still alive
Shark dive was super awesome.
Full details with photos coming soon.
August 19, 2008
September 04, 2007
sharks in venice
See a Zombie fight a Tiger shark:
There's a new shark movie being made about sharks in Venice. I was going to do a comic like that years ago, as part of a story arc based around an old comic I did called Evolvomatic. I wish I'd done it, because now I could try and sue Hollywood. I hear they're rich.
Then I'd take my 80 million dollar settlement and make my own movie, which would be along the lines of this masterpiece:
I wouldn't bother with file footage though.
September 02, 2007
'MEG: Hells Aquarium' preview
I had the pleasure of reading a 30 page preview of the new MEG novel (you know, the books about a giant prehistoric shark that causes all kinds of mayhem). I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. Obviously, I will still buy the book when it comes out because it's about a giant shark and that's good enough for me. For people who've read the other books, it starts off a bit dull. Infact, the start of it seems to be straight out of a text book and other bits are from a Discovery channel documentary (I know because I saw the same one). All the same discriptions are used, like 'nostrils the size of basketballs or grapefruit or whatever ' etc. (BTW, that's not a direct quote) and personally, I don't like the addition of other ancient sea creatures, but they've popped up again and may well play another prominent role. I still recommend reading these books though, they are very entertaining and I hope they make the MEG movie soon because the books read like a summer blockbuster.(although New Line cinema has dropped its contract, but I'm sure someone else will pick it up).
If you're looking for a more factual shark book I can't recommend Devil's Teeth enough. It's really well written and tells you tons of fascinating things. It's from the point of view of a journalist who goes to live with biologists on the Farallon islands, and if you've seen the BBC documentary that inspired the book then you'll know that the sharks there are huge and the place is pretty much uninhabitable. The author has uncovered some really interesting facts about the place too, like there's loads of nuclear waste and a decomposing oil tanker on the sea floor even though its a nature reserve.
Okay, okay, enough shark talk. Here's some comics stuff.
Malcy has rereleased the Banana / skin joke, it's available (with a new cover) from http://www.missingtwin.net, along with his other books: A 52 SECOND SILENCE FOR TOPSY and THE BLACKEST GNOME
Some idiot in Comics International keeps giving him good reviews, so you might want to check them out. They're
odd.
May 14, 2007
This is what I do.
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!
April 26, 2007
Shark stuff
It's been a while since I rambled on about sharky stuff.
As you may know I am a huge fan of the Steve Alten 'Meg' books (which I think I described as the best yet worst books I've ever read). According to his site, the movie is in production with New Line cinema and should be out in 2009. It's been in production FOREVER! Also, he's releasing a new Meg book next year.
Another big shark movie in production is JAWS 5. Apparently due out 2008, but I don't know how true that is. There's also another Deep blue sea due out, straight to DVD I think. I wish I was making shark movies! I might go to the beach tomorrow and film some dogfish. I'm sure with some clever editing it'll be even better than anything Hollywood comes up with. Well, better than 'Shark attack 3' anyway.
There's also a new Jaws documentary which looks amazing. The website is here.
March 18, 2007
Jaws puppet
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.
September 10, 2006
Webby Comic
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.
September 05, 2006
Calamity Sunday.
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!
March 02, 2006
Shark spies
January 31, 2006
Funniest knitting EVER.
December 16, 2005
Shark sub
December 08, 2005
Go go Megalodon!
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
November 08, 2005
Jaws and presentations
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).