more James Stokoe in black and white.

Headlopper by Sam McKenzie

Every 100 posts or so, I gotta post this sketch of Head Lopper, just cuz I love it so much. I love the sketchiness of the line work, mixed with the painterly colors and the graphic shapes (inspired by @andrewmaclean’s wonderful designs). It’s a lot of disparate elements coming together nicely. If you don’t know Head Lopper, shame on you. Go check it out! - #headlopper #illustration #sketchbook #characters #charactersketch #comics #comicartist #comicartwork #comicartists #comicartistsoninstagram #digitalsketch #photoshop #cintiq https://www.instagram.com/p/CjBIog2KOzG/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Should I make prints of this? . . . #digitalart #drawing #art #illustration #digitalartist #comics #makecomics #comicart #indiecomics #artistsoninstagram #sketchbook #ipadpro #fantasy #fantasyart #characterdesign #fantasycomic #warrior #atxart #atxartist #headlopper #headloppercomic https://www.instagram.com/p/CpX8EILLfU1/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Oaf, Cannibal F**kface and Headlopper are the comic book supergroup of hard-core dreams. ROOOAAAAARRRR!!!

Wuvable Oaf is drawn by Ed Luce.

Cannibal F**kface is trapped in the world of Prison Pit, drawn by Johnny Ryan.

Headlopper is drawn by Andrew Maclean.

This week's spotlight is on NORRIE and his comic Flesh & Flora. NORRIE is a comics creator, illustrator and character designer from Scotland. He lives in Dundee, drinks coffee and watches the birds from his window. He has no complaints.(@prehistoricfrog | website | instagram | twitter)

"Flesh & Flora follows two synthetic characters, Gen and Hare, who are doing their best to hold onto their humanity in a strange new world, prompting them to question each other's mortality. The arrival of an unknown species puts their differing perspectives to the test and may jeopardise both characters' very existence." 

Read the spotlight below the cut!

NORRIE's goal with Flesh & Flora was to create a book that if he saw, he'd want to pick up straight away. "I love the feeling of picking up a book and that being all I talk about for about six months. That's the essence of comics! I've always been interested in themes of identity and the human consciousness, especially when they are placed onto seemingly non-human characters, and I wanted to use those themes to think about very human concepts like ego and in particular the fabrication of responsibility. to make us feel important and in control of our world.

"I'm also fascinated when people describe the world as a character, like what does that mean? So I wanted to really run with that to an extreme: the world in Flesh & Flora is a character in the way that as nature, it is living and breathing but it's also an amalgamation of undulating flesh and a tangle of pulsating wire, flourishing amongst the flora. I primarily wanted it to be an uncanny image but also work as a sign that this world is evolving and that evolution is a process that takes such a long time, what would it feel like to be amongst those who haven't realised it's happened? This is the position I wanted to show Gen and Hare in really wanting to be able to explore this idea and their reaction to being left behind."

NORRIE's love of sci-fi, particularly robots and mechs, is clear throughout his work. "Look, I'm a simple little guy. I've got no shame in admitting that. I like cool robots, hot babes and bananas sci-fi. I've spent a lot of time reminding myself it's fine to indulge in these things artistically but basically, I grew up watching Anime vhs's like Bubblegum Crisis, Patlabor, Dominion Tank Police and Ghost in the Shell, and obviously there's a strong Cyberpunk vein running through these films and shows that's very exciting on a visual level to a kid. Once you grow and you revisit these stories there's much more going on, usually these questions of what makes us human, etc. than just the surface level Cyberpunk motifs that are plastered on everything these days.

"I love Headlopper by Andrew Maclean and Apocalyptigirl has had a big influence on me. Homunculus by Joe Sparrow is an incredible comic. I'm constantly thinking about SOMA by Frictional Games and more recently SIGNALIS by rose-engine really struck a chord and has already got me thinking about future stories." 

For aspiring comic creators, NORRIE has this advice: "Focus on what you love. Comics are hard so you should make sure that you are passionate about what you work on, don't try to please other people – there's no pleasing them anyway. If you want to be a creator, you should create for yourself. You'll always have an audience that way. I think people that appreciate good comics can see work that's honest, you don't have to be the best at drawing or be the next flash in the pan creator, just be yourself and don't be intimidated by others. There is always a place for you."

You may also be interested in some of NORRIE's other upcoming work! "I'm currently working on character artwork for the amazing video game AERO GPX. It's a futuristic anti-grav racer in the style of F-Zero but very much with its own twist. It's roughly scheduled for a 2024 release, it looks amazing and you can wishlist it on Steam now!"  

 You can pick up Flesh & Flora, alongside the other three comics in our 2023 collection, right here on Kickstarter! 

Headlopper cover designed for Andrew MacLean’s contest from back in 2018!

