Annnndddd.... Here's the final cover for 'The Climb". I worked real hard this week on the story, and just finished it all a few mins ago! phew.

It feels so good t' have a focus, and to see a project coming together.. la dee dah! also got three more pages drawn on the poetry project mentioned in last post... whoop!

It's only been possible t' get so much work done, cause abe's good ol ma set up this flipping awesome workspace for him in the living room (after tiring of me taking up the kitchen table with scribblin's!)

Climbing on up

Howdy folks, hope life's treating y'all as well as it does abe! The last few weeks have had a few ups and downs, but the overall direction is upwards bound...(for a more in-depth look at my mundane and mild existence check out abes daily comics blog).

So, above are two versions of a cover, to be made for.... well... Abe and his belgian amiga Shamisa are in the process of setting up a petite micro-press publisher! There will be more info in the near future... but t'is most assuredly an exciting time... We shall focus on putting out a few small (12 pagers in b&W) comics, and just see how it goes... working on a wordpress for it, and setting up an online shop etc. But I've blathered on enough... expect more details in Jan!

So the cover will be in B&W but for now, just thought I'd put up two versions of it, on the left digitally coloured, and the right is hand coloured. For this piece I'm probably gonna stick with t' digital version, but shall have t' see!

anyway...

Not gonna put up any pages, but heres a panel from the piece Im working on with my Finnish friend Chris, as mentioned last time... Poetry interpreted! Going well, but Im having so much fun with this piece that I havent drawn for my longer story for a week and a half! Yikes... but interpreting and drawing someone else's words is a liberating (and confining) experience after years of focusing on my own stories et al (and going nowhere fast! ah ha!)

Anyhow

Been listening t' this album by Iron & Wine of late. (nice third track)

And, Think I posted this before, but remains one o' my favorite webcomics about angsty teen life, love et al! supermutantmagicacademy

And Lastly... The grand Bill Hicks telling it like it is .

Peace out!

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!