Well well well, what a busy six weeks its been since Brussels, it only feels like yesterday that I was dragging myself merrily back to University for the start of the term. The second year of University lives up to its busy hype, and so far it’s taken me so long to get back to posting on this here website I’d almost forgotten what I was doing. Oh yes! Drawing. That’s what I’ve been doing. Instead of waffling on about every single project I’ve done so far I’ve decided to give an efficient, brief overview of any vaguely good stuff I’ve made so far, so I don’t bore you all into a coma.
1. Gifs! I made a gif based on a Chinese poem about a leaf floating and lots of moody things (‘Seeking a Mooring’ by Wang Wei, it’s actually quite nice if you’re into that sort of thing). It’s fairly simple but I quite like staring at it longingly when my brain is overspilling with ideas and I want to cry into a large plate of cake. It’s soothing, try it! (With cake, ideally.)
An illustrated .gif based on the poem ‘Seeking a Mooring’ by Wang Wei. Ooooh, spinney.
2. I made an angry scene of people for an editorial piece, that I liked, but my lecturers didn’t. Ironically, this is also what my fellow students and I look like when they casually give us extra work to do with no forewarning or briefing. Also, what I imagine Manchester looks like after the football yesterday.
The Wisdom of Crowds.. Supposedly.
3. I’m making an 7″ vinyl cover for a University cover band who will be preforming The Cure’s ‘Friday I’m in Love’ live at the end of the month whilst I stand in the back and point at my artwork jumping up and down shouting “Look mum, I’m famous!” to no one in particular. It will look something like this.
Friday I’m in Loooove! Doo-de-doo, la la laa!
4. Aaaand finally I’m currently writing and illustrating a 26 page comic which is due in 5 weeks time. So, I have rather a lot of work do for that, as we’re only 3 weeks in. If anyone here’s some sort of maniacal, delirious ranting coming from my apartment or the studios at University – it’s okay. It’s just me giving myself quite a lot to do. Just send coffee my way and give me a gentle hug, I’ll be fine. Even just a gentle pat on the head will be appreciated. Anywho, I don’t want to give away too much, so here’s just a sneak peek of some initial sketches I produced for last Tuesday, though all steam ahead for the rest of the project to be done in time. Cooffeeeeeeeeee!!
Well, I think that’s it for now. I’ve been drawing and scripting all day for this aforementioned comic, and I feel worn out something chronic. So, time to power on through before dinner and put my concentration to the test. Woo! I shall endeavour to be back with updates sooner than every six weeks so do keep an eye out. I’ve had to make a Tumblr blog as a part of my course, so I’ve added a link to the menu bar at the top, and that’s updated a bit more regularly (only because it’s graded, my allegiance still holds with this marvellous place!) with general waffle and my inspiration rather than my work. So feel free to have a look around on there too. For now, over and out x
Well, what a busy fortnight it has been! I was hoping to get an update posted last week but time just got away from me yet again, but the good news is following my return from Brussels, the city of comics, I have LOTS to discuss. Get comfy!
A few months ago I realised I was becoming somewhat.. stale. I’ve spent the whole summer working either picking up extra hours at the paid job, or working morning till night at home on comics, sketchbook work, one-off pieces and most recently a children’s book. Before that, University had been very intense with a high-workload and quick turn-around, and before that I’d been working on HOAX: Psychosis Blues for six months. So, in early July I decided I needed to refresh myself and do something I’ve missed doing in the past year or so; travel. So, I booked my £10 Megabus return ticket to Brussels, booked a nice looking hostel to stay at near the city centre, and carried on with my day-to-day tasks – but with that quiet excitement in the back of my mind that I was going to be escaping all forms of home-comfort and routine for 48 hours. Bliss! As the long summer break drained away and second year of my degree course looming, my city escape arrived and on Wednesday I packed my things and travelled by train, underground and a 6.5 hour coach journey pondering the meaning of life, drawing, education, and most importantly what I was going to find for dinner that night.
