Zak Simmonds-Hurn Illustration

Christmas is upon us!

2011-12-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

Seeing as it's nearly that time again I thought I'd get a bit festive on the blog!
Here's a spot of Christmas art!

Above: my card for Nikki this year, below is the brilliant design she created for mine! It was inspired by an amazing song she found via Youtube! Go to her website front page to enjoy it properly, complete with its musical backing!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I hope you all have a great one!

Sonic

2011-12-15T17:06:00.000-08:00

I've not drawn the old 'Hog for ages, probably a couple of years now!
I was glancing over some of my old pages for Sonic the Comic Online as I was rooting through my hard drive this evening and it made me feel nostalgic for drawing the old chap so thought I'd have a go for old times sake- it was a lot of fun!

Franky

2011-12-05T08:56:00.001-08:00

Just a quick sketchbook doodle of Franky from One Piece, (his classic appearance, of course)!

Upcoming Project...

2011-11-27T12:39:00.001-08:00

Hey!!
It's about time I posted up some of the stuff I'm currently working on!
This guy is a character I've been drawing and refining for a few years now, but I'm actually going to try working properly on his comic (at last!). I don't want to give much away at this stage as it's still early days but I'm hoping to have the first part done early next year and am working all-out to make it happen! Suffice to say, it will involve ridiculous creatures, insane battles and several ink-jar's worth of speedlines! For now here's a tease, expect to hear more over the next few months!
Thanks for stopping by,

Zak

Battlin' Bots!

2011-11-17T01:52:00.001-08:00

This is a rough sketch for a failed pitch (which one day I intend to return to!)
It has a strong emphasis on fighting robots as you may have guessed! This is one of the loosest drawings I have- I don't want to give away too much in case I do something with the character at a later point. Until then, here's a little tease!

Baggage!

2011-10-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

I'm no good at writing long posts so I'll keep this short but sweet:
Check out 'Baggage' by my fellow ex-DFC compadres Bob and Lorenzo Etherington, it is SUPERB!
Bob has delivered a really warm, exciting, mysterious, energetic and bonkers tale and Lorenzo's artwork brings it to life in a manner that would blow the socks off even the most jaded comics cynic- his pages are insane!
Here's a pic of the book I jacked from their blog

And here's a bit of fan art from yours truly!

A couple o' cards!

2011-06-01T03:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the recent absence of new posts, it's been a tad hectic lately!
Here are a couple of recent Birthday cards, both pretty dog-themed, The top one was for my Grandma and features my pooch Buster Beagle, the bottom one was for my Dad!

Sketch!

2011-02-18T01:23:00.000-08:00

Just a quick one this time!

Sword Swingin'!

2011-02-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a new drawing of my character Daigo, scrapping like usual!
I've been reading a bit of BERSERK! lately, if you can stomach it it's pretty incredible stuff, Miura is an absolute monster draughtsman and storyteller and he reminds you of this fact in every single panel.
This drawing is partly a result of reading lots of his action scenes: motion-blur lines ahoy!

At some point soon I'll be posting bits and pieces over at the KING ZILLA blog too, be sure to give it a look, there's some lovely work there. Cheers to Sinistar for the invite!

Scott Pilgrim

2011-02-04T01:58:00.000-08:00

Here's Mr Pilgrim in all his finery, as drawn for my pal James' birthday card!

26!

2011-02-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

Wahey, I turned 26 on Saturday!
This is the card my extremely talented girlfriend Nikki illustrated for me- they're Strawbearries!

Check out her site by clicking the picture, it's brilliant and is always being updated!

The Last Guardian

2011-01-26T05:53:00.000-08:00

This is a fan art of the sure-to-be-amazing 'The Last Guardian' from Team Ico.
It's due out later this year and I can't wait!

(Click the image to see the larger version on my Deviantart page)

A bit of a different colour scheme from the game, but hey!
Here's the trailer if you don't know what I'm jabbering about:

Happy New Year!

