This blog has now moved to:
The archives are still housed at this address, so if you want to know what questions I asked Bryan Talbot in 2005, if I passed my Filipino martial arts grading in 2007, or what my thoughts are on the work of maverick director Danny Lerner, please check out the old posts on the right.
the ongoing issues with my blog have gotten much worse! So it looks like I might be setting up a new one elsewhere. Don't worry, I'll let you know all about it.
In the mean time you can check out my photos from my super awesome NYC adventure.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leonieo/sets/72157617501206447/
Well, it's all going on in Leonieland now. Oh yeah. Got some good freelance work in at the moment, illustrations, teaching, all that good stuff. And, I might make it to to the USA twice this year. Woo hoo! Plus, I've been curating a super secret, super special exhibition which is coming together nicely. And, I was considering putting together a new Bishi Bashi,(warning! Beware of awful pop-ups at that link!) but there might be something a bit bigger just around the corner. So, I won't quite get all those comics done that I New Year resolutioned to do. But stay tuned, I think this is going to be a good year.
There were some links here, but I had to take them out as they weren't always loading properly. Basically, check out acceptable tv, they do some funny stuff.
Normal service shall resume soon. I'm working on some new stuff and once my 'studio' (i.e. freezing cold mess of a box room) is sorted out there'll be some lovely new artwork for you to gaze upon. If you can't wait for free art, please defy the credit crunch and buy one of my nice comics: http://stores.lulu.com/leonieo
I'm between computers at the moment, so I can't put up any new art right now. But, I know you visit here to waste some time and I don't want to disappoint you, so today I shall share some favourite links with you. I'm also returning the favour for all the wonderful links that you have left for me (and I don't mean the cheap meds ones.)
First of all some animation:
Graham Annable is one of my favourite comic book writers/artists. He has awesome comic timing. So imagine how happy I was when Andy showed me that he now animates stuff too!:
http://uk.youtube.com/user/grickle
I'm totally going to start animating stuff once I get this computer situation fixed. Oh yeah. Then I'm gonna bag me an oscar. You'll see. You'll all see.
Okay, now some photos:
I came across the Smithsonian Institution on Flickr, there are some great photos, and the comments are interesting. People are kicking off about some of the images being racist. I guess some people don't get how Museums or photos or history work.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/
I also found the National Martime museum on there, which is more my sort of thing. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmaritimemuseum/
The National Galleries of Scotland have some beautiful old pictures of Edinburgh: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalgalleries/
I'm currently trawling through the links for the other museums and galleries. It will take a while.
Kids show:
Another link from Andy because his job seems to consist of using the internet. Concept indeed. This is one of the best kids shows ever! I think it was on boingboing or some such site, so you may have already seen it:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qSozwHahauc
That's all your links for today.
I'm working on some more comic stuff, obviously by now you'll have bought the new issue of Monstrum and although it won't have been delivered yet you will be eager for the next issue. So I'm working on that. I'm also doing a one-pager for an anthology that won't be out until 2010. They like to be organised.
Here's the shark cake that some kind people surprised me with for my birthday (it's part eaten in this picture, I didn't get to photograph it in time, it was super yummy):
Just a quick post to let you know that Monstrum Horrendum, Book 1 Vol. 2. has been uploaded to Lulu and I'm just waiting for the proof copies. (Which usually take weeks to show up) I think they'll need a lot of adjusting, judging by the preview, so although Monstrum is finally finished, it will probably be another month before it's available to buy. Boo!
I had an awesome Christmas (there will be the usual photos up soon), hope you all had a great time over the festive period too.
Some very sad news. Steve Donald passed away at the weekend.
A lot of you probably knew Steve, he was at all our comic events and was involved with many arts and business projects in the North East. Andy and I were first introduced to him about seven or eight years ago. He was meant to be one of our business mentors, but we quickly discovered a shared love of bad movies and Buffy the vampire slayer and became good friends. I don't think Steve intended to stay in a mentoring role, but he was one of those people who can't stop themselves from helping you out. He encouraged me to go freelance and passed on work to me. He hired Andy to help out on an animated advert, which went on to win an award. Over the years I have met many people who were also encouraged by Steve, and as he taught many workshops in schools I can't help but think that there are probably many young people in the North East who have taken their first steps in to comics or film thanks to him.
His own work was hugely varied (another great influence on both me and Andy). From Viz to Orson Cart to muppets, he had worked on so much cool stuff it was just plain unfair for one person to have such an awesome C.V! Obviously, he had the best stories and I remember the first time we went to his house he pulled out David Bowies face (a prop he made for an unused scene in Labyrinth). He could also tell you how any special effect or stunt was done and was a massive Buffy afficionado (we got him to give a talk on the subject at one of our Bishi Bashi comic events). We would spend weekends watching box sets with him, the deal was he brought the show, we made food. I remember showing him how to cook a simple pasta dish one evening, he was intent on applying his knowledge of science and logic, where as I am from the vague makey uppy school of cookery. It ended in confusion all round with him turning his attention to how to make my pots more efficient.
He was the most down to earth and most no nonsense person I have met, always obliging to tell it as it is.
He reached many people in a hugely positive way through his work. He was a kind and thoughtful person with a sharp sense of humour.
He will be sadly missed and our thoughts are with his family.
Awesome mints. Great bite tins come with a bite out of them and pre-bitten mints, because sharks get hungry. I first came across them when Erin gave me a tin during the week, which was a wonderful surprise, then today I found a small tic-tac style version in the newsagents.
Tomorrow I shall be carving our annual pumpkin, and I got a tiny squash that looks like a mini pumpkin to go with it. Also, I shall be carving with Cold Steel knives, so it should be the best one yet.
Shark in Venice.
Danny Lerner is living the dream. My dream. He churns out bargain basement shark movies, which all seem to do well enough in DVD sales that he can continue to churn them out. Shark in Venice, much like Danny and Avi Lerners other Bulgarian shark classics (Sharkzone, the Shark Attack2, 3 and Raging sharks) has ropey effects, terrible dialogue and a nonsense script. This DVD also comes with a making of, which is in many ways more entertaining than the movie.
Set in Venice, we are treated to a Dolmio puppet villain, some mafia nonsense, and some plot about the Medici treasure (throwing around such precise dates as the ’ Medieval period’, although we are assured in the making of that the history has been well researched.) A Baldwin is called in to find his missing Dad, which starts out a bit like Last Crusade, but not good, and then it all goes downhill from there. The sharks keep growling, which seems to be a Lerner trademark, and they are accompanied by a choral score along the lines of the Omen. Due to some vague directing it’s hard to tell where abouts the sharks are in relation to anyone or which direction they are travelling in. I’m also pretty sure that footage from Shark Attack 3: Megalodon, was reused in a dream sequence. On the plus side, the colour of the water is quite well matched, which is usually the worst tell tale sign of file footage.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
The main story is that Mr.Dolmio wants a Baldwin to go and get this treasure, but Baldwin won’t because he has something against the mafia or Italians or hates pasta or something. He is, however, quite happy to steal bits of the treasure for his girlfriend who is an expert in the ‘Medieval’. The treasure is hard to get at because the canals are full of sharks! Why are the canals full of sharks? Because Mr. Dolmio lured them in there when they were Bambinos and has been feeding them up ever since to be killer sharks (a frequently used term in these movies, used as though it is a species of shark). Wait! Doesn’t he want the treasure from the canal that he has filled with killer sharks (Carcharodon Killerodon)? D’oh!
The sharks kill a few people, in broad daylight with a lot of witnesses even though the authorities keep denying the existence of these so called ‘sharks’. One shark even has the audacity to violently attack a Baldwin, but he somehow survives with only a slight cut to the shoulder, which makes me think that these sharks aren’t so tough after all. The whole thing ends with a big gun fight (because killer sharks just aren’t enough these days) and Venice is still full of sharks, so maybe there’ll be a sequel.
Well, I made it down to BICS but only had a quick look about. Said hello to some old friends ('old' as in I've known them quite a while, not a comment on their age), picked up some....um...interesting comics and that's about it. There was an excellent programme of events on, but I didn't get to any of them.
I did however, get to have an exquisite ice cream at Selfridges. The most expensive ice cream I have had to date, but worth every penny. Sorry, every pound.
This is the impressive sundae I had from Morellos Gellato at Selfridges in Birmingham. Cream, vanilla, chocolate and hazlenut ice-cream, whole hazlenuts, chocolate sauce, chocolate flakes, hot chocolate and nut fudge sauce in a chocolate cup. And a wafer.
Andy had a smaller wuss version:
Another highlight of my week was attending the Dragonforce gig at the Carling Academy in Newcastle.
Well, I'm doing some more illustration work at the moment and catching up on all the anthology strips I've promised people. I keep saying 'that's it, no more', but I can't help myself. I'm a total comics slut. It turns out someone did want to use that 'destruction' strip I posted up after all, but now it's been on the internet it's no good to publish. So I'm going to do them something new.
I'm very sorry (again) for all the hideous spam. It has been brought to my attention that there is a lot of spam on the older posts. I'm trying to sort it out, but Firefox isn't having any of it. So, please just ignore it for now and don't follow any links. Unless you like that sort of thing.
Next weekend is BICS! Looking forward to it, I haven't been to any big comics things in AGES! Yay! If you're going, I'll see you there. Woo hoo.
Well, I haven't got any good photos from the dive, it wasn't really the best conditions for photography. There's some up at Flickr if you're interested.
The dive itself was excellent, I saw some big sandtigers, tope and rays!
As I was waiting to descend (you have to climb down a rope to the main part of the tank) a sandtiger swam past. As her dorsal fin cut through the water, what with the unnatural lighting and bits of metal grating jutting out of the water and the over head walk way, it reminded me of Deep Blue Sea. Awesome! We had to cut the dive a little short as the sharks had started circling and getting a bit too familiar. I also got in trouble for standing up (you're meant to stay close to the floor so as not to disturb the mid-level shark traffic). But it's hard to remember all that stuff when there's supercool massive fish whizzing about. It feels like it happened ages ago, it was a really unique experience for me, it all seems so surreal. Now it's like a memory of a dream that happened to someone else on telly.
Thanks to Malcy for letting us stay over at such short notice. It turns out there are no trains out of Edinburgh after 7.00. I think it's some ploy to make you stay there at expensive festival season prices. Malcy has some excellent new comics out, I read them a few days ago and they're great. I've reviewed them for Comics International, so I won't say much more about them now.
I'm just getting Monstrum ready to send off to publishers for consideration. I'm still planning on self-publishing so if they all turn it down it doesn't matter. I'm teaching in Sunderland tomorrow and generally keeping very busy at the moment (so, of course I've had a ton of neat ideas for new projects.) I seem to mainly be creative underpressure.
