Here’s a pic I started doodling behind my table at MCM London in October…
As usual, I began in pencil…
Added inks…
Scanned the picture into my mac…
Started the colouring process, marking out different flat areas on different layers of Photoshop – background…
Midground…
Foreground (I wasn’t planning to keep this bright pink, but at this stage it’s easier to see what I’m doing with a strong contrasting colour)…
Here’s these main areas with the line work on top…
And here’s the different areas completely marked, and the colours adjusted.
I also added some shadow on the ground…
Now there’s some texture on the tube things…
I’ve started to add more details to the ground colour and changed the big creature’s pupils. Less cute but more funny looking…
Now there’s texture on the ground too, and the woman is completely coloured, including lighting.
The woman’s face wasn’t standing out enough against the tubes behind her, so I added a bit of white around her to spotlight her a bit…
I toned down the white, so it was barely noticeable but still does the job.
I added the basic colours for the creature. I’m trying to limit the range of colours to give the pic its own vibe.
It was great focussing on different textures in this piece…
And there you go! All done…
This is going to end up as the cover from a new Tempo Lush collection coming out next year…
Okay, so a few weeks ago I finished creating theLucy the Octopus comic strip which I’ve been working on since 2012.
I planned to have a bit of a send off at my favourite comic shop Gosh Comics in Soho, London. I timed the final strip to go online the same day that the last print issue, Just the Dregs, would be released… Thursday 6 Oct 2016.
Parties are always more fun with more people involved and two of my good friends, both immensely talented creators, were kind enough to offer to share celebrations with me. Francesca Dare was launching her latest Penny Blackfeather comic…
And Amber Hsu of One Pound Poems created a special poetry zine in time for the event, The Moon and the Eye…
The good people of Gosh Comics helped prepare, including Nora Goldberg-Fourrel who pulled together a great poster when we barely had any art ready for it…
And soon it was the night of the Small Press Live Show!
Here’s all our new material ready for the party goers to look at and purchase…
Trying to keep our launches interactive and fun, we asked attendees to write insults for Lucy, as well as some compliments. These would come into play during the musical section of the evening later on…
Box drawings by Francesca…
Writer and cake baker extraordinaire, Nas Bee made some delicious Pear & Chocolatecake for the event…
And we were off! Francesca introduced the night…
…before Amber delighted the crowds with the first of four poems taken from her new collection…
Then Francesca gave us a little insight into the making of Penny Blackfeather (as well as panda romance)…
We’d asked the party goers for some spontaneous questions for Francesca to answer. Some were comic related. Some were way off topic!
Amber treated us to to a beautiful poem on a difficult subject…
Then it was time for the Lucy the Octopus Musical (of sorts), which I’d been writing for a few months. I was glad to have frequent collaborators and musical friends alongside me (from left to right) Miki Mangione on ukulele / vocals, Miss E (Enoma Igiehon) on guitar / vocals (both from my old band Kablooie) and comic creator Sally-Anne Hickman on percussion and vocals.
Best selling illustrator Mike Medaglia was kind enough to jump in and control the imagery in the background of the musical…
And the audience did an amazing job learning words and singing along when needed!
The unmistakable silhouette of Andy Oliver of Broken Frontier…
I already knew Amber Hsu is multi-talented but was blown away at how easily and well she handled being narrator. We’d not had a chance to rehearse altogether before, but the first performance was great fun and I’m very proud of my musical troupe…
The evening rolled on with more entertainment! Another poem from Amber, The Poet…
Francesca said a few thank yous…
…and Amber did her final poetry reading of the night…
Then to round off the entertainment, Miss E and I had a bit of a musical battle (which she clearly won – amazing guitarist that she is) and we all went on to play a surprise cover tune, where Francesca and Amber joined in on maracas…
I was very grateful for the amazing contributors who lent their talents to the night and everyone who came along to join in the fun, including my old friend and amazing musician / singer Piney Gir…
From left to right: Writer / cake baker Nas Bee, Francesca Dare, Me, Amber Hsu and talented musician and composer Garo Nahoulakian…
It was a great evening! Cheers all! Thanks to Nas Bee, Pete Bunzl, Amber Hsu, Tibah Hussain and Cherish York for photos and videos!
One of my favourite days of comic workshops this year was back in March when I visited a lovely school called Waltham St Lawrence Primary School in Twyford.
