Category: Illustration

Better Late than Never: When Ambition bites you in the Bum

Posted on Posted in Illustration, Musings, PrintmakingTagged , , , , , , , , , , 7 Comments

I’m back with a new post! Yes I know it’s terribly late, I am oh-so-sorry, but you see, there was a dragon.

No?

Not buying it?

Yeah well that’s because it’s a lie. There was no dragon, I’ve just been rubbish (again) and have failed at bringing you any kind of news in favour of sleeping. However, those lazy days are now gone! Banished! And I hereby solemnly swear to be much, much better at this blog fandango. Frealz.

So here it goes. Last time I did a post, I was just about to embark on a big old silly printing experiment that did, in the true nature of experimentation, fail horrendously. Yes, you heard, printing finally turned on me. Screen Printing as well, that dirty dog. After all the nice things I said about it. Needless to say, it put me a little bit (a lot) down in the dumps, I don’t like doing bad work. Especially not bad prints.

But such is the nature of trying new things and not leaving yourself enough time to properly get to grips with it.

Basically what happened, was that I wanted to do a print for the End of Year Show, and my tutor talked me into doing it GIANT (A1), as opposed to the comfort zone of A6-A3 size range I tend to aim for, less than a week before the exhibition was due to open. Actually, now that I think about it, this is the same tutor who was to blame for the up-all-night-due-to-lack-of-preparation-2-page-comic shebang. Must investigate the possibility of a single-handed conspiracy against me there.

But I digress, “a big print…ha!” you may claim, “doesn’t sound like such a big deal to me!”

Well, metaphorical voice of imaginary rhetoric reader, you’re right, you wouldn’t think a big print WOULD be such a nightmare, however this one decided it would be due to the following limitations.

  1. I only had one screen. This meant that, in order to achieve the 3 colour print I was aiming for, I had to only expose ONE layer onto the screen (due to time limitations) – the most complex one was naturally the best choice, but this meant the starting two had to be hand cut newsprint cut outs which I would have to use as stencils with the blank screen, then expose the 3rd layer on afterwards. I hate cutting newsprint. It’s delicate and awkward and a pain in the arse to transport. I especially hate cutting newsprint when the newsprint itself is bigger than A1 and I only have an A3 cutting mat and, due to the end-of-year-run-down-of-materials, comparatively blunt utensils.
  2. I also couldn’t afford, due to the end-of-year-run-down-of-funds, to digitally scan and print my exposable design onto a giant acetate in order to expose it, so it had to be hand traced from the original sketch, using special ink (FROM A POT WITH A BRUSH! Not even pens) onto a cheaper, transparent, special-ink-from-a-pot friendly material. This ate one full day of my already very tight schedule.
  3. Due to the size of the print and, by comparison, the size of me, I was encouraged not to print the organic way; hand+squeegie=lovely print, but instead to use THE ARM. Now this was really where my downfall lay. In theory, THE ARM is a great idea. It’s a bit mechanical arm that holds the big squeegees and spreads the ink over large surface areas my own little limbs would struggle to cover. All I had to do was push the handle of THE ARM along with the correct pressure to get a nice, flat, even coverage.

Unfortunately, as I only had, in the end, one day in which I could print, I didn’t really get the time necessary to be able to master the art of THE ARM. In fact, I think it’s fair to say I was actually pretty shit at it. I’m not sure if it was due to my size and weight (or lack thereof) but I just couldn’t seem to put enough pressure on the damn thing to get an even coverage of ink. I tried thousands of variants of amounts of ink, I tried adjusting the bed, adjusting the screen, the suction, I tried more paint in the mix, more solution, harder squeegees, softer squeegees, literally everything I could in the very limited timescale I had.

But in the end, with time ticking by, I had to just go for it. And 3 colours, 5 prints, about 60 newsprint tests and a grump to end all grumps later, was left with a pretty damn substandard print as a result.

Muchos Disappointingos.

As you can see, the colour is not at all flat and the black’s not come through at all clearly. I think had the lines been printed perfectly, it may have tied any issues with the stenciled colour together. Might even have looked better, given the grimy nature of the subject matter. But unfortunately the lines are just as problematic as the other two colours. Which really meant the image lost out in areas of detail like these.

