Friday 5 October 2012

Loads'a Stuff!

As usual, I've been so busy actually doing stuff that I haven't had much of a chance to post about it on here. As I have a rare window of opportunity today on account of my school being closed and having no lessons to teach, I thought I'd share everything that has happened since last time.

Classroom

I have one! It's fun! I created a little reward system/game/poster thing to go on my wall, called "Quest for the Golden Skull" - the kids earn points for being awesome in various ways through the week, then on Friday they use their points and the spinner to pass through the castles and use their minds (which I have moulded) to answer questions posed by the various villains along their path to victory. The winning team gets comfy cushions the next week, sweets and first dibs on using the Creation Station. That's a little area I set up with a red octopus called Francois, who holds challenge envelopes in his hands that are worth points if completed in the Words Book, Pictures Book or Scrapbook. Behold!



New Rob Heron Cover
After the success of the last cover, I had the pleasure of working with Rob Heron & The Teapad Orchestra again. This time was a little draining on the band and on myself, because my iMac is on its last legs and finding Photoshop to be a very tricky customer. But we're both happy with how the artwork turned out and what I've heard of the album also sounds swell. You can find out more about the release and where to pick up a copy on the band's website.



O-Messy Life T-Shirt
I had loads of fun drawing this scene of gore and death - took me right back to childhood! I also managed to side-step having to do anything on Photoshop, which helped with the turn around and my sanity. It's an even nicer commission because it marks the triumphant return of the band after an injury-related hiatus. More gigs and releases soon I hope! The t-shirts are available from the Tiny Lights website.



Lemons
As almost a cheesy motivational poster for my classroom, and something fun to do over the summer, I created this little illustration. I'll probably be putting it in my Etsy shop soon, and I'll have copies for sale at Thought Bubble this year.


Starburst
How I've never picked up a copy of this magazine before I have no idea; it's brimming with reviews for movies, TV shows, books, comics, videogames, table-top games and basically all of the stuff I live and breathe. BONUS! Now that Bucky is on their writing team, we have a comic in the current issue (read more about that here) and I also get a mention for my series The Big Bang in his column Adventures on Alternative Earths. Go to any good stockist and pick up a copy!



Blackout
The crude A5, black and white, hand-folded and -stapled overly offensive rag of death, alcoholism and rage that saw me through my self-publishing fetish as a teen is back with a vengeance! This time, in addition to the 'original three' contributors: myself, PM Buchan and Phil Marsden, we are also welcoming to the fold the immeasurably talented beard of Andy Waugh, who will be offering some original work of his own creation, AND the miniature making, miniature painting, comics writing, comics drawing Michael Barnes, who will be colouring some of mine and Phil Marsden's work.

What's that? Colour you say? You better believe it! This is going to be like no other Blackout you've read before. In fact, so redundant does it make all of the other issues, that we're simply giving it the monolithic title of 'Blackout' and doing away with issue numbers! It will be full colour, much lengthier than the other issues and more succinctly offensive and filth-ridden. Here are a few sneaky peeks of my progress so far.


Twitter
Okay, I swore to myself that I would never submit. As a devout technophobe and hater of all social networking websites, apps and other nonsense, Twitter seemed about the stupidest thing of all. HOWEVER, when I found out that the game designers I turned onto my dice game Teltos at a recent stag party were creating wonderful ripples in the gaming world, going so far as to create Teltos arenas, custom dice bags and a slew of new and hilarious gaming names, I had to be a part of it. Nay, I had to stake my claim! Plant my flag! And now that I'm on, I'll occasionally post an update about arty progress or gaming stuff. Follow me @Teltos.

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