Category: Comics

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Talking Tempo Lush & Lucy at Laydeez Do Comics: Monday 10 September

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Laydeez Do Comics is a fantastic monthly get-together where fans of comics and art (of any gender) listen to creators talk about their work and get to mingle, chat and eat cake.

I usually go there to check out the other speakers but in September I’ll be making the leap in front of the audience to show some images and talk about my work, focusing particularly on Lucy the Octopus but touching on mini-comics, Wallace & Gromit, Almost Naked Animals, music and ceramics. I might even have a few things on sale.

Monday 10 September 2012
6.30 – 9.30pm
The Rag Factory 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ
Entrance: £1.50 (including cake!)

I’m also looking forward to hearing the other speakers on the night…
Louise Crosby, artist http://www.facebook.com/SeeingPoetry
Louisa Parker, artist www.louisaparker.com

Panel from Laydeez Do Comics June 2012 Blog

Panel from Laydeez Do Comics June 2012 Blog

You can get a taste of the evening in the blog I created for June’s Laydeez Do Comics.

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Caption 2012: Summer Special

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I had a fantastic weekend at the Caption Festival in Oxford.  It’s an amazing annual comic convention (the UK’s longest running) with a focus on creators talking on panels and running workshops.  Lovers of the comic medium and creators alike mingle freely, without hour long queues for book signings or paying to get an autograph from your favourite 1980’s TV star.  I enjoy huge shows like MCM Expo and Thought Bubble too, but it’s good to get a picture of the whole spectrum of comic conventions out there!

I’ve been to Caption a few times before (including my first one five years ago, when I had to rush back from Oxford after my wife’s waters broke) but I think this has been my favourite.  There was a good mix of smooth running panels, I knew lots of the lovely attendees plus I got to meet for the first time some amazingly talented people…

Some of the casts of panels on editing and Myriad Editions

Above you can see my doodling done during a panel entitled Shedding Light on the Dark Art of Editing Comics.  It was great to hear perspectives on editing – a side to comics which is often overlooked by fans and publishers.  The panel included Woodrow Phoenix, Corinne Pearlman, John Anderson and Hannah Berry, held together by one of hard working Caption organisers David O’Connell.

This was followed by another great panel on publisher Corinne Pearlman’s Myriad Editions.  This included creators who have had their books released by Myriad: Nicola Streeten, Darryl Cunningham and back for more panel fun, Woodrow Phoenix.

Lovers of the comic medium and creators alike mingle freely…

Caption organiser and Journalist Alex Fitch reading the new Almost Naked Animals magazine which I wrote a comic for

Day Two of the show started in a delightfully social way with some familiar friendly faces from the usually London based Comic Gosh!p Book Club, a fantastic graphic novel reading group run by Mike Medaglia and Mark Haylock.  In this session we were discussing Maus (Art Spiegelman) and My Cardboard Life (Philippa Rice).  The general consensus was they’re both a bit good!

Other Gosh!pers included David O’Connell, Selina Locke & Jay Eales (former Caption organisers who stepped in to help out this year too), Lisa Woynarski and Elliot Baggott.

Gosh!pers try to find stuff to say about Maus and My Cardboard Life

Next up, I was on a panel myself alongside some amazingly skilled creators: Playing in Someone Else’s Sandbox (Self-published vs licensed characters) featuring creators who have done incredible work on their own characters as well as other people’s… The line up featured David Baillie (via Satellite), Charles Cutting (creator of a webcomic based on characters and situations by H. P. Lovecraft entitled The Dream Quest of Randolph Carter), Al Davison (artist for Dr Who comics) and Robin Etherington (who has written for… pretty well everything, including Star Wars, Wallace & Gromit and Transformers).

It was so nice to hear about the process and struggles that other creators go through in working on licensed characters.  I talked about capturing animated characters in comic form and the difference between the two mediums, so Wallace & Gromit and Almost Naked Animals came up a lot!

Robin Etherington watches David Baillie discuss his writing work on 2000 AD and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Al Davison, me, Charles Cutting and Robin Etherington

Next up was a panel from creators of the fabulous Phoenix Comic.  Great to hear the magic involved in putting that together.  Seems like everyone is really having fun working for it!  Great to get to meet and chat to these talented folk!

Doodles of some fine Phoenix Comic creators.

The line up featured (as below) Adam Murphy (Corpse Talk), Robin Etherington (writes Long Gone Don), Patrice Aggs (creator of Blimpville), Neill Cameron (artist on Pirates of the Pangaea and Daniel Hartwell (writer on Pirates of the Pangaea).

Real Phoenix Comic creators, and mediator David O’Connell

The final panel of the event was entitled America is not the Only Fruit which discussed looking outside Anglo / American comics for inspiration, with manga creators Rebecca Burgess, Sarah Burgess, Joe Morgan and Jade Sarson, and bandes-desinées-inspired David O’Connell (Tozo) and Garen Ewing (The Rainbow Orchid).  All were kept in line by Caption organiser and Comics Journalist, Alex Fitch.

