Posts Tagged ‘ f+c

Events, reviews, interviews

(Well, that’s a… pretty descriptive title! Um… here we go!)

I’m very excited to be a guest at Malta Comic Con, which I have heard many good things about! I’ll be there along with good company. If you’re looking to go to the convention, I’ve been assured that they organisers are able to offer some great transfer and accommodation rates for travellers, so do give them a buzz on info@maltacomic-con.com!

You may also wish to check out the Co-Promotional Scheme the organisers are running, which looks like a great opportunity ^_^

In bookish news, I went along to the Turnaround warehouse recently to sign and sketch a pile of Fish + Chocolates! :D It was really interesting to see the inside of a distribution warehouse. For my sketch, I drew a unique potato smile in each one, haha! Look out for these special potato-ed editions! :D I wanted to collect a couple of things related to Fish + Chocolate here, too…

Interview for Fat Quarter Magazine: Bloody Mothers. I really enjoyed doing this one!

Review (in Spanish – use Google Translate) by Little Nemo’s Kat: Tortured Motherhood. Note that it also pimps Page 45, which is one of my fave comic shops and certainly worth the visit if you’re in or around Nottingham! :D

Sigh. Comic shops. Oxford used to have a Comics Showcase, but that shut down. There are a few floppies and random tankoubon in Truck shop on Cowley Road, but it’s not quite the same as having a COMIC SHOP. I think our closest one is in London. That’s depressing, guys. Really depressing.

That said, the comic shops I’ve been to recently have all been THE SHIT. If notions of gloomy, pungent, cramped, un-woman-friendly comic shops still lie in the mind of the public conscious… it can slope off into the corner now. I don’t think I’ve been to a poor comic shop for years.

In other news, I’m still working hard on The Lost Boy for The Phoenix! I’m having lots of fun. I hope it will be as much fun to read! :D

Fish + Chocolate HARDBACK now out (mostly)!

I say mostly…! I’ve heard lots of people saying it’s in their comic shops and bookshops as of this week. I’m not 100% certain it’s shipping if you’ve pre-ordered it through Amazon, etc., yet. As far as I know, editions bought online will ship around the 22nd September.

You guys oughtta see the hardback… it’s so nice! I’ll take photos and update this entry with them when I get the time. The colours are really great – things like the desaturation processes are far more obvious and work really nicely. It’s also about 20% BIGGER than the self-published edition! I was really surprised and really happy! The size suits it nicely – it’s sort of in-between A5 and A4.

BUY THE HARDBACK BUY THE HARDBACK BUY THE HARDBACK

I am definitely going to announce what I’m currently working on as soon as I’m able… I got a bit nerdishly excited and made a new Tag for it… “TLB.” I’ll expand that when it’s announced… :3

The other thing I’m working on I’ll make a proper entry for when it’s at a better stage of production. This might not be for a while -_-; It’s slow-going, eh!

Various updates

Hello! Paul and I have just returned from having a week-and-a-half break in Winchester, following the end of Freakangels. It was nice and relaxing… we got to do a lot of things that generally we are not able to do (like go outside). I actually got a small tan on my left hand. (Seriously).

I took a couple of photos with my “real” camera, which I should process at some point… in the meantime, I did take a few with my iPhone and put them through instagram, which you can see here: http://web.stagram.com/n/autojoy ^_^

I have updated the list of places which are carrying copies of Fish + Chocolate in my shop, which also includes Plan B Books in Glasgow, owned by my university mate Peter! Once again, I am very happy these shops have supported F+C, so if you’re looking to buy a copy and you’re within reach of one of these places, do consider purchasing from there ^_^

I’ve also updated the list of events I am confirmed to be at this year, on the bottom of the front page of my site :)

That’s all! I hope to provide you guys with some more news soon ^_^/

Cake Trousers

Got back from a great MCM Expo on Sunday! It was very tiring, but very fun. Thank you very much to everyone who stopped by our table and chatted or bought copies of our stuff! It’s such a great event to exhibit at and/or go along to… many thanks to the organisers for a smashing MCM once again! ^_^ Paul and I have a hotel booked for October MCM as well, so should be exhibiting there too, if all goes to plan. We will also both be at Thought Bubble, 2011 B.C., and, hopefully Caption as well, in our very own Oxford. I’ll update the front page of my site with those details soon, too ^_^

Everybody has been so nice about Fish + Chocolate! Actually, to be honest it is a little overwhelming. If you know me, you know I’m a little bit insecure… so it’s simultaneously lovely and bewildering to have positive comments about my book! I know it’s terribly unprofessional to say that I’m really very insecure, but eh… it’s the truth.

