-12-13T16:34:00.004Z

I'm delighted to announce that as of now I am represented by Lemonade Illustration Agency! I'm really happy that they thought me worthy.

And, just in case I don't blog again before the big day... Merry Christmas to one and all!

MY NORTHERN SEQUENTIAL ART COMPETITION ENTRY IS A WINNER!

2011-11-29T14:05:00.001Z

Here's my entry for the Northern Sequential Art Competition 2011. I'm bowled over and delighted to announce that my entry was one of the winners! Second place overall!! Totally chuffed!!

Congrats to all those who entered. You can check them all out here!

All the winning entries will be published in next years Thought Bubble Anthology by Image Comics. To check out this years issue go here.

GRAPHIC SHORT STORY PRIZE 2011

2011-10-28T22:58:00.007+01:00

Here's my entry for this years Graphic Short Story Prize. Hope you all like the look of it. You can see many of the other entrants here.

WOLVEN BOOK 2: THE TWILIGHT CIRCUS OUT SOON!

2011-10-27T16:22:00.005+01:00

More Wolven stuff here with my US version of book 2 for Scholastic. Great fun to do! It's due out next week and I'll hopefully get a few shots of the finished product on here soon.

WOLFEN BLUT!

2011-09-27T16:54:00.005+01:00

Hey there! It's been a while since I last blogged... but I have a few things to put up here over the next few weeks.

Above is a new piece of work I've done for the German edition of the second Wolven book. More stuff to come soon!

COMIC BLOG NOW UP AND RUNNING!

2011-07-05T15:13:00.008+01:00

My new comic blog is now up and running! You can check it out here!

I'm trying to find a much looser and slightly more gestural style for my comic book work. I would love to know what anyone and everyone thinks of it.

A NEW BEGINNING!

2011-05-21T17:18:00.015+01:00

Hi all! I have been hard at work over the last few months overhauling everything... my work, website and blog. Hope you like the reboot! All the illustration is now either new or completely re-worked for 2011.

To celebrate this new beginning I've produced a couple of self-promotional pieces (above). Hope you like them!

SNEAK PEEK: DINING ON ASHES!

2011-01-20T14:34:00.011Z

Happy New Year to one and all!

Here is a little peek at some experimental comic book work I'm on with. It will ultimately lead to a 100 page plus graphic novel called 'Dining on Ashes'. I'm trying a more loose painterly feel to the art in this book and I'm really enjoying working this way.

I hope to have this project finished by the end of the year. I'll post more info about 'Dining on Ashes' over the coming months.

WOLVEN: BAD WOLF RISING ILLUSTRATION!

2010-12-22T15:14:00.005Z

Here is a little sneak peek at the wrap around cover I've done for Di Toft's third (and final) Wolven book. Great fun and a great series of books. Plenty more stuff to blog soon! Until then... Merry Christmas to all!

CHEETOS P.O.S!

2010-12-22T15:08:00.003Z

Here's a peice of work I've done for The Marketing Arm Agency. It ain't easy being cheesy!

GHOUL STRIKE ILLUSTRATION!

2010-10-08T10:45:00.008+01:00

Wow! Long time no blog! To say it's been busy is an understatement! Anyway, here is the cover I illustrated for 'Ghoul Strike!' by Andrew Newbound. It was great to once again work with Scholastic over in New York for this one. I should be able to post a few images of the actual book real soon. Lot's of other stuff going on that I will try to blog about as and when I can.

TORDRAY TOWER!

2010-07-15T15:27:00.004+01:00

This is a piece I've rescued from an old abandoned project and given a little spruce up. It's Tordray Tower, where generations of an entire civilization have been cooped up inside this vast tower that stretches way up above the clouds!

AQUILA 2 OUT NOW!

2010-07-08T12:44:00.007+01:00

Here's an illustration I did for the cover to Aquila 2 by Andrew Norriss. It's out now and published by Puffin Books.

FHM AUGUST ISSUE ILLUSTRATION!

2010-07-05T10:34:00.003+01:00

Here's some work I've done for this months FHM!

WOLVEN SCHOLASTIC EDITION OUT NOW!

2010-06-25T09:57:00.003+01:00

I'm absolutely ecstatic about how this new US edition of the first Wolven book has turned out. Great book design too from Phil Falco at Scholastic to whom it was a pleasure to work with on this.