The brief for the exhibition was 1912: Go make something! So I chose to focus on the death of Bram Stoker; author of Dracula, theatre owner and all-round pretty clever guy. From here, I subsequently, invented an “alternative reality” in which Dracula‘s success above all his other works was attributed to the fact that it was not from Stoker’s imagination, but based on true events. I wanted to suggest that his death in 1912, officially regarded as “a series of strokes” was actually caused via the paranormal attack of a vampire.

I chose to do it in the form of a single image narrative. This was actually a bit of a leap for me who is, as you may be aware from my other work (and if you’re not I think you’d better have a look in the shop don’t you?) predominantly a sequential art sort of gal. This whole, summarising in one image was quite the challenge, which is why it was so disappointing to have overcome one hurdle to fail at another.

Anyway, It’s big, it’s a print and you can see what it is, so in many ways, I achieved what I set out to. It’s just a shame the craft is so poor. But we live, we learn and sometimes, we screw up screen printing.

I think that’s definitely what Sinatra was singing about in That’s Life: Screen printing giant images of deceased writers.

What an epiphany.

B

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Poor Ink coverage could have looked ghostly and haunting, had the black been a little crisper.

All Quiet on the Western Blog

Posted on Posted in Illustration, MusingsTagged , , Leave a comment

This blog’s been a little sleepy recently, I’ll admit. And this post isn’t likely to be a particularly spectacular explosion back into the swing of things, just a quick one to apologise to anyone who might worry. So this one is for you, EVERYTHING IS OKAY. I am NOT sick, dead or in the throes of coping with the sudden, awkward degeneration and/or loss of my fingers or any other limb. I have not been kidnapped, abused or oppressed in any way and, most importantly, I haven’t lost my internet connection or stopped producing work. Oh no.

No, actually I’ve been working my little bum off in the build up to the end of year show. You’ll all be pleased to hear that I’m now finished with my graded work (I’ve officially passed my first year with a First! Which would be incredible…if the first year was at all graded…which it’s not) and have been sinking my time and efforts into our exhibition project.

As it’s late, I won’t go into to too much detail, but just though I’d pop by and throw up a picture for you to contemplate before I call it a night. The Project is “1912” and if you can work out what’s going on based on this, fairly obscure, image, I’ll take my hat off to you and give you a prize. Suggestions are welcome.

More is coming, I promise, including some more of that lovely printmaking I just won’t shut up about. Until then, here’s a Bat.

Over and Out

B

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The Wish Magazine Is Out!

Posted on Posted in Events, IllustrationTagged , , 1 Comment

Quick note to say that the Wish magazine that I did a little work for is well and truly launched. If you’re into all that fashion stuff (and fancy seeing some of my work, alongside many others, in a lovely glossy print) hit up the shop here and grab yourself a copy.

Here’s a picture of the finished article. The front illustration isn’t mine but gives you a great insight into the World of Wish. Mine are hidden among the pages. Along with a lot of pink.

To read all about the trials and tribulations the girls went through in the creation of this beauty, see their blogs here and here.

B

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Sometimes at Uni, I do things FOR Uni!

Posted on Posted in Illustration, PrintmakingTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

In light of the exciting developments that have been taking place outside of the university environment (things like Comiket, my review and MY NEW SHOP WHICH I JUST DON’T THINK I’VE GONE ON ABOUT ENOUGH), I’ve done an excellent job at neglecting the work I’ve been doing within the big, ol’, yellow institution.

This post will be an attempt to correct these wrong-doing by bringing you a little snippet of creativity from the life of University.

You know, that place I spend 80% of my time. The reason I live here. That one.

Doesn’t even involve photocopiers.

So, we’ve been working on two, comparatively short projects that, although required separate outcomes, held a common theme and were (presumably) designed to feed off of each other to an extent. In short, we started with an object that we were then to expand on and extend into an environment of our chosing. (There were many more restrictions than that, but we won’t get into that just now.)

Naturally, me being me, I chose a COMPLETELY terrifying wooden mask of a human face and, naturally, me being me, decided to create a completely terrifying wooden creature to wear it.

In a nutshell. Give or take a bit of research.

Our outcomes were to be a sequential narrative, for which we had to convey this sense of movement in 9 panels (something I think my all night comic-making-athon may have put me in good stead for), and a soundless animation of 15 seconds or more. Simples.

