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Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox Tasters: David O’Connell, Chonto and Chibi Shibby

By Tempo Lush October 12, 2015 October 13, 2015 Comics

More snippets of wonderful pictures from the recent Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox.
Each contributor also suggested a positive idea in keeping with the theme of the anthology…

DAVID O’CONNELL

Previous works include: Jampires, Monster & Chips, Tozo, The Public Servant

Positive Idea: “The Bumble Bee Conservation Trust: bumblebeeconservation.org”

Art sample from his Tempo Lush tale: Flat E CHONTO

Previous works include: Illustrations for newspapers, novels, advertising, books, magazines, video, TV, theatre, performance art and more.

Positive Idea: “Rich imagination and creativity don’t necessarily come from constantly staring at mobiles, tablets and laptops. How about letting your imagination go wild by connecting with people and nature directly?”

Art sample from the Tempo Lush tale: Bugleberry Tree
CHIBI SHIBBY

Previous works include: Stories about Me and You

Positive Idea: “Do more of what makes you happy!”

Art sample from the Tempo Lush tale: Bugleberry Tree
You can get hold of the book online here, or at Gosh Comics or if you’re heading to any comic festivals this year you can find me and Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox at…
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (Kendal, Saturday 17 – Sunday 18 October 2015)
MCM London Comic Con (Excel London, Friday 23 – Sunday 25 October 2015)
Thought Bubble (Leeds, Saturday 14 – Sunday 15 November 2015)

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Round up of the Tempo Lush Penny Blackfeather Launch Night at Gosh Comics!

By Tempo Lush September 30, 2015 October 2, 2015 Comics, Events, Lucy the Octopus

On Friday September 18th 2015, a crowd of lovely people shuffled into the amazing shop known as Gosh Comics to help celebrate the launch of four new comics.

That would be the fourth Lucy the Octopus print collection: Too Cool for the Likes of You, the first issue in the second volume of Francesca Dare’s Penny Blackfeather, High Spirits#1, the anthology of positive change Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox (see Andy Oliver’s review on Broken Frontier here), plus we revealed the special project (top secret up until the announcement on the night), Alidade, a 20 page comic made from scratch over one weekend.

All photos are by the amazing photographer Mauricio Molizane de Souza (except where indicated).

There on the left is contributor to two of the night’s comics, Mike Medaglia, helping lay out the goods… So nice to see many friendly faces join us for the evening, some regulars and some new to the world of comic shops… Below (left to right): Friends of Gosh Comics, Paul Shinn (Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox contributor), Chantel Beaven and Lauren Louise Murphy. m06 On the left below, you can see my amazing co-host, Penny Blackfeather creator and Alidade contributor Francesca Dare.Below: On the far left is comic creator and director Andy Poyiadgi who kindly filmed much of the evening’s activities for us, on his own phone.
Taking a swig of beer is Alidade collaborator Tim Hassan, next to Paul Shinn and with the amazing pink hair is Paul’s fellow Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox contributor Anna Dowsland.It was great seeing comic related images projected nice and big in the shop……such as this wonderful panel by Francesa Dare, taken from her Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox story Undertow…
And there’s Francesca again signing a comic for a fan!It was great having the shop full, creating a brilliant buzz…It was a busy night but I was glad to catch moments to chat to star creators such as David O’Connell who contributes the first story in Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox, Flat E… m13 And there’s two good friends (and Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox contributors) who I barely got to chat to at all, even after they traveled to the event from Brighton, the amazing Inko and Chie Kutsuwada…I have a big grin on my face here but I think it masks my nervousness as I’m about to perform some music in a few minutes…Speaking of music, here’s three great performers, newly-weds Paul and Sally-Anne Hickman chatting to my old band mate Miss E (Enoma Igiehon). And two more contributors who created the Tempo Lush Tale Give It a Go, Angela Wraight (back, in glasses) and Nas Bee (front left) who surprised me with some incredible homemade cake to feed the masses… Aw! Such a nice bunch of folk including (left to right) comics academic and creator John Miers (who did a fantastic page of Bugleberry Tree in the anthology), Graphic Novelist S J Harris and Broken Frontier top guy Andy Oliver.
(Photo by fellow Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox contributor Keara Stewart)
That’s James Hickman holding a beer! James created the four page epic for Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox, Colossi, next to Lisa Woynarski.
Lisa used her theatre direction skills to great effect, timing the image changes during the evening’s performances on top of writing her first comic story for the Tanoox anthology: The Death of the Familiar. Miss E, Sally-Anne Hickman and myself downstairs in the shop after a bit of tuning up… And upstairs – Five minutes to curtain!Right! Things are really about to kick off as Steve Walsh, writer, podcaster and Gosh Comics superstar introduces his niece Aimee to get things rolling with a penny-whistle performance… Next up I start plucking away on Imani (my guitar) as we prepare for a special satellite link-up with the undersea town of Stoneydip… …and Lucy the Octopus!

