Tag: Monsters

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Free Comic Book Day 2012

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Had a great time heading into Gosh Comics today.  Other than picking up my usual standing orders of monthly comic goodness (Marvel and Dark Horse stuff), I got hold of a lovely lot of free stuff, what with this being Free Comic Book Day and all!

Free Comics FCBD 2012

Check out my freebies: the Top Shelf Kids Club, Bongo Comics inc’ SpongeBob Comics, Dark Horse‘s Buffy / The Guild and Serenity / Star Wars, Papercutz‘ The Smurfs / Disney Fairies,  Marvel‘s Amazing Spider-Man and Claude TC‘s mini comic, Immortal Ewan and the rod of Rasputin.  Claude is a good man and makes hilarious, brilliantly drawn comics.

Ray Friesen and Sarah McIntyre FCBD 2012

Aside from getting to catch up with comic scene buds Karrie Fransman, Mike Medaglia and Josceline Fenton, I got to sit and watch my 4 year old boy Emir draw comics alongside the supreme talents of Sarah McIntyre and Ray Friesen. It was great being introduced to Ray and his wonderful kids comic Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken which me and Emir enjoyed on the tube on the way home.  Ray also impressed us with this sketch of Emir’s favourite animal (for today anyway), the anteater…

Anteater by Ray Friesen

Sarah did a brilliant bit of comic work featuring Emir. Click here to see it plus Sarah’s other thoughts on the day!

All this fun inspired Emir to draw his first ever comic strips…

Emir's first comic strip: Two Monsters

Emir's second comic strip: Dinosaurs

When you’re into comics, it’s not hard to get your kid to share your passions!

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Goodbye Monsterville and Hello & Goodbye Illuminate!

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I had a fun filled weekend visiting two exciting illustration / comic events, cultured kind of guy that I am.

Friday evening found me hitting the library, which was not as studious as it sounds.  The inside of the British Library was almost unrecognisable as for one night only it was transferred into Illuminate! A celebration of Illustration.  With music provided by Mr. Scruff, there was excellent and eclectic company as work of Quentin Blake hung next to the drawings of Jamie Hewlett and a host of other amazing artists.

It was good to see many of my buds from the London comic scene rubbing shoulders, including the very talented Karen Rubins  who I’m currently working on a short but exciting comic project with.   It was great to see her work displayed in such a fantastic venue.

Ink drawing from Tales by Ghost Light by Karen Rubins

My photo doesn’t do her line work justice so best to check out Karen’s online portfolio here!

Death Do Us Part

Death Do Us Part: Comic Sculpture by Karrie Fransman

Likewise, the picture above taken on my iPhone fails to capture how cool Karrie Fransman’s work is.  As well as displaying her comic art, Karrie ran one of the many workshops that was taking place on the night.  In her case this was a popular 3D Narrative Life Drawing workshop which included Karrie dressing up as a horse for the benefit of the surrounding artists who all grabbed the chance to draw live Medieval characters.  Here’s my own efforts…

3D Narrative Life Drawing Sketches

On Sunday I headed to a rare event that appealed to my 4 year old son as much as me.  Illustrators Sarah McIntyre and Ed Vere not only gave readings of their fantastic children’s books Morris the Mankiest Monster and Bedtime for Monsters, but had a nail-biting monster drawing showdown too! You can see more on the event on Sarah’s own blog here.

Ed Vere and Sarah McIntyre drawing in books at Monsterville

Sarah McIntyre and fan with "Vern & Lettuce" and Ed Vere's "The Getaway"

It was brilliant for me and my son to meet and chat with these illustration greats! It’s only a shame that the event was marking the final weekend of Monsterville after 6 months at the Children’s Story Centre in Stratford.  The planned Comics / Superheroes event there looks like it should be good too though!