I'm the artist of "Losko of the Antonine," an original comic book story by Stephen Gallagher for Gods and Monsters, an extended Doctor Who universe series by Cutaway Comics. Fellow collaborators are colorist Andrew Orton and letterer Will Brooks. Story drops in Gods and Monsters Phase 2, an anthology comic scheduled for release in late March 2026.
Process
This is my first professional comics gig in decades. I collaborated with Stephen, author of classic Doctor Who serials Warrior's Gate and Terminus. He provided a panel-by-panel script, world building overview, and visual reference. We also mind-melded on Zoom and Slack as the project went on.
| Phase | Date range |
|---|---|
| Thumbnails and character sketches | October 26–November 10 |
| Pencilled original art | November 9–December 7 |
| Finished inks | November 7–December 19 |
| Style consistency pass and corrections | December 26–27 |
Thumbnails and character sketches
Page process flow
Start to finish production of page 4
Space for lettering
While not doing the lettering myself, I still had to account for its space and balloon order. This was handled roughly when working with Gallagher's script in the thumbnail phase. For wordier panels demanding greater layout precision, I reverse-engineered dialog size based on published Cutaway comics. Landed on the Comicraft Mild Mannered font at 6.5/7 points. Enlarging print-size lettering to original art gave me an Ames Lettering Guide 3.3 even-spaced ratio.
Style consistency pass and corrections
This was my first attempt at drawing anthropomorphic characters (Losko, Roko, and Linka are humanoid jaguars). Merging photo reference with human facial expressions in my realistic style was a constant challenge. Character likenesses improved during production, making earlier pages look off-model. Thankfully, the publisher granted me additional time for post-production corrections.
Page 1: Linka
Redrew face and hair to match how they appear on page 19. Spotted at the last minute, this is the only correction drawn digitally.
Page 4: Roko
The snouts were so long in a lot of my early pages, the Losko and Roko looked more like horses than jaguars.
Page 13: Last Panel
My pencilled version told a slightly different story than what Stephen wanted to tell, and it would've taken forever to draw.
Page 17: Losko
Getting the anthropomorphic anatomy correct produced a much better reaction shot.
Visual reference
Gallagher's script referenced the TV serials Warrior's Gate (slave cargo ship and crew) and Terminus (Commander is a Garm). For my own visual research, I drew from Lords of Flatbush for Roko's biker look, Grordbort Victorious Mongoose 1902a for the Commander's concealed weapon, Alfredo Dosztal's work for Losko's ship, and George Bryan Ward's illustrations for the police space vehicles.
Since the 1980s, Stephen Gallagher has revised his novelizations, written an original novel and three short stories, and adapted an unproduced TV script into a Big Finish audio. Retaining rights to his characters, he recently entered the comic book world.
Meeting Cutaway
I met Cutaway cutups Gareth Kavanagh and Ian Winterton at Gallifrey One. After years of trying to work together—with life constantly getting in the way—I jumped at this opportunity when it finally came around. I'm grateful for the experience and eager to collaborate with Cutaway Comics again.
Dave of the Antonine
