seasonal sketchbook

Autumn vibes

| rozihath

It’s October! How did that happen? It’s suddenly very rainy and gloomy in my part of the world, and although it’s not quite the weather for thermals yet, I feel vaguely prepared for it to arrive.

It’s been a little longer since my last blog than I’d planned, but that’s due to being INCREDIBLY busy getting ready for…

The Good Comics Kickstarter!

For the past few months, we three of Good Comics have been preparing like mad for our first-ever Kickstarter, and it’s all coming together nicely. The campaign is due to launch on Monday 6th October, featuring brand new books from RAMZEE, Natasha Natarajan, Emre Altındağ and Niki Bañados, as well as a new Good Comics Reader vol.2 featuring some of our Good friends we’ve published or distributed over the years.

Having run a couple of Kickstarters before for Njálla and Moon, I’ve gone into it knowing it’s a lot of work, but launching one for 5 books has been pretty intense! Thankfully Paddy, Sam and I have an excellent working relationship/huge supply of inside jokes, so we’re totally rocking it.

The campaign preview page should be up in a couple of days, so keep your eyes peeled!

In other news, between work and the Good Kickstarter I’ve been working on getting my weekly comics ready for print. Although it’s been a ridonculously busy month, adding in a little panel painting here and there is easy to fit in, and the book itself 90% finished now.

It’s also really satisfying to see it come together. I’m really excited to be able to share it with you all soon! Here’s a sneak peek of what an early spread looks like.

The only obstacle I have left is the release, as it’d be difficult to launch anytime soon without being overshadowed by the Good Comics Kickstarter. So, unfortunately, I will be pushing back the schedule slightly, but I will keep you all updated with when it will be coming out.

Finally, I’m excited to have had my latest paper delivery to start on the Autumn-Winter 2020 sketchbooks! Can you believe it’s that time of the year already?

Spring-Summer 2020 sketchbooks are still on sale on my Etsy store, and you can pick one up here.

I think that’s it for now! Make sure you’re following Good Comics via Twitter, Instagram or our newsletter to get first-hand info on the launch of the Kickstarter campaign, and I’ll be back with news soon!

Rozi x

Wake me up when September (or 2020) ends

| rozihath

Afternoon all!

It’s September apparently, and there seems to be some vague sense of normality returning to this very weird world we’re living in. The kids are in school, Zoom meetings are the norm and libraries are open. And as the seasons shift again, the evenings are getting much shorter and the nights cooler here. Autumn is in full swing! (Click here to hang onto summer that little bit longer with the spring-summer 2020 sketchbooks, now on sale)

So, what’s next? I’m glad you asked.

After a very busy month-or-so working with AccessArt on their DrawAble campaign, I’ve been diving head-first into some really exciting projects. One of which is finishing up my Weekly Comics (still yet to be named, d’oh).

I’m just about ready to start painting the extra pages, which is a pretty mammoth task in itself. But, once this is done I’ll be very near to completing the book and getting it ready for print. Woop! Above and below are some of the inks I’ve been working on pre-paints.

In other news, I’ve picked back up on working towards writing my next book. Exciting stuff! I’ve mentioned before about working on a big book, and this one I’m allowing plenty of time to get my ideas down and explore what the story could be. Part of figuring out the story is getting all of my random tangents of ideas down on paper, so this week I’ve started the process of hashing everything out with a pen and trying to build on some of the stronger ideas and see how these various bits could combine together. It’s like dumping the contents of your bag out and trying to decide whether it all needs to really be in there or not.

Part of the figuring out process has been drawing on inspiration in the unknown, and after a few really busy weeks I took some time out to wander around Bristol and recharge my creative batteries. It was so very needed!

Thankfully I managed to pick up some new books to help with my story writing whilst I was there, including Travels with a Writing Brush: Classical Japanese Travel Writing from the Manyoshu to Basho which is fascinating so far (and most likely incredibly niche).

Once I have something more substantial I’ll start sharing, but for now it’s all staying very close to my chest.

And finally, big happenings are on the horizon at the collective Good Comics HQ (not to be confused with GCHQ). I can’t reveal any full details yet, but it’s going to be really good… Keep your eyes peeled for announcements in the coming weeks.

And that’s about it for now! Stay safe everyone.

x

Spring has sprung

| rozihath

Hello everyone,

We made it to May! I hope everyone is safe and well despite the obvious coronavirus-shaped elephant in the room. The longer our lockdown goes on, the harder it is to have anything new or positive to say. Nevertheless, remember to look after yourselves the best way you can, whether that’s marathoning box sets on tv or training for a marathon.

I’m still maintaining my goal of one comic a week, which I’m glad for! This last week I finished it a few days earlier (harder than it sounds…) and released it through the Good Comics blog. and shared all the comics in order this far.

Here are week’s 4 and 5 below, to get you up to speed:

  • Week 4
  • Week 5

After week 4, I decided to make a dumb poll on Twitter to see what everyone wanted to see included next. Thankfully the people voted for clearly the best option!

