It’s been a while since I’ve blogged here. Lately, I’ve started working as contractor for web development.

I went to London to meet my colleagues. It was a great weekend break. On Saturday, I’ve met them for a few drinks and a barbeque. We ended the night at a local pub. I had a few. [...]]]> Hi folks,

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged here. Lately, I’ve started working as contractor for web development.

I went to London to meet my colleagues. It was a great weekend break. On Saturday, I’ve met them for a few drinks and a barbeque. We ended the night at a local pub. I had a few.

In the following day, I decided to spend time walking around London. Surprisingly, I didn’t have a much of a hangover. Originally, I was going to walk around the city with a map to check out destinations. Nah, sod that. I deliberately got myself lost by leaving the map and any other info except for the Tube Map.

I stopped off at Piccadilly Circus. This would be my centre point. I just walked where I fancied. I had no real idea where I was going. I could not get around London without ‘tripping’ over a landmark.

- Walked through St. James’ Park. Saw a few pelicans. One was so massive that I thought it was going to tear an old woman’s head off when she stood too close to it!
- Saw Buckingham Palace. Also saw the Palace Horseguards heading to the parade grounds. The Changing of the Guard.
- Walked through ‘TheatreLand’. I was real surprised to see theatres ajadecent to each other. In Scotland, we don’t have that kind of thing. Our theatres are far and in between.
- Got to Trafalgar Square. Lots of tourists are photographing themselves against the Lions.
- Been to Somerset House, where Film4 do open air film screening. The night I was there, they were going to play Master & Commander (the Russel Crowe film). I found that it had played The Lost Boys. Damn. I would loved to see that.
- Went to Natural History Musenum.

One of the highlights for me was: I fancied seeing a theatre production which I had in mind before heading down. Ghost Stories at the Duke of York’s Theatre. It stars Andy Nyman. You probably know of that name from the mini-horror series: Dead Set, where he played a fouled mouthed producer for the Big Brother tv series. Anyway, my friend and I decided to go in and see it. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. I enjoyed it and it was a good laugh.

During the last couple of minutes, the big twist in the tale was being revealed. I turned to my friend. And he was sleeping! I did my best to contain my laughing while everyone else was sitting on the edge of the seating. We were at the cruicial moment of the play!

I had a good time in London and I would do it again. Despite my worries, I found it easy to get around on the Tube. If you’re ever in London, keep the Tube map with you and wear soft shoes if you tend to walk around.

If you are interested in writing or drawing for the issue, please get in touch with us.

Malcolm (MIK) has blogged [...]]]> As you may know, I am part of a group at BackFromTheDepths (BFTD) website. The dedicated website to “Scream!”. This year, we are going to launch a second issue of Hallowscream by end of of October.

If you are interested in writing or drawing for the issue, please get in touch with us.

Malcolm (MIK) has blogged all the details you might need.

http://www.backfromthedepths.co.uk/wordpress/2010/02/24/hallowscream2010/

I have a 12pg script of Witchfinder General which was one of my first scripts for BFTD. It would be great if any artists out there would be interested to draw it out!

I have not been to Inverness for a long, long time. It took me four hours to get there by bus from Glasgow. I’m taking the train next time!

I got in Eden Court around 12.30pm. I walked around and I saw Graeme Neil Reid. We talked for [...]]]> I posted this in my Facebook profile.

I have not been to Inverness for a long, long time. It took me four hours to get there by bus from Glasgow. I’m taking the train next time!

I got in Eden Court around 12.30pm. I walked around and I saw Graeme Neil Reid. We talked for a bit and I picked a copy of his published sketchbook and ‘One Last Time’ book. He signed it for me. Graeme was kind to pass on a few old copies of 2000AD. Cheers, Graeme! He had a rack of sketches on display. One of my favourites was Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street.

I walked down to the FutureQuake stand. Bolt was sketching and he did a double take with me because it has been 2 years since we last met. I wrote for FutureQuake some years back. We were talking about Strontium Dog. I have not read Strontium Dog for a long time. My interest in 2000AD died around when I was 11 years old.

I picked the latest copy of FutureQuake and Dogbreath. Bolt told me the total price but due to a noisy background, I didn’t hear him. In jest, I said “For free?”. I have incurred the wrath of the mighty Bolt!! “FOR FREE?!”.

As a favour for my mate, Mark, I met Simon Fraser to do a sketch of Lulu Romanov for him. Simon asked me did I have an idea of what Lulu is doing in the sketch? I said I didn’t know who Lulu Romanov is, so I wasn’t sure what she should be doing. (I later found out she was a character from 2000AD). I also got Razorjack to be autographed for Mark. Sketch and Razorjack will be on its way soon, Mark!