By the way! You should be able to pick up copies of F+C at the following stores: Page 45 in Nottingham (from next week onwards, most likely), Red Garden Manga in Reading and all Travelling Man stores. If you can’t find the books, please ask the friendly staff ^_^ I’m very happy that these stores are supporting F+C, so if one of them is your local store, please consider purchasing from there! \^_^/

In further F+C news, Let me show you THESE…! :D

Mary & Prisca! Isn’t this just beautiful?! I’m a big fan of Sammy Borras‘ cartooning skill and her comics. I got to meet her at Bristol Comicon a couple weeks back, which was awesome. Thank you so much for this beautiful drawing, Sammy! Your cartooning looks so effortless and beautiful <3

An illustration of Maria, by Fred O’Rourke! I just love it – the soft pencil lines give the illustration a really gentle and peaceful feel. Thank you so much, Fred! Fred is on the same course I went to at university, so we’ve had a good natter about that at recent events ^_~

~*~Trivia time!~*~ The bridge in Matryoshka is based on the bridge near our flat! It’s got lots of unused rusty pipes underneath it, which at the moment houses amorous pigeons. You can hear them cooing away if you walk underneath it.

That’s all! \^_^/

In defense of the Punch

Want to start off by saying that I really, really liked Sucker Punch. Everyone seems to hate it, which is a real shame. I thought it was creative, and smart, and easily my favourite film of 2011, though it be only part-way through the year. I’m looking forward to getting it on BD so I can have a few more watch-throughs… I feel like it’s one of those films you’ll get even more out of on repeated watchings! You know… I didn’t even realise the actor playing Blue was Oscar Isaac. Such a chameleon. I’ve seen him in a few things now and I think he’s absolutely the shit. Totally love him!! <3 So, Paul and I had our exhibition opening last weekend! It was really nice, thanks so much to MCM's Comic Village, Matt Sheret and Orbital Comics for setting it all up, and huge thanks to Faye Yong, Fehed Said, Emma Vieceli and Andrew Ruddick for helping us arrange and hang the show. I updated my website with some new illustrations, a couple of which were printed in *HUGE* to hang at Orbital. It was kinda cool...! Private commission of an OC, Monday. Monday is actually a ghost-girl! This was super fun to draw:

Denica & Max playing some card game in some alley-way somewhere:

Twins. Who aren’t actually twins, I imagined them as the same girl, but illustrated twice as if she had taken different paths in life… that’s sort of hard to explain… er, so mainly I refer to her as twins… ^^;

Well, that’s all! In terms of projects, I’m settling Fish + Chocolate down into its new stable with SelfMadeHero, and working on a couple of other things as well… also, I’ve decided on what I hope to be my next “big” project. I hope I can pull this one off.

Lookin’ forward to Bristol and MCM in the month of May! ^o^/~

Further F+C news…!

Some folks may well have spotted a certain yellow book in the the freshly released April edition of SelfMadeHero’s catalogue…! This is of course great news, and I’m really looking forward to seeing my flat lemony-banana-coloured babies in lovely hardback :) The edition should be available towards the end of September.

Apologies if there has been any confusion – I didn’t realise the announcement regarding the HB version was going to be so close to the release of the paperback, or I would have spoken about it alongside the release of the PB a couple of days ago. Just to confirm – I’ll be taking my paperback edition along to all conventions and events I can, and then when the PB is gone, it’s gone… ready to make way for SMH’s lovely HB-tastic treatment.

Please continue to support the book as it makes its way through the world! :)

So yeah! COMICS! We keep you on your toes.

Fish + Chocolate – now available!

My self-published book, Fish + Chocolate, is now available to purchase! It’s up in the shop section of my site.

I’m attending several events this year, so check out what I’m going to on the front page of my site, since I’ll be taking the books with me! Hope to see you there, and I hope you enjoy the book. I’m excited to put it out there in the world…! Let’s see it take its first steps! :)

If you would like to review the comic, please email me directly at extra.minty@gmail.com and I will get back to you.

