It's been a really, really long time since I've had any sort of real online presence (five years!!!), and I think it's about time to exist again. Because of the way I am, I reckon a blog's a decent shout!
I'll keep it simple to begin with - Nice, meaty monthly roundups sharing a bunch of cool stuff like current projects, diary comics, my collected monthly drawings, sketchbook spreads, retrospectives on old work; Anything I feel like sharing, really!
So buckle in, and follow me on BlueSky (the only platform I'm using these days, really). I'll post the links to these as they come out.
This month...
February always sneaks up on me and I forget about hourly comics day, but not this year! You can read my collected strips here.
I received some great post from Third Bear Press - The latest edition of BOXES anthology! I have a comic in this one called ‘A Bug’s Prayer’, about an angry and jealous caterpillar desperate to eat a piece of fresh fruit. If you'd like to read it, grab a copy here!
I’ll be at Plymouth Comic and Zine Fair at Ocean Studios on the 8-9th March. If you'd like some of my wares but can't make it, don't stress! I'll be re-opening my shop with remaining stock later in March.
Current Projects:
I've spent most of my time chipping away at a larger project that I’ll have more news on soon. I’m very excited about it, and it’s the first long-form project I’ve worked on since Zebedee and The Valentines (Avery Hill Publishing, 2020). I’ve learned a lot about writing since so I’m excited to see how this one comes out.
I can’t give away too many details for now, but I'll have more news over the next few months. Until then, here's a piece of conceptutal art featuring one of the central characters, Sylvie.
Daily Drawings:
In 2019 I did an art challenge run by the House of Illustration in London, where you had to make a 1x1-inch drawing every day. It's the only challenge I've ever really stuck to, so I decided to try and do it every day this year (ambitious, I know).
Here are my February drawings (the January ones are in my Hourly Comics Day post, linked above). Mine are 2x2-inches because I'm a bad judge of size.
Sketchbook:
Here's a fun fact: I'm 27 years-old, have been drawing for 23 of those years, and have NEVER finished a sketchbook. As a largely digital artist these days, not being able to delete mistakes has been great for my burnout-recovery and the pressure of perfection that comes with it. I've also been using it to store print-outs of digital sketches and studies I like that would otherwise be lost to the void.
Here are some of my favourite spreads from it so far (scroll across for a few spreads)...
I'm really enjoying things as they are, but am definitely still finding my sketchbooking style. I think I'd like to implement some more journal-y aspects to it? I do most of my comics planning digitally as I like to be able to resize and move stuff, but I'd like to play with that here, too.
Sketchbook: Blank Voyager Insert from Peter Pauper Press.
Pens used: Pilot V-Ball 0.7, Pentel Energel 0.7, Papermatic InkJoy 100 1.0M (brown + black), Koh-I-Noor 6b Graphite Stick, random HB(?) pencil.
Journal Comic:
Here's a journal comic from my sketchbook this month...
Things I've read/seen/enjoyed:
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: I didn't expect to enjoy this anywhere near as much as I did. Plath’s no-fuss voice and wryly dark humour took me by surprise and I kind of wish I read it as a teenager?. I also think Plath would have loved autobio comics.
Felicity by Joyce Y. Ng: A stunning piece of work from 2024(?)’s Shortbox Comic Fair. Joyce Y Ng has a wonderfully logical style of storytelling that I keep returning to. Feli's story feels especially relevent with everything going on at the moment; This comic quietly stresses the importance of it all.
Leaving Richard’s Valley by Michael DeForge: I read this on Instagram as it was originally posted, but there’s something great about seeing the works collected in print; A physical manifestation of a moment in internet. As always, wickedly smart storytelling and humour throughout.
Monotone Blue by Nagabe: Another great book in my favourite genre: Furry (scaly?) boys being angsty about stuff. I think I'll read this again next month... After all, why not? Why shouldn't I read it again? I won't elaborate too much becuase it's a fairly easy plot to spoil, but if you're looking for something with a similar vibe to Beastars with a softer, more pining tone this might be for you.
Warhammer World Exhibition: I took my partner to Warhammer World for his birthday, what a day out! If you're a lot into it (like my he is) or a little bit into it (like I am), there's something you can enjoy, even if it's just appreciating the pure painting expertise and craft put into the dioramas and models on display. The house blend coffee was also really good and maybe my new favourite? Very rude of them to only sell it on-site, so far away from my house.
Looking Back:
The arrival of BOXES 3 has put anthologies on the mind - Here's a spread from my first ever anthology project, Comic Book Slumber Party: Escape From Bitch Mountain (Avery Hill, 2018).
I was just a baby illustration student when I worked on this, and it was a really formative experience in figuring out my tone as a creative. I came in wildy confident in my ability to produce the visuals I wanted, but this was the first time somebody suggested I look at the writing; Realistically, it was the first project I'd done that involed writing my own dialogue, and character voice wasn't something I'd massively considered at this point.
I was given some amazing pointers by editor Hannah K. Chapman on bringing personality into my characters though smaller, less obvious 'verbal' quirks, which still informs my writing to this day. In fact, it's one of the first things I think about when I start fleshing out a new character.
Actually drawing this comic was amazing fun thanks to the subject matter and knowledge (and internal pressure?) that my work would be part of a wider story illustated .by some of my favourite creators. It also awakened my deep love for making characters who are either odd and offputting wizards, or brash disasters (also odd and offputting). Fantastic!
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And that's all I have for now, folks! Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to cover or elaborate on in the future. If you have any questions about doing comics, art stuff, anything, really - Email me via the address on the bottom of this page and I'll answer it in the next blog!
Alright, bye!
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