Brussels itself is a beautiful city. Much of Brussels beauty and grandeur comes from a history of exploitation and slave trade regime led by King Leopold II of Belgium around the late 19th to early 20th Century, which in itself I didn’t have time to look at too deeply though there are numerous museums around documenting the history of Brussels. However I was there to look at all things comics, in which I managed to fit in as much as I physically could into the 48 hours I was there. First on the list was the infamous Comic Book Route of the city, in which there are over 50 murals around the centre and surrounding areas. I didn’t manage to see every single one, but starting at 8am I made my way around over 25 pieces of street art, the majority being from the comic route. The route itself has huge pieces of artwork on the sides of buildings dedicated to the legends of the comic book industry who originated from Belgium, and the capital of bande dessinée. These include Hergé (Tintin), Marc Sleen (Nero), Morris (Lucky Luke) and André Franquin (Gaston), amongst many more. It was quite something to see these incredibly bright murals around on the streets, something that the rest of Europe seems to embrace yet the UK sadly doesn’t.
After walking part of the route, I looped back round to end up at the Centre belge de la Bande dessinée to which I spent many, many happy hours. The Belgian Comic Strip Centre is in a converted Art Deco building, and upon ascending the flight of stairs you have a small exhibit on the history of comics, explaining the links to ancient cave markings and the Egyptian’s narrative sequences, etc. Next is a big exhibition on the development of comics, showing originals from European comic artists from scripting through to thumbnails, sketches, pencils and inks. It was absolutely fascinating, to the point in which I walked around it a second time when I’d finished to make notes. I was just blown over that such a place exists with no mention of Marvel or DC, and these incredible original pieces of art with varying techniques and the hidden look into how other artists work – I could go on forever (but I won’t, do not fear). Next up was the gallery exhibit of Madame Livingstone by Barly Baruti & Christophe Cassiau-Haurie which is a graphic novel based around Africa during WWI. The artwork is beautiful and I almost bought a copy – but due to the length of the book I’ll await patiently an English translation. There is also a large ‘Wonderland of Comics’ permanent exhibition which I happily spent a long time looking around, a history of the place itself and a really nice Tintin exhibit. Finally there is a temporary exhibition, ‘100 years in the Balkans‘, which was incredibly moving. All in all, I could have easily spent the day there, I definitely recommend it as an excellent place to go. After a somewhat failed mission to travel slightly out of the city to see an indie illustration exhibit which was closed when I got there, I headed back to the centre to visit BOZAR; otherwise known as the Centre for Fine Arts, I went to see a travelling exhibition of Jacques Tardi, featuring original artwork from his documentation of the First World War. “Putain de Guerre !” (Goddamn this war!) and “C’était la Guerre des Tranchées” (It was the war of the trenches) shown with the black and white artwork next to the coloured final pages. They were nothing less than brutal in showing the war in all its unpleasant horror. Although it was all written in French, there are English translations available to purchase, but I have my eye on a special edition out later this year. Thankfully the small amount of French I do know helped me to understand parts of it, and piece together what I didn’t know. On Friday I also went to another centenary-based exhibition at the Bibliothèque royale de Belgique entitled SHOCK! about the chaotic weeks leading up to the beginning of the First World War and Germany invading Belgium. Part of the exhibition focused on the different world we live in now, with how stories are communicated to the masses and how it is completely different to back in 1914. The newspapers and editorial illustrations they had on show were really eye-opening, it was incredibly interesting. Moving on to cheerier topics, I had just enough time to fit in MOOF – Museum of Original Figurines – before I had to depart back to Angleterre. There is a clear focus on kids at this museum which was to be expected, and it’s a really fun place even as an adult. Hergé and Tintin have quite a chunk of space dedicated, as does The Smurfs, with others such as Asterix and Obelix being more for show than for information purposes. There is also a great section on the animating of the cartoons with original artwork too!
