Tuesday, October 7, 2014

ROLL OUT ROLL CALL SKETCH LIST

This weekend I'm gonna be at Roll Out Roll Call, a Transformers & GI Joe/Action Force convention in Southampton. More details to be found at https://www.facebook.com/RollOutRollCall, but the guest list includes John Paul Bove, myself, and Larry Effing Hama! Really looking forward to this one!

Anyhow, I barely have time to make this happen, but let's see what's what. I'm opening up a sketch list for the show! Head/Shoulders images only for now. Ill be sketching at the show itself over both days. (Though, due to work, I won't be at the even until 12pm on the Saturday.)

Pre-Order Price for an A4 Black & White HEAD/SHOULDERS shot (8 available) is £25

To be eligible for these, all you need to do is:

* Reply in the comments section below,
* State YOUR name, the name of the CHARACTER you want, and an idea of the day you'll be available to collect the piece.
* Sorry, no fan/original characters, but feel free to request non-TF characters!
* PLEASE only order a sketch if you will be able to attend to pick it up, and, you know, pay for it.
* The numbers available are as stated above. Once they've been filled, please don't send any more requests unless further slots become available.
*Sketches will be available for pick up ONE HOUR before the show closes each day. (Drop by and arrange other times if that doesn't suit.)

Check out the samples of other sketches below. I'll also have original MTMTE artwork for sale - including Season 2 Covers! - as well as prints.

Treat me nice, Southampton. See ya there!







Wednesday, September 24, 2014

DICE 2014 Sketch List

Why not?

It's DICE O' Clock: The Dublin International Comic Expo hits Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin this weekend (27th & 28th September), and I'm prepared to let it. Details are here - http://dublincomicexpo.com/ - and the guest list includes Oscar nominees, Eisner winners, and me. So I'll fit right in.

I'll be signing and sketching for your delectation, with the latest array of Transformers More Than Meets The Eye prints to sell you too. But ahead of the show, I'm taking on a sketch list. This means I won't have time to shave, and it's unlikely I'll make time to shower. Brushing my teeth is a slight possibility, but my appalling personal hygiene could be YOUR gain.

So, there are examples of what's on offer below, but you can ask for anything - Death's Head, New Warriors, Monster Motors, surprise me! The sketches cost €30 each. They're Head & Shoulders/Busts ONLY and are inked with added greytone. All you need to do to nab one is reply in the 'Comments' below, adding:

The Character's name
Your name
The day you'll be collecting your sketch

The show wraps at 6 pm each day, so if you could leave your collection time for these images until after 4.30 pm on your chosen day, that'd be great. But definitely come along and hang out while I draw. Very important though:

PLEASE ONLY ORDER A SKETCH OF YOU CAN COLLECT IT!

When I think of all the poor, uncollected sketches I've burnt to keep warm over years, it imbues me with spine-snapping fury. So, don't do that.

Alright then? See you in a few days! 

Keep it Nicey, keep it Spicy, keep it Dublin International Comic Expo-y!

(You can have that one, John.)






(


Wednesday, July 30, 2014

AUTO ASSEMBLY 2014 FULL-FIGURE SKETCH LIST!

Blimey, you guys! Those slots for the head sketches for Auto Assembly went pwetty fast! Gargantuan gobbets of gratitude to all who ordered. I can't wait to see your indifference as I hand them over to you.

I'm now ready to open up another sketch list! I'm only taking on FIVE A4 (29.7 x 21 cm) Black & White FULL SINGLE FIGURE commissions. Each illustration will be priced at £80 and are fully inked/finished, with added grey tones and textureThere are examples of what's involved below the text.

If you're interested, follow these simple instructions!

*Reply in the 'Comments' section below.
*State YOUR name, your CHARACTER request and what DAY you will be available to collect your piece.
*Sorry, NO fan characters.
*Combiners/Gestalts will cost £120 due to the extra fiddliness!
*Once five names appear in the Comments section, consider the list cut off. 

If you don't make the list, I'll be taking on more bust commissions at Auto Assembly itself, as well as selling original Transformers artwork, including More Than Meets The Eye Season 2 covers! Plus...there are new prints coming. Stay tuned!

See you all next week!






Thursday, July 3, 2014

AUTO-ASSEMBLY 2014 SKETCH LIST OPEN!

That time already, huh?

We fast approach one of my favouritest times of year - somewhere between bath night and drain-cleaning weekend - Auto Assembly! Birmingham's best August-held Transformers Convention! It's on 8th - 10th August and just keeps getting bigger and better every year. Full details of the show are at autoassembly.org.uk, but you'll not find any other convention with such fan-to-guest interaction. (Whether you want the guests to interact with you or not.)