Hey, anyone going to the Birmingham comic convention (October) or Angouleme (January)? I'll make it to some comic event in the near future, hopefully both of those.
Shark dive was super awesome.
Full details with photos coming soon.
Some (not very good) photos from the exhibition. Larger versions at Flickr (just click on the images to go there.)
I will not be attending Caption this year. I'm gutted, I thought I'd actually make it down there this year. It seems a huge shame that I can't get there, especially when they're using my artwork on the adverts.
I will, however, be diving with sharks the weekend after that. Yay!
Yet again I've had to take a short break from comics, just as I was getting back in to my stride! Monstrum 3 is pencilled, but I'm thinking of pencilling issue 4 before I move on to inking. I still haven't decided whether or not to publish them together. The stories follow on from one another so I think it'd be nice to have them together.
But before I move on to issue 4 I have a short strip to complete, I'm hoping to get it done this week. It has a sea monster in it.
I've been busy with travel, exhibiting and now paperwork. I've been teaching some more workshops and have some more coming up soon, so I need to sort out invoices and reciepts and CRB checks and all that fun stuff.
I've also been inspired to do a new project. I won't say too much at this early stage, but I'm thinking big, lots of artists and touring. Well, there's no point dreaming small is there?
I have a small exhibition in Middlesbrough next week:
I'm showing some pages from SFP, Monstrum and two illustrations.
I went back to Ireland for a few days last week, they've started tearing up the harbour where I grew up to build an ugly and unnecessary new marina. There was a real public outcry against it and a lot of protests, but it still managed to get the go ahead.
How the harbour used to look:
How it currently looks:
And how it will apparently look when finished:
(It may look all lovely and modern in this sunny picture but imagine it in the pouring rain, because that's how Greystones looks for most of the year.)
My business cards were old and a bit annoying. I hate the font (what was I thinking? Did I choose it with my eyes closed?) and the printer resized the design without asking and did a bad job of it, so they've never quite looked right.
So I decided to get some Moo cards (since I can't afford the amazingly elaborate ones I've designed in my head), which have turned out pretty good. There are 9 designs, some have cropped better than others (one is pictured, above). I also have some Moo stickers on the way so I can stick little squids on the back of each one. Obviously, this is more to keep me entertained than to entice potential clients.
I had a diving lesson this week. I was pretty rubbish at it, as I'm a terrible swimmer. The instructors were great, really patient with me! They had to put weights in my diving vest to keep me underwater, and then, while everyone else was swimming about gracefully I was muppeting about so much that I've put my back out a bit. But by the end of the class I was splishing about like a large unco-ordinated fish. One step closer to my great shark adventure!
Here's a picture of me to explain all the technical terms of diving:
So…as I mentioned before, we went to California to film a documentary. I can’t talk much about the actual documentary and I can’t show photos from it (maybe I can at some point in the future), but I can tell you that it all went very well and it should turn out great. Editing hasn’t started yet, but we’re already working towards our next projects.
We landed in LAX and expected to spend ages trying to get in to the country, but it was fine. The airport is hideous but the security isn’t as bad as everyone makes out. Or maybe we were just lucky. Terminal 5 at Heathrow was also better than we’d been led to believe. We got there and back with all our bags.
The drive from the airport to the hotel took three times longer than route planner had said, because it doesn’t take the traffic in to consideration. The hotel itself (Resident Inn Oxnard) was awesome. I would definitely recommend it, should you ever visit Oxnard. Friendly staff, a swimming pool, hot tub, and a huge complimentary breakfast bar made it a very pleasant place to stay. There were also Happy hours and free BBQs, but we missed all of that. The food in California is amazing. I have never eaten so much in my life and I can eat quite a lot! We tried Mexican, Hawaiian, Japanese and of course In and Out burger. The portions were massive, and everything was super cheap. After a few nights I was wary of the massive portions and decided to order a starter instead, foolishly thinking it would be more manageable. I ended up with four burgers, salad and a mound of potato wedges. Yep, that’s a starter.
On Saturday I met up with my brother and his family who live in San Jose, which is really far from where we were staying, but they decided to come visit us and camp nearby. On Sunday we started filming. We went to a shooting range and I got to shoot some guns! I had some expert tuition and it’s lots of fun. I wasn’t great, but I reckon I can shoot better than a stormtrooper.
The guy we were making the documentary about was really friendly and by the end of the week we’d all become friends. He took us out for meals and he and his wife showed us great hospitality. Everyone we met in America seemed really friendly, it was a bit of a culture shock coming from England, where people don’t tend to talk to strangers unless they have to.
We spent the rest of the week filming, mainly watching people fighting, looking at weapons and dead animals. My job involved making sure that everything we did was within the contracts, okay for insurance, and that we had all the right paper work, etc. So I basically made people sign things and then I just stood around. It’s a pretty neat job.
We got to see some of the area, we went to LA, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Malibu and Topanga Canyon and some beach between Oxnard and Santa Barbara, I’m not sure where that was. The beaches were stunning and there had been a Great White attack in the area a week before we arrived, so I was hoping to spot one swimming about. I didn’t see any though. Apparently a live Mako washed up on one of beaches along there too, but I didn’t get to see any of those either. There was plenty of thresher shark on the local menus, that’s as close as I got. I’m determined to get a dive in this year. Somehow, somewhere!
L.A. was….smoggy. It was cool to see it. We went to High Voltage (the tattoo shop used in the show L.A. Ink) and I saw Cat Von D milling about. Herod swears we saw Orlando Bloom and Andy says we passed by Nick Lachey too. So we did some celeb spotting while we there. I got pictures of all the important stars too:
We went to the Griffith Observatory,, Sheriffs excellent suggestion, and got an amazing view of the city.
We checked out the farmers market, which had some great food stalls and a cool little Americana antique place. We also went to La Brea tar pits:
Santa Barbara was one of my favourite places.
The beach was lovely and there were a lot of squirrels (which are probably a great annoyance to the residents but very cute for tourists).
I think it was the only place where I had food that wasn’t deep fried and didn’t have any meat in it. But I did follow it with ice cream, so it can’t have been that healthy. The harbour near where we stayed was great too, I loved the local architecture and there was a really nice Mexican café by the beach. We checked out the local retail outlets too (everything was silly cheap over there, I got a great Mutts t-shirt for $4.00!) and we checked out the thrift stores (which were massive!) and Andy got to check out the hospital because his finger got infected. There are a lot of places I want to visit, but I would love to go back there.
Set of photos on Flickr: California set
Also, I’ve put up some work on Lulu. It’s available as stock images or art prints. I don’t know what the quality is like yet so please bear that in mind if you decide to order something.
I am going to offer stock illustration/photos and art prints through Lulu, it looks like a pretty good service, I don't know how well it will do but it's worth a try! I've also just been interviewed for Colouring Outside the Lines. The questions were really interesting, it was a very enjoyable interview!
By this time next week I'll be in California working on Andy's documentary along with Sheriff and Herod. I can't wait!
So, I’ve busy been doing some new illustrations for a museum, making another new comic strip, designing some branding for a new shop and helping to make a documentary. But I’m not going to talk about any of that stuff. Oh no. Instead I’m going to share some links with you today.
Via the ever wonderful http://www.boingboing.net, a gallery of anti-Japanese war propaganda films.
http://www.ir0ngruve.com/fs_gallery/
Really interesting to me, not just because of the artwork but also because I’m really interested in the history of the Phillipines. That might sound random, but it was brought about through studying Kali, a martial art from the Phillipines.(The art was recently showcased on Discovery Channels abysmal ‘Fight Quest’ show) Here’s a Moro warrior:
You don’t see many pictures of those. It was cool that Ben managed to randomly find a kids book all about them at a car boot sale. (previously blogged here: http://www.lomooreblog.com/2006/11/swords_and_sails.html )
Also, here’s how they represent the Japanese:
I think it’s published under creative commons, so I expect the designs will turn up on t-shirts at some point or will be ripped off by some trendy young artist in the near future. Also on boingboing, how to make an R2D2 beanie, an R2D2 made from a beer barrel (which looks better than it sounds) and Disney drawings by Hitler. I’ll let you find those articles yourself because there’s lots of other neat stuff there too, so you should just go and read it.
Here’s a link to a bizarre little comic strip, sent to me by Miguel(http://tizersoze.wordpress.com/). It was also on boingboing a couple of years ago, because everything good ends up there eventually. http://www.bustedwonder.com/exterminus/
People fish tank. Story over at OhGizmo:
http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/02/23/fishtank-friday-people-tank/#more-9623
Spleenal sent some good links too about using a Wii remote to create a VR display and an interactive whiteboard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw&NR=1
Also on OhGizmo! Paintball with dolphins, and other crazy new game ideas from the Game Design challenge.
http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/02/22/gdc08-challenge-the-inter-species-game/#more-9610
I’m currently developing laser tag for sharks, but not as a virtual reality thing, as a real sport. Think about it….people could hunt sharks without killing them and sharks could hunt people without having to use that ‘I thought it was a sea turtle’ excuse that they always hide behind. It’s wearing pretty thin. I mean, I can tell the difference between a sea turtle and a surfer and sharks have way better senses than me. Yeah, laser tag seems like the way forward.
Well, I've sold some more t-shirt designs and my Uneetee shirt has been re-issued and is selling well.
So, I thought I'd share with you my t-shirt collection, because I really like t-shirts. I've done it as an extended entry because it's long and some people will find it boring. So click the link to read more.
Just to make sure I didn't get too confident from all the lovely comments I've been receiving, evil cosmic forces decided to send me a horrible rejection letter. Actually, they sent it to the wrong address first but, it managed to catch up with me. I guess evil cosmic forces don't keep an up to date address book.
I've had a lot of rejection letters in the past, I've been sending off work left, right and centre since I was in my teens and my painful optimism made me keep on going. However, this latest one has set a new standard of rejection. I've had to send letters like this out myself and having had so many, I know how horrible they can be. At best, they offer you constructive advice (these are the ones from really good editors) and at worst they don't give you any reason (usually from editors who are struggling with their workload).
This one arrived a year after I submitted work and was incredibly patronising. It was scrawled in biro on the bottom of the letter I had sent to them and offered such revelatory advice as 'try drawing everyday'. Wow, I wish they'd told us that during the MA. It's the type of letter you would send to a child who had sent in their doodles, and I'm mainly offended by the fact they thought that I was that kid. I wouldn't have cared if they'd said the usual 'your work is not for us' or 'your style does not suit our publication', you know, the sort of thing you write to be polite. Or they could've even just said 'NO! NO WAY! UH UH!'
