Blog? What blog? 18:37

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.

Webcomix Thing! I especially enjoyed picking up books
from Lando, Nichangell and David O, Connell.

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.

Till next time!
~John~

Liquid Dev 1. 20:36

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~

Of Late. 01:37

Okay so, first of all, Public security notice - R4ggs lost her phone on a bus. Again. No, I don't know where she is. Stop asking. Madrid, I think.

Lately I've been terrible at keeping up my new years resolution to be dull, stay in and draw comics. I noticed the Ambassador's Secretary taking photos in the Japanese Embassy Jiman reception, but I guess that comes with the diplomatic immunity. Suffice to say, I didn't take any- but the free wine was flowing and I was wearing the worlds worst skintight leather pants. So that was probably for the best.

I then headed out to the Phonogram Wake, which rolled on in tremendous style. I believe several people had to be carried home by their significant others. A quick recovery and i'm off to the Drop in and Draw event at the Notting Hill Arts Club with PhoenixBlue, again forgetting my camera. How JabberWorks does this stuff, I'll never know. I met her and Emma Vieceli (whose name I can now spell correctly on the first try) for way-too-much-sushi too, but more on that later.



I met up with Nana Li in Cambridge the other day to see the Sargent, Sickert & Spencer exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum. It's a good show, if a little on the small side- and with a somewhat tenuous link between the artists.
We also went Life Drawing, but I was wildly distracted by the Cambridge architecture dept's ceiling. That's going in a comic, for sure.



And Finally, Nick Abadzis is, as of Sat, a resident of Brooklyn NY! I dragged myself (all the way) over to Richmond to wave the good ship Abadzis on it's way. I met some of the old and new owners of TWAU and some very groovy Italian animators.



Right, I'm out. This week I will get some work done.
~John~

Play Catch up. 23:13

I haven't blogged in a while.

This is because lots of cool stuff has been happening, I've been working on some heavy projects, my mac exploded, and I've moved house (twice). Anyway!

First things first, it's Angouleme baby!

Yes, it's that time of year when me ( and mum) run off to france to spend more money than we make in four months on beautiful comic books, drink our body-weight in bad lager and have slurred and pointless arguments with someone we later find out was the editor of Dargaud, or something. As usual, it's impossible to really explain Angouleme, so i'll stick with the highlights.

Cent Pour Cent:

In the new(ish) museum space the Cent pour Cent exhibition pitted 100 current masters against 100 greats, in continuing or accompanying a single page of comic artwork. I didn't really take it all in, as they had originals by Vaughn Bode, Posy Simmonds, Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Chick Young, Moebius, Hérge

, Uderzo, Frank Frazetta, Winsor McCay (winsor McCay!

!) and loads more i've forgotten. Seriously, Winsor McCay! Outside was the statue of Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese. I didn't even know this existed, but apparently it was there last time. He stands on the bridge connecting the old and new BD museums, defiant face to the wind. Awesome.

Also, me and mum got papped outside for a street style mag in Paris called "The Glam Attitude". Win.

One Piece /Makoto Yukimura:

I'm sure there are other places to see original manga artwork in Europe, but Angouleme is mine. It's always great to see real manga artwork up close as, unlike originals from US or Uk publications, I imagine they're pretty hard to come by. I missed seeing Makoto Yukimura talk by about five minutes. On the other hand I then wandered up the hill to one of the main areas and bumped into...

Barbara (goddamn) Canepa!:

When you're actually in Angouleme, you have to pretend you don't like things like SkyDoll. Otherwise the Art-comics aficionados peer over their reading glasses at you with barely concealed scorn. "Soleil!? A Quoi?" Don't really have much to add to this other than it was awesome, and that I saw her painting and you didn't. Ha Ha Ha.

Brits abroad:

Of course, the chatting to your friends and a million inspirational artists is really what the convention is all about, and it was fantastict to see the B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S represent'in. Angouleme is like a yearly shot in the arm as you're surrounded by great people who.... nope, can't keep this up, it's all about the Canepa.

Tomorrow I shall be talking about my scary new house.

~John~