The Combat Art of Ian Kennedy

If you read my previous post about Commando Comics artist Jordi Penalva I mentioned that i'd probably feature another artist on my blog. This time I've decided to profile some of Ian Kennedy's amazing artwork. Kennedy is perhaps one of the most popular artists of the Commando comic series and has illustrated over 1200 covers.

Kennedy resides in a small cottage in Dundee where he paints in his studio, he started work for D.C Thompson as a staff artist in 1949 but went freelance in 1954. Kennedy provided artwork duties on 200AD for IPC, he also provided work for Battle Picture Weekly and Eagle on the Dan Dare series. Kennedy has been a Commando artist since 1971.

Kennedy prefers to work in acrylic which he says is a lot more forgiving as a medium, his art has a more detailed, highly finished look to it accented by the use of light. Kennedy relies on a vast array of reference material to stay true to his painted subjects which feature accurate depictions of military weapons, aircraft and uniforms. It is perhaps his incredible attention to detail and dramatic artwork that has made him a hot favorite with Commando readers over the decades.

As of 1997 he is semi retired but was still painting Commando covers in 2016 and was a regular at comic book fares and Commando comic swap meets.

Below is a small sample of his incredible work.

(Update 7/2/2022)  - I was sad to learn that Ian sadly passed away today, a huge talent  in British Comics he will be hugely missed. 

SAS Blades, one of my favorite Ian Kennedy pieces

Falklands combat piece

His last new comic strip to be published in a British comic, “Bombs On Target” in Commando issue 3072 published in 1996, featured Lancaster bombers

Ian Kennedy in his Cottage studio

The Commando Comic Art of Jordi Penalva

Aside from my love of comic collecting which hit its peak between 1988 and 1991 I had previously grown fond of the small pocket sized 'Commando' graphic novels, I collected these from the time I was 12 to about the time I turned 15 - these  smaller, square formatted black and white graphic novels were normally set during World War 2 and depicted Allied soldiers on daring missions featuring land sea and air divisions of the military. The Commando comic was published by D.C Thompson and every issue featured a very dramatic, danger filled scenario on its cover which was in full colour and produced by the very talented contracted artists in traditional oil or acrylic paint.

The covers themselves almost always told a story in their own way, killer visuals, eye popping colour and composition that really amped up the comics impact on shelf.

I'll probably profile a couple of these artists in detail on this blog for anyone interested but the first artist I wanted to draw attention to was Jordi Penalva.

Penalva who was born in 1927 and learnt his illustrative craft at the Escola d'Arts Aplicades i d'Ofocos Artostocs de Barcelona (School of Arts and Artistic Trades),he further honed these skills at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de Sant Jordi (School of Fine Arts).

His illustrative cover career really took off when he painted the covers for Cowboy Picture Library in 1958 where he painted 146 covers depicting the high adventure life of cowboys and gunslingers, his early career also saw him paint covers for Thriller Picture Library and Lone Rider Picture Library. However, it was Jordis dramatic composition and artistic flair that saw him deliver his best work as a Fleetway artist for the War and Battle picture libraries in the 1960's. It was in the mid 1960's where Penalva also worked for D.C Thompson's Commando pocket library, over a period of 10 years he painted 180 covers for the Commando series. Jordis high demand also saw him provide illustrations for other publications such as Playboy Press and the horror series for Eerie and in particular he provided art for Semic's newspaper strips of James Bond, Modesty Blaise and The Saint.

Below is a small sampling of his work and composition skills that celebrate his talents as one of the best cover artists for the picture library press. 

Be sure to check out my blog post which covers Ian Kennnedy's combat art here

 Jordi's style varied between more softer highly detailed work to a more gritty and textured style of painting.

Anatomy and attention to detail were important for cover art, note how the sten gun here is shown unloaded as the Commando scales the rock face.

 High action and drama were key in selling the covers to eager readers, notice how the German soldier in this art is practically framing the entire image and focal point for the viewer.

 Some of Penalva's work featured some strong textures further adding to the dramatic presentation of the artwork.

 The high tension covers set the tone of the interior and art either depicted full on action combat or the 'calm before the storm'.

 Penalva's Sean Connery piece for the work he did on the James Bond strip for Semic Newspapers.(below)

Jordi Penalvas original artwork can be bought here

The Best of Cosplay - Go Big or Stay at Home.

Lets face it, there is at least one time in your life that you dressed up as someone else, be that when you were a kid or maybe for a fancy dress party at a New Years party. Fancy dress parties are a good excuse to either great a bloody awesome outfit, or if you're aiming for laughs to get one that looks like your kid made it in pre-school. With Fancy dress you pop down to the party rental shop, pick out something that kind of resembles the character, tv show or movie hero personality, you get kitted out, turn up and then freak out for the remainder of the night praying to god you don't lose your deposit because someone either threw up vodka punch and tortillas all over it or burnt a hole in it with a stray cigarette.