Apparently, if I work harder I might be able to work in the business some day....I actually thought I already was in the business, maybe I should tell the tax office I was mistaken and ask for some kind of refund.
Well, I'll be looking forward to their next publication. I hope I don't end up with a review copy.
Hey all.
Have you worked with me in the past? If so, I'm looking for testimonials / soundbites to put on my site because people don't seem to believe how awesome I am. That's the only reason I can think of for my present state of poverty. Email me or comment here to contribute. I think the page may be covered in little creatures with the testimonials in speech bubbles, so if you have a creature preference please let me know, and include a business name/website where appropriate (there will be a link to your site as a thank you for your help). This includes people I have worked with on a paid or voluntary basis. And creature preference can include mythical ones too.
Christmas was good this year,
Lots of nice food:
Festive animals:
and nice food festive animals:
(That's a bull made from jelly beans.)
This Christmas had it all.
We went for a walk around Greystones beach on Christmas day and saw a robin sitting on the old pier, how seasonal!:
(click on it for a larger view)
Unfortunately the plans have now been signed to turn this beautiful old harbour in to a spangly new marina.
Turning it from this:
In to this:
They've also closed down the cinema (as seen in 'father ted'). This cinema is next door to where I grew up, and I saw many of my favourite films here:
It wasn't a very good cinema, but it had character and my love of film was probably spawned by the many visits I had there as a child.
There was also a trip to the aquarium, which I have to admit has improved a LOT since I was a child. The Lego staff seem to be doing an excellent job:
Decided to go with a traditional cartoony pumpkin face this year. We could only afford one Hallowe'en decoration, so I thought it best to stick with the classics. It's a bit happier than last years pumpkin:
Me and Andy went to a farm on Thursday. I don't know why, it just seemed like the thing to do. It was good fun, but they don't let you take any of the animals home. I would've liked one of the ducks. Some photos at Flickr.
I don't know why, but I love looking at different designs for diving suits. Here's ten of the best:
http://www.oobject.com/diving-helmets/carmagnolle-diving-suit/667/
The Carmagnolle is my favourite:
It may make an appearance in a future Monstrum strip. I'm just finishing up a Monstrum strip that will be free to read online. That's right, free!
If you're interested in diving stuff too, there's a great book I read a few years ago by Trevor Norton called 'Stars beneath the sea', about the pioneers of diving. They're all crazy. Very entertaining.
Next drink and draw session - 27th October, at the sports bar in newcastle.
here's their myspace page.
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.
So, a bunch of us comic book people (I believe the collective term is a gaggle of geeks) met up for some drinks and comic talk. It's been ages, in some cases years, since we've all seen each other.
The main attendees were me, Andy Smith, Terry Wiley, Nigel Auchterlounie, John Fellows, Steve Donald and Steven Finch.
And how cool is this? Terry Wileys new business card features a drawing of me:
Spleenal also made a special guest appearance:
I had an interesting debate (okay, more like a drunken argument) with this guy about films, after he'd been cussing star wars I noticed he was wearing this shirt:
I think a good time was had by all, I definitely had a good time. Or did I? I don't know, I may have been a bit drunk.
...too quiet. Don't worry, I haven't been yammering on lately because I'm busy working on the next big thing. I'm also busy telling anyone who'll listen about SFP, I'm like some proud parent who won't shut up about their obnoxious stinky child. Here's a picture, incase you've forgotten what it looks like:
I can't believe I got suckered in to seeing Transformers. At the cinema! That nagging optimism of mine owes me the price of a cinema ticket. I hate you Michael Bay, you've ruined my childhood and rattled my love of film. Not only was the movie bad it was also really really long with a swiss cheese plot. And worst of all, there's blatently going to be a sequel, probably with a different cast and a Michael Bay wannabe director. I doubt Spielberg has even sat through the finished thing. And no Vince DiCola soundtrack, a pox on Hollywood!
My optimism assures me that Jaws 5 will be incredible though.
Something good is coming......keep checking to find out the good news.
It involves fish.
That sounds like a good story title. Anyway, I went to every shop in town in search of a yellow cartridge for my printer, but all the shops were out of stock! They had the other colours, but not yellow. In desperation (because I'd left it until the last minute to print something important and had to get ink immediately) I bought one of those really cheap refilled cartridges. It made magenta come out orange. I won't make that mistake again. Why had everwhere run out of that particular cartridge at the same time? It can't be coincidence, I must have a secret nemesis. That's the only logical explanation.
There was a more important thing I had to write about. What was It?.....Oh, yeah, a new comics people meet up thing. I got an email from Gav recently and it got me thinking that since me and Andy stopped running 'Bishi Bashi' (comic events that happened many moons ago) we've lost touch with a lot of people. So I'm sending the word out to any comics people in Newcastle (or the surrounding area), we'll have a little pub meet in early August. Get in touch if you are interested and pass the message on.
I also got a letter today from Puffin books telling me that my style wasn't what they were looking for. They missed the 'e' off my name, so I'm hoping they've sent me the wrong letter, and somebody called Leoni is currently wondering why Puffin books have sent her a contract with an extra 'e'. Or maybe my nemesis had something to do with it. Yeah, sounds like the type of mean thing a nemesis would do.
Still working away on 'Tag Team', my new comic. Been busy with work, an IKAEF (International Kali Arnis Eskrima Federation) grading and I haven't been feeling too well this week, hence the lack of activity on my blog. I will try to be more interesting next week! Oh, and my Uneetee tshirt has been added to their collection (limited edition still), so there's still some time to buy it.
People often ask me what it is I actually do. It's something I've had to think a lot about while writing my business plan. It occured to me that I don't post much of my work up here. The main reason for that is because it is top secret and....actually, that's not true...it's more to do with copyright. I don't own most of the illustrations I do, and although I ask permission to use them in my portfolio, I don't think that will stretch to using them on my blog. So to make up for that and explain partly what I do all day (apart from watching cartoons and eating cereal, which is all part of the creative process) here's some of the stuff I've been working on recently:
I had to do some paintings of sick people throughout history with props as well for an interactive dispaly. Here's a sweaty Georgian lady:
Here are some of the props, a bed and a photo of grumpy school kids.
I've been drawing a variety of people for another museum display, here is a chubby baby:
Here is the new logo I've designed for Phoenix Martial Arts Academy:
Okay, so that's the type of stuff I do. Now, on to more important things.
Have you seen Spiderman 3? I'm a bit disappointed in Mr.Raimi, but it could've been worse. I think they could've made it in to two movies, because there was just too much going on and the black suit/venom story is one of my all time ever favourite comic storylines so I think that should have been handled better. At least Bruce Campbell was still in it.
Oh, and an update on the MEG books that I keep going on about (you know the ones about the prehistoric giant shark that swims about eating everything) and you know how much I love sharks......I've entered a competition to be a character in the new MEG book. How cool would that be? My character would probably get eaten by a megalodon, which would be weird to read but still very cool. Fingers crossed I that I make it in to the book!
Have a look at these photos and tell me which is your favourite so I can submit it to this flickr group:
The best ones get in a book. I started off documenting my day: a trip to the garden center, put my new house plants in bigger pots, go for a walk down the Quayside...but then I went to the pub and it all went a bit down hill from there. Everyone elses all look very professional, so I don't think I'll make the book, but it's fun to take part anyway.
I've added a little shop section to my website. I should be adding a proper comics catalogue, a range of t-shirts and (hopefully) a print/artwork section in the near future. So get your credit cards ready!
Does "I am wicked cool" count as a unique selling point?
Those of you who know me well understand how much I hate designers who steal. (Actually, I've probably ranted about this before). I'm all for parody, homage, inspiration etc., but you need to give credit for these things to work. Sometimes it's tough if you are working for a client who wants something that already exists, but when you are making your own stuff, then there's no real excuse (and coincidence only goes so far). Boing Boing have posted a link to a cool site which shows David and Goliath t-shirts (which are all over the place at the moment and are probably uber-rich by now) next to similar, older designs. Check it out here before it gets pulled (the guys already had a letter from lawyers). Boing boing also have lots of comic related items items up today, including Scott McCloud, banning Comic Sans (Yay!),John K.,Jack Chick and underwear perverts. They also mention Aranzi Aronzo, who I've been telling people about for years and years, not that anyone has listened (except for Andy, Sheriff and Emma), and now I bet they're all super cool because they've been mentioned on boing boing. They've been making lovely toys and doing photo stories with them for a really long time, way before it was cool to do it on Flickr and way before that stupid car commercial. Credit where credit's due! (I guess that's todays motto)
It occured to me that blundering from one freelance job to another was hardly a career, so I met with a business advisor today. I have to draw up a business plan, which involves numbers and normally that would make me weep, but since the numbers relate to money, MY money (and money equals how many cakes and comics I can buy), then it's not so bad.
So, I'll be a proper business soon, with targets and strategies and all those other things that scare artists. If this all works out I'll be super-duper happy. The business advisor was really helpful and made me realise that I could be doing a lot better. Now I just need a calculator....
Well, I'm still unpacking and getting settled in the new abode, so internet access is patchy. Here's a quick update:
Edinburgh
Andy and I had a lovely weekend in Edinburgh at the start of the month, meeting up with some housemates from yesteryear.
We also went to an amazing Pixar exhibition which featured stunning pre-production art and a 3-D zoetrope (which is one of the coolest thing I have ever seen). If you're in Edinburgh, go check it out. It's so good it will make you sick. Sick and vomitty with envy!
Photos over at Flickr.(not of the exhibition though, they wouldn't let you take photos.)
New comics
Okay, I should have broadband next week-ish (woo hoo!) so then I'll sort out this print on demand nonsense. In the meantime, I've just finished a four page strip for Scar comics (I don't know if it'll get used though) and I'm working on a new comic which will be a collection of short strips by different writers (all drawn by me). I'm also teaming up with Tony Hitchman again for the next Accent UK collection, 'Robots'.
That is all. For now......
Should hopefully be moving house next week! Then I can live like normal folk, with proper homes, who don't have slugs in the kitchen and packaging crates for shelves. The new place will inevitably have a shark infestation, but that's not such a bad thing.
Seems like my little wookie isn't alone, there's a whole herd of them out there:
http://pocketwookie.com/
I think the person who set this up might've been the same one who emailed me asking where I got my wookie. I didn't realise it would lead to a project like this! I haven't got a very good internet set up (as I like to mention in pretty much every post - that should change when I move. Yippeee) so I haven't watched any of the footage, but it seems to be about Wookie emancipation, which I'm sure can only be a good thing. Although they do like to rip the arms off things and they are a lot stronger than you'd expect for such a tiny creature, so you do have to be careful.
