Right from the start of this project, i wanted Shakara to be one of the "new" characters. Okay, that was quite a while back now and there's been no tale of the fella for a long while, but i still wanted him in there. And, being an adversary of all manner of alien races, there was only one type that i wanted for the "old" - the Biogs from way back in Prog 1 of 2000AD and the relaunch of Dan Dare.
I've waffled on long-time over on my "AIEEEE!" Blog about my love for Massimo's incredible creations, so i won't repeat myself here.
Top choice for the project was Shakara's co-creator himself, Henry Flint. But Henry doesn't take on commissions, so i thought the scene would remain an idea and no more.
But then i met Conor Boyle at a Demoncon in Maidstone (scroll down the page here for more of what Conor produced for me that day) and i was blown away by his talent and his incredible fine detail work. And that was just for his sketches.
When i saw what he did for comics and commissions, i knew i'd found a perfect artist for the job.
Happily, Conor was up for the gig, once he'd got some other pieces done and it wasn't long before we were discussing first basic composistions, of which there were four:
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and then slight tweaks here and there until he arrived at what you see here today. I'm SO pleased with this its untrue - he's nailed Shakara perfectly and he's done something that i didn't ask him to do, which is something i loved that the Biogs did in the Dan Dare strip sometimes -frown over those massive eyes they have, giving them a real sinister appearance. Top Bloke that Conor - friendly, polite and very, very talented.
Ta ever so Conor!
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