Roger Langridge's Blog, page 267

Death of Rats

This was a warm-up I did before starting the Death/Death commission. I like a bit of Pratchett, me. I particularly like the Tiffany Aching children's books. I'm reading the first one, The Wee Free Men, with my daughter at the moment, and it's bloody terrific. The second one's even better.

Death Meets Death

First, an enormous thank you to everybody who's spread the word about my missing artwork, to those who have contacted me directly and those who have just taken the time to look. I really appreciate it. To those who have expressed concern about my earnings, let me reassure you that I've got work lined up for most of the rest of this year, plus some discussions about a writing gig that might or might not turn into something, so I'll be fine. But it's true I've had a quiet start to the year, partly because of a trip to New Zealand where I got very little done, immediately followed by a couple of jobs for very small publishers who had budgets to match (although the jobs were worth doing). So the rest of the year is going to be a bit more mercenary on the earnings front, I'm afraid.

So – life goes on and there's work to be done! I've got a quiet week coming up while I wait for a script to be finished, so I'm using that time to work on a couple of commissions I promised I'd do yonks ago.

Here's the first commission: Neil Gaiman's Death meets Terry Pratchett's Death. Might be another one tomorrow.

Artwork AWOL

Please take a look at the artwork below. Please ask yourself if you've seen any originals that look like these between October 2012 and now.

These are all pieces that were in an exhibition of New Zealand cartoonists' work in Treviso, Italy, last September. The exhibition organisers tell me the work was sent back to London, to a third party (also one of the exhibitors), along with his work, in October. He was supposed to pass them on to me. I'm now being told that my artwork never arrived.

I have no idea what might have happened to them. I'm keen not to accuse anybody of anything, as I have no proof of any wrongdoing; there may have been a mistake made when packing the artwork, and it may still be in Italy. Somebody may have tampered with the package en route. I have no clue what the real story might be. What I do know is that I would like the work back.

Some of the pieces are ones I intended to keep for the rest of my life. Others I was hoping to sell to help get me through a period where I'm not earning very much. One piece is the property of another person, who kindly lent it to me for the exhibition.

If anybody knows the whereabouts of the artwork in question, please let me know. No questions asked –  I just want it back.

Thanks for looking.



(Note: The original of this piece is in black and white, but this is the only scan I have.)

Silly Silhouette

A small thing for a thing.

Footle

Fnub.


Bit of rubbish thrown together after a rather long day. Sepia ink wash and indian ink. Simon Gane does this sort of thing much better than I do.

Boojum!

Found this in a notebook from around the time I was developing Snarked!. I can't help feeling I was on to something I utterly failed to follow through.

More Dinosaurs

Still plugging away at the McCay forgeries. Here's another panel.

Is it Christmas yet?

Here are a few of the cover ideas I submitted for the Christmas Carol edition I recently illustrated (out in June from St Mark's Press, I believe). The Doctor Who book I did a cover for is out now as well, and you should be able to order it from their website.

Beware... Mister Monster!

There are a whole bunch of reasons to enjoy Michael T. Gilbert's Mister Monster, possibly the last great superhero – certainly the only great superhero I can think of besides Spider-Man whose creator is still living. One of the main reasons is he's so great is that Gilbert writes the stories with his tongue so far in his cheek it's practically coming out his ear.

Bluto Doodle

Found this in an old notebook. I'm not sure of the timing exactly, but I think it dates from before I started working on Popeye. I've been doodling these guys for decades.