While I was in the queue for Simon Fraser, I can see the line-up of the artists. Gary Erskine, Simon Fraser, Charlie Ardlard, Neil Roberts and Colin MacNeil. They were very engaging with the fans, talking about their work.

I met John Burdis, one of the Hell-Trekkers. He talked about his journey from Kent to Inverness. Yes, from Kent!

After picking up the sketch from Simon, I caught up with Neil. He was the artist for a script which I wrote for FutureQuake; Beaten Path. It was the first time I met Neil. It was fun putting Beaten Path together. I asked Neil to do sketch of the monster Highland cow from Beaten Path. He autographed my copy of Something Wicked #4 (Futurequake).

I picked up a copy of Forty-Five from the ComX stand. A few others, including Andi Ewington, signed it for me.

A lot of people were dressed up, mostly as zombies. There’s nothing more disturbing than a 10 year old girl ‘zombie’ with blood and cuts smeared over her face. Talking of dressing up, I saw one of the volunteers who put himself through a Werewolf transformation using gelatine prosthetics. Teenwolf has come alive!

On my way out, I met Richmond in his sharp white suit. He asked if I was coming back tomorrow but I was only there for the day. At that point, I found out they have already raised £1,500. Those proceeds will go to Children 1st.

I enjoyed my time being at Hi-Ex and I would do it again.

(BTW, I did pay up for those books from FutureQuake.)

This time, I’m definitely going to be there. I booked my coach ticket but not my ticket into the con. (note: to self - get onto it!).

As you may know, I have [...]]]> I’m going to heading up to Hi-Ex this year. Like most people, I missed out the first two conventions as we were snowed in.

This time, I’m definitely going to be there. I booked my coach ticket but not my ticket into the con. (note: to self - get onto it!).

As you may know, I have won a competition at Scotch Blog. The prize was a set of illustrations of The Punisher (aka Frank Castle). One was pencilled and the other inked.

I decided to donate the pencilled illustration of The Punisher to Hi-Ex to help raise funds for their chosen charity; Children 1st. I ran this past the Scotch Corner guys and they were happy for me to go ahead.

You can now make a bid for The Punisher pencilled illustration here drawn by Thomas Crielly.

I was stuck in the airport and I was carrying a backpack on my shoulders. The terminal wasn’t teeming with life. Just a [...]]]> I had a weird dream and the bizarre thing is I can remember most of it. So I wrote it down before it completely disappears. Warning, it contains some horror elements!

I was stuck in the airport and I was carrying a backpack on my shoulders. The terminal wasn’t teeming with life. Just a handful of people walking around, minding their own business.

The weather was atrocious; heavy rain lashing out at the windows. Beyond the window, I could make vague outlines of planes standing alone. Some lights were pulsing in the distance. We weren’t going anywhere.

I walked to the ticket desk and there was a blonde woman working. She didn’t look up. I don’t know her from anywhere. I started flirting with her and making eye contact. That was until a fellow traveller, beside me, remarked I was only interested in getting a visa from her. Although that wasn’t true, I still became defensive and stopped talking.

Feeling a bit deflated, I sat down on a cushioned bench. I leaned back and closed my eyes.

I then opened them again. I was somewhere else. I was in a city shrouded by fog. I was seated on a light motorcycle. It wasn’t switched on. An archway towered above me. I hopped off the motorcycle and walked down a few feet down the street, getting my bearings. I can see a few two storey apartment blocks ahead of me. There was chaos in the street as several Chinese people were pushing past each other. The fog was closing towards my direction. For some reason, this name popped in my head twice; Racoon City. I recognised it from the zombie videogame and movie, Resident Evil.

I felt a sense of uneasiness, so I jogged away from the fog. As I raced ahead, several people around me were sweating profusely. From their expressions, they knew something was happening to them but didn’t know what it was. Their eyeballs rolled behind. It would have shown a white colour except that a second iris appeared. The irises were a sickly yellow colour and a black line was drawn vertically across. Almost like cat eyes.

I kept on running and looking back. The infected was growing by the numbers and its momentum was being sped up. I ran into a bunker and slammed the door behind me. I knew it would not be enough to hold back the infected people.

I ran down this corridor and a man ran past me towards another doorway. A second man was hanging upside down from the ceiling. For some reason, I knew he was hung upside down as a prank. Unfortunately, they picked the wrong day for it. The first man was ready to shut the door on me as the crowd was descending towards me.