This year, I'm trying to get the jump on my sketch list. Today, I'm only offering a list for bust/head & shoulders sketches, but I'll be firing up a shorter list for full-figure pieces nearer the time. (As well as unveiling my new prints.)

So, if you fancy picking up some artwork from me (and there are samples below the text as to what you can expect for your buck) here's what you need to know:


Pre-Order Price for an A4 Black & White HEAD/SHOULDERS shot (20 available) is £20

To be eligible for these, all you need to do is:

* Reply in the comments section below,
* State YOUR name, the name of the CHARACTER you want, and an idea of the day you'll be available to collect the piece.
* Sorry, no fan/original characters, but feel free to request non-TF characters!
* PLEASE only order a sketch if you will be able to attend to pick it up, and, you know, pay for it.
* The numbers available are as stated above. Once they've been filled, please don't send any more requests unless further slots become available.
* I will be providing more sketches AT Auto-Assembly. I tend to get booked up VERY quickly there, but if you don't want to commission me here and now, you could take your chance at the show.

Right, I'm off for a cuppa. I'm ready to lay into your commissions once the last drop of t has been swilled, so hit me up!

YOU MAY TOUCH ME IN AUGUST. X








Monday, March 17, 2014

NICK ROCHE PRESENTS: CAPTAIN IRELAND

"What is Captain Ireland?" I hear you collectively murmur. Well, Rocheteers, prepare to learn (at length) of a secret chapter in my comic book career...



In 1995, I approached the local Arts Office looking for cash to self-publish my own superhero series, set in the far-flung future of Wexford, 2010. The previous year, I had cobbled together a photocopied anthology series called 'Alternative' with two school chums (Wayne Daly and Lee Kelly) featuring our own home-grown superheroes that shared a universe, Image-style. Captain Ireland made his first appearance in the one and only published issue (though we got as far as completing #3) along with Buzzer - a non-branded 'Mutant' with electricity-based powers -  and Razorblade - an adventurer clad in a living metal, early-90s style -  and the comic became a mini-cult happening, gaining us an interview on the Pat Kenny (God have mercy on his soul) radio show. (Weirdly this inspired a Dublin-based printer to call in and offer us our own professionally-printed superhero team book. We realise now he just wanted his company's name broadcast on air, but we had meetings and he asked us to cobble together a first issue to go to print in under thirty days, in the same month we were due to sit our Junior Cert (mid-high school) exams. Having completed the project - and almost failing the exams - we traipsed up to Dublin only to be told it was a no-go...) The other two lads lost interest, but I smelled glory, and if there's one thing better than the smell of one's own farts, it's glory...



So I decided to have Captain Ireland go solo trying to solve the case of local businessman-turned-bodypart -cleaving serial killer, Abattoir. Why was the hero called Captain Ireland? Fuck knows. A hubristic delusion that MY superhero must be better than everyone else's in school (When it was clear that Wayne's Razorblade held that honour) was probably the basis for it. The name of my home country was the sum total of my knowledge about the place, and kind of all I wanted to know. But I think part of me guessed that it was an easy commercial sell to the scads of tourists - predominantly American - that visited my seaside tow in the Summer months.



So Lorraine Comer, local Arts Officer, greenlit the comic's production, and with full use of the local County Council's printing presses too In the time-honoured style of a comics publisher, she wanted the comic to go into production immediately, whereas I had planned to stockpile the three issues of the mini-series before dribbling the first one out there. The reason for this was that it was the start of the summer, and she rightly wanted to capitalise on the annual influx of visitors to the county. Sho' nuff (which is foreign for 'sure enough') Americans sucked this puppy up. It got a big launch at a local summer festival too, so it was on the radar of the unsuspecting visitors and townsfolk in attendance. It was my first and best summer job; having my own comic bankrolled and getting to keep all the profits for myself.



Local shops and newsagents carried it, and even Kevin in Forbidden Planet stocked it, all taking the smallest of cuts. (I think the RRP was 75p) That was the worst thing; distributing the comics and picking up leftovers, and/or the takings, but there was a kind of buzz around town about it. Lots of local press and radio coverage. It even got a mention on cult late-night RTE weekend show The End, or so I hear. ( A classmate gleefully told me of the absolute kicking the hosts gave it.)



Sadly, only two issues were produced. September came crashing upon me as I tried to finish #3 while going into my final year at school. I got about half of it done, but because I'd missed my monthly production deadline, I figured I'd just have to discontinue it. I didn't realise that it was the nineties, and late comics were in vogue. (And that in 1995, a comic late by one month wasn't even considered late.) There are elements from the comic that still live on in my brainhole, that I think could breathe again in some form. But either way, it's still a massive deal that I managed to get something like this off the ground (with a lot of help) aged fifteen.



