Biz Horne

Newcastle University / AFASIC work

2012-02-23T12:58:00.000Z

I've been doing some work for Newcastle University's Speech and Language Therapy department for an upcoming conference that they're holding. I'm making a few posters and some storyboarded comics to encourage the kids and young people going to write their own stories about their lives. This one's my favourite, although they're all great stories to illustrate and very fun to draw!

A new review

2012-02-21T14:47:00.001Z

I got a really lovely review at the weekend from Geek Syndicate, for the FML preview issue I released last year. Hooray!

Check it out here

BASH Comics

2012-02-14T18:33:00.000Z

Hello everyone,

It's a little later than scheduled, but BASH Comics is finally launching. This is the publishing arm of my comics projects, but also involves other cool local collaborators and is there to help any aspiring self-publishers or creators who need help or are looking for other likeminded individuals to team up with to help realise their projects. I'd like to help people achieve what they want to do as much as I've been helped by all the wonderful people who've contributed both their cash and their expertise to FML and my work in general.

So go on over and check the site out, there are some bios of the guys I've already got signed up as contributors and my first webcomic is up there. Hopefully there shall be much more to enjoy as time goes by! You can always find a link to BASH in the top menu bar.

Over and out.

Character shots

2012-02-05T13:04:00.000Z

Last night I updated the FML page with some new pictures of some of the girls. Priya, Sophy and Grace are here, Ruth and James are on their way.

Special Project

2012-02-01T20:56:00.001Z

Hi everyone,

A big site update is underway! Hope you like the new look. It'll make my other work fit more with more of a blank slate, plus it fits with a new project of mine that I'm launching next week. This illustration is for this new project. I've got a couple of people on board and am pretty excited about it.

I've also redesigned the visuals for the characters in FML. I had a major scriptwriting session and got everything set down definitely and needed to simplify the characters to make them easier to draw consistently over 70 pages. I'll post some more stuff once I get started on that.

I'll get back in touch next week, sorry I've not updated this week; I'm too ill and busy to do much at the minute.

Over and out.

Sketchbook

2012-01-28T11:02:00.000Z

Another sketch piece, not from my sketchbook but not for work either; just a doodle I did to get me to sleep one night. Unfinished.

Sketchbook

2012-01-28T10:59:00.001Z

Sorry for the phone photo, but I've just discovered that my scanner is scanning things in all distorted. Can't believe I didn't notice this before! I thought my eyes were going funny... but maybe they still are.

Just uploading some things from my sketchbooks to tide everyone over. Very busy at the minute with uni starting, finishing off the GLoW Horror Anthology project (which is looking amazing, if I may say so myself) and writing FML. More info about all of them soon. I might add some stuff about Descartes' philosophy soon if I have a minute, but in the meantime...
Over and out.

Sketchbook

2012-01-22T11:03:00.001Z

I've spent the last two days listening to Arthur Russell non-stop, so I decided to do a very quick doodle of him in a break from some intense working I've been doing. I thought with end of exams you're supposed to have less to do, but not so the case with moi.
I haven't nearly done him justice, but he's so wonderful I doubt I ever would. He makes really sweet music with a cello. I'll admit I'm not a fan of his disco, but I love the rest of his stuff enough to make up for it.

Sketchbook

2012-01-13T13:50:00.003Z

I've added a new page to the site after getting an awesome new little sketchbook which I shall fill with great things I see. So here is where I'll share them. This first one is actually from my workbook for uni; I'm studying some Berkeley this semester and wanted to make my notebook a bit more cheerful and nicer to revise from later.

