THE OTHER HALF OF THE LAST OF EVERYTHING

KAPOW

2011-05-04T05:15:00.000-07:00

Also the Mark Millar comic con KAPOW at the start of april was a real blast. It was a high energy mix of games, cosplay, dealers, publishers and small press.

I went with Nye Wright who's just on the edge of getting his 10 year project published. (welsheldorado.com) We were selling small press items Celph for me and special convention version of the first chapters of Atumm. Back to back with sketch book pages. I was quite pleased with the package and wanted to see if it worked. For me, I think, i need more going on in the page - so the next version is going to be bigger. Kapow was great - it atracted a large number of folk who would never normally see small press or some of the the other great publishers inc. selfmadehero.com and cinebooks.co.uk.

We evean had two folk - amazed that we published ourselves and had never even thought of that. "I buy all my comics off amazon..." One guy said as he clutched a pile of Iron made graphic novels under his arm.

SUMMER 2011

2011-05-04T05:02:00.000-07:00

Wow - the summer is here with a wave of great music and actual sun. (music for me this month is alexander tucker's Dorwytch lp LOST IDOL ep and lp In time and Space and copy of Ravi Shankar's improvisations lp keeping me sane.) We have been packing to move house - we've had the pleasure of this house and the ground for two whole years and lets hope the developers don't tear it all down. Here's a coupla pics of writer Tom Eglington and his wife, so you can see what i mean.

CYLON Cavass'

2011-02-19T05:21:00.001-08:00

I did some mini paintings to hang in Boy Parker - people seemed to like them, and i loved drawing the old style cylon. Plus it gave me an excuse to rewatch the series. We're up to second one just now, the pace is fantastic until after the meet the Pegasus - then it's a few fillers and holes start to appear in the story. Still - it's an amazing trip into space.

ATUMM

2010-12-11T04:54:00.001-08:00

My new strip is about a backgroud character from the Celph universe called Atumm. Here he's in spot of bother with two thugs. Again I'm making more of the backgrounds than I probably should.

skulls

2010-11-15T06:18:00.000-08:00

So Whitenight was a big release for me - followed by a few days of headaches. Anyway it was a good night but it needs more outdoor stuff to reall work. The evnts spaces in Brighton are tiny and you queue for forty minutes to stand in an over heated room while some naked person reads out shit poetry. Our projections were brilliant - It's supposed to be white night - light up the city!! Also coincided with Halloween (Samhuinn) this year and a zombie walk in town. We didn't do any of that but we did manage to celebrate Joanas birthday by painting on skulls.

He's a pic of us outside the house we projected on.

the man who celebrated everything

2010-11-15T06:08:00.000-08:00

So what is it with folk who don't celebrate their own birthday's?

What is that about? I'm sure it's about many things for many different people. But this one friend is the first to be happy for you if you've just finished an exam, built something - in fact pretty much anything - he'll be happy for you. But his own birthday slips by every year.

I don't know why it pisses me off but it does - if you're one of those people - STOP IT.

Allow yer mates to be happy for you. Happy you exist.

WHITENIGHT BRIGHTON 2010

2010-11-15T05:52:00.000-08:00

Wow - the end of the summer got really busy - arts wise. The WhiteNight project reached it's conclusion - the comic promoted the projetion that continued the story onto the walls of the building the c0mic was set in. Half way through the projections a dance group dressed in period costume jumped out of the building - like the dreamers awakening - and really tok the whole thing to another level. Heres some of the pages of the comic that I had a hand in.

NEW CELPH

2010-08-27T05:43:00.000-07:00

Enter the owlman indeed!!

I have been trying to get a story together that is worthy of the art I've been producing latley.

I'm thinking of a bigger format than the last square Celph. I've got a few ideas so I'm just going at it one page at a time and see if It flies.

WHITE NIGHT 2010

2010-08-27T05:36:00.001-07:00

Been busy as hell on this little project. The aim is to do two news paper sized promo comics for White night in Brighton 2010. Promoting the animations that will projected onto buildings on the night at the end of October when the clocks go forward. White Night being a french thing meaning the night is yours - (dirty stop out - is probably the British equivalent) celebrating the extra hour you get - things will be going on all over Brighton. Last year was immense. Here's some of the sketches to set the story.

