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

By Tempo Lush February 5, 2015 April 25, 2015 Artwork, Comics, Lucy the Octopus

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.
Having 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 SquareI 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-2 Next 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-3 Before 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-4 That 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-5 On 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-6 A 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-7 I 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-8 I finish with the 0.8 pen and start with the 0.5. Inks-9 I continue to work on the first 3 panels… Inks-10 …until the 0.5 line work is done. Inks-11 I switch to the 0.3 pen to work on finer lines, including characters further towards the background. Inks-12 Finally 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-13 The 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!

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

By Tempo Lush January 22, 2015 April 25, 2015 Comics, Lucy the Octopus

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.
Now it’s time to start drawing what will eventually look like this…THUMBNAILS

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.
That’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.
Hmmm… 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.
I’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.
Well, 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…
Now, 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.
That’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.
The 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.
Phew! 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!
Now it’s just a case of adding details. I move on to fleshing out the passengers in Panel 1.Then the last Panel – no need to do it in reading order!I 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.It’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.I finish off the final characters and I’m done.
Next 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!

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

By Tempo Lush November 28, 2014 April 25, 2015 Comics, Lucy the Octopus, Uncategorized

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-01 The 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… The 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.
In 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…
Episode 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.
So 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”.

LETTERING

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-Template I 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-template Using 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-lightbox Then 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-template Coming 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!

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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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MCM London Comic Con 2014

By Tempo Lush October 28, 2014 October 28, 2014 Comics, Events, Lucy the Octopus, Rosie and Jacinda

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!
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…
MCM wouldn’t be the same without my table neighbour Van Nim to share carrots and chocolate with!
On my other side, Francesca Dare of Penny Blackfeather fame and Karim Flint of Limehouse Comics.
The mighty Sloth Comics table…
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…
And here’s an awesome Mable and Dipper from Gravity Falls…
As usual I got a chance to do some Lucy the Octopus style commissions like this David Tennant as Dr Who as an octopus……as requested by the Cheshire Cat! And finally three ladies who insisted on pulling some excellent silly faces…
Thanks to everyone who stopped by.
Next stop… Thought Bubble!

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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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Bang! Crash! Whizz! Sally-Anne Hickman and me make some noisy fun!

By Tempo Lush September 18, 2014 September 18, 2014 Books, Comics, Events, Uncategorized

Very excited to reveal the cover of next month’s collaboration with the wonderful Sally-Anne Hickman!

It’s an picture book / comic aimed at a pre-school crowd with exceptional taste!

As well as Bang!, Crash! and Whizz! readers can expect to find some Ding!, Pluck! and even Sput!

We’ve been fine-tuning the story for a while so will be very excited to be able to hold it at last!
The official launch for Bang! Crash! Whizz! is in London on Friday October 3rd, as the comic goes on sale for the first time along with three other new Tempo Lush Publications, Rosie and Jacinda: Demon Cloud, Tempo Lush Tales and Lucy the Octopus: Any Less the Freak.
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!

For those of you who want to find out more about Sally-Anne, check out this comic about her here!

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New Lucy Painting but what’s it for?

By Tempo Lush September 14, 2014 September 15, 2014 Comics, Events, Lucy the Octopus, Uncategorized

Finished up a watercolour image of Lucy and the Demon Beast on Friday.
What could I use it for?
Starting with some pencils…
Paint in the main colours of the two characters… A bit more tone and the base layer for the other colours…
Adding the eyes always brings a character to life…
A hint of a background bringing out the blue of Lucy, plus some colour pencil work…
Finally some black ink…
A clean up on Photoshop whiting out the surrounding paper… And this demon beast is ready for its close up!
Why! It’s the cover of the third printed Lucy comic: Any Less the Freak, out in October…

Plus for those who don’t know, there’s a launch party in London on Friday October 3rd, for Lucy the Octopus: Any Less the Freak along with three other new Tempo Lush Publications, Tempo Lush Tales, Bang! Crash! Whizz! and Rosie and Jacinda: Demon Cloud.
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!

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Tempo Lush Tales out soon!

By Tempo Lush September 4, 2014 September 12, 2014 Comics, Lucy the Octopus, Rosie and Jacinda

Time to make it official!

The new collection of comic book stories written by me is almost ready to go to print, to be on sale October 2014!

Here’s a sneaky-peak at the cover by designer, Darker Chi Lynch…
Here’s the full line-up of amazing artists involved.
I’ll even tease you with the names of the stories they’ll be working on…

Matt Boyer – The Great Feast
Francesca Cassavetti – In the Bedroom
Martin Eden – The Dig
Tim Hassan – Peacemaker John
Steve Horry – Smoky Digital Seahorse
Inko & Chie Kutsuwada – Two Sons
Mike Medaglia – Save Night-Time for my Dreams
Aaron Murphy – Zardok Infiltration
Van Nim – Amy’s Hat
Karen Rubins – Not Going to Wondoznia
Paul Shinn – President of West Tibia

Keara Stewart will be providing special portraits and there’s even a foreword by Steven Walsh.

For those who don’t know, there’s a launch party in London on Friday October 3rd, for Tempo Lush Tales along with three other new Tempo Lush Publications, Rosie and Jacinda #2, 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!

It’s going to be special!

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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!