Cold up North

How'do folks... Abes been away for a little while vist'n folks up north... And boy oh boy, twas cold...

Not much drawing to show for my time... but heres one page I kinda like... mayhap's shall be continued shortly as part of an eight-pager comic for a certain supercool comics project abe and his Belgian amigo Shamisa are working on... 'nuff said for now, but more to come later.

Anyhow... check out this lovely interview with the incredibly funny Tasmanian cartoonist Simon Hanselmann, The podcasts over HERE.

James Kochalka's gonna be quitting his great diary strip American Elf... After some 14 years... I discovered in 2007 and have been reading ever since...  it makes abe kinda sad, but happy that I could read for so long, day after day... catch all 14 years over HERE.

Im a working on a few comics to put together for good o'l Finnish Chris, Illustrating and interpreting his poems et al... Its a pleasant experience working together to build summut new... Not gonna put anything up for now tho' heh...

And lastly... with the larger project..

So yup... Abe changed his mind AGAIN... this is a much clearer read... and nicer to look at... so... alla the pages will eventually look more like this....heh. 

Here's a piece o music that I've been A hearing pop up on this american life for years...just love the opening...

Dianogah- Indie Rock Spock Ears

Onward and upwards folks!

Tentative Issue 7

Greetings folks, Hope y'all are well... Abe stayed up late experimenting with various colouring techniques... and found some he liked... Highly influenced by Ollie Schrauwen's methods, where one works using partly printed, then redrawn images, t' add a grand layering effect... I'm a big fan of his work... 

Anyhow, above is the tentative cover (ie Abe's happy with it, but may be subject to later dislike and subsequent change) for nervous in a cape issue no. 7! 

It should be ready by early January, be around 50-55 pages (90% already done, just needing to watercolour 15 pages or so), B&W inside this time tho'... colours way too expensive, especially if folks wont buy the darned things! I had 85 copies of issue 6  (of which around 25 remain--future sales, right?!?)

Anyhow, Im gonna prove ye with some links, as I have nothing else to say at t' moment!

Heres me o'l buddy Chris's eclectic Blog, rambling's, thoughts, and imaginings... grand poetry also!

I love Noah Van Sciver! not in the Je t'aime... more in the "Swoon" he and Joseph Remnant (another flipping awesome! cartoonist) are serialising their new works here.

Really Looking forward to this book, Never met her officially  but she was an intern at London Print Studio the year before wee abe, and her art is flipping lovely! (kinda David B' esk, but with more watercolour!)

And lastly, for your Musical pleasure... TV on the Radio- "Wrong Way"... this isnt the best recording of a great song, but love the video, at 0.46 onwards.. they're REALLY rocking out!

Love et al!

The Lowdown Yo!

Allo Folks, Just Realised Abe hadn't posted in a week or so... Heres the lowdown yo!

The drawing above's just an exercise in style, hopefully there'll be something coming out of it, but for now t'is just another sketchbook doodle.

And heres a page from the long piece I'm a working away at, still experimenting with colouring, but done got the first 68 pages drawn, nine coloured... I started this project with just a bunch of random short stories in mind... but sat down and made a map of an interconnected storyline... tis most assuredly a long plotline  and now I'm a thinking I may need to cut down the first 100 or so pages (in half) as they're really more of an introduction to the setting now, rather then interesting shorelines ...ho humm, much confusion, but alls well... Im just gonna draw it all anyhow, I'll probably start posting it online at some point. shall see.

And now... Heres two more Fiddidy Cent Comic's fo' your pleasure... if you need to... Double click and open image in new tab for larger pics!

In other news, job hunting is a full time career  and far more distracting for the drawing process then having a job. Heh.... the things we learn once we move on! But unemployment does suit me to a point I guess, just avoiding looking at the ol' bank account... avoidance... thats the key t' getting on in life right? Right?!

anyhow heres a piece o special Musica for the soul... Mississippi John Hurt singing "Goodnight Irene"

And we out like that yo! 

Umm & Ahh

So, heh... after much 'umm'ing and 'ahh'ing, and faux finalising (ie last post) this is the look im'na go for. Just Black and White watercolour, then tinted on the o'l photoshop.

