Bits and Bobs

It's been a busy few weeks and there's a lot of 'work in progress' at the moment.  But here's some cool stuff in the meantime.

I did another Drop In + Draw with the Edinburgh League of Comics, which went surprisingly well after a faltering start on the first day of the event.  Doing a comic book drawing session in a Shopping Mall had its pluses and minuses - benefits being that we got to take comics drawing to an interesting new location and give kids a chance to do some drawing who might otherwise not always get the same kinds of opportunities.  The downside of course was that most people were there to shop!

Still, it went very well in the end and our Sunday session was packed with people who had come out especially.  You can read more about the event at the ELC Blog.  I drew this stuff while I was there:

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Meanwhile, Patrick Tobin has written a lovely and insightful review of Filmish for 'Multiversity Comics'.  It's well worth a read if you're interested!  From the review:

Where most academic film writing is a closed (and often locked) door, Filmish is an open invitation, and all the better for it. [...] Filmish exists in one of the spaces between nerddoms, where ideas from different media and disciplines can freely bleed into one another and create something unique.

-Patrick Tobin

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And in other news, Paper Science 5 arrived in the post.  It's the newspaper format comics anthology edited by Matt Sheret that's just a beautiful collection of absolutely top class comics work from UK based creators.  And I'm in it too, with a short piece called 'Dust', my first ever wordless comic story.

You need to buy yourself a copy, or better yet a subscription to a whole year's worth of tasty comics. Go here and do that now!

Hayfever Report.

So, on Friday I journeyed down to Hay-On-Wye in Wales to join up with Ted Brandt, Anne Holiday, Tom Humberstone, Becky Luff and Anna Saunders for a weekend of Drop In + Draw at the Hay literary festival.  As part of the kids' Hayfever section of the festival, we had a much younger crowd than we did at Latitude last year, which had a very diverse range of ages taking part.

Still, all the kids were fantastic and really into the whole comics creation thing and we saw some amazing comics created over the two days we were there, including a Beyonce Lumberjack, some sort of Lady Gaga wardrobe dilemma, battling pirates and a guide to democracy in the animal kingdom.

As ever, the greatest part is meeting the kids who are showing those first sparks of interest in comics, and seeing a profound grasp of comics storytelling that they've learned without realising it.  It's a pleasure encouraging them to keep going with comics, and showing them that although teachers or even parents might think it's a waste of time, spending your time drawing comics is a wonderful thing to do.

All in all it was a great weekend.  The festival is a really lovely place, with a totally placid atmosphere at odds with my previous festival experiences.  Caught some stand up from Josie Long and a gig with the spectacular Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.  And most of all, it was a real pleasure catching up with Tom and Anne, and meeting for the first time the extremely talented and lovely Ted, Anna and Becky.

Finally, my favourite moment from the weekend was turning round during the afternoon on Sunday to find someone drawing this...

by Helena.

London Smog and Hayfever...

The Edward Ross Comics Roadshow will be appearing this weekend simultaneously at MCM Comics Village in London and the WAW+P Comics Classes at Hay Festival in Wales.

Mary will be selling my comics on my behalf and enjoying the fun of MCM during the three days of the convention - this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (27th -29th May).  There will be copies of my usual stuff, including the still quite new Filmish #3 and 100 Tiny Moments, as well as some shiny new postcards.

The whole thing's a bit of experiment to see if it's possible to sell comics without the artist in person, and if it doesn't work out, at least Mary gets a fun holiday out of it.  If you're in London that weekend, I truly recommend making a day of visiting MCM.  It's geek paradise, with loads of computer game booths, movie promotion stuff, cosplay, and most importantly dozens of fantastic comics creators selling and talking about their work.

Meanwhile I'll be with We Are Words + Pictures teaching comics to young folk at Hayfever, the kid-friendly spin-off of Hay festival.  After the success of Edinburgh's recent Drop In + Draw and the fun we all had at Latitude last year, I'm very excited by this one, and it'll be a pleasure to work alongside comics experts Tom Humberstone, Anna Saunders, Ted Brandt and Anne Holiday spreading the fun of comics!

We're there for the first weekend of Hay, the 28th and 29th of May.  If you're there, drop by and join in!  The blurb for the event is:

Create your own comic book character
Make stories with words + pictures
What would a character that you made up from scratch look like? Would they have a beard or tentacles or tiny pointed feet? Would they be tall or chubby or have piercing blue eyes? Well, the We Are Words + Pictures team are here to help you decide and put your ideas into practice. With established comic artists and illustrators on hand we’ll get you designing your very own comic book character and developing a story for them to feature in.

'Dust' Preview

I've been working well ahead of schedule to produce my submission for the summer special of Paper Science, the comics anthology produced by the fantastic We Are Words + Pictures.  I've tried to create something that breaks as many of my own bad habits as possible, with a focus on visual storytelling, page layout and colouring.  It's been totally great working on something a bit different, and having the space to do so without a deadline looming has been really refreshing.

