WASP 2015: The Webcomic Artist Swap Project rolls on…

I’ve been having so much fun sitting back and seeing the amazing comic collaborations from WASP (Webcomic Artist Swap Project)  flow in over the past week.

2015 is the third year for WASP.  I conceived the idea to spread awareness of different webcomics and have a fun and creative challenge for comic makers.  After a couple of years at the helm I was happy to be able to leave the project in the capable and telented hands of the new co-ordinators and editors, Sarah Turner (Folklore) and Francesca Dare (Penny Blackfeather, Rosie and Jacinda).

See more details and resulting comics at tempolush.com/wasp.

Here’s a round up of the WASP strips I’ve worked on over the last three years…

2013
WASP (Webcomic Artist Swap Project)Promo image by me!

Cafe Suada written and created by Jade Sarson.  Drawn by me!
CAFE-SUADA-by-Jade-Sarson-with-Richy-K.-ChandlerLucy the Octopus – Written and created by me!  Art by David O’ConnellLUCY-THE-OCTOPUS-by-Richy-K.-Chandler-with-David-O'ConnellLucy the Octopus – Written and created by me!  Art by Zarina LiewLucy_WEB LUCY THE OCTOPUS by Richy K. Chandler with Zarina Liew2014
New-WASP-logo-2014
Banner WASP painting by Francesca Dare

Becoming of Age – Written and created by Nicola Streeten. Art by me!
Richy's-Art-for-Year-at-50Lucy the Octopus – Written and created by me!  Art by Rachael Smith2014-02-26-WASP-Rachael2015

Banner by Paul Shinn, Francesca Dare and Sarah Turner
WASP-Creator-Banner2015Go! Go! Metro! – Written and created by Inko and Chie Kutsuwada.  Art by me!
Richy-Go-Go-Metro-WASP-2105Lucy the Octopus – Written and created by me!  Art by Midori Harako2015-03-04-WASP-MidoriNow I’m thrilled, not only that Sarah and Francesca did a wonderful job pulling the comics together this year, but also that they’re going to continue the project next year – Onwards and upwards!

HOW TO MAKE A COMIC STRIP (or more accurately How to make the 93rd instalment of Lucy the Octopus) PART 4: INKS

For Part 1 of this series of blogs, The Foundations of Writing, click here!
For Part 2: Script, Lettering & Layout, click here!
For Part 3: Pencils, click here!

So here I am, in the midst of creating the 93rd Lucy the Octopus strip.
Pencils-12Having completed the pencils (see above) and while the paper is still stuck with masking tape on to my drawing board, I get out my inking tools.  These consist of permanent ink black drawing pens in a range of sizes:

Fine line drawing pens, either Staedtler Pigment Liners or Uni Pin Fine Lines with the following tip sizes: 0.8, 0.5, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1
Sharpie markers: Fine point and Chisel Tip
Set Squareinking-toolsI don’t recall ever using a ruler to ink something in the Lucy strip.  The only perfectly straight edges are the panel borders which I draw out in 0.5 pen using the horizontal bar of the drawing board and a set square.

I leave the last panel without a frame to aid with the feeling of Lucy and Kate being lost and vulnerable.

Prior to that I inked the lettering for the KERLANK sound effect to avoid that over lapping with my panel borders.Inks-2Next up, I free the paper from the shackles of the masking tape!  This gives me the option to rotate the paper as I ink to reach the most comfortable position for drawing each line and curve.  This is even more important when I use a brush to ink as oppose to pens (which I’ve done a few Lucy strips requiring a different style, as well as lots of other work).

Sometimes ‘ll stay at my drawing board to ink, but often I’ll sit with my knees up and a couple of old sketch books to lean on.  It’s not essential but preferable to ink facing a black and white cat a few feet away.Inks-3Before I get on to the real art, I draw out the speech bubbles in a 0.5 line.

You can see below how it looks easier to draw a curve when you can adjust the paper to a comfortable angle (but I still mess it up)!Inks-4That little arrow I draw is to remind me to fix the mistake with the speech bubble after I scan the work into my Mac (ready to colour on Photoshop).  It’s quicker to do this than to use tippex or opaque white paint on the actual paper.
I’d wondered if I was the only inker to do this but I saw that when Mike Medaglia did some art for Tempo Lush Tales, he’d also done little arrows to show him where to fix things up on the computer.  Maybe lots of folk do it!

