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Yeah, me too buddy. Some peoples comments have been erased. I don't know why, and I am very sorry. Comments are very welcome and appreciated on this blog. Unfortunately I'm having a big spammy problem at the moment and I think some proper comments may have been erased along with the unwanted ones. Although it seems to have been very random.
I'm looking in to it, please keep writing!
Thanks!
If you're wondering what to buy me for Christmas......
Swatch have brought out Corto Maltese watches - and they're awesome.
Check out their site for little animations and strips based on Hugo Pratts work.
http://www.swatch.com/cortomaltese/langues.html
(Being the geek that I am, I actually found out about these through the new issue of National Geographic, which arrived on my doorstep this morning.)
Oh, and while we're on the subject of the most amazing comic artists ever....there was a great show about Moebius last night on one of the BBC channels. Lovely candid interviews and very inspiring words from the man himself. Hopefully it'll be repeated soon.
This site sets you a challenge. Nice idea if you fancy creating something and need a starting point. I think I've already done three out of the five challenges currently posted.
http://52comicchallenges.com/
Here's a question:
What do you do when your paper is too thick to use a light box?
Lately I've been doing my inking on heavy paper (lightboxed from the initial pencil sketches) so I can paint on it. However, it's really hard to make out the pencil sketches, so it's impossible to use detailed pencil drawings.
This is one of the reasons why Some Forgotten Part was drawn straight onto the painting in ink, so I could do away with the pencils. But this won't work for every project. I used some carbon paper type stuff for 'The Creature' strip (written by Tony Hitchman), but this too had its own set of problems. I've also tried doing inks and paint on different layers, but this didn't work well for me.
I might try a cellulose thinner print and see how well it copes with paint.
Suggestions are welcome!
Drink and Draw Robot by Spleenal. More pictures on MySpace (You probably need an account to see them though)
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=246913947
Check out this ambitious new site: indie review
The idea is that it's a wealth of information for small press people as well as being an accessible resource for people who are just starting out. It's what we hoped to do with the old TGT site, but we failed! The internet has changed quite a bit in seven years, so hopefully these guys will find it a bit easier. They've certainly made a great start, there's already a lot of stuff on there. I did a webcomic for them ages ago, while they were still putting the site together, so I don't know if they're planning to have a webcomic section or a gallery or something along those lines in the future. They've also got some reviews of my book, Some Forgotten Part (please buy it here). Thanks to Garen and Dave! Hoorah, my first reviews!
Drink and draw went well on Saturday and hopefully it's just the first of many. There should be some photos and drawings going up on myspace soon. I had a bad drawing day, so decided to concentrate more on the drinking and less on the drawing. Spleenal put us all to shame with wonderful robot drawings and hellboy gags. I did get to take one of his drawings home with me, so I'll post a scan of that up at some point. (And then turn it in to prints and t-shirts and make millions from it. Ha ha. Sucker!)
Thanks to everyone who has replied to my script request, I've gotten some exciting stuff and I'm looking forward to seeing the ones that are on their way.
You may have noticed that my next comic, 'Tag Team', has been delayed. Basically, I'm a few pages short. A few of the writers have not been able to send on scripts (the usual case with small press comics, people are busy with real life jobs and stuff), so now I'm stuck without anything to draw and I want to publish this soon!
So, if you'd like to send a script within the next four days, just email me.
Scripts need to be:
an original piece with original characters (no copyright infringement)
one to two pages in length
There is no theme or genre. Writers retain copyright of their script, I retain copyright of the artwork. There is no profit expected, although if money is somehow generated royalties will be shared out in the normal way. The comic will be printed through Lulu.
Peter Frain has organised a Drink and Draw session in Newcastle on the 15th of September. We should (kinda) be synching up with the NYC and Milwaukee Chapters. We have a whole bar to ourselves, so, well done Peter!
If you like to drink and draw and will be in the area, let me know! As these are two of my favourite things to do, I will definitely be there! Now add in some sharks, a pizza and some stick fighting and it's my perfect night!
Something else I'm digging at the moment is modern life drawing classes. I've been befriended by a few on Myspace, all in the US, and they do life drawing in interesting places (like the pub) and use all sorts of models, (like burlesque dancers). Sounds like fun and makes a change from some scary looking naked guy in a school hall. I don't know if there are any in the UK, but I think maybe I could organise one locally. Instead of having one person teach it like a class, I think it would be cool to just have group critiques (in an informal way) because it would probably be mainly attended by experienced artists anyway. Again, let me know if you're interested.
See a Zombie fight a Tiger shark:
There's a new shark movie being made about sharks in Venice. I was going to do a comic like that years ago, as part of a story arc based around an old comic I did called Evolvomatic. I wish I'd done it, because now I could try and sue Hollywood. I hear they're rich.
Then I'd take my 80 million dollar settlement and make my own movie, which would be along the lines of this masterpiece:
I wouldn't bother with file footage though.
I had the pleasure of reading a 30 page preview of the new MEG novel (you know, the books about a giant prehistoric shark that causes all kinds of mayhem). I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. Obviously, I will still buy the book when it comes out because it's about a giant shark and that's good enough for me. For people who've read the other books, it starts off a bit dull. Infact, the start of it seems to be straight out of a text book and other bits are from a Discovery channel documentary (I know because I saw the same one). All the same discriptions are used, like 'nostrils the size of basketballs or grapefruit or whatever ' etc. (BTW, that's not a direct quote) and personally, I don't like the addition of other ancient sea creatures, but they've popped up again and may well play another prominent role. I still recommend reading these books though, they are very entertaining and I hope they make the MEG movie soon because the books read like a summer blockbuster.(although New Line cinema has dropped its contract, but I'm sure someone else will pick it up).
If you're looking for a more factual shark book I can't recommend Devil's Teeth enough. It's really well written and tells you tons of fascinating things. It's from the point of view of a journalist who goes to live with biologists on the Farallon islands, and if you've seen the BBC documentary that inspired the book then you'll know that the sharks there are huge and the place is pretty much uninhabitable. The author has uncovered some really interesting facts about the place too, like there's loads of nuclear waste and a decomposing oil tanker on the sea floor even though its a nature reserve.
Okay, okay, enough shark talk. Here's some comics stuff.
Malcy has rereleased the Banana / skin joke, it's available (with a new cover) from http://www.missingtwin.net, along with his other books: A 52 SECOND SILENCE FOR TOPSY and THE BLACKEST GNOME
Some idiot in Comics International keeps giving him good reviews, so you might want to check them out. They're
odd.