Lair of the TikiMen

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 03:58:10 GMT

Digital painting - ermm, still dunno...

Fri, 04 May 2007 01:33:59 GMT

OK, long time no post but a kind evil fairy has given me a paid account so I can now upload images without dicking around so, here goes.

Not hugely happy with my digital painting. OK, not happy at all, but you should have seen the ones I threw away!

Stalin wasn't so crazy after all....

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:02:33 GMT

Stalin's half-man, half-ape super-warriors

CHRIS STEPHEN AND ALLAN HALL

THE Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of Planet of the
Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes, according to
recently uncovered secret documents.

Moscow archives show that in the mid-1920s Russia's top animal
breeding scientist, Ilya Ivanov, was ordered to turn his skills from
horse and animal work to the quest for a super-warrior.

According to Moscow newspapers, Stalin told the scientist: "I want a
new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and
indifferent about the quality of food they eat."

In 1926 the Politburo in Moscow passed the request to the Academy of
Science with the order to build a "living war machine". The order came
at a time when the Soviet Union was embarked on a crusade to turn the
world upside down, with social engineering seen as a partner to
industrialisation: new cities, architecture, and a new egalitarian
society were being created.

The Soviet authorities were struggling to rebuild the Red Army after
bruising wars.

And there was intense pressure to find a new labour force,
particularly one that would not complain, with Russia about to embark
on its first Five-Year Plan for fast-track industrialisation.

Mr Ivanov was highly regarded. He had established his reputation under
the Tsar when in 1901 he established the world's first centre for the
artificial insemination of racehorses.

Mr Ivanov's ideas were music to the ears of Soviet planners and in
1926 he was dispatched to West Africa with $200,000 to conduct his
first experiment in impregnating chimpanzees.

Meanwhile, a centre for the experiments was set up in Georgia -
Stalin's birthplace - for the apes to be raised.

Mr Ivanov's experiments, unsurprisingly from what we now know, were a
total failure. He returned to the Soviet Union, only to see
experiments in Georgia to use monkey sperm in human volunteers
similarly fail.

A final attempt to persuade a Cuban heiress to lend some of her
monkeys for further experiments reached American ears, with the New
York Times reporting on the story, and she dropped the idea amid the
uproar.

Mr Ivanov was now in disgrace. His were not the only experiments going
wrong: the plan to collectivise farms ended in the 1932 famine in
which at least four million died.

For his expensive failure, he was sentenced to five years' jail, which
was later commuted to five years' exile in the Central Asian republic
of Kazakhstan in 1931. A year later he died, reportedly after falling
sick while standing on a freezing railway platform.

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2434192005

Finally got my online stuff together

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 03:24:42 GMT

I finally have my webpage up at http://www.astrolabus.com .
Looks a bit weird as I did it in photoshop - I'm trying to get the size right so it doesn't look so dinky as long as I don't get complaints from people trying to see it on 386 or something....

Sketchbookery

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 22:45:11 GMT

Since I can't seem to finish anything at the moment, here are some unfinished things

Creepy Doll

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 02:24:12 GMT

Oooo spooky.

This Years 24 hour Comic Challenge

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 01:45:53 GMT

OK, this is pretty late but here's the link to my entry in this year's challenge.

http://forums.pulpfaction.net/viewtopic.php?t=734

Long Time, no update

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 01:29:44 GMT

Yeah, ok been through a lot of net burn out. Being online at work kind of takes the thrill out of it all. Anyway, I have finally posted an online folio, after discovering how embarrassingly simple it is to do in photoshop. Anyway, got all sorts of bits and pieces there now.

http://www.staff.vu.edu.au/scobie/portfolio/

Maybe I'll get some more images online. I have just about finished the first 12 issue run of the Seven Swords minicomic (just in time for Tsui Hark to release the movie of the same name, unfortunately not based on my comic) and will get some of the earlier material online soon. Yeah, right.

Isle of Man Illos

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 06:30:46 GMT

Just because I need some distraction from getting the latest 7 Swords finished, I'm doing some work on the Ars Magica Isle of Man gaming book. I'll be putting the drawings up as I get them near finished. Not sure what the final proportions will be, so I'm not trimming them too much just yet.

Also, a picture for Tonia's Angels & Devils minicomic.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~lucifuge/iom_web/

Those stinky hippies

Tue, 06 Apr 2004 02:17:21 GMT

Filthy people, just filthy.

behind the velour wallpaper

Mon, 29 Mar 2004 02:30:32 GMT

Yes, another ZODIAC picture. I had just seen Jackie Brown again, so I guess I had the right aesthetic going. Plus, everyone loves a gimp, really.

Of waitresses and monsters

Thu, 05 Feb 2004 22:55:30 GMT

I was at a local bakery/cafe this morning, working on todays 7 sword page when the waitress who bought my coffee puffed vainly and said, 'oh, is that me?'. The only thing on the page was a rather nasty pus-dripping fiend which I have brought into part 2 (which looked pretty clear on the page) so I, rather politely I thought, said 'of course not'. She then got in a huff and scuttled away - should I have said 'yes'?

7swords - the next installement

Wed, 04 Feb 2004 03:58:13 GMT

OK, here's the next 8 page, just pencilled page 24 so they should be online soon...

Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16

Right on Sweet Soul Brother

Thu, 29 Jan 2004 00:47:09 GMT

Yep, yet another Zodiac image, this one for the chapter on spells, curses and funk powers.

Dramatic Theme Music

Wed, 28 Jan 2004 00:09:39 GMT

Another chapter splash page for the Zodiac game. I quite like its browness -reminds me of the shag pile carpet I grew up with, but thankfully doesn't reek of cat pee.

Itoh Family

Thu, 22 Jan 2004 02:52:33 GMT

OK, this one is a tablet experiment (no, not THAT kind of tablet) just after seeing Kill Bill. No link really except the whole sword thing.

Asha and the Kittyboys

Thu, 22 Jan 2004 02:49:41 GMT

Ok, so my html is very rusty. Let's see if this one works...