Some Forgotten Part, my graphic novel (remember that thing I've been working on? Did it during an MA? Built a blog around it? Y'know, that thing?) IS NOW AVAILABLE TO BUY!
http://www.lulu.com/content/696776
The print on demand has worked out well, although it has made it a bit pricey, sorry about that!
It's done! Woo hoo!
(BTW, this was the fish related news you've been waiting for)
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.
I've just finished and sent off a web comic. I'm not sure if or when it will appear on the internet, above is a little sample section.
I'm leaving in my dissertation to be bound tomorrow, it's called :
'Making comics: What issues are affecting creators in the comic industry today?'
It's a snappy title. It's quite a few hundred words over the suggested word count, but most of that is Eddie Campbells Manifesto which I've used as an appendix. Plus I had a pretty good sized bibliography.
Got some freelance stuff on, so no cake, cider or shark shortages in Leonieland just yet. After reporting on the abysmal Megalodon movie, I am happy to say I watched a crap but not as crap shark movie the other night which restored my faith in the genre. Sharkzone uses some actual great white footage (repeatedly) and a dodgey model which seems to have a hole in the roof of its mouth. The plot is ripped off from from Jaws and a scene from shark attack 2 (which was ripped off from Jaws anyway), also some of the shark footage looked similar to the stuff used in bits of shark attack 3. There is also a pointless subplot about diamonds. Why do these people think they need anything other than the shark as the plot? I don't remember Jaws needing russian businessmen, diamonds, oil drilling, nuclear waste dumping etc. to add tension. As usual there is a terrible script and horrendous acting. What makes this movie stand out is the fact that the sharks growl and roar like big cats while attacking. Also, whenever anyone is surprised by the appearance of a shark (how do they sneak up while growling?) they exclaim: 'Jesus, sharks!' which I thought was genius.
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!
It hasn't all been trips to the cinema and all you can eat chinese buffets this weekend. No, I have also been working and I have finally managed to make my graphic novel in to a PDF, ready to be sent out to publishers. I have also designed little promo booklets to go with the discs, to encourage them to actually look at it.
Below is the front (on the right) and back page (on the left). Under that is the interior spread. The big white gaps are for the text (which will explain how amazingly brilliant my book is) and the booklets will be A5 size, matte.
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.
1st - 7th of August is Clown Week. Get your creepy clown ecards here for the big event.
The exhibition went well, I had 3 A2 sized prints and then a plinth with the finished graphic novel (bound with some lovely leather and great typography, thank you Deirdre!) and three small books filled with sketches. Here are the prints:
And here are the books:
It feels odd to be finished. I need to re-do the text and put the book together as a PDF and start hassling publishers again. Just waiting to do my final assessment this morning, then I just have to hand in my dissertation (in September) and I'm all done. I'm not sure what I'm doing after that. Maybe I should apply to do another MA in September....
Congratulations to Richard Starzecki, who has just had a baby boy. Well, actually Kari had the baby, but you know what I mean. Congratulations!
busy putting up the exhibition and getting ready for assessments. Bleh! Full rundown with photos at some point. Since I'm too busy to blog, here are some things to keep you entertained:
http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/ ,
via http://www.tennapel.com/ (thanks Andy).
The 'we hate kitlers' section is quite funny too.
And.....there was something else but I've completely forgotten what it was ......um.....it was really neat. Oh well, maybe I'll remember it for next time I'm in a hurry.
....as GOB would say. Well, now the tutors are answering questions regarding the exhibition (which is next week), I have found out that we are not allowed to frame our work. Unfortunately I've just spent £60 on custom frames, and as this course has already dug me in to debt I'm pretty angry. I see that it is my fault for not understanding the rules (which no one told us), and that as someone who has worked as a gallery assistant, technician and occasional exhibition curator, I was stupid to assume that a professional exhibition could include frames. I should've known from looking at the degree show how it would be presented, but unfortunately that was only put up this week...too late for me to cancel my order. (And when I had my degree show at this uni we were allowed to frame stuff, actually we were encouraged to...but I guess that was six years ago)
So now I have to try and get prints done of my work by Friday (because no way am I hanging up originals unprotected on foamboard, stuff's already fallen off the walls from the current exhibition). And if anyone would like to pay £30 for an A3 frame I will happily paint them an original piece to go inside it.