Orbital Comics Exhibition 1st May – 26th May

I’m happy to announce that MCM Expo’s highly sucessful and enjoyable Comic Village will be sponsoring an exhibition of work from me & Paul at Orbital Comics! We’ll be showcasing large prints of our illustrations, comics and original linework. I’ve done a couple of new illustrations that haven’t been seen before, too. I will have copies of Fish + Chocolate available, and Paul will have his work, Signal, available as well. We’ll be bridging our work with work from Freakangels, since we both work on that together! :)

So yeah, dates! The private view evening is from 7pm-9pm on Saturday 30th April, and both Paul and I will be there. It’s a free event with drinks and nibbles, so do come along! It would be nice to see you all! If you are unable to make the evening, the exhibition is open to the public from 1st May – 29th May, and of course both Paul and I will be in the Comic Village at MCM Expo.

I keep any events I’m definitely attending up-to-date on the bottom of the front page of my site, so check them out and I hope to see you there! :)

Click to embiggen…

My books. Let me show you them.

They are heavier than I thought they’d be. They feel dense and good to hold. And COLD! Checking through the boxes my hands got really chilly! I guess it must have been very cold in the delivery van, eh? But I’m happy with them. And I’m glad I got that error on the back cover sorted out. ALSO! MPG Biddles I do recommend! Serious customer service and good value for money. A+!

I will put them up on my site for sale ASAP! I want to get out contributor/special copies first, and then they’ll go up. Don’t forget I’ll be at a few conventions/events this year with a number of copies, so please check out the “news” section on the front page of my site, and maybe see you there! <3

(Ahaha, they look really dull… I was messing about with filters in Photoshop… probably not a great idea but I got carried away! I’ll put the unedited photos on the sale section when they go up. The cover merges from banana yellow at the edges to pale lemon yellow in the middle. I can almost see them in the dark, haha.)

Finished + Chocolate

Well… that’s it! It’s done! (More or less!) I need to settle on a blurb for the back cover, and edit a couple of pages, but really they’re very minor tweaks. I finished on Friday 11th February, at 2am in the morning after an epic final battle that lasted 18 hours, in which time I ate maybe three bowls of cereal and did not go to the toilet. Paul, bless him deeply, stayed up with me until the end. By the time the last page rolled around, we played Chariots of Fire on Spotify, repeatedly, until I saved my files in PS for the last time. Then I had a vimto and gin (Ginto? Anyway, we had no tonic) and a further bowl of cereal, I cried a bit, and then went to sleep. And didn’t really move for the next 24 hours XD

Because I pulled many ridiculous days over the past few weeks, and like, I’ve not even been getting dressed, and just sitting still for hours upon hours on end, I’ve actually given myself chilblains XD Protip: wear socks and make sure you move around when completing your comics, folks.

So anyway, here’s the final cover (minus blurb):

And I thought I’d share the title plates as well for each story:

So how do I feel about it? “Fucking relieved” comes to mind. The Cherry Tree is something I’ve been working on and off with since university, which was a good few years back now… like, 2004 or so? The Piper Man is the most recent, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned somewhere before, but even that’s been sitting around, a half-finished script, some character desgns, etc., for about three or four years. Completing Matryoshka feels like I’ve exorcised something. That story has been through the wringer.

The entire book means a lot to me. I mean, really. Finishing it was extremely emotional, and if you’ve been in contact with me in the last few months or so, I’m likely to have been a bit moody… sorry about that ^^; With finishing those final pages, I feel like I have achieved one of my life’s goals, and I feel very, very lucky to have been able to do so in my twenties.

I also feel like I’ve stuck it to a few people, you know. People who have said I could never make comics for a living, that I should really think about getting a “real” job; people who have laughed in my face when I’ve told them what my passions are and what I do… and, most especially, when I was sick for several years and the doctors told me and my family I should “just give up” the idea of being an artist, as it would never likely happen because I could never lead a normal life and it would be best for me to forget about it all. So fuck you, doc! Not only did I get better, I’m doing what I always told you I would do, and what I told everyone I would do. I didn’t give in. So there!

So now! I need to do those final checks, and get this baby off to the printers. I’m as yet unsure how long it will be before I get my product, but I’m guessing it’ll be around 2 – 5 weeks from now. Fuck knows where I’m going to put 300 of these things. In the office, I guess! You guys gotta help me out by buying them all!! XD

Fish + Chocolate aside, things have actually been going quite well recently. I hope to be able to chime into this blog again soon with some nice news ^_^b And of course, details and purchasing info for the book~!

Lastly – huge, huge, HUGE, HUUUUUGE thanks to everyone who has shown me kindness and support (and given me confidence to continue instead of just collapsing into a self-loathing ball) thoughout this project. If I could try and explain how much it meant to me… but I think I’m too inadequate a writer to attempt an explanation… just thank you, thank you…