Patrick Goddard - Road Rage!

The mighty Aquila is back in Rome and back in the Prog in his latest saga 'Where all roads lead." Regular readers will know that there has been a change of artist for the strip with Leigh 'The Handsomest Man in Comics' Gallagher stepping aside for Patrick 'The Most Well Endowed Man in Comics' Goddard. It's an inspired move, with Patrick's intricate, beautifully detailed artwork complementing Leigh's perfectly.

This arc introduces the mysterious Veiled Priestess, who will quite literally fight tooth and claw against the followers of false gods and prophets. Pat was kind enough to send his astonishing preliminary bit's and bobs over, so over to Mr G to tell you more... 

"After getting the call to do a cover, it was a nice and simple brief of Aquila standing in the square ready for battle, with the Veiled Priestess faded into the background. I sent Tharg a few ideas and he picked No.2!"

The titles are as follows: 1 - 'The Parp;' 2 - 'On your Marks...;' 3 - 'The Hokey Cokey;'

4 - 'The Radcliffe Toilet Stop' 5 - 'The Full Moon' & 6 - 'The Triple K' - Pete

Back to Patrick, "As I had already drawn the episode, the reference was already done so it was pretty much straight forward just to draw it out. When I've done covers, I've generally drawn them A4 in size as it helps me gage the proportions more easily and sort out any layout problems (which I badly failed to do as I didn't leave enough space for the main title/heading!!). I think I just got carried away drawing the background and it got higher and higher leaving little room for the Priestess, Doh!!"

Naturally, what Pat meant to say there was he purposely placed the Priestess so that she interacted with the comic's logo, foreshadowing her as a major force in the story - yeah, that was it...

"I draw in blue pencil as I find it less messy and then tighten things up with a normal HB/H pencil if need be."

I always really enjoy seeing Patrick's artwork in the flesh, there's a myriad of perspective lines other technical elements beneath his inks which shows just how much work he puts into panel of every page.
  

'Ha! Nice sandles, ya pansy - OUCH!'

With the pencils down, Pat gets ready for inking; 'I then expand the rough up to full size (A3) and trace it off onto the board ready for inking. As I'm a left hander, I have a fear of dip pens (from a chidhood mental trauma of using calligraphy pens in school!) So I just use a variety of technical pens to ink the majority of it and use a brush to put in any heavier lines and blacks. I like using the rougher side to the bristol board I use as it's better to get the dry brush effect I like.'

Aqulia hadn't realised they could all see his balls.

Pat says 'That's it done from me, no real magic, just a straightforward drawing which took about a day to do and then it's shipped off to be coloured!'

Pah, no magic indeed! It's a great image which absolutely nails the character and is technically awesome. Straightforward drawing? It makes me weep!

The cover was masterfully coloured by Gary Caldwell, I should have a clean image for you soon, fingers crossed!

Finally is the cover how it appears on your shelf, I really like how the Priestess interacts with the logo, foreshadowing her as a major force in the story. Very clever.

A million whalloping great thank yous to Patrick who has long been a supporter of this silly little blog. The images he's sent are truly outstanding. I couldn't imagine a better artist to follow Leigh but once again our Betelgeuisian overlord has chosen wisely!