VIETNAM

2010-07-16T06:04:00.000-07:00

Woooohah - just got back from Vietnam! Saw some great and strange things. Street life really fascinates me, and there was certainly plenty of that. I've scanned a few sketches I did here. Smoking tables, Garbage women, and my attempts at capturing the amazing beauty of the islands at Ha Long bay, and temples built by the Cham Po people and gunned down by the Americans.

Had an amazing time thought I might die in the heat a few times - those monks built temples in some pretty out of the way places. Didn't they want me to take pictures?

RADIOHENGE

2010-06-02T01:02:00.000-07:00

I've also been working on the next Celph, and between Pilates classes - I've been working on a modern day retelling of Egyptian folklore. More on that later - right now a monster eating humans by a garage and a pic of a friend with his collection of radio's.

40th

2010-06-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

So yes - We had a great party for my 40th in the house - we built a small stage and had a bunch of people play. Here's Myrtle looking like a 50's dream, and Woodpecker Wooliams (http://www.myspace.com/woodpeckerwooliams) with Joanna Newsome style sounds.
And finally the brilliant and previously mentioned - BOBBY McGEES. (http://www.myspace.com/thebobbymcgees )
Also pictured here - is me receiving my BALLOON RIDE - that everyone chipped in for!!
Thanks guys and girls, and thanks to all those who traveled down. I was great to see you all.

I've always wanted to do a Balloon ride - but it's well expensive - plus I've never been sure if i would freak out or not!! So here's my chance to find out.

ELEMENTS

2010-03-03T06:34:00.000-08:00

So - since finishing Celph book four - i have been working on single pieces. mainly trying to capture a feeling for a particular point in time or place. I've been doing all the elements separately - which is a bit odd as i like to have a finished piece at the end. Background are shaping up well and the foreground characters - i can really work on and drop them in later.

a couple of the pieces are lending themselves to being little animated scenes. and it's all going rather well actually.

bararndos leaflet

2010-02-18T01:58:00.001-08:00

another barnardo's piece - this took a while getting the composition right. but i nailed it in the end. Celph bok four is finished - i'll put pages up soon.

CANVAS'

2010-02-06T09:47:00.000-08:00

Just before crimbo i did a few paintings on canvas' to sell. I kept a couple for friends. overall I was pleased with them and the linework was good. Did a great one for a friend, vertical of a cityscape, but I didn't take a pic of the finish thing - so here's the pencils and the original art which is a page from the new issue of Celph (that only took eight months!!) more on that later.

JAKE AND BEN 10

2009-12-26T01:55:00.000-08:00

Did this for a friend for a birthday prezzy for her 5yr old son. I love the characters design on ben10 so this was a joy to do.

HAPPY XMAS

2009-12-26T01:52:00.000-08:00

HEY HEY - happy hols to everyone - i'm feelin' quite seasonal - with the massive snow fall and optimism for plenty of work for me in 2010. Yes the future is here.

BARNARDO'S TWO - SIBLINGS

2009-12-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

The finished pack came through my door - looks sweet. Another great workshop for Barnardo's on autism from the Leeds branch, which I'm proud to have done the illustrations for. This ones for parents and siblings of those with autism. great challanging work that has a far reaching effect and i hope it wins as many awards as the last one.

N.Y.C.

2009-12-07T08:02:00.000-08:00

Yes more photos from our trip to New York. I didn't spend nearly enough time in Brooklyn but did meet loadsa great artists. I came back with an inspiring wad of small press comics.

I just took a few pics on the phones at totally random points. This is a bridge.

this is a scary chemist style sweet shop. Excellent sweets though.

i didn't write this - there was some guy going around writing on found objects. he was wired and chain smoking cigars.

this is us on Halloween. Most folk just dressed up as super heroes. We stood out as the only scary themed look.