I've been busy working (yeah, I do that sometimes) so I haven't had much time for blogging. I've made a new finger puppet, an attempt at the Jaws movie poster shark, but the colours are off and the nose isn't pointy enough. At least he looks like a shark though, which is the main thing!
SFP (my graphic novel) still isn't on Lulu yet. This is because my internet connection is too slow and also my friends computer couldn't get the files off my MP3 player. So now I've managed to get the files on to a laptop, but I've had problems downloading an FTP programme on to it, so I'll have to go around someones house with it ( a person with proper internet access ).
Anyway, I'm moving house soon and hopefully I'll be able to get broadband. I must be the only person who still has dial up. Stupid technology.
Got a new card from the stupid bank, the blog is saved!
My website is getting a much needed overhaul and will be relaunched (fingers crossed) on Wednesday the 28th of February. Write that in your diary, then go check it out and let me know if there are any mistakes. I've tried out some coding that I haven't used before so there may be a few hiccups and I don't kow what the browser compatibility will be like, so please let me know if you have any trouble with it.
Here's my new finger puppet (you may remember the Jack and Kim Bauer puppets and the President David Palmer puppet previously blogged):
Apollo was a birthday present for Bear (Happy Birthday Bear). As you can see I've tried googly eyes instead of beady ones (actually my very earliest finger puppets had googly eyes, so I guess it's kind of a googly comeback) and he also has arms (again, som early puppets had arms). In the past I've made a finger puppet zoo (each animal had its own rhyming illustrated story, this was a family Christmas present when I was a poor student), the cast of Star Trek the next generation (for a friend who had become briefly obsessed), Hansel and Gretel (for an illustration), and me and Andy (for a friend who was going travelling and was unsure whether or not she'd see us again). I'd like to start scaling them up a bit, making stuffed toy versions. I'm getting quite into knitting too, so I might add little knitted accessories. I'm far too busy with drawing at the moment (hurrah!) as I've got some more freelance work in (Yay!).
Don't forget to check out the new site! www.lomoore.com.
Soon you proably won't. Due to having the worst bank in the world this blog may disappear for a while. Apart from screwing up my credit card (hence all the awful pop up ads on my main site) they have now neglected to issue my other card in time, so I can't pay for this blog anymore. Words cannot describe how angry I am with this rubbish bank.
In the mean time check out spleenal. It's updated more often than my blog and has actual drawings.
Okay, so it's taken me a while to get around to writing my first post for the New Year, but I wanted to get things off to a positive start.
It occured to me this morning that the graphic novel I spent so long toiling over is just sitting on a shelf, taunting me in the way that unpublished books tend to do (why do they always pick on me?). I've decided that since I haven't been submitting it to publishers anymore and I can't afford to print it myself, it's time to try the print on demand route. Next week I'm going to spend some time reformatting it and going through the fine print at Lulu.com, then I'll send off for a copy and check out the finished product. If it's of a good standard then, hurrah, it's finally out there and maybe it'll stop laughing at me and pulling faces everytime I pass the bookcase. The only problems with print on demand services that I can see are that you can't really communicate with the printer and there isn't an out of pocket publisher desperately trying to sell the book for you. I know a lot of people seem interested in publishing with lulu, but everyone seems to want someone else to try it out first, so here it goes!
A big hello and thank you to everyone who has been checking out my stuff lately (thats all you guys at comicspace and my pals in the US who are looking for some t-shirts). I've had a great Christmas too, I went over to Ireland and had a nice relaxing time. My sister is training a guide dog puppy at the moment and he's lots of fun, and also really huge for a puppy. He's a labradoodle:
I was also pleased to find one of my favourite ever board games (and I really love board games) still intact in the attic, so we played a few games of that:
It comes with sea monsters, how can any other game compete with that?
And, of course, with Christmas comes all the joy of visiting friends and relatives
and collecting lots of loot, and I got some really great loot this year. We got Mike a V for Vendetta mask, look how scary it is:
I also took some more photos of my home town to add to my growing collection over at Flickr. They should start building the new marina soon, which will be weird. I'm getting as many photos of the harbour as I can before it gets all built up.
I'm still working on that novel too....whenever I type that it reminds me of that bit in Family Guy where Stewie is hassling Brian about the novel he's been writing....anyway, I'm going to put that up on lulu too.
Oh, and happy new year, by the way!
Merry Christmas - here is a Christmas cephalopod to make you feel all festive.
That's the painting I used on my Christmas card this year, if you didn't get one it's because I only posted about five of them, mainly due to laziness and being busy with other stuff, like partys, woo hoo!
This was the best jumper at the Christmas jumper party on Saturday.
And Johnny 5 was there, it was a great night. There was also the famous Phoenix Christmas party, this picture tells you all you need to know:
I've also joined comic space. And Matthew Badham, finally, has a blog.
And, this months issue of Martial Arts Illustrated has the first part of an amazing interview with Lynn Thompson by Andy. It's not to be missed, go buy it!
Ben stumbled across the best kids book ever, especially good for Kali geeks!
Swords and sails in the philippines was written by Phyllis Ayer Sowers and illustrated by Margaret Ayer, in 1944. It tells the story of Abdul, a young moro boy, during the Japanese invasion. It starts with the line: " Abdul would almost have given his knife to know what was going on in the jungle across the lagoon. " His knife is the most important thing in the world to him, and he gets captured, tortured, catches fire, and still he just carries on without a complaint. Abdul is helluva tough!
"Because he acted like an enemy, Abdul was pleased to see the white man's wrist was dripping with blood from a nasty cut made by the pirate knife." Yeah, they don't make books like this anymore. From what I've read about the period, it seems like a pretty well researched book too. Abdul carries an Anting-anting and there are a few references to traditional weapons too.
More photos on my flickr page:
leonieo (check the moro warrior tag if the images are no longer on the front page)
...I just haven't updated this in a little while. That's mainly because the days have been flying past and I don't really have anything worth writing about. That probably won't change any time soon, so here's an Octopus to keep you amused until I return.
Oh no, wait, there is something. Some of you may remember the Bryan Talbot interview . During that interview he discussed a book he wanted to write filled with anecdotes about and by comic pros...well, according to the new issue of Comics International (Issue 200, out now, buy it) he's finished it and is currently looking for a publisher. You (possibly) heard it here first.
Wookie has been busy carving the pumpkin (the innards made a lovely soup) and making his Hallowe'en costume (as you can see, the latter did not take him very long).
Wookie has also made an appearance on the time capsule that I previously blogged.
Malcy Duff has an exhibition coming up : Nov. 7th - Dec.5th at the Cameo cinema in Edinburgh.
I'm still looking for work. I'm spending a lot of time knitting and baking and training at the gym, which I'm enjoying, but I'd like to be making comics and earning some money! I can't go any further with Monstrum until I get some quotes back from printers so I know what size I'm working to, which is annoying as I'd hoped to have it ready for the big Birmingham show, but there is no hope of that now. Urgh!
Finished that zombie strip (picture above is a detail from one of the panels.) There's a new magazine starting up called Murky Depths, check it out here, they're open to submissions.
The days are flying past at the moment and I seem to be getting nowhere very quickly! Todays been eaten up by filling out job applications (yawn-o-rama). I'm hoping to get some drawing done later, but it's looking unlikely.
Bear and Brownlee have just moved in up the road, so now nearly everyone I know lives within easy walking distance, its all getting a bit weird. Its like our own little town. Actually, round here its more like our own little ghetto.
Something else that makes me smiley is this. I've always wanted wolvie claws and now I can have some. I wonder what area of the Kali syllabus wolvie claws come under?
Finally, the electricity and gas are working again!
Everything is back to normal.
Hurrican Remo is busy wrestling:
Next doors cat thinks he owns the neighbourhood, and therefore can just stroll into anyones house and piss on whatever he wants:
And I need to get some more freelance work.
Yep, same as ever.
Here's how beautiful my dissertation looked, it cost thirty pounds! But they expect it bound in a particular way, so best to just pay up.
The library in town has closed down, so all the books have been relocated to other libraries until it re-opens, and my local library got all the graphic novels! That's going to save me some money.
At the moment my days consist of filling out job applications, finishing off freelance work and filling out invoices, hoping to find some time to work on the next issue of monstrum (and that zombie strip I thought I'd have finished by now), trying to co-ordinate a manga exhibition, and all the usual stuff like doing dishes and other fun things.
Normally I'd be feeling pretty fed-up, but just having hot water and electricity after two weeks without is so nice that I don't really care about much else right now. It's a good feeling.
That is the sound that the fuse box kept making.
We've been without hot water and electricity for quite some time now, waiting while british gas messed about. I was very stressed as I had a ton of freelance work to do this week and I needed the computer. Luckily I was able to run an extension cord from the landladies house so I could get my work done. Now we have some electricity (no hot water, no fridge, no washing machine, no microwave, no kettle, no stereo), but british gas are back on Monday to pull up our floorboards (the problem is with the junction box - hooray!) but we don't have floorboards in that room, we have a solid floor which they'll have to cut through. Aaaarrghhhh.
Apart from that, and the fact that I think I'm really losing my mind, everything is just peachy! Haven't been able to work on that comic strip which I was meant to have finished by now, for obvious reasons. No further along with the next issue of monstrum. Handed in my dissertation, apparently I did really well. Some good news at least!
I think this means I'm finished my MA, I have no idea when I'll get results or if I get anything in writing to say that I actually did the course.
It was one calamity after another this weekend! It all started out so perfect. We watched a whole season of Entourage, hung out with Sheriff and Emma, got to eat yummy food (Emma is a really good cook, we're thinking of moving in to their spare room and seeing how long it is until they ask us to leave), watched the Kali gradings (it's fun to watch until you realise that it won't be long until you'll be going through that hell again) and went to the cinema with Matt and Maz.
Then I got home, checked my e-mails and found, to my horror, a bunch of emails from uni people going on about how the dissertation was due in on Monday. Monday? How did that happen? I'm such a poindexter, how did I not realise? I didn't even have a title for the bloody thing!
So I spent all day Sunday trying to get it finished, which was tough enough without the added bonus of two power cuts! Plus Andy managed to spill coffee over nearly every thing I own (how can one mug hold that much coffee?).
Anyway, I got it all finished in the end and handed in. I need to wait for feedback incase there are any mistakes, and then do the final bound version.
The manga exhibition I'm helping organise is going well. I've spoken to Tokyopop and it seems they're onboard, so it's going to be huge! They're talking about competitions and all sorts of neat stuff. Plus we have access to a bar with a cinema licence so we're hoping to show anime too. It's going to rock.
