Warhammer Wednesday: Work in Progress

This project is no longer quite the surprise it was originally intended to be, but...

Hopefully I'll have more to show you in... ooh... maybe a couple of months or so?

Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow

Look what arrived in the post today!

 Woohoo!

 

It might not be officially released until this November, but I now have in my possession a print copy of Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow - and very pleased with it I am too.

From Pye Parr's stunning cover (that simply screams steampunk) to the fabulous quotes from SFX magazine, Graeme's Fantasy Book Review and Pornokitsch, I'm really pleased with what the team at Abaddon Books and myself have achieved. There's even some bonus content in the form of an Author's Note and my SFX interview reproduced in full.

"The reader feels like the cozy universe of Pax Britannia is truly, irreversibly changing."

If you've not read the story in digital form yet, and you're a fan of the series, I can't wait to hear what you make of the epilogue!

Roll on November!

Steampunk Week: White Noise

The third part of my eighth Ulysses Quicksilver Pax Britannia novel Time's Arrow (a.k.a. White Noise) is coming to a eBook reader near you soon. And here's the finished cover by artist/designer extraordinaire Simon Parr.

PAX BRITANNIA

TIME’S ARROW

Part Three

White Noise

In which the city of Paris faces destruction, and our hero is faced with a deadly dilemma.

But is Cadence Bettencourt to be trusted or not? Is she the friend she appears to be, or does she have a hidden agenda in offering to help our hero?

Steampunk Thursday: Steam Kong!

Last Friday, Pye Parr (Abaddon Books' designer and cover artist par excellence) posted this comment on Twitter: "Did this today, pretty chuffed with it!"

And the image he posted with it?

Time's Arrow Part 3 is on its way...

Steampunk Thursday: One-man Steampunk Machine

Does exactly what it says on the tin (man), so to speak. And very proud of it I am too!

This image is my new avatar, as designed and drawn by ace Abaddon Books designer and Time's Arrow cover artist Simon Parr. (Just check out the detailing - the Pax Britannia medal, the dip pen in the hat band, the text on the scroll...)

You can check out much of his other work - both illustration and design - at his website here.

I have also commissioned Simon (or Pye as he's known to his friends) to work on another project for me, but more on that another time...

Warhammer Wednesday: Work In Progress

Not my work...

But this project has been inspired by a certain project of mine.

Can you guess which one?

Steampunk Thursday: My New Con T-shirt

So, my new Con T-shirt arrived in the post today...

T-shirt courtesy of Vistaprint, logos courtesy of Pye Parr, humorous catchphrase courtesy of Yours Truly, photographs courtesy of Miss M Green (aged 5).

W is for the Wonderful Work of Simon 'Pye' Parr

Simon (or as he's known to his friends 'Pye') Parr has collaborated with me on my Pax Britannia novels right from the start. To begin with he was the designer, arranging the text over Mark Harrison's artwork, and creating the various logos and crest motifs for the series. More recently he has started adding internal illustrations until now, with my eighth steampunk novel Time's Arrow he's become fully-fledged cover artist.

Pye has very kindly taken the time to answer my questions whilst in the middle of a house move (kudos there, sir!) which I have pleasure in presenting for you now.

1. Which came first – artist or designer?

Chronologically, artist. It's something I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember, but professionally I've been a graphic designer for much longer, and it's still what makes up over half of my work. 

2. What was your big break that led to you doing what you’re doing now?

In 2002 I was recruited by Rebellion as a graphic designer for 2000AD and the Megazine, which was brilliant. Since I've worked there the publishing department has expanded to include all the 2000AD graphic novels and both Solaris and Abaddon Books, plus various projects for the computer games side of things, so the amount work and experience I get has expanded with it, leading me to where I'm at now doing both art and design work. To me it's kind of felt like more of a slow build up than a big break, and I've only started getting projects beyond the stuff I do in-house for Rebellion over the last few years.

