Orang Utan Comics Studio Slams Into Birmingham!

New artist announcement as OUCS attends BICS!

Fresh from the success of Eleventh Hour Vol 1 hitting the number one spot on WOWIO, Orang Utan Comics Studio are today announcing an exciting new addition to the creative team of The Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ridley as they prepare to take the Birmingham International Comics Show by storm this weekend.

The adventures of the space adventurer, Slam Ridley, were previously set to be illustrated by the highly talented Simon Wyatt. However, Simon and the OUCS team felt that his vast talents would be better suited to some of their other upcoming projects, including the Viking tale Valhalla, written by Peter Rogers, and further adventures of the unfortunate medieval hero, Danick Drakesbane. This, of course, left a huge hole to be filled in the creative team on what OUCS hopes to be one of its flag ship titles. Thus, the search began for a new artist to take on the task of illustrating the adventures of the rugged hero, Slam Ridley, and his robotic companion Dan.

It gives Orang Utan Comics Studio huge pleasure to announce that the new artist on The Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ridley will be the immensely talented Craig Yeung. Craig is probably best known for his inking work on various Marvel Comics books, including Runaways and X-Men: First Class, and is also a highly accomplished penciler. Series creator and plotter, Ian Sharman, said, “While we’re sad to see Simon leave the book, and want to publicly acknowledge the huge amount of time and effort he put into helping us develop the world of Slam Ridley, we couldn’t be more excited about having Craig on board as the new artist. We drew up a wish list of artists which included a lot of very talented people who were all working for the big two publishers. To be honest, we weren’t expecting any of them to say yes. Craig was right at the top of the list and we were stunned when he accepted the job.”

Series script writer, Peter Rogers, added, “Craig seemed to ‘get’ the idea behind The Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ridley right away and instantly understood the look that we were going for. I’m really looking forward to working with him.”

Orang Utan Comics Studio are making this announcement to coincide with their attendance at the Birmingham International Comics Show held from 4^th-5th October at the Think Tank in Birmingham. OUCS are really pleased to be returning to BICS after a very successful show last year. Co-founders of the studio, Peter Rogers and Ian Sharman will be on hand all weekend to sign copies of their critically acclaimed anthology Eleventh Hour, answer any and all questions about the studio and review portfolios. Several of the studio’s artists, including Simon Wyatt and John Charles can also be found at the OUCS stand throughout the weekend, signing comics, sketching and giving advice to aspiring artists.

WIP (Wyatt In Progress) `Danick & Arween'

Its been suggested that I use these posts to share some artistic 'Works in Progress' with you and maybe somewhere along the lines, share the process from roughs to final image.

Here's the first of many, I hope, a possible cover image of Danick Drakesbane & Arween the Warrior Elf, two characters from the slimy, slurping sequel to Danick and the Dragon - Danick And The Gelatinous Cube (Eleventh Hour Volume 2).

The image was drawn using H, HB pencil and took around 3/4 hours to complete pencils. The original is on 250gsm A3 Canson Illustration Board, an excellent quality board that's not only great for pencils, but is extra white and takes most inks, watercolours, guache and acrylics.

The style is a departure from the usual cartoony style for the story as I wanted to experiment with a classical, fantasy style reminiscent of P. Craig Russell and Garth Jones, though I doubt I'll ever be in their league. Lol.

I hope you enjoy viewing 'stage 1' of this image and I'll post the inks soon. Until then, please offer any feedback (all welcome) and let me know if you'd like to see more!

Cheers,

Simon.

RTP Page 2

More Azim Akberali magic to feast your eyeballs on.

Pete is an Outsider

I got to play at being a podcaster this week co-hosting Comic Book Outsiders for their 25th Episode.

As well as revealing my guilty pleasure I got to interview Gutsville, Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer and 2000AD writer Si Spurrier.

And of course also got to bring you the very best hidden gems from the world of independent comics, movies and TV.

And the picture will make a lot more sense once you've had a listen. Enjoy.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/comicbookoutsiders/Comic_Book_Outsiders_Episode25.mp3

Peter Rogers

Exclusive first look at "RTP"

I am working with regular collaborator Azim Akberali on a new mini series, the name is not yet certain but the working title's initials are RTP. The layouts are done for the first five pages and we will be submitting it to publishers before the year is out.

Page One, fully painted arrived in my inbox today and I just had to share. Azim has blown me away on this and I think it's going to go down very well.

- Peter Rogers

News From The USA!

Hey everyone! It's been a busy time for Orang Utan Comics across the pond in the US of A. I've been hanging out at many of the conventions here in Texas. You can spot me by looking for the Orang Utan display. Response has been great and the fans are loving Eleventh Hour.

And speaking of Eleventh Hour, I have two stories coming out in Vol 2.

Karachun is a slavic tale of terror for one small boy out on a night of evil.

Prey is a thrilling tale with a twisted ending featuring art from John Cboins of Graveslinger fame.

Take care everyone, and if you see me at an upcoming convention, stop by and say hello.

Trey Wickwire, Orang Utan Comics North American Rep.

Orang Utan Comics Swing On!

October is going to be a big month for Orang Utan Comics Studio!

First up, you can catch up with many of our members at the Birmingham International Comics Show at the Think Tank, Birmingham on 4th and 5th October. Both writers and artists will be on hand to sign copies of Eleventh Hour and produce exclusive sketch art.
As if that's not enough, if you can't make it to Birmingham you can catch up with OUCS co-founder, Ian Sharman at the London MCM Expo at the Excel Centre in London's Docklands on 25th and 26th October. You can find him at the AAM/Markosia stand, signing copies of Eleventh Hour and Starship Troopers.

Last, but by no means least, you can find Ian Sharman's first Marvel inks in the pages of Spectacular Spider-Man #175, which will be hitting newsagents in the UK on 2nd October.

In other news, Peter Rogers and Trey Wickwire are busy preparing Fifth Outlaw and Mamluk for pitching to publishers, and Ian is winding up the promotional machine for the forthcoming online release of Young Gods. Check out the new Young Gods Myspace page for more details.