Everybody needs to be reading Great British Bump Off by John Allison & Max Sarin. It's one of those comics that is THE perfect premise. What if there was a murder mystery on Great British Bake Off?
The Great British Bump Off #1 by John Allison, Max Sarin and Sammy Borras. Cover by Sarin. Variant cover by Dan Hipp. Out in April.
"An Agatha Christie-style murder mystery set in the world of English competitive baking from Giant Days' John Allison and Max Sarin.
When she enters her country's most beloved baking competition, Shauna Wickle's goal is to delight the judges, charm the nation, and make a few friends along the way. But when a fellow contestant is poisoned, it falls to her to apprehend the culprit while avoiding premature elimination from the UK Bakery Tent… and being the poisoner's next victim!"
You have a unique style to drawing Sonic characters that I think is gorgeous. What would you cite as sources of inspiration for style or technique when it comes to how you approach them?
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that!
I don’t know how exactly my style originally came about because it’s evolved a lot over time.
The earliest stuff I ever drew was Sailor Moon and Sonic and Balto and I think you can see hints of those influences in my early work. For example, all the characters had wayyyyyy too skinny and long limbs hahaha (thanks a lot Naoko Takeuchi!)
I started to try to draw like Yuji Uekawa for awhile as a kid because I loved that style, but it was unnatural for me so it didn’t last, but I do think it helped me break that crazy-long-limb stage of my art.
I’m currently obsessed with Max Sarin’s work. The expressions are just so gorgeous.
This next inspiration is one that I don’t feel influenced my style, but I do think it’s helped me with my overall understanding of Sonic character anatomy. I’ve always loved Tyson Hesse’s art even from his old Boxer Hockey days, and his Sonic art and animations are top notch. I’ve watched the 2D animations he’s directed more times than I can count and I’ve studied the Sonic Mania and Team Sonic Racing Overdrive character sheets like CRAZY because even though they’re super stylized and 2D, the characters still feel like they occupy a 3D space.
Here’s a link to some of my super old stuff. It’s embarrassing for me to look at but it might help some of you who are feeling down about your art. You can always improve if you just keep at it!
Grab the reins of a Dark Horse this Christmas! Fill your stockings with the Madman Library Edition vol.5 by Mike Allred, Birdking vol.2 by Daniel Freedman & Crom, The Great British Bump-Off by John Allison & Max Sarin and Innocent Omnibus vol.1 by Shin’ichi Sakamoto - all out now!