Berkeley's Immaterialism

From what I've read so far, Berkeley's philosophy was an attempt to solve the problem of scepticism about God and to defeat atheism (mainly). Scepticism had been invited into philosophical debates because the rise of materialism had created a gap between our perception and the objects that we perceive. So suddenly people were asking how we knew things are really the way we perceive them. Berkeley felt that other philosophers (such as Descartes and his famous quote "I think, therefore I am" (Cogito, ergo sum)) hadn't gone far enough in defending God from scepticism. Philosophers like Descartes had created a bridge between our perception and the objects of our perception, but Berkeley went one further and argued that all the world was just our perception of it. There was no material world for us to perceive. The chair we perceived was the chair. There was no chair existent without our perception of it. So he argued for immaterialism, saying that God and immortal souls and their perception were essential for anything else to exist. He really wanted to put God in the middle of things, because the 'new science' was making assertions about laws of nature and such and he felt that people were removing God too much from the causality of the world. So he said God was responsible for us and that he continually kept the world of perception ready, just in case we were there to perceive it (insulating his argument against people who questioned where the world went when we weren't there to perceive it; whether things were continually going in and out of existence.)

There's more to it than that, but that's the gist of it... I think. Although in 3 months when I'm finished this module it could seem different. Nothing's ever so simple!

I'll add any more of the work in my sketchbook as and when I do it. I've never had one before, now I feel like a proper illustrator! I'll be back in a week or so... exams and things have the best of me right now.

Over and out.

P.S: Anyone who's around Newcastle; Colin Firth has gone missing and needs to be returned. If you know where he is or have him, just put him back and no questions will be asked!

Fundraising update

2012-01-02T13:04:00.001Z

Well, happy new year!
I got some great news just before the annual mass change of calenders and not only reached but surpassed my fundraising goal! Thank you so much to everyone who contributed, it means so much to me that you'd part with your cash to help me realise this project, especially in such hard economic circumstances. As promised I've added your names to the thank you section of the book and will send your copies out before anyone else gets them! If you had planned to contribute but just haven't got around to it yet, you can still donate. Anything would be appreciated as it means I can put some money aside for future volumes (six left to go!) and advertising. Thanks to everyone who's supported with their cash, compliments and words of encouragement!

The book is coming along really well and I've been surprised how I've been able to juggle doing it with the other projects I have going on and uni work... but I suppose I don't really have much else to do during the holidays! And I've been too ill to go out much, which in this respect has been a blessing, I suppose. Although I dislocated my thumb on NYE while I was putting my gloves on. OW! I had no idea it was this painful; it's totally wiped out the past couple of days as it's been too sore to do anything. I dislocate stuff so much I've kind of got used to it and don't feel the pain so much (I dislocated all five toes on my left foot just the day before) but I'd never done a thumb in before. But it's getting a bit better now.

But back to my original point, I have about 40 pages done and dusted for volume one, so I'm about halfway there. I've also finished the first 5 front covers which I'm chuffed with. So, to say thank you to you all for the help, here are a couple more pages from volume one to tide you over until it's released.

Here's to an awesome 2012; I know I'm really looking forward to this year. After everything that happened last year and the huge jump from sitting in my room doodling in coloured pencils to releasing a comic, exhibiting at Thought Bubble and beginning to put together my first book, I can only imagine what I'll be summing up at the end of this year. It's pretty exciting.

...Oh and you can see all the preview pages and the cover for volume one, plus read the blurb and stuff right here.

Over and out.

GLoW Horror Anthology

2011-12-20T12:01:00.000Z

Hey all,

So, I was wrong about this secret project being secret, which is a good thing because it means I can share what I'm doing with you all!

It also seems I was wrong about not posting things for a while. What can I say, I just can't tear myself away from my pens or bear to leave you all without updates on what I'm doing!

So, on to this project I'm involved with. It's my first collaboration, so is something I'm very excited about. I'm currently involved in doing some illustration for a story by Ian Buchanan for a horror anthology by the Glasgow League of Writers. The collective are hoping to get it published and I'm really chuffed they wanted to get me onboard. The story I'm illustrating's a goodun too so I'm glad I nabbed it before anyone else got it! It's called "Doll", not giving anything away here are some of the concept pieces I've done for it so far. I'll give you some more tasters in a bit!

