I drew ‘Reality Sucks’ on an Amiga 1200 computer during A-Level Art. Whilst this was many years ago, I show it here because:
It’s fun
It represents my first foray into real digital art. Pre-internet, this is all drawn with a mouse, pixel by pixel.
It’s the first time I saw a largish project from initial concept to finished piece
It’s the first time I used mixed media – there are painted backgrounds scalpel-cut into the prints I’ve scanned here
It shows the first appearance of my straitjacket logo
I’m proud of it. Sure, it’s a little silly, but I was 17 years old! I hope you like it!
This page has nothing whatsoever to do with the story and more to do with an obsession I had with Sandra Bullock as a teenager. The portrait was actually really good, and isn’t done justice by the print job or this scan of it. This page was removed from the finished piece and only appears here for posterity.
This page ties in with another quite immature comic I drew around the same time about a bunch of weird guys that hunt and kill satan-worshippers. This page was removed from the finished piece and only appears here for posterity, although does demonstrate an early aptitude for combining digital and traditional drawing techniques.
I’m particularly pleased with this page because the art is good and the frames share a background which is a pretty advanced technique that I still use today. At the top of the first frame you’ll see a Rogue Apostrophe making a cameo, and at the top of the final frame is a ‘radiohead’. I think ‘The Bends’ had recently been released!