Teacher Zoe Cubbage was incredibly helpful on the day and was kind enough to send some comments from the children…
“Richy’s drawings were very good, especially when he drew the boy’s hair.” Thomas “He inspired me to also write comics as well!” Hannah “I liked when he drew pictures for the classes.” Lettie “He had a very good imagination.” Beth “He does very good guinea pigs pooing out rainbows with a top hat.” Dominic “I want to be an artist and he inspired me to become one.” Poppy “He is really funny.” Jared “He is really talented.” Emily “He knows how to put the pictures together so there are no gaps. This was quite clever.” Matilda “He did better drawings so now I do better drawings because he inspired me.” Harriet “He has a good growth mind set.” Azaan “He has the best drawings that I have seen so far.” Jack R “I really enjoyed having him here.” Jack B “I think his comics were really funny.” Amelie “I really enjoyed the day and I will never forget it.” Jessica “I think he is really good at drawing and he has inspired me to have a go.” Vinnie “He taught me a new way of drawing.” Callum “He is the best drawer in the world!” All of Skylar
Zoe also sent some copies of some of their amazing comics strips. It’s wonderful to see what the pupils could achieve after just one short workshop. Enjoy!
Leon…
Sarah…
Unknown artist…
Dom…
Hannah…
Harriet…
Lettie… Matilda…This Kiss by unknown creator…
Thomas D…
No Panic (Sutton and Merton)is a group of people who meet every week to provide mutual support for their experiences of anxiety. Founded by an incredible woman named Jean Bevan, the group has helped people cope and recover since 1997.
Over the past few months I’ve been proudly working on an extremely worthy project through the fantastic Apples & Snakes Performance Poetry organisation. Apples & Snakes’ amazing Daniela Paolucci asked if I could design and illustrate a book that No Panic (Sutton and Merton) was developing. It would feature poetry and prose plus creative writing activities helmed by the uber-talent, author and performer, Sally Pomme Clayton. Sally Pomme also brought out the writing skills of the group members, and helped develop their abilities to produce some incredible work for the book entitled The No Panic Book of Not Panicking (well-being through creative writing).
Here’s a piece of writing by Robin Bevan in an Online Exclusive page that was developed but not included in the final draft of the book…
And here are some of my illustrations from the finished collection…
The project has shown how taking a valuable goal of creating understanding of a serious mental health issue and fusing it with the creativity of writing prose and poetry has a double win.
Firstly the act of creation itself has clearly been a helpful constructive process for all the writers involved who suffer from anxiety. Secondly the final result has already been appreciated by many readers, breaking down the stigma of mental illness and spreading understanding.
I felt very proud to play a part in what is a significant piece of work, and through the act of collaboration I am proudly bonded with the writers of the book.
On Thursday 16 June, the official launch of the book took place at Sutton Central Library. It was compèred by Sally Pomme, and featured talks and readings by Daniela and many of the contributors to the book, including myself…
There were even official introductions to the event by the head of the local council, Simon Wales, and the deputy mayor of SuttonNali Patel (far right below, alongside myself, book contributor Lawrence Ashenden and book editor Sally Pomme Clayton…)
The book is a fantastic read to learn more about anxiety, or to directly help anyone suffering themselves. You can pick up a hard copy of the book from any of the Apples & Snakes offices (see branches here and maybe phone to double check first!) or download a PDF version here!
In March I had the pleasure of visiting Woodside High School in North London to run a couple of comic making workshops with some very talented students, chatting about my work and finding out who was already reading any comics…Soon the participants were developing their own characters thinking about how the look of someone starts to tell that person’s story…There were some great drawings and ideas, including depictions of very angry teachers…I finished off each workshop suggesting how the characters could feature in their own short comic strip…
Towards the end of last year I was lucky enough to get to run a series of workshops organised by Steve Marchant for the Cartoon Museum’s Comic Creators Project, partnered with Mind In Harrow. Alongside Mind’s Emily Danby we developed a series of comic creating workshops for adults experiencing stress, anxiety or low mood.
Right now you can see work from the group on display at the Cartoon Museum in London. It’s makes me very happy to look back at this work and see what the group achieved during and after the 8 weekly workshops.
Nice to see the participants tackle lettering, story structure and facial expressions.I started off easing the participants into the world of creating comics by having them add their own elements to one of my own comics pages. Great to see their own individual styles and ideas shining through…A mix of emotions in cake!Some of the resulting complete strips were so funny……others were touching and powerful……and all were impressive and inventive… It was really gratifying to read these comments from some of the participants:
“We are a group of creative people who, with the support of Mind in Harrow, have been exploring the power of cartoon art as a tool of self expression. We all have lived experience of anxiety, depression and other related issues and we also share a talent for art, which this course has helped us to use as an outlet to manage conflicting emotions.
The Comic Creators course has opened up our minds to a new perspective on comic art and graphic novels. We find ourselves to be more expressive… through art, giving us an individual aspect of ourselves in our artwork. This helps break down the prejudice, stigma, and discrimination of people with mental health issues, taking away the conventional ideas that you cannot be creative or talented with mental health issues. It overcomes our self-doubt and fills us with the confidence to create art in our own style.
We came together and learned so much more than we expected to know about comics. Through the course, we also learned that we are not alone in our ideas of life, humour, and a good story narrative. This brings back our confidence and feelings of being connected to society.”