2011-01-05T09:13:00.001-08:00

I hope everybody's 2011's off to a good start!
Here's a little something to see in the new year, I've got a fair few resolutions to try my best to stick to!

Zak

Crow

2010-10-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

Here's my take on Niizuma Eiji's character Crow from Bakuman, hope you dig it!

One Piece

2010-10-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

Luffy again, this time looking uncharacteristically grumpy and scuffed!
The latest chapter was off the hook, can't wait to see the level-upped Luffy squaring off against a REAL challenger!

Whack-a-mole!

2010-10-20T02:38:00.000-07:00

This is my Monster from a few posts back maintaining his extraordinary figure by whacking a mole and eating ice cream.

Just 'cos he's like that.

Q

2010-10-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
just a quickie this time, this is a sketch I did of 'Q' from the 007 flicks.
It's not at all accurate as I wasn't drawing from ref, more an attempt to capture the feel of the character.

By the by, I once met Q's actor Desmond Llewellyn rather briefly at a Comic Con (Memorabilia at the NEC) and he was a really nice guy. Sadly he died a year or two later but I remember that he was an extremely friendly chap, consider this a rather belated tribute.

Luffy's Back!

2010-10-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

I know he came back a week ago but here's my belated celebration of that!
One Piece has been absolutely mind-blowing lately- it took me ages to get the hint and check this manga out but I'm so glad I did, it's got the best action scenes in comics!

BAKUMAN

2010-10-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

Yeah, this is one of my Favourite Manga right now, I eagerly await the latest chapters every week and am absolutely hooked! The first Tankobon is out in the UK now (possibly the second by now too, I'm not sure!), pop down to Waterstones and pick it up as it is RAD, especially if you're a budding comic artist- it really feels like getting a fairly sincere look behind the scenes at Shonen Jump!

I've just finished reading the final volume of Ohba and Obata's previous collaboration, Death Note.
Yep, I'm a late comer to it but it's absolutely superb, it's made me a fan for life of both creators and I definitely plan to investigate their other works!

VAAAAANNNNNNQQQQQUUUUIIIIIISSSSHHHH!!!!

2010-09-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

If you've not played the demo yet, you should REALLY check this game out, it's ridiculous!
It's from Platinum Games, the dudes behind Bayonetta, Madworld and Infinite Space, and more specifically it's directed by Shinji Mikami, creator of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 4!

Here's a somewhat embryonic piece of fanart!

And here's a vid:

Ramona Again!

2010-09-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

Here's the finished, coloured version of the sketch from last post!

Oh, and props to Bryan Lee O'Malley for making the comic series that inspired this, if you still haven't checked out Scott Pilgrim since my last post, consider this a reminder!

Ramona

2010-09-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

Heyy! Here's a real rough and ready lunch-break sketch of Ramona from Scott Pilgrim, I've not seen the movie yet but I loved the comic, check it out if you haven't already! And if you have? Check it out again! Then get on the PSN and download the game- it's heavy!

I'll try to do a tighter version sometime as I was quite happy with this sketch.

Cheers for looking and by the way, BIG thanks to everybody who's commented on any of my posts in the past. Seeing as there's no way to directly reply to comments in a way that will notify the original author I tend not to respond much as I assume people won't bother manually checking back. I really appreciate all the comments you guys have left though, thanks a million!

More soon!

Tinks!

2010-09-08T06:43:00.000-07:00

Hey, why not!
I'm off to Disneyland Paris in a couple of weeks so here's something I drew up over my lunchbreak!

I always find that Tinkerbell is portrayed in Disney's promo material as the epitomy of happiness whereas in Peter Pan she's pretty hotheaded and at times downright nasty!
This is the grumpy Tink!

Buster

2010-09-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

This drawing was for a card I did earlier this year, it's my pooch Buster!
He's a bit of a handful but very good-natured when you get to know him!

This is how he is now (thankfully!):

And this is how he was when we first got him from the dog rehoming centre:

Think you've got the X-Factor?