Creators inspired by a world of comics

So well done Caption!  Another great year.

Looking forward to hearing some of the panels being broadcast on the Panel Borders Radio Show and podcast over the next few months.

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Na na na na, na na na na Na na. Almost Naked Animals!

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I’m pleased to announce I have written a 4-page Almost Naked Animals comic which will be appear in Titan‘s Almost Naked Animals Magazine, out 16 Aug 2012 in the UK and 16 Oct 2012 in the USA.

Art / lettering is by the very talented Dill Tasker and the whole thing was pulled together by the great Martin Eden who is also the creator of the (equally fantastic but very different from Almost Naked Animals) comics, Spandex and The O Men.

For those not familiar with the Almost Naked Animals cartoon (showing on Cartoon Network and CITV), created by the amazing Noah Z. Jones, take a peak here!  I had a party getting to know the show and characters – nice when watching cartoons counts as research.

It’s a fast-paced, zany, irreverent world where shaved animals wear underwear and run a hotel.  Yeah, yeah – sounds like a hundred shows we’ve seen before but give it a chance!

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MKomix write up

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It’s been a long time since I’ve sold my wares with a table at a comic show and the MKomix event last night was a lovely one to return to.  There was a friendly and chilled vibe in the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes as I joined some familiar and some new to me indie comic creators, including organiser Paul Rainey plus David Baillie, Jay Eales & Selina Lock, Sean Azzopardi, Karen Rubins, Jon Scrivens, Dan Lester, Jade Sarson and Amy Letts.

I had the pleasure of meeting Laura Watton for the first time in person and realising I’d bought a Sweatdrop collection she’d worked on many years earlier.  Was also great meeting my table mates and fellow Londoners, Avery Hill Publishing.

All in all, a good evening.  Thanks to all who came and asked me about my work and those who bought some of it!  My new Lucy the Octopus Tasty Taster Comic was my best seller of the evening!

The night was rounded off by driving home with Alex Fitch, David Baillie and Dan Lester, failing to find a Little Chef so opting for a Chinese take away eaten in the open air in Dunstable.  If anyone passing through Dunstable, pops into the China Express, I recommend No 74.

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Lucy the Octopus Tasty Taster Comic

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Hot off the press (and after much hand-folding) I’ve got the first batch of my new Lucy the Octopus Tasty Taster Comic all ready for sale at upcoming comic shows.  Just in time for MKomix in Milton Keynes, this Thursday 19 July 2012, 6-9pm.  Hoping the print comic will get further folk to check out lucytheoctopus.net.  

Lucy the Octopus Tasty Taster Comic

Lucy the Octopus Tasty Taster Comic

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MKomix 19 July 2012 6-9pm

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I’m very pleased to announce that I will be exhibiting and selling my work at the MKomix event in the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes on Thursday 19 July 2012, 6-9pm.

The event has been pulled together by the very talented Paul Rainey and features many greats of the Small Press scene including David Ballie, Jay Eales & Selina Lock, Sean Azzopardi, Karen Rubins, Jon Scrivens and Dan Lester,  plus Jade Sarson who I could tell drew the excellent flyer below even before spotting her credit!

MKomix Flyer Drawn by Jade Sarson

 

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Experimenting with Comics

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From yesterday until 19 July, anyone passing through London Town can stop off at Orbital Comics and check out their gallery to see some amazing experminetal comic work from the fantastic Karrie Fransman.  We’re talking comics made from jewelery boxes, puppets, dollhouses, sewn comics and my favourite, the piece below featuring a 2D character moving between various 3D frames.

Karrie Fransman Experimenting with Comics exhibition

I was lucky enough to be at the launch evening which included a range of discussions and talks with Karrie, Paul Gravett and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey.

Karrie introduced us to her work before opening up a brain challenging conversation on the definition of what a comic is.  I won’t begin to go into the detailed debate that ensued (and is still going online) but it certainly raised awareness that comics can be all sorts of things beside strips and books.

I got a chance to discuss the nature of some of my own ceramic comics.  Nice to be a small part of a great evening.

Karrie asked the audience to decide if this is a comic…

Paul went on to talk through a history of experimental comics including comic installations in various galleries and spaces.  One of the ones that made the biggest impression on me was this 1903 strip by Gustave Verbeek called The Upside Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo. The title is no more crazy than the idea.  Each episode read the right way up, then the reader would flip the story upside down and read the rest upside down and it made perfect sense!

As a comic creator I can’t begin to imagine the headaches that would give you trying to make it work once, let alone week in week out.

