The Midland Lo-Operatives Alternative Art Market

Thanks to everyone at The Midland Lo-Operatives Alternative Art Market at The Hare & Hounds yesterday. It was a quiet afternoon, but still lovely to watch live art progress and hang out with other Artists from the local area who wouldn’t normally at the same sorts of events. There were talks about growing the event and the next one falling some time in June so look out for that! Special thanks for Olly for inviting me along. It was great to meet Lewes Herriot who designs great posters for This Is TMRW - a lot of my gig sketches are from their events. You can find more beautiful fantasy/adventure illustrations on his website. 

My next booked event isn't until May - I'm hoping to book a couple more events in the summer so check the blog sidebar for an up to date list. Don't forget I have an Etsy shop which ships worldwide. Thanks!

Birmingham MCM Comic Con March 2017

Thank you to everyone who came by my table at Birmingham MCM Comic Con over the weekend. It was a relatively quiet show but still really lovely to catch up with convention friends after a longer winter break. I had fun doing convention commissions for the first time in years, it went ok so I'm considering offering them at future shows.

The next event I’m going to be at is The Midland Lo-Operatives this Sunday afternoon at The Hare & Hounds. It’s at a venue I often end up gig sketching at, so will be nice to be take the music zines there for an Alternative Art Market. Thanks, see you there!  

London MCM Comic Con October 2016

Thank you to everyone who came by my table at London MCM Comic Con! I really love decorating my table for Halloween. I had a great time with my table neighbours @ryuuza-art, @claudetc and @ratherlemony!!

 

 

I’ll be at Thought Bubble this weekend in Leeds! I’m sharing table 182b in New Dock Hall with Drew Askew/Ink & Booze.

I’m picking up a brand new gig sketches zine from the printers this week! (Rope Press) It compiles some of the gig sketches from the last year or so plus new comics and illustrations - including ‘Sammy’s Guide to Gig Sketching’ - sharing tips on how to draw on location, in the dark and in the middle of rowdy crowds. Visit my music blog for more gig sketches!

I keep an up to date list of events in the blog sidebar - but don’t forget I have an online Etsy shop if you can’t make it. (That Music Zine Autumn 2016 listing will be added ASAP

I’m going to be on the Sound & Vision panel in the Cinema of War at 10.50-11.40am on Saturday 5th November. You can find the full Thought Bubble festival program online here.

Thanks! See you there!

Comica Comiket 2014

 

Thank you to everyone who came by our table at Comica Comiket! I just wish the library was open a bit longer - I was having too much fun

The next event will be the Bristol Comic & Zine Fair on Saturday 4th October 2014. I will be sharing half a table with Sarah Fogg again so we will be bringing slightly limited stock. But we really love making new things so there will probably be something brand new on the table.

We can also confirm that our table at Thought Bubble will be in New Dock Hall! for further information on events see the blog sidebar.

Hopefully Giant Rhinos In Space will be back online in the autumn. I'll tell you more about that some time in the week.

Webcomic Update Friday 27th June 2014

http://giantrhinos.smackjeeves.com/comics/1969781/chapter-2-page-51/

Thank you so much for reading! The next update will be at 12noon on Friday 4th June.

Friday 4th July is also the deadline for the Gorillaz Fanzine! Full submission information is available here. Thank you :)

We will be attending Manchester MCM Expo on 19th-20th July 2014 - I will be launching the Gorillaz Fanzine and hopefully the print version of chapter 2. You'll be able to find our table in the Comic Village section of the event. 

Webcomic Update Friday 30th May 2014

http://giantrhinos.smackjeeves.com/comics/1958371/chapter-2-page-42/

3 new pages just went online! click to read from page 42!

Thanks again to everyone we saw at London MCM Comic Con. And don't forget I'm organising a Gorillaz Fanzine for Manchester MCM Comic Con. The deadline is Friday 4th July and submission information can be found here. (And a short FAQ here) Everyone is welcome to send stuff. Thanks!

Leamington Zine & Record Store Day!

I contributed a comic to the latest issue of Leamington Zine - the theme was music to coincide with Record Store Day. I also drew an illustration of local band The Rosenberg Appeal.You can find a list of their stockists on their Facebook page and read past issues online here. A limited amount of physical copies are available from Head and Seismic Records in Leamington.