I'm also working on some new strips. I just got a script from Tony Hitchman for the next Accent UK anthology, so I'll be drawing that up soon. And I'm doing a webcomic and an article for the new small press site, www.indiereview.co.uk.
I was talking to someone the other day about naming characters. Usually I don't have a problem with this, stuff like Monstrum was dead easy because all the characters were based on people or were named after adventurers. (Like Campbell got his name because the character was like someone Bruce Campbell would play, Ella Hass is named after Hans Hass the diver/adventurer/biologist etc.) If I do get stuck, I've found some really good baby naming websites. The great thing about that is that you can see where the name originates from and also what it means and how popular it is. I am considering using names from the spam I get because some of them are amazing!
I've been going megalodon crazy lately. I've been reading Steve Altens books, which are the best and worst books ever written. I want to do a photo story of the first chapter of the first book using my giant fuzzy shark (pictured below with wookie) and an inflatable dinosaur, if only I had more time for all these projects!
I also watched the worst movie ever made. Simply called Megalodon, it was worse than shark attack 3, which at least had the courtesy to use file footage. This pile of poop used computer graphics that aren't fit for a bargain basement PC game, they didn't even have any texture on them and parts of the shark were transparent. Screen grabs from the Jaws game look better.
And it made no sense. You'd think for $5.00 it would have been a bit better!
My book has been turned down by Image comics and by Fantagraphics. Oh well, what do they know about comics anyway?
Comics International sent me a big ol' pile of comics to review. It includes a series of comics aimed at educating young gay men about safe sex which features the charming characters johnny and lube. I also got a copy of that semiotic cohesion ( Shanes selling it over at smallzone ), and I'll do a proper review for CI, but I just want to say I wish they'd do a comic just about the shark overlords because those bits are genius! A shark that shoots smaller sharks from its gills! Why isn't that a comic?
Thanks to Hank for his nice comments about my weird panda painting too, that cheered me up after my morning of rejection from big comic companies. What a nice stalker Nulsh has!
It's been a busy week. Sams wedding disproved my long held belief that weddings were boring. Here he is on stage with his band at the reception:
His whole family were up singing, it was a great party! Hurrican Remo got dressed up for the occasion too:
And insisted on watching some wrestling:
Super Parka has a scary rapey dance, but Xtream Tiger is pretty cool. Obviously he's no Hurrican Remo.
On Sunday we had a seminar at Phoenix with Flavio Ruiz Van Hoof. Four hours of fighty stuff! We did some light sparring type stuff at the end of the first hour and as we kept swapping partners I ended up with Flavio at one point. He kept yelling at me to kick him, but I was scared to a bit because I'm sure he could rip my leg off if he wanted to. But he's a nice guy and the seminar was good fun.
I also made some eyebrows for Pilchard :
Bet you wish you'd thought of that, eh Curtis?
We went to Jesmond Dene because Andy has never been, even though he's lived here for 6 years or so.
Seems they have a giant bug infestation too.
Then we went to the pub, where I introduced Wookie to the wonders of cider:
And I thought the slugs were bad, now we have giant ladybirds to contend with. Damn you, global warming.
Have sent out promo stuff, just waiting to hear back. It cost a lot. I need a job. I have no money for important things like cakes and ice cream. Have made a start on next issue of monstrum, also started writing a novel. Lets see which gets finished first.
Andys new outfit. I'm not sure, but I think this is what he is wearing to Sams wedding at the weekend.
Saw 'Monster House' yesterday. It's brilliant! It's like a great 80's kids movie but with CGI. Schrab and Harmon have outdone themselves with this baby,and I can see why Zemeckis and Spielberg jumped on it. (interestingly, a search on ask for monster house brought up Goonies posters)
Speaking of the 80's and Zemeckis, there was also a trailer for tranformers. Why Zemeckis, why did you let Michael Bay take it away from you???? It looks awful!! Some of you may not know this, but I love gen 1 transformers. Really, really love, as in: still have some of the toys, comics, curtains, pillowcase....So I'll go see it, probably more than once, at the cinema, but I doubt I'll enjoy it. For a start it probably won't have the rockin 80's soundtrack that the animated film had. Or the hilarious screechy voiced antics of Starscream that the tv show had. Or the political intrigue and power struggles that the comic had.
There was also a trailer for Spiderman 3, which looks amazing! I also loved the story arc with his black suit (especially with Venom, that was one of favourite spidey storylines), so I can't wait to see this. Linking it back to Transformers, in the early Marvel UK comics, spidey appeared in the transformers comics in his black costume. There's some trivia for you. Marvel would do anything to sell a comic, I mean, really, spiderman and transformers is just a weird team up.
Someone posted a great picture on my shark stuff pool over on flickr. The discovery channel building got all dressed up for shark week,check it out, I'm applying to the council for planning permission first thing tomorrow morning.
There have been a lot less slugs about lately. Either they were embarrassed by their appearance on this blog or the hedgehog that was spotted in our garden has a taste for slug meat.
Went to Royal quays, hadn't been before but ended up going twice this week to say goodbye and hello to Andys mum as she was going on a cruise from the nearby dock. Also got to meet Matts dad (or papa bear as we've been calling him), having visited my own parents recently it seems to be the time of year for catching up with family.
Anyway, Royal quays is a weird place. It's a big retail place filled with discount stuff. But theres lots of odd things. Like rabbit village ( a random petting corner, although according to the sign the rabbits don't like you entering rabbit village, so I guess maybe you are just meant to look at them). This was a super fluffy rabbit, which we deduced was lord of rabbit village because he had his own little hutch cordoned off from the others. Either that or he was particularly bitey.
There is also a lot of old fashioned cars around, for no discernable reason.
And these poor seals were locked in, and the owner hadn't opened a window for them. It's summer for gods sake! They'll die in there!
There is also a clock with a big rotating head on it, which scared Andy a little bit.
But I did get an amazingly yummy ice cream, chocolate seville sundae. I wish I had one now.
I also got a new t-shirt for training in which looks like something from a comic book. Because if you're going to do martial arts you should dress like a super hero. At least that's what I think.
I've also done a logo for Bugpowder, as I'm sure you've noticed they have different logos up all the time. You'll be able to spot mine, it has fish on it.
With the increased number of great white sightings around the UK, it seems that maybe they are in these waters after all. And about time too. If I can't afford to travel to exotic locations to see a nice big toothy shark then it's up to them to come see me. I have also discovered that tuna mayo is a very good way to attract sharks and it isn't as stinky as chum:
I will present my findings to the oceanographic society at a later date.
I wish I was at Caption this weekend, boo hoo. I'm missing out on a fuzzy felt workshop. I love fuzzy felt.
Instead I'm at home (which has become the hottest nightclub for slugs)
trying to salvage what I can of my graphic novel off my idiot computer, praying I don't have to re-scan the entire thing, because that will take months. I need to send a pdf version off to publishers and also to converse, who probably want to see how I've used their product (the main character wears a pair). I noticed in a little shoe shop in Bray, when I was visiting Ireland, that Scott Morse has done a limited edition pair. Unfortunately I didn't have 60 euros, but I did manage a sly photo.
I love Scotts work, and I'd love to see him do more stuff for DC and Marvel too. His Electra was very cool.
Speaking of DC, I saw Superman Returns the other day. I have to say, Marvels movie intro is way better than DCs.
I thought it was okay, apart from the kid, that whole storyline was awful. My favourite bit was the opening credits, with the John Williams theme tune and the original style font, that was worth going to the cinema for!
I also saw pirates of the caribbean, which I would rate highly simply because there is a good sea monster in it and lots of fish-people things which I enjoyed. As it had a higher sea boggly rating than most movies, it made it good by my reckoning. However, I have happily sat through Jaws the revenge more than once so my opinion probably doesn't count for much.
After a lovely trip to Ireland, I'm back and ready to get started on my next comic - issue 3 of Monstrum!!!
I had a great time in my home town of Greystones (flickr set here), where I caught up with my family and my pal Aileen.
Sheriff and Emma gave me a toy squid and a toy shark before I left, so I took them with me and did a little photo story (even on holiday, I can't help it). Flickr set here.
Looks like I'll be missing out on caption this weekend, boo! I love caption, it's one of the most fun conventions in the world because it's more like hanging out in the pub with your mates than attending a convention. And hanging out in the pub is one of my favourite hobbies.
Moomins! Moomins! Moomins! I love Moomins. Via Bugpowder
And the new cartoon based on Mignolas 'Screw on head' (one of the bestest comics ever)! Via drawn.
I've only seen stills so far because my idiot computer won't show it.
And speaking of stupid computers, I can't get my book off my other rubbish computer. I may have to visit publishers in person with my idiot computer so they can read it. I have two cdr files, because it couldn't deal with the book in one sitting, which was fine when I was just printing it out. But now I need to combine the two cdr files, add all the text again (because the computer had a hissy fit and decided the book was better without text) and then convert it to a pdf. At the moment the damn thing won't even open one of the files, never mind two. Yes, I'm talking about you, stupid machine. Grr.
Here's that dedication I mentioned (click on it to go to my flickr page, where you can find a bigger more legible version):
And here are the endpages and cover of the finished book:
And here are some interior pages from the little books:
Had lots of fun at a beer festival yesterday. Drank some overpriced cider, met some cute dogs with great names (pudding and ninja) and everything else is a bit blurry, but I'm sure it was good.
The Cumberland has the bestest toilets, they are wallpapered with old comics:
More pics on flickr, including pudding the dog and a cardboard bee.
A very apologetic game for youngsters:
This game was lurking around the uni when we started, even though it was a new building. It could possibly be some magical Jumanji type game, but we will never know, as nobody could figure out how to play it. We couldn't even tell if there were pieces missing.
Wookie came out to Uni with me and had a look at the exhibition.
He's so photogenic, he now has his very own flickr set. I forgot to mention before that the book dedication has a thank you to everyone who visits this blog. I also forgot to get a photo of the exciting fishie endpapers too. It all comes down on Thursday, so I'll probably get some more photos then.
I'm planning to update my main website next week. (www.lomoore.com) I'll probably change the main page a bit and I have more artwork to add, particularly to the comics section. If you have any suggestions or comments they'd be much appreciated. Is it hard to navigate? What's annoying about it? I think the fonts on the titles are ugly, so they're getting changed, and some people have said that the images aren't big enough, so I might look at a way to display them differently.
What a weekend it has been! With uni closed until Wednesday, it was my duty as a student to spend my time wisely at the pub.