2010-09-06T04:29:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I know you all harbour secret dreams of being an overnight singing sensation. Well here's a handy guide I made to help you through the qualifying rounds of The X-Factor, everybody's favourite cringe-inducing fast-track to fame!
Just make sure you exhibit one or more of these bullet points and you're guaranteed four yesses.
Note- decent singing voice and ability to hold a note not required.

Oh, don't forget the sob story too, that's important!

Morning sketch!

2010-09-03T02:15:00.000-07:00

Beauty and the Beast...

2010-09-02T04:27:00.000-07:00

...Yeah, not that Beauty and the Beast, just two entirely unrelated character sketches I've cleverly linked to form a post title that suggest something more exciting than what I actually have to offer!

erm, yeah, two new drawings, hope you enjoy 'em Blogger pals!

The second was probably the first thing I've inked with a Sharpie! It bleeds a little in my Sketchbook's textured pages but you can get surprisingly tidy lines with them.

Draw The World Together

2010-09-01T03:28:00.001-07:00

Hey all!
I just wanted to draw (no pun intended) your attention to the Draw The World Together charity sketch auction currently going down over HERE

All proceeds raised from the auction go to aid the work of the children's charity, EveryChild
and their work to help street children in Bangalore, India so get purchasing!

There are a couple of drawings I did for them back at the Bristol Comic Expo up for sale, one of the Hulk and one of One Piece's Monkey D Luffy, let's make sure they go for a good price!

Both are on the reverse of headed hotel paper as that was all that was to hand on the day, nonetheless I think they came out pretty cool and I hope they find good homes. There are pieces by many other artists I might add, so if you don't like the look of mine there may be others there that you love!
Go check it out!

Biznizman

2010-08-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

A quickie done over lunchtime, all photoshop!

Influences and Nikki!

2010-08-26T05:40:00.000-07:00

Long time no update!
There's not a lot on the drawing front that I can upload right this minute but someone who IS updating with new art at the moment is my girlfriend Nikki!
She's been doing some wonderful work recently that I recommend you check out, it's inspired by some of the great children's work being created in the 1950's!
Click the kitty to check it out!

And here's something I did for my Deviantart page recently (but then who hasn't!)- an influence map.
It doesn't include every single person that's ever influenced my work but it's some of the few who've had the largest impact.

(Credit to Matt M. Laskowski for coming up with the idea)

(Click to see it larger)

Nothin' Much

2010-07-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

Just a real quickie I drew the other week in my sketchbook. Nothing special, just something to keep momentum going til I finish up some far better drawings I've got on the go!

Hairstyles

2010-06-25T01:20:00.000-07:00

Hi Blogwatchers!
I did this drawing the other day charting all the hairstyles I've had over the last 8 or so years, it was a fairly cringeworthy experience as you'll see below but a fun exercise nevertheless.

Most of the braided styles usually weren't in my hair for more than two months of a year, the long locks were the default style then.
Huzzah! Go Go self-inflicted public embarrassment!

E3 and stuff!

2010-06-17T04:46:00.000-07:00

Whoah, Have the gamers amongst you seen the new Nintendo handheld- the 3DS yet?
It looks monstrously impressive! It looks to be somewhere between an N64 and a Gamecube in terms of visual fidelity and displays its games (and feature films) in full, glasses-free 3d!
I'm really looking forward to it, the games lineup looks strong too. Also announced at E3 are the new Zelda Wii game; Skyward Sword, a new Donkey Kong Country and a beautiful looking Kirby game for Wii, Portal 2 for PS3 and a whole heap of other goodies!
I don't really see the appeal of Microsoft's Kinect yet, but I'm sure they'll pull some good gaming experiences out of the bag for it, I can only imagine that it'll feel pretty gimmicky and floaty though- we'll have to see!

Here's a completely unrelated sketch, a quick digital doodle I slapped some colours over!
I should try to do a few new game-related sketches soon!

WIP

2010-06-15T00:42:00.000-07:00

Here's a new drawing I've been working on during my lunch break, I hope to have a finished version soon!

Here be Pirates!

2010-06-14T04:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick drawing I did the other week at lunch, all inked up!