Lucy’s shy at first but does a good job introducing the evening, despite some trouble. You can see screen grabs of the satellite link up here and a video below…

Lucy welcomed to the stage my two musical collaborators for the night, Sally-Anne Hickman……and Miss E, who as Lucy pointed out, bears a striking resemblance to someone who appears in Lucy strips like this one! We three performed a little guitar instrumental I wrote a few years back, which still doesn’t have a name…(Photo by Karen Rubins)

Next it was the turn of the Francesca Dare Theatrical Players to perform a scene from the new Penny Blackfeather comic with style and panache… Left to right: Francesca Dare, Paul Shinn, Steve Walsh and Lauren Louise Murphy.Left to right: Saul Taylor and Ramsey Hassan.

The crowd lapped up the culture, including Andy Oliver and contributor to two Tempo Lush Tales collections Matt Boyer…Now for the serious business of creator shout outs…Musicians strum while Francesca Dare leads the role call of talent involved in the evening’s new comic offerings……such as Graphic Novelist, singer and actress Jessica Martin who produced an amazing page for the Bugleberry Tree section of Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox……and Saul Taylor who won last year’s Complete the Lucy the Octopus strip contest! m44

Now it was time to reveal the secret project! Francesca called to the stage our collaborators on the book……and the crowd saw the 5 artists who made Alidade! (Left to right) Me, Mike Medaglia, Tim Hassan, Karen Rubins and Francesca herself!Mike explained how we created the 20 page comic from scratch over one weekend in August, how fun it was, how stressful it got and what a great experience it turned out to be…

Finally I said a few thank-yous before launching into the song Bugleberry Tree alongside Miss E, Sally-Anne and the whole crowd in the shop.

It was great to display artwork interpreting the song for the Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox collection, such as the panels seen in the background below drawn by Rachael Smith.
(Photo by Keara Stewart)

It was a very special night for me – Thanks to all the friends and collaborators who turned up and made it rock monkeys!
All of my new books are available to buy in Gosh Comics and the Tempo Lush Etsy shop!
Phew!

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Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox

By Tempo Lush July 31, 2015 September 15, 2015 Comics, Events, Uncategorized

Holy Schmoly! Check out the line up of creators involved in the upcoming anthology from Tempo Lush…
Brand new comic book stories on the theme of positive transformation from…
Nas Bee (Paper Houses) & Angela Wraight (Circuit Breaker, Yoshitoki is Making Waves, Paper Houses)
Francesca Dare (Penny Blackfeather)
Emmeline Pui Ling Dobson (Knights of Eve, Wu Wei)
James Hickman (Score & Script)
Amber Hsu (The Sardine and Gherkin – A True Love Story – and other One Pound Poems, Tiny Pencil)
Inko (Go! Go! Metro!, Manga Cupcakes, MangaQuake, Howl!, Rosie and Jacinda: Demon Cloud)
Chie Kutsuwada (Go! Go! Metro!, The Story of Lee, Hagakure: Code of the Samurai, Rosie and Jacinda: Demon Cloud, Manga Shakespeare: As You Like It)
David O’Connell (Jampires, Monster & Chips, Tozo, The Public Servant)
Keara Stewart (On The Escalator, A Bit of Undigested Potato)
and Dr Lisa Woynarski (Performance + Ecology) & Mike Medaglia (One Year Wiser, Wu Wei, Last Days of Nobodies)