3. What is your preferred method of working? Which medium suits your style best?

Erm... I have no idea! I try something for a bit then leave it and try something different. I reckon the best stuff I do is in as many mediums as possible really, all mixed together. Generally I start with something 'real' no matter what I'm doing though, so even for a picture that I'll paint digitally I start with a half-decent pencil drawing or painting or something before scanning it in and going to town on it in Photoshop or Illustrator. I find it much quicker and easier to get ideas down for artwork with a pencil and paper, even though I spend 90% of my time sat at a computer.

4. Having worked on numerous book covers, advertisements and comic strips, which do you prefer and why? Is there anything you’d particularly like to do more of?

Creating any kind of artwork is a satisfying process (eventually), so I try to do as much of that as possible, but one the things I like most about my work is that I have to switch between loads of different jobs, so I never have a chance to get bored of anything. I think for example if I spent all month sat at my drawing board on my own I'd go mental, so it’s nice to break it up each week with graphic design work in the office, which I find a bit more calming to work on. 

5. How much do you work with an author when it comes to designing a cover for their book?

It varies. Obviously I'll always try as hard as I can to do something the author can be proud of, but they've all had differing levels of input. For design-led covers I generally have more free reign than with the illustrative ones. This is mainly because the final images are more suggestive and they don’t really need to show actual things in the story, more convey a mood or feeling that will suit the book. I'll come up with loads of options (I think I ended up with almost 20 different concepts for Lou Morgan's Blood and Feathers cover for example) after reading the rough synopsis, then together with the author and editor we choose one (or part of one) that works. After that I'll do whatever I think is best to get the effect I want.

A lot the time the books aren't finished when I start the cover art, so for more illustrative covers I rely heavily on the author to give me ideas or scenes from the story as a starting point for a sketch and we go from there.

6. What is it about the Pax Britannia setting that appeals to you creatively?

I just love old stuff. The way it looks and sounds and smells. Big rivets, pistons, chrome dials, brass, etc. There's something very appealing to me about nicely machined parts, and there's plenty of stuff like that in any steampunk setting. Plus Pax Britannia is full of genetic monstrosities, cars, freaky old weirdoes and all sorts of other things that are fun to play about with.

7. Of which piece of work are you most proud?

If it went well, whatever I finished last! I tend to go off my own art very quickly, and the more I look at stuff the more problems I can see with it. I have maybe a 1-2 week grace period when I'm happy with something, then the doubting starts... That said, I'm still quite happy with the cover I did for DEATH PLANET! that went in the Megazine recently and the cover for Regicide by Nicholas Royle.

8. Is there anything you haven’t illustrated yet that you would still like to?

I'd like to try some sequential comics stuff really, but they're just so time-consuming to do!

9. You are also a fan of Warhammer 40,000 and a skilled miniature painter. What is it about this dystopian far future medieval universe that appeals to you?

All the amazing art and design that goes into their stuff. When I was about 12 Warhammer (along with 2000AD) was my first exposure to all these weird stories and unique artwork that I'd never seen anything like before, and I still love both today. Painting Warhammer models requires this strange mixture of creativity and obsessive organisational behaviour which I find particularly satisfying for some reason.

10. What are you working on at the moment?

Absolutely nothing! Last Friday I finished the last three 2000 AD 'They are coming' teaser posters for CBR. You can see all 12 here:http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=38316 

I went right up to the wire on that one, which was a bit of a stress as I had to get them all done before I take 2 weeks off to move house (this laptop is one of the few things not in a box!). When I start up again I've got to get the third eBook cover for Time's Arrow to do – you might have heard something about that? – and the design work for the rest of the Blood and Feathers book (like the spine and back cover layout, etc, plus the actual guts of the book). After that I really need to get on with the cover for the third volume of No Man's World; The Alleyman which I started bloody ages ago but had to ditch halfway through to get more urgent stuff finished (this happens a lot).

11. What advice would you give to any aspiring artists wanting to follow in your footsteps?

Don't give up. Even when you hear nothing back from every one of 3 million portfolios you send out. Just keep going and going and you'll get better and better with time. It’s taken me years and years of this and I still feel like I'm only just starting to make some progress.