Ta Luv!

2010-06-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

A cheeky chappy at the bar...

'Cos it's summer!

Scary Dude!

2010-06-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

Just a small update today, a fearsome looking character I doodled up at lunchtime!

More soon!

Happy Birthday Mum!

2010-06-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my Mum's birthday, I designed her Birthday Card in the same vein as the illustrations for her shop that appeared a few posts down (seeing as underwear is what she sells I figured it would be fitting to draw her somebody wearing some!)

Here are a few random character doodles from the last few days:

Happy Birthday Dad!

2010-06-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

It was my Dad's birthday on Thursday, this is the card I drew for him:

It's a little sparse on background details but I was pleased with how the motorbike came out.

I also found this sheet of quick face sketches I drew a few weeks back and thought some of them were quite funny. The one in grey is supposed to be a chef whose name I forget!

More soon!

High Powered

2010-04-27T02:14:00.000-07:00

Another quick drawing of Daigo at full-power on the offensive!
Maybe one day I'll get back into drawing this comic, I've got loads of cool new ideas for it's direction, I think it'd be epic!

By the way, I heard the other day that Guru from Gang Starr passed away, it's a real shame, he was a Hip Hop legend and he'll be missed for sure.

Sonic the Comic Online #251

2010-04-21T01:20:00.000-07:00

It's up now, go check it out here!
Well done to the extremely talented creators and contributors, this one's a beautiful issue.

This time round the cover art was drawn by me and coloured by the extremely talented Stephen Davis, take a look at his DA gallery for more superb work by him!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2010-04-20T01:03:00.001-07:00

Below is the Birthday card I've drawn for my Grandma this year, it's her nearly-25-year-old cat Mr Spock tucking into a curry (his favourite food believe it or not...)!

Action in colour!

2010-04-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the drawing from my last post all coloured up!
This one was a blast to do, I've been colouring it bit by bit during my lunch hour.
Hope you dig it, more soon!

Action Comics + News

2010-04-07T00:28:00.000-07:00

Hey there!

So, the reason I've been so lax at updating recently is because I've begun a new job about a month and a half ago. I'm currently creating concept art for a new kids show over at Pinewood Studios!
There's not much more I can say about it at this juncture other than it's shaping up to be awesome and that it should be airing early 2011, more news on that as soon as I'm allowed to blab!

I've not had much time to draw my own stuff lately but here's something I buried myself in at Starbucks last Saturday. I've been reading a ton of One Piece lately, if you haven't read any of it I urge you to do so as it's home to some of the most extraordinary fight scenes I've seen in any medium! I've been trying to study some of Eichiro Oda's techniques to add a little zing to my own fight scene's- here's one of my first tries and another little sketch:

Nikki Dyson Illustration

2010-03-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

Hello! Long time, no post!
Sorry for the long gap, I've had a busy few weeks lately, I'll write more about that next time though.

Today I want to give a special mention to my extremely talented girlfriend Nikki Dyson who has recently set up a website for her digital children's illustrations! Her work is packed full of charming characters, lovely compositions and beautiful colours, I recommend you check it out!
Click the image to go there!

Wild Roses

2010-02-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

My Mum opened up her own Lingerie Store during 2009, 'Wild Roses Lingerie'.
I've been doing bits and pieces of artwork for it which has been fun!
A print of this one is framed on the wall:

And this one is due to appear on the cards that will accompany gift vouchers:

And I've just finished illustrating a guide to buying lingerie for your lady, the print version will be available for free in the store starting tomorrow:

My girlfriend Nikki (an extremely talented artist/illustrator/designer) designed the shop's logo too, it's really slick looking I think! Check out her DeviantArt page, she's got some lovely work there!

If you fancy buying some lingerie and you're in or around the Hertfordshire area head on over to the shop, website -HERE-!

Young Link

2010-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

Here's my take on Wind Waker style Link for my pal James' 25th Birthday card!
My birthday is just a couple of days before his, on the 29th of Jan so I too am now a quarter of a century old!
Crazy!

