S CLAY WILSON at 70!

S. Clay Wilson, the legendary ZAP cartoonist, creator of the Checkered Demon and notorious pioneer of Underground Comix is 70 today!

This drawing is brush/pen & ink on 2-ply Bristol Board and measures 30 x 21cm. If anyone wants to buy the original, I'll donate the fee to the SCW fund.

Original Sinners

This may look like a still from a Hen Party that just ended in a knife fight, but it's actually a photo from the July 2nd performance at Three Minute Theatre in Manchester's Affleck's Palace of my short comedy play, Original Sinners with Mabeth Davies as Lucifer.

Mabeth was also in my previous play, The Rembrandt and the Sausage and I'm writing a monologue: Holiday Snaps, for her...

Now, I'm not one to overly criticise, but I think that maybe Milton missed a trick or two with Paradise Lost, so I thought I'd helpfully fill in a couple of missing bits explaining that old rift between God and Lucifer and some of the complicated Creation stuff. And there's some gratuitous humour too.

But I really wanted a female Lucifer. I'll also post some pics of God and Adam soon, but you may want a drink first. You are duly warned.

Photos by Rachel Gibson

"And where do you think you're going?" (Detail)

At some point I thought that gags with horror themes (Yeah, yeah - Of course I know who Charles Addams is...) would be a good idea. This is a detail 'cos the original was too big to fit in my scanner(!)

But I wanted to post it up because I inked this with a W&N No3 brush, which is pretty hard to control. Although, the style of this cartoon is a nod to the late Mike Matthews, who handled the No3 sable like he was born with a brush in his hand... And I ain't joking.

Water Demon

Ink and Paint on Pastel Paper. This study of a Water Demon's encounter with a giant Sea Worm used to hang on my living room wall.

Some cynical individuals doubt my artistic integrity and think I deliberately confuse symbolism with smut. Hey! I just paint what I see...

From the Tomb - Cover Rough

From the Tomb was a magazine edited and published by Peter Normanton (He's a great guy - look him up!) it was devoted to old Horror Comics. Just my kinda' thing! He did a great piece on Basil Wolverton, amongst other old favourites. I drew this Brush & Ink idea for a cover after I got in touch with him a few years back. But other commitments stopped me from finishing it up.
Pity. One day I'll get this into shape as the finished full-colour painting that it was intended to be.

The Lurkin' Stiffs - Episode 1

I did this late last year for the, now cancelled, Manchester Comix Collective site. The plan was to do one of these a week & post it on the gallery page. Sort of like a syndicated strip - You know: Pogo, but with Zombies, guns and boobs.

The site owners started charging for the use of the site and nobody wanted to pay for it, so that was that.
I also began designing the Lurkin' Stiffs as animated shorts. Remind me to show you the character design/story boards one of these days.

 Here's a page of rough character designs for the 'Stiffs. I'll get the animatic together as well soon(ish...) when I've got a few background concepts to post.

Rod Zilla

From the same sketchbook as Glassblowers.
Now, don't get me wrong. I like individuals, and I'm sure that you're great! Honestly. Why else would you be reading this Blog?

But sometimes, humanity...

Come on, you know what I mean!