12. Last question – do you have a favourite font for your design work? ;-)

Ha! There are plenty of fonts I hate – that'd be a bit easier to tell you about. There's every designers favourite moans like Comic Sans and Papyrus, but currently I'm filled with utter loathing for Nedian, which I've been forced into using so something can match an old series' cover designs (that I didn’t do). I'm also sick of seeing Trajan used absolutely bloody everywhere. I drive my wife mental by sitting watching TV adverts and barking out the names of fonts they use like some kind of typographic rain man.

On a slight tangent I've been badgering work to get me copy of Fontographer for ages so I can try and make some of my own, which if I ever get round to I'll put up as freeware somewhere.

You can see more examples of Pye's painting and design work (some of which is private or unpublished) over on his blog here, as well as weekly in the pages of 2000AD.

Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow - Black Swan is coming...

Artists round-up

I regularly link to updates posted online by various writers I know, or whose blogs I follow, but I've also been fortunate to work with a number of artists over the years and am a fan of comic artwork, so today I present the first in an occasional series of artist round-ups.

Let's start with Leigh 'Defoe' Gallagher, 2000AD artist extraordinaire, who has posted about what's involved in creating a new comic strip character (in this case Aquila, written by Gordon Rennie) and the design process behind the creation of new monsters.

Then there's Karl Richardson (who some of you will remember from Black Library's Lone Wolves graphic novel) on creating a 2000AD cover featuring Dan Abnett's new strip Grey Area.

The creation of another 2000AD cover now, this time by Matt Brooker (a.k.a. D'israeli) after Japanese print-master Katsushika Hokusai.

And lastly for this update, there's Simon 'Pye' Parr, with some rather more design-oriented... stuff!

Pax Britannia Needs YOU!

Exciting news!

It's that time of year again when the World Science Fiction Society decides on the nominations for the Hugo Awards. You are eligible to nominate if you attended WorldCon last year, or are to attend WorldCon this year, or have signed up for 2013's WorldCon. Instructions for nomination can be found here and the deadline is 31 January.

The reason I mention this here (and why the news is exciting) is because two of my works are eligible for nomination. They are Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein (novel) and The Doll's House (short story) from House of Fear.

Also eligible for nomination is Al Ewing's Pax Britannia: Pax Omega, the third in his El Sombra trilogy, as are cover artists/designers Mark Harrison (Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein), Simon Parr (Pax Britannia: The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus) and Luke Preece (House of Fear).

So, if you'll eligible to nominate, please feel free (and drop me a line to let me know here).

And while we're on the subject of nominations, if anyone would like to nominate Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein for the Steampunk Awards, feel free!

Special thanks to Drew Northcott (whose DeviantArt page you can find here) for the 'Pax Britannia Needs YOU' poster and to Major Willoughby Chase of the 1st Tea Company.

Time's Arrow - Black Swan

Ace artist and daring designer Pye Parr has revealed a work-in-progress image of the cover of Time's Arrow Part 2, a.k.a. Black Swan (coming soon-ish from Abaddon Books).

Visitors to the steampunk stand at the MCM Expo in October got an early sneak preview of this picture but now I can share it with the rest of the world. And very nice it is too...

Ulysses Quicksilver, Hero of the Empire!

Ulysses Quicksilver and his various adventures have inspired a number of artists to produce their take on the character. The latest of them is Kit Cox who recently produced a portrait of the Hero of the Empire and another of Ulysses' loyal sidekick Nimrod, the bare-knuckle boxing butler.

Simon Parr (a.k.a. Pye Parr) has produced several pictures of Ulysses and Nimrod as well. Here are just a few of them.

And then there's Pax Britannia cover artist Mark Harrison's take on the character, most easily seen on the cover of Anno Frankenstein.

There are also a growing number of illustrations of masked vigilante Spring-Heeled Jack. The most recent is by that gentleman caricaturist Kit Cox again but Mark Harrison also produced a portrait of the character back when I was writing Evolution Expects.