So this was the second time I’ve done Inktober, where you get a drawing prompt every day all October long. Last year I drew Life in every drawing, this year I did that for about two days before I got bored and just started drawing sci-fi/fantasy characters, then knockoff GI Joes and X-Men for character concepts.

Originally I wasn’t going to sketch anything out or throw anything out. Everything was going to be straight ink to paper, and I would keep working on drawings until I liked them. That’s why day 3 is kind of different than the rest. Day 4 is where I realized that even if I didn’t like the drawing, I could just keep adding more black until I did. Day 6 is where I gave up on the “no throwing anything out” rule.

I regret tearing pages out of the sketch pad though. I would use those to sketch and doodle ideas, some of which I ended up really liking, so now I have to keep a bunch of torn out pages. Damn it…

-Love Nick

My long awaited dive into the world of weird, cone and dome shaped sci-fi buildings deserves to be commemorated with its own shirt. Well, it matters to me at least.

You can buy this rad new shirt and others HERE at my online store!

On October 1st 2018, legendary Spanish comic artist Carlos Ezquerra died. Carlos is probably best known for being the co-creator of Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog, both with writer John Wagner. He was a master of science fiction and action comics, and his work never stopped getting better. 

For the better part of the last two decades, my favourite comic has been Judge Dredd and Carlos was my favourite artist, flanked closely by Jean Giraud aka Moebius, and Joe Kubert.

My first introduction to Judge Dredd was a Super Nintendo video game based on the 90s Sylvester Stallone movie. All the available comics at the time were pretty subpar adaptations from DC. A few years later I started seeking out the comics again and fortunately Garth Ennis’ run on Judge Dredd was being reprinted in North America in oversized collections.

My first Judge Dredd comic was the Goodnight Kiss collection. I quickly bought all the other collections, but the one I left last was Death Aid, which had an absolutely terrible cover by Bryan Hitch, but featured all interior work by Carlos. I was hooked on the modern painted artwork of the other books, and Carlos had a much older art style by comparison. I actually almost passed on the book, but decided to buy it anyway and quickly fell in love with Carlos’ work. The pages were filled with dynamic action, and wildly creative futuristic buildings, vehicles, technology, and clothing. Carlos coloured the pages with ink washes, giving them a sense of darkness and vibrance at the same time. This was the Necropolis story era and is my favourite period of Carlos’ work (definitely where I took part of my comic name from.)

I now own two copies of Death Aid. I keep a second copy in a stack of books on my floor at my drafting table at all times to steal/learn from. Just about everything I want to learn about making comics is in that book. Everything else I steal/learn from my Moebius books. 

Carlos’ work is part of the standard that I hold all science fiction work to. I have little to no interest in visually modest sci-fi stories. I want the buildings to be weird cone and dome shapes (something I have yet to figure out sadly) and I want the people wearing jump suits, helmets, and knee and/or elbow pads. I want the future to look like Carlos’ idea of the future. Anything else just seems kind of lazy and dull. That’s what Carlos meant to me: creativity and excellence. 

-Love Nick 

This was a drawing for Inktober 2017. The drawing prompt that day was “fat” and clearly that made me think of some primitive alien warlord riding a giant squid/octopus/tentacle monster. Clearly.

You can buy this rad new shirt and others HERE at my online store!

Let me tell you kids about the Rock ’n’ Roll! You see, in case you hadn’t already heard, the Riss Band is the official band of Life the Necropolis. Kamloops BC based low-fi rock from the husband and wife team of Riss and Lisa Wiebe. 

The Riss Band have been long time and persistent supporters of my comic, and when they were working on their new album, Nonstop To Nowhere, they asked me to contribute some art for the back cover for their own comic book to coincide with their new album. I was extremely flattered and was more than happy to help out. 

I was also pretty nervous. I mean it’s one thing to make my own terrible comic, but now I was making my terrible art for someone else. Then it occurred to me that, well, they had seen my art before, so it’s not like it was going to be a surprise when I turned it in and said “well, this is how I draw…” 

All I really wanted to draw was Conan and some trees. I’m not really good at either, so I figured it was good practice. Being pretty vain, I couldn’t decide which was better, the colour version or just the plain black and white. So I turned in both, and hell, they printed both! 

I also recut some of my more violent Life panels for them, and they added some new dialogue and printed that too! It was pretty cool seeing Life in print (again, technically. More on that another day…) I should really do that myself some day soon… 

Check out the Riss Band HERE  and listen to their music! 

-Love Nick