Just getting ready for the MA exhibition, it's on from the 7th to the 13th of July (the opening is on the 6th) at the Hutton building, University of Sunderland. In theory there should be two framed pages from the comic, two mounted pages of rough layouts, the finished bound book and some little books of the early sketches (two pictured above) . Then I have a little bit more to do on my dissertation and then I'm finished and I can have a rest. Then I have to get back to getting this thing published, finding some work and starting the next issue of monstrum. I think I might keep this blog going after I finish the MA because it's been really useful.
Here is wookie enjoying my graphic novel. He says it's good, but he has been known to lie. This is the mock up copy, the final one should be finished soon.
I've been doing some kids comic book workshops over the last couple of days with primary schools. Some of the genius strips included memorable lines such as: " I'm going to raid this semi-concious man ". "Better bring your scared face " "Where is my dress? Oh, I am wearing it!" and this gem below:
Which reads:
Panel one: " I'm gonna fight you."
"oh yeah, bring it on."
Panel two: " Oh I'm so scared"
"When I fight you I bite you because I'm Black Diamond."
Black Diamond was a bare knuckle boxer they were learning about.
Also, in one of the comics, someone was knocked out when they tripped up over a dog. It's been a surreal two days.
Godzilla vs a giant trout. Meal times are never boring around here.
Nearly finished the book. Have decided to print the entire thing at home, double sided A4 (it was intended as an A4 book anyway) and then it will be hand bound by genius bookbinder Deirdre, (if you've seen the TGT Bishi book or the Gone exhibition comments book, they were both made by her).
At the moment she is finishing off my mock up copy, then we'll set to work on the finished one and hopefully we will make some little books of my early sketches and paintings. So at least my exhibition will kick ass! I've been asking around to see if any publishers are willing to look at it as a PDF file on disc (Fantagraphics had said they would need to see more of the book and this seems like the easiest way).
Thanks again to everyone who has been visiting this blog, the last few weeks have been very tough and your words of encouragement and advice have been much appreciated.
Below is one of the final paintings I did for the book, and possibly my favourite, it's half of a double page spread.
This is the whole book printed out on single sheets. Looks pretty hefty! Having read through it, I've decided to add four more pages as I don't like the pacing in the first part of the story. It will run at 80 pages, but was originally intended to be much much longer, so I have plenty of stuff I can add in.
I still need to sort out the text, and may have found a printing solution (need to talk to someone this weekend about it).
Top Shelf have turned me down, which I'm not surprised about, and Fantagraphics replied to say they thought it was a childrens book. It's nice they got back in touch, I wasn't really expecting a great response to it. Waiting to see if anyone else gets back about it.
It's probably a tough one for publishers, I should've planned for this before I started.
Here's where I went wrong:
1. They haven't heard of me, so it's risky to begin with. I should've signed my work 'Alan Moore' instead.
2. It's painted and could prove expensive to reproduce. I should've done it standard comic size in black and white or computer coloured.
3. It's not the 'hot' style at the moment. I should've gone Manga, that seems a lot easier to shift.
4. It's not easy to market. I should've been controversial or done something that would sit well in a guardian review. I might try this next time, how hard can it be....
5. It's a tough market. I should've killed off every other comic artist and writer or a least scared them off the idea of wanting to get anything published.
6. Not much room for merchandise. Actually, you can make merchandise from anything these days, that's not a problem.
7. I was going to say it wouldn't make a good movie, but it doesn't matter if it's good or not, they'll try and make it anyway. Maybe it would be a good movie. I'd better get that screenplay ready, just incase.
There's the formula for making a graphic novel. Or not. Maybe that could an experiment.
If anyone knows a cheap and reliable printer, now would be a good time to mention them.
