Leonieblog

It's Happly baby! Sheriff and Emma brought us back some neat gifts from their recent trip to Singapore. As well as this great bag featuring everyones favourite..uh..happly, we also got a battery powered lucky cat, comedy postcards explaining the laws in Singapore and some Zooland biscuits (So delicious you'll never forget, apparently).
Thanks for all the loot guys, go again soon so we can have more cool stuff.
A note about photos on this site, the reason this photo is rubbish is that it was taken with my crappy digital camera, which is worse than the one on my phone, but cheaper to use. Flickr are cracking down on people posting non-photographic material so no more cheaty scanning for me!

Posted by Leonie at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, it has been a while since I posted anything. But that's good, because it means that I'm busy. Above is part of one of the sample pages I brought to Brighton, at the moment I'm just experimenting with this style. My aim is to have all my rough layouts, referencing and style ready by the end of this term. I think I will manage this. My research is going okay too, I've identified some more people to interview (Still trying to get hold of a mini disc player to post up the Bryan Talbot interview) and I've read some useful books. The layouts are going well, I'm quite proud of some of the sequences. There was one picture I'd had in my head since the start which I've actually taken out of the story now, I often find the best stories tend to write themselves and this one is certainly doing that!
I want to see if I can use the eye tracking equipment at the uni to do some experiments for my dissertation. Oh how I love experiments! If I wasn't an artist my second career choice was evil scientist, I'm hoping to still realise that dream in some small way. Anyone who has read my comic 'Evolvomatic' will understand the scope of my evil genius and my grasp of science. Woo ha ha.

Posted by Leonie at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ken Knudtsen ('My monkey's name is jennifer' pictured above) will be doing an 8 pg Wolverine story for Marvel. Woo hoo! That's going to look strange.

Posted by Leonie at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photos should be up soon, once they've been developed.
Sunday highlights: Sea Life Aquarium, Paul Gravett talk, sleep.
Read on for a full review.

After foraging for food (breakfast at the hotel was £15!) we settled on Subway as Brighton shops don't seem to like Sundays very much. On the way back to the hotel I was a bit distracted by the big Sea life center, so we went and had a look. It was the BEST aquarium I have been to, I wish I'd had my sketch book. The place was huge and the displays were really good. All the fish were really playful and energetic, the rays were splishing about at the surface and I got to see a crab munching on some apple (I don't think that happens too much in the wild). You could get really close to the sharks too, and they had some nice black tip reef sharks as well as the usual houndsharks. Even their Moary eel was swimming about, and they usually just hide in the rocks.
When we got back to the convention, it was time for Paul Gravetts talk on graphic novels in book shops. The panel included Gary Spencer Millidge (Strangehaven), Nick Jones (Senior editor of Titan Books) and Jonathon Oliver (Graphic novels editor at Rebellion). It was a really interesting talk, apparently there will be a new category system coming into place in bookstores so that graphic novel shelves will be organised in to catagorised sections rather than just thrown in a random pile together. Obviously, it would good if they weren't in one section, but displayed throughout the shop with the other books, but this is a good first step. Also, the influence of Manga on young readers and female readers was interesting and how this relates to global markets and what it might mean for superhero comics wishing to reach a younger audience. We also saw the V for Vendetta trailer, which I didn't think looked very good.
The smallzone stand seemed to be a bit busier now that Jeremy Dennis was doing drawings for them.
We had time to quickly grab some dinner (in some bizarre Egyptian themed restaurant) then had to say some very rushed goodbyes and run for the coach back to Gatwick. We arrived back in Newcastle some time that night, and I was very glad to finally get some sleep!

Posted by Leonie at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photos should be up soon, we used a 'proper' camera, so everything is being developed. Just like in ye olden days.
Saturday highlights: Seeing old friends, playing with Slaines sword, catching up on what everone was up to, meeting a dalek, going for a meal with some other small pressers and hanging out in the bar.
Read on for full review.

