Sketchbook

Figuring out if Pigment Princess is deranged or mean. Or both.

Pigment Princess

Some more character designs for an early version of the colour snatcher.

Sketchy villains

Early Mime Man and Stick Man attitudes.

Pigment Princess

 

First doodles of Pigment Princess in the sketchbook. The colour wheel shield was there from the start but the palette skirt and brushes in the messy bun fell by the wayside.

Mime Man

Mime Man poses and attitudes from the sketchbook.

Sketchbook

These are the very first ideas I put down for Mime Man and Stick Man.

Stick Man

Stick Man character designs from Uniform Uproar.

Gum Girl book 4. Uniform Uproar page 3

Designing lots of alternate Gum Girl costumes was fun. Also, big blue fella's Follicle Fiend outfit.

Gum Girl book 4. Uniform Uproar page 2

When I drop my daughter off at school I always feel bad for the kids who've forgotten when it's a non-uniform day, so Billy claimed to have forgot. Of course, every day is non-uniform day for Billy as he never wears a tie and always has on his hoody. I hope someone puts it through the wash at weekends.

I wondered which villain in the Gum Girl universe it would be easiest to create a costume for. I decided on Caesar Salad. A few items of veg, an ivy wreath, a pair of flip-flops, an old bed sheet and voila!

I also like the lad in the helmet (inspired by the musicians in Daft Punk) and the Octopus Prime outfit. He's either very handy with a needle and thread or one of those kids whose parents always "help" them with their homework.

Gum Girl book 4. Uniform Uproar page 1

The idea for this story came from schools obsession with uniforms and making everyone look the same. At my school we had to wear a grey shirt and a red tie. Despite this, all the boys went out of their way not to look smart and the girls were fortunate in not having to wear the tie. I've never worn a tie since and long forgotten how to tie one.
In the end the story was about a non-uniform day which gave me plenty of fun in drawing a variety of Gum Girl costumes.

Unused cover rough

For book 4. I ended up using this pose but modifying it to make it work better. Gum Girl's face is in front of her leading arm and I shrink her trailing arm to fit.

Mime Man

Unlike Pigment Princess I got the character design for Mime Man right first time.
Here he is in classic "trapped in an invisible box" pose. Or is it, "I'd like an envelope this size,"
pose?
Here's a lovely review of Gum Girl: Music, Mischief and Mayhem! from the
fine people at Forbidden Planet.

Gum Girl Book 4. No Noize page 3.

PARRRP 2. This time it's personal. My favourite bit of this page is the bottom left panel where Grace's pigtails flap in the wind.

Gum Girl Book 4. No Noize page 2

PARRRP!

Book 4. No Noize page 1

As I'd taken away colour in Colour Clash I thought it'd be fun to take away "sound" in No Noize. Silent, or pantomime comics, are pretty tricky as everything has to be told without any dialogue. The challenge was to fit a satisfying story into the space, as I find it takes longer to tell a story through pictures alone.

Pigment Princess

Pigment Princess went through a couple of designs until I got her right. This is my first attempt. I liked the colour wheel shield and kept that throughout but the rest needed some work.
Gum Girl: Music, Mischief and Mayhem! is now out.