Inking is an opportunity to look at the pencils with fresh eyes and make tweaks and improvements to the composition.  With this in mind, I add an extra A at the beginning of the scream in Panel 3.

Not sure if it’s a bit of a faux pas inking the signature before completing everything else, but I do it anyway, because nobody tells Richy how to roll and I’m a complete badass.Inks-5On to inking the actual drawing. Sometimes I do this panel by panel. More usually I approach the strip as a whole and work from the thickest pens down the to the finest.  This saves a bit of time by not stopping to change pens so often.

So I start with the fine point Sharpie and do the character’s eyes.  No need for Chisel tip Sharpie today.Inks-6A good rule of thumb is draw things in the foreground in a thicker line than things behind in a picture.  That’s why I tackle Mrs Faridani in 0.8 line and will do the passengers behind her with a thinner pen.
Inks-7I also use the thicker line of the 0.8 pen to give the feeling of weight under elements such as the underside of the monster in Panel 2 and the handle in Panel 4. Inks-8I finish with the 0.8 pen and start with the 0.5.Inks-9I continue to work on the first 3 panels…Inks-10…until the 0.5 line work is done.Inks-11I switch to the 0.3 pen to work on finer lines, including characters further towards the background.Inks-12Finally I use 0.2 and 0.1 pens for the finest details, like the tiny passengers in Panels 2 & 5 and the characters in the deepest depths of the background of Panel 1.Inks-13The drawing part of the process is complete!

Join me next time for a thrilling look into… erasing the pencil marks! 

I may be overselling this.

For Part 1 of this series of blogs, The Foundations of Writing, click here!
For Part 2: Script, Lettering & Layout, click here!
For Part 3: Pencils, click here!
For Part 5: Erasing, Scanning & Cleaning Up click here!
For Part 6: Colours click here!
For a video overview click here!

HOW TO MAKE A COMIC STRIP (or more accurately How to make the 93rd instalment of Lucy the Octopus) PART 3: PENCILS

For Part 1 of this series of blogs: The Foundations of Writing, click here!
For Part 2: Script, Lettering & Layout, click here!

So where were we?  Oh yes!  I’ve come up with my story, written my script and laid out my lettering and panels as seen below.
Lettering-6---Layout-from-updated-templateNow it’s time to start drawing what will eventually look like this…Planning-01THUMBNAILS

I’d recommend starting the drawing process for virtually all comics by doing thumbnails (small quick very rough sketches planning what you intend to draw), after character designs and other preliminary studies.  It almost always saves time in the long run and gets better results.

I have to admit that with Lucy I usually skip a proper thumbnail stage.  I seem to manage to get away with this because…

  • I do a sort of mental thumbnail stage in my head when I lay out the lettering and the panels.
  • By now I have drawn these characters hundreds of times before.
  • The undersea characters are relatively simple to draw anyway. Drawing humans would be a whole different matter!

So anyone starting a comic strip for the first time, please do thumbnails!

PENCILS

I always aim to lay out the main elements of the entire comic strip before I go into too much detail.  It saves on having to erase things which you’ve already spent ages on if the positioning needs to be adjusted.

That being said, you can see that I immediately get carried away drawing Miss Faridani, rather than laying out everything else.  Naughty, naughty.
Pencils-1That’s more sensible.  I map out the background characters in Panel 1.
Then I draw in the monster and bus in the circular Panel 2.
Pencils-2Hmmm… not sure about the THWAK! sound effect.
It’s not clear where the noise originates from and isn’t the right sound for a metallic vehicle being pummeled anyway.
I change the sound effect to KERLUNK! and have it surround the bus.
I also start properly mapping out the other characters.
Pencils-3I’m now generally happy with the layout of the first three panels at least.

In Panel 4 however, I’m not sure about the look of that handle that the octopus on the right (Kate) is holding on to.  It needs to look like a handle that can open the window or door, but what with it being attached at both ends to the top of the seat, it looks like its function is as a handrail.

So no problem right? I just tweak the handle to look like it can be turned.  I then flesh out Lucy and Kate while I’m at it.
Pencils-4Well, there is still a bit of an issue.  The back seat of the bus where Lucy and Kate were sitting previously appeared a couple of strips earlier (Strip 91) and there was no such handle to be seen…
91-last-panelNow, its more than likely than very few readers, if any, would notice this, but it would bother me to not sort this out, so I go back to Strip 91 and add a handle to the offending panel.
91-last-panel-UPDATEThat’s one cool thing about webcomics – you can make tweaks even after a comic has gone online and just update the file.  I’ve made a few spelling corrections, dialogue changes and other small alterations in this way, sometimes weeks after a strip is online.
Once a strip has gone into print however it’s obviously not possible to make these changes.