Bayonetta

2010-01-13T12:51:00.000-08:00

I haven't played it yet but I'm a huge fan of Platinum Games/Clover Studios' work so I'm sure Bayonetta'll be an absolute smash!
Here's a little attempt at the title character:

Sonic The Comic- Online 250

2010-01-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

Sonic The Comic- Online, the webcomic I've been involved with for the last 8 years has reached issue 250!
It is a fan-continuation of Egmont Fleetway's British Sonic the Hedgehog comic and admittedly continues the numbering from the original series, still, it feels like a colossal accomplishment of organisation and dedication from the creators and staff who've worked on it over the years to have taken it this far.
Issue 250 will be my last issue as a strip artist for the forseeable future, although I will still be contributing covers occasionally. I just wanted to shout out to Mike Corker, Ed Reynolds, Tom Huxley and Charles Ellis for their key roles, respectively, in setting the project up and keeping it running.
This issue breaks tradition and has the majority of the artists and writers who've worked on the comic all collaborating on an extra long story and it's been a real labour of love. I wish everybody involved the best of luck for the future!
Here are my 3 pages, 2 & 3 are a double page spread by the way.

Click here to read the whole thing and be sure to check out the back issues if you like what you see!

Merry (Belated) Christmas!

2009-12-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

Hello all, I hope you had a great Christmas!

I had a good one, I'm still wallowing in the excess of foods though (I don't seem to ever tire of eating christmas cake)!
I'm currently playing through the new DS Zelda, Spirit Tracks, it's not been particularly challenging as of yet but it's a dream to play and there's some really ingenious uses of Link's tools!
Besides that I've been reading through the Pixar Shorts art book with the 'Shorts DVD on (it's a real peach, check it out!), watching Up and printing out A3 duplicates of my pencils on Bristol Board (ready for inking) on my new printer.
I've also been working on some designs for a potential project that may happen in 2010 and am about to start pencilling my pages for Missiles & Diamondz!
Busy as a bee!
Here's a smattering of Christmas card designs, two from this year, two from last year.

If I don't post beforehand, happy 2010, hope you all enjoy the new year celebrations!

Missiles and Diamondz

2009-12-08T15:23:00.000-08:00

This is a glimpse at a 4-page black and white strip I'm working on for the GBX Zine/Anthology due sometime next year, soon as I get more info on a potential release date it'll be up here!

The lady below, 'Di' has crazy diamond powers and is on the trail of a mystery villain who destroyed her village.

And at last my 'Robohog' character makes his comic debut!

In case anyone was wondering, this is what my thumbnails look like, they're pretty much incomprehensible to anyone other to me though I imagine.

Some Fan-Arts!

2009-12-04T16:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a recent drawing of Vegeta in various stages of completion.
If anybody's interested in a dirt-cheap commission right now get one while the deal still lasts (ie:before Christmas!)
Info is all on my DeviantArt page: CLICK HERE!

And continuing on from the previous Street-Fighter costume redesigns I've posted, here's an Ibuki!

Mr. Future-Trousers

2009-11-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

Here he is again, in all his Technicolour glory!

Sci-Fi dude

2009-11-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

This is just something I doodled up this morning, a dude with futuristic trousers.
(All trousers look like this in the future)

Hell On Earth

2009-11-20T12:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been busy drawing for a whole bunch of projects lately and have just collected a boisterous Beagle from the Blue Cross so it's been hectic!
Anyway, without further ado here's some pages of a comic I've been working on for my own amusement between working on pages for ANOTHER project, (more on the secret project soon guys, I think it's going to be pretty awesome!)
These are pencil previews for Hell On Earth*, it'll be an ongoing thing and I have no idea when it'll be ready to take it any further than a personal project, I've got high hopes though! You may recognise the demon dude from the drawings in my previous posts.
(*Title subject to change once I discover that it's taken already)

I'll be posting more as soon as they've accumulated on my desk!

Demon and Demon Hunter!

2009-10-12T13:33:00.000-07:00

A couple of new pieces I did for sheer, indulgent fun!