You can find GLoW on Twitter and also on Facebook. I'm not sure when the anthology is being released but I've heard they're aiming for around March. I'll let you know when I know!

Over and out.

Merry Brickmas!

2011-12-16T10:00:00.009Z

Avec the Father and the Holy Spirit to boot

I took a break from working yesterday and got playing with the Lego... a miss it so much when I'm not home at my folks'. Seeing as it's Christmas (... or Brickmas? Har Har! ) and because I wasn't home in time to decorate the tree, I made a little nativity scene with the mainly Harry Potter / Star Wars Lego I had at my disposal. Hence the strange flock for the shepherds and the wise man riding the T-rex... actually I did find another horse in the end but I just prefered him with the dinosaur. We've never had a nativity scene for Christmas for obvious reasons but I thought seeing as it's Lego it would be ok. And it is; my mum loves it.

The wise men and the dinosaur

I just wanted to share this with you all as a little note to say I am still alive! I feel really weird not updating the blog for a while as I'm usually doing so much that I can share things a couple of times a week with you all. But I have a lot of projects to finish over the holidays, including a secret one that I'm pretty excited about. I won't be able to share anything from that I don't think (I'm not working on it alone which is a nice change, but just so you know it's not my idea to keep things secret!), but I will keep you updated on FML as and when I get bits done that I can share. I don't want to give the whole story away though!

The Shepherds and their ... umm, things?

I also need to spend a few weeks concentrating on getting better and such, which may affect how much work I can do and how many updates I can post. But on the plus side, although my body is still in shitsville, I've got my head in the right place again now which is the biggest victory. I had a bit of a slip in the last month and started feeling pretty sorry for myself, which everyone'll know is the worst thing you can possibly do. But I think I needed to go through it and now I'm feeling alright again.

Also on that note, hello to all my new HMS / EDS related followers that have joined us in the past week here and on Twitter. I want to do some kind of "Solidarity!" shpiel, but will probably just get carried away, so I'll just say thank you for your support and I hope that you're having a better cold season than me! I always feel a bit bad when I meet someone who has similar problems to me, because even though I feel really sorry for them (but hardly ever for myself, it's weird how that works...) I still feel kind of happy that I'm not alone and part of something bigger, even if it's getting through something bad together.

Hmm...anyhoo.

Merry Christmas to everyone who's celebrating it and happy winter times to everyone who isn't. I hope things go well for you all until we meet again, and that you get to spend the holidays with the people that you love and get to let them know that they're loved. I think for me that's the most important thing with Christmas. And thank you all to the wave of donations I've received in the past few days. Now there's less than £100 to go until the target's reached! I'm so grateful!

Over and out.

FML Teasers

2011-12-12T12:52:00.001Z

Hi everyone,

Well uni's finally over for the holidays, so I have about a month with nothing much to do apart from bomb through this... and a very secret project that I'm involved with that I don't think I'm allowed to talk about right now. But it's exciting!!

I know you're all scrounging your pennies to get lovely christmas presents for the people you love, but don't worry, I'll start pestering you all for your donations again once you've got your christmas money in! Here is some artwork to get you all excited for it too.

What do you think? Hope you like it!

Over and out!

Cinder (ella)

2011-12-08T17:11:00.000Z

I realised I haven't posted anything for a bit; forgive me, I have been extraordinarily ill and am only functioning for about an hour a day! It's made me re-examine a lot of what I'm doing, especially when it comes to looking at making my comics easier for me to make and less of a strain on my health. But I'm sure there'll be more about that later.

This is a concept piece I've done for a new webcomic project I'll hopefully be starting after I've finished vol. 1 of FML. I don't want to give too much away, but it'll be a new twist on favourite fairy tales and like all my work it'll be just as much activism as artwork and storytelling. This is a piece of work for the first story "Cinder (ella)". I'm not positive, but I think the title of the webcomic will be either "Once upon a Time..." or "True Love Conquers All". Fairytales are always so corny!! It was really nice on this piece to do some colouring with my markers, since I haven't used them, or even done much colouring by hand for ages!