As I get closer to completion, I have realised that my options are quite limited. I can't afford to self publish, but I do need to get at least one copy printed up for my final exhibition in July. So far I've been quoted over 100 pounds for one copy, which I can't afford. Also, I'm really stuck for time which isn't great when you want something perfect bound.
Unless a publisher picks it up, this book may not see print past one exhibition copy. I'm considering a print on demand service, but don't think they can deliver in time for the exhibition, and I don't know what the quality is like.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Here are a few of the books I've been reading for my dissertation:
Lewis, L. ed. (1992) The adoring audience: fan culture and popular media, Routledge.
I don't know if a revised version of this has come out, but it could do with an updated or new edition. This is a collection of essays about fans and audiences, ranging from Elvis to Cagney and Lacey obsessives. Quite interesting, particularly for anyone looking at audience / author relationships or tv/ pop music history. Would be nice to see some new stuff in there as some opinions may have changed, and also so much has happened since.
George, M. ed (2003) The comics journal library, Vol 2: Frank Miller, The interviews: 1981 - 2003, Fantagraphics.
This is great, even if you aren't a big Miller fan. Miller is very outspoken about comics, and as this volume covers such a huge chunk of his career, it's interesting to see some of those opinions come back to haunt him. It also charts his changing relationship with The Comics Journal and the interviewers. Wonderful insight into comics history and into Millers career.
Sorensen, L. (2005) The library of graphic novelists: Bryan Talbot, Rosen publishing group.
This could have been a good book. But it wasn't.
I don't know what the other books in this series are like, but I'm not paying to find out. I get the impression the author has never spoken to and possibly never read any of Talbots work. Most of the book is cobbled together from other books ( actually, from about two other books...) and although it could be argued that this book could be of use to someone new to graphic novels, I'm sure there are far more useful ones out there.
Talon, D. (2003) Panel Discussions, TwoMorrows publishing.
I love this book. It's just artists talking about the design of their work and for a geek like me that is wonderful!
Reading Mignola describe his design process....wow! It's not perfect (could do with larger colour spreads for a start)but I love this book.
Wright, B. (2003) Comic book nation: the transformation of youth culture in America, John Hopkins university press.
Approaching comics from a historians point of view, this book gives great social context to developments in the comic industry. Although useful for academic purposes, it is written in an engaging manner. Hefty as it is, I wish it had been a bit longer, although the edition I bought has an extra chapter tagged on about 9/11 which isn't as well written as the rest of the book. Enjoyable and really useful!
Daniels, L. (2004) Wonder Woman: The life and times of the amazon princess. Chronicle Books LLC, California.
Firstly, this book is designed by Chip Kidd. So there's your first reason to buy it. Second reason is that it is entertaining and covers pretty much all aspects of the amazon princess, giving all sides of the arguments and disputes that have come about over the years. Also gives a fascinating insight into the crazy life of her creator....
Sabin, R. (1996) Comics, comix and graphic novels. Phaidon Press.
This book was vital to my last dissertation. But, my last dissertation was a bit rubbish.
Sabin manages to cover a huge amount of ground, touching on many facets of the comic industry and the history of comics. As an overall guide to comics history, this is really good. Obviously it isn't very indepth, but it does cover lots of stuff. It is well written, well researched and designed well enough to be a coffee table book at worst. One of the best all round books on the subject that I have come across.
Slatin, J. (2003) Maximum accessibility: Making your website more useable for everyone. Pearson Education Inc.
I read this for one of the essays I had to write, but I thought I'd include it because it was interesting.
I hadn't realised how badly designed most websites are in terms of accessibility. And as someone who does a lot of work for Museums, Galleries and schools, I have to be reasonably aware of accesibility issues relating to design. Some of the worst offenders are major online shops. When you consider that (according to the disability rights commission www.drc-gb.org) disabled people have an annual spending power of 50 billion GBP, you'd think these sites would make more of an effort.
Also filled with programming jargon to help you get your site up to scratch and some info about the laws in place.
The national writing project (1990) What are writers made of? Issues of gender and writing. SCDC Publications.
