Wednesday 26 February 2014

Cover story

Back in 1988 when Oink! switched from fortnightly to a weekly frequency, I was asked to come up with some cover ideas for the comic. I think I drew four or five covers in total. I tried to make them simple, striking (and hopefully funny!) such as the Tom Thug one shown here.

The original artwork for this cover is up on eBay right now, along with a Suicidal Syd illustration from a Christmas Viz


The Oink! cover is full colour on Bristol Board, and comes complete with the acetate overlay which has the logo attached, and the tissue paper overlay giving instructions to the printer. Production methods that are no longer used in our age of Photoshop and Illustrator! (See the link below for more photographs.)

If you're interested in bidding, point your trotters towards this link:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/graphite47/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

All bids are much appreciated. Good luck!

7 comments:

Manic Man said...

Looks good ^_^ interesting the colour changes before print.. also the price is noticeable.. good price even at the higher 35p

Lew Stringer said...

Colour changes?

Manic Man said...

ah, sorry.. bad choice of words ^_^; I meant more how the Logo, Price Tag & text was filled in on the final piece and the bottom text colour was changed from black to blue. Also the 'Or else' seams not just to be muted by the printing process but more matching the red of his shirt.. Like I said, bad choice of words ^_^; sorry.

Manic Man said...

nevermind.... mix of being tired and eating a bit of silicone rubber (I must remind people ALWAYS wear gloves and double wash you hands after mixing the stuff ¬_¬)

Lew Stringer said...

Yeah, it was just how the production process was back then. The logos and text would always be in black and white, glued onto a clear plastic overla and the printers would sort out the colour from notes provided by the editors. (See the photos on the eBay link I provided).

These days it's completely different. Files are supplied electronically and everything is ready for print (logos and all) before it goes to the printers. The lettering is still on layers, but digital instead of physical layers.

Madock The Semgboi said...

I heard about about OINK! through Youtube videos and i have to say it was ahead of it's time. Also, how would you feel if OINK! came back and how do you think it can be brought back in the modern world?

#BringBackOINK!

Lew Stringer said...

A lot of the Oink! strips are creator owned, so Rebellion would beed to negotiate with each creator if they were going to bring back all the old characters. Should it return? I'm not sure if it would work today. Every comic is of its time. Oink! was right for its time but retailers were still cautious about it and that still hasn't changed. If anything, society is even more conservative than it was in 1986.