Don't forget that Giant Rhinos In Space webcomic will be returning shortly ...

Chapter 2 will return on Friday 2nd May 2014 with the first 5 pages

The webcomic will then update with 3 new pages at 12noon* every Friday!

Music Zine #3 and Ink Blazers

The webcomic is on hiatus while I work on smaller comics for zines and anthologies. I make a music zine with my friend Sarah Fogg and we release it whenever we have enough work to compile a new issue. So far I've finished a couple of music comics, incuding a 3 page comic about a Franz Ferdinand gig I went to in March. Old issues of the music zine are still available from Etsy.

Giant Rhinos In Space is also now being uploaded weekly to Ink Blazers (formerly Manga Magazine). Eventually Ink Blazers will catch up with Smack Jeeves so you'll be able to read chapter 2 on the host site you prefer.

Birmingham MCM Comic Con 2014

Thank you very much to everyone who came by our table at Birmingham MCM Comic Con! It was a busy show and Sarah Fogg and I had a really great time. 

The next event we will be attending is BCExpo in May.

Most items in the photo are available to order from my Etsy shop or Sarah's Etsy shop.

New Merchandise!

I printed some new merchandise for the events I attended in the autumn.  The Zine! vinyl stickers are 80mm and pin badges are 38mm. The Giant Rhinos plectrums are glow in the dark! They are all available to order online through my Etsy shop.

Digital Zine Production

I've been placing the comic pages into a In Design file as I finish them. I know it's not very hip to use software at this stage but its a really easy way to get the booklet printed ready to be photocopied.

I'm hoping to print the comics next week which is pretty exciting! I need to choose how many copies to print

 

Beck - Defriended

Most the songs left on the playlist are not actually very close to the theme but I picked because of how they sound or because I listened to them a lot when I was the same age as the characters. This is a new song by Beck and I was pretty disappointed when I found out that there wasn't a full album to go with it. I bought a copy of Guero back when I didn't have a large CD collection and carried a portable CD player. The disc got a dent from a chair leg and still worked fine.

But for on theme music - Today I heard that Kiran Leonard used a radiator as percussion on his album. I'm not sure if it's on the songs which you can stream on band camp at the moment, but it sounds kind of interesting. (He is also only 17. That's the same age as the aliens who are making music in my comic.)

Pip Outfit Change

There's 3 scene changes in Zines In Space. So Pip and Annie get to have outfit changes! I thought Pip looked extra cool with the cap to cover her tired-from-party eyes.

Bag Boy by Pixies

I like shouting along to this song when it comes on the playlist. But I always get the shouting order mixed up. 

T-Shirt Designs

It's fun designing clothes for Annie and Pip to wear, but at the start of this comic Pip is wearing a shoulder bag and necklaces so you can't see her t-shirt in most panels. Annie's t-shirt is a reference to on of my favourite teen movies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

The Waves by Villagers 

Rhythm Composer by Villagers 

I have 2 songs by Villagers on the playlist I made for making this comic. It was too difficult to choose just one to share. Both songs are from their 2013 album {Awayland}. I think the record includes a lot more drum machines and electronics as the base for song writing than in previous albums. It's great music anyway!

Stella Arena 2011/2013

This is the first page from a short story comic that I am working on over the summer. It's been a lot of fun trying to improve some of the older designs I created in 2011. I decided to make this smaller project partly because I really liked the story idea and partly so I could practice drawing the aliens and their environment before starting again on the longer story.

 

 

At the end of my university course in 2011, I printed a dummy book of the first Giant Rhinos In Space chapter. This photo is a nice comparison of the changes I made recently. I think in the dummy comic their world is explained verbally in dialogue and I'm hoping the new design is a stronger visual description.

 Immunity by Jon Hopkins

I made a playlist for when I am drawing this new comic. It's over 2 hours long so I will just post some of the songs that really fit the theme of the comic the most. This song by Jon Hopkins was one of my main inspirations for writing this short story. I don't think it really is a recording of a photocopier as the beat but the song is just beautiful. When I first heard it on the radio I had to find it straight away. The vocals are provided by King Creosote and if you liked listening to the song I highly recommend their joint album Diamond Mine.