WHITE NIGHT OCT - 2009

2009-10-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

Wow white night was a blast - well busy and all the events were packed. What a great success. BANG animation group showed animations on the side of the church with amazing affect. The idea was to do some space specific animations around the pillars and front of the church. Worked a treat. Check the site for more pics - http://www.bangfuturemachine.com/future-photos.html

ZOMBIE MCGEES

2009-10-21T03:21:00.000-07:00

Winter is closing in and although we'll be away for Samhuinn this year, we got this great opportunity to indulge in the macabre. The video shoot for the Bobby McGees new single got a great response. We merrily blocked off streets as we zombied around and attacked Elanor as she sang. Great night. Pics here were either by me, jimmy or Juliet Greig.

BOY PARKER - MURAL

2009-10-12T06:16:00.000-07:00

So I did two murals in a week - well okay the Boy Parker one took nearly two weeks - but i was ill. Did a giant city scape over three walls in the back sale room of the shop. It was supposed to be simple - but i really got into it - and well....

PHEONIX - BANG ROOM

2009-10-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

So the Bang animation room was set up at the Phoenix art workshops in Brighton for an open day there. We showed films from members and decorated the room before hand. We got a great reception and the whole thing was a good warm up for white night festival.

birthday cards - CHRIS

2009-10-08T03:05:00.000-07:00

It was at the very first meeting of the "Evil League Against the House of Approval", that Chris began to have doubts about his commitment.

As the grand master talked about a new plan to send tall white guys to infiltrate and kill high ranking members of the H.O.A. Chris realised his mistake.

What he thought would be a cool way to meet dangerous women, could in fact, be little more than a suicide mission.

birthday cards RUTH

2009-10-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

as Ruth felt the cut of the cloth on the new season, growing in the magic garden, she sipped on her morning coffe that the coffe dog hurried to bring her. The light hit an imperfection on one of the Dress-Trees creations and she sighed to herself... her work was never done.

STREET ART

2009-10-07T02:30:00.000-07:00

I'M GOING TO NEW YORK SOON AND I THOUGHT I'D PRACTICE TAKING SOME PICS IN THE STREET INCASE I SEE COOL STUFF. THE COINCIDED WITH SEEING LOADSA COOL STREET ART. I'M NOT ONE FOR PUTTING PHOTOS OF OTHER PEOPLES STUFF UP - BUT CHECK THESE OUT. COOL ROBOTS MADE FROM WOOD IN A GALLERY IN BRIGHTON. RAMBLING ON A WALL IN WORTHING AND CHINESE? STYLE SCRIBBLE THAT WAS ALL OVER HOVE PARK.

BANG - WHITE NIGHT - BRIGHTON 2009

2009-10-07T02:22:00.000-07:00

SO I'M IN THE ANIMATION GROUP - BANG - BRIGHTON ANIMATORS - SOMETHING SOMETHING. I WANTED TO GET TOGETHER AND WORK ON A GROUP PROJECT WHERE WE ALL PLAYED TO OUR BEST STRENGTHS. IT'S A MASSIVE GROUP NOW AT OVER 200 FOLK AND THE GROUP PROJECTS ARE HAPPENING THICK AND FAST. ALTHOUGH EVERYONE'S TRYIN TO FIT IT ALL IN WITH THEIR DAY JOBS.

WE ARE SHOWING OUR WARES ON THE BRIGHTON WHITE NIGHT EVENT. A NIGHT CELEBRATING THE EXTRA HOUR WE GET WHEN THE CLOCKS GO BACK. BASED ON A VERY SUCCESSFUL FRENCH EVENT - THERE IS LOADS GOIN ON IN BRIGHTON ON OCTOBER 24TH 2009. INCLUDING US PROJECTING WORKS ON A CHURCH IN THE STREET. I HELPED DESIGN THE "TOCK" FIGURE AS OUR LOGO - A TIME TRAVELING STEAMPUNK TYPE POD. ALONG WITH FRANCHESKA POPOW WHO DID THE POSTER DESIGN WORK. I ALSO GOT CARRIED AWAY AND WANTED TO BUILD A SIX FOOT POD TO ACTUALLY PROJECT FROM.

