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I have a couple of stories on the back burner. There is one which I am inspired by “Sleeper”, a mini series written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Sean Phillips. My script will be based in the far future, it might involve some law enforcement combined with a science fiction element.
Actually, I thought of a few stories which can be contained in the same universe so that my characters can crossover to each other’s world.
Sometime this month, I will start writing my serial killer script. Yes, the one I have been talking about a lot to my friends. It has a theme which I feel very strongly about. The problem I can’t tell you what that theme is as it is a spoiler in itself. If that makes sense.
Nonetheless, I will complete it by the end of this year.
I have brushed off the dust on my camera (not literally). It has been a while since I went photographing. The problem with my photography was that they lacked people. Most of the photos only had buildings and woodlands. Frankly, they were boring. That was my assessment.
I am self conscious about photographing the general public because I was wary of getting a negative reaction. I think too much, really.
I wanted to get over this fear. So last week, I took pictures of people at random (not in a stalkerish way!). I was in Glasgow and I managed to take some good pictures. None of them are perfect but it’s a start, nonetheless.
My favourite is the one in George Square where a woman in her 50s is playing on a portable games console. I played with it in Photoshop CS3; making it black/white and adding filters. This is my result.
 Lady plays portable game console I’m going to keep this up.
I wrote a script called Knock Knock and John Cahill drew it. It is published in Something Wicked #5. Hope you enjoy it.
John Cahill also makes a second contribution to the same issue; Bad Static (written by Martin Hayes).
Unfortunately, there are some problems with FutureQuake Press website and you cannot purchase any of the issues from the website. However, you can via FutureQuake Press blog.
http://futurequakepress.blogspot.com/
If you are going to BICS this weekend (3rd-4th October, ThinkTank, Birmingham), you can also purchase those comics. The FutureQuake Press team will be setting up shop.
For the past few years at BackFromTheDepths (BFTD) forum, we talked about making a tribute comic. We had a few false starts. It was because we had a lot of a scripts but no artists. There was also the question of some contributors’ having commitments i.e. family, jobs etc. It was understandable. So it was tough trying to get the tribute comic happening.
A couple of months ago, Malcolm Kirk (Stick-Man) got the ball rolling. Malcolm created a new advert at the BFTD blog asking for writers and artists to submit their work for the tribute comic. He also started networking in comic book/small press communities.
The advert had caught a lot of interest. This morning, I saw a very impressive set of pages from Matt Soffe. The colour, the drawing and the tones were perfect. The script, Bucket of Blood, was written by Carol Kewley.
We hope to meet to the deadline by end of October.
I’m looking to seeing the final product!
I changed my banner for this blog. Now you can see a red paraffin lamp on the right hand side and a painting (print) in the centre. It is “Rita’s Find (Paddy’s Market)” by Avril Paton.
I used Photoshop to make it as if it is illustrated.
Recently, I got an email confirming there will be a British International Comics Show (BICs) on this year. It was formerly called Birmingham International Comics Show. Shane Chebsey and co are running it and I urge all comic book fans to attend.
Sadly, I can’t make it this time. Last year, I did go and I had a good time going to the launch party the night before the comics book event. At ThinkTank (Birmingham), I met the FutureQuake Press guys and the TimeBomb Comics team. They were great to talk to.
I got my Watchmen graphic novel autographed by Dave Gibbons and he drew Rorschach on the inside cover. Cool!
If you are interested in small press comics and graphic novels, head over to Birmingham.
http://www.thecomicsshow.co.uk/
I am going to write a blog post at least once a month about my progress with script or story writing.
For the past few years, I have been writing horror comic scripts. I am now branching into crime. I wrote a single crime script but plan to write some more.I’m not giving up horror and I have plenty to come up with.
I am considering writing a script about a serial killer with an underlying message. The toughie is writing it out without sounding preachy. I believe people will get turned off. Oh yes, another toughie is writing dialog. I admit my writing dialog can be rough around the edges but in time it will get better.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a script based on Count Dracula for a Scream! tribute comic at http://www.backfromthedepths.co.uk/. It was recieved well. Hopefully, the art will be ready for publication come October.
Check out the blog regarding the tribute comic.
BACK FROM THE DEPTHS NEEDS YOU! (BFTD Comic Submission Guidelines)
http://www.backfromthedepths.co.uk/wordpress/?p=273
A few months ago, I had bought a graphics tablet. A Wiacom Bamboo. Small enough for me. Yesterday, I tried out the ArtRage 2.5 Starter Edition and I was ready to purchase a copy of the full edition.
That was until I realised I already had a copy of ArtRage 2.5 which came with the tablet. This was a bonus because I was frustrated at not being able to add new layers or use stencils.
I feel like a wee boy who just got a new set of painting tools. Heh.
About 2 weeks ago, I got an email from Dave of FutureQuake Press to say that the artwork , based on my second script, has been completed. All drawn and lettered.
I’m happy with the artwork and looking forward to seeing it printed in October.
Recently, I have trying out my hand at drawing and painting digitally. I’m not great at it in Photoshop. I’m not too bad in Illustrator CS2 and that’s because Illustrator automatically makes my lines seems neat, even and often well rounded. I feel it was cheating relying on the software to make my drawing look great.
I would think of it as the equivalent of someone singing badly and the man at the mixer controls makes it the singer sound great. However, I made a few logos for my friend Mark who makes soaps and candles as a hobby. As I was experimenting with Illustrator, I heard from Mark about his small project. So for fun, I made a mock logo for Mark to promote his products. It wasn’t bad.
The problem was I was looking for tools that makes my art looks naturally drawn, not digitally drawn. I was unsure what I was looking for. That is until I stumbled onto ArtRage (via a blog post). I never heard of it. So I tried out the Starter Edition. I only tried it out for like 30 mins when I knew it was what I was looking for. I made a small piece of art. See below.
 Sea and Dawn I’m going to keep practising my art skills.
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