FHM JULY ISSUE ILLUSTRATIONS

2010-06-16T14:01:00.005+01:00

Here are a couple of editorial illustrations I did for the current issue of FHM. These had to be done in a crazily short amount of time! This could be the beginning of a stint of work for FHM. In fact, I've just finished some illustration for the August issue that I'll post as soon as I can.

MONSTROSO OUT NOW!

2010-05-05T11:04:00.007+01:00

Here's a cover I illustrated for 'Monstroso' by Charlie Higson and it was great fun to do! It's being published by Puffin Books as part of a line of titles which celebrate Puffins 70th birthday! I've also done some more work for Puffin which should be out later in the year.

WOLVEN BOOK 2!

2010-04-13T10:05:00.007+01:00

Hey all! Here is my illustration work for Wolven: The Twilight Circus by Di Toft. It's being published in May by The Chicken House. I always love working on the Wolven series! There will also be an American version of book one that I have done for Scholastic to be published later this year.

DEMON STRIKE OUT TODAY!

2010-03-01T10:27:00.003Z

Demon Strike is out now! I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. It's written by Andrew Newbound and published by The Chicken House.

DEMON STRIKE IS COMING!

2010-01-20T14:11:00.002Z

Here's a little bit of film from Andrew Newbound showing the print production of Demon Strike! How cool is this?

DEMON STRIKE BOOK COVER ILLUSTRATION!

2010-01-11T17:29:00.006Z

Happy New Year to one and all! And to kick off 2010 here is a book cover I've illustrated for 'Demon Strike' by Andrew Newbound! It features a lenticular cover that enables the demon to change facial expressions (as shown above). It's being published by The Chicken House in March this year. Cover design by Steve Wells.

There is so much other work I would love to post but it will have to wait until I'm allowed to show it!

OBSERVER/CAPE GRAPHIC SHORT STORY PRIZE 2009: TINNED PEACHES

2009-10-29T17:43:00.010Z

Here's my unsuccessful entry in the Observer/Cape Graphic Short Story Prize 2009. I'm hoping to see a few more entries pop up online over the next few days (now the winner has been announced).

WOLVEN WATERSTONE'S SIGNING!

2009-10-22T10:33:00.003+01:00

Here's a pic from the recent Wolven signing in Bristol. They were kind enough to invite me along but unfortunately I couldn't make it. Looks like everyone had a lot of fun!

WOLVEN BOOK COVER ILLUSTRATION!

2009-07-01T14:42:00.005+01:00

This is a book cover I illustrated for Di Toft's 'Wolven'. It's being published by The Chicken House and is released on the 3rd August so keep an eye out for it! The cover involves a lenticular image that morphs between two characters and I think it's really worked well. The book cover design is by Steve Wells.

UNMASKED PUBLISHED IN C'EST BON ANTHOLOGY!

2009-06-11T10:17:00.004+01:00

I've just received my complementary copies of C'est Bon Anthology Vol 7 and I'm as pleased as punch with the way Unmasked has printed. Big thanks to C'est Bon Kulture for including me.

In other news... I've been doing some cool book cover work which I'm hoping to get up on here as soon as I can.

UNMASKED IN C'EST BON ANTHOLOGY VOL 7!

2009-05-12T16:05:00.002+01:00

I'm absolutely over the moon to announce that my first mini comic 'Unmasked' will be published in C'est Bon Anthology vol. 7! I'm a huge fan of C'est Bon Anthology and I can't quite believe I'm going to be in it! Very cool and my first published comic book work too!

THIS MOUNTAIN MINE AT SAMU!

2009-04-21T11:54:00.006+01:00

My second mini comic 'This Mountain Mine' is now available from Samu as well as the Tweekhed Shop! A big thanks goes out to Samu for the glowing review!

ROBOT EXHIBITION IN DUBAI

2009-02-26T17:25:00.005Z

It was a while ago when I sculpted a robot figure for Robotandspark in Dubai. Well, an exhibition of customised robots has just happened over there and here some pictures from the event.

THIS MOUNTAIN MINE OUT NOW!!

2009-01-28T16:47:00.005Z

My second mini comic is now available from the Tweekhed Shop!! 'This Mountain Mine' is a 24 page full colour mini comic with 350gsm card cover and shows the epic dream of a man presented with a great challenge. I hope you all like it.

UNMASKED REVIEW AT FPI BLOG!

