Master of Reality by Nicola Testoni

Master of Reality, exclusive print by Nicola Testoni. Info: contact the artist.

Painter and sculptor NICOLA TESTONI, who illustrated the Italian edition of The Mindscape of Alan Moore, has created an extra portrait of Alan Moore (above): titled Master of Reality, it's available as a limited edition print directly from the artist. 

You can contact him HERE: he will add a touch of colour and sign it.

Alan Moore on The Prisoner

The Prisoner

Excerpt from Part one of the interview published on Paley Matters in August: Moore talks about The Prisoner and its huge impact on him and his work.

The complete interview is available here. Part 2, here. 

Alan Moore: [...] one of the things I learned was that one should preferably craft narratives that move towards a satisfying and meaningful conclusion. Another thing I learned was that it was possible to write stories that affected the audience on other levels than just the simple resolution of their plot elements; that there were levels of symbolism and association and self-reflexivity which could be built into a narrative that would enable the viewer or reader to enjoy the experience in a more intense and multileveled way. Perhaps most importantly, it taught me that a creator should never be afraid to pitch their work high, without worrying about it going over the heads of the audience: in my experience, work that the audience already understands and is comfortable with will not teach them anything, and thus deprives them of that thrill-of-the-new that is, for me, the central pleasure and purpose of all art. I believe that art only happens at the interface of the artist and the audience, which is to say the work itself, and I further believe that if they don’t have to do any of that work, if they don’t have to stretch themselves a little in order to metabolise what they’re reading or watching, then the audience will not find the work as enjoyable as they might have done. So, The Prisoner taught me not to condescend to my audience or assume that they were any less intelligent than I was. It taught me to dare to be difficult, and eventually led me to a position where I feel that the most precious thing about art is its difficulty, and that difficulty’s overcoming.

[...] While all my work probably has the influence of The Prisoner in it somewhere, this would be entirely in how the story is told, rather than in its content or thematic elements. Practically every intelligent or informed person during that decade would have been expressing opinions about technology and nursing nuclear anxieties that were identical to McGoohan’s, and given that the 1980s were an even more perilous stretch of the Cold War than the 1960s had been, then it seemed an appropriate issue to make a part of Watchmen. I can’t think of any direct or indirect influence beyond that."

The complete Part 1 is available here. Part 2, here.

Halo Jones in colour

Halo Jones: Alan Moore (writer), Ian Gibson (artist), Barbara Nosenzo (colorist).

Excerpt from an article published in 2000 AD site, here.

2018 sees a 2000 AD classic remastered and in colour for the very first time.

[...] Originally published in black and white, the re-releases will feature extensively remastered artwork and, for the very first time, will be published in colour. Italian newcomer Barbara Nosenzo is responsible for bringing colour to the world of Halo Jones. [...] 

Barbara Nosenzo: Halo is a perfect example of black & white balance, and I constantly felt the responsibility of adding colours where there was no need for them!
[...] While reading the books for the first time, I started imagining atmospheres and details, and tried to put those on paper. I used some covers as reference, and then I worked on my own palette to bring Halo's world to life. I focused on creating colors for atmosphere, and I decided with my editor (Matt Smith) to choose different background tones for each book, to help define the three different stages of Halo's life (the Hoop, the Clara Pandy and the War).

Book one has a green, dirty background color to give you a feeling of uselessness and deterioration, that perfectly matches life on Hoop. Book two has a pale yellow tone, because its Clara Pandy time, apparently an age of luxury surrounding Halo. And finally, red tones for book three because it's all about the war. To obtain these effects, I used background layers, with a wrinkled paper texture turned in three different colours, each one for the specific book I was working on.

I think that colour is like soundtrack in a movie: it should enhance the feelings and underline particular moments. That's how I tried to use my palette, often using weird colours to define feelings (blue for sadness, green or purple for fear.)

The complete article is available here.

Dark King Moore by Paolo Massagli

Art by Paolo Massagli.

Above, a powerful, dark Alan Moore portrait - with a bit of HPL in - by Italian artist PAOLO MASSAGLI. 

Paolo Massagli is known for his indie works which combines horror with sensuality; his most recent comics have been published by Hollow Press (here).

Melinda Gebbie's memoirs

From left to right: Lucia Joyce, Melinda Gebbie and Alan Moore. Art by Melinda Gebbie.

Excerpt from The NeneQuirer interview with Melinda Gebbie. 

The complete article is available here.

Melinda Gebbie: "I started writing a diary in my twenties. I thought if I write about my life it will get more interesting. And it did. [...]

This has been a very long project. I transcribed everything by hand then realised that was stupid but I always had something against typing so I couldn’t make myself type. I had four different typists. It’s been edited by a really hot pro, Donna Bond, she did a spiffing job. [...]

There was 1300 pages of pure transcription, I whacked off (edited away) 800 of them. The format I think is going to be two books of about 300 pages each. The first one will be about my life in San Francisco until I left it in 1984 and the next will be about the weird land of England up until Alan and I met and started working together.

[...] The book is the main thing. If you live with a champion swimmer and every day you go out to the paddling pool and try to get a little better at frog kicking… I can only get with my own language if I am isolated from the undertow of a certain culturally-valuable husband. It’s not his fault but still…"

The complete article is available here. 

Melinda Gebbie's site, HERE.

The Mindscape of Alan Moore: Italian book edition

Nella mente di Alan Moore (Oblò APS) - Art by Nicola Testoni.

Coming out at the end of September, Oblò APS (an Italian association aiming at promoting Comic Art), will publish an Italian book transcribing Alan Moore's narration from The Mindscape of Alan Moore documentary, written and directed by DeZ Vylenz.

The book, translated and edited by smoky man, includes 14 brand new illustrations by Italian painter and sculptor NICOLA TESTONI who also painted an amazing oil portrait of Moore used as cover. Testoni's art combines realism with a touch of surrealism providing an intriguing visual comment and counterpoint to Moore's words.

For more info and requests:
Oblò site (HERE) - Oblò Facebook page (HERE)
Nicola Testoni's site

Mental Magic Marble Moore. Art by Nicola Testoni. Oil on canvas.

Nella mente di Alan Moore, page 28 and 29. Words: Moore; illustration: Nicola Testoni.

Book backcover.