Plus a jam comic featuring the drawing talents of…
Matt Boyer (Running)
Chonto (Acclaimed Japanese Artist)
Kim Clements (The Great Cat Mystery)
Francesca Dare
Anna Dowsland (Don’t Feed the Pigeons)
Sally-Anne Hickman (Bang! Crash! Whizz!, Black Diamonds and Blue Scars)
Jessica Martin (It Girl, Elsie Harris Picture Palace)
John Miers (Score & Script, How to Train your Robot)
Chibi Shibby (Stories about Me and You)
Paul Shinn (March of the Penguins)
Rachael Smith (The Rabbit, House Party, Flimsy the Kitten)
Tammy Taylor (Bon Appetit, 18 This Summer)

If that wasn’t enough, there’s a foreword by Laydeez Do Comics founders and award winning comic creators Sarah Lightman (Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women) and Nicola Streeten (Billy Me and You, Becoming of Age).

It’s an embarrassment of riches and I’m thrilled and in disbelief that they’ve all agreed to take part!

Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox is a follow up to last year’s Tempo Lush Tales (see reviews on the Big Comic Page and Broken Frontier). Again I will be collaborating with some amazing artists, but this time round I’ll generally be handing over the writing duties to other creators. It’s going to be a wonderful mix!

There is a definite theme to this collection too. At times it’s hard to see out world moving forward and getting better so I thought it would be good to ask the creators to focus on the idea of positive transformation. Obviously this can be interpreted in numerous ways and it looks like each writer has their own distinct spin on the idea.

It’s all coming together nicely ready for a launch at Gosh Comics in London on Friday September 18th. Save the date – and see the Facebook event page here!

The book is available to order online here on Etsy!

That leaves just one question… What is the Tanoox?

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WASP 2015: The Webcomic Artist Swap Project rolls on…

By Tempo Lush March 9, 2015 March 9, 2015 Artwork, Comics, Events, Lucy the Octopus

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
Promo image by me!

Cafe Suada written and created by Jade Sarson. Drawn by me!
Lucy the Octopus – Written and created by me! Art by David O’ConnellLucy the Octopus – Written and created by me! Art by Zarina Liew 2014
Banner WASP painting by Francesca Dare

Becoming of Age – Written and created by Nicola Streeten. Art by me!
Lucy the Octopus – Written and created by me! Art by Rachael Smith2015

Banner by Paul Shinn, Francesca Dare and Sarah Turner
Go! Go! Metro! – Written and created by Inko and Chie Kutsuwada. Art by me!
Lucy the Octopus – Written and created by me! Art by Midori Harako. Now 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!

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Thought Bubbling 2014

By Tempo Lush November 17, 2014 November 17, 2014 Comics, Events, Lucy the Octopus, Rosie and Jacinda

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…New stuff on sale – hoorah!My table neighbour Van Nim‘s wonderful array of work…Just beyond Van was the great Sally-Jane Thompson…The 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…Amazing 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 table…As always I keep an eye out for cool Disney cosplay – here was a great Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Always lovely to be asked to do Lucy the Octopus style portraits of con visitors…Got 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 Shinn…And that ends convention season for the year!

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

By Tempo Lush October 8, 2014 October 14, 2014 Books, Comics, Events, Lucy the Octopus, Rosie and Jacinda

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… Always important to compare a printers proof of your book with your cat…Other 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.THE 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!
One 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…
I 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…

CHATTING 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! Pic below by David O’Connell…ROSIE 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)
So proud to have worked with this lot!

Inkos’ cover looked amazing projected as a backdrop to the party!Inko (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!Award winning creator, Jade made it to the event all the way from Milton Keynes.
Here’s Francesca chilling with our good friend and Limehouse Comics associate Chantel Beaven.Was touched that Francesca had painted me a lovely pic of the Pumfles (introduced in the new comic), to mark the event. So cute!BANG! CRASH! WHIZZ!

Also launched was my first creator-owned kids comic, Bang! Crash! Whizz! as drawn by the amazing Sally-Anne Hickman.
Sally-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. 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! TEMPO 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 Shinn… The talented Matt Boyer…Portrait artist Keara Stewart… The cheery smile of Steve Walsh, writer of many fine things including the Tempo Lush Tales foreword… Martin Eden chatting with comic creator Tammy Taylor and fellow Tempo Lush Tales artist Karen Rubins… Keara and her fella checking out the anthology…Matt and Paul soaking in the launch party vibe.
There’s comic maker Anna Dowsland on the left!Signing a copy of the book…For 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.

