Bearrito Publishing

This last week I’ve been busy on a one page short story for issue #17 and continuing my nod (and love) of artists that have inspired me through the years.

With this page it’s an absolute love letter to Barry Windsor-Smith and the covers to Machine Man (namely issue #2)

When I started on this page I went straight in and started drawing Lloyd and Bear as they are (and yes, totally in a Composite Superman/Batman type look – hmm, is there a story idea here…?) and realised that, of course, it should – like the other short stories – look like how I’d imagine BWS would draw our main guys. The thing is, going through all books I have done by BWS I couldn’t see anything that really shouted out to me on how he’d draw a kid (and bear) but also include his line work (I found that any kids were very flat with no wrinkles or the like – which totally makes sense)

So yeah, I stuck with keeping Lloyd and Bear as they are (although as robots) and then working out from that with using the cover of issue #2 of Machine Man as a guide.

I LOVE Machine Man and there’s no other comic book I have in a number of editions. If you haven’t read it I would absolutely recommend hunting it down in back issue bins, eBay or on Comixology. Hey, it was written back in the 80’s and set in 2020 which looked really bleak back when I first read it and…. yeah, who knew?

I really hope I captured the look of the Machine Man cover with this. I love BWS’s work and had just finished reading Monsters – which was gorgeous, loving, horrifying and sad. I don’t think I’ve ever read a piece of work like it before (also totally worth picking up)

So yeah, I have absolutely one last short to do and that’s it. It’ll be a 2 page story and I realise that pretty much all (seriously, I think just ALL) of the artists I’ve picked out to imitate are from the same period. Any ideas who I’m picking this time? It’s linked to a parody print I did of the main character….

Ooh, a mystery!

More soon! Bear hugs!