Critchlow's early work, including the entire "Thrud the Barbarian" series in "White Dwarf", consisted entirely of black and white ink drawings. The Thrud character originated at art college, where Critchlow was studying under comic artist Bryan Talbot.Critchlow was presented with a comic strip project for the course, and began to develop Thrud. Critchlow was inspired by Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, which he was reading at the time. In an exposè published in "White Dwarf" towards the end of Thrud's tenure, art editor John Blanche wrote that Critchlow's "unique, chunky comic book technique provides the perfect vehicle for the biffoesque barbarian."