The Upside Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo

Finally Daniel talked about Hyper-Comics, comics which involve a larger than usual amount of interaction with the reader.  It was a fascinating look into the possibilities of what can be achieved in the medium, with technology and imagination.  Daniel’s site e-merl.com is bursting with different ways of creating comic work – a fine collection of inspirations for any creator.  A Duck has an Adventure looks particularly fun and exciting so I can’t wait for an iPhone version.

Paul Gravett, Karrie Fransman and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey

One of the reasons I love comics is because anyone can make them with something as simple as a piece of paper and a pen, but considering possibilities way beyond that is certainly something I need to look into…

You can hear the discussion and see the slides on Orbital’s website here or just check it out below!

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More Ceramics Comic Things: City of Mouse

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In City of Mouse, I worked in 2D images painted in enamel on various 3D pieces of ceramics.  The objects could be buildings or obelisks or just platforms to display the ghosts of captured moments of the solitary mouse caught in various points in time.
The mouse with the star on his belly gets up to all sorts of things; sometimes mundane, sometimes ritualistic, sometimes divine.

For a previous batch of Ceramic things click here!

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Comics in Ceramic, Wire and String

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A few weeks back I got into a conversation with Paul Gravett and Karrie Fransman about 3D comics, and the ways they can take on different forms.  Karrie is in fact having an exhibition on the subject called Experimenting with Comics at the great Orbital Comics shop in London, starting Thursday 21 June.

It got me thinking that while I’ve experimented with different forms of paper comics, particularly with my Mini Comics box set, I hadn’t tried to make any others in 3D.  Then it hit me… way back when I was studying Ceramics at Camberwell College of Arts, (back while they still had a Ceramics degree) I did make something along those lines.  A fair few actually…

This piece with 4 ceramic shapes linked by string and wire, tells the story of a boy’s journey where he meets a Messianic cat.

4 Piece Comic Story, Ceramic, Wire and String

At my graduate show I placed all my work in a space extending the imagery of the ceramics themselves.  The relationship of an object and it’s environment is really interesting.

Exhibition, Camberwell College of Arts

Two sides of the same object.  Fun mixing ceramics with contrasting materials like yellow fluff…

Fluffy Yellow Thing, Ceramic, Fluff and Wire

This is my fave.  It’s a poem, ceramic sculpture and story all in one.  There’s me playing a keytar while my parents ride in a spaceship near the mountain top.

Mountain Piece

This one was called Mouse Between Heaven & Earth. ‘Nuff said.

Mouse Between Heaven & Earth, Ceramic and String

This little guy was kind of like a puppet.  I liked making toy type things from a completely inappropriate material.

Pode Me Ajudar, Ceramics and String

Sometimes the comic imagery would exist in flat pictures, giving new purpose to my 3D shapes…

Phoenix, Monkey and Baby with powers, Ceramics and String

Ceramic is great for making very naturalistic shapes as well as clearly man made forms.  I like the contrast of this organic looking shell with the cartoony looking god on the inside.

Shell god, Ceramic

This was stupidly huge and heavy.  Having this flat image on a big ceramic wall does affect the way you look at it though…

The Eye of the Needle, Ceramic

Ceramic Tiles. Spot the Buffy one.

Tiles, Ceramic, Fluff

The cool thing about making each tile a panel is you can rearrange their order to make different stories.

Freeing the Magic Goose, Ceramic

For more ceramic comic ideas see my post on City of Mouse.

I’ve also added a Ceramics section to my online portfolio here!

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Stuff to look at in Beijing, China

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Okay – heading off for a week in China with my family I had lofty plans to get out the old sketch books and capture the locals sites and atmosphere.  Traveling with a 4-year old son (my 4-year old son, for the record) made this pretty impossible, so I humbly offer up some photos I took on my travels instead.

Don’t worry – not going to bore you with pix of me posing in front of various touristy sites (especially as I was wearing shorts for much of the trip).  Instead, I’m focusing on the sites of around Beijing, ancient and modern, that I found photo-worthy.

For a really well drawn Beijing travel guide I’d check out this offering from Sarah McIntyre.

So there you have it.  I didn’t manage to capture some of our experiences in photograph, like the storm we were caught in on our first day. Seriously torrential downpour!  Wondered if it was normal for the Chinese but as it made it on to the local news that night we figured it had to be pretty exceptional.  We had almost made it on foot to Tiananmen Square when the heavens opened and we joined crowds of people sheltering under an large archway, before escaping on a taxi/motorbike/gardenshed-on-wheels type thing.

Or… the fact that locals ask to have their photos taken with you or your kid, like you’re George Clooney or someone.  Happened lots, even half way up the Great Wall!

Or… having our bags and ourselves x-rayed before entering Tiananmen Square (imagine that at Leicester Square!) and even the tube stations.

Or… the over-enthusiastic masseuse.  “Is here okay?” “That’s fine, thanks.” “What about here?” “Erm….. no thank you!” “Why not?” “Erm… I have a wife.”  “Oh, alright then.”  Probably good there’s no photographs of that!