“Stick It To 'Em!”
formerly “Suckerpunch”, a book that lay unfinished for a
decade is almost ready for release. This is the story behind the
motivation and design processes that got it done...Finally!
Be advised, unlike most books I produce this definately is not a book for children!
It's fair to say that
back in 2004 I was totally immersed in anything and everything kitsch
and retro from the late sixties to the mid/late seventies. I still do but
it has taken a bit of a back seat to modern living (whatever that
means!!) I just loved that whole vibe. The films, fashion, music and
art from this period was like my catnip. I could not get enough! I
got to the point where I actually wanted to be Starsky! But I live in
Cambridge, England and was then starting a new career as a fledgling
freelance illustrator instead!
I would seek out and
purchase endless DVDs of films and TV shows from my very early
childhood and then whilst searching for those I would be distracted
by another, lesser known film or show. Like Alice tumbling through an
endless rabbit hole I indulged. B-movies made way for schlock movies.
Some were great fun some were absolutely awful, but I didn't care I
was in a groove and all these images and sounds were feeding my
creative “id”!
Looking back I think the biggest influences that leaked into "Stick It To 'Em!" were, in no particular order:
Ralph Bakshi animated films
“VanishingPoint” .You gotta love the 1970
Dodge Challenger R/T and Barry Newman is just the personification of
cool in it!
Looking back at my sketchbooks
of this period shows vividly how all this was being computed. These
Biro sketches needed to be channelled somehow, figures became
characters and quite quickly “Suckerpunch” started to take shape.
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| Early biker/hippie babes on the road to becoming "Gretchen" the main female lead in "Suckerpunch" |
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| Very early sketch of Taylor and sidekick! |
I wanted to write and
draw a slightly anarchic comic book, not a polished super hero yarn
but a gritty, off the cuff effort! I wanted it to rattle along like
a Ralph Bakshi cartoon not a slick Hollywood remake. My aim wasn't
for perfection, the drawings weren't stifled by endless corrections,
instead I opted for the Chinese cooking approach. If it takes more
than five minutes then it's ruined!
No Photoshop either just marker
pens and Bristol board for this opus! My commercial illustration work
was already digital at this point but I wanted to go back in time and
get my hands dirty. A quandary I still wrestle with today but for
some reason the Wacom tablet always seems to win!
I wanted to encapsulate
as many of these influences as I could in one roller coaster ride of
a story. I knew that I wanted a dystopian city scape inhabited by
chemically subdued citizens ruled by a malevolent super class of
administrators. An anti hero who is sent out side of this city in
search of an escaped official who seeks to start a revolution with
the help of mysterious denizens of this wild land, abandoned and
forgotten for so long. I wanted gun toting harridans, man eating
beatniks and new-age cults. All with a backdrop of the decaying
remnants of twentieth century consumerism and it's glorious analogue
technology...
It was an exercise in
unrestrained creativity and to a large degree uncensored in
it's rendering. I went with it, not trying to please anyone but
myself as I drew and drew and drew! There is a generous peppering of
bad language and innuendo but nothing too shocking. It is a red
blooded romp for sure, unapologetically so!
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Taylor as he appears in the book.
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I beavered a way, every spare moment I dedicated to thgis project. I published a weekly section on Myspace for a while. I managed a colossal 140-ish pages before fatigue set in. I had more commitments from my paying work and the rta race was gripping me ever tighter. Progress slowed until it eventually ground to a halt. It stagnated and was put in a box for nearly ten years!
In 2015 I moved house and whist packing and unpacking I sat and re-read what I had done. I fell back in love with the characters, the story and the style. "I should finish this! Even if no one wants to read it at least give it a chance." I thought to myself. Again, it has been a slow process as I do have a lot of other commitments. Drawing is my job and my passion and if someone is paying me for artwork then that has to come before my personal projects no matter how desperate I am to finish them and get them out there!
So as I write this "Suckerpunch" has changed to "Stick It To 'Em!" and will be released before the end of 2017. Along time coming but hopefully worth all the toil and trouble!
In upcoming posts I will show how the look of "Suckerpunch" developed and changed drastically over a very short period back in 2004.
