"Barbarians' Quest for 'Danar's Hawk'"

THE CLIENT: London Editors from various London-based International Publishing Company's (IPC's) comics holdings between 1984 and 1988. Most of the stories that these comics and graphic novels would convey were of English National authorship as well as a few from Ireland's own fantasy authors, as well as those from Wales, and Scotland.

PUBLICATION SETTING: Post-Diluvian Europe prior to the dawn of recorded history in a lost realm circa 4000 to 6000 BCE.

PROJECT EXPLANATION: This sketch was rendered for a short story magazine published in the UK circa 1986. The story was set in an antediluvian Southern Europe where these three were in search of a solid gold-wrought hawk standard which was considered magical. This was simple ball point pen with India Ink touch ups. The writing was a real "True Grit" portrayal of life in the prehistoric Pleistocene world and how hard the journey was. There was a goodly load of sword & sorcery mixed in.

MEDIA: Koh-I-Noor quill-point black India ink, several Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph Pens, and numerous Bic ball-point pens to accent the drawings on cold-press illustration board. Standard blue penciling followed by graphite Number 2 pencils were applied before the inks.

PUBLICATIONS BACKGROUNDS: Those comics holdings publishers sought out authored works, graphic illustrators, comic illustrators and editors for their inventive publications which appealed in popularity waves to niche markets for British graphic novels in the 1984 to 1989 era. Other small publishers of the era included Harrier Comics (1984–1989) and Acme Press (1986–1995). Various editors from London contacted me in South Laguna/Monarch Beach for panel illustrations as well including a couple from Fleetway Publications, yet another company formed from IPC's comics holdings.

NOTE: TI Media (formerly International Publishing Company, IPC Magazines Ltd, IPC Media and Time Inc. UK), was a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of its titles now belong to Future plc.