In other news, I've had quite a lot of requests for Christmas commissions; if you're thinking of asking for a commission in time for Christmas, I'm really sorry but I'm totally bogged down with deadlines and existing commissions until the end of January. But thank you for trusting / wanting me to do work for you, as I know they're often personal presents and that means a lot to me! It's very validating of what I do.

Also, if you're in Newcastle at the weekend the first ever Canny Comic Con will be taking place in Newcastle City Library. There are so many great and truly lovely creators there so I'd really recommend going along and scouting out the local (and not so local) talent.

Lots of love to you all and thanks again for all the great messages of support you've been sending me over the past week since I posted my diary; I appreciate them so much and they really are a massive support to me while I'm going through some especially ill / difficult times.
Over and out.

Bad Week

2011-12-01T14:24:00.001Z

*Update* Thanks for all the wonderful messages of support from everyone this past week, it's been wonderful reading them and knowing from many of you that I'm not alone! I've decided not to write Thursday through Sunday because I didn't want to have to go back over the past week, I hope you all understand.

Last time I wrote a bit about what it's like living with Hypermobility Syndrome (HMS) I was having a relatively easy time of things and it came across a lot in the way I wrote and drew. This week I am having an awful time; I'm in a huge amount of pain all the time, am exhausted and demoralised and am having terrible nightmares every night so I feel like I'm getting no rest at all. This has all compounded to make me feel very numb and distant, almost like being on strong painkillers again but without any of the good feeling. As my health is see-sawing all over the place it's getting more and more difficult to stay off painkillers and I'm getting more bitter about the position my HMS has put me in (even though generally I am incredibly happy with my lot).

So seeing as I'm having such a bad week, I thought I'd keep a diary while I'm in this funk so it paints a more accurate picture of the bad times living with HMS. Worry not, even though my health will probably not be any better by next week, I'm sure my mood will be and that's the big thing when it comes to dealing with long term illness.

The quality of drawing and writing in this is terrible, but I honestly couldn't do any better. On my best days though I can only write for about 10 minute spells and now it is agony to write and incredibly difficult. Here is my writing usually so you can see the difference:

I'm usually very good at keeping a brave face, to the point where I find it difficult talking about how shitty HMS can actually be. But writing it down doesn't feel like telling someone else, as I don't like complaining about it at all. Hopefully this can show you what it's really like, without any facade.

This is Monday through Wednesday.
(Sorry about the expletive: you have been warned!)

Team Small Press Leeds Roller Derby!

2011-11-29T18:44:00.001Z

Team Small Press Leeds!

I saw the Hot Wheel and Bruising Banditas girls skating around Thought Bubble both this and last year. Originally I thought they were helping advertise a comic about roller derby (which would be a pretty brilliant idea) but they're actually roller derby teams! Oh wow! I loved Whip It, but then I love both Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page in spite of some of the crappy films Drew's been in.

I wanted to make a piece to do with roller derby and then I decided to make it FML themed... although on Sophy and Grace would ever do roller derby. Sophy for the hot girls and the social life and Grace to help her get rid of some of that pent-up anger she's got. Then me and Rich and Jordan were talking about doing some stuff using the other's characters (they've just released their amazing comic Ladies & Gentlemen; see link above) and we've found ourselves forming a little band of small press chaps in Leeds. So I decided to put one of their characters in. It's only a small, quick piece because I'm quite ill at the minute and trying to catch up with uni work and keep up with my friends which is the bit of work you always forget actually takes up time and energy.

But I wanted to give you all something to keep you going while I troupe through that and during the dark period that I'm working away getting Volume one finished. I'm working really hard and appreciate all the donations I've been given so far, but if you know anyone you think would enjoy the comic please pass the donation page on to them to help me raise money! We're nearly halfway there which is awesome, but still have some way to go.
Over and Out.

