Darren Shan

Phoenix Open Studios

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All this weekend, I’m opening up my studio as part of The Phoenix’s Open Studios and the Brighton Festival Fringe. Come see artwork from Montague Terrace, Alby Figgs, The Great Unwashed, DC Vertigo titles, Doctor Who, Zom-B and loads more. And don’t forget to check out all five floors of the amazing artist’s studio spaces and the current exhibitions on the ground floor while you’re at it.

My studio is 1N2 on the first floor near the office.

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Phoenix is located in Brighton at 10–14 Waterloo Place
Brighton BN2 9NB, and the studios are open from 11-5, Saturday and Sunday. More details here.

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Darren Shan’s Zom-B Mission roughs

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Only out just over a month ago, is the seventh instalment in Darren Shan’s Zom-B series, Zom-B Mission, featuring interior illustrations by me. Here’s a selection of the pencil roughs. Really liked Cliff Nielsen’s cover on this one (see below) linked to the illustration above.

Cover art by Cliff Nielsen
Cover art by Cliff Nielsen

Below, it’s din-dins for Zombies!

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And Owl Man’s best friend…

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Hmmm, nice!

And while we’re here, Darren’s giving a talk on the Zom-B series as part of the Brighton Festival at the Sallis Benney theatre, tomorrow, Saturday 10th of May at 4.00pm. Tickets available here at the Brighton Festival site.

Darren Shan’s Zom-B Gladiator Illustration Roughs

Darren Shan‘s latest Zom-B book, Zom-B Gladiator came out early last month while I was slaving away on another project so I missed the publicity blitz then, but better late than never. Here’s a couple of my sample roughs from the interior illustrations.zomb6_2copy

I guess you’d call that a ‘head shot’.

And now for my self-portrait close-up Mr.DeMille…

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And here’s a little eye-catching colour from the cover art by Cliff Nielsen…

Art by Cliff Nielsen
Art by Cliff Nielsen

The next instalment in the Zom-B series will be book 7, Zom-B Mission, on sale in the UK and Ireland from March 27th. More details, as always at Darren’s website.

Zom-B Baby breaks out today!

Today, 26th September, sees the release of Darren Shan’s Zom-B Baby in the UK and Ireland. Here’s a couple of the pencil roughs I did for the interior illustrations.

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All together, aahhh, cute lil’ fella.

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Check out Cliff Nielsen’s adorable cover image for the book at Darren’s website.

Post Edinburgh post

Here’s a link to a short piece I wrote for the Cape Graphic Novels Tumblr page about my recent very enjoyable experience being a guest at this year’s Stripped festival, part of The Edinburgh Book Festival, plus a photo of some shady characters masquerading as 2000AD contributors. That’s water by way, for the re-hydration purposes.

From left to right, Dan Abnett, Moi, Robbie Morrison and Jim Murray. Photo courtesy of Deborah Tate.
From left to right, Dan Abnett, Moi, Robbie Morrison and Jim Murray. Photo courtesy of Deborah Tate.

Stripped: Edinburgh Book Festival interview

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Ahead of my appearance at Stripped, part of the Edinburgh Book Festival tomorrow, Friday the 23rd here’s a link to a recent interview now up on their website, talking about Montague Terrace, The Great Unwashed, Velocity, Darren Shan’s Zom-B books and much much more.

Just to recap, I’ll be holding a Zom-B drawing workshop from 18.30 and sharing a panel with Roger Gibson from 20.30 on Friday, talking about Montague Terrace. Then on the Sunday I’ll be sharing the stage with David Bishop, Dan Abnett and Robbie Morrison talking about 2000AD at 15.00.

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More details here from the Stripped website

Stripped Festival

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Tickets are now on sale for this August’s Stripped Festival, part of the Edinburgh Book Festival which runs from 10-26th August. I’m hosting a Zom-B drawing workshop from 18.30-19.30 on Friday the 23rd giving tips and tricks to budding artists on drawing zombies and the living dead (well, I just have to look in the mirror most days, but you kids might need some insiders knowledge) and talking about Montague Terrace later that evening from 20.30-21.30, where I’ll be sharing the stage with Roger Gibson, author of the Harker book series.

Then on the Sunday at 15.00, I’ll be joining a panel along with Dan Abnett to discuss the past, present and future of 2000AD.

There’s a whole host of amazing talent taking part throughout the festival. To find out more and book tickets in advance, check out the Edinburgh Book Festival site.

Darren Shan’s Zom-B Angels

Here’s some of the interior illustrations I drew for the latest Darren Shan Zom-B book, Zom-B Angels, recently published in the UK and Ireland by Simon & Shuster and coming out on July 9th in the US and beyond. I thought I’d also include an example of a rough pencilled version next to the final inked one to give you that extra ‘spesh’ behind the scenes tour. Brains anyone?!

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Darren Shan’s Zom B City – More Illustrations

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To celebrate today’s release of Darren Shan’s Zom B City, the third instalment in the twelve book Zom B series from Simon & Shuster, here’s three more pencilled roughs from the interior illustrations, all a little different in composition and approach. With the first one, it’s often good to put the viewer behind the eyes of the main character, especially in this context…

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For this one, the newly acquired clothing seemed to be calling out for a Spaghetti Western style stand-off…

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And finally, with a completely different approach. The description for this brief led me to compose it like some kind of warped renaissance-style adoration. You can even see the steeple of St Martin in the Fields, near the National Gallery in the background. This is one of my favourites.

To see all these and more in their final inked form you can now buy Zom B City form today via the links to Darren Shan’s site, through publishers, Simon & Shuster’s and through Amazon.