Logos

I'm not much of an artist, but I have a great love for creating logos, especially those based on other people's designs (you can see more examples on the covers page).

How it all began...

My first foray into fiddling about with established corporate logos and images was probably this one, created in great big chunky pixels for the late, unlamented (but often quite good) PFJ:


"You can't feel the beating"
(C) 1995 Sodamasochists Limited

The Coca-Coma logo isn't exactly stunning, but it was done by hand a very a long time ago, back before the days of scanners and Photoshop.

How it all continued...

In 2002, I created a four-page fake comic for The Brentford Mercury called Sprout (for reasons far too complicated to go into here... Oh, all right, then! It was because Robert Rankin always features sprouts in his books). For the second issue I decided to base the logo on the original 2000 AD logo: it's a classic design that I've always loved...

When I later came to write a regular column for the great 2000 AD Review website, I chose the pseudonym Sprout purely because I already had the logo created. I decided that it would be fun to create a different logo for each subsequent column. Some of them weren't very good: I've decided not to include those ones here...!

Strontium Dog
Star Lord
I loved the original, so I knew I had to attempt it.
2000 AD
Considered by many fans to be the "classic" logo (I still prefer the original).
2000 AD
The latest logo.
Superman
An instantly-recognisable classic.
Spider-Man
A widely-used variant from some years back.
Spawn
Sláine
Spinal Tap
My favourite of the bunch, and also the hardest to create.
Danger Mouse
Crisis
Swamp Thing

 

Small-Press Comics and Fanzines

The various 2000 AD logos appear in other places... (never let it be said that I'll only use an idea once).
Octocon 2004
Judge Dredd
I created this fake Judge Dredd 1978 comic for 2000 AD Review, and subsequently re-used it in an article in Judge Dredd Megazine.
Another variant for Octocon 2004
Moniaive Comic Festival, created for the cover of the programme book.

Whistler and Dry Country, created for Bolt-01's excellent Strontium Dog fanzine (based on the original's logo).

Stak! and Tales of the Genetic Infantry, for Bolt-01's superlative Rogue Trooper fanzine (again based on the original's logo).


Masthead for the 2000 AD Review website.


For the cover of issue #7 of the 2000 AD fanzine Zarjaz, based on the logo for Sláine (who features heavily in the comic - the first time creator Pat Mills has ever allowed the publication of fan-fiction based on his works).


When my friend PJ Holden - comic artist extraordinaire - was scheduled to appear on the BBC TV quiz show Eggheads, he decided to draw a 2000 AD-style cover featuring the show's presenter Jeremy Vine as a Mega-City One Judge. I supplied the basic design for the logo, PJ did the actual hard work, as seen below...

 

Miscellaneous Logos and Designs (some of which are even original!).

Cover logo used for the first couple of issues of Something Wicked from FutureQuake press.
Company ident for FutureQuake, inspired by the old EC Comics.
Title for a strip in MangaQuake issue #1.
Created for an issue of Sprout in The Brentford Mercury, based on the Grease logo.
A spoof of the 1970s girls' comic Misty, from the creators of Solar Wind. The design for this was supplied by someone else: all I did was make a more polished version.
Logo for MJ Simpson's much-missed Hitch-Hiker's website. (The dashes and dots in the middle spell something in Morse code...)
Bryan Coyle's ingenious superhero comic Turbo Katie is an excellent example of how small-press comics should be done... If only they were all this good!


Created for the first issue of Paul Scott's remarkable science fiction comic OmniVistaScope.