Lets see how long this one lasts before fickle Abe changes his mind!

Anyhow, If'n you happen to be free and around Clerkenwell  tomorrow, I'll be selling zines et al as part of the petite but perfectly formed Interrobang festival.

And um.. thats all for now folks... Lets out with.. This must be the place, from the stop making sense concert.

Oh' the colours

Okay folks... it's double click then open image in new tab time again!

So... Last week abe hit page 60 of the story he's been a' working away at over the last month and a half... so, I decided t' set aside a week to practice and try out various colouring techniques et al...

Boy oh boy... thats the way to confuse a young doodler... I worked on these few pages many many times (above is actually a re-draw of the original pages -but drawn at half the size, so as to force my drawing style...then coloured directly onto the drawing... with just a touch o' photoshop.)

Colouring just makes one unhappy if you dont reach the intended goal... Abe most assuredly didn't, so dont expect the final thing to lok anything like the above... instead Im considering a look more along the lines of...

So... much confusion, this one is actually the first style o' colouring abe did... funny how you end up coming full circle. heh. This one was coloured by using tracing paper to draw with marker pens 'above' the original art... I like...

Anyhow, gotta be off now... I leave ye with Alice Cooper - "Generation Landslide"

Abe has left the building

Happy Hallo'een folks! Abe made a Fididy comic today... Double click on t'image and open in a new tab t' get the full picture!

anyhow, so a week of great miniature changes for myself. I left my job at the Cine... a place I had worked at for over five years, sometimes happily, sometimes sadly, in love, and out of it. The cinema was a constant in my life for a long time... I find it a bittersweet parting.

 Sure I hated a lot of the companies bull and its genrally pedantic assumptions. And yes, I preferred to speak honestly t' customers (really, why would I lie... a shit film is a shit film after all, and no, I'm not in the slightest inclined to "up sell" wasabi peas). So in that respect I'm most assuredly not sorry to leave... However the people, boy oh boy, now those I'll miss.

They really have always been a swell bunch at the Everyman Cinema (Hampstead), and I've seen so many of them come and go (counted to 107, phew!)... only a few remain from my beginnings, scattered to other cinemas, distant relations. The cinema life, ie evening shifts, flexible hours, minimal wages and free films always attract the more "arty" (urgh!)... actors, artists, musicians, writers, filmy folk... all together in a finically poor (but creatively extremely rich) family.

I've met some extremely talented people whilst I  worked at the cine, and have met some of my favorite people in the whole universe working there... So whilst I disliked more then my fair share of ridiculous self indulging, arrogant, and often downright mean customers... I always got a warm feeling, knowing that there were great people to be found in that grey fortress of a movie theatre.

When I started working for the Everyman, it t'was an independent cinema, A year later it bought up the 'Screen' chain of cinemas. I think they're nine in total now, but busy building a four screen multiplex in leeds, complete with restaurant .. god. The waiter service at Hampstead was enough for me... Very few cinemas can be just that any more. Much as I might complain... I understand that the company exists to make a few rich men richer, and there's nothing particularly surprising about that...

Resturants make more then cinemas I guess... Distributors take such a large percentage, its fairly inevitable that the cinema need adapt. But still...

Anyhow... I've waffled on for long enough... heh. Full time cartoonist untill I get another part time job. ho humm.

Will Hanson "Home"

Happy Hallo'een folks! Abe made a Fididy comic today... Double click on t'image and open in a new tab t' get the full picture!

anyhow, so a week of great miniature changes for myself. I left my job at the Cine... a place I had worked at for over five years, sometimes happily, sometimes sadly, in love, and out of it. The cinema was a constant in my life for a long time... I find it a bittersweet parting. Sure I hated a lot of the companies bull  and genrally pedantic assumptions, and preferred to speak honestly t' customers (really, why would I lie... a shit film is a shit film after all, and no, I'm not in the slightest inclined to "up sell" wasabi peas). So in that respect Im most assuredly not sorry to leave, however the people, boy oh boy, those I'll miss.

They really have always been a swell bunch at the Everyman Cinema (Hampstead), and I've seen so many of them come and go (counted to 107, phew!)... only a few remain from my beginnings, scattered to other cinemas, distant relations. The cinema life, ie evening shifts, flexible hours, minimal wages and free films always attract the more "arty" (urgh!)... actors, artists, musicians, writers, filmy folk... all together in a very poor (but creatively, extremely rich family.