Anyway, we’re now just left with our final panel to do, and I’m having trouble with it.  So here I do the smart thing and try some thumbnails of possible layouts, on a separate sheet of paper – keeping it loose.
Pencils-5-ThumbsThe second one seems to work for me.

While generally thumbnails are drawn much smaller than finished art, this sketch happens to be the right size for the final drawing so I use my lightbox to trace it on to the final piece.
Pencils-6-Lightboxing-ThumbsPhew!  At this stage of creating the strip I feel I can relax a bit.
Having mapped out the rough layouts of the strip, the really brain-taxing work is done!
Pencils-7Now it’s just a case of adding details.  I move on to fleshing out the passengers in Panel 1.Pencils-8Then the last Panel – no need to do it in reading order!Pencils-9I make notes as to which kids will fill the role of the helpless pupils in the central panel.  This is largely based on what colours the characters are resulting in who will look good next to who.Pencils-10It’s worth noting that as with the script, if the strip was going to be worked on by another artist (at the inking stage) I’d make the pencils far tighter.Pencils-11I finish off the final characters and I’m done.
Pencils-12Next time… On to the inks!

For Part 1 of this series of blogs (The Foundations of Writing), click here!
For Part 2: Script, Lettering & Layout, click here!
For Part 4: Inks, click here!
For Part 5: Erasing, Scanning & Cleaning Up click here!
For Part 6: Colours click here!
For a video overview click here!

Interview with Finish the Lucy the Octopus Strip Contest Winner: Saul Taylor

I was so happy with the response to the Finish the Lucy the Octopus Strip Contest that was run over on lucytheoctopus.net at the end of last year.2014-12-17-Saul-Finish-Lucy-StripLondon Based Saul Taylor’s entry nabbed first place for its off kilter humour, a great expression on Lucy’s face and the pathos of trying to draw a friendly smile on the guitar.

I asked Saul a few questions to find out more about the man behind the winning entry…
saul-taylor-beardYou’re a familiar face on the London comic scene, as a vocal fan at various conventions as well as other regular comic based meet ups such as Process, Gosh!p, Laydeez Do Comics and the Comica Social Club.  How did you first get interested in local comic events?
Even though I’d been shopping at Gosh! regularly for years, I had no idea about Gosh!p until several months after it started when I heard about it on the Panel Borders podcast. I wasn’t sure about going (believe it or no I’m incredibly shy, I know that might seem hard to believe to the people that know me via Gosh!p but it’s easier with people I know) but I’m so glad I did. I love discussing comics and I’ve met some awesome people who have become friends.

How long have you been into comics and what started your love of them?
Here comes the origin story. Back in 2007 I decided to re-watch all my Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs. I got really obsessed with the show again after not having seen for years. It was around the time the Season 8 comic was starting up so I decided to read that (I know season 8 didn’t finish well but I still have fond memories for the first few story arcs). Anyway, I’d been reading about the comic and I knew that a man by the name of Brian K. Vaughan had written the next story arc, and Joss Whedon would be writing an arc of Vaughan’s Marvel comic Runaways.
This intrigued me so I decided that I’d like to read Runaways, but they didn’t have it in the Hackney libraries system so I got out another Vaughan comic instead called Y: The Last Man. By the time I finished the first trade paperback I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life: dedicate it to becoming the world’s number one comics geek.
saul-taylor-oxford-streetIf there were three comics or graphic novels you would suggest a typical non-comics reader should try, what would they be?