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.What 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 StewartKeara 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…
LUCY THE OCTOPUS: ANY LESS THE FREAK

Fun to see my artwork from the third volume of Lucy the Octopus projected in Gosh...So the line up of creators working on the final comic released on the night is… just me! Excellent then that someone else had been up to something Lucy related.
Why it’s cake maker and blogger, Jess Cave!
Jess made a big and delicious batch of Lucy the Octopus cakes!
Dr Pepper flavour no less! Photo above by Paul Shinn.
The cakes made for a perfect combination with comics and music – my kind of night!
SO 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
You can buy any of the four comics plus other Tempo Lush stuff here!
I’ll leave you with one final Lucy cake that made it home.Peace!

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Comiket at the British Library August 2014

By Tempo Lush August 17, 2014 August 17, 2014 Comics, Events

Yesterday I had a great day at this year’s Comiket. It’s always a nice event and a chance to sell my wares and catch up with creator friends. This time round the event took place in the amazing building of the British Library.

My table neighbours were fabulous artists and buds Anna Dowsland (middle) and Francesca Dare (right). Francesca was rightly proud of her new Penny Blackfeather banner and her new collected edition of Penny Blackfeather available through Sloth Comics.Across a small divide were two collaborators for Tempo Lush Tales, Spandex creator Martin Eden (middle) and a very tired but still awesome Van Nim (right)! Next up you can see how another Tempo Lush Tales contributor, Keara Stewart made her way into many of my photos…Clearly Keara and Karen Rubins were having an amazing time.
Keara is sporting a Lucy the Octopus badge.
Karen, talented comic creator (another Tempo Lush Tales artist) and Phoenix contributor is sporting a weird frown.Finally, Keara’s weird face pulling is joined by Broken Frontier writer Andy Oliver and Myriad Editions editor Corinne Pearlman…I was determined not to buy anything myself, but couldn’t resist the new children’s book Jampires. It’s a collaboration between Sarah McIntyre and David O’Connell. Both extremely talented writer artists by themselves, their combined creative power has produced something very special or silly or both!One of the unique features of Comiket is the drawing parade. Here different artists draw live to a soundtrack of music chosen by themselves.
Here, the wonderful Jade Sarson doodles away. Watch out for Jade’s art contributions to the upcoming Rosie and Jacinda comic!One last look at my Comiket table before I focus on getting four new Tempo Lush comics ready for release in October!

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Secret Agent Fun at Discover Children’s Story Centre

By Tempo Lush March 17, 2014 April 24, 2015 Artwork, Comics, Events, Lucy the Octopus, Workshops

I had such a great day on Saturday taking part in a comic making workshop as part of the Secret Agent Themed Season at Discover Children’s Story Centre in Stratford, East London on Saturday.

Sunday would see the skills of Sarah McIntyre, Gary Northfield and Alex Milway assisting any kids up to the mission of making fantastic comics and characters. Saturday however, the crack team of agents consisted of (left – right) myself, David O’Connell (who organised the day perfectly and created some brilliant worksheets), Laura Ellen Anderson and Jamie Littler.David (above) drew a fantastically evil scientist (below). My secret agent was called upon to sort him out! Here’s Laura wowing kids with her drawing talents…
This was definitely a highlight of the day for me – Laura and David having an improptu Tadpole Attack Squad draw off. It was a fierce battle!
When I heard that Laura had an octopus character in her Phoenix comic strip Evil Emperor Penguin, we had to have an Octopus draw off too! Was amazed at Laura’s unplanned linework – so good!
Some more Secret Agent themed art by Laura, myself and visitors to Discover…
Jamie did a mind-blowingly good take on the evil inventor including a Laser Shark!
Hmmm… Well, you try drawing Scooby-Doo without any reference then! I had to explain to the girl who asked for this who Scrappy-Doo is. Kids today, eh?!
Finally here’s a secret message, written using David O’Connell’s secret code!
So good to work with David, Laura and Jamie and especially at such a special place as Discover!