Doctor Who: My Regeneration

'My Regeneration' as performed by the Modfathers of time and relative dimensions…….or Reeves and Mortimer during their time on the brilliant BBC program, Shooting Stars.

Artwork by me featuring illustrations of Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi as Doctor Who.

Inspired wholeheartedly by the original Shooting Stars sketch. If you want to check it out please click the link below…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H92RbydVwuc

Actually this post is something of a regeneration in itself. My first in over 3 years. Crikey. I'm actually feeling quite faint. Someone call a paramedic. Or a Doctor....!

David Cronenberg Interview Illustration

Another cool thing on the art front is that one of my toons is currently being used to illustrate an interview with the film Director David Cronenberg for the 'Los Angeles Review of Books' website. This is particularly awesome as I have been a fan of David's work for many a year now. The interview is written by Jonathan Penner. Long live the new flesh!

Check out the interview here...
lareviewofbooks.org/post/16638057207/cronenberg

If you would like to download the original version of this picture (along with Mark Kermode and David Lynch) as a wallpaper please visit the wallpapers page on my main website....
www.welchtoons.com/Cult-Movies%281503956%29.htm

Starburst Magazine (Walking Dead) Relaunch Cover

I've been fortunate enough to find myself working for the great Starburst Magazine recently. Starburst was a UK Sci-Fi, Horror and Fantasy magazine that ran for just over thirty years from the late 70's to the late noughties. As a magazine it grounded itself in the best of Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy films, tv series, books etc. Starburst was always a great read but what was particularly great about it was that it was more than just a sum of its parts. Starburst was never content with just reviewing the standard sci-fi fare. It is with thanks to Starburst and its then main film reviewer, Alan Jones, that I was, at a young age, introduced to the joys of the work of David Lynch, Joe Dante, Rod Serling, Alejandro Jodorowsky, John Landis, Ray Harryhausen, Goerge Lucas, Harry Bromley Davenport and many more besides. Very odd in a way now to think of a budding 13 year old sci-fi/horror fan who was busting at the gut to see films like Andrzej Zulawski's Possesion or Jean-Pierre Mocky's Litan (a film I'd still like to see if anyone knows of its whereabouts).

The magazine is about to be relaunched (14th February 2012) and this is my cover for the relaunch issue.

This one took a while to do and, if you haven't already guessed, is based on the hit TV series The Walking Dead. I have to admit I had an awful lot of fun doing the zombies on this.

The launch issue above will be making its debut on 14th February 2012 via subscription or speciality comic stores.

For more details on subscriptions please visit the link below....
www.starburstmagazine.com/subscribe

Chichester Charity Gig in aid of Cancer

Can You Help?

First up thanks for taking the time to read this. If you are reading this it's probably because I have pointed you here to read this as sites like Facebook and Twitter have limits on the amount that you can say in a status update and this will be more than 143 characters long. Don't worry though it won't be loads and will only take about a minute to read...

Ok, I don't know if anyone will be able to help with this or not but I'm going to ask anyway as it's for a blimmin' good cause. To cut a long story short, as I believe Spandau Ballet once sang, a friend of mine is organising a music night in The Chichester Inn in Chichester on August 17th to raise money for cancer charities. The evening is organised with the pub and everything is set in place but my friend desperately needs some bands to volunteer their services for the night. Like I say it's for charity so no money will be involved but as I say it is for a blimmin' awesome cause. Can you help? If you know anyone or are in a band and would like to play and help raise money to fight the big C then please contact either Diana or Sarah on Twitter. Alternatively check out the facebook page my friend has set up for her charity which details this and other events she is organising…

Dianas Charity Cycle Challenge Sponsorship Page

If any band out there needs a little extra enticement to take part in this evening then I'll happily do a toon of any band that agrees to take part absolutely free of charge. Any good to anyone?

Big thanks to anyone that can help. If you can't help could you share this link to your fans/followers on facebook/twitter etc in case they can help. Cheers m'dears

Welchtoons
x

The Matt Smith and Karen Gillan 'Doctor Who' caricature.

This is my new illustration of Matt Smith and Karen Gillan as Doctor Who and Amy Pond.

