Tag: Matt Boyer

No comments

Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox Tasters: Chie Kutsuwada, Anna Dowsland, Matt Boyer and Jessica Martin

  By ,

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

CHIE KUTSUWADA

Previous works include: Go! Go! Metro!, The Story of Lee, Hagakure: Code of the Samurai, Rosie and Jacinda: Demon Cloud, Manga Shakespeare: As You Like It

Positive Idea:  “I care about children and old people. They are the first and final chapter of this long, long trip called life.  I think it would be the best if the world was where they can relax and smile.”

Art sample from her Tempo Lush tale:  ReunionCHie-Tanoox-SampleANNA DOWSLAND

Previous works include: Don’t Feed the Pigeons

Positive Idea:  “Amnesty!  www.amnesty.org.uk”

Art sample from the Tempo Lush tale:  Bugleberry Tree
Anna-Tanoox-SampleMATT BOYER

Previous works include: Runnning

Positive Idea:  “I feel that the elderly can often be overlooked in our society, so a charity like Age UK that offers a number of services for those alone and potentially vulnerable is a great thing deserving of support: www.ageuk.org.uk”

Art sample from the Tempo Lush tale:  Bugleberry Tree
Matt-Tanoox-SampleJESSICA MARTIN

Previous works include: It Girl, Vivacity, Elsie Harris Picture Palace

Positive Idea:  “My mantra for making your dreams come true, however small or great is “ Conceive, Believe, Achieve”.  I also believe that creative endeavour in writing and art is a form of therapy.  And anything that makes you feel good ( within reason) has got to benefit everyone!  The book that reawakened my ‘sleeping artist’ was The Creative License by Danny Gregory. Picked up my pen and haven’t stopped drawing since.”

Art sample from the Tempo Lush tale:  Bugleberry Tree
Jessica-Tanoox-SampleTLT-2-Cover-Double-Page-Spread-UpdateYou 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)

No comments

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

  By , ,

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…m01 m02 m03 m04So nice to see many friendly faces join us for the evening, some regulars and some new to the world of comic shops… m05Below (left to right): Friends of Gosh Comics, Paul Shinn (Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox contributor), Chantel Beaven and Lauren Louise Murphy. m06On the left below, you can see my amazing co-host, Penny Blackfeather creator and Alidade contributor Francesca Dare.m07Below:  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.m08It was great seeing comic related images projected nice and big in the shop…m09…such as this wonderful panel by Francesa Dare, taken from her Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox story Undertow…
 m10And there’s Francesca again signing a comic for a fan!m11It was great having the shop full, creating a brilliant buzz…m12It 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…m13And 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…m14I 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…m15Speaking of music, here’s three great performers, newly-weds Paul and Sally-Anne Hickman chatting to my old band mate Miss E (Enoma Igiehon). m16And 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…m17 m18Aw!  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)
m49-kearaThat’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. m19Miss E, Sally-Anne Hickman and myself downstairs in the shop after a bit of tuning up… m20And upstairs – Five minutes to curtain!m21Right!  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…m22 m23Next up I start plucking away on Imani (my guitar) as we prepare for a special satellite link-up with the undersea town of Stoneydip…m24 m25…and Lucy the Octopus!

Lucy’s shy at first but does a good job introducing the evening, despite some trouble. m26 m27You 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…m28…and Miss E, who as Lucy pointed out, bears a striking resemblance to someone who appears in Lucy strips like this one! m29We three performed a little guitar instrumental I wrote a few years back, which still doesn’t have a name…m30(Photo by Karen Rubins) m31-Kaz m31 m32

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…m33 m34Left to right: Francesca Dare, Paul Shinn, Steve Walsh and Lauren Louise Murphy.m35Left to right: Saul Taylor and Ramsey Hassan. m36 m37

The crowd lapped up the culture, including Andy Oliver and contributor to two Tempo Lush Tales collections Matt Boyer…m38Now for the serious business of creator shout outs…m39Musicians strum while Francesca Dare leads the role call of talent involved in the evening’s new comic offerings…m40…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…m41…and Saul Taylor who won last year’s Complete the Lucy the Octopus strip contest!m42 m43 m44

Now it was time to reveal the secret project!  Francesca called to the stage our collaborators on the book…m45…and the crowd saw the 5 artists who made Alidade!  (Left to right) Me, Mike Medaglia, Tim Hassan, Karen Rubins and Francesca herself!m46Mike 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…m47

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)
m48-keara

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!

2 Comments

Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox

  By , ,

Holy Schmoly!  Check out the line up of creators involved in the upcoming anthology from Tempo Lush…
TLT-2-Cover-Double-Page-Spread-UpdateBrand 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?

No comments

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

  By , , , ,

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 Shinn…27 The talented Matt Boyer…29Portrait artist  Keara Stewart… 30The cheery smile of Steve Walsh, writer of many fine things including the Tempo Lush Tales foreword…31 Martin Eden chatting with comic creator Tammy Taylor and fellow Tempo Lush Tales artist Karen Rubins… 32Keara 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!

No comments

Tempo Lush Tales out soon!

  By , ,

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…
Cover-for-PromoHere’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!