One of my clients asked me to do a poster for his six year old son as a Christmas present. The specific brief was to include dinosaurs, lightsabers, his electric guitar, his Kung-Fu pyjamas, explosions and ninja cats. Rarely in my profession do we get paid for this much awesome. I don't know if the "client" liked it- but I really hope so. ~John~
So my new webcomic is up on giant model fansite Modelinia.com It's about supermodels. Being superheroines. It's pretty silly. I was collaborating with Francesca Hammerstein who fed me high-life fashion info. Also thanks to O who gave me some typically snide insights into the seedy underbelly of the fashion world, unfortunately mostly unprintable!
I had a lot of fun drawing different models, and especially other characters that inhabit the fashion world. Just wait till you get to the episode with Anna Wintour and the Giant Japanese Robot invasion.
Sometimes I find it hard to belive I get paid for this stuff. ~John~
Another May, another MCM. This time I was selling at the DFC table, trying to shift some of the gorgeous new DFC Library books. Bob Etherington, turned up to pimp Monkey Nuts, Baggage and all their related crazyness. Nobody sells like the Etheringtons. It's like they're a magnet for doe-eyed teenage girls.Adam Brockbank and Ben Haggarty were there on behalf of Mezolith, looking a little bemused, Dave Shelton signing Good Dog bad Dog and Niel Cameron to remind everyone the Mobot High graphic novel will hit the stands anytime soon! Gary Northfield and the impossibly energetic Sarah McIntyre had their own tables to man, but the popped in and out as the weekend rolled by.Highlights for me were Seeing Svetlana Chmakova again, who has an anthology book out with Sweatdrop Studios. She made good on her debt of two drawings, from the last time she was in the Uk. So now I can say I have two Svet originals and you don't. Nya Nya Nya!I bought some great small press too, Particularly Ross Burt'sAstrofunk #2 and some gorgeous postcards by Celine Choo. She's one to keep your eye on for sure! Special mentions also go to Pud and Emma Vieceli for all the mind-bendingly hard work they put into the Expo twice a year.
Housemate Ronnie made a video. Warning- lots of flirting and piss-takery.
Then I went home and got stuck in a lift. I had to stare at this graffiti for at least half an hour while I tried to escape. Look, it has a diagram!Later. ~John~
If there's one thing I truly suck at, it's blogging. When I do remember my camera, I forget to put the post online for...oooh, about a month or two. So here's some photos from stuff I've been up to in the big smoke.
Schmurgencon 4, where I was lucky enough to be awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Schmurgen himself. Now I have to retire. Or die. Private view of the fantastic Louise Thomas' exhibition, "Everybody Is a Lake" Which is still on, Check it out! That's StudioCanoe there, looking thoroughly mongol.
Death Trip, my housemate Ronnie's Punk night in E3. Wetdog really smashed it. Me and R4ggs were danc'in.
The Fleece Station Party, where far too much cake was consumed.
Also, and probably most importantly, The DFC Library kicked off with the beautiful Mezolith. But some people are actually good at this blogging thing, so I'll leave that to them.
So I'm trying again with Liquid City. I was really unhappy with it as it stood after the "promo" I made for MCM, so I went back and redesigned the bastard from the ground up. What I was worried about in the first instance was the total failure to get across the feel of the city. Liquid was supposed to be slutty, slimy, vapid and stupid. What the promo was pushing was just a generic cyberpunky mess. This redesign, I feel, is much more on the nose. I'm still arguing with the way I want to draw it, and these pinups i'm currently pretty unhappy with. They're missing a couple of things i've figured out as "probably important in comics" lately, but are still much more in the vein of what I wanted for the book. I'm going to stop faffing around with style choices soon, mind you. I have a couple more characters to design, a couple more locations and then it's straight into test pages. I feel like i'm getting there. Albeit bloody slowly... ~John~
Another May, another MCM.
Adam Brockbank and Ben Haggarty were there on behalf of Mezolith, looking a little bemused, Dave Shelton signing Good Dog bad Dog and Niel Cameron to remind everyone the Mobot High graphic novel will hit the stands anytime soon! Gary Northfield and the impossibly energetic Sarah McIntyre had their own tables to man, but the popped in and out as the weekend rolled by.
Highlights for me were Seeing Svetlana Chmakova again, who has an anthology book out with Sweatdrop Studios. She made good on her debt of two drawings, from the last time she was in the Uk. So now I can say I have two Svet originals and you don't. Nya Nya Nya!
I bought some great small press too, Particularly Ross Burt's Astrofunk #2 and some gorgeous postcards by Celine Choo. She's one to keep your eye on for sure! Special mentions also go to Pud and Emma Vieceli for all the mind-bendingly hard work they put into the Expo twice a year.
Later.
So I'm trying again with Liquid City. I was really unhappy with it as it stood after the "promo" I made for MCM, so I went back and redesigned the bastard from the ground up. What I was worried about in the first instance was the total failure to get across the feel of the city. Liquid was supposed to be slutty, slimy, vapid and stupid. What the promo was pushing was just a generic cyberpunky mess. This redesign, I feel, is much more on the nose.