Original artwork from Philippe Francq
Oringinal resistance artwork from the 100 Years in the Balkans exhibitTintin at the MOOF
With the short time I had I still managed to fit in an overpriced waffle from Grand Place and some delicious fritesavec andalouse, plus with some chocolat and bière bought back for my loved ones I consider it a successful visit. I also had enough time to visit Brüsel, a large comic shop and gallery space in the city which had an impressive indie collection and also an English translated section. I managed to be very well behaved and only come away with three books, all in French! So monetary-value to time, given how long it’ll take me to translate it with my small knowledge of the French language its definitely money well spent. I picked up The Adventures of Tintin vol. 12, Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge (Red Rackham’s Treasure) as it features this really cool submersible ship/vessel that’s looks like a shark. I also picked up Labyrinthum, a quirky little book based on the eternal labyrinth, and finally the pièce de résistance of La Théorie du Grain de Sable, which I was drawn to with the incredible artwork and the use of spot colouring white on beige paper. This book, it turns out, is one of several from a series called Les Cités obscures (The Obscure Cities) created by Belgian comic artist François Schuiten and writer Benoît Peeters, in the early 1980s. The set of graphic novels is based in a parallel universe featuring cities similar to some on earth, including Brussels and the Palaces of Justice. Again, it’ll take me who-knows-how-long to understand it all fully, but the pages are absolutely beautiful (see below).
Les Aventures de Tintin – Le Tresor de Rackham le RougeMarc-Antoine Mathieu’s Labyrinthum
And now, back to reality. I’d do it all again tomorrow if I could, but now my taste of adventure is back I’m sure it won’t be long before I escape somewhere else. Alas the summer is drawing to a close with University starting up again next week. So, it’s time to mentally prepare for the stress-induced panicking and how I’m going to juggle my time. I had every intention of entering the Jonathan Cape Graphic Short Story Prize competition, but after stating it before I went to Brussels, I realised that it was never going to be anywhere near good enough with the short amount of time I’d given myself. So, there’s always next year. For now I have plenty of other less-pressured side-projects to keep me occupied and hopefully developing my skills also as I go. Anyway, I think that’s it for now. I’ll be sure to update as often as I can with Uni starting back up again, though for now.. À bientôt! x
So, it’s Monday. I’ve been forcibly held up by coffee all day and I am very pleased to announce that I have finished my Christmas Story book! Phew! The book is for a young lady named Emilia, who is the main character of the story and though the physical copy still needs printing nearer Christmas the bulk of the work is done. However, the digital version is complete and ready to be worked on for the YouTube part of the project. Success! Originally I was going to hand letter the story, but after starting it I decided due to time constraints and workload, using a ready made font made more sense. For now, it’s sorted, done, finished and put to one side to make way for the next big thing.
Farewell to these guys!Magical-music-note suspicion. I think I can safely say we’ve all been there. No?
Next on the agenda is the Jonathan Cape Graphic Short Story Prize competition which concludes on the 26th September. I’ve had my story on hold for a while, so after some mental tweaking and making scripting notes over the weekend, I’m ready to dive straight in (I think!). It’s another case of giving myself a short amount of time, which is unfortunate as this competition is an important one; but I can only do my best, and each challenge is a new learning curve. I received a nice email today from the folks at the Comic Arts Festival to let me know that my mutant bunnies comic Lost and Found was unsuccessful, which I was expecting given the pressure I put myself under and amount of time I had to re-do panels and pages. I did learn a lot from that, and hopefully it’s something I can use going forward for this 4-page story competition. Wish me luck!