Bit's 'n' Pieces volume 2!

2009-09-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

First off another Street Fighter costume redesign, this time Elena from Street Fighter III:

And a drawing for my mate Jon's birthday the other week, he's a big Chelsea fan so I drew their mascot gettin' all hardcore on the pitch!

Sharknife!!

2009-09-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

Here's my coloured up Sharknife tribute!

Some new bits of Fan art

2009-09-14T00:57:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie today, a Chun-Li costume redesign and a drawing of Corey Lewis' awesome character Sharknife (check out the book)!

Cheers for stopping by!

Wolvie

2009-09-12T06:39:00.000-07:00

A picture I did for my pal Oliver's Birthday card and no, he's not taking a dump...

Drawn with a Faber Castell Brush Pen and coloured in Photoshop.

Burst Limit!!

2009-09-02T05:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know, a double update!
I just remembered that there were some other bits I wanted to show so I thought why wait?
Below are the pencil versions of my last 2 posts just for comparisons sake, also my entry for a Gargabox art jam on the theme of alternate costumes for Street Fighter characters!

Cheers for looking!

Blankaaaa!

2009-09-02T04:05:00.000-07:00

Defensive Maneuvre

2009-08-31T17:29:00.000-07:00

This is more high-octane anime-styled work than I usually do but I think it came out looking pretty cool.
This guy's a half-Demon who scraps with monsters and carries a big sword- that's about as in-depth as his story gets. You may notice I decided to go all-out with the design cliche's too!

Panzer Dragoon Snippet

2009-08-15T06:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a small sneak peek at a pin up I'm currently working on for Sonic The Comic- Online, the online, unofficial fan continuation of the British Sonic comic book!
Check out the current issue here: STC-Online

The Panzer Dragoon series was a real favourite of mine on the Saturn, especially the epic 'Panzer Dragoon Saga'. I just found out that French comic book legend Moebius contributed art in the post production stage of the first game, including the Japanese cover (below!). Apparently the developers claim that the game was inspired by Moebius' brilliant comic 'Arzach', about a chap who rides across strange lands on the back of a Pterodactyl!

A few faces

2009-08-10T01:56:00.000-07:00

Just been messing about with different types of faces in my sketchbook!
The chap at the bottom of the page was supposed to be a Warrior-King, which led onto me drawing the chubby King in my previous post.

Burger King?

2009-08-08T07:57:00.000-07:00

...Well, a king who's eaten a few too many burgers at least!

Feels good to post something coloured again for a change!

Bot-Squad!

2009-07-24T03:25:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of animal-themed mechs I designed for fun earlier this year.

Bits 'n' Pieces!

2009-07-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

A bit of a crappy update today, enjoy!

A sketch of some mechanic chap.

Some cartoony self portraits (you may recognise the bottom one as the illustration in the title bar)

And lastly a pretty boring, static drawing of one of the most animated character in anime, "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann" 's Kamina.

Better stuff next time, okay?

Blades of Athena, update!

2009-07-08T06:17:00.000-07:00

A little update of my latest God of War piece!

Sephiroth Update

2009-07-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

A little progress shot of my Sephiroth piece.
He looks like he's on the verge of tears at the mo, I'll make sure to tweak that before it's finished!

Blades of Athena

2009-07-03T14:38:00.000-07:00

A new God of War piece!
It's very much a Work in Progress at the moment, I'll try to post a couple of updates later on to show it's progression. Apologies for the line down the middle, it spans 2 pages of my sketchbook at the mo!

Mr. Robot Man

2009-07-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

As the title suggests, he's a robot man! Did this a while ago, not exactly sure why or what for though...

I still quite like the chalky palette, even if the design's rather bland!

Life Drawing bumper post!

2009-07-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

I've gone to a couple of Life Drawing sessions lately, the first in a good couple of years. I felt pretty rusty at first but it's beginning to come a bit more naturally now, here are the results (apologies for the bad quality of the pictures, they're A2 so I had to snap them under lamplight rather than scan 'em!)

