Sunday 31 January 2010

Graphic short story


This is the title page for the story I entered for The Observer Short Story Prize last October: The Dilemmas of Mr Hope so. I wasn't a winner of the competition, but was pleased for the excuse to make something for a deadline or cause. I was charmed by the entry that did go through..."Paint", about a mother and her child finding ways to be creative at home, dreams of what she would love to do but wouldn't really, a dream time that can fill the pages of sequential art freely. It had a beautiful ending, anarchic even (added Aug 2010).



Friday 29 January 2010

Process, and Laydeez do Comics...



Right! I have given myself a "Fake deadline" to have the first episode of Domestic Bliss finished by end of March, it takes a long time drawing the pages...especially in a vacuum. I try to pretend that I live in an earlier century...reminding myself that the change of the pace of technology does not change the nature of time itself...I get rude wake up calls every now and then with this mind set and have to get back running with the frantic herd to remain in the world. But if I pace myself all is just good. But I have decided I can only do the first episode off my own bat...and at this pace, otherwise, I will be drawing it for the rest of my days on a gradual "dip in dip out" basis. 
When I create the pages, I wouldn't use the word escape...I find it a place for reflection and contemplation. It is a getting lost in myself, and I regard this as a communion, a safe haven. Then there are the other ideas I am developing. Feb/March are a dipping in and out of this process and I have eight/ten pages left of the first episode or chapter and then probably a lot more else to do than I can foresee right now.


Laydeez do Comics was set up by Nicola Streeten and Sarah Lightman, they meet the last Monday of every month at The Rag Factory on Brick Lane. This month, I popped along and karrie Fransman gave a talk, we also all discussed Craig Thompson's 'Blankets'. I met both Sarah and Nicola a couple of times at various Comica (I.C.A.) events and lectures a year or so before, during my early research into graphic novels. Back in the summer 2009 when my M.A. show was happening, I invited the Laydeez and they came along to see my work and that of the other years graduates.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Cards




I make my own Christmas cards every year, the two snogging is to be further developed for next year...(here are next year's 2010 editions).
My snail character is as speedy as ever with it's journey into the end of a decade, 2010....Wow!