On a somewhat less cheerful note, yesterday my partner-in-crime and I visited the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester. We’d been meaning to go for a while now, and it was an incredible place. We spent about 3 and a half hours looking at the exhibitions and feeling some strange mix of awe, horror and disbelief at re-reading the history of the world wars and conflict up to the present day. Anyone who enjoys comics and graphic novels will have read Maus, and then with other graphic memoirs like Persepolis and Joe Sacco’s Palestine, we’ve all seen the conflict and stories through other people’s eyes. Some aspects I’d not seen before were the use of drawings in soliders and prisoners to keep their sanity. Incredibly moving drawings from Violette Lecoq illustrate the conditions at the Ravensbrück concentration camp she was taken to in 1943, and were definitely hard to see yet fascinating at the same time. More recently was Linda Kitson‘s drawings of the Falklands War from her three months of drawings whilst commissioned as the official war artist in 1982. Below are a few photos I took during our visit, I definitely recommend anyone who can get to Imperial War Museum North, or the main one in London, to go whilst they are honouring the Centenary of the First World War.
The Crusader (2010) by Gerry Judah – a personal reflection on an urban society shaped by conflict.Linocut Prints by Helmuth Weissenborn showing scenes of London during The Blitz of WWIIViolette Lecoq’s drawings of Ravensbrück concentration camp.Linda Kitson’s Falkland’s drawings.
I think that wraps it up for this vastly disappearing Monday. I hope everyone has a good week and I shall be back with another update soon. Over and out! x
In my endless wisdom I decided it would be a great idea to work non-stop on my Christmas Tale, because who needs a decent nights sleep, right? Since my last blog post I’ve been drawing gingerbread ladies, reindeer, snowmen, penguins, polar bears and a rather young female lead character from morning until the depths of night, and having a pretty fun time seeing how much coffee I can intake whilst still maintaining hand stability. If there’s anything I’ve learnt from Dan Berry’sMake it Then Tell Everybody podcast, it’s that this is the illustrator life. It’s tiring, but hot damn I love it.
So, moving forward. As of yesterday morning I have managed to complete the main bulk of my book; the majority of my story is told in a magical Christmas wonderland with friendly creatures each doing their bit to support Father Christmas in the hours leading up to the magical day itself. My process with this project has been pretty consistent. Pencils > Inking > Colouring using gouache paint. Then half the job is done, and I digitally place each page over a separate backdrop which completes the page. So far I’ve done 16 pages with another 6-ish to do this week, then the creating stage will be complete! Here are three previews, have a gander;
Wheee!Thud.No one likes a sad reindeer
Aside from the originally intended hard-copy, I am very excited to be working with my musically talented pal Adam Satur in the hopes of turning the book into a ‘narrated animatic’. In simple terms, we’re looking at turning my pages into a digital book via YouTube video with soundscapes, music, a narrator, plus voices/noises for the creatures. Bringing this second level to this project is really exciting, hopefully by the time I update you all next I’ll have more news on this secondary project. For more information on Adam and his teachings you can also visit Playing Musically on Facebook.
With the hard graft of this project wrapping up this week, I shall be working next on my script for the next major competition – which truth be told, I intended to start a lot earlier before the Offlife submission and my mutant bunnies got in the way. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to complete two pending projects before university starts up again in a months time – oh how the summer has flown.. Is it time for a holiday yet? Anyway, I shall be hauled up at my desk until Friday afternoon completing the rest of this book, so wish me the best of luck! Over and out x
So, after a very long summer since I finished up my first year at University, the second year is finally looming. ‘Back to School’ signs are popping up everywhere, and I get that sinking feeling once more as I realise in a months time life is going to get stressful again for 7-or-so months. Don’t get me wrong, I love to learn; Going back into education has been the best decision I’ve ever made, and I am so glad I didn’t listen to all the naysayers when I decided to apply two years ago. However, yeah.. Juggling studies, part time work, a long distance relationship and a social life is quite the challenge, but I’ve never liked to make things too easy for myself. Where’s the fun in an easy life?
Sketchbookz r 4 cool kidz. Random doodle.