It’s been, for the most part, good fun. The Animation comes first in the saga of the weird Tree Creature. It’s jerky, it’s rushed, it’s wibbly and just generally a bit crap and so, totally not worth the amount of time sunk into it’s creation. But the more I watch those meager little 24 seconds, the more I love it. Like a really ugly kitten. Or a child who just can’t get his head around potty training.It’s my first ever start stop animation and so I feel I’m entitled to a bit of forgiving in terms of the craft. It’s made by my own fair hands and therefore, by default, I’ll love it always. If only as a milestone in my creative journey.

And even if it does leave a little poo on the proverbial carpet every time I watch it.

My static image sequence, while still rushed and far from perfect, had the advantage of being a practice I was familiar with. In an attempt to communicate this driving theme of the mask’s wooden texture, I made the (pretty foolish to be honest) decision to linocut my sequence in three colours which, due to the restrictions of the process and size of my lino, added a simple bleakness to the images and lost a lot of potential detail. As I’ve said, just a little too often about my work before, they’re not the greatest feat of printmaking known to man, but time played a restricting factor that forced the simplification of imagery down to the point to see here.

While I loathe to consider them a direct sequel to the animation (due to my own personal gripes regarding the film industry), they could be considered to continue the narrative previously explored, and therefore should really be seen second. You know, seeing as they were offered as a joint brief and all.

I might consider them a spin-off. Maybe.

Originally I’d planned to bind them into a concertina book, sandwiched between a hard front and back cover. I have two prints of each image, so it’s something I could still well do, but actually, in terms of the movement between image to image as a sequence, the simple grid of 9 works rather well. They break up well into columns of 3 and I think that adds a nice pace to the movement that could easily be lost in the transition into a bound document. There’s a certain stillness to the images that I’d worry would be compromised to an extent if they were to be viewed in one, continuous line. As much as I love books and book binding.

And I do.

So there’s a little taste of what a Bath Spa student has to offer. Wooden Creeps and wibbly frames. Top-Notch talent only in that school doncha know.

Bugger, I was hoping to keep this post short so my flatmate doesn’t laugh at the cyber-typing-diarohea from which I suffer, but I seem to have had another attack.

Sorry about that fellas.

Over and Out.

B

Can’t think. Can barely see. Seems like a Good time for a Blog Post!

Posted on Posted in Events, IllustrationTagged , , , , , , 5 Comments

Okay so, at time of writing it’s 12:38 on Wednesday.

I’ve now been up since 8.30am Tuesday morning and I’m starting to feel the effects.

Basically, it’s all my tutors fault. Being the good student I am, I was sifting through the pages of university related crap that tend to accumulate in my inbox, when I found something of interest hiding in between the incessant barrage of SU updates (the beauty of this being that we don’t even have an SU office at my campus.)

It was the details for this competition. The prize is a bit tasty (because who doesn’t like holidays and comics?) but that’s not really why I wanted to enter. It sounds like a cop-out, but genuinely the winning wasn’t what I wanted out of it. I just really liked the idea of being set a comic book brief to respond to, that wasn’t simply self-initiated fun times. Plus second and third prize are free tickets to the festival, and I reckon any comics festival seems like a good thing to get involved in, given the success of the last one.

So here’s the catch. The email was sent yesterday. The deadline is tomorrow. And it’s mail only entry. So, I have spent the past…well god knows how many hours scripting, illustrating, photoshopping and indesigning a two page comic that I have now, I’m delighted to say, popped in the post.

So long as it arrives by tomorrow, the website says they’ll exhibit all of the entrants (so either they have a hench exhibition space, or they’re not expecting a whole lot of entries…) so regardless of if they like it or not, it won’t have been wasted. And yeah, okay so I have now missed a lecture and a seminar as a result, and won’t be able to spend the afternoon in the print rooms as planned due to an excessive amount of sleeping that needs to be done, BUT, while it may be a thumbs down on the school front, I reckon I deserve a fricking gold star for dedication to the craft! Or one for stupidity, haven’t decided which yet.

Here’s the original artwork for it, created by my own fair hands at a horrible time in the morning.

It’s a bit of a mental one, but that is what you get from trying to script a whole project in ten hours. It’s actually not my original idea, I jumped ship halfway through so this one didn’t really get started until about 9pm.