(Jesus, I could have finished #3 in the time it took me to put this together...)

Monday, February 10, 2014

DEMONCON, KENT COMMISSION LIST!

IMPORTANT UPDATE: PLEASE READ

Hey gang! Thanks SO much for the requests. Some really fun choices there.

I'm afraid I must draw your attention to the fact that I am ONLY drawing single head shots as commissions for this convention. NO multiple characters, and NO full figures of ANY kind. I'm afraid I just don't have the time.

If you can please get back to me and let me know whether or not you still want a headshot drawing of ONE of the characters you've requested, that'd be great. Otherwise, I won't have a drawing for you on Sunday, and that'd suck.





Also, my commission list is now full. I can only take on the sketches that are secured here by the entries in the Comments sections. Thanks for that.

Looking forward to meeting you. Can't wait to get there!

Nick

__________________________________________

Hey, Chimplets! Just a quick note to say I'm gonna be at DEMONCON in Maidstone, Kent, this Sunday 16th February. ( Details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/549656095112449/?ref=22) I'm taking on a commission list of 10 BLACK & WHITE bust shots, examples below. They'll be £20 a pop. If you think you'd like one, drop a line in the comments, and tell me the character you want me to draw (no fan characters, sorry!) and your name. Please, only order if you're definitely going to be in attendance.

Looking forward to my first Demoncon, and to interacting with YOU. And when you meet me, tell me I sent you.








Wednesday, January 29, 2014

MY DEATH'S HEAD II PAGES FOR THAT THERE MARVEL COMICS

That's a fun heading to write.

You are hungry. Destitute. Cold. All who have ever loved you have turned against you. All who have ever hated you no longer remember your name.  But existence smiles upon thee. What light! The unlettered preview for 'REVOLUTIONARY WAR: DEATH'S HEAD' is floating around like a welcome aroma from a well-heated soup kitchen, replete with clean toilet facilities! Follow its waft here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=19865

Sustained? Invigorated(re)? Well, here's something you rarely get in a homeless shelter: DESSERT!

Behold, True Believers, (Marvel freelancers are allowed use that phrase for two weeks either side of something they've worked on going on sale. Gonna be a long four weeks) for I gift thee with THE LINE ART! This is what it looks like before writers Andy Lanning and Alan Cowsill inject it with their molten gold dialgue. This is what it looks like before colourist Veronica Gandini flavours it with her sumptuous hues. This is what it looks like when doves cry.

The comic is out on February 12th. It's a gift to be allowed work for this company, and especially to do it with my favourite character of theirs. If you only know me from my Transformers work, please check this sucker out. I think I'll keep you happy with what I've done. And for this to lead to more Marvel fun, it needs to sell a little, so spaff your loose change this way, and tell everyone (especially the nice folks at the House of Ideas) you liked what you saw.

Enjoy!

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: DEATH'S HEAD out FEBRUARY 12th 2014
 



Thursday, January 9, 2014

COVERS UP

Happy New Year, Rochearounds! In light of the excellent taste and moral values held by the listeners of the Transmissions Podcast (Listen to their end of year round-up here: http://www.transmissionspodcast.com/2013/12/transmissions-episode-21/) who voted me as best Transformers Cover Artist 2013, here is - more or less - a year in robot covers, in a higher resolution than my previous mosaic depicted them. Your favourite's #17, isn't it? ISN'T IT?

This also ties in with the fact that, as of #29, I will no longer be one of the 50:50 A/B covers to More Than Meets The Eye. I'll be providing the subscription cover, and if you want my variant, you'll have to ask your retailer (NICELY) to order my cover specially. I'll try and make the artwork available nice and early, so you can chose for yourself if it's worth the punt or not, but if you're happy to take a risk, place a standing order with your supplier, and let the good times Roche (WHAT).

Oh, more to come, but my Marvel one-shot, REVOLUTIONARY WAR: DEATH'S HEAD II hits on February 12th. PLEASE, non-Marvel, TF-only readers, buy the heck out of that one. I think you'll all like it, but I know I'll love you forever if you can back me on that one. 

Also arriving in the middle of the year is my top-secret project with professional funnyist Brian Lynch. It features, without doubt, my favourite, and I think, strongest work of my career. and it's SO different from Death's Head and Transformers, it's unreal. More soon on that. 

Thanks for all your support in 2013. Already, there's more from me this year than the last, as the hard work of 2013 finally sees the light of day. If you like giant robots, smaller, grittier ones or something really flippin' different, I will provide thusly for you in the next twelve months.

Be seeing you.