Moon 3 Page 1 Pencils…. Evil Wears a Furry Face

So, it’s that time again. The third instalment of Moon is beginning to hove into view. With it is the introduction of a very special kind of evil. Revealed briefly in Moon 2, BunBun Warmheart is a villain that had everything going for him. Now his crimes against humanity mean not even his cute little face can get him off. Our hero, Moon and Shades will be facing this little bleeder directly. What will they find out? What will they glean from this little furry bastard?

This is very much the start of the first story arc for Moon. The introduction is over – now it’s all about the investigation! Moon and his new partner, Shades Rodriguez are about to start dog paddling in dangerous waters, and there be sharks there. Heavily armed, laser guided, furry faced sharks that want to bite their legs off. With guns. And things. Threats will come from directions you’d never expect. You have been warned.

Evil is back. And it’s sitting on a raised chair in an interrogation room at the heart of the Agency.

DAH-DAH-DAAAAAAAAAH!

Moon: Build Up to a Comic Book Cover: Part 1

Welcome to the first stages of a very effective comic book cover (we hope). Some years ago I saw something very, very similar between two major characters of some very famous toy brand that had been put out as a fairly successful British comic book. The image seared into my head as one of the strongest images I’d ever seen. As such I have shamelessly sought to use it’s basic premise on the pages of Moon 2.

Covers are probably the most difficult part of the whole process. Something that effectively says what’s going on inside without giving the game away, grabs attention from a distance and holds up well under scrutiny. All this and it always has to carry numbers and titles (and maybe a review and occasionally -though not ideally – a barcode). It takes a tonne of thought and trial and error and has been the focus of my attention for some time.

With the artwork for Moon 2 complete we are beginning to move into the final stages of production (finally). This is a relief and I have to say I’m proud of the content – more so as I see the lettering and colouring come into existence. It’s at this point it becomes easier to figure out what artwork sums up all the takes place inside.

This is stage 1: Pencils, inks, lifted from the page by Photoshop and the basic layer of Moon image (applied on external and high detail images of Moon) to finish off what is effectively nothing but a neck in a suit up until this point.

These lines are with Iv and she will no doubt lovingly finish them off ready for the final page – something I personally can’t wait for. Stage 2 Next week.

BTB Film – [Box] Fresh

[Box] Fresh is a parody of youth TV and is pretty much the first short film I ever made. A few friends and I (including Paul Wade and my then-girlfriend-now-wife)  got together in Canterbury and decided to shoot a few sketches that we’d been kicking around. This was the final result and I’m still pretty proud of it. It comes from that awkward time before I realised I needed to keep my own daft face behind the camera rather than in front of it but the blind freerunning skit is still a joke that I’m very pleased to have written.

The movie won us a Best Editor award and led to us going on to make loads of other things, so Box will always hold a special place in my heart.

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BTB Film – Edd The Duck: Ducking The Past

In his youth, Edd The Duck was one of the biggest stars on the BBC. In this frank and mercifully short documentary, we attempt to find out what happened next as well as showcasing some never before seen interviews with other performers of that era.

This is a very scrappy little film that a few of us made back in 2009. I think I shot some of it, Paul Wade shot some and Steve shot a bit too. I flinch slightly at the quality of the audio and video when I look back at it now, but I think the concept is sound and I’m proud of the Paddington Bear gag.

Props to my wife for her excellent Finger Mouse puppetry.

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BTB Film – The Devil’s Fork

Another film by Jim Eaton and me this week. The Devil’s fork is a comedy horror, produced for the 2 Days Later horror competition 2010. It stars Joshua Broadstone and Jack Gavin as a pair of regular guys who are menaced by a sinister toasting fork and its ghostly owner. It also features some lovely camera work by Steve.

Devil’s Fork was Jim and I’s first proper film project together and it remains one of my favourites. The film went on to win Best Screenplay and Best Popular Film at the competition, which was a nice bonus!

Hope you dig it.

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Oh and if you’re so inclined, you can watch the outtakes too.

BTB Film – Wild Watch

Jim Eaton and I made this Springwatch parody back in 2011. It’s another 2 Days Laughter Festival entry and as such is a 5 min comedy film that was produced in 48 hours. It stars the wonderfully funny, rubber faced stylings of Paul Teeling and Rosie Owen who were, as ever, a total joy to work with. Camera work and special effects were done by Paul Wade and he deserves a lot of the overall credit for being the one that badgered Jim and I into doing the film when we really had a lot of other work we should have been doing.
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BTB Film – A Comedy of Edits

A Comedy of Edits is the story of William Shakespeare’s meeting with his play’s financial backers and stars Joshua Broadstone and Jack Gavin (of Devil’s Fork fame) as well as Ryan Brannon (one half of comedy duo, Cold Callers). They’re all good friends and it was lovely to get a chance to work with them all again. It was written and directed by Jim Eaton and myself and expertly shot by Paul Wade (who also did the post production and very cool titles).

It’s the most recent film we’ve done (depending on when you read this) and was produced back in April of this year for the 2 Days Laughter Competition. The sketch won both best film and best screenplay and has led to several exciting projects for Jim and I, so we’re pretty happy with it.

Enjoy!

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BTB Film – The Original Moon Film

To kick it off we have the sketch that started it all. Produced back in 2008 by me, my now wife and my good friend (and great film maker in his own right) Paul Wade, “The Day The Moon Got Too Close” is the answer to the much asked question “where did you come up with a guy with a Moon for a head.” Basically the brief of the competition we were doing was to create a film based on the aforementioned title and whilst many people went for After Effects powered shots of giant Moons in the sky, we went with something a little…different.

It looks really dated now (especially the quality of the video) but it remains one of the most enjoyable films I’ve ever made. From hanging out of a speeding Vauxhall Corsa with a camera to having papier mache dripping on my face (yes that’s me under the Moon head), it was zero budget film making at it’s most fun. I still have the chipped tooth I gained from the headbutt shot.

Enjoy.

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Sketches from MCM Expo

We’re a couple of weeks on from last month’s MCM Expo but I still keep finding left over bits and bobs in our various boxes and bags. One such find was some pics of sketches that Steve did for a couple of fans during the event, so I thought I’d throw them up here:

Nice little sketch of our hero.

 

An unorthodox request for a sketch, but as always, Steve obliged.

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Moon hits Demoncon 2012

Moon hit Demoncon pretty hard in Maidstone yesterday we’re very pleased to say. Sharing a table with Cy Dethan, Nic Wilkinson, Barry Nugent and his lovely lady we settled in fast. While it wasn’t the biggest con Moon has ever attended there was wrestling in the other room – which was novel. Well received I’d like to thank everyone that showed so much enthusiasm for the golf ball head.

Also, thanks to Andy Lanning for donating his Starfleet Academy page from 1998 to the raffle that I won! Very, very cool. Plenty of inking tips and some frankly eye opening explanations about how lettering used to be done. Who knew that Richard Starkings was the godfather of modern comic book lettering, Dave Gibbons has his own lettering template so he doesn’t have to letter his own stuff anymore and Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have a new book out that does stuff that they weren’t allowed to in Guardians of the Galaxy.