There was a wonderful drink-o-rama clubbing extravaganza on Saturday, a slow recovery / UFC night at Matt and Iains place on Sunday and then Monday....
we went to a free music festival down the quayside. We went to see the Proclaimers (pictured above), at first in a jokey kind of way, but they turned out to be really good. Their harmonies were spot on!
After having a lot of vodka, we made our way to the Cluny (our usual hangout), but managed to find a shopping trolley on the way. So when we turned up at the pub, Matt was squeezed in to the trolley with me and Omran pushing him. Poor Brian was working on the door! I don't think we would've been let in to any other pub.
There's some video footage of it which may wind up on the internet at some point.....
So, back to work today! Dissertation deadline is looming and I need to finish up my practical work pretty sharpish too. I'm still having a lot of issues with the text, it's very hard to get it to work on painted backgrounds.
Also, I just heard some sad news, Alex Toth died last week! He was a hero of mine, his work has influenced so many artists. His sense of design, composition and amazing line work....and of course Space ghost! What an incredible character design!
I'm looking forward to seeing 'Lollipop Town', Sheriffs new short film for a competition, from the description on his blog it sounds like a modern day classic.
Spread the word about the Start a Story project and download a poster from here. Visit the site here.
Comic artist Malcy Duff also has a band (Usurper) and they will be playing in Newcastle on the 21st May at the telegraph pub (behind central station). Check out news of their gigs/buy their music here. And speaking of gigs, I'm going to the Lightning Bolt gig on Tuesday. Sweet.
Some time ago I blogged about my rescue wookie, found abandoned in Burger King.
Well, as he's getting older he's becomming a lot more troublesome. First he caused a massive explosion:
Then half an hour later, he started a fire. (Apparently while baking cookies for us to enjoy, but I doubt it very much.)
And wookies are hard to discipline because if they get angry they can rip your arms off.
Got a comic from this guy to review and I enjoyed it, so if you have around 3.00 dollars to spare (something like that) you might like to give it a go. I've done a proper review of it for C.I. (Just mentioning that incase he reads this and thinks I'm some kind of slacker)
Also, if you want to get your comic reviewed by a Danish fanzine (and, let's face it, it's always cool to get your comics over to other countries) send it to these guys. I don't speak the lingo, so I don't know what they are saying on the site, but there are lots of pictures of comics and their e-mail was very polite.
Graeme from Bookville is putting the word out about a Publishathon in Hull. There was some info about it over at Bugpowder a while ago, but he also got in touch to say they want to encourage new publishers and if there are any artists willing to do talks or workshops please let him know.
And, finally......If there are any anime fans in Newcastle around mid-May (I'm sorry the info is so vague) there should be a small exhibition including original cells at the Newcastle Arts Centre, Westgate rd. If it goes well, it may lead to a larger exhibition, so go show your support!
I'm off to do some doodles. I mean art.
I've just had a filling taken out and redone at the dentists and I feel terrible, so I think I'll work from home today. Although I'm sure that everyone would enjoy my company more now that I can't speak. I took Barry's advice and got an A3 scanner (he's right, they are pretty cheap on Amazon), but I can't hook it up yet as there is no-where to put it.
I went to the aquarium yesterday to do some research (well, any excuse to go to the aquarium will do). The baby dogfish were the cutest things in the world, but I couldn't get a decent photo of them. The wolf fish liked the camera was happy to pose, the rays were quite photogenic too but some naughty sharks kept swimming past just as I was taking the picture. So I got a lot of blurry shark photos. I took quite a few pictures of the octopus, which I needed for reference. I tried to draw him too, but it was a bit tricky. Some lady was informing her kids that a single octopus is called an octopi and that the squiggly things were called anenemas. Yep, aquariums are very educational. when I worked in a gallery I once heard a teacher tell her class that crustaceans were a type of flower.
There's nothing quite like a beer and some wrestlin' on a nice spring day. Another lovely sunny weekend at the pub with friends has cheered me up. Donnas advice was very good, although I did bump in to her at the bar and now that she has seen me drunk she may not suggest that again.
Here is the next puppet in my 24 finger puppet range. I made President Palmer for Emma, next I'm making Tony and then I want to try making Nina. Matt has suggested making some to sell, but I'm sure trading standards would have something to say about that.
Just when it was all going so well...
Prepared lots of pages to work on when I came back after Easter...came back and messed them up! I've tried to salvage them, but I have a feeling I'll be re-doing that entire scene. (It was one of my favourites too, I'm very upset.) Tutor Donna was around to give me some of the best advice I've had, along the lines of 'It happens to everyone, best to just go to the pub', which is very true. Actually, it doesn't look so bad in this photo, maybe I could just insert the photo instead of the proper page.
Here are some of the finger puppets I've been making. I made a Jack Bauer for Maz (it was her birthday a little while ago) and a Kim Bauer for Sheriff. Requests have come in for other 24 characters, so I'll be making those soon. I once made the crew of Star Trek, Next Gen. for Luke. I think the appeal of these puppets lies in their crudeness - I really have no ability to sew.
I have to cut down on my gym time - what with all the work I need to do. Also Andy, my favourite person to train with, has bruised and/or cracked a rib after a very enthusiatic bout of sparring with Brian. Minor injuries wouldn't help him, so he had to go to A&E where he was given a great bit of paper that said he may have bruised/cracked or broken a rib (apparently it's all treated the same?) and he should take ten deep breaths every hour. The wording made it sound like he should only breathe ten times an hour. Now, I'm no doctor, but that doesn't sound like good advice to me. Get better soon Andy, we have a grading to prepare for (and nobody likes to hear you whinging).
Well, we had a really fun time this Easter. On Friday, I made 'magic juice' which is a deceptively strong punch. We (me, Andy, Maz and Matt) also invented a Top Gun drinking game.
Here is the recipe:
1 bottle white wine
1 bottle white rum
1 bottle vodka
2 cartons of orange juice
1 carton pineapple juice
1 bottle lemonade
1 lime
1 lemon
lots of ice.
Here are the rules of the drinking game:
(Hint: if you've been drinking all day DO NOT choose Maverick. I made that mistake and nearly paid for it with my liver.)
Choose a character, every time someone says their name you must drink.
Everyone must drink if:
Someone says Bogey
Someone says Topgun
Someone says Mig
There is any kind of gay innuendo (actually, we left out that rule because there were far too many)
Kenny Loggins is playing
Everyone must finish their drink every time there is a flyby.
Give it a go and let me know what happens.
Sunday, we went down the quayside:
Ahh...what a lovely Easter it has been.
I've finally added a list of stuff I've done to my site, although I have a funny feeling I've forgotten lots of things. If you can think of anything I've missed, let me know. Hopefully now when I tell clients to just go look at my site, there will be something useful to them.
Happy Easter!
I'm suffering with a horrible cold at the moment, but I'm still going to enjoy Easter. I haven't been able to make it back to Ireland to see my family, but I will be spending Easter with my friends and (more importantly) lots of chocolate (which is the meaning of Easter, right?)
In Ireland, Easter is still seen as a religious time of year. On good friday most stuff is closed and you aren't meant to drink alcohol or eat meat. Over here, however, everyone seems to be off to the pub (probably stopping off for a kebab on the way home). I gave up on lent a long time ago, and I recall agreeing to some sort of drinking session tomorrow involving punch, so I guess I'm adapting to the local way of enjoying Easter.
Also, I got a letter today informing me that I owe over £3000 for course fees. I was really stressed about fees when I applied for this course, and then I got a grant, but I was still really stressed and everyone (except my Dad who is naturally paranoid) was saying 'relax, your fees are taken care of'. But I knew, I KNEW, they'd still try to charge me! I didn't realise it would take them this long, but I knew it would happen. Is admin really that difficult? Anyway, the phone was constantly engaged, so it may be some time before this is settled. Grrr!
A blog about squid....how come I just found out about this? My squiddy senses must be affected by this damn cold!
Issue 4 of Scifantastic, with a cover by me.
It's Easter break at the moment, but I'm still coming in to Uni and working away. The routine seems to be mostly: training at the gym, working at uni, drinking lots. Not always in that order. Yesterday, I got to learn some more moves with the staff, did some drawing, then went to a pub quiz at the Cumberland arms (which we've been to the last three days in a row). The team consisted of me, Andy, Matt, Sam, Iain and Leanne, although I was kinda hogging the answer sheet and the pen. Not because I knew the answers, just because I love quizzes so much. We came second, (which is apparently better than coming first according to Iain, because only Poindexters win quizzes) and we won five pounds. Woo hoo.
We got a new camera and I've gone photo crazy. I'm like Jimmy Olsen, but not as annoying. At least I hope I'm not.
The other day we had a random life drawing class, which was really good. The model didn't show up, but one of the admin staff agreed to model for us (fully clothed of course. I don't think the university had the foresight to put a clause in his contract.) At the end the tutor asked if he could hang one of my drawings on the wall, which was nice but kind of weird, like being in primary school or something.
I took some photos of the dead things in the life drawing room. I don't know why stuffed animals fascinate me. I like animals, surely I should be against this? I remember in Munich there was a hunting and fishing museum which was the best place I've been to for dead animals. There was even a petting corner. And there was some local custom of mixing up animals and stuffing them, so there were fawns with swan wings and beavers with stag horns. It was quite spectacular.
Here is the awe inspiring view from my window at Uni. (The window that doesn't open. We aren't allowed air. It might stimulate our brain cells)
Here's a detail from one of the pages I finished recently. It's one of my favourites so far:
And here is a nice blurry photo of the shoot wrestling, from the Ron Balicki seminar I did last weekend:
He brought a selection of cold steel stuff with him to sell, there were DVD's, knives, sarongs (Yep, we even fight with clothing):
And finally, here is the current state of my work space. Don't I look busy?
All these photos (in different sizes) and more at my Flickr page.
Have a good weekend.
It occured to me that I haven't bought any comics in ages. Turns out Forbidden Planet had a sale on, so lucky me!
I had to take loads of photos today to put together my work for assessment tomorrow (which I am still compiling, at 10 o'clock at night. Bah!)
Anyway, I took A LOT of other photos too, so tomorrow is going to be blogorama. Get ready!
If you are looking at this pile of comics and wishing you had stuff to read, go check out:
Comix by Nulsh
Or how about some Red meat (Some BBC comedy blatantly ripped off one of his jokes recently. 'This is what we do' indeed)
Also, one of the bestest resources ever, which was a Godsend for referencing my last essay:
The comic book database
Ron Balicki seminar at the weekend was AMAZING! We did Jun Fan/JKD, Silat, Kali, Muay Thai and Savate (there was Shoot wrestling too, but we thought it best to sit that one out.) This picture of Ron and Matt was taken fromSheriffs Flickr account.