Oh and ps; here's the black and white(ish) version... well not inked. In case you prefer it. I'm not sure which I prefer.

FML Characters

2011-11-25T13:19:00.000Z

Hello everyone! I realised that I put this up on the FML page but I haven't posted it here yet. So, for your viewing pleasure, here are the main players in FML:

Priya you've already been introduced to but the rest of them will turn up between issues two and three. I didn't originally want to give anything away at all about the characters, but the biggest thing I took away from Thought Bubble was that people didn't realise that the story had superheroes in and also that it wasn't a comic just about forced marriage. So now you can see what other things we'll be dealing with in the course of the series and hopefully you'll be looking forward to meeting the other characters! I've worked really hard on all of them and think I've created really great storylines for them all; I'm so excited to share them with you!
So, hope you like them so far,
Over and out.

Building work

2011-11-23T17:03:00.000Z

Hello everyone,
There's a bit of revamping going on at this site currently; everything's still up and running but I'm just getting my house in order and making some changes that I need to make to make the site a better face for my work. Keep an eye out for the changes (I hope you like them) and sorry for any inconvenience this causes in the meantime.
Over and out.

Commission

2011-11-22T21:45:00.001Z

Dayna's new header

I've just finished a commission for Dayna Johnson who's a really talented make up artist based around Bristol. I made her a header for her blog which I'm very happy with and it only took me about 5 hours to do! I'm not sure how long that is under anyone else's standards but it was pretty quick for me. I was pretty chuffed with the idea too, because Dayna's pretty quirky and cool and I knew she wouldn't really like the classy body-paint ideas I came up with originally, like having a reclining woman with Dayna's name painted across her back.
This idea came to me out of the blue; I thought it would be cool to have an image where it looked like zombies were coming to attack Dayna but she's actually just making them up into really cool zombie types. I think it came off really well. This is the first time I've ever drawn zombies which is surprising seeing as I'm a graphic artist, but not surprising at all if you know me. I have a crippling fear of zombies, but I'm courting my fear now and trying to get over it. I've already been to the zombie prom this year and went as a zombie Poison Ivy for Halloween!

Check out Dayna's blog; she does amazing make-up work (and is an award-winning artist, no less!) but also does great 3D model work. And you can see my artwork in its new home.

In other news, I'm currently doing some work on character shots of the main characters in FML that I'll be putting up on the site in a little while. Keep an eye out!

Over and out.

Thought Bubble

2011-11-21T22:23:00.000Z

Me and Rich on our stall

So, finally here is my Thought Bubble post!
Firstly, thank you to everyone who came down to my stall and had a gander; whether you bought anything or just took a business card it was nice to see people interested in my work. I realised I need to come up with a better way of explaining what my comic's about, but I got so much amazing advice from so many amazing people I have a lot of ideas now. But more on that later!

I shared my table with Rich Worth and Jordan Collver (both found at Water Closet Press) who are lovely comic friends of mine and were releasing their first comic too. They've been hanging around conventions and the comic scene for a lot longer than me and I felt it! But they were amazing company and made the weekend fantastic and although they got a lot, a lot of massive loves from people I still don't think they got as much as they deserved. Saturday was the first time I saw their comic, Ladies and Gentlemen, and it is amazing. It definitely deserves to go a huge way. They were also both very good at sharing advice with me... I had no idea how little I knew about making comics. Like, if you draw something really big you can put in loads of detail. That seems so obvious now but I drew my whole first issue pretty much the size it was published! Last year going to Thought Bubble was the first convention I'd ever been to and this year was my first year in comics seriously and I felt like a little kid at a new school in a big town, but I was taken under the wings of loads of amazing creators and the biggest impression I got from TB was that I was definitely getting in to the right profession. My family who were there on Saturday summed it up best I think because they said that even though all these people in both the halls are actually in competition with each other trying to get jobs, everyone is so nice to each other and are really genuinely interested in what everyone else is doing. I totally got that feeling.

