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Comics Artists: T

Online Art Board Supplies

Comic art for the major companies such as Marvel or DC is drawn on special art board that includes 'blue line' indicators so the artists draw to the correct size proprotional to the final US comic book art size. Artists contracted to the companies are provided with this board, although I am not sure if this is still supplied gratis, as it was in Paul Neary's day as Editorial Director at Marvel UK, or if they have to pay for it.

Page measurements apparently vary slightly from company to company, so using ordinary Bristol board and a ruler may be a better option for the aspiring artist than seeking down this specialised board.

2000AD is now published pro to US comic book size.

BlueLine
There is a type of Bristol board called BlueLine which features these the official comic page measurments printed on it. It's solicited through Previews and, therefore, most comic shops should be able to order it. Some artists don't like it.

Bristol Board
• Most art supply shops in Belfast sell Bristol board in A3 20 sheet blocks.

Art Supplies

• Blink Twice
28/10/05: The Blink Twice Art Product range sells everything a professional comic artist/aspiring new comer needs to do the job! (Well maybe not everything, but the Blink Twice boys are bigger than me).
The initial range includes: the Blink Twice Comic Book Board is £10 for a pack of 12 sheets; the Blink Twice Sketch Books are £3 and come in either Pink or Blue; the Blink Twice Layup Book is £5
All products can be ordered directly through the site at: www.kennel17.co.uk/
malcolm/orderform.htm

• Great Art Supplies: www.greatart.co.uk
Gerstaecker UK Limited / Great Art, Normandy House, 1 Nether Street, Alton, Hampshire GU34 1EA
Telephone Order line 0845 601 5772 (Local call rate)
Described as Europe's largest and brightest catalogue for art materials, this company says "Whatever your angle - whether you're an art student, leisure painter, art teacher or professional artist - we're sure that you'll find that we are full of all the supplies you need." They publish a variety of catalogues for each country -- one artist I know orders material from their French rather than UK edition.

• London Graphics Company: www.londongraphics.co.uk
16-18 Shelton Street, Covent Garden London WC2H 9JL
Tel: 020 7759 4500 Fax: 020 7759 4585
London Graphic Centre was established in 1973 as a specialist graphic materials supplier to the London Design and Advertising market. The last 30 years have seen dramatic changes in working methods. We have maintained our unrivalled reputation for outstanding service by adapting to industry changes and expanding into new products and markets.

Dip Pens

• Hans Presto: hans.presto.tripod.com
This Swedish (with English translation) site apparently stocks and sells just about every dip pen ever made. It also has sections on Lettering, Comics and Handwriting. (thanks to artist Kev Hopgood for this one)

Comics Artists T


T
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Ferdinando Tacconi
Online 'Men at Arms' Gallery: www.ultrazine.org/ultraeventi/mostre/tacconi/online
Art by Ferdinando TacconiItalian artist Tacconi died in 2006. He began producing art for the British market through the studios of Roy d'Ami in the 1950s, including Jet Morgan, based on the famous radio show, which began a life long friendship with the show's creator and the strip's writer, Charles Chilton, drawing Journey Into Space in Express Weekly, which is currently being reprinted in Spaceship Away.
Tacconi also also drew Jeff Hawke for the Junior Express, one episode of Riders of the Range for Eagle and various works for Fleetway, including contributions to Comet, Buster, War Picture Library, Air Ace Picture Library and others.

The Adventures of Luther ArkwrightBryan Talbot
Official: www.bryan-talbot.com
One of the best comics artists in the UK, whose brilliant art has graced many a DC Comic, 2000AD and whose own titles include One Bad Rat and the eagerly-anticipated Alice in Sunderland, due to be published by Jonathan Cape in the UK in 2007.
His best known work, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, developed over several years, has been optioned as a movie by Benderspink (see related news story)
First created in 1978, and described by fellow comics creator Garth Ennis as "one of the all-time great epics of the medium", Arkwright story took Talbot more than 12 years to complete, first serialised in various comics and magazines in England before being wrapped up in a series of comics published by Valkyrie Press. A sequel, Heart of Empire, was published in 1999 by Dark Horse.

Audio drama company Big Finish have also adapted the story, starring Doctor Who's David Tennant as Luther Arkwright.

• Read an interview with Bryan Talbot on the Forbidden Planet International site, conducted in July 2006

LUTHER ARKWRIGHT LINKS
• Buy The Adventures of Luther Arkwright via Amazon.co.uk
• Buy the Big Finish audio drama The Adventures of Luther Arkwright from Amazon.co.uk
• Buy Heart of Empire: or, The Legacy Luther Arkwright via Amazon.co.uk

ALICE IN SUNDERLAND LINKS
In 2007, Jonathan Cape published Bryan Talbot's Alice in Sunderland, a funny and poignant, thought-provoking and entertaining, traditional and experimental, whimsical and polemical graphic novel. Alice in Sunderland is a heady cocktail of fact and fiction, a sumptuous and multi-layered journey that will leave you wondering about the magic that's waiting to be unlocked in the place where you live.
• Read an interview with Bryan Talbot on Panel to Panel about Alice in Sunderland
• Buy Alice in Sunderland from Amazon.co.uk

Joseph Talbot
Official: www.josephbloggs.com
Creator of Oneironaut as his final project for the MA in Electronic Media at Oxford Brookes University, is the story of a place - the Dreamscape - and the people that inhabit it.
Jospeh is a web designer.

Darren Taylor
Blog: mycvstuff.blogspot.com
Art: www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=4090
ComicSpace: www.comicspace.com/darren_taylor
UK artist Darren taylor, whose strips include This Life! has worked professionally as a spot illustration artist, worked in the Games industry as a Concept Artist and in films asworking as a Storyboard Artist.

Bill Titcombe
Anybody interested in the work of Telegoons and TV Comic artist Bill Titcombe might be interested in this info about him on the Telegoons web site: www.telegoons.org/FAQ.htm#O
Just one of those great little nuggets of fun on the web!

Alex Toth (1928-2006)
• Official: Tothfans.com
US comics artist Alex Toth died at his drawing board on 27 May 2006; he was 77. His career in com ics is legendary and he also designed characters for many animated TV SF series in the 1960s-70s -- including Space Ghost, Jonny Quest, The Herculoids and Cambria Productions' space opera Space Angel, one of several cartoons to use the company's synchro-vox system, combining live-action lips with animated drawings.

Hsiao-chen Tsai
Official: usscatastrophe.com/zettwoch
Tsai was born and raised in Taiwan. She moved to the Bay Area seven years ago to escape her mom's "lifetime mothering policy" as well as to pursue a larger audience for her drawings of cute creatures doing bad things. After several years of burning out from her many crappy jobs performing various robot-tasks, she finally found her Double Happiness: lovely husby and sweet kitties.

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