Tales From the First Publication Corner

Good evening dutiful followers,

Well, what a celebratory day it is! Second Year of University is OFFICIALLY OVER, woo! No more redoing work from months ago and tweaking something because it’s out of alignment by 2mm, I can finally breathe and start to clear my head ready for a summer of busy drawing fun. After a hectic 7 months I can now find time to do the fun things in life, like make up new comic ideas and draw whatever I feel like. And it feels gooooooood. But, I have plenty of interesting news to keep you all occupied, don’t you worry! First up..

Alternative Press and The London Radical Bookfair hosted TAKEOVER 2015 this past weekend, on Saturday 9th May at a nice little warehouse on 47-49 Tanner Street just a hop, skip and a jump from London Bridge. What a day! Although there were some early complications – definitely of no fault of the organisers, mind you! – the day was busy and Tanner Street became full of people interested in all the comic, zine and book business of the day! As I mentioned previously, I was accepted to TAKEOVER on the First Publications Corner, a special spot for highlighting the work of first-time self publishers of zines and comics as a way to keep us all together (and out of trouble, I suspect!). I met some fantastically interesting people on Saturday, and walked around feeling like a deer in headlights for most of it, but as my first event I’m sure I’ll feel like a regular by the end of the year! Special thanks to those who made me feel at home in a whirlwind experience; Andy Oliver of Broken Frontier, Keara Stewart, Ricky Miller of Avery Hill Publishing, Alex Hahn, Alexandra Cook and Wallis Eates. You’re all lovely!

I only managed to sell a couple of bits, but lots of lovely people and seeing Danny Noble‘s under-table acrobatics definitely made for a good day. Another awesome part of the day was the creation of a Zine in a Day made by Co-Op Footprinters, who brought their risograph printer down from Leeds just for the event. And I thought dragging a suitcase of comics around London was difficult! The idea was absolutely lovely, and I dutifully took along a prepared image to submit to the zine. Have a look below!

The day was made even better with the release of Keara Stweart‘s zine anthology, A Bit of Undigested Potato! Featuring the work of 58 artists (including yours truly..) the anthology looks at bad dreams and nightmares from the perspective of the artist (featured at Broken Frontier here). My comic Locomotion is situated in there, but I’m afraid you’ll have to purcahse your own copy to see it all! I read the whole anthology as soon as it was places in my hands, and from the sad, to the scary and the funny, this book really is something special. I’ll definitely cherish it, and thanks again to the lovely Keara for asking me to join in the fun! What an honour, and a privilege to be included amongst such awesome people.

So, after the excitement of Saturday and the final push at University I’m feeling rather tired, but from meeting all the wonderful aforementioned people at TAKEOVER my brain is now overflowing with ideas of things to come! Now, secrets are way more fun in this line of work, so I won’t divulge too much, but I will say that you can expect to see issue #2 of Down to Your Skivvies coming out soon.. And maybe a few more things popping up on my Etsy shop! For now, I shall retire for the night ready for the busy few days ahead, but I shall be back next week with some coverage of a few exciting University projects that haven’t been covered in all the madness. And then, let the ideas and exciting things commence! Peace out! x

It’s Printing Time!

Good evening ladies and gents!

So, I have big, happy shiny news that glistens in the sunlight (though not like one of those weird Twilight ‘vampire’ things..). It also scares me somewhat, but I’m just going to ignore that for now:

My comic, The Red Road has evolved over the past few months. It emerged as from a single idea, from there is became lines and paint on numerous pieces of paper, and then to the long process of editing and piecing together on a screen. And finally, as of this week, over to the local printers who are finishing the process by making 100 beautiful copies. Printed onto an off-white eco-friendly paper, with perfect binding (i.e. stapling), The Red Road will be in my warm and loving arms by Thursday!

Ooo

Preview2

Preview3

Like anything created and then thrown out to the world, it is a anxious time.. Although this time it’s worse – financing the printing has been an odd feeling, one of which started very happily and then as time has gone on in the past week I’ve started wondering what on earth I’ve done. Y’know, the usual happy thoughts! Thankfully, after only a couple of meltdowns I’m ready to go and just waiting.. I’m usually pretty good at being patient, but now I have a dent in my finances I just want to see what happens!!

Anyway! Down to the important business.

I have rejuvenated my Etsy shop which you can go have a look at here >> https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/rozihathaway

It is looking a little empty at the moment, but I’m working on it! From Thursday The Red Road will be available for purchase from here for the grand, epic total of £6. Each copy is numbered out of 100, and will be posted out in it’s own little cellophane envelope and board-backed packaging to ensure that it arrives in perfect condition. The comic is A5 in size, and as previously mentioned printed onto recycled eco-friendly paper at a weight of 140gsm. To read more about the story itself please look at my previous post here!

Anyone who parts with their hard earned cash to purchase something that I made is a hero in my eyes, so thank you to anyone who is interested in my work. It’s a never-fading compliment to have a story I nurtured and put so much into sitting in someone’s home, making people smile. This story is close to my heart for many reasons, but working with these characters for all this time I really can’t wait to see and hear what people think. So, before I get too soppy, head on over to my Facebook page and enjoy the daily countdown starting from tonight.. See what happens tomorrow and I hope you’re all as excited as I am! For now – laters! x