The view from my little corner of Royal Armories Hall

On Saturday we had a really good time getting feedback from people passing by. It was really interesting being on the same table as Rich and Jordan, because their comic is so different to mine that most of the people who were interested in theirs were generally not impressed by mine, except I found for the ladies who were pretty receptive to both. Jordan also pointed out to me that FML was female with none of the vowels in, which was pretty fitting seeing as it's a pretty feminist story (or at least it will be) and he thought I did it deliberately... oh wait I just remembered we were actually going to pretend I had done that. Bugger. My sister turned out to be the better seller on our table; she came rushing over at around 3 telling me to get my arse over to Saviles Hall to see some other Geordie creators who wanted to meet me and give me some advice, so she took over for a bit and ended up selling a whole bunch of stuff and giving away so many of my business cards that I had to print more at 7am on Sunday! We all found it so much easier to sing the praises of other people's comics; as soon as you start talking about your own you don't really want to sound like you're boasting. So I need to get better at that! And also get a definitive idea in my head of how to describe what my comic is. I wanted to go for a whole Alan Moore-esque way of not revealing anything or even telling readers who the characters were before they were introduced but after this weekend and reading some of the great stuff I picked up I think I'll be re-thinking that.

So, back to Saturday and me rushing over to Saviles Hall. It's interesting that it's only been since I left Newcastle that I've found out about this thriving little comic community and I got to SH to see a whole length of the hall full of Geordie creators and their friends. The guys wanting to give me advice were the lovely Daniel Clifford and Gary Bainbridge, creators of Sugar Glider. They were incredibly nice and gave me a massive amount of advice on how to get myself out there and I was very chuffed that they were my first comic-book friends... how geeky but yes, I am going to call them all that. In comics, you should embrace the geek otherwise you'll get left behind! I also headed over to Kayla Marie Hillier's table to say hello. She was a special stopover that I'd wanted to make, because it was her who got me so excited by her story of her journey into making comics that I sat down and picked up my pen again. I was drawn to her because I had been thinking about doing a comic about my trip to Guatemala based on the diary I kept there for a while and her comic Galavant (which was only a little comic then and is now a huge graphic novel!) was about her trip over to the UK from her native Canada. So after TB last year I thought about it again, and kept thinking and thinking and thinking and my train of thought just evolved in to this whole other thing that FML just grew out of in the end. So I took over a copy of the preview (or PRIYAview? Ahar!) and some other stuff to give to her as a thank you and she was just so much more wonderful and friendly than I'd remembered her (which was still very lovely!) and I left feeling very flattered and like I'd just had the biggest hug of my life.

BEHOLD!

I went back on Sunday to buy all of their stuff (observe my wares!) and was introduced by Daniel and Gary to Martin Eden who created Spandex, which is a comic about an all-gay superhero team, which, like Sugar Glider, has received great crits. It was the first of my little hoard that I started reading and is still the only one I've read so far because I was just going to read one issue but got a bit sucked in and read all of them and now I really want to know what happens next, it's frustrating! It's so bloody good! He was also great to meet to get some advice and a feeling I've been searching after for one of the girls in FML (I also need to thank the team from Fallen Angel Media who were on the table next to me for this too). I was also introduced to a lot of their friends who were all very creative and friendly and gave me lots more good vibes and advice. just a wonderful bunch of people. I headed back to pick up Kayla's graphic novel and got a little starstruck meeting Sarah Gordon and Howard Hardiman who I've been following for a while. I got their joint comic The Peckham Invalids which I've been keen on getting since Sarah posted some previews of the artwork, and Howard's solo story Badger's diary, which I can't wait to read because the artwork really reminds me of the illustrations E.H. Shepard did for Winnie the Pooh and things that remind me of childhood stuff are my achilles heel. I also picked up the second installment of Madam Samurai because I got the first one last year and loved it. I also got very starstruck on Saturday night when I was standing in the carpark by the ticket station with my mum and sister and Richard Starkings (of Elephantment fame) came up behind us to pay for his ticket. Elephantmen is one of my favourite comics and I was so nervous I'd balls up if I spoke to him and make an idiot of myself if I told him how much I loved his work that I just kind of stood there trying to look normal and probably looking like a complete wierdo. But he asked which way to put the ticket in the machine and I told him. I spoke to Richard Starkings!! Oh, the geekdom doth reign! I was so chuffed.