Experiments done in class rooms to see the differences in storytelling between girls and boys. Worth reading for the kids stories and drawings alone.
Gravett, P. (2005) Graphic Novels: Stories to Change Your Life. Aurum Press Ltd.
What a clever book! A problem with trying to get graphic novels out to a wider audience is that they don't know or understand what's out there. This book helps by acting as a guide and interpreter. Well written with an innovative design and layout. The books covered are so diverse that this can be enjoyed by GN enthusiasts and new readers alike.
Spencer, A. (2005) DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture. Marion Boyars Publishers.
Pete recommended this book for something else I was working on, but it has proved useful for my dissertation also. A good overview of zines and zine culture which raises some excellent points and neatly sums up some tricky concepts.
Carrier, D. (2000) The aesthetics of comics. Penn State university press.
I've just started reading this book, but it aims to approach comics in a philosophical manner and place them within the context of art history. So far, I've learned how Gary Larson's work is a perfect example of Baudelaires claims.
I'm not sure if the author can top that, maybe he should have saved that point for the end of the book.
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.
Some possible cover designs. The typography needs some attention on all of them! I sent some work off to a publisher in New York this morning, I used the one with the white figure falling as the cover (but I changed the lettering). Work is coming on well, about another 45 or so pages to go.
Enjoyed Malcy's gig, and the Lightning Bolt one. Got a copy of that French anthology through the post today, some really great stuff in it, it's a nice little intro to British small press. I think they've only made 50 copies of it, for sale in France. I get to see my work in the same publication as people like Metaphrog, the Rubins sisters, Richard Cowdry and Sean Azzopardi, which is really cool.
Nigel Auchterlounie has been working on a new comic, actually six new comics. Each one works on its own, but they all relate to each other as well. His work is always weird and clever like that. We met up at the Cluny pub (or 'my office' as I like to think of it) and had a little look. It looks really good, he's also been doing some newspaper style strips which are very funny. His Pigboy comics have been reprinted by Pirahna press, but I don't know what the availability is like. If you haven't read them before you should try and get hold of them.
Above is a panel in progress, underneath it is a full page image.
I'm still working away hard, between trips to 'my office' of course. I only have a few weeks left now, the pressures really on!
Well, I'm 25 pages into my graphic novel. 25 whole pages. Yep, Twenty five. pages. 25. Only another 60 or so to go.
Publishers don't seem willing to look at it until it's totally completed, which is understandable, but it would be nice to have some kind of expression of interest from somebody, just to give me some hope.
Looks like I won't be making it to the Bristol convention. The usual money/time issues (as in, I haven't enough of either).
As the work is piling up and the time is dwindling away, these blogs are getting more infrequent. It's not a sign that I'm too lazy to write anything, it's that I'm too busy to!
I'm also finishing up on a chapter for a book I'm working on. I've been bugging people for help with my research and they've all been so great about it! I got a nice pile of Caption zines from Jenni this morning and everyone's given good interviews and passed the word around.
Just finishing off some paintings today and then I'm going to try and start scanning tomorrow. Then I'm doing some text experiments and I'll be spending the weekend writing (hopefully I can fit in some time at the gym too. And the pub.)
I've put all my flickr pics of my artwork into a set here
Oh, and a comics guy linked to me on myspace, here is his blog (yeah, I have a myspace account. Let's leave it at that).
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).
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.
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.
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.
Andi Watson very kindly agreed to be interviewed by e-mail. This is for my research in to gender issues for an upcoming essay and also for my final dissertation.
You can check out Andi's work on his site (which includes a blog): http://www.andiwatson.biz/
And he also has a Flickr account where you can see his latest work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andiwatson/
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....
Okay, this project is driving me insane. I thought I was happy with it, but not I'm not so sure. I'm finding it hard to step back and view it objectively and I feel like I've lost sight of what it was I really wanted in the first place.
Help me out. View these three sample pages and tell me what you like/don't like about them. Which one is best? Are they all rubbish?
I've selected one page from the book and made it in three different ways based on how I've been working recently. The sequence takes place in an underwater environment.