“The comic creators course opened a new world to me. I used to love comics for their story and art, but now I see how it helps people express themselves, to relax and think about what we hear, see, feel on certain things.”
“The course helped me tap into my creative energies.”
“What did I think of the course? Wow! Loved it! Enlightening and cool.”
“I never had much interest in comics as a child, and I wondered whether the course would be for me. I’m so glad I joined! An excellent course and tutor. It was exciting expressing the surge of images, ideas and comic concepts which came swirling in my mind, and putting them into visual form. I’ve really caught the comic bug!”
Here’s a pic I drew behind my table at an MCM Comic Con last year, just making use of time and drawing pens…Recently I thought I’d try colouring it with Photoshop.
Here’s the Background I layed down… And colours of the characters in the foreground… And the whole kaboodle…I hope to make a print of this soon!
Okay, this was a really enjoyable commission I did at the end of last year. I know it’s not always possible, but it’s great when a client gives you free range to do what you want. Even more so when you can trust they aren’t going to ask you to change the final thing!
The client was after a painting somewhat along the lines of this Alphonse Mucha style Lucy the Octopus strip… … but it needed to be an A2 size picture in watercolour and ink rather than ink and then Photoshop colour of the Lucy strip.
I didn’t have too long to get the painting done, due to other commitments, so just dived in with some quick ideas in my sketchbook… Next I was on to the pencils…Then inking with a brush…Then I got out the old sharpie and marked out frame borders on my drawing board. Easy as… OH €£@*! I’VE DRAWN A LINE RIGHT THROUGH THE MERMAID’S HAIR!!!! This is a DISASTER! I can’t click undo like on Photoshop, and I can’t tippex over it as that will mess up the watercolour when I lay that down! AAARRRRGGGGHHH!Fortunately, I’ve done the painting on nice thick watercolour paper, which means with a stanley knife I can scrape off the top layer of paper … … and get rid of the black line!
It certainly leaves a dent but hopefully, by the time I add watercolour no one will notice! So back to the inking, mainly with a brush but also with a bit of drawing pen…Time to erase the pencils… Add a quick plaster to my finger which has a blister from so much inking… A few final details with a fine pen…Then I lay down the watercolours…I’m using some new liquid watercolours, and everything’s going fine. Right?All going swimmingly (no pun intended)… Yep. No problems here!OH €£@*! Who am I kidding? I’ve done the blue borders way too dark! It’s a general rule of thumb with watercolour to build up the lighter tones first, then work up in layers to the stronger richer tones, BUT I’VE LEFT MYSELF WITH NOWHERE TO GO! Drastic action is required!
I take an army of wet Q-tips and try to remove the blue…It barely makes a difference… I carry on adding other colours in denial.But in the end, I get out the gouache paint! Unlike the translucent watercolours, gouache is opaque so I can go over the blue frames with a paler greyer blue tone.
It takes a couple of hours but worth it to save the painting! The eye is now drawn away from the frame to the more important stuff in the picture!
HOORAY! JOB DONE! Now I try a new trick! Using masking tape I make little star shapes to mask the next layer of watercolour.After it’s dry, I carefully peel off the tape to reveal lovely little stars below. It works pretty well…But OH €£@*! The tape has ripped some of the painting. PROBLEM NUMBER THREE! But a quick touch up with drawing pen and watercolour and all is well! All done, and the client will never know all the issues I had attempting to bring this thing to life (unless I write them all out in a blog).
A final set of snippets of wonderful pictures from the recent Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox anthology on the theme of positive change.
Each contributor also suggested a positive idea in keeping with the theme of the anthology…
Positive Idea: “No matter how down and alone you feel, there is always someone there to talk to. Your friends, your family, even a teacher or a doctor. And hey, there’s always a comic hermit in London who’ll listen if you want.
Remember that you are loved.”
Art sample from her Tempo Lush tale: UndertowJAMES HICKMAN
Previous works include:Score & Script
Positive Idea: “It’s an old cliche but we were given two ears and only one mouth. It’s a reminder that we should listen more than we talk.
Change is inevitable but positive change is entirely up to us. It’s a journey that begins only when we stop going wherever we’ve been heading and take the time to listen to one another.
Also bring snacks. Snacks are always welcome on any journey.”
Art sample from his Tempo Lush tale: ColossiKIM CLEMENTS
Previous works include:The Great Cat Mystery, Rabbit Thoughts
Positive Idea: “When I feel down I think about the famous Audrey Hepburn quote that there is much beauty in kindness. I also find that when all the anger and the sadness of the world makes things feel difficult, that it can be easy to look through people. I hate myself for doing this so I always try to slow down and imagine people’s life stories and talents that I pass on the street. When I do this I feel much happier and I often end up having spontaneous conversations.”
Art sample from the Tempo Lush tale: Bugleberry Tree You can get hold of the book online here, or at Gosh Comics!