Having set off at 4 in the morning, we were unstandably groggy when we reached Brighton.
The hotel we were staying in was easy to find and best of all, it was also where the event was being held, so it was a hassle free weekend!
We went to one of Brightons many bagel shops for some food before heading in to the convention itself.
The hotel was an inspired choice of venue. The function room was huge and very airy with good lighting which is unusual for any comics related event. There were two floors of stuff and everything was really well sign posted. Children were also well catered for, which is really important as the industry needs to hold on to its younger audience and conventions are usually very much for adults.
The Dr.Who stand, which was opposite the main door, had a ful size dalek which could move about and talk. Andy was keen to have his photo taken with it, which worried me as I remebered the Bristol con a few years ago where he posed with R2D2 and managed to break off part of it's head somehow (there is a picture of the exact moment on the net somewhere). Luckily, the dalek survived and went on to conquer the ground floor but was unable to conquer the upper level due to the stairs.
Imagine how worried I was when we got to the stall with a full sized replica of Slaines sword (made out of steel, this was a proper replica not a mantel piece sword). Thankfully Andy didn't accidently murder anyone, but he did knock over their stand of mint condition Transformer comics. I wanted to run away, but Andy stood by while the guy checked for damages. At £30 each, Andy was pretty relieved to hear that they were all okay.
There were a lot of very snazzy small press stalls, all of which seemed to have a range of toys or toy prototypes to go with their comics, but I guess that's the way the market is going these days.
Artists there included: Al Davison, Bryan talbot, Mark Buckingham and Glenn Fabry (when we passed Glenn's stall Andy said "he isn't bad". Maybe they can quote that on his next collected edition.)
My five recommended titles of the year reviews got into the special expo edition of Comics International ( I reviewed Malcy Duff, James Kochalka, Doug TenNapel and two Darwyn Cooke books). Redeye 4 gave excellent reviews of two of my comics, which I was really happy with!
I brought some sample artwork from the graphic novel I am working on. I left some with Knockabout comics and Turnaround Publishing services. Everyone seemed to like the colours and the frayed panel edges. Gary Northfield noted that it's very different from my other work, which is very true.
Here's the news round up: Apparently Brodie's law has been picked up or optioned as movie rights or some such thing and Modern Toss has been picked up by Channel 4. Gary Northfield is hoping to move Derek the sheep into animation and Dave West is moving into doing more writing in future. Panini are going to start publishing a range of graphic novels, sounds like they will do a mix of styles and formats.
We went out for a meal in the evening with a group of small press pals, including Andy Richmond and Shane Chebsy who launched their new horror anthology this weekend. Selling from Shane's smallzone stall, they didn't have a very well positioned table, with most people walking straight past their aisle, which was very unfortunate.
Then we went back to the bar, which is always the best part of any convention. Saw Mark Buckingham again, which was lovely as we haven't seen him in years. Fables is going very well for him and he's incredibly busy but very happy, which is always good to hear. Also chatted to Bryan Talbot, who was giving two talks this weekend and congratulated Dez on hosting such a good event. At least, I that's what I meant to do. In my drunken state I probably just slurred something and then fell over. Missed out on the screening of the Alan Moore movie, but we were having too much fun to care.

Posted by Leonie at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (70)

If, like me, you've been desperate for another fighty movie as good as Ong-Bak to come out, then you'll like this link. Tom-Yun-Goong
It looks even better than Ong-Bak, this time his two elephants get stolen.

I'm off to the comic expo on Saturday, hurrah!!! Still don't quite have anything ready to show though...
Teaching kids tomorrow to make comics about world war 2, last week they had great fun drawing nazi related symbols and imagery.
Probably no more posts here until Monday, hopefully with some photos from the weekend.

Posted by Leonie at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As my practical project for this year is a graphic novel, my research is also to do with this. An early problem I ran in to was describing what the term graphic novel actually means. Sure, you can refer to Will Eisner or look up Eddie Campbells manifesto, but to the average person on the street this isn't going to clarify things.
Anyway, I was really intrigued by Paul Raineys current work, 'There's no time like the present', which he describes as a graphic novel but it is released and formatted like a comic. So I've interviewed him about it. Read on to find out more, and leave a comment if there are any other questions you'd like me to ask him.

1. If you had to describe a graphic novel to someone with no knowledge
of or interest in comics, how would you phrase it?

I normally assume that they have some point of reference even if it's
only an issue of Warlord that their Granddad bought for them twenty
years ago. I describe it as being a long comic strip containing all the
power you would hope to get from reading a regular novel. If they still
look baffled then I say it's like a really good TV drama only in comic
strip form.