Tell me your views either by posting comments here or e-mailing me.
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.
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.
I don't usually get to work with colour in my comics, but I always have a colour scheme in mind when I'm writing and drawing. Colour is really important in this graphic novel, so I need to get it right. Today I am conducting some colour experiments to try and find the right kind of blue that I need. This would probably be easier if I was colouring on computer or just using a pantone ref., but with painting there are so many factors to consider, so the tests won't be too indepth but they should give me a better idea of what I need to do.
Garfield strips follow a pretty simple formula, and I've always wondered if the punchlines were interchangeable. Now there is a site that brings up random panels, so you can find out for yourself:
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/natetrue/gar.html
Hooray!! 4000 word essay has been handed in, 1000 word essay is complete (but not yet printed because finding an available printer in this place with ink in it is a job in itself.) Now I can get back to drawing. And detective work: who is Benjamin Stove? Help solve the mystery! Where is Scooby when you need him?
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...
When I first started this graphic novel, I was determined to do it in colour. I could never have guessed that I would end up painting it. I have something against painted comics.
(Warning: If you decide to read the rest of this entry, be warned that it contains strong language such as 'Alex Ross')
A painted panel in progress.
I think the presentation went very well, my work is coming on in leaps and bounds, my dissertation research is getting very interesting and my story is working out well. However, the 4,000 word essay is still looming, as is a 1,000 word write up for a presntation of work to date I knew nothing about until yesterday. Oops.
On a happier note, Finchy sent me this amazing link. It's one of the bestest shark things I've ever seen, and I've seen a LOT!
Megalodon
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 is a page of my rough layouts, even from this blurred image you can see they are very rough. But, they make sense to me and that's all that matters!
Still messing about with watercolours, the book will involve watercolour in some form or other it seems. This one was done last night.
My desk is a mess, but that seems to be the only way I can work! Compared to how it looked at the start, you can see I'm making progress (or just a mess, depending how you look at it.)
You may be able to see some of the stuff on my notice board, a lot of it is work that has influenced me or inspired me. It includes some Mike Mignola, Eric White, Alex Toth, Arthur Rackham, Robin Joseph, an old print from a Jules Verne book, pictures from magazines like Dive and New Scientist and some plastic beasties from the sea life centre. It will be interesting to see if any of it makes it into the final book in any way.
Well, it has been a while since I posted anything. But that's good, because it means that I'm busy. Above is part of one of the sample pages I brought to Brighton, at the moment I'm just experimenting with this style. My aim is to have all my rough layouts, referencing and style ready by the end of this term. I think I will manage this. My research is going okay too, I've identified some more people to interview (Still trying to get hold of a mini disc player to post up the Bryan Talbot interview) and I've read some useful books. The layouts are going well, I'm quite proud of some of the sequences. There was one picture I'd had in my head since the start which I've actually taken out of the story now, I often find the best stories tend to write themselves and this one is certainly doing that!
I want to see if I can use the eye tracking equipment at the uni to do some experiments for my dissertation. Oh how I love experiments! If I wasn't an artist my second career choice was evil scientist, I'm hoping to still realise that dream in some small way. Anyone who has read my comic 'Evolvomatic' will understand the scope of my evil genius and my grasp of science. Woo ha ha.
Photos should be up soon, once they've been developed.
Sunday highlights: Sea Life Aquarium, Paul Gravett talk, sleep.
Read on for a full review.
Photos should be up soon, we used a 'proper' camera, so everything is being developed. Just like in ye olden days.
Saturday highlights: Seeing old friends, playing with Slaines sword, catching up on what everone was up to, meeting a dalek, going for a meal with some other small pressers and hanging out in the bar.
Read on for full review.
As my practical project for this year is a graphic novel, my research is also to do with this. An early problem I ran in to was describing what the term graphic novel actually means. Sure, you can refer to Will Eisner or look up Eddie Campbells manifesto, but to the average person on the street this isn't going to clarify things.