Back to business. One of the many things my course has taught me so far is the art of having a good sketchbook. Back in college all those years ago, up until the last year or so, I absolutely detested using a sketchbook; I couldn’t think of anything worse. I’d much rather try and draw something from start to finish in one go. If it looked alright, great. If it looked terrible, I’d get annoyed and brood over how terrible an artist I thought I was. Then feel so down I’d eat a whole sharing bag of Doritos (Cool Original, of course) with mild salsa dip, proceed to feel rather ill and then regret every cool, salsa-y moment of my comfort eating whilst laying in the fetal position. Productive, right? When it came to starting my course at university, they expected all this sketchbook work to support my ideas and show progression. Ughhhhhh, honestly, such a pain. It felt like I was taking 2 weeks to do something I could come up with in 2 days, but all this sketchbook work actually proved valuable. I paid £9’000 for my first year to learn how to use a sketchbook – bargain! But in all seriousness, it has become a staple tool of mine. One huge deciding factor has been on using proper paper sketchbooks. We’re talking Seawhite of Brighton’s extra-strength when wet kind of proper sketchbook. I’ve found even Moleskine’s sketchbooks and the ones you can pick up in the art section of WHSmith’s lack quality. Nowadays, like with my Lost and Found comic, I’ll draw all the artwork in my sketchbook and scan it in from there, I don’t even use ‘final paper’ anymore. But yes, I have learnt that forcing myself to work in a sketchbook first, although may take extra time, actually makes the final pieces look surprisingly better. Still, for some work I’ll just go in all-guns-blazing and completely a piece start to finish with no planning (Boba Fett, for example), and my recent comic-endeavours have been extremely quick turn-around for deadlines so sketchbook work has been limited. But as I approach my last 5 weeks of ‘freedom’ before uni starts up again, I have been utilising my sketchbook for my last three projects of the summer. I’m not quite sure why I keep piling on work for myself, I guess it makes sense to keep a consistent flow so that uni’s 5-projects-at-once doesn’t cause me to have a breakdown.
Currently I’ve been using my sketchbook to work on ideas and scripting for a children’s book commission I’ve been asked to do. I love children’s books, I have no shame in admitting that. Oliver Jeffers is probably one of my favourites, along with Jon Klassen coming in close second. Even better, this book I’ve been asked to do is a Christmas book! So I get to be completely over the top and make it as magical and Christmassy as my imaginations will allow. My preliminary character development and sketchbook work is pretty much complete, so now it’s time to get it drawn up, yay! Here are some snippets of my sketchbook and the characters so far, to keep you all interested;
So, there you have it. The elusive sketchbook. Not a huge amount to update this week as I’ve been super busy with other boring adult things, but hopefully I’ll have more for you all next week. (Yes, if you notice the French translations, I’ve also been using my sketchbook to aid my learning Français. J’ai améliore (I hope)!) For now, I hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever you may be doing. Over and out!
So, I made another comic. Things have been fairly busy once again since I completed my sci-fi themed comic Lost & Found. I will admit that I took a couple of days to wind down and do silly adult things like clean the apartment and tidy the mounds of drawings and paperwork that had taken over my desk. Anywho, I decided to try another test-run comic in a limit of only one page format this time. The aim was to submit my one-pager to Off Life, which is the UK’s only street press comic. You can read all the issues here. And, this is how they describe themselves;
“We publish a magazine that’s full of short comics from today’s best artists, and distribute free-to-read in bars, galleries, coffee shops and online. Our aim is to provide a platform for up-and-coming talent while opening comics to a whole new audience. Over our past nine issues we’ve featured comics from some of today’s best creators, including: Jack Teagle, Kristyna Baczynski, Kyle Platts, Ana Galvan, Warrick Johnson-Cadwell, Robert Ball, Dan Berry and Joe List.“
Off Life accept submissions between 1-4 pages, but I’ve been trying to push myself into shorter stories recently and I figured one sole page is definitely a challenge. So, after being somewhat inspired not only by my own thoughts of seeing my friends glued to their phones, and also seeing slightly more diluted qualities in myself, AND from reading the cold-turkey-social-media-quitting-experiment of my friend James (which is a witty and interesting read, I definitely recommend it) I made this comic.