June 10th '09

July 1st '09

Goat-Warrior Character Design

2009-07-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

This is a character concept design I've been working up for a contest. He still needs colouring however. Any colour scheme suggestions are more than welcome!

Click here for the larger version over at Deviantart!

Sephiroth WIP

2009-06-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

This picture has been a WIP for absolutely yonks now, I started it back when Final Fantasy: Advent Children had just been released in Japan (I watched a Fansubbed pirate at Uni)!
I finally got round to working a bit more on it this evening and I'm pleased with how it's shaping up, even if it's still got a fair way to go. Here's a closeup!

Door

2009-06-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

The coloured version of the Neverwhere fanart I posted a couple of days ago.
I've never seen the show or read the comic, this is just how I pictured Door after reading Gaiman's novel!

Kratos: The Animated Series!

2009-06-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

This is a coloured up version of the old drawing I posted below.

~Recommend-O-Tron Activated~ I'm playing through God of War II at the moment and so far it's pretty incredible. The scale of it is awesome and the combat's smooth as hell!
Check out the first two games if you haven't already, they're dirt cheap at GameStation now (I dunno about Chains of Olympus as I haven't played it, but I've heard quite good things too).

A big smattering of Fan-Art!

2009-06-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

Kratos from the God of War series

Various Batman-related doodles from the sketchbook

Link from the Zelda games

My take on 'Door' from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. I haven't watched the show, only read the book.

Merman of Orford

2009-06-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

I went away for a few days recently to a village in Suffolk called Orford where, it's rumoured, a long time ago a Merman was caught just off the coast and imprisoned in Orford Castle.
Here's a quick drawing (there is much wrong with it!):

Robohog!

2009-06-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one!

Jigsaw Sketching 2

2009-06-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

Here's another go at the 'Jigsaw Sketching' idea that I mentioned below, I made myself fill the whole page this time round! Give it a try, you might be surprised by the results.

I really want to do a project with the robo-armed pig at the bottom now! (Robohog???)

Recent Card Art!

2009-06-09T04:14:00.000-07:00

A little update today, these are the designs I did for my Mum and Dad's birthday cards this year (I'm sure you can guess which is which...)

Alien Red Riding Hood

2009-05-31T03:16:00.000-07:00

This is the finished version of the sketch I teased in my previous post, it's for a competition Imaginism Studios are holding on DeviantArt at the moment.
It's based on this image by Bobby Chiu.

Click this text for larger version

Work in Progress

2009-05-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a little WIP of something I'm working on at the mo. I'll link to the full piece as soon as it's done!
Here goes for now:

Mr Spock

2009-05-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

No, nothing tying into the new Star Trek movie I'm afraid!
This is an oil painting I did for my Grandma's birthday, it's her cat, Mr Spock. He's a monstrously large white cat that's almost as old as me and he used to have a twin called Kirk, fact fans!
Bit of a change from my usual style but I really enjoyed doing it!

Robot Girl meets Rivet!

2009-04-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

Over at The Super Comics Adventure Squad blog there's a bit of a Fan Art theme going on and I couldn't resist having a shot myself:

The characters are John Aggs' excellent Robot Girl
(check John's blog here)
and Bob and Lorenzo Etherington's character Rivet, from the wonderful 'Monkey Nuts'.(check Bob and Lorenzo's blog here)

Both characters were from The DFC, published by David Fickling Books!

Sketchy character

2009-04-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

Not much of an update, just a sketch from this evening. I was trying to get started on a digital painting but this was all I ended up with. Oh well!

<< CLICK FOR LARGE VERSION <<

Hulk vs Wolverine!

2009-04-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

I've been putting together a short strip to practice my superhero drawing as I never ever draw them nowadays (apart from Captain Rad of course!)
I'm probably more inspired here by the Capcom renditions of the characters as I love the cartoony chunkiness of them.
Here goes:

The Hulk and Wolverine are, of course, property of Marvel Comics!
There's a larger version on my DeviantArt page, which you can check out HERE!