Anyway, I was really intrigued by Paul Raineys current work, 'There's no time like the present', which he describes as a graphic novel but it is released and formatted like a comic. So I've interviewed him about it. Read on to find out more, and leave a comment if there are any other questions you'd like me to ask him.
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).
One of my favouritist comic creators,
Scott Morse has just launched his own publishing imprint. Although, the work is being distributed by AdHouse books, which aren't the easiest to get hold of ( as I found out when I tried to get hold of South Paw by Scott Morse, see image above. Thanks to Bucky at Travelling man for tracking it down. Of course, you can get it on Amazon now.)
Had an interim review of my work today which, I think, went very well. My work has advanced and changed quite a bit since the start of the course, the story is coming on well and I'm finding an interesting way of working. My work's getting even looser (which is the opposite of what I expected) I'm just as excited, if not more excited, about the project than when I started.
The interview with Bryan Talbot was also really useful as it helped back up some my reasoning (i.e. conclusions I had come to are also conclusions he's come to, but of course he's been able to put it into practice and made some very successful work, which is very inspiring.)
The course has been shortened by 2 months. We are now finishing in July instead of September. Can the university do this? Apparently, yes they can. I don't know why we weren't warned that this might happen or why they have decided to implement this change during a course instead of at the start of the next year. The tutors have tried to point out some positive points, none of which are relevant to my circumstances.
So now I have even less time to do an already ridiculous work load.
I'm teaching in Gateshead tomorrow and Friday and interviewing Bryan Talbot tomorrow, then teaching in the Winter Gardens on Saturday, so there probably won't be any new entries until Monday.
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.
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.
During my character designs and also in one of the key scenes in the novel, an interesting thing came up. The character was wearing a pair of converse, this is based on some aesthetic reasoning but also because it works well in the scene I just referred to. I wondered if I should change it to a similar looking trainer or stick with a branded product. I decided to stick with my initial sketches, mainly because I knew that if I needed reference material it would be no problem! Also, it will change how some people read it, because of brand associations and within the context of the story I knew that would work to my advantage. Anyway, I contacted Converse just to see what their policy was and was told that it was fine to go ahead. Hurrah.
So, what am I doing at the moment? well, apart from exploring colour, struggling with character design and layout I'm also doing some theory work. We've been having lectures on design theory and soon we will have to give a presentation based on these but about our own work, then hand in a 4000 word essay on it too. So I've been doing A LOT of reading. Tons, infact. I think my forthcoming interview with Bryan Talbot should be quite informative too.
Outside of the course, my freelance work is going well. I am doing some cartoon bees for a roman fort, some book illustrations for Essential works publishing, colouring and activity sheets for an art gallery and getting ready to do some workshops too. I'll be doing some world war two comics with young people, teaching the art of stenciling as a drop in workshop and doing a workshop for the Big draw at the end of October.
Keep reading for my current statement of intent (which is an outline of what I'm trying to do during the MA course)
I've started doing some work in colour, see above. Anyway, normally colour would be one of the last things I would add and usually I don't get to use colour at all due to printing costs. I had hoped to do this graphic novel in colour, but hadn't thought I'd be addressing it so soon, even before finishing my character designs. A tutor has suggested I do it now, to help inform my line work I think. I've done some paintings ( watercolour and gouache respectively) and pantone pieces and it has been enjoyable. When I started doing Monstrum Horrendum I did some paintings and character studies in colour, really just for myself and to have a few colour pieces for the website if I needed them. I wish I could have done the whole thing in colour because even as I was writing it, I had such a strong pallette in mind. Often I finish comics and wish that I could pass it on to Dave Stewart or Laura Allred to colour (some day...sigh....). I think many small pressers are faced with this dilemma, and it is probably a big contributing factor in the rise of web comics.
Also, I am currently interviewing Paul Rainey via e-mail and Bryan Talbot has just confirmed that I can go and interview him! Will be putting it on my blog.
Went to Cullercoats (pictured above) to do some drawing, but the tide was in so I missed out on all the great rockpools. So, I mostly jsut drew rocks, the sea and some people. Will try to go again soon. Just doing as much sketching as I can of things that may be useful or relevant to my story.