February and the Dust Horse

HELLO!


Just another slightly exhaustive wee round-up of all that's going on in Oville - all wot 'appened in the end of January and at the beginning of Febree-arty.

This is the beginnings of BLAM - A Bristol-based comic creators network. Now, there is a Facebook group but unfortunately I didn't quite realise how much Dr WTF-based work I've set myself so I think I'll push back the main BLAMshove til next month...or the month after. Either way - THERE'S A LOT TO DO. Cheers to Bolt-01 for the logo - !

Owen in Rock 2012 - 80s I by Owen In Rock on Mixcloud

This is the eighties show of Owen in Rock 2012 - still no talking (but I'm working on that) so if you want to know owt about the various tracks thereon go stare at the Owen in Rock blog. What kind of music is it? Well take a look at the picture, that should say more than my feeble typing and annoying overuse of capitals EVER COULD.

THAT also happened. Hilariously. Well, I say hilarious it was actually rather tragic and means I'm stuck with a £15 thing until my contract "can upgrade" next month. What's more tragic is that the £15 thing is generally a lot more functional than that one ever was. Damned kids and their swanky cheap phones...

This Sunday I went to see the seminal MASTODON at Bristol's 02 Academy (nice venue shame about the inevitable £4 pints of cock). I last saw them many moons ago at the Sheffield Corporation and MET THEM beforehand at a pub. Not sure if they could have gotten away with that this time 'round as the Hatchet opposite was RAMMED TO THE GILLS. As was the gig. Mastodon were as frenetic and fabulous as they were then, playing a more varied setlist than before and were generally on TOP CRUNCHY FORM. The were supported by Red Fang, a similarly sludgy Ohiobased outfit that sounded good to my ears and were responsible for that crowd photo up there. I'm not, despite popular opinion, that craggy-haired guy on the left - I was actually lurking with milady at the bar. Unless that IS me from further in the future and I ventured back in time to see the gig again.


GENERAL ART

Here - the newest three parts of Jasmine and I's Jamslug saga. The nineteenth episode being notable (if not for "AIEEEE a being of beautiful jam" and the donut pun) for being drawn faster than I've ever drawn anything!

and here... the ninth page of Flaubert St Cloud... which has been getting some lovely commentary on the 2000ad forums. People are fearing for the goat as WELL THEY MIGHT. Or might they? Jasmine's writing (gloriously free of my tatty art) can be see on Deviantart - she's bloody amazing.

Here are some Kodama from Miyazaki's seminal "Princess Mononoke" which is an absolutely gorgeous film. They're tree spirits and the writing (translated by JAPANESE MASTER Richard Denham) is essentially, I think, the message of the film. Go on, copy and paste that into Google Translate, eh? EH?! yeahhh.

This was my version of "Sherlock" for TAB. I was going to draw Benedict Cumberbatch. I really was. But then, you see, I did not. I'm not terribly good at drawing people who are real you see. Not terribly good at all, and I do like just making armour up. Wik spikey bits.

Here's a birthday picture I drew for the undeniably lovely David Frankum (although I haven't actually met him, he could be THE WORST BASTARD but I feel it's unlikely) - wonderfully he framed it, making him twenty percent more lovely if such a thing IS EVEN FEASIBLE.

Here's another for TAB on the "X-Men" theme - I was going to draw my favourite two mutants from my Marvel-appreciation days (Colossus and Nightcrawler) but instead I didn't. This is Jazz's suggestion as she knows the X-Men well and insists this makes sense, both Thunderbird and Banshee have apparently met their ends whilst ignoring Cyclops. Luckily for them they are characters in a hugely corporate and shallow universe that will resurrect and kill characters at will in a dispassionate bid to get more readers. So if either of them actually are currently dead, you can bet it won't be long until a "universe shattering" event brings them back. ONLY TO KILL THEM AGAIN.

Here's a logo I designed for my mate Paul's band - keep your ear t'ground for those chaps because Paul's as gifted a musician as the day is unreasonably cold. Fans of gritty bluesy rock 'n' roll will NOT be disappointed. Ever.

Well. WELL WELL WELL. The deadline is up for this year's Dr WTF - we've had some bloody gorgeous entries and it's been... well it's been fucking splendid. The comic will appear at Hi-Ex convention and physical copies will be available after that - as well as at Bristol 2012, probably Birmingham, Thought Bubble etc etc. I'm LITERALLY ECSTATIC about selling it. ...and uh, ahem, finishing the lettering.

Here's a teaser for the story I drew in this year's - written by the outstanding Jonathan Whiteley (who wrote Conor Boyle's beautifully drawn "Berlin" from Dr WTF 2011). And below is a taste of Trystan Mitchell and Mike Lynch's Clerical Error. Mike Lynch wrote the strip I drew last year for Zarjaz (published this summer) and Trystan does literally everything - all teasers up to now are viewable on the Dr WTF Facebook page ;)

 - !

O