Sheriff also has aBlog now, where you can read about Balicki and Scott Bakula, and all the other important stuff from the weekend.
I've been striken with a cold and just found out that all my work has to be handed in on Friday (I thought I had another three weeks, but apparently not) So I ain't got time for blogging.
Check out Paul Rainey's site, he's posting rare old work up during April and his work is ace, so it's well worth a visit.
Also, If you want to help build a cinema, read the extended entry to find out how you can get involved.
On the top is my rough layout sketch, underneath is the (almost) finished image. (These are details from a 9 panel page).
I have calculated that I need to draw, ink and paint 8 pages a week to get this finished on time. I don't think it's very achieveable, but you never know. I almost managed 6 pages on Wednesday, but I think that was just a good day.
Here's me and Matt messing about with barongs in the back garden recently. It's a good sign when Matt pulls this face, it usually means you got something right or he's about to tell you about some cool varient.
The Ron Balicki seminar is coming up soon, including the gradings. Ron is cool, not just because of his awesome martial arts skills or his excellent teaching abilities, but because he's worked on stuff like Buffy and Alias and the Power Rangers and The 3 Ninjas: High noon at mega mountain.
Today was the second of our Friday morning fight clubs, where me, Andy, Matt and Sam get together and spar (or 'hit each other with sticks' in laymans terms). I took a bit of a pummelling today, looks like that elbow is fated to never heal. My hand is a bit mangled too, although I have to admit it was a sweet hit on Sam's part, he managed to get the only part of my hand that wasn't protected.
Back to the grind stone now, I'm going to try and get some more pages done before I head home. Then I have a fun weekend of essay writing ahead of me. Hurrah.
Drawn have featured Start a story which you may remember I blogged about a while ago when I contributed this gem to one of their projects.
They also do a colouring book project which I should be participating in over the next few weeks. It's easy to take part in their projects and they're great fun, especially if you're in to sequential art or 'comics' as the common folk call them.
I've been getting quite a few enquiries lately about There Goes Tokyo... which means that there is either a rise in people starting off in small press comics or the old site has been recently linked to somewhere. There Goes Tokyo... doesn't do much these days, we aren't totally defeated, but we don't produce much and we don't run events anymore, unfortunately.
So, for those of you who may be about to email me asking about small press stuff, here's my small press short cut list:
http://www.bugpowder.com/ -find out about everything thats going on here
http://www.smallzone.co.uk/ -buy, sell, print small press comics
Engine comics -keep up to date with goings on and promote your comic in RedEye magazine
Comics International-Promote your comic and get it reviewed in Comics International
All the other stuff (events, anthologies, publishers etc.) you'll find out about via these sources. There is tons out there, this will just help you get started.
The Marines and Parrot megastore, further proof that Newcastle was the inspiration for the Twilight Zone. I took this photo after being to The Okay Cafe across the road, where the food really is okay.
Malcy Duff's new comic will be his 30th comic, woo-hoo! I'm going to try and sneak an article in to Comics International about it.
Lots of new comicy goodness over at Smallzone, Shane is now stocking lots of Top Shelf stuff, so if you haven't already read Creature Tech (and you should've) then go buy it now:
http://www.smallzone.co.uk/
I love Edward Gorey, and I always thought that Tom's work had a Gorey-ness about it, so this strip made perfect sense:
Gorey strip
(I got this link via Bugpowder)
Here's a three page spread from my graphic novel that I've been working on for the last few days. I have wasted nearly an hour today scanning in these pages, then the crappy computer crashed and I lost all of it. Photoshop is having a hissy fit so I can't even start all over again. The scanner is rubbish anyway, all the settings are messed up and the glass is always covered in dirt. This place sucks! And to make me even angrier, this new building we're in has the worst heating system. It's permantently way too hot. It gets worse as the day goes on because I 'm on the top floor which seems to accumulate all the heat from the rest of the building. Grrr!!! You can't even open the windows and idiot students keep using spray mount. Duh, 'use in a well ventilated area', it's a warning not a suggestion. Plus, the lights go off if there is no movement in the room. Nice idea, except a room full of people sitting at desks drawing doesn't lead to frequent movement, so the lights keep going off.
It's St.Patricks day, I should be celebrating, but instead I'm getting very angry. Why doesn't anything work here? Argghh.
I'm quite happy with how this page turned out:
Now if I could just scan the bloody thing.
Arrghh!!!!
I totally jinxed myself with that last entry. Stupid magic interweb thingy.
After Channel 5 were all 'Ooh, this is a great concept send us a script' (Note: Not their actual exact words) they held on to the script for ages and ages and ages and now they're all "forget it' "not bothered" bleh de bleh. So we'll just do what any smart people with a neat concept would do. We'll rewrite it and pitch it elsewhere. It'll get picked up and they'll be sorry when we're all rich and drinking caviar and eating champagne. you'd think I'd be used to this by now. Here's a picture that cheers me up that I will share with you. It was posted on my shark stuff photo pool:
grumpy shark dog
Curtis Jobling (you may know him as the designer of the surly looking cat pictured above) now has a blog where you can keep up to date with all the groovy stuff he is doing. Check it out here:
http://badablingthing.blogspot.com/
I am free of freelance work at the moment, (usually when I say that I get offered some, so I thought I'd mention it...) but I am still busy busy busy. As well as my course I am working on some super secret projects. Just like Jack Bauer. Okay, not really like Jack at all.
I'm working on a factual book (some of you know this because I've hassled you for interviews), a proposed revival of a much loved character (if this project goes ahead it will be the coolest thing I have ever worked on), and hopefully we will be unveiling our new super-collective soon. We've also got a script in with Channel 5 that we may return to, and if that goes further it'll be the other coolest thing I've ever worked on.
So you'll have to keep coming here to find out what on earth I am on about.
This is a panel from a strip I've just sent off to Accent UK for their new anthology. It's about a Thai boxing sloth. If that doesn't make you want to buy it then I don't know what will. I'm not sure when it will be released yet.
I've just finished up on some new illustrations for a publisher in London, so I haven't got much happening in terms of freelance work right now.
At the moment I'm doing some research for a book to do with comics and I would really like to get in touch with Pete Pavement (who used to run Slab-O-Concrete). If anyone knows how to contact him, please can you ask him to get in touch with me, I really need to speak with him!
Left to right: Matt Teasdale, Andy Smith, Me, Johan Skalberg.
Today I went to the Johan ('The Viking') Skalberg seminar at Phoenix Mixed martial arts academy. (Johan is on the far right, the guy that seems to be a different scale to everyone else.) We concentrated on weapons, and it was a lot of fun! We started with double stick and went through a basic six count, learning how best to get the most out of the drill. We also added in some albenico hits. Then we did some single stick, IKEAF style with the emphasis on the stick as an impact weapon rather than as a substitute for a blade. We also did some knife work which included takedowns. It ran from 11.00 to 5.00 and I didn't get too battered, although I can't bend my elbow. I'm sure once the swelling goes down it will be fine though....
Sheriff took some nice pictures of Matt and Johan for a Martial
Arts Illustrated article. You can see some here.
Today I took part in a Sumi (Japanese ink) workshop given by Christine Flint Sato, an artist based in Japan.
We got to play with lots of nice brushes and we found out how the ink and brushes are made. Surprisingly, it is still mostly done by hand as there are parts of the process that can't be done using machinery. I was using Chinese ink because Japanese ink is quite hard to come by over here and it is also a lot more expensive. I think the only difference is that Chinese ink has more glue in it because China has harder water. The ink comes as a stick (made from soot and animal glue) which you have to grind using an ink stone with a little water. (You can see these in the picture above, the ornate gold imagery on the stick gets ground down too and adds a sheen to the ink. Japanese ink is generally less ornate, usually with only a few characters on it.)The brushes are made from different types of animal hair such as badger hair (or Racoon dog as they call it in Japan), horse hair, goat hair and chicken feathers.
You have to work in the opposite way to watercolour in terms of washes, as the first layer will always be on top. So it's more like cell painting in that respect. I had fun, but there are so many varients and techniques that it will take me a lot more practice to make use of it!
A huge thank you to everyone who commented on the images I put up. This has been very helpful to me. I've been putting together the responses and I'm going to make some new work based on what's been said.
I'll also take on board the comments from tutors, although their suggestions and responses have been very different to the information I've gathered through this experiment, so I'm not sure how that's going to work out. Infact, they've pretty much said the opposite. Also, the feeling I get from the tutors is that they don't see any real merit in this blog and I've also gathered that they think that it only exists as something for my friends to read, which I find hilarious. I see my friends all the time, why on earth would they bother reading this when it's full of things I've either already told them or they were part of anyway. As you can see I am a bit disheartened at the moment. Someone who was interested in doing the course next year asked me about it today and, although I did mention the good points, I didn't exactly hold off on the bad points either....
More illustration work cropped up today, and I'm not complaining! Good timing as we've just had a big silly bill through from BT.
The article for Martial arts illustrated that I blogged about here, will be in the next issue, info on their site here (with a picture of Matt and Iain). It should also (hopefully) contain an advert I designed.
I had a letter through today from the British Library. Apparently I've broken the law by neglecting to send them a copy of my comic 'Monstrum Horrendum'. Some people will do anything for a free copy. I wonder how they knew about it? They must have spies everywhere. Or maybe they checked the There Goes Tokyo... website. Nah, must be spies.
There is a great workshop at the end of the month in Japnaese ink work, but it's also the same weekend as the Johan Skalberg seminar at Phoenix. Torn between art and martial art!! I'm hoping to do a day of each, which still leaves me with the difficult decision of whether to do a day of empty hand or weapon. Both were amazing at his last seminar. Life sure is tough.
I don't want to speak too soon, but it looks like I've finally finished those freelance jobs. Woohoo! Of course that means I now have no income, but we'll worry about that later.
The YCNI:M gig at the Cluny last night was really good, they are excellent live. I was a bit disturbed by the large number of the audience who would rather see the gig vicariously with a five minute delay through their mobiles than actually watch it as it was happening. Why? I didn't grow up with mobile technology, maybe I'm too old to understand it.
Also got some lovely new business cards last night for a project I'm not going to talk about yet. But it's cool.
And I now have ten members on my strange little flickr group:shark stuff. Proving that people will take photos of absolutely anything and then put them on the internet.
When I have my licensed merchandise line of Leonie toys, this is the guy I'm getting to photograph them.
Okay another link from Drawn, but in addition here's a behind the scene phoot shoot (more successful than our one...) on Flickr. I guess they didn't use a fun camera.
By the end of this week I should be finished on all my freelance work, so in theory that means more time for uni work. In reality, that probably means more time for pizza and DVDs.