Wow, this has been a long post. So to summarise, I guess, I had an amazing weekend. I sold more than I thought I would (I did set my sights very low) and from what the people I met told me I had a much better first convention experience than most of them. But then again, Thought Bubble is an amazing convention and even the people who came down just to give me support and have no interest in comics ended up having a great time. I didn't end up winning the NSAC but I don't care; I met some amazing people and made some fantastic new friends and got so much advice and help that I feel like I can move FML and my work on to a whole new level. Here's some of the work I've done since the weekend, all big and everything. Apologies for the crappy quality, I don't have an A3 scanner at home. So it's not all distorted like this.

So, thank you to everyone who made my weekend so fantastic. I'm exhausted now and my body is a wreck; to be honest even though I copped out early on Sunday afternoon I was terrified I wouldn't be able to cope even with Saturday, but the adrenaline and the good atmosphere carried me through and from a health point of view it's an invaluable thing to know that I can cope with something that big and long. That's the thing about long term illnesses; you should never stop pushing your boundaries because if you don't they become like a prison to you. It was great. I'm just so happy. So, thank you all!

Over and out.

More FML updates

2011-11-11T11:32:00.000Z

Hullo all,

So over the past couple of weeks I've been having a bit of a muse and a worry about how I'm going to take FML forward. I have the story all sorted out but the issues just keep getting longer and longer and I knew really that I couldn't keep doing them in colour, but I wasn't sure how to do them so that they'd look right and fit in with what I've already done. But the cogs have been ticking around slowly and I've finally come up with my plan, so here it is.

The issue one that's available on my blog and in my shop is going to be the only time that FML will be in colour.

(By the way there are only 10 more copies available before I go to Thought Bubble, so if you want to get one hurry up amigos!)

I've decided to bring out FML in volumes rather than in just issues, because I know I'm worst of all when it comes to getting every issue of a series so I don't expect other people to be any better. So I'm going to be bringing out Volume One out probably at the beginning of next year, which will contain (in black and white) a revised and expanded version of Issue one and Issue two. So the issue already out will become more of an intro/taster of the series. It works out best for everyone I think because it'll be better value for me to print and better value / more pages for you to buy!

I'll be setting up a fundraising site in the next month or so to drum up the fundings for it, where I'll be offering nice little donation packages to people which'll include the graphic novel and some other nice stuff too. Ooh, I've always wanted to write a graphic novel!

As I have it planned now, it'll be around 80 pages long (so a good size) and will contain issues one and two. I'll probably also start a little drive to try and get it stocked in some of the local comic stores, so if you're a shop owner (any kind of shop, just if you're interested) or think you'd like to sell them to friends etc then get in touch with me and let me know.

Have a nice weekend everyone; over and out!

Progress Report: FML#2 Cover

2011-11-07T11:13:00.000Z

FML: The End of Life as you Know it

Final (or almost final) cover

I always really enjoy seeing other people's works in progress, especially when they show you how the piece progresses while they work on it. So I thought I'd share my own, seeing as things are a little slow around here with me off doing uni work / convention prep and drawing #2 of FML (The End of Life As You Know It). I finished off the colours for this yesterday during breaks / procrastination between finishing an essay for uni. Both done now. Huzzah!