2. Why do you refer to TNTLTP as a graphic novel as opposed to a comic?

Originally, I described TNTLTP as being a 'long comic strip' which, I
have to admit, is a description that I am more comfortable with. I have
joked that I secretly describe it as a 'graphic novel' and I have used
the term, almost seriously, in conversation. I guess it depends on who
I'm talking to. If they are very knowledgeable about comics, then I say
'long comic' because if I said 'graphic novel' I would start to worry
that they are wondering 'who does this man think he is comparing his
hacked out work to Maus and Epileptic?' when, of course, I wouldn't
dare. If the person has only a passing knowledge of comics then I might
say 'graphic novel' but only because I imagine that in their mind, their
idea of what one is might include an Avengers TPB written by Chuck
Austen. If it's someone with no interest in comics then, well, refer to
my answer to question 1.

3. Did you write the entire story out as one chunk or do you treat each
issue seperatly?

I have a strong understanding of what is going to happen in TNTLTP.
But I also know that it might take me a long time to complete, so I've
allowed myself enough space (I hope) to be spontaneous so I won't get
bored with living with the idea. I write then draw a scene at a time.
When I release the 'episodic' printed version, I close them at the end
of a scene; I'm not writing it consciously with 24 pages, or
thereabouts, in mind. I'm thinking of it as being one unit rather than
lots of parts.

4. Why did you decide to print it, rather than put it on the web?

I started drawing TNTLTP before I was entirely sure what I was going
to do with it. I knew that, ultimately, I would like to see it all in a
single printed volume. When I got a number of pages drawn I decided that
I wanted to get it out there so that I wouldn't get tempted to stop
drawing it. I did consider posting it online but I had recently self
published Telephone Thing and a small press version of strips from the
Book of Lists website and, as I really liked the final objects, I
decided to go with print.

5. Do you hope to produce similar work in the future (i.e. longer story
arcs?)

Oh yes. But it depends on my personal circumstances really. If I'm
drawing at my current rate, then it could be a while before I complete
TNTLTP and so, at that point, I might fancy a break and feel like
drawing a bunch of short strips. I already have an idea for the long
comic/graphic novel I would like to do after it. It can be a bit
frustrating having ideas come to me faster than I'm able to draw them.

Posted by Leonie at 03:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Did you know that there is a jaws game? You probably did, but I didn't and I usually have my finger on the pulse of the shark merchandise world. You play as the shark, how come I only found out about this now? They should make a new movie too, and by 'they' I mean Spielberg. There should be a new Shark attack movie too. If they're stuck for a script I could do one in an afternoon. But the last one had a Megalodon in it, how do you top that? Don't worry, I've got the answer. Here is the bit where our hero has an epiphany at the end of the second act: "My god, no wonder we've had problems tracking this shark. It isn't just one shark, it's a group of sharks that form together like Voltron to create a super-mega-ultra-megalodon!" Yes, only the power rangers can save the earth now. Don't steal that Spielberg, you hack!
Anyway, I found out about this while researching my next presentation. No, really. We have 20 mins to talk about ourselves. Usually this wouldn't pose any problem to me, I can talk about myself for days barely pausing for breath. The problem is that it needs to be interesting and relevant, and if you've read my blog before you will know these aren't my strong points. Damn you tutors and your small print. I've had no problems doing the parts about me and my influences, that could be a presentation in itself, but the bits about placing my work in a historical/theoretical context and talking about the future of my work (y'know, the important parts of the talk) are a bit tougher.
I'm also hoping to have something to show at the Brighton comic expo, which is tricky because my work is still evolving, but I would like to have something to show people what I'm up to and also to bother some editors with (they don't like it if you just shout at them, but if you have some pictures to show them they don't mind as much).

Posted by Leonie at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of my favouritist comic creators,
Scott Morse has just launched his own publishing imprint. Although, the work is being distributed by AdHouse books, which aren't the easiest to get hold of ( as I found out when I tried to get hold of South Paw by Scott Morse, see image above. Thanks to Bucky at Travelling man for tracking it down. Of course, you can get it on Amazon now.)
Had an interim review of my work today which, I think, went very well. My work has advanced and changed quite a bit since the start of the course, the story is coming on well and I'm finding an interesting way of working. My work's getting even looser (which is the opposite of what I expected) I'm just as excited, if not more excited, about the project than when I started.
The interview with Bryan Talbot was also really useful as it helped back up some my reasoning (i.e. conclusions I had come to are also conclusions he's come to, but of course he's been able to put it into practice and made some very successful work, which is very inspiring.)

Posted by Leonie at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)