How’s it been over a month since MCM London?!?

on November 30, 2023 at 11:10 am

Seriously, how has it been a month already?!?

I mean, okay, I chilled, had Covid, did lots of artwork and then some time off but still! A MONTH!

Anyways, I wanted to talk about MCM. First of all, it was SO GREAT to be there again! It’s a tough one to get a table at so I was super happy to have been lucky to get a spot.

Also, I got to meet a ton of great people both at my table and from visiting other creators but the big thing for me that weekend was having a fan come by and say hello. His mother had got in touch previously to say they’d be dropping by and I signed the books he’d bought from me previously. It’s moments like that that genuinely, genuinely, GENUINELY make all the hours of work worth it. Totally.

But yeah, something I realised from my weekend there is that I am REALLY not cutting edge! (I mean, this really isn’t anything new but let me explain…). So yeah, this is my table;

And like, back in the day I use to have this big structure set up selling a ton of prints but I cut back. Like, A LOT! I really wanted to push the books and have just a couple of prints on the go but man, my table felt super small compared to everyone else! It’s tough as I want to keep things neat and clean and also travel to a convention as light as a I can but at the same time I felt kinda invisible compared to everyone else with signage and structures and what have you.

I need to work on this and find a nice compromise. Sot yeah, one to ponder on for next time I’m (hopefully) at MCM London!

If you stopped by my table by the way, thank you so much! And hey, maybe next time I’ll have a light show or something going on! (Probably not!)

More soon! Bear hugs!

My nod to a classic BBC TV show

on November 30, 2023 at 10:49 am

So I mentioned this an age ago on Twitter (I ain’t calling that thing X) but wanted to do a quick post about this panel from issue #3 of Fenton Hud (and sorry for not talking about this book for a good age – hey, it’s still available to read for free if you click on the link at the top left!)

So yeah, this was an early thought for me with this book where I wanted Cuddles to come out of a pub in London that featured in This Life (which was this AWESOME drama on the BBC back in the 90’s). I had actually thought this pub had been knocked down but it’s still there and I walk by it every day as I go to work so I REALLY wanted to have it in the book.

I had to do a wee bit of rejigging on it – most of all putting an advert for the Brine’s beer on the sign (which is shown a few pages earlier in the book) and then in the second panel changing the store in the background to Stacy Roberts Decor which had an advert that appeared in the second issue.

Oh, and I took this photo during King Charles’ coronation which is why you have the flags showing. Sorry, just wanted to mention that!

More soon! Bear hugs!

How the cover to issue #18 came to be.

on November 30, 2023 at 10:34 am

So the cover to this issue was a journey. It’s a tough one as the story has Lloyd and Bear (with Griff) splitting off and having separate adventures so how do I show that on a cover?

I also had an idea of doing a cover where Griff got to add his name to the credits/logo so I went with that thought first (rather than face how to actually show what’s happening in the book!)

Thing is, I didn’t care for either idea I had!

So yeah, I had two ideas. One of Griff slashing through the cover with his metal claws (that feature in the issue) and announcing his name then the other idea was him pulling back the cover (which would have a image on it) and again announcing his name.

But as I said, I didn’t like either of them. The first one felt a bit aggressive and with the second one I just wasn’t feeling it (plus I’ve already had an issue where Bear is pulling back the cover soooooo…..)

So I went back to thinking how I could convey the actual issue and got inspired by two great comic book covers!

And here’s what I came up with!

It’s probably not noticeable but in my head Lloyd is split off from Bear and Griff (as it is in the issue) when they both face off against a robot Shoal.

As I said, this one was a journey but I’m happy with the end result. And I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before but I really need to go with my instinct when creating a cover as it wasn’t until I came up with my final idea did I find it was super easy to put together and didn’t feel like a chore. Hopefully one day I’ll get that!

More soon! Bear hugs!

I had a dream…

on October 24, 2023 at 5:59 pm

So with MCM coming up this weekend (I’m so frickin’ excited!) I wanted to go full on with the Bearrito brand. I mean, it’s not just about bears and cool things (it is that though, right?) but it’s also about FOOD!

I love food and I really wanted to have that as the thing that tied everything together so I had an idea and it meant updating a few things starting with the flyers that I’ve had for years and that have (sadly) gotten a bit out of date…

So I thought, why not a menu? Like, it would list the different products I have on sale but be worded like a menu and describe what each item was like as if they were dishes!

And then when any awesome person bought something from me I’d pop it in a brown paper lunch bag (I’ve since found out they’re called Kraft paper bags – I seriously need to look more in to the history of that. Like, are they related to Kraft Mac & Cheese? I mean, probably but still…) and pop a sticker on it with our logo and a QR code to the website.

And I thought this would all be so cool. Like, I was even looking at little fryer pans to hold the books in but then after having designed everything I looked at costs and realised – much like a lot of my ideas – I should’ve worked out if it’s a realistic plan before starting anything and yeah…. this was going to be expensive. Plus, there was WAY too much text on the menu so the writing was really small and that wasn’t great.

So my idea hasn’t played out BUT it did mean I went back to an old, old, OLD idea of mine (okay, it was one my better half had been pushing me to do) and do business cards rather than flyers (it seems to be a thing now? Always? I don’t know…) and I’ve come up with this!

What do you think? Personally I’m really happy with it! Like, I know I really wanted to do the whole food thing but how these cards have turned out means I’m not bummed by all the (postponed) plans (and I say postponed as hopefully I’ll come back to some – or all – of these ideas at some point).

But yeah, that’s my big idea (um, dream) that didn’t come to be but still ended up pretty sweet.

Oh, and if you’re at MCM London this weekend I really hope I see you in Artist Alley! We’re at table H11! Woo!

More soon! Bear hugs!

What time is it?

on October 15, 2023 at 10:42 am

As I worked on the pages for Fenton Hud #3 and the story came together I realised that all three story arcs were going to be set at a different time of day but I really wanted/hoped the reader would think that they were all happening at the same time.

So with that, this page was a big one.

There was clues earlier in the book with the colour of the sky in outdoor scenes and the mention of an ‘evening rush’ at the coffee shop but this was the page where what the time was for each character was either shown or mentioned.

I didn’t actually commit to the timeline for Fenton or Tabs until I finished the book as I figured the time of day might be shown on either Fenton or Tabitha’s phones. I had the start time for Cuddles arc and knew that Fenton would be in the coffee shop after rush hour and then just had to work out how long Tabitha had been at the bar for.

But most importantly, all three weren’t to cross paths so I really had to do some math on this one!

So, did it work? Were you fooled?

Man, I really hope so! And with this page done it got me to the next page and where things fully lined up but more of that next time!

Bear hugs!