One-page entry for Off Life’s bi-monthly publication
As I was in Manchester this past weekend and I forgot to pack my paints, I had to digitally colour the comic – which is not my favourite way of doing things. I can never quite seem to make it work for comics.. Boba Fett and the snowboard design seemed to work great, but my style of drawing for narrative doesn’t seem to suit digital colouring. Oh well, learning curve strikes again! At some point I will probably colour it in my usual style, but for now, and for the deadline I had it was submitted like so. Feel free to drop me a comment and let me know what you think! In other news, I had an absolutely lovely afternoon on Saturday at MancsterCon! Held in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, MancsterCon is a voluntarily run event bringing together the best of the independant sequential art scene in the North West. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to all the events for the weekend, but I did get to see Pauline Sometime give a presentation of the portrayal of mental health in comics over the past few decades. Although she stated that it was a brief snapshot over the ages, it was still an incredibly interesting talk and has given me comics and names to look at for future reference. I also had a perusal around the stalls of various creatives, the highlights being picking up Girl & Boy by the fiercly talented Andrew Tunney, and Merrick the Sensational Elephantman by the creative team that is writer Tom Ward, artist Luke Parker and letterer Nic J Shaw.
L: Girl & Boy R: Merrick Comic
I really enjoyed both of these. Girl & Boy definitely appealed to my love of black and white comics, though I haven’t draw anything purely black and white for a while now it definitely still has a place in my heart. I also really love the way Andrew Tunney made the rain in his images, really beautiful. Nice guy, also! Definitely looking forward to whatever he has coming out next, I had to peel myself away from the stunning prints he was selling. Merrick, The Sensational Elephant Man appealed to me with great colour palette used, and from reading it thoroughly tonight I was cracking up in some parts of it, and feeling empathy for the characters in other places. Some of the hidden gems in the panels are absolutely brilliant, there’s a particular panel on the first page which isn’t obvious to begin with, but I couldn’t stop laughing at. My hamster must think I’m crazy! I shall be eagerly awaiting issue #2, it’s great work and I definitely recommend it.
You may have also noticed that I now have my own website. Yippee! The website I had previously set up through webs.com two months ago was just an epic waste of time. To begin with, their free package is incredibly limited in comparison to what I was used to with Blogspot, and also their blogging set up is absolutely terrible. I came home on Sunday to a message telling me that I’d almost reached my maximum storage, and that was the last straw, so thanks to my computer-whizz partner I’ve set up this site which is MUCH better. Ahh, I can tag blogs again! So, after getting this all set up and the Webs.com blogs transferred across, I’ve celebrated by ordering new business cards as my previous ones were horrendously out of date. Exciting! I also have a few new projects next on the agenda, so keep an eye out for progress from those.
Oh, and before I forget! If you would like to subscribe to my blogs and have them arrive in a nice shiny package directly to your inbox, you can do so at the bottom of any of the pages on this site, and you can find it on the left hand side. There are also other nifty things there to have a look at, so mooch around and let me know what you think. For now, over and out. x
Well, what a week it’s been. About a month ago, when I was looking at the schedule of events at the Comics Art Festival in Kendal later this year, I discovered they were running a competition alongside Titan Comics for a 4-6 page comic with the theme of Lost in Space. Now, the deadline was yesterday and 4-weeks-ago-me thought the challenge to write the script and draw, colour and letter the comic in a month would be a marvellous idea! And, well, I finished it on time so clearly 4-weeks-ago-me had faith in current-me, though it was definitely a challenge and a half.
