Don’t forget Fenton Hud!

on December 13, 2022 at 6:56 am

After showing the first six pages of issue #18 of Lloyd and the Bear I figured I’d show you the first three completed pages of issue #3 of Fenton Hud (okay, I know there’s more LatB pages going than FH but hey, it’s not a competition… ;P )

I’ve mentioned my plans for this issue but I hope having the first three pages side by side will make it a bit clearer. So although you can read age page entirely it’s better to work along each characters story in turn!

As per usual with this book though I don’t plan ahead so I may change that idea…

More soon! Bear hugs!

New pages from issue #18 of LatB!

on December 12, 2022 at 6:58 am

So I think this is a first for me but I’m showing you first full 6 pages of an issue as it’s been a bit of a journey getting here and I’m super proud of the result!

What do you think?

After having worked on Fenton Hud for the last while I was struggling to get back in to my LatB style/look. It didn’t help either that the opening pages have four characters in a super small space and there’s a lot of dialogue to throw out (which I haven’t proof checked yet so please don’t judge me!)

Originally it was just a lot of talking heads but I realised I needed to do something to make it a bit more interesting (heck, even for me as I was bored as drawing it!) so went with a few different angles here and there – I really hope you like it! Eek!

More soon! Bear hugs!

MCM and beyond!!!

on November 11, 2022 at 9:03 am

I’ve not posted in a few weeks but I’ve been taking some time out while also getting back in to drawing Lloyd and the Bear (while also moving along a wee bit with Fenton Hud)

But first of all, for those who went to MCM London – how good was that?!? My first time at a booth since 2019 and it was even better than I remember! The staff, setup and most of all the many AMAZING people who stopped by my booth!

And it was a bit scary for me and kinda felt like I was starting over (and I guess I was?). You see, back in 2019 I already had it in my head I would take some time out and then, well, y’know, 2020 happened. Coming back this year to MCM I had my new book and I had also decided to not do the parody prints and that felt like a risk. I mean, those things were popular but I REALLY wanted to push my books.

I had one person who noticed that I didn’t have the prints any more and was actually surprised that I even sold books! And that was the thing, I felt the prints took the attention away from the books so I wanted to make a change and the new table setup looked like this!

Pretty sparse with just my comics, books and a couple of prints and gubbins (but hey, the parodies are still there but now in postcard form – I think I’m going to try that again!)

So as I said, I’ve been taking a bit of time back and slowly easing myself back in to working on Lloyd and the Bear. The cover I’d shown for issue #18 (and the story that goes with it) is now going to be issue #19 as it made more sense. Here’s the first page of issue #18!

It occurred to me that if I had gone with the original idea for #18 which was going to be a two parter and didn’t involve Glorm that there would be a looooooong time to go until Griff found out about our friendly Shoal so I really needed to move things about as it made more sense.

So yeah, that’s where I am just now. Oh! And going back to MCM London – if this is your first time here please feel free to follow us on Facebook, Twitter (at least for the moment, not sure what to do about that!) and Instagram!

More soon! Bear hugs!

P.S. I’m really happy that I have Lloyd holding his new soft toy (which was first introduced in a Halloween short I did) Easter Eggs! Yay!

The sad story of the Kickstarter campaign that never started… three times.

on October 13, 2022 at 8:29 am

So back in July I planned to launch the first issue of Fenton Hud through Kickstarter and get the funding. I had two weeks booked off work so figured I could devote all my attention to it and I’d be good.

Then I got Covid.

After that, and using the rest of my holiday to actually relax I thought I’d have another go and set up the campaign and sent it off to be reviewed (or whatever it is that Kickstarter do) but then managed to get myself a place at Leicester Forbidden Planet for Small Press Day (yay!). I realised there wouldn’t be enough time to do the campaign and if I was successful get the book printed before the even so went ahead and paid for it myself (no treats for me that month).

So hey, two failed attempts but I was still really itching to do a campaign as I had a plan for the 2nd issue where you could back the project and have yourself in the book so I thought I’d go ahead and get funding for the second issue through Kickstarter.

I must admit that I wasn’t overly comfortable with doing this as my feelings are that you use Kickstarter to launch a book and then your sales from that allow for future books to be paid for buuuuut I REALLY wanted to go with my idea so I was gonna do it!

Then I got a table at MCM London (also yay!).

Now seriously, waaaaay better than Covid but I realised I didn’t have time to go through the campaign and get the book printed (sound familiar?) so I’m self funding again (hey, it’s my Birthday this month so I’m kinda regarding this as a treat to myself).

And here we are now! Issue #1 is available from our store (please do check it out), issue #2 is going to be launched at MCM and I’ve completed the cover to issue #3 which is going to be an iiiiiiinteresting book to put together.

It’s weird how it’s all played out but the important thing is I’m getting to put the comics out there and I’m sooooo happy with that! This was something I started thinking about back in 2019 and has been a huge enjoyable distraction for me during lockdown and Covid so it means a lot to me.

So yeah, check the store and if you’re going to MCM London at the end of October I’m in Artist Alley at table G24 (so happy to be in row G, coz, Gibson, right?)

More soon! Bear hugs!

My first short story is completed for issue #17!

on September 2, 2022 at 7:17 am

Okay, so I’m super aware I’m posting less than I should be so going to try and to do shorter blogs that will capture what I’m up to.

Maybe with bullet points. Kinda like an interesting Powerpoint presentation? Hopefully?

Anyways, the first short story for issue #17 of Lloyd and the Bear is all done. I’ve mentioned this before that my plan for the book is to do a series of short stories told by different characters who have met Lloyd and Bear. As they’re telling the story from their perspective the story drifts a bit from reality and it’s allowed me to use different art styles and looks for each short – which also means I can ape the style of creators and characters that really inspired me through the years. So it’s a love letter, right?

The first short (which really shaped how all the stories would look) was a nod to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and their creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

And whoa, this took me an age to do! First, getting the style right…

I had thought first to go with a more hand drawn look but then figured it looked like bad fan art so went more with my own style but trying to roughen it up a bit (‘Roughen it up’? Is that a thing?). Then came the colouring…

I wanted to go with B&W but realised I couldn’t do the style used in the original TMNT comics so went with shading having put together a new palette of greys but stopped short on my first attempt as it felt like three/four levels of shading just wasn’t working.

The final panel I pulled back on the levels of shading but it wasn’t until I finished did I realise that Bear pretty much looked like a Ninja Turtle but with ears added so I went and made his head more angular!

Seriously, this took me so long BUT it put me on a path for the rest of the stories!

More soon! Bear hugs!

PS. I typed this all up last week but never posted it. Still working on getting content out…

PPS. The alien snails telling the story are from an old comic I drew as a kid which had a snail as a super hero with gadgets in his shell (yes, very Inspector Gadget). As it turns out, snails don’t see colour so the B&W short totally works! Result!