That’s an impossible question, because the sort of comic I’d recommend to one person isn’t the sort of thing I’d recommend to another. I’d want to know what sort of thing they liked in terms of TV, film and books without pictures.
If they’re more into action/adventure fantasy/sci-fi type things I’d maybe suggest:
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neil
Alias by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos
But if they tend to prefer more “realistic” or non-fiction type of stuff then maybe they might like to start with:
Palestine by Joe Sacco
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
The Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon
Narrowing it down even for twice the number you asked is hard though, I wish you’d asked me for a top 50.
saul-taylor-rooYou have a unique sense of humour which comes across in your winning Lucy the Octopus competition panel as well as other cartoons and images you’ve produced.  Do you have plans to make more comics or cartoons in this way?  I hope so!
I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Sure, when I was a kid I had other ambitions as well. I wanted to be a Blue Peter presenter and be the Prime Minister (not at the same, I knew if I was busy presenting a twice weekly children’s television programme I wouldn’t have had the time to run the country in my spare time).
Making up stories with ideas I get from my mind is always something I’ve wanted to do. Before I got interested in comics I wanted to create TV shows, but as soon as comics came into my life I wanted to be a comic book writer (and artist, but a writer more).
tumblr_mwvylw61y71t3mgz8o2_1280I came up with idea of creating a character called Captain Utopia (sample above). You can see the first (and so far only) comic I produced about him here! I’ve started writing other stories about him but never managed to finish any of them.  You might be right that I should try to do more in the humour vein than the epic action/adventure sagas with a strong social message that I’ve wanted to do but have managed to finish.
saul-taylor-cardI assume the Lucy panel was produced using Photoshop or similar drawing software.  Is this your preferred medium and do you ever work straight onto paper too?
I use GIMP instead of Photoshop because GIMP is free to download while Photoshop cost hundreds of pounds. I do still do a bit of painting and drawing, but I enjoy digital art making because it has an undo button.
saul-taylor-daleks-assembleYou also produce ceramics which often have a pop culture flavour to them!  How would you compare making 3D ceramics to producing cartoons?
Working with clay takes bloody ages. You can make a model in a few hours but then you have to wait for it to dry which might take weeks if it’s a big piece (you don’t want it to dry to quickly because then it could crack).
Then it has to be fired (if you don’t fire it, it’s just a pile of dry clay that will break into tiny pieces if you look at it in a funny way).
After you fire it you can add glaze and then you can fire it again and hope the glaze stays where you put it instead of trickling down your piece. I can only go to pottery class once a week, so it can take a month of two to get anything finished.
saul-taylor-windowThanks very much Saul.  Good to learn more about you.
Really hope we can all see more work from you soon!

HOW TO MAKE A COMIC STRIP (or more accurately How to make the 93rd instalment of Lucy the Octopus) PART 2: SCRIPT, LETTERING & LAYOUT

For Part 1 of this series of blogs (The Foundations of Writing), click here!

THE SET UP

Right – so I’ve completed the first 92 Lucy the Octopus strips and I’m about to write the script for Episode 93, which will come to look like this upon completion…Planning-01The previous strips set up the story for Lucy (uncool) and Kate (cool) to be knocked out of a school bus, so ultimately they’ll be forced to spend time trapped together in a deep chasm.

Before the arc kicks off properly I decide to run this one-off strip (Episode 89) I’d had in my head for a while, to reconfirm the relationship between Lucy and the cool girls without foreshadowing the upcoming story…  2014-03-05-089The true start of the arc begins with Episode 90 which introduces the idea of our heroine going on the school trip and reconfirms to us how bad a parent her dad is.  It’s good to establish this idea as he’ll be popping up again in this story line in Episode 99.
2014-03-12-090In Episode 91 the reminder of how Lucy is viewed by the cool girls in the school from Episode 89 should pay off.  Miss Faridani’s dialogue also works as exposition, letting the reader know the characters will be traveling a long way from home…
2014-03-19-091Episode 92 is a chance to show the scale of the danger the characters are facing while still keeping the typical humour of the comic in the dialogue. This is the first time in the strip the characters have faced any physical danger, so hopefully that’s an interesting new element for the readers.
2014-03-26-092So that’s where we’re at.  Now what happens next?

WRITING THE SCRIPT

Plot wise for Episode 93 all I need to happen is for Lucy and Kate to be knocked out of the bus.

As with all newspaper style comic strips I try to establish all the reader needs to know in the first panel.  The final panel needs to be a satisfying punchline, resolution or cliffhanger.  Any panels in between the first and last progress between the two in as entertaining a manner as possible.

The opening caption says all we need it to if this was the first Lucy strip the reader had ever come across.
For some strips (like this one!) I sacrifice clarity to new readers in exchange for pay offs for longer term readers.
You can’t spend every strip re-establishing character and premise for the sake of newbies but if you can do that while being entertaining, funny and serving the story that’s of interest to long-time readers, everyone wins.
It’s definitely a balancing act.