My sis and I made a tier list of swordsmen (based off who we thought would win in a fight)(yes there is bias. We didn't care)

Rules:

No video game characters (rule made from pettiness)

One character per media

All characters are in their prime

Only characters we cared about. If you're blorbo isn't here it's bc one of us didnt care abt them

Macbeth cannot be defeated by anyone born of a woman (Guts was born from a corpse and Puss is a cat)

Anime characters (all of which are protags) are automatically more powerful bc they run on Anime Rules ™

The list:

Notes: Michonne replaced Geralt (same petty reasons as the first rule) ||| Deadpool is where he is bc we decided he would get bored and just leave. Him and aragon are hanging out ||| Guts and Puss are locked in an eternal battle while macbeth watches ||| I think everyone else is dead ||| Norgal was equipped with with Agatha Blue Witch

Characters in order of both power and appearance under the cut:

Guts (Berserk), Puss in Boots, MacBeth (Shakespeare),

Norgal (Headlopper), Zorro (One Piece), Tanjiro (Demon Slayer),

Aragorn (LOTR), Anakin (Star Wars), Deadpool (Marvel Comics), She-Ra (SPOP), Michonne (Walking Dead comics), Stevonnie (Steven Universe), Jon Snow (Game of Thrones), Wonder Woman (DC),

Finn Mertens (Adventure Time), Wesley (Princess Bride), Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb),

Percy Jackson, Eragon (the Inheritance Cycle), Madmartigan (Willow), Peter Pevensie (Chronicles of Narnia)

Doing requests

Gimme prompts, anything goes but fyi these are just some of the things I draw usually or just love to doodle in my spare time:

Hollow knight

Hyper light drifter

Shovel Knight

Critical role

Headlopper

Overall just fantasy stuff's good to give me

DnDaddies

Warframe

Miss Kobayashi's dragon maid

Voynich Hotel

Also like robots and stuff are cool idk if I'll be doodling these or actually doing them, guess we'll find out

The 187 Books I Read in 2022

51-100:

51. Strange Adventures - Tom King 52. Night Fisher - R. Kikuo Johnson 53. Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fisher 54. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows - John Koenig 55. What I’d Say To The Martians - Jack Handey 56. Ducks, Newburyport - Lucy Ellmann 57. Just The Tips - Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky 58. Deeper Thoughts - Jack Handy 59. Deepest Thoughts - Jack Handy 60. Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants - Jill Soloway 61. Inside the Suitcase - Clotilde Perrin 62. Night Fisher - R. Kikuo Johnson 63. Blancaflor - Nadja Spiegelman & Sergio Garcia Sanchez 64. The Wordy Book - Julie Paschkis 65. D CT - Joanna Avillez and Molly Young 66. How To Be A T. Rex - Ryan North 67. Basic Instructions: Help Is On The Way - Scott Meyer 68. How to Take Over the World: Practical Schemes and Scientific 69. Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain by Ryan North 69. Geek Ink - tattoo design 70. Little Free Libraries & Tiny Sheds You Can Build - Phillip Schmidt 71. Guerilla Furniture Design - Will Holman 72. My Badly Drawn Life - Gipi 73. The Bicycle Book: Wit, Wisdom & Wanderings - Jim Joyce, ed. 74. The Quotable Cyclist -Bill Strickland 75. The Epiplectic Bicycle - Edward Gorey 76. Socialist and Labor Songs - Elizabeth Morgan, ed. 77. Mickalene Thomas 78. Mobitecture - Phaidon 79. T Shirts I Love - Haruki Murakami 80. Decade - photographs of the world, 2000-2010 81. Headlopper, Mulgrid’s Stair - Andrew MacLean 82. Once Upon a Time There Was  and Will Be So Much More -   Johanna Schaible 83. The Happiness of a Dog With a Ball in its Mouth - Bruce Handy 84. Civilizations - Laurent Binet 85. Brian Blomerth’s Mycelium Wassonii - Brian Blomerth 86. Not All Robots - Mark Russell 87. C.R.A.F.T. - Jamie Dorobek 88. Cartoons From Tomorrow - Luke Kingma & Lou Patrick Mackay 89. It’s Not What You Thought It Would Be - Lizzy Stewart 90. Rough Guide: India 91. The Dog Walk - Sven Nordqvist 92. Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World - Daniel Sherrell  93. Himawari House - Harmony Becker

94. Rave - Jessica Campbell 95. Ant Farm - Simon Rich 96. Arbitrary Stupid Goal - Tamara Shopsin 97. Stillicide - Cyann Jones 98. Patent Depending - Steven M. Johnson 99. This Is Your Mind on Plants - Michael Pollan 100. Hen Kai Pan - Eldo Yoshimizu

If you haven't read Andrew Maclean's Headlopper, go do it! Best comic I've read in ages!

Anyone know how much this is worth? Can’t find an active or sold listing on eBay. Cheers. #headlopper #image #howmuch #whatsitworth #valuation #comic https://www.instagram.com/p/CTnK9WuMmo0/?utm_medium=tumblr

It’s here, the Path of the Beheader. You’ve forged your own path and slain your greatest foe, or so you thought. Cursed to bear their Visage, you are tasked with fulfilling their last wishes, whether you want to or not.

This was a big project, and thus balancing is not perfect. Future revisions may only go up to 3rd level, so enjoy the power while you can! 

If you like my homebrew, and have a few bucks to spare after the holidays, a kofi would be more than appreciated!

I’m guessing you guys know about Head Lopper by @andrewmaclean (published by @imagecomics). If not, check it out. This is some fan art that I did a bunch of years ago. It came out real easy, colors and all, in about 20 minutes, and surprisingly, to this day, I still love it! I think that’s a testament to Andrew’s excellent character design. Leave a comment if there’s any other characters that you’d like to see me tackle here. - #fanart #headlopper #imagecomics #andrewmaclean #independentcomics #charactersketch #comicartist #comicartwork #comicartists #comicartistsoninstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc0lIU6quH8/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Big trouble An after the holidays treat for you all! . . . #digitalart #drawing #art #illustration #digitalartist #procreate #makecomics #comicart #indiecomics #artistsoninstagram #sketchbook #ipadpro #fantasy #fantasyart #characterdesign #fantasycomic #headlopper #headlopperfanart #norgal https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmo6ynOrkks/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

New Head Lopper comic cover version. (COMMISSIONS AVAILABLE)