If you haven't already signed up for a Paper Science subscription, you really should.  Some of the most exciting comics artists in the U.K. are currently creating work for the four issues that are due out this year.  The first of those issues is out soon, with work by the fantastic Luke Pearson, John Allison, Timothy Winchester, Andrew Waugh, Adam Cadwell, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, Joe List and Dan Berry.

Latitude Report

This weekend I was at Latitude festival with Tom Humberstone, Philippa Rice, Anne Holiday and Matthew Sheret.  It was a We Are Words + Pictures event, and we were there to give passers by a wee chance to do some comic drawing, as well as providing access to WAW+P's extensive library of small-press wonders, all from our event tent situated amongst dozens of other arts events that the festival was playing host to.

The event went down really well I think.  It was great seeing the huge amount of work that came out of it, from children and adults alike.  People seemed really engaged with the whole idea, and one or two children told me they had been inspired to pick up drawing again, having had previously lost interest or confidence.  We were able to give the young folk some advice and encouragement to keep drawing, and guidance to parents on how to foster their kids' interest in comics.  We all worked very well as a team, and it was wonderful getting to hang out with other comic artists and chat about what the future holds for all of us.  All in all, a great success!

At the same time, I got to do some drawing of my own, borrowing Tom's pens to do some brush pen experimentation, and Philippa's glue to do some My Cardboard Life fan art!  And then there were the bands of course, a personal favourite being Saturday night's Belle and Sebastian show.

Appearances 2010

I'll be making my first two appearances as a comics artist this year.

Latitude Festival - Thursday 15th to Sunday 18th July.

I've been invited to help out with We Are Words + Pictures' comic drawing workshops and drop-in and draw events at the festival.  We'll be there from Friday to Sunday so if you're there, come on by.

Come and join some of the UK's finest small press illustrators and help create a unique comic to celebrate Latitude 2010. Drop in to polish up on your drawing skills, relax and take inspiration from our library of 'zines and comics or help fill pages with colourful characters, tall tales and fantasy lands while we spin a yarn in the Suffolk sun.

We Are Words + Pictures are a group of illustrators and writers creating comics throughout the UK. Since 2008 they have worked with the ICA's Comica Festival, Brick Lane Market and comedians Josie Long and Robin Ince.

Thought Bubble: Leeds Sequential Art Festival - Saturday 20th November.

I've also booked a table for my first ever convention, the one day Leeds Comic Con.  I'm going to have to work hard to have more stuff to put on my table, which is a good thing I think.  If anyone fancies sharing a table, just get in touch and we'll see what we can do...

'Filmish' in Paper Science.

As previously reported, some of my work featured in Paper Science issue 2, which was released on Free Comic Book day.  By all reports it was a successful release and of the 500 printed, all have been given away.  However, you can still download the collection free here.  I thought I might as well post my contribution here while I'm at it, though don't let that stop you downloading the whole thing: there's spectacular work in there.

Click to embiggen.

Paper Science 2.

The hard working folk at We Are Words + Pictures have brought together some of the finest comics talent in Britain for the second issue of Paper Science.  It's a newspaper format anthology that they're going to be giving away for free at Orbital Comics in London on the 1st of May (which is Free Comic Book Day).  I've been lucky enough to have been included in the collection, with a full colour version of my Food on Film "Filmish" essay.  If you're in London you should pop in and grab your copy.

Their words follow:

Saturday May 1st is Free Comic Book Day, and to celebrate We Are Words + Pictures will be once again releasing the talents of UK comics press on you all with a new edition of Paper Science.
Sporting a brand new cover by Philippa Rice, we’ll be setting ourselves up in London’s Orbital Comics, with 500 free copies to distribute to anyone who comes in. We’ll also be running a Drop In + Draw day there, featuring Tom Humberstone and Mark Oliver as well as the Mobile Library.
This new edition of Paper Science has been created with the generous assistance of Newspaper Club. They’re printing us a 16page, full-colour edition of 500 in time for the event. We’ll also be offering a print-ready PDF of the paper on this site on Saturday under a Creative Commons license, for you to read onscreen or to take to a printer. You can knock up a run wherever you are, just let us know.
We Are Words + Pictures are joined in this madness, in order of appearance, by Philippa Rice, Francesca Cassavetti, Joe Decie, Octavia Raitt, Becky Barnicoat, Daniel Locke, Anne Holiday, Matthew Sheret, Tom Humberstone, Luke Pearson, Adam Cadwell, Geof Banyard, Mark Oliver, Liz Lunney, Douglas Noble, Kristyna Baczynski, Anna Saunders, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Sean Azzopardi, Edward Ross and Marc Ellerby.