2009-01-27T10:07:00.006Z

It's great to see that my first mini comic 'Unmasked' has just been reviewed by Richard Bruton over at the FPI blog. I read this blog almost everyday so it's really weird seeing some of my work on it! And thank goodness (and Richard) it's a good review too! You can check it out here.
And what better time to announce that my second mini comic 'This Mountain Mine' will be available from the Tweekhed Shop by Friday 30th January.

NEW MINI COMIC COMING SOON!

2009-01-13T18:16:00.003Z

My next little mini comic is very close to print now. 'This Mountain Mine' will be available to buy from the Tweekhed Shop before anywhere else! So please keep checking back to see when it arrives. As for other stuff, I'm still waiting for usage clearance on a lot of work but I will put it up as soon as poss.

UNMASKED IN-STORE!

2008-10-03T13:51:00.003+01:00

Wow, it's been a while since my last post as I've been busier than ever! I've just finished one of the biggest and most high profile projects I've ever worked on! I'll post all the new work when I'm allowed to. This post, however, is just a little note to let you know that my first mini comic 'Unmasked' is now available in-store at the following places...

Gosh! Comics (London)
Page 45 (Nottingham)
Travelling Man (Leeds)
OK Comics (Leeds)
Quimby's Bookstore (Chicago, USA)

Also, it was a real thrill to have the great Bryan Talbot get in touch about how he liked the book! He's one of my childhood comic hero's and still one of the greatest graphic novelists out there today! Very cool!

UNMASKED AVAILABLE AT SAMU!

2008-08-23T13:59:00.003+01:00

I'm totally made up that Samu have shown interest in selling my mini comic Unmasked! I'm doubly pleased that they love it so much! Big thanks to them for their kind words and making it a Samu Pick! Buy Unmasked from Samu here.

UNMASKED MINI COMIC AVAILABLE NOW!

2008-08-20T13:35:00.003+01:00

I'm really pleased to announce that my first Tweekhed Press mini comic 'Unmasked' is now available from my brand new shop over at Etsy.com. Unmasked has been a real labour of love. It's something I've been fitting in and around other projects for a while now. It's about the frustration of being expected to 'fit in' and is illustrated with a mix of sculpture, photography and good old hand drawing! Hope you like the way it's looking!

ROBOTS LAND IN DUBAI!

2008-07-21T09:38:00.003+01:00

The robot I sculpted for robotandspark in Dubai has landed over there and multiplied! Check out more info about it here and the forthcoming exhibition it can be seen at.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: ENOUGH

2008-07-18T16:02:00.002+01:00

Ha! It's NEVER enough! I couldn't resist to post this for IF's topic of 'enough' this week. It's actually a page from a mini comic I've just finished. Anywho, hope everyone has a good weekend!

SNEEK PEAK AT 'UNMASKED'

2008-07-18T10:26:00.001+01:00

Here is a little teaser for a forthcoming mini comic I've just finished called 'Unmasked'. It should be out in a month or two so please keep an eye out for it!

VINYL FIGURE SCULPTURE FOR ROBOTANDSPARK

2008-05-02T15:28:00.007+01:00

Here are some photos of the vinyl toy prototype I've just finished for robotandspark in Dubai! Some earlier pics can be seen over at vinylpulse.com. He's gonna be released by the end of this year in four very limited colour ways and there are plans for a DIY version too! Cool!

FORWARD RUSSIA ALBUM RELEASED SOON!

2008-04-11T10:19:00.003+01:00

I have just received an early copy of the Forward Russia album that I designed using the photography of Danny North. I'm really pleased with the way it looks. The album gets released on Monday 14th April 2008 so check it out!

COMPUTER ARTS 147!!

2008-03-17T09:40:00.005Z

I'm really proud to have a three page Inspirational Workshop feature in this months Computer Arts. It basically shows the process of how I created the above robot 'grave yard' illustration. I'll be posting all the content of this feature here in a few weeks so please check back for that!.

FORWARD RUSSIA ALBUM ART

2008-01-30T14:41:00.001Z

Here is some of the artwork I've done for Forward Russia's second album - Life Processes! The original photography I've used here is courtesy of the main man Danny North! The band was a pleasure to work with and I'm really pleased with the results. (Great album too!)

COMPUTER ARTS 142!!!

2007-11-06T10:19:00.001Z

I'm incredibly proud to have a double page spread in the exposure section of this months issue of Computer Arts!!!