LITTLE WORLD

2009-10-07T02:17:00.000-07:00

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DRAW SMALLER - LITTLE GUYS AND GIRLS ENGULFED BY A BIG DETAILED WORLD. STILL A SCIFI SETTING OF COURSE. TRIED DRAWING

ON A5 CARD TO MAKE THE PROCESS QUICKER - BUT MY BRAIN SEEMED TO TAKE THIS AS A CHALENGE AND MORE AND MORE DETAIL POURED OUT. I HAVE A PLAN TO DO A STORY BASED AROUND A CITY AS THE MAIN CHARACTER. JUST SHOWING SCENES OF LIFE FROM PLACE TO PLACE.

BOBBY MCGEE'S

2009-09-30T02:14:00.000-07:00

The Bobby McGee's are a great act. Their songs about the bitterness and misunderstandings in relationships are just eye wateringly funny. I was amazed to find out that they are actually a very happy, quiet couple. Writing songs that remind me of my darkest thoughts in my worst relationships. They have the idea to do a piss take of the bittersweet symphony video, only with zombies in Brighton. I'll post the results.

Check them on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7adCKT99Hs&feature=related

and - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1ojFGBco5w&feature=related

FACTORY FAVOURS

2009-09-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

I have been working in and around the print trade since i left school. It has always been there for me. Like an angry dysfunctional parent. Pulling me in and working me into the ground.

There is always a crazy deadline in the print trade - especially as digital print and cheaper foreign printers offer more services. Always a panic. I recently decide to take, what i hope will be a long, break from the lovely factory life to teach Pilate's and continue illustration and animating.

Before i left - one of the printers and middle men we did a lot of work with - did me the great favour of a final free print run. The chance to get my flyers printed for my new Pilates work and to let the world see a couple of pieces that took more time out of my life to colour than they should have. Thank you Jason, Barry and Concord Press.

The cards are available free from me as are what's left of my comics runs.

And this is the link to my Pilates site - http://andyppilates.blogspot.com/

BARNARDO'S

2009-09-30T01:55:00.001-07:00

My rewarding and continuing work on Barnardos workshops in a great leanrning curve, art wise.

Here's a couple of random pieces that i enjoyed doing.

KIMMON

2009-09-30T01:44:00.000-07:00

I have known Tom Eglington for many years. I am so glad to see that he is finally available in print - his fantastic childrens book "THE SPELLBOUND HOTEL" can be found at the following link on amazon -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spellbound-Hotel-Tom-Eglington/dp/1848120230/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254300342&sr=8-2-spell

I have worked on a more than a few projects with Tom and on the back end of an animation series, we helped develope, we decided to try and animate a character that started as a comic series idea - a few years previous. KIMMON is a great character that has courted many interested paries over the years. Now an american childrens book company want to reimagine Kimmon as an illustrated book. Which would be great. I held off putting these pieces up so as not to jepodise our chances of a deal - but now i'm sure Kimmon has sunk into a pile of submisssions on someones desk - here he is. I'll ask Tom if i can put the full version of chapter one up for y'all.

WIDESCREAM

2009-06-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

So i got obsessed with this widescreen format last year and to have a break fro the Celph storyline i banged out a few new character and took the time to do a few birthday cards. Which started a great run of new ideas.

THE HOUSE OF APPROVAL APPROACHES

2009-05-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

So i was inspired by the continued written out-pourings of a certain andrew g on his my space, i'll find the link later, to illustrate and print a few of his stories and see how much trouble it got me in. Under pressure i wrote my own story about a girl digging up a buried spirit. The story was inspired by the pic - which was inspired by this crazy little cafe in berlin, where everything as for sale and there were trees in the back yard that were as tall as the buildings (four stories high) which gave for a mini forest in yer back yard type feel. great place to play as a kid. over here the council would have cut them down - but berlin has kind of a fluid stance on health and safety.

BARNARDOS

2009-05-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

So here's some of the hundereds of pieces that I did for Barnardos workshops, a great job that made me reach to get the right tone for the images needed.

WRONG AGAIN

2009-05-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

Coupla one off pieces here - again testin new style for the girls and really wishing i could come up with a story. I decided to scrap all existing ideas and try for a self contained loop of a story. i was wanting to think more out of the box. - But i was getting loadsa comercial work - mainly from Barnardos - so celph never mad print in 2008. Instead i used my print privillages up on publishing a series of illustrated short stories, which i thought would take up less time than doing a comic .... how wrong was i....