I stuck with a standard layout: double page spread. Yeah okay, I’m sure I could have really explored the brief and done something clever with the two pages, but when time’s against you, I like to focus more on the artwork and text than faffing about with potential novelties, as nice as they can be.

And of course, it goes without saying that there’s A LOT wrong with it. For a start due to my excessive tiredness at time of conception, it’s a bit too batshit mad to really be as directly communicative as I’d usually like (and the text doesn’t actually help much with that either, funnily enough.)

It’s a shame in a way. I think had I had more time to perfect it all, it could have been quite nice. The text needs an overhaul (both the script and I’m not overly happy with the font or placing of it in the final copy) and there’s a lot of work needed on the arrangement of cells. But hey, for a 10 hour comic I guess it could be worse.

Great practice as well. I’d like to get into the habit of knocking out short work on a regular basis, and while this wasn’t really finished to a standard I’d usually expect it to be at, I think i’s acceptable given the MAJOR handicap I was working with.

NOT that I really want to turn this all nighter business into a regular occurence. But it has been quite fun.

Fingers crossed eh?

 

Perhaps I’ll turn  it into a mini zine or something. Thanks to the time, effort and cunning knowledge of a very Special person named Matt, the bagleybooks store is well underway, so all books and zines will soon be available over the magic of the web.

Needless to say, everything I am now producing, I’m seeing dollar signs all over, and this is absolutely no exception.

Keep an eye on the website for more information!

Okay, I’m pretty definite it’s bedtime now. Over and OUT.

B

x

Wanna See Comiket?

Posted on Posted in Events, Fun and Textiles, IllustrationTagged , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

I’ve been a very naughty blogger. Not only did I fail MISERABLY at bringing you lovely lot the buildup to Comiket (ironically because I was a bit too busy actually doing it) but THEN I also waited a whole week before even bringing the tales to the internet. BAD FORM!

Well, if you pop along to the NEWS section of my website, you’ll see a few little bits, but there are a few more photos so I thought they could live here.

In short, it was an awesome event. Unfortunately I can’t actually bring you the goods in terms of new names to watch out for, as I was pretty much stationary for the whole thing so was very limited in terms of the work I saw. There was no doubt though, that the range of work on offer was unbelievable! It’s the reason I regard Comiket with quite such high esteem; absolutely everybody is welcome. Yeah it’s about comics, but there is so much more to the notion of comic books and graphic novels then just men in tights and capes. Comiket is one of those events that really allows you to explore what graphics mean to you, and what attributes all kinds of illustration can really supply in the arts market. I think that’s such an important realisation when we’re so highly exposed to trends and labels, in every regard, under ordinary circumstances.

And this year was no exception, you just have to look at the mixed bag that is the contributors list. Literally, from the small pressers like me, through to professionals, right along to big business like Walker Books. All with different kinds of work to sell, and all of it worth looking at.

It’s probably a good thing I couldn’t get a gander round actually. I only would have spent any money I made on yet more books and zines to add to my already groaning book shelf. For a start, I know that NoBrow, Tom Gould, Phillipa Rice, Louis Roskosch, Accent UK, Orangutancomics, Twisted Dark and Markosia all had tables there, all of which are very cool people of whom I am a fan or have proved to have done cool stuff in the past. So I KNOW for a FACT that there was definitely a lot of gooood shit there. So unless the possibility of being exposed to just a little bit too much awesome is too much for you, you’ve really no excuse not to go check some more contributors out. And I highly recommend that you do.

And while I was a bit of a Sad Winston and chained to my table for those most part, I was certainly kept busy with the sheer number of people that turned up! It was pretty much manic, and I’m pleased to say a very decent success for a li’l small press guy like me. Yeah okay, giving away free stuff might have helped a little bit, but what can I say, I’m a giver. And besides, as I’ve said on numerous occasions, why not make the most of the *ahem* free photocopiers at Uni?…you know, the ones I pay for with studio fee . Those free photocopiers.

But I’m just kidding, the free zines went down okay, but the real attention seemed to be mainly on Tick and my BRAND NEW ZINE, Bears: Don’t like ’em. I was getting rid of those by the bucket load! Strangely enough, to a lot of people wearing bear t-shirts. I think they may have missed the point a bit but hey, I have their money now! HA!