This is the first time I’ve properly written a script for a comic and I felt immensly out of my comfort zone. I made a story for a children’s picture book at University last year, but I didn’t really need to think about the scripting as much as it was a simple story for a very young audience. In terms of writing, we all know I like the go on, and on, and on in my blog, so what’s the difference? I tell you what, I have a new found respect for those who write and draw their own work successfully. Personally, as someone who likes pretty pictures, it was tricky to have to concentrate on words as well as images. But, it’s what I eventually want to do, so all the practise I can get will be beneficial in the future. My difficulty initially was that 6 pages is such a small amount. My section in HOAX: Psychosis Blues was 6 pages, and it took me 6 months, and I didn’t even have to write anything! For a a visual narrative of this length, I knew that unless I drew everything at a tiny size my comic wasn’t going to tell much of a story. With this in mind, and after much confusion, I researched previous short stories in graphic-form and found that more often than not they were a snippet from a story; A brief look into someone elses life, no backstory, no explanations. The story had to be PG-rated, so I decided to utilise this to make a comic that hopefully both kids and adults could enjoy, and after much deliberation I came up with the mutant platybunny idea and started sketching away. The days when I love my chosen path are the days I get to look at cute bunnies on the internet and draw them. Best. Job. Ever. Without any more delay, I present.. Lost and Found! Below is a couple of the pages, and the link to the PDF:
I’m not entirely sure if I’m content with the outcome. In the end I had to rush, but that was always going to be the case unfortunately as I came across the competition so late. Anywho, it’s complete and submitted, I doubt it’s a winning entry but it was a pretty good challenge! Plus, now I know how to work for the next competition to make sure I utilise my time in the best possible way. I mainly just want to make people smile with this one, and I hope I’ve been successful. For now that’s all folks! I have the next project to look forward to, and I’ll be back with another update next week. Over and out! x
Well, what a busy week its been! Firstly, I’ve taken on extra hours at the paid-job to help me out before I have to drop my hours in September, so that’s been keeping me out of trouble. Then, came Art in Action last Thursday, plus after a full day in London on Saturday the week has begun yet again, and I can feel this busy schedule in my poor aching legs. So, in chronological order, here we go!
I’ve been to Art in Action once before in 2011, which I covered somewhat in my blog here, and I enjoyed it just as much this year as I did previously. It was a great day; The weather was beautiful, if not a little toastie in the depths of the various tents. For those who don’t know, Art in Action is a big arts and crafts festival which allows artists to showcase their work and demonstrate their processes. There is also a giant arts market for loads of supplies, and a makers market in which you can buy various goodies. There are several areas covered including painting, sculpture, jewellery, glassblowing, international artists and illustration/calligraphy, even beekeeping. Illustration always feels a little lacking, though with the amount to cover in the whole event its not really a surprise! My highlights from this year were illustrators Jackie Morris and Shelly Perkins, and printmaking extraordinaires Ian Phillips and Laura Boswell. I’m fairly useless at printing, I don’t seem to be able to practise the same kind of patience in printing that I do on a physical drawing, though I absolutely love the effects printing produces. Watching Ian Phillips making reduction lino prints, and Laura Boswell making traditional Japanese woodblock watercolour prints was pretty gosh-darn super, and I’m looking forward to trying out some more printing if I get the opportunity in the second year of university.