CELPH TEST

2009-05-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

Back to Celph - again - a few pages to try out size/format of a new strip. inevitably abandoned, I still really like the sequence so I thought I’d put it up here. It was the research for Celph book four which is pouring out of my head now, (summa 2009). it is a one pannel per page - no text story. i've been trying to keep it short - but it looks like at least a hundered pages long - so i'm doing it in three self contained shorts. it's gonna be tiny pocket sized and owes a lot to the downbeat tail of "Poor Sailor" by sammy harkham. (Buy Sammy’s work on Amazon.)

JOMUNRO

2009-05-19T00:34:00.000-07:00

So the sister inlaw wanted some business cards doing for her new pilates studio - i banged out a coupla ideas - these two i liked the best. By the way - pilates changed my life and sorted out my back problems - now i'm even teaching it.

BOY PARKER

2009-05-19T00:26:00.000-07:00

iwas a busy guy last year - Boo Cook was asked to do a series of pics to be made into top trump type cards for the excellent tee shirt shop in brighton - BOY PARKER. So i designed the cards and the finished result is great - check out mo' of booswork by following his blog link on here.

(seeing as he actually bothered to "friend" me - looks like i have at least one person who cares - it'snot like this on myspace you know....)

thomas tantrum

2009-05-19T00:21:00.000-07:00

So randomly i got asked to do some vector assets for a music vid. The band wanted a "comic" theme and had grand ideas about a giant fifties batman style set appearing behind them as the song goes on. but the pieces were well to heavy when they were made up and the set was just there from the start. check it at - Music video background design for Thomas Tantrumhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIaqXbQzSq4

BEE HAPPY

2009-03-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

So having done lots of youthwork in Edinburgh years ago - i still miss that kind of work and have ended up working for other organisations that deal with the third sector. Designing and drawing workshops and info leaflets. Here are my bee illustrations for the BEE HAPPY campaign for the fantastic Comic Book Company a southern based info. resource producers. check them out at -

http://www.comiccompany.co.uk/

Hip flask is an amazing creation. In a world of comics where superheroes are appearing on screen telling stories that are fifty years old and still feeling stale and over used. Richard Starkings has produced a modern heroic tale. Set in harsh world of genetic manipulation, Hip Flask (now ELEPHANTMEN) cashes in on the history of great old style storytelling, but has the depth of a well written novel and talent pool of creators you can really enjoy swimming around with.

Anyway - he's a nice chap and gave me a typeface i wanted in return for character studies. Here we have Vanity sitting on a time machine staring out over mystery city. I still owe hip and can't wait for him to cash in his chips and use me for something. Check out the saga - http://hipflask.com/

CELPH WIDESCREEN CARDS AND HATING CAR CULTURE.

2009-03-28T02:06:00.000-07:00

after that short break from Celph over the summer - I finally got back into her world. The story arc i had wad very large and wobbly. The story just wasn't moving with the pace i wanted and with amount of commercial work mounting around me i condensed the story into eight widescreen cards. Probably the most successful thing i have done with Celph. Mainly, i think, because i took the time to colour it. (which took nearly as long as drawing each one.)

There are still a few packs available from me on request. and printed here are my favs and the editorial, that only made it into a few packs, where i rant on about how i hate car culture. Which i do.

birthday cards

2009-02-28T03:15:00.000-08:00

Then a break from Celph and just simple brush work - over the summer and a pile of birthday cards - i scanned before i gave out.

COLURED CELPH

2009-02-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

I really started to play about with colouring again, and there was a chance i would be able to get the next Celph printed in colour. Sadly for me, because i love black and white, people really loved the colour samples i made up - which locked me into thinking about things differently.

CELPH BOOK TWO

2009-02-26T06:54:00.001-08:00

Book two came easier, but still took four months to draw.

Tim Boland wrote a great story for "Whitey". and there are still a few issues left, posted on request.

CELPH - OUTPOST 17

2009-02-09T10:51:00.000-08:00

2009-02-09T10:47:00.000-08:00

Okay more Celph - this is the start of an unpublished and previously unseen episode.

