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!

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!

Rosie and Jacinda Magical Preview: Me!

So the final preview of Rosie and Jacinda: Demon Cloud is by the likes of me!

It’s an honour to have my art in a comic alongside the amazing talents of Zarina Liew (The Art of Sleep, Le Mime), Francesca Dare (Penny Blackfeather), Inko (Ketsueki, Rachel Moves To Brighton), Chie Kutsuwada (King of a Miniature Garden, Self Made Hero’s As You Like It) and Jade Sarson (For the Love of God Marie!, Cafe Suada).R&J-Richy-sampleR&J2-cover-for-promo

Rosie and Jacinda Magical Preview: Jade Sarson

The brilliant and deservedly award winning Jade Sarson (For the Love of God Marie!, Cafe Suada) has drawn some amazing pages for Rosie and Jacinda: Demon Cloud.

You’ll have to wait until the comic comes out October 3rd to see the whole thing, but I will tease you with a couple of panels showing her amazing abilities…R&J-Jade-sample

R&J2-cover-for-promo

 

New Rosie and Jacinda comic coming October!

So what’s been going on with Rosie and Jacinda since we last saw them?

Are they still best friends?
How are things working out with their romantic interests Benjamin and Aaron?
Are Kyle and Daniella still complete twonks?
All this will be revealed in Rosie and Jacinda: Demon Cloud out in October!

Me and the great Zarina Liew (The Art of Sleep, Le Mime) are back working some fairytlale magic once again, but this time we’re joined by four amazing artists… Francesca Dare (Penny Blackfeather), Inko (Ketsueki (Markosia), Rachel Moves To Brighton), Chie Kutsuwada (King of a Miniature Garden, Self Made Hero’s As You Like It) and Jade Sarson (For the Love of God Marie!, Cafe Suada).

Have a peak at Inko’s amazing cover
R&J2-cover-for-promoPlus for those who don’t know, there’s a launch party in London on Friday October 3rd, for Rosie and Jacinda: Demon Cloud along with three other new Tempo Lush Publications, Tempo Lush Tales, Bang! Crash! Whizz! and a new Lucy the Octopus comic.
Join many of the creators involved, ready to sign copies of comics and be friendly and charming at the wonderful Gosh Comics (1 Berwick Street, London W1F 0DR) October 3rd 2014, 7pm-9pm!
See the Facebook Event Page here!

Comiket at the British Library August 2014

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.Comiket-2014-1Across 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)!Comiket-2014-2 Next up you can see how another Tempo Lush Tales contributor, Keara Stewart made her way into many of my photos…Comiket-2014-3Clearly 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.Comiket-2014-4Finally, Keara’s weird face pulling is joined by Broken Frontier writer Andy Oliver and Myriad Editions editor Corinne PearlmanComiket-2014-5I 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!Comiket-2014-6One 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!Comiket-2014-7One last look at my Comiket table before I focus on getting four new Tempo Lush comics ready for release in October!Comiket-2014-8

Broken Frontier Interview

Happy to say I’ve been interviewed by Andy Oliver for Broken Frontier about my comics work including newspaper strips, mini comics, Lucy the Octopus and Rosie and Jacinda.
Look out for revelations about upcoming projects where I’m working alongside Inko, Sally-Anne Hickman, Francesca Dare, Tim Hassan, Jade Sarson, Chie Kutsuwada, Van Nim and Zarina Liew

Read the interview here!

WASP (Webcomic Artist Swap Project) coming your way February 2013

In the week beginning February 25th 2013 something special is happening to a select group of UK webcomics…

Twelve artists have taken up the challenge of swapping art duties amongst their respective webcomics and working to each others’ scripts.

No swap-backsies!  The creator of each comic will draw someone else’s comic and a third artist will draw the first creator’s comic.  Simple eh?WASP (Webcomic Artist Swap Project)

I’m very excited to announce the amazing array of artists and webcomics involved…

Nich Angell Cat and Meringue
Sammy Borras Instant Comics
Rebecca Burgess Strangers and Friends
Sarah Burgess Blake Sinclair
Richy K. Chandler (me!) Lucy the Octopus
Francesca Dare Penny Blackfeather
Evelyn Hewett Fruit Machine
Zarina Liew Le Mime
Naniiebim Here Be Demons Mephistos
Jade Sarson Cafe Suada
Louise Wei & Dave Hodgkinson Panda & Polar Bear
David O’Connell, creator of Tozo The Public Servant will also be contributing art!

Check out the official site at… tempolush.com/wasp

Caption 2012: Summer Special

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.

MKomix write up

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.