Then there's the other kind of dressing, the more serious kind where creators spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on becoming their fictional idol or favorite character for expos and other video game or comic con related appearances. Cosplay as the Cambridge Dictionary more accurately describes it " is the hobby of dressing as and pretending to be a character from a film, TV program, comic book etc. Cosplay has been a way for people to express themselves in a way that their everyday life prevents them from doing so, they use the opportunity to transform into a fictional hero or personality attending trade events to mingle with other like-minded fans and aficionados. The great thing about cosplay though is you can be as casual or as serious about it as you like, be that a costume you made yourself with some household bits and bobs or you can pay someone else to build you something that you'll wear every single time you hit an event or conference effectively becoming that hero for the day. Cosplay is a great way to meet new people, its also a great way to stand out,especially if you've got a great costume, ideally you want something that's going to turn heads, that is to say you create an outfit or costume that is so unbelievably awesome that you actually create your own fan base or following, effectively though you'll need to go big...or stay at home. 

This years New York Comic Con saw 32 year old interior designer Mike Cameron pick up the win in the armor category and also a runner up prize for best in show. 

Mike Cameron in his NYCC Cosplay winning mech suit.

if you really want to see how awesome people can be check out these truly amazing cosplayers and their outfits which show a huge variety of film and video game related characters.

 Mercy character  - Overwatch video game Cosplay by  Oshley Cosplay - Photo credit Michael Ocampo

Halo 4 Recruit suit by Hyperballistik taken at Dragoncon 2013 with Needler created by Volpin Props

 Super Joker Cosplay by the team at the Cinema Makeup School

 Check out this incredible Thanos Cosplay also from the guys at the Cinema Makeup School

Passionate Cosplayer and stuntman Ben aka Maul Cosplay has an amazing series of photos featuring various characters but its his Solid Snake from MGSV which really cranks it up a notch.

Return of the Jedi Gamorrean Guard, the head detailing on this cosplay is incredible.

Warhammer 40K cosplay when done right can really astound, this 40K Terminator armor is incredible
 

Lineage II: Yaya Han absolutely wows in this amazing gown of Banshee Queen Enira
 

Some of best Star Wars cosplay includes outfits from The Empire Strikes Back, Imperial Snowtroopers are no exception and show some incredible attention to detail.

Sisters of Battle by Okkido Cosplay from the Warhammer 40K universe.

Robocop from the 1980's movie version at the MCM expo back in 2013 - photo by masimage

The 501st Star Wars Cosplay group have strict outfit rules for cosplayers to abide by in keeping with the standards of representing the Star Wars universe.

This Orc costume with its stunning array of horns and armor is superb. Photo by NGO Photography.
 

 Spartan Sniper by Paradoxdj - photo byKL Media photography - the various Halo games provide a massive wealth of characters and armor classes for cosplayers to choose from.

 Armored up Batman from Batman: Arkham Origins by Julian Checkley who also has a Bane (Tom Hardy version) outfit he sometimes dons.

Batman: Dark Knight version by Thad Laskowski

Iron Man Hulkbuster suit by Thomas De Petrillo from Extreme Costumes wowed the crowds at the NYCC with this 9 feet tall Hulbuster suit.

 Boba Fett Cosplay by Widen 15

Links

Cinema makeup School

Extreme Costumes Instagram

Maul Cosplay

No Ones Got Your Back More Than Jim Hopper Has

If one thing was certain in Stranger Things 2, is that Sheriff Jim Hopper stepped forth into the breach and faced down mortal danger to save mankind and went toe to toe with the 'demodogs'.
Hopper played by the brilliant David Harbour has graced our screens with appearances in films like David Ayers Cop drama 'End of Watch' as LA Police Officer Van Hauser - (the cop with the knife sticking out of his eyeball.) and as CIA agent Gregg Beam in the Daniel Craig Bond film 'The Quantum of Solace'. Harbour has also appeared in a number of TV shows of recent years including 'State of Affairs', 'The Newsroom' and 'Manhattan'.

Season one of Stranger Things gave Harbour a decent sized supporting role as the troubled Sheriff of rural town Hawkins, Indiana that finds itself at the portal of an altenate dimension and top secret government testing. Hopper is the small town cop dealing with the complexities and isolation of divorce and emotional loss after the death of his daughter from Cancer drives him to alcoholism.

Thankfully though, Hopper is the kind of guy you want to see step up and bounce back, he rarely takes any shit from anyone and is the type of guy that'll back you up in  bar fight over a spilt pint. It was great seeing Hopper get the chance to prove himself as the dependable and ever faithful father figure to Eleven due to the fact he had been keeping a secret for so long and forever bending the truth in order to keep her safe. Season 2 was the pressure cooker, the gate to the upside down had opened to release the 'demodogs' and Hopper was there to step up and take on the forces of evil with a Police issue 12 gauge and 5.56 Armalite.
The man could probably move it pretty smooth on a dance floor if episode 3 of Season 2 "The Pollywog' is anything to go by, he even became a dancing internet meme for christ's sake! #HopperDancing

Here's to raising a glass of whatever you're holding to Hawkins Sheriff Jim Hopper, we salute you.