Here’s the full script that I wrote…

  • THE SCHOOL COACH HAS ENCOUNTERED A LARGE ERM, THING… / HOLD TIGHT KIDS!  I’M GOING TO STEER AWAY FROM IT!
  • AAAARGHH!  Bus flipped upside down.  Characters fly everywhere including Sandra
  • KATE! GRAB HOLD OF THIS XXXX, OR YOU’LL GET HURT! / YEAH RIGHT!  LIKE I’D SHARE A RAIL WITH THE LIKES OF…
  • Bus flips and KATE falls towards Lucy.
  • Knocks them out the back of the bus?…YOU

As you can see, it’s pretty sketchy stuff.  When I’m writing a script for myself I don’t need to add much detail as I can already picture what’s going on in my head as I write.  It’s good to get the dialogue as tight as possible at this stage but the action notes are just reminders.

When I write a script for someone else to draw I need to give much more detail.  Below you can see the the visual description taken from the script for a couple of panels from Rosie and Jacinda, followed by the finished art.  My friend Zarina Liew drew it.

Classroom of about twenty 14 year olds  – first day of new term and friends are chatting to each other about their Summer break before their teacher comes in.  At front of class (and panel) is Daniella looking awesome in new outfit and chatting to two cliquey friends also fashionably dressed.  Couple of  boys, Kyle and his friend are looking their way (clearly eyeing them up) and talking.
Other kids sat down and talking happily except Jacinda.  She’s sitting alone waiting to get another year of school over with.  The desk next to her is empty.  Jacinda should not be the central focus of the panel – she should almost look like a background “extra”.

Rosie and Jacinda SampleLETTERING

Back to Lucy Episode 93, and I lay out my text on a pre-existing template, using Photoshop.  I have templates set up for 3, 4, 5 and 6 panel strips.
In this instance I knew the panel spacing would be irregular so I just plonked the lettering over any of them to get a sense of the whole canvas area of the strip.Lettering-1---1st-TemplateI print out the lettering template on bog-standard A3 paper.  As you can see I create two Lucy strips on one piece of paper.
Lettering-2---Print-out-templateUsing a lightbox, I trace out where the panel borders (if known) and lettering for the two strips fall, onto good quality drawing paper.  I tend to use a mechanical pencil.
Lettering-3---Template-on-lightboxThen I tape the paper on to my drawing board and using the horizontal bar and set square I rule out the panel borders.
Lettering-4---Layout-traced-from-template

Putting the lettering down before the drawing is very economical timewise.  It shows me exactly how much space I have for my drawings.  Plus I don’t have to waste time drawing anything that will be covered up by speech bubbles later.
Now it’s down on paper I can really start to see how the strip will flow.
And in this case… I don’t like it!

INITIAL TWEAKING OF WORDS AND LAYOUT

I’ve never had to do this before for a Lucy strip but as it’s an unusually action based episode I’ll forgive myself – I go back to my lettering template and I make some changes…
Lettering-5---Rethink-for-lettering--template

      • I need an extra panel where you can actually see the monster, in this case hitting the bus – that’s the green circle.  This new panel should clarify the action and be fun to draw (and hopefully see).
      • Due to the new round panel overlapping with the top of the first, I’m concerned that the reading order will be confusing (a real pet peeve of mine).  I move Miss Faridani’s line “Hold tight kids!  I’m going to steer away from it!” from the bottom of Panel 1 to just below the opening caption.  That way there’s no chance the reader will think that dialogue comes after the circular panel.
      • It will be hard to draw Kate falling into Lucy knocking them out a door in just one small panel, so my solution is that Kate pulls a door handle open by mistake instead.
      • As a result of the above, I need to change the exchange between Lucy and Kate to:
        Lucy:  “KATE! DON’T HOLD THAT HANDLE IT OPENS THE…”Kate (interrupting): “SHUT IT LUCY! WHY SHOULD I LISTEN TO…[YOU!]”

A note about that dialogue:

I had to make a decision as to how much Lucy says before being cut off by Kate.  It’s more natural for Kate to cut Lucy off earlier in the sentence, but the reader needs to see enough of it to be clear what Lucy is intending to say.