I kicked the doors wide before he was able to shut it. Once I was in, I helped him to secure the doors. I jammed a metal bar through the handles as the infected pounded their hands on the door. The man hung upside down was attacked and eventually pulled down. Not wanting to wait, I ran ahead.

That was when I woke up.

OK, boys and girls. I hope you enjoy reading that. I honestly have no idea what the dream means. I ought to check out some dream dictionaries to figure out the meaning of it all.

In this dream, I was aware that Racoon City was a ficitional place from a videogame. I never played it but I did see the movies. It is not the first time I have been chased by the Infected or Zombies

I had some time to reflect upon the past year to make a new set of New Year resolutions. I know, I know. “New Year resolutions don’t work”. That is only because some people lack the will power to stick to it, especially when something is a habit like drinking less, smoking [...]]]> Happy New Year, everyone!

I had some time to reflect upon the past year to make a new set of New Year resolutions. I know, I know. “New Year resolutions don’t work”. That is only because some people lack the will power to stick to it, especially when something is a habit like drinking less, smoking less, exercising more. BTW, none of those items applies to me. However, I did lack the will power to stick to my guns with my last year’s resolutions.

I got something to admit; I haven’t been feeling creative lately and I am letting my creative side stagnate which is not good. I haven’t wrote anything and I haven’t drawn anything. I did start up a ficitionious blog ala Adrian Mole-style but I felt that wasn’t working for me.

I had a bit of a wake up call a few weeks ago; Brittany Murphy suddenly died at the age of 32. I will be 31 years old this year. Her death got me thinking. I don’t want to die at an early age, not meeting my achievements. I have done nothing much to show for it.

So I realised I need to change my ways to turn it around. Here’s my set of New Year Resolutions.

• Get my design mojo back i.e. graphics design, logo design etc
• Meet more people and get out more!
• Do more creative writing. I have couple of stories/scripts swarming in my head.
• Do something new at least once a month
• Travel around Scotland. Maybe next year, Ireland or the rest of Europe
• Read more
• Less video gaming
• Be more positive
• Say Yes more often (I’m reading Danny Wallace’s book. Yes, I have seen the movie!).

The “Design mojo” is something I am working on just now. Lately, I have started developing 3D images with the aid of Blender. I took it like a duck to water.

There is one story idea which I had for like 10 years. It is epic so I need to break it down into novellas. It is a fantasy story and I would hate it it if my time was up and it is not written on paper. There are a few other short stories I would like to see published.

So I am getting my arse in gear. Are YOU? ;P

I probably need to find some material to flesh this character before I go ahead. I have a few stories where I can work this character into it.

Malcolm Kirk collated all of the artwork and put them together. It was then uploaded to eBook, ClickWheel and to the Ning group as a PDF file.

Barely a few days went past, we are already talking about producing issue 2! Hopefully, in [...]]]> Finally, we did it. We managed to produce a tribute comic dedicated to Scream!.

Malcolm Kirk collated all of the artwork and put them together. It was then uploaded to eBook, ClickWheel and to the Ning group as a PDF file.

Barely a few days went past, we are already talking about producing issue 2! Hopefully, in 6 months time (around May-June). So I’m going to be writing a few scripts to cover a few issues.

Malcolm did a great job of managing the whole comic project and the whole team worked well together. Unbeknown to me, Malcolm wrote and drew a strip, Field of Screams! which involved members of the Scream! forum. I was part of the story which made me laugh. I enjoyed reading it.

Check out the BackFromTheDepths blog for links to the tribute comic.

The murder/mystery one will be a five paged script. I have a rough idea how it will play out. It will set in the present day.

The futuristic law enforcement will be a lot longer. [...]]]> I’m going to be researching for 2 science fiction scripts; one for a murder/mystery and the other for my futuristic law enforcement.

The murder/mystery one will be a five paged script. I have a rough idea how it will play out. It will set in the present day.

The futuristic law enforcement will be a lot longer. Of course, being an newbie to Small Press Comics makes it a lot less likely that they will consider my script. Still, I will write it up and put into my portfolio.

My research will include watching a lot of sci-fi films and reading sci-fi books. Top of my research list is watching Blade Runner and reading the Forever War trilogy by Joe Haldeman. I never read it before but I saw some good reviews.

I will re-read some of Philip K. Dick books. Last time I read Philip’s book , it was “A Scanner Darkly” and that was a good few years ago.