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 did this for an anthology, but they don't want to use it now so I thought I'd just post it up here instead.

Glad to say that I will be teaming up again with Tony in the future, he writes good stuff and supplies nice layouts with the script (he has a good visual eye too so it's fun to draw)

Stephen Holland had this to say about 'Green' (the charity comic I blogged recently):

"Do You Want To Kiss It Better #1 (£2-50) by various. Published in support of the World Land Trust - and printed on recycled paper using vegetable oil-based inks on presses run on 100% local wind power by people eating dandelions and non-dairy buttercups grown free-range in their gardens - this is, like many a worthy endeavour, a mixed bag of Quorn. "Cause And Effect" by Shiro (not Matsumune) may well be lifted from - sorry inspired by - USAGI YOJIMBO or some other Buddhist tract but even if so, elevated it has been into a wonderfully fluid series of panels with some fabulous curves, superb brush flourishes and unusual and dynamic camera angles. It's an anthropomorphic life lesson whose figures Mike Kunkel (HEROBEAR AND THE KID) wouldn't have been disappointed in. "Introducing The Opossum Shrimp" by Leonie O'Moore was commendable succinct and bang on-target, whilst the rest... the rest of the people mean well and are therefore saved from my usual range of heartless, caustic witherisms. Details of how to make your purchase can be found at the link."

Yep...I was quite surprised at how well I came off in that review.

Pencilling is underway on Issue 3 of Monstrum. And this time I might actually finish it. Yay.
I am having quite a few problems with this blog, sorry if you encounter any spam or have difficulties leaving a message, I'm trying to sort it out!

You may have seen Philip Pullmans new comic in the newspaper at the weekend. It's a little bit Monstrum - esque (you know Monstrum Horrendum right? The comic book I managed to do two issues of many years ago and I keep threatening to do the next two issues any day now...) Obviously this was going to happen at some point, since it's a pretty straight forward formula and an easy to write premise. I'd probably enjoy another comic about sea monsters but I'm not really in to his writing. Clearly a lot of people are, what with his best sellers and all that, but I just find that his books are full of stuff that I know I should like but I just don't connect with them. As much as I love self-publishing, monstrum was one of the few pieces that I hoped would be picked up by a publisher some day, and the artwork and writing has come on loads recently so I was hoping that day would be soon. But I doubt anyone will look twice at it now. And lord help anyone who asks me if I was influenced by his comic! It's awesome that they're trying to revive comics for children, something I'm a great supporter of, but the way the papers are going on you'd swear he was the first person to ever write one!
Anyway, I'm struggling at the moment to do any drawing. I'm working two big jobs at the moment which don't allow me any time for my own comics, or anything else for that matter! I'm missing out on a lot of my martial arts training too. But, I have bills and debts and an expensive chocolate habit to pay for, so I have to work hard.
I do have a renewed determination to do an awesome comic though, so I've pulled out that dusty old script for Monstrum 3 and for a graphic novel idea I had years ago. I'm going to try to get both on the go.
Also, it looks like I might be able to bring out my own range of t-shirts afterall (you may remember I was having trouble finding a way to do it that wouldn't end in me becoming bankrupt)
I went to Leeds at the weekend and I would recommend a visit to the Royal Armouries (if you like that sort of thing.)
I thought this weapon was particularly impressive, it's a knuckle-duster/gun/knife.

It could do with a flame thrower / harpoon attachment.

Here's a picture of me to explain all the technical terms of diving:

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.

This years Caption event is themed 'Timewarp', so I've painted a little time travelling minx for their auction. I will send it to them as soon as I find somewhere that still sells cardbacked envelopes.