I’m starting to get into a good routine with these weekly comics, and I have the rest of the ‘story’ mostly mapped out. It’s still a useful challenge for me, and I’m looking forward to showing you all week 6 (when it’s done). Watch this space!

In other news, I’m very happy to announce that as last year’s Rocks is very nearly sold out, I have donated 50% of the profits made to Bournemouth’s Natural Science Society.

Rocks was very much a project of discovery and realisation about the way I make comics. Between finishing Moon and starting Rocks (note to self: consider more than just one-word titles for future books) I’d hit a wall with creating, and pushing myself through to the end of Rocks was tough yet rewarding. I’m very grateful for the information I gained from the BNSS, and Rocks will always be the one which helped me learn to pick up a pen again and restart my journey, releasing some of that pain I was feeling in Sparenting.

If you’d like a copy of Rocks before it sells out, you can pick up a copy from my Etsy store for £3.00 + P&P.

Lastly, you’ll be glad to know that I’ve started work on my next seasonal sketchbook! The remaining autumn/winter books have now fully sold out, and I will be finishing up spring/summer in the coming week or so.

Missed the autumn/winter sketchbooks? Take a look at this post to learn more.

Autumn-Winter sketchbook

Until next time!

x

Sniffle Syndrome

| rozihath

Afternoon fellow snifflers.

It seems to be fully-loaded cold and flu season in my neck of the woods, and everyone is sniffling and coughing near constantly. Including me. I’m not sure whether mine is down to autumnal hayfever, a low-lying cold that’s waiting to emerge or my entire head being taken over by a goop monster. Who knows?

Anyway, it’s a busy time of year in the run-up to that yet-to-be-mentioned gift-giving holiday that occurs at the end of the year. I’m finishing up a web-comic, launching a top-secret community-based project and tending to general life tasks which now also include catering for my three new gerbil assistants: Peach, Nugget and White-Knuckle Rog (more on them another time). But still, I have things to show you all!

Autumn-Winter sketchbook
Autumn-Winter sketchbook, inside pages.

Firstly, the autumn-winter sketchbooks I announced a couple of weeks ago are selling fast! There aren’t many left, so if you’d like to join the club of seasonal strugglers, you can pick up your sketchbook here. Each order is lovingly wrapped in brown wrapping paper and posted in a card envelope so it reaches you safely and can be recycled easily.

If yours arrives and you want to share some of your autumn doodles, please do email me as I’m planning on setting up a gallery to share our autumnal feelings. You can contact me here.

I’ve also put up some risograph prints on my store that I printed with Assembly Press earlier this year. They’re in very limited supply, so pick one up quick! Available in two colours – fluoro pink/orange, and fluoro orange/yellow.

Reach A4 Print in orange/pink
Reach A4 Print in orange/yellow
Reach A4 Print in orange/yellow - detail
Reach A4 Print in orange/pink
Reach A4 Print in orange/pink - finer detail

And, that’s about it for now. Keep your eyes peeled next week as I’m planning to finally announce what I’ve spent the past few months working on. I’m equally excited and nervous, so watch this space!

Until next time, stay sniffle free my friends.

x

The Changing of the Seasons

| rozihath
Summer to Autumn – best shared skimming stones and with freezing toes

Afternoon all,

It’s been a while! The last few months have flown by in a blur, and somehow it’s October. Autumn has a way of catching me off-guard every year, and somehow the days have become suddenly chillier without me noticing until I’ve already set foot out of the door.

So, what have I been up to since my last post aside from being cold? Primarily a new web-format comic about family. But that’s been a difficult, emotional piece to work on as it’s really close to my heart. It’s not too far off from completion, but I’m taking some mental space from it for a few weeks so I’m able to do it justice. Secretive, I know! All will be clear soon.

However, I’ve also been working on a new, exciting project I get to share with you all today!

Some background: It’s the changing of the seasons. And, I struggle.

Don’t get me wrong; the leaves changing is beautiful, the sound of rain is serene, but feeling sleep deprived and having cold extremities is awful. It’s depressing, and it can feel never-ending. 

So, I wanted to make something that inspires creativity during the wetter, shorter days but doesn’t have the same pressure as 160 plain white pages of a new store-bought sketchbook, or any organised drawing challenges you find online.

I hand collated and stitched these little books using GF Smith Colorplan 135g paper (citrine and vellum), kraft offcuts, semi-translucent and natural papers. The sketchbooks are just 16 pages long so there’s no pressure of many pages to fill. They’re roughly A6 size to fit in your pocket or bag, and each sketchbook is hand-printed with the specially designed autumn/winter logo on the front, ready to customize.

I’ve made a limited stock of these sketchbooks, so if you’d like one you can grab it for £4 + free UK shipping (Or £6 incl. shipping everywhere else in the world). Check it out on my store here.

What do you all think? Could you use some relaxing autumnal drawing time? Share your doodles with me and I’ll set up a gallery so we can all see each other’s work and conquer the season together.

And that’s it for now! Until next time, keep dry and toasty.

x