Nelson graphic novel

Although it could be said that my life has been governed solely by a Mr. Batman of recent, the fact is that I've allowed other things to invade my otherwise Bat dominated world, however slight the invasion might be. One good example is the forthcoming Nelson graphic novel. Here's the hype...

"Over fifty of the UK’s most interesting comic creators have taken part in a unique collaboration to produce Nelson, a 260-page novel to be published by Blank Slate in November 2011. One continuous tale takes us from 1968 to the present with one chapter for every year, each of those chapters recording the events of one day in the life of one woman. A life told in snapshots. Nel Baker’s life.
Nelson embraces all aspects of comics storytelling across a wide spectrum of UK-based creators, uniting established talents from 2000AD, DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, The Beano and The Dandy with small press, Web comic and newspaper strip artists in one intriguing story. Nelson is an unprecedented anthology, a crazy experiment that is part exquisite corpse and part relay race, and best of all, an all–consuming novel like nothing you have seen before."

So...when the stunningly talented and jolly nice fellow Rob Davis asked me to be involved, and after he'd shown me some of the lush art already produced for the book I couldn't say "no". I could clearly see Rob and his fellow creator/editor Woodrow Phoenix (an equally stunningly talented and jolly nice fellow) were putting together something out of the ordinary, something exiting and fresh. Being asked to participate was a joy and an honour.

The images above show my proses for one of the panels of the four pages I've drawn for the book. The first is a blow-up of my first sketch, always done as wee as possible for clarity's sake. The second is the blue pencil drawing, done as "fast and loose" as I can! The third is the finished (pre lettering) image, coloured in Photoshop.

Despite my involvement, I strongly suggest you seek this out in November!