I also did get rid of a few of the prints I’d been doing in the building weeks which is fantastic. It’s so nice when your time is rewarded, and obviously I don’t for a second just mean with money. There is no greater feeling than knowing something you have created has brought someone joy. And especially at an event like this, where people can, and do, chat to you about what you’ve done that they do like and what they don’t like and it’s all such honest feedback because they don’t for a second have to give it to you.

I met so many different kinds of people last Saturday and I had some incredible conversations with them about such a magnitude of topics. It was just yet more proof to me that the real meaning of the word comic is far broader than the stereotypes could ever allow you to imagine. Old, young, teenage, middle age, fat, thin, male, female, camp and alternative; I swear the entire spectrum of human variation was walking through those doors and browsing the length and breadth of the isles.

Having been to a few small press deals in the past, I knew this was often the case though. It’s one of the reason’s I’m so keen to take part in them over the big, overwhelming cons, and I tried really hard to make sure my table reflected as such.

I think I succeeded, judging by the number of times people asked astonished “did you do ALL of this? It’s all so different!” which is one of those lines that makes you grin like a maniac on the inside when you hear it. And I guess it’s true, my table was some what schizophrenic. All four of my publications were pretty different in a number of ways: from the very artsy, painterly styles of Tick, through to heavily line based Bears, screen printed The Day I Met a Fatty right on over to the very graphic Rumble; I’ve tried to give each of them an identity of their own that was suitable to their purpose. And then of course there were the wild-card, batshit sandwich that was the sock creatures. But they were really just there for fun :P.

I have a few of those left actually, I’ll be sure to get them up on here at some point soon so you can have a giggle at the things I spend my life doing. Most people go out with mates. I stuff Socks. It takes all sorts.

Anyway, for fear of getting even more self-indulgent, I’ll wrap this post up. I would just like to put out a huge, huge thank you to Paul Gravett and everyone who helped to set up the event and make it as enjoyable as it was. I would like to say a MASSIVE thanks to this woman, who literally saved my bacon on Saturday by being my skivvy for the first few hours and keeping me well caffeinated. FYI, she’s also a creative type and has done some truly phenomenal bits of ART (you know, as in fine art. That real life, gallery stuff. Not just robots and ting) and often writes about very interesting thingies and bits here, so definitely have a look if you’re feeling especially cultured.

And also would just like to say how much I appreciated the appearance of the very lovely Patricia, Hugh and Tegwen. All of whom popped over to show their support which was truly lovely of them all. I hope all three of you enjoyed the event and found something exciting buried in those isles of illustrative magic.

Okay, do you know what? I think I’ll stop going on like I’ve just won some kind of Academy Award now. Unless maybe it was the award for going on like a gushing tosser, feel free to get in touch to hear the full speech for that one.

To summarise, Comiket was awesome, people are talented, I like robots and we can all go home happy.

Peace OUT.

B

x

Hope your Easter Monday was EGGselent!

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Ah Easter.

That brilliant time of year where you either get a potential 4 days off work, or you all get confused about what day does and doesn’t count as some form of bank holiday. Or which ones hold some kind of Religious significance or not. Like, Which day did Jesus die again? Or is it about now he was coming back? And what does the egg mean again?

…and where do rabbits come into all this?

This is the problem with basing your life around archaic texts that keep contradicting themselves, it’s very hard to keep track of things (BOOM).

But, in all seriousness, Easter is a very confusing time for me. I don’t hold a great deal of significance around it, given that I’m quite happily atheist and I don’t really eat chocolate and I just find cream eggs that little bit too sickly. I guess, for me, it’s all a bit of a non event.

This year is no (egg)ception to this. While my flatmates have all gone to their respective families, I’ve been a bit of a Sad Winston here and have instead spent the weekend hand washing my clothes, with Indesign as my only friend.

The Joy of being a student.

So, last night, in an attempt to get into the mood and out of my cynical rut, I sat down and did a good old fashioned drawing for Easter.

Biro + photoshop x loneliness = err...messed up

Ah. Hmm, well okay, on second viewing it’s not QUITE as successful at celebrating the holiday as I perhaps would have hoped. Still, there’s always Christmas right?

