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!

The most unplanned joke in the unplanned book.

on October 13, 2023 at 7:47 am

Continuing with my discussion on issue #3 of Fenton Hud and I really wanted to talk about these three panels and how for a book that is seriously unplanned I figure I came up with the best unplanned joke.

As this was the page that gave you what time it was for each person (as I like to think I teased it that all three stories were going on at the same moment) I came up with it being about 4pm for Cuddles and wrote the line ‘around four’ which, totally out of the blue, got me having Cuddles respond with ‘when did four become round?’

I am seriously surprised it’s never said this myself! It really does sound like me…

My next post will be about this as a whole as it took me a bit of effort to really commit to a timeframe for everyone so….. more soon! Bear hugs!