She can’t get as far as “KATE! DON’T HOLD THAT HANDLE! IT OPENS THE BACK DOORS…” as Kate needs to impulsively cut Lucy off before learning that information.
“KATE! DON’T HOLD THAT HANDLE! IT OPENS THE BACK…” doesn’t flow well to me from a humour / rhythm perspective plus it could read as if Lucy’s managed to finish her sentence (which for the sake of the story, we don’t want).
“KATE! DON’T HOLD THAT HANDLE! IT OPENS THE…” gives just enough info and flows well.

This is of course extreme minutiae, but it’s the kind of detail that can make or break a strip, in terms of clarity and comedy.

With these changes in mind, I adjust my panel layout on my drawing paper, as before using the lightbox and drawing board…

Lettering-6---Layout-from-updated-templateComing up in Part Three of this blog, I start to actually draw stuff – yeah!

For Part 1 of this series of blogs (The Foundations of Writing), click here!
For Part 3: Pencils, click here!
For Part 4: Inks, click here!
For Part 5: Erasing, Scanning & Cleaning Up click here!
For Part 6: Colours click here!
For a video overview click here!

Thought Bubbling 2014

Time for a quick visual look at fun times at the past weekend’s Thought Bubble comic convention in Leeds.

Up early and mentally preparing my brain for the day by analysing my stocks and shares…TB2014-00New stuff on sale – hoorah!TB2014-01TB2014-02My table neighbour Van Nim‘s wonderful array of work…TB2014-03Just beyond Van was the great Sally-Jane ThompsonTB2014-04The always lovely to chat to and impeccably dressed David O’Connell and Sarah McIntyre were showing loads of kids the fun to be had making comics and also selling their new Jampires book (and jam comic) along with their other fantastic works…TB2014-05Amazing that despite his serious comic making skills and numerous appearances at conventions over the last few years this was Paul Shinn‘s first comic con with his own tableTB2014-06As always I keep an eye out for cool Disney cosplay – here was a great Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.   TB2014-07Always lovely to be asked to do Lucy the Octopus style portraits of con visitors…TB2014-08TB2014-09TB2014-10Got home to have Suki Kabuki check over my stash of quality comics and books by Ned Hartley, Barry Spiers, David O’Connell, Sarah McIntyre and Paul ShinnTB2014-11And that ends convention season for the year!

MCM London Comic Con 2014

Cheers to all the lovely folk who visited the Tempo Lush table at MCM London Comic Con this past weekend.  Great meeting new people and having folk who had read my work before come back for more!

Really pleased that all my new comics were selling.  Had to rearrange my table a bit to make space!
MCMOct2014-01 I tend to keep some work on the go to make use of downtime.  That’s some panel borders for upcoming Lucy the Octopus strips…
MCMOct2014-02
MCM wouldn’t be the same without my table neighbour Van Nim to share carrots and chocolate with!
MCMOct2014-03
On my other side, Francesca Dare of Penny Blackfeather fame and Karim Flint of Limehouse Comics.
MCMOct2014-04
The mighty Sloth Comics table…
MCMOct2014-05
While I’m usually happy behind my table for the three day event I sometimes can’t resist dashing out to grab a photo if I see some cool cosplay.  Here’s a great Belle from Disney’s Beauty & the Beast…
MCMOct2014-06
And here’s an awesome Mable and Dipper from Gravity Falls
MCMOct2014-07As usual I got a chance to do some Lucy the Octopus style commissions like this David Tennant as Dr Who as an octopus…MCMOct2014-08…as requested by the Cheshire Cat!MCMOct2014-09 And finally three ladies who insisted on pulling some excellent silly faces
MCMOct2014-11
MCMOct2014-12Thanks to everyone who stopped by.
Next stop… Thought Bubble!

Evolution of an Anthology Cover: Tempo Lush Tales Cover Process with Darker Chi Lynch

So designing the cover for an anthology’s a tricky thing.  Do you focus on an image representing one of the stories inside, or make reference to all of them?  What was I going to put on the front of Tempo Lush Tales that would encompass what the book’s about and make people want to pick it up?

After researching other anthologies (both comics and regular ol’ wordy books) I settled on trying to get an overall vibe of the collection across in a single image.  There’s a variety of styles in the book from dark satire to softer sweetness so I hoped to come up with something that would bridge common ground of all the ideas in the book without focusing on any specific story or character.

I wanted something that showed something of this Earth but with a fantastical twist – something like a flying whale!  This was the perfect image but far from original – a quick google of the term brings all sorts up, plus I was already a fan of the whale sequence from Disney’s wonderful Fantasia 2000, so didn’t want to ape that.