I've met some extremely talented people whilst I  worked at the cine, and have met some of my favorite people in the whole universe working there... So whilst I disliked more then my fair share of ridiculous self indulging, arrogant, and often downright mean customers... I always got a warm feeling, knowing that there were great people to be found in that grey fortress of a movie theatre.

When I started working for the Everyman, it t'was an independent cinema, A year later it bought up the 'Screen' chain of cinemas. I think they're nine in total now, but busy building a four screen multiplex in leeds, complete with restaurant .. god. The waiter service at Hampstead was enough for me... Very few cinemas can be just that any more. Much as I might complain... I understand that the company exists to make a few rich men richer, and there's nothing particularly surprising about that...

Resturants make more then cinemas I guess... Distributors take such a large percentage, its fairly inevitable that the cinema need adapt. But still...

Anyhow... I've waffled on for long enough... heh. Full time c

Tuesday, Friday

Double click yo! then open in new tab to get t' full experience! 

Well, just got back after cycling over t' Random house to drop off this comic (for their 2012 competition).... I think it's okay, but nothing special... Heh, I'm not eating humble pie... I just wish I'd done it better... 

Ho humm. I finished the comics a few months back, and just forgot bout it... then of course... deadline was today, so massive "whizz zoom" on the ol' bicycle ove t' pimlico to drop off... 

Anyhow, been working hard on a comic. just to do with processing me life at the moment, I finally got up the courage to quit my job... five years later.... Feel's like the thing to do... Now I figure I'll just be a full-time cartoonist until I get another lame part time job...

the comic I'm working on is progressing nicely, but I'm refusing to scan any of it until I have the first big chunk of it behind me... Normally I draw, scan draw. Get distracted playing round on photoshop, lose interest, start new comic. this is not a good way to be... constantly darting around, without ever really finishing anything. 

Been talking with me Belgian amigo Shamisa, about setting up something really cool. Not gonna say anything for now. but new info will land shortly if we go ahead! 

I fall in love all too easily. But come on! A pretty gal covering one o' me favorite bands ever!

"Cast a shadow" swoon!

Failing successfully

Greetings folks! How are ye? Just a one pager I drew yesterday, representing a drastic new mindset to making the comics... The art of failing successfully!

Yesterday I saw 'Killing Them Softly', dark gritty and painfully funny. a few twists and turns, and a lovely performance by Scoot Mcnairy, who I first saw a few years ago in 'In Search of a midnight kiss'... the most perfect o Indie romances... 

ho humm

 Im refusing to scan the story I'm working on at t' moment... on account of the fact that its a distraction to have digitised artwork to mess around with on photoshop... so im just gonna draw it. draw draw draw. 

Made a list of all the folks i can remember having worked with over the last five years at the Everyman cinema... got to 96, though I feel I've forgotten a great many, heh...

Spent a bit of time this week wandering the city... I saw nothing of any conseqence, but thats just fine with me... I love London at this time of year... a crispness to the air, and a swoon of melancholia at the passing of summer. The days grow slowly shorter, and the twilight seems to stretch. 

c'est magnifique.

The Black Keys. All week. 

Heres 'Brothers'

Cowboy Love

Here is a cowboy! Hurrah! And the thing folks love most of all... Is a cowboy in love!

I remember a zine I got few years ago called 'cowboy love is pure', pretty nice read... heres the website o' the fella responsible.

Anyhow... just figured I should put sumthin' up on the ol' blog, as I haven't for a while... Went away for a week, cycling around norfolk, and landing at the lovely Winterton-on-sea. I did next to no drawing last week, read a lot, and jotted down some rough ideas. t'was nice to be away from the mild strains of a london based existence. and now I feel somewhat charged.

Anyway... David Rakoff died a few weeks back... heres a lovely, funny, and charming episode of 'this american life' looking back at his time there.

and to out... love this song! As faux rock as Plastic Bertrand is faux punk, a brilliant, tacky pop- rock gem...

Wreckless Eric- 'Whole wide world'