I'm a big fan of Who in general but have to say the first episode of the 11th Doctor's first series, The Eleventh Hour, was an absolute corker. Actually I thought it was the best episode of the new series I'd seen since Blink. The second episode, The Beast Below, was equally good and was really great at showcasing the strength of the Amy Pond character. I have a sneaky feeling that Matt Smith and Karen Gillan will turn out to be one of the shows strongest pairings. The episode had some nice touches as well including quite strong references to both Star Wars and Terry Pratchett. Dr Who has always been good at pilaging outside influences as part of their stories even old school Who. Only two episodes in and it feels to me like Matt Smith has been Doctor who forever. A big thumbs up to all concerned from this old school Who fan. Roll on the next episode, The Victory of the Daleks, I can't wait.

Anyway being that the new series has blown me away in such great style how could I not depict the two main characters welchtoons style. I hope you like it. As ever if anyone wants to check out the rest of my art please feel free to check out my website.

Film Quiz Art for Chichester Cinema

Crikey! I've just realised that this appears to be my first blogpost for 2010. Well thank goodness that, after the debacle that was 2009, it is going to be a positive one. I've had some good news this week which has been great. The great news is that my artwork will once more be becoming a fixture of Chichester's fantastic cinema at the New Park. I originally exhibited my works there back in 2006 and, at the time, had a fantastic response from the cinema and its patrons. I'm now returning with a series of new illustrations that will be showcased at an event organised by the Cinema. The event in question is a film quiz that will be held at the Upper Brasserie at the Minerva Theatre (opposite Chichester Festival Theatre) in Chichester, West Sussex on March 27th. Chichester Cinema hopes that this film quiz will help them to raise funds for new digital equipment. The quiz will feature tables of 6 named after favourite film stars / directors and, as you've possibly already guessed, I am providing illustrations of the relevant film people. My illustrations will be for sale at this event and will also be available at the cinema shortly. There will also be a raffle at this event which will include prizes of Festival Theatre tickets, Dinner Outings, Cinema Tickets, Champagne etc. This sounds like it will be a great evening and I am very excited about taking part. The illustrations I am producing for this event are as follows...

Woody Allen

Marlon Brando

Orson Welles
Clint Eastwood 

Morgan Freeman

Hugh Grant

Werner Herzog

Peter Jackson

Steve McQueen
Paul Newman

River Phoenix

Anthony Quinn

Robert Redford
Peter Sellers

Emma Thompson
Stanley Kubrick
Sophia Loren
Jane Campion

Catherine Deneuve


If you'd like more information about the film quiz itself then please click the following link to the cinemas website...

http://www.chichestercinema.org/film/739/A-MIND-FOR-MOVIES-FILM-QUIZ

Almost there...

Ok,
so...
I heard the new
Lucinda Rosa
track yesterday and it
sounds amazing.
It's taken them a while
to get the exact sound
they wanted but things
are definitely coming
to fruition and its definitely been
well worth the wait.


Their myspace site is up and
running and the new track and
band details will posted up very
soon. At the moment the site
just features some of
the art I've been doing for them
which is obviously well worth a look...
...heh, heh, heh!!

New Worthing comic shop!!!

Uncanny Comics
Originally uploaded by Welchtoons

It isn't very often that a new comic shop
appears on the high street but Worthing
has had something to celebrate over the
last few weeks. I had the pleasure of
visiting this shop the other week and
had a whale of a time. Sadly I didn't
have much money available to me at
the time so I wasn't able to support their
cause that much but if I had there would
have been no stopping me. Rather spiffing
collection of Silver and Golden age comics
as well. Very nice!!

Check them out...

Uncanny Comics
3 Station Parade (opposite West Worthing station)
Tarring Road
Worthing
West Sussex

Tel: (+44) 01903 500888
Website: www.uncannycomics.co.uk

And if you're wondering what I bought...

...I've got a bit of a thing for Gold Key at the mo.
It's a nostalgia thing!!

Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson
Originally uploaded by Welchtoons

Shock Rocker in cartoon shocker!!
(Try saying that 10 times quickly!)

The Flying Man

The Flying Man
Originally uploaded by Welchtoons

Strange bit of animation
inspired by david lynch
I did a few years back.

(Its ok...
...you can slag it to bits if you want to!)

It only took me a couple of hours to
do on a Saturday afternoon.

I just did it for kicks really.
This was created using a mixture of
After Effects, Photoshop,
Videoshop and Poser.

The music is mine too.
Check out
Lava Banana
for more musical atrocities!!

New Lucinda Rosa art...