Aghast! - Afterlife Crisis

2009-04-04T14:51:00.000-07:00

UK based Metal band Aghast release their latest EP in the next few weeks, entitled Afterlife Crisis, with a cover by me.
Here's a few snippets of it:

In an effort to keep this blog family friendly I'll link to the full cover in my Deviantart gallery as it's rather gory (although it's pretty cartoony so there's nothing too offensive!)
Check it out here

And if you like your Metal, please check out Aghast's MySpace page!

Hulk Sketches

2009-04-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

Here's my take on The Incredible Hulk, I seldom draw Superheroes these days but it was a lot of fun!

The End of the DFC, the Start of The Super Comics Adventure Squad!

2009-03-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Sadly the final issue of the DFC hits today, it should be a great issue, but it's sad to see it come to a close (for the time being at least...).
At least we go out with a bang and an awesome cover!
In the absence of the DFC, an assortment of it's creators have grouped together to form 'The Super Comics Adventure Squad', a collective of comic creators under one banner!

The name stems from James Turner's excellent (and always hilarious) DFC strip, Super Animal Adventure Squad.

Much props to Garen Ewing for setting this up!

Jigsaw sketching

2009-03-26T03:46:00.000-07:00

I know I'm not the first person to do this, but it's a great exercise for artists I think, I don't know if it has a name but I've dubbed it Jigsaw sketching. What it entails is starting off a sketchbook page with any drawing you like and then using it's negative space as the outline for your next drawing until you've filled up the page. The reason I find it useful is that it takes you in unexpected directions and challenges you to draw stuff you wouldn't normally, as well as pushing your sense of 2d design and how you interpret shapes.
Here's an example, I started this one off with the big Zombie:

Hope you give it a try, it's a lot of fun!

Rad Returns!

2009-03-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a little more of my work on Captain Rad!

Cards

2009-03-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of cards I've finished in the last couple of days, the mouse one is a Birthday card for my Girlfriend's mum and the cat is for MY mum for Mother's day! It stars my noisy cat Georgina!

Sonic and the Black Knight

2009-03-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

Already mentioned this on my DA page, but I was one of 20 European winners to get their fan art featured in the new Wii game Sonic and the Black Knight.
Someone's posted up this vid, mine's the last one. Also look out for my fellow STC-O artists Adamis and Jin-Chan!

The DFC

2009-03-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

As is fairly common knowledge now, the comic I've been working on since mid '08, The DFC has sadly had it's funding pulled and will cease publication with issue 43.
There's not a great deal of fresh light I can spread on the matter, except to say that it's a darn shame. I'll miss working on it, but mostly I'll miss everyone else's brilliant strips. It's disappointing that most of the tales won't see completion, I also really feel for the many folks whose strips never had the chance to see print.
Anyway, much respect to all the staff, contributors and readers, it was a real blast.
Look out for the extra special collabo-cover for the last ish, it's gonna be great!

Legendary Anthology

2009-03-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

I drew a strip for Matt Schuler's forthcoming 'Legendary' anthology a while back entitled 'The City of Gold'. He's popped a preview of it up on the new Legendary blog, amongst some brilliant contributions from lots of great artists!

Check out the preview here!

Be sure to check out the whole Blog, it's shaping up to be a really strong collection I think!

Captain Rad

2009-03-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

This is a project I was working on for The DFC, hopefully it'll see the light of day in the future, but til then here's a peek.
Captain Rad was my loving tribute to the kind of camp Sci-Fi that was popular when my dad was a kid. My only real aims were to make it pretty silly and overblown, whilst hopefully giving the readers some really cool action scenes and set-pieces!

CLICK FOR FULL VIEW!

Welcome...

2009-03-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

...to my new Art Blog!
This is going to be far more general than my previous attempt at Blogging, 'Nintendoodles' and as a result I hope to update it far more frequently. Basically, this is the new home for updates on projects I'm working on as well as random sketches I fancy throwing up. I hope you enjoy having a look and I hope you think it's worth revisiting!

Zak Simmonds-Hurn.