Left: Jackie Morris, Right: Shelly PerkinsLeft: Ian Phillips, Right: Laura Boswell
After some much needed family time and cider on Friday came an action-packed day in London with my handsome northerner on Saturday. A couple of months ago Ravi got in touch and mentioned an upcoming HOAX: Psychosis Blues signing being organised at Gosh! Comics in Soho! Luckily for me I managed to squeeze in a trip to the British Library for the Comics Unmasked exhibition (until 19th August), and I’m so glad I did as the range of work and topics was absolutely incredible. Bumping my forehead on glass-cases to try and get closer to the original artwork of comics such as Watchmen and Tank Girl was definitely worth it. Topics covered included politics, sex, heroes, and dreams; It’s not often I enjoy an exhibition as much as this one, I definitely recommend it to anyone who is able to get to London before it closes, whether you’re a comics fan or not. It really was fascinating! After refuelling at Subway, I met up with the other HOAX’ers Ravi Thornton (author),Karrie Fransman, Rian Hughes, Julian Hanshaw, Ian Jones, Hannah Berry and Mark Stafford (illustrators) at Gosh! Comics for a happy afternoon of signing. I met Mark, Karrie and Rian for the first time, as they weren’t present at the launch last month, and they are just as lovely as everyone I’ve met so far. The whole afternoon was a whirlwind of squiggles and doodles, requests and new faces though there were some familiar faces as Andy Oliver from Broken Frontier came along to say hi too! I also managed to pick up Dan Berry‘s book Suitcase on half price which I was chuffed about. After the signings we made our way to a nice pub to finish of the day nicely. Here are some pictures from the day:
From L-R: Karrie Fransman, Rian Hughes, Ravi Thornton, Julian Hanshaw, myself, Ian Jones, Hannah Berry and Mark Stafford.What a happy bunch!
Anyway, that’s it for now. I have a competition entry for a 6-page comic that I’m working on at the moment so I shall endeavour to have something nice to show you all soon. x
So, since September I’ve been trying to find a happy medium between traditional and digital illustration. I love drawing, by hand, on paper. And painting on paper, because it’s fun! However I’d been finding that trying to scan in traditionally done paintings and make it look decent on screen was a hard task. So, with some tutorials and lots of trials and errors I have finally made my first fully combined piece which I’m happy with. There are examples on my front page of these sort of techniques I’ve been trying, for example Being Human and the girl in the triangle, however I didn’t feel like these were up to my usual standard. So, I decided it was time to put what I’d learnt to good use and do something nice for my partner-in-crime, Chris.
The story behind this revolves around my better-half being an absolutely giant Star Wars fan (nerd), especially with the original trilogy. A few weeks ago we went to a convention over at the National Space Centre in Leicester run by the UK Garrison, one of the foremost non-profit Star Wars costuming groups in the UK. Their movie-standard costumes were absolutely fantastic, and I was blown away by the professionalism and dedication everyone involved puts into being their character. I’ve since learnt that they attend countless events around the country and have helped raise money for a number of charities; it really was such an amazing atmosphere I was completely outstanded. I hadn’t had so much fun in a long while, and I felt like a giant kid at the best toy store known to man. I even got to meet R2-D2!
What a dude.
ANYWAY! One of my better-half’s favourite characters is Boba Fett, and he actually got to meet the actor Jeremy Bulloch, shake his hand and get this ridiculously cool art print signed. Which got me thinking how much I really wanted to do something for him which, although it’s not as cool as a signed print, is something that he’d be proud to hang on his wall. So, long story short this meant I had to delve deep into the Star Wars Wookieepedia and find out all I could about Boba Fett, the infamous bounty hunter and primary clone of Jango Fett. Low and behold, I came up with this idea that with all Boba Fett goes through in the extended stories, andas a child seeing his Dad’s head come off, sometimes he must just want to go home. Home, being the watery planet of Kamino where all the clones were created. I drew up Boba, his home planet, and his EE-3 Carbine, and over the space of a week I managed to piece it all together and Boba’s your uncle, we have…. this:
Boba Fett – I Dream of HomeFinal Inks
The hard work paid off in the end! It was a surprise, and I think he likes it! I did submit this as a design to Threadless! so that I could get it on a t-shirt for him, but unfortunately they emailed me to say that any sort of cult-icon can be a bit awkward in terms of legal restrictions, so it can’t be done. But, at least I have a new phone background! Anyway, that’s it for now. I have a busy week ahead and I’m off to Art in Action on Thursday for a day of quality auntie-niece time and spending far too much money on more art supplies I have run out of space for. Until next time! x