Lucinda Rosa are a music project
that I have become involved with.
They are heavily influenced
by the likes of..

Joy Division,

The Pixies,

The Cure,

Depeche Mode,

early U2

and

The Smashing Pumpkins

among others.

They are friends of mine and I will
be doing a lot of artwork for them
and a bit of marketing as well as helping
them build a website presence.
They were formerly known as
Black Mountain College
and played quite
extensively around the
south of England including
London and Brighton.



They were also,
as Black Mountain College,
championed by
Steve Lamacq of Radio 6 music
for a while.
Anyways I'm currently
putting together some bits
of artwork
for their Myspace site.

www.myspace.com/lucindarosa
(music coming soon)

Here is the latest piece of art...

I'm Back!!!

Ok...so...no one really reads my blog, do they?
Ok I have one comment from Mr Petch
and a number of page views but, to be honest,
I figure that's mostly just me and I'm mostly alone in
this part of cyberspace. No worries though as
I kinda like it like that weirdly. More space for
freedom of speech and all that. Anyways if you
have popped by to see me here you may have
noticed that this blog disappeared for a bit.

I'm not sure why.

Actually Google completely disabled my account
for a whole week. Again not sure why. Actually I
was racking my brains trying to work out if I'd
broken any of the laws of blogging on Google but
the few blogs I've written on here either just link
to my artwork (which is obviously all mine), my
websites or other legitimate websites. Paranoia
was starting to set in and then...
...as if by magic...
...its all returned to normal!!
No explanation just 'normal service has resumed'.
Not complaining though...its good to be back. I
don't write much on here but when it disappeared...
...I missed it!!

In the meantime I have a new toon.
Another zombie pic this time of Will Smith.
It's kind of a play on the 'I am Legend' film.
My interpretation...'I am Zombie!'.

Mark Kermode, David Cronenberg and David Lynch caricatures

Just recently I've become addicted to
Mark Kermodes film reviews that feature on
Marks blog on the bbc site....
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/

and also the show with Simon Mayo on Radio Five live....
www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/entertainment/kermode.shtml

For this reason I figured
I'd do a toon of Mark.

I thought the idea of a toon
featuring a film critic and two
directors would make a good
subject.

The fact that two of Marks
favourite directors, David Lynch and David Cronenberg are actually two
of mine makes no odds to nobody!!

Phantasmagoria...

I
don't
want
to say
to much
about this
as I just
happened
across it when
I jump linked on
Youtube.

I love where this
is coming
from even

though it
wears its
influences
on its sleeve.

I love the fact
I don't
really know
what its about.
Most of all
I love the
atmosphere
and the style.

It's intense.....

Another day, another zombie....

I've been doing a few more toons recently.

Slightly different style this time.

Everytime I do a toon

I feel a need to make it as dark and as sinister

as I possibly can.

Don't know why I guess

it just makes the artwork more interesting for me.

I quite like the idea

of my art being about more than

just straight pictures of people.

This is why there is always a slight slant on my toons.

Anyhoo I sat around wondering

what to do next then it finally came to me...

...Celebrity Zombies!!

If Deadset could do it to Davina why couldn't I?

Here are the results so far.

Gary Numan and Ade Fenton are first

to get the Zombie treatment of course.

Also,
just for kicks,
my mate Ed Fielding

gets a bit of Zombification!!

Watch out, the next one could be you!

The Stonecutter

Excellent five minute documentary by Jamie Tolagson. Features one of my favourite artists, Jon J Muth.

41 days ago...

...I finished work on a toon of...

Gary Numan and Ade Fenton.

This was kind of a milestone for me
as artistically it did everything I set out to do with it.

I've been doing these toons for a while now and I'm
constantly trying to progress the style although not always succeeding.

This particular toon did
a number of things in my mind.

For a start it looked menacing
and sinister which is totally correct.

If you've ever heard any of these guys music then you'll
know that anything connected with them should have this feel.

Secondly it blended my photography
with my art without looking obvious.

Finally the image, for me, kind of created an atmosphere
and in a sense almost feels like you've wandered into a scene of some kind.

This is hard to explain but
other people
have noticed it too so it seems to work.

The idea is that you are peering at these two guys through a keyhole in a door that looks out into a corridor or other room.

I was keen not to have them just standing there but to have it look like they had just been interrupted from a conversation they were having.

Almost like they had heard a sound or had sensed someone was looking at them.

I think it works.