I considered all sorts of flying objects and animals – very hard to find something that hadn’t already been done.  I eventually tried playing with the concept of giant flying pineapples.  See my early messing around with the idea on Photoshop below…

tlt-cover-blog-01Even as a very rough depiction of the idea, it wasn’t quite gelling for me.  I had plenty of other work to be getting on with so I put the cover aside for a few weeks.

As the deadline for the release of the book was closing in, I turned to artist and designer, Darker Chi Lynch, to see if she could do better than my own attempts.

She was smart and tried quickly getting down on paper loads of possible directions the cover could take, based on talking through my concept for the collection with me…
tlt-cover-blog-02We both kind of liked the cubes and the big eye thing.  Darker tried playing with the cubes…tlt-cover-blog-03…but didn’t feel it was quite right for the project.  It was a little mathematical and we needed something more organic. tlt-cover-blog-04The eye definitely seemed the way to go.  We talked about the concept of having the eye in the knots or the rings of a tree trunktlt-cover-blog-05Suddenly things were clicking.

When you cut a tree down you can count the rings of the trunk and tell how many years it had lived for.  We liked the idea of the eye being a spirit from within the tree, able to tell not only how old the tree was but many more stories.
It also made sense that cutting the tree down releases those stories, as paper from the tree would is turned into pages delivering stories to a reader.

Darker did a mock-up on Photoshop of a potential cover, which was pretty close to the final result – it just needed polishing.tlt-cover-blog-06It was helpful to see the colours she envisioned at this stage.

A tree happened to have been cut down in front of a neighbour’s drive.  I sent photos to Darker for inspiration.tlt-cover-blog-07She got out her brushes and ink and went to work on the trunk image for the cover as well as the stars hung up with string.tlt-cover-blog-08 She had a few stabs at the title text and the central eye
tlt-cover-blog-09
She did multiple eyes after we discussed using them as part of the interior design of the book too.  We hadn’t decided what would go where yet or which eye would make it on to the cover.tlt-cover-blog-10Darker combined the new art with the colours and textures of her earlier Photoshop rough.  She tweaked the title lettering a little, making it white with a shadow to really make it stand out.tlt-cover-blog-11And there you have it.  Thanks very much to Darker Chi Lynch – hope I can work with her again!

You can get hold of a copy of Tempo Lush Tales here!

Tempo Lush Launch Night at Gosh: Photos, Videos and Report

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Tempo Lush launch night at Gosh Comics last Friday.  There was an amazing turnout which made for a fantastic evening (for me anyway)!

GETTING READY FOR THE LAUNCH

So glad I was working with Rich Hardiman of Comic Printing UK who got all four of the new titles ready and delivered in time for the big day… 01Always important to compare a printers proof of your book with your cat…03Other things that needed to be done included practicing the musical section of the party with Bang! Crash! Whizz! artist Sally-Anne Hickman!  Much of this went down in Hyde Park.02THE LAUNCH NIGHT

So arriving at Gosh I knew I was in good hands as Hannah, Andrew and Steve, part of Gosh’s crack team helped get everything just right.  Nice to see the new books laid out on display!
04One thing I’d forgotten to organise was someone to take some nice event photos, so I was delighted and relieved that amazing photographer Mauricio Molizane De Souza was on hand taking some wonderful pics.  Unless otherwise stated, all the photos of the night in this post were skillfully taken  by Mauricio!

The shop soon had a busy and friendly buzz inside…
06 07 08 10I was thrilled that so many contributors to the new comics turned up for the occasion.  For those who couldn’t make it, we displayed their portraits, as drawn wonderfully by Keara Stewart (see below) so Francesca Cassavetti, Tim Hassan, Mike Medaglia and Aaron Murphy were certainly there in spirit!

After some fun mingling, Steve Walsh Of Gosh and South London Hardcore fame got the crowd’s attention…

11CHATTING WITH ALEX FITCH

Alex Fitch made me feel very comfortable chatting through the new releases as we stood on a make shift stage made up of two benches!
Nice to hear the people’s cheers as each artist’s work was displayed on the screen to our right.
Alex is such a skilled interviewer and comics and film journalist he makes it very easy to chat to him even in front of a crowd!12 13Pic below by David O’Connell…14ROSIE AND JACINDA: DEMON CLOUD

Here’s the amazing team behind one of the books launched on the night, the second volume of teenage fairytale Manga, Rosie and Jacinda.