Hopefully you’ve all had chirpier weekends than I. Go eat an egg or something.

B

x

Caterpaulted out of the Comfort Zone!

Posted on Posted in Illustration, TypographyTagged , , , , 4 Comments

Okay, so today I’ve taken a break from the robots and boxing animals that is preparation for Comiket to work on something that is SO, TOTALLY different I think I might have a stroke. Basically I’ve been working with Lucy and Carrie of fashion blogging fame to help them with some bits and pieces for their new publication, WishWishWish.

That’s right. Fashion. I did a fashion thing.

I know it’s not my usual area of expertise (I’ll get back to you when I work out what IS) but it’s good to broaden your horizons I reckon.

Here are a few of the spot illustrations I’ve been working on for a piece on freelancing within the industry. Hopefully the girls are happy with them. And if not we can just blame it on the fact that I have no idea what I’m doing eh? Win Win situation.

B

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Hands up if you Hate Bedtime?

Posted on Posted in IllustrationTagged , , , , 4 Comments

We got set a project a few weeks back to pitch some kind of product to a panel of “judges” (tutors). Dragon’s Den Style to those who are familiar with it.

It was a pretty neat project, I decided to be completely unadventurous and one hundred percent predictable and stick with what I know. SO I put my efforts into producing a pitch for a series of children’s books, kind of like a dark Mr Men (not Little Miss though. We all know they were just a cheap money-making move. Little beetches more like…ahem)

And thus these guys were born. The Little Nightmares.

The idea is (yeah, there was one of those) that it’s a brand aimed at tackling bad behaviour in children come night-time. It’s like a whole subculture or misbehaviour; there’s so many variations of getting out of going to bed that I thought I’d characterise them. Each of my Little Nightmares is a different personification of night-time issue, and each book follows a short story about them being naughty and, ultimately, rectifying the behaviour and becoming well behaved.

Well, that’s the plan anyway. Obviously we only had to present the idea so the books haven’t TECHNICALLY been written yet. But some pretty artwork’s been done.

And that’s the important thing…right?

The one who WON'T STAY IN HIS OWN BED.
Fraidymare is afraid of the Dark. He's not so much naughty, but is still disruptive.
This Guy is the kid who always asks for a glass of water, or another blanket, or a this, that and the other.
Monstermare is the one who makes you search for monsters under the bed, in the cupboard, under the rug etc. Every night. For 45 minutes.

  I pitched it at four books currently, although the intention is for the series to expand exponentially.

It’s one of those great things that can keep going for as long as kids are misbehaving…so pretty much until the end of time.

I also went on a lot about the potential for merchandise.

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to make money off the back of books (specifically independently published books) but I’m telling you now, it doesn’t happen. Any return that would be made on this mythical Dragons Den money we were asking for, would most likely have to be made almost solely on the subsequent merchandise that the brand could potentially generate. Luckily, as it’s all about the night-time, it leaves itself open for that kind of thing. Not only in toys, bed covers, night lights etc, but also in company collaborations with various institutions that specialise in either children or  night based products. For example, getting the characters on toothpaste and toothbrushes etc.

(See? I thought about stuff!)

But the books weren’t the only aspect to my brand. I did a fair amount of research into the issue of kids misbehaving at bedtime and realised there isn’t actually a whole lot of help for parents who have these problems. There’s websites like the NHS and shows like Super Nanny, (I slagged off the Super Nanny website A LOT. Because it’s shit.) But they seem to talk about bad behaviour in general and I’ve known kids who are perfectly well-behaved 90% of the time, but just hate bedtime. (Understandably I think. It’s boring.)

So I included a website plan in my pitch. Somewhere that has the aim of, not only furthering the child’s relationship with the characters but helping parents too via a parent portal of hints, tips, advice, forums etc.

So that was more or less my project. I hadn’t actually intended to take you through my presentation, I really just wanted to share the artwork, but apparently today is a digitally enhanced verbal diarrhoea day so there you go.

I’d like to carry on with the idea to be honest. There’s no reason why the books can’t be made and added to my ever-growing list of books and fanzines I’d like to sell. Won’t be in time for Comiket this April, but that’s just one of many event’s I’d like to take part in, so keep your eyes peeled in the future.

Now I just have to actually write them….huh.

Fraidymare said it.

B

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