CELPH

2009-02-05T11:58:00.000-08:00

Then the INCREDIBLES came out, it blew me away. It had the perfect level of cartoonyness to reality on the figures and world view. It inspired me to start drawing again and that the style i was wanting to go for was workable. And so – from a simple sketch of a girl in an organic space suit – sprang CELPH. Tuffy joined her from Srub n Tuffy and they set off on their wanderings. Here’ s a few pages from issue one – which is still available from me on request.

mo' abe

2009-02-05T04:45:00.001-08:00

ABE

2009-02-05T02:46:00.000-08:00

So only two years in Brighton and i was already working on an animated series – (which i can’t mention here for copyright reason.) I earned enough money to travel to Australia and plus now I could do Flash animation. When we got back I began on another series with the same crew Daz and Tom. Based on a background character that Tom worked up into a brilliant lone gunman scifi bounty hunter called ABE. But thebills needed to be paid and with half an animated episode ABE got put on the back burner. I was still busy with illustration work but sank into a dark hole with personal projects. Featured above - Tom and I worked up an origin story in comic format so i put a few of my fave pages.

2009-01-23T07:11:00.000-08:00

Whilst in Edinburgh I spent a few years work for TANGENTS, a youth group.

We delivered workshops on safe sex, mental health and safe drug use. Along with working with the homeless and local councils across Scotland to develop new workshops and information packs. One of the most successful packs was MENTAL ELF.

Brought into the world by John Wallace, and illustrated by me, Elf was used on a series of postcards and later – became a interactive CDROM (for Rural Media Prod.) Always spreading hope and awareness of mental health issue, with handy tips on looking after yer heed.

2009-01-20T04:45:00.001-08:00

The last lot looked sweet - so I'm gonna put up a few more panels of Scrub n Tuffy, for yer viewing pleasure.

2009-01-19T06:47:00.001-08:00

I worked for a few printers in Scotland and began to self publish. I put together several projects, but the easiest was BATCH 25. An A6 sized compliation of bits and bobs from artistic mates and me.
Then with Tim Boland Batch 25 reached new heights and developed characters and a whole world. It ran in a very pleasing A3 sized newspaper format.
When I moved down to Brighton i didn’t put anything together for a year or two. I worked up Scrub n Tuffy and coloured it so it was too exspensive to print. So here are a few of the panels I liked the most, that would otherwise never be seen.

SCRUB N TUFFY

2009-01-19T02:24:00.001-08:00

I moved down to Brighton from Edinburgh in 2000ad. And immediately started on an iconic styled strip called Scrub & Tuffy. In the style of Dexters lab and Power Puff Girls. Although i managed several storylines worth of material i found the iconic style limited in the depth of emotion the characters could show. So a new set of characters began to emerge and i upped the detail and began to colour more of the pages.

HALF RIPPED

2009-01-18T04:22:00.000-08:00

I was digging out an old photo of me to scan for the site - when i came across some photos of banners i'd painted for clubs in Scotland in the ninties. Firstly my daughter, then D.J.Paul who was a co founder of LIFT. LIFT ran for years and was of the highest quality. I also did several fly posters which i enjoyed seeing half ripped off around town.

OVER SATURATED MESS

2008-12-08T11:26:00.000-08:00

I was living in Edinburgh in the nineties. I spent my last few years there as a youth worker. Helping design workshops on Safe sex mental health and safe drug use. I even worked for a great group, which is still going, called Te-Pooka. We made giant wicker puppets with schools in the north of Scotland to bring a kind of Pagan message of unity through art type thing. I loved it, we had a great time. I was doing practical art - designs for flyers and the like. So then I moved down to Brighton with my special lady friend (Ruth) and started doing tee shirt and logo designs for clothes shops. This was before the tee shirt thing exploded into the over saturated mess that it is now.

IN THE BEGINING

2008-12-08T06:59:00.000-08:00

HI - so - i thought i'd use this new blog o mine to release some older comic artwork that never got to see print, that i'm still quite pleased with. Firstly a collection of iconic type figures that i produced at the end of the ninties. Inspired by Dexter's Lab, i found these highly designed shapes were to clumsy for the more subtle storytelling i was wanting to do.