I'm working on a mock-up page at the moment to see how well my method works as a full comic page. Last time it didn't come together so well, (but I still brought a sample to the Brighton expo) however, my working methods have changed since then. Wish me luck, this could be a make or break kind of experiment.
Course work:
I've used the colour tests I conducted last week to inform my new paintings. I've started using a process of layering washes of colour to make the images more integrated. Above is the start of a painting next to it is a pile of colour swatches I made.
The grouper is holding some kind of summit, the other fish seem very interested, but the dolphins weren't invited. Some people (i.e. Andrew Smith) think I have toy fish on my desk just to play with them, but they don't understand the intricate politics that go on...
Freelance work:
I am working on two projects at the moment, both of which I thought would be finished by Christmas, but both are still on the go and I'm looking forward to moving on. I'm also applying for a job at Newcastle Uni. I don't have exactly the right qualifications, but I have experience so they said they'll consider me. There is also some crazy mayhem surrounding a tv show pitch I helped work on, which is causing some stress!
General comics stuff:
James Harvey (some of you may remember him from 'Super cookie mix') has a new website, check it out:
http://www.maudevintage.com/jamesharvey/index.html
Also, 2000AD are looking for new artists and writers to contribute to their magazine, and it's currently dividing the small press community. On one hand, people are saying the offer should be rejected by everyone because there is no money being offered and 2000AD are just looking for free stuff to fill their pages. On the other hand, people are saying it's too good an opportunity to miss out on.
Both are valid points, and it seems to be artists who are used to getting paid for work who taking the first view and small pressers who are used to paying to produce work who are taking the second view.
This is a common situation for freelance illustrators. In illustration there isn't really a set fee and it's very difficult for established artist to maintain rates when new artists (particularly students) are willing to do the job for little or no money. It seems to be a very similar situation with this 2000AD thing. Boycotting it won't work, there will always be someone willing to contribute to it.
Oh, and I've just found this great link on Drawn!, Kazu Kibuishi shows us how he makes his comic 'copper'. It's very interesting. He holds his pencil really weird.
Sheriff has been working on the new YCNI:M video, and there are now some photos up on his flickr account. ( And they'll be playing on the 6th of Feb at the Cluny)
Pub crawl in Hexham yesterday was fun at the time, but I'm regretting it now. It's been a long time since I had a hangover and I'd almost forgotten how much fun they aren't.
Did my Kali grading on Saturday. Won't get the results till Tuesday, and there's still a written test to do. I thought it went well, but apparently when me and Dave were doing Heaven six lying down the instructor was laughing at us, which I'm thinking isn't such a good sign.
Finally transcribed that Bryan Talbot interview, and I will be posting an edited version up here soon.
And some news from Chris Staros, Kochalka's HOCKEY MONKEY song is theme to a new show on Fox called THE LOOP. It will premier on Wednesday March 15 at 9:30pm Eastern Standard Time, immediately following AMERICAN IDOL on FOX.
Matthew over at Bugpowder reports that there is a Zine fest in Manchester in Feb.http://www.manchesterzinefest.org.uk/. Sounds interesting.
Well, I wish I'd seen this when I was writing my essay. In my last essay I hypothesised that the future of web comics would be a combination of comics, animation and game, making it a new medium in its own right. Andy just sent me a link to the new Sam and Max site, and it has a perfect example of my theory (move your mouse over the panels to interact).
I know marvel experimented with this kind of thing years ago, but it didn't really take off.
I'm the first person to submit a story to the Foto Folly project on www.startastory.com. Read it here, then go submit your own. It's fun and easy!
Do you miss the show Firefly? I do, and so do these people. (Warning: For those of you viewing this when you should be working, apparently this site is noisy, I don't know I had the sound off anyway.) They're trying to raise enough money to pay Joss Whedon to make a new series. Some fans just won't take 'no' for an answer.
Also, Paul Rainey has a new issue of There's No Time Like the Present out. I've just read it and it's very good, but that's all I'm going to say about it because I'm going to review it for C.I.
Incase you missed it, here is where I interviewed Paul.
Stayed behind after training on Saturday, Sheriff and Andy were taking photos of Matt, Iain and Sam for an article which should hopefully appear in Martial Arts Illustrated magazine. I took some 'behind the scenes' photos, but with an old fashioned camera so it will be a few days before they appear on my flickr account.
Sheriff has some of his up and they are great.
Also, Andi Watson has agreed to answer some questions for me, which is well timed as my next essay is about gender issues and his comics are popular with women, so it should be useful research.
A bunch of links today:
Malcy told me that the much loved cameo cinema in Edinburgh is in danger of closure. Check out:www.savethecameo.co.uk.
John (of What What) has told me about fun and interesting projects at:
http://www.startastory.com/.
If you picked up the January issue of Comics International and came to this blog looking for the Expo review Loriann mentioned it's here:
Saturday and
Sunday
Photos are here: Flickr set.
The 12 hr comic 'Sunday' mentioned in the announcement section is documented here: Sunday comic.
Happy new year. I will resume proper blogging activities on Monday. At the moment I'm working on some essays for Uni, a four page comic with Andy for Accent UK's next book, a pin-up image, a website and I'm getting ready for my next Kali grading this month. It's free for new members to train at Phoenix this month, so if you want to learn some martial arts get yourself down there! Anyway, as Mr.T might say in this situation, 'I'm helluva busy.' Wasn't I meant to be doing a Graphic novel too?Hmm...
Thanks to Matthew for the mention over on Bugpowder.
Also, if you've ever wondered where some of the ideas for my comic Monstrum come from, check out my new Flickr set. I found some old photos of my Dad from his seafaring days and thought I'd add them to my album.
Mmmm! Sharks love santa too.
Merry Christmas! (No presents for you this year).
...And you thought Dr.B couldn't out do his Miami Vice outfit.
Phoenix Christmas party on Friday included guest appearances from Hulk Hogan and Freddie Mercury.
Party photos
And thanks to Ian for mentioning me on his blog, I thought I'd return the favour. Check it out for news on gigs at the Cooperage, new music from Telos and comedy from straitjacket:
Still working away on the essays etc. and a lot of freelance work which should have been finished by now but just seems to be dragging on. But, it is Christmas and there are parties to go to and presents to be opened, which is far more important. Yesterday's party was for the Design staff and students and tomorrow is the Phoenix party. Tis the season to get stressed out, but luckily tis also the season to get very drunk and eat too much. Hurrah.
I'll leave you with this gem from Doug TenNapel:
Baby aslan
As the cold weather sets in, spare a thought for our little Wookie friends. This poor fellow was found abandoned at a Burger King, alone and scared. Many people take out their anger at Mr.Lucas on these innocent creatures. Sure, they don't have it as bad as Ewoks, but it's still not right. Thankfully, this little guy has a loving home now, but all Wookies aren't that lucky. If you'd like to adopt a Wookie, call your local shelter to find out more.
I have my presentation tonight, 20 mins to talk about my work in some kind of academic way. I've been so stressed and busy lately that if I manage to stay awake through it I'll be doing well. I put it together on Director, which I hadn't used before and had to go back and redo bits when I made the discovery that I'd neglected to put forward or back buttons on it, so I couldn't get past the first page. Duh. Once this is over I need to write 4000 words roughly along the same lines too. Then, maybe I can get some sleep.
Here's a thought for the weekend: according to Drawn, Vikings are the new Pirates.
Have those Expo photos back, will put them on Flickr next week.
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!
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.
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).
News round-up:
Paul Gravett has a new website (found this through Bugpowder)
Great 'life of Pi' illustration competiton happening, check it out here and get drawing!
The horror anthology by new publishers Scar comics (Run by Andy Richmond and Shane Chebsy) has gone to print and should be out in time for the Brighton Expo.
Okay that's enough news.
This weekend I got some painting, some research and some drawing done. We went out to the Carling academy, the new jewel in the Newcastle/Gateshead crown. Okay, maybe not a jewel, more like some diamonte sellotaped somewhere around the back of the crown. And the crown is like one of those paper burger king ones.
Read on at your own peril. WARNING: CONTAINS BILE AND SOME MILD INFREQUENT RAGE.
Doing some painting, (that's a watercolour of some kelp ).
Went to the aquarium on Sunday, via Tynemouth. O'Neills were hosting a surfing competition and it was the busiest I have ever seen the beach (picture below)
The aquarium was fun, I got an annual pass so I can go back and do more drawing whenever I need to. Fish are hard to draw because they move pretty fast and quite suddenly too. And even if you draw them right, they still look funny. There were a lot of postcards in the giftshop with images of great white sharks, which I am sure I would've remembered seeing on the tour. Maybe their enclosure was being cleaned that day, or maybe the giftshop are liars.
By the time we left the moon was out and it looked really nice. Here is a photo I took of it, although my digital camera is the cheapest piece of crap money can buy, so it didn't really capture the moment. I will share it with you anyway.
Went to a new electro - pop night at the Cooperage in Newcastle last night, it was very good. Apparently there will be another one soon, so come along if you can.
also, I 've been getting to know my fellow MA students. Opposite me is Ray Brown who not only is a skilled model maker, but also did some kick-ass sci-fi book cover illustrations in the seventies. Check out his site here: www.raybrowndesigns.com.
I've also learnt the meaning behind the Indian flag and eaten some Chinese beef snacks (which were described to me as being 'like candy, but with beef'). This has all been an unexpected positive point of the course.
Last entry for today!
I did keep telling people that I'd have a bit more time to arrange stuff after the first few weeks of uni, but I lied. apart from my busy timetable of lectury goodness, I also have a wonderful amount of freelance work! So when I am actually free, drinks will be on me. (Disclaimer: that last comment is also a lie)
I'm doing lots of neat stuff: The Big Draw at the Winter Gardens in October, book illustrations for Essential works publishing, possibly a WW2 project, and a few other things currently being discussed (but they involve stencils and Romans, respectively).
So, sorry Richmouse, but I won't be able to do that horror comic strip after all! That's one more anthology I've missed out on. Grr!
New photos from the summer seminar over at flickr
Due to the art fayre and my reliance on internet access at uni (everyone has had to change their passwords as the system wouldn't let them on, and there is no access in the new building yet) I don't actually have time to post anything of worth today.
Had an interesting tutorial last night and some more freelance work through, but will have to write about it another day.
Sigh.
Last blog today (promise). I won't be blogging over the weekend because I'll be too busy at the Super Summer Seminar! If I am still alive / not in hospital after it, then I will be resuming my blogging activities next week.
Speaking of martial arts, I've just uploaded some new fighty photos to flickr.
Have a nice weekend, mine will probably be filled with pain.