Top row left to right: Jade Sarson (For the Love of God Marie!, Cafe Suada), Francesca Dare (Penny Blackfeather), Chie Kutsuwada (King of a Miniature Garden, Self Made Hero’s As You Like It), Van Nim and me
Far right: Zarina Liew (The Art of Sleep, Le Mime)
Bottom middle: Inko (Ketsueki (Markosia), Rachel Moves To Brighton)
15So proud to have worked with this lot!

Inkos’ cover looked amazing projected as a backdrop to the party!16Inko (left) and Chie travelled up from Brighton for the evening, with Inko cosplaying as one of the Rosie and Jacinda characters, Aaron!
That’s the first time anyone’s cosplayed as a character I’d co-created.  So cool!17Award winning creator, Jade made it to the event all the way from Milton Keynes.
28Here’s Francesca chilling with our good friend and Limehouse Comics associate Chantel Beaven.18Was touched that Francesca had painted me a lovely pic of the Pumfles (introduced in the new comic), to mark the event.  So cute!19BANG! CRASH! WHIZZ!

Also launched was my first creator-owned kids comic, Bang! Crash! Whizz! as drawn by the amazing Sally-Anne Hickman.
20Sally-Anne and me had great fun performing a musical version of the story, to a visual display of the illustrations.  Engineered with great skill by Richard Carter.21 22 23 24 Photo above by David O’Connell.

So nice that crowd seemed to enjoy it, no guitar strings broke, we remembered most of the words and we didn’t fall off the benches!   26TEMPO LUSH TALES

The biggest book launched on the night was Tempo Lush Tales, an anthology of stuff I’d written with no less than thirteen artists handling drawing duties!

Here’s good bud and artist Paul Shinn27 The talented Matt Boyer29Portrait artist  Keara Stewart30The cheery smile of Steve Walsh, writer of many fine things including the Tempo Lush Tales foreword31 Martin Eden chatting with comic creator Tammy Taylor and fellow Tempo Lush Tales artist Karen Rubins32Keara and her fella checking out the anthology…33Matt and Paul soaking in the launch party vibe.
There’s comic maker Anna Dowsland on the left!34Signing a copy of the book…35For the second musical performance of the night Sally-Anne and I were joined by musician and Tempo Lush Tales artist Steve Horry.  We only had two run-throughs (in the Gosh offices!) with Steve who had learned the song on the day, but being the smooth professional he is, he sounded fantastic.
Pic below by Inko.37

We performed the song Save Night-Time for my Dreams which Mike Medaglia had visually interpreted for the collection. You can see one of Mike’s pictures in Keara Stewart’s photo below.38What an honour to have all these talented artists work with me!
Top row left to right: Chie Kutsuwada, Karen Rubins, Paul Shinn, Matt Boyer, Steve Horry, Martin Eden and Steve Walsh
Bottom row left to right: Inko, Van Nim, me and Keara Stewart39Keara was kind enough to give all the contributors framed original drawings of the portraits she’d done.
My one is now hanging in my studio
40LUCY THE OCTOPUS: ANY LESS THE FREAK

Fun to see my artwork from the third volume of Lucy the Octopus projected in Gosh...42So the line up of creators working on the final comic released on the night is… just me!41 Excellent then that someone else had been up to something Lucy related.
Why it’s cake maker and blogger, Jess Cave!
43Jess made a big and delicious batch of Lucy the Octopus cakes!
Dr Pepper flavour no less!44 45Photo above by Paul Shinn.
The cakes made for a perfect combination with comics and music – my kind of night!
46SO THERE YOU GO!

Thanks to all the amazing people who were involved with the comics and the party!

Back row left to right: Karen Rubins, Paul Shinn, Matt Boyer, Martin Eden
Next row left to right: Zarina Liew, Chie Kutsuwada, Sally-Anne Hickman, Francesca Dare, Jess Cave, Steve Walsh
Next row left to right: Jade Sarson, Inko, Van Nim, Keara Stewart
Me in the centre
Richard Carter at the bottom
47You can buy any of the four comics plus other Tempo Lush stuff here!
Bang-Crash-Whizz-CoverCover-for-PromoR&J2-cover-for-promoLucy3Cover8updateI’ll leave you with one final Lucy cake that made it home.48Peace!