Live Arts!

A combination of digital and hand drawn techniques have been used throughout this strip. In this picture the background is digital and the characters hand drawn and composited in later. Can you recognise which of Derry's famous arts venues Mr Maximo and Rabbit are dancing by?

All along the watch tower...

A comparison of military watchtowers on the walls over the years

Arts on the Walls

Only a truely gorgeous sunny day I took some photos of evidence of the Arts alive and well on the Walls....

LONDON -DERRY

What's in a Name? The 'London' cross appears on the 'Derry' Crest. (An interesting note is that no one seems to know for sure who or what the skeleton represents....)

Starting the walk -

The railings in the background are at St Augustines... I had thought this might be the first image of the comic, but I have since gone on to do two more that come before it....

3 churches

One of the first things Mr Maximo and Rabbit notice are the 3 different churches within a short space of each other on the walls

Digital drawings

I decided that the walls themselves would be the key feature of this comic and that I would focus in on buildings directly in and around them. This seemed like a good opportunity to showcase the digital work I have been developinging, working closely from my own photo reference. I added colour to a few of these to make promotional postcards for sale at 2D and other conventions....

These city walls

I've always been fond of the city walls. They had been closed to the public for a number of years but in the mid-1990's, with the peace process in full swing they were reopened. The teenagers of the city reclaimed them as their own. Now they are at the centre of a budding tourist industry.
Mr Maximo and Rabbit have allowed me to take a closer look at the familiar. But have you ever though you have bitten off more than you could chew? There is no doubt that the walls history is contentious, but they are also a thing of beauty, and part of a shared history. My aim is to present a potted history as neutrally as possible. This blog will allow me to share somethings that both will and won't make it into the final comic.....

Photo References

Some of my reference photography