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!

But really, how?!?

on September 24, 2023 at 8:35 am

Although issues #1 and #2 have a bit of me in them (anything odd, that’s me!) issue #3 really hit a lot more to home.

One thing? The fear of dating in this day and age…

Like, I’ve been in a relationship for almost 20 years now and all is good but man, how do people navigate through the dating world these days? Back then there was the no apps, you had the internet but the big thing was still the chance of meeting someone in a pub or club (other venues are available I believe…)

But yeah, every now and then I have a moment of fear and wonder ‘Wait, what if I had to start dating again?!?’

And that’s one of my odd fears (that HOPEFULLY will never have to play out!)

Anyhoo, more soon! Bear bugs!

PS. Seriously, how do you navigate the dating world these days?

Jukebox rules!

on September 9, 2023 at 10:33 am

So a lot of Fenton’s idiosyncrasies (worryingly) come from myself (write about what you know, right?) but one particular scene from issue #3 got me pushing a bit of my randomness on to Tabitha and her jukebox rules.

I have a lot more rules in my head but just didn’t have the room to fit them all in!

Please @ us on Twitter if you have your own jukebox rules. Like, is it just me that thinks this?!?

Oh, and if you haven’t already, please do check out issue #3 of Fenton Hud which is still free to read over at Issuu!

More soon! Bear hugs!

Line work all done on issue #10!

on September 9, 2023 at 10:13 am

I mean, I’d like to say ‘The artwork is all done’ but then it still needs to be coloured…

But yes! The big part of putting together the book is now complete! This took a good while to get done and worse still as I kept splitting work between this and Fenton Hud – plus I did very little overall planning for this issue – I had to go back and do a lot of redrawing and rewriting. Like, A LOT.

Seriously, there’s a panel where Griff has his Bur Claws on (the things on his arms in the picture below) and then the next panel they disappeared only to come back again the panel afterwards! Messy…

Oh, I also realise I still have the backgrounds to do so maybe this issue isn’t anywhere near as completed as I think it is… Oops.

Still, we’re getting there! More soon! Bear hugs!

I’m a model!

on August 20, 2023 at 2:01 pm

I’ve had to use myself (and my partner) as reference a few times in Fenton Hud but not a full body shot as I did for page 6 of issue #3 and man, it took a good few goes to get the angle right!

The toughest thing was getting the angle of my foot right where it would lay flat. It just wasn’t possible in the limited space we had to take the photo so I ended up taking a separate photo of my shoe and then drew around that for the final picture.

As for the name R.E.A.L.L.Y?, it started with the acronym and then working crazy hard to find words that would fit. And sure, ‘Yammering’ was a bit of a stretch but it got the job done!

And an organisation that just agrees with you without giving any opposing advice? I mean, I find it hard to believe that such a place doesn’t already exist! I guess it’s the next evolutionary step for ‘yes men’.

Hmm, maybe I should trademark the concept or something..?

Anyways, more soon! Bear hugs!

P.S. The guy in the background was a composite of a bunch of pictures that I then drew over and made a few additional edits to. I assure you, I don’t own a futon (although it would be kinda cool if I did!)