I started out with some concept drawings (I wish I had a moleskine, but these little pads are great for carrying around in pockets and little bags.) The cover was originally going to have two Priyas on the front (no spoilers here though) but I decided in the end to have just her and a bin... I suppose you'll know more later.

So I pencilled out my design. Priya in this is a little too big, so I scanned it in and minimized her a bit, then traced over the bin etc with pens from the pencilled drawing but traced over Priya from my computer screen.

Here are my finished inks. I added the title properly and did all the brick work straight on here instead of doing it first in the pencils, because I wanted it to look a lot rougher. When I pencil then ink it always looks a lot more polished, which is something I'm struggling with in the body of the issue now.

Then I played around with the curves a bit on Photoshop so I would end up with a more black and white rather than grey and white cover. At this point I wasn't sure whether I wanted it to be in colour or not.

Then I decided to at least play around with colours a bit. I've read this tutorial somewhere (sorry to the person who wrote it that I can't remember you) which said that you know you've done colour work well when it looks as good in greyscale as it does in colour. So I did this whole piece in greyscale then added a colour wash over it afterwards. I also went over the grafitti elements of the title in a brighter shade so that they didn't sink into the wall. I was happy with it but decided to do a bit more playing around.

I didn't think it looked miserable and scary enough, considering where we left her at the end of the last issue, so did a little more playing around and added some more effects to the mix. I wanted it to look like there was a light coming towards her from the right of the page, but here I didn't achieve it how I wanted because I think I put too much shadow and not enough highlight in, or maybe not enough contrast between the two as well.

So I fixed both those issues. I'm much happier with this now, especially because you can see Priya a bit better in it too. I'll probably do a little more playing around with it once I get round to printing time.

You all know I love getting (meaningful) feedback, which always comes around rarer than I'd like. I'm completely self-taught in most aspects of my work, bar GCSE art, so most of the stuff I know I learn from playing around or looking online for hints and tips. So if you have anything constructive to say I'd love to hear it; do you like the style and the colour scheme? Are there any elements to this cover that don't work for you, or that work especially well? If you have anything you'd like to say regarding this or any of my pieces, please either use the comment form below (it's for everyone, not just blogspot members) or send me an email at bizhorne-comics@hotmail.co.uk

Thanks!

Over and out.

Because it's Friday...

2011-11-04T13:51:00.000Z

Here's a preview of FML #2. Here we see the introduction of a couple more of our main players, who all have their own shizz going on too (naturally). This issue won't be available online, only in print, so keep an eye out!

It'll get quite a bit of tweaking and I'm not sure yet whether it'll be colour or black and white. We'll see I guess!

In other news, happy (almost) Bonfire Night! And an extra celebration for my sister, who's anniversary is tomorrow too. What a great day to have an anniversary! Hope you all have a wonderful night and celebrate in style. See you next week!

Over and out.

Interview

2011-11-01T10:32:00.000Z

So, my interview with Bobertern has gone up online. You can read it HERE. It's been incredibly well-received so far, which is no surprise really as he was generous and flattering beyond words! I'm very grateful that he took the time to interview me.

In other news, after my recent foray into the twittersphere I've come across a whole new world of small press and indie comic related things, which has totally opened my eyes to how to go about writing comics properly. This (sort of) walk-through by the very talented Kate Brown, auther of 'Fish + Chocolate' has helped me especially in realising the benefits of storyboarding and keeping my pencilling and inking seperate. I tried it out on the cover of FML#2 and that went well and yesterday I storyboarded the whole issue, which was great. I can now just do any page I want and not worry that it won't be coherant with the other pages.

I've also realised that writing your second comic is a lot like recording your second album. You know when musicians bring out their second album it usually sounds like the first, but tighter and like they actually got some professional input or a studio or something. Well, my second comic is much the same. I'm halfway through inking one of the first pages (although it's actually page 33... of 38. It's a looonng issue!) and it already looks so much tighter and better than the last; but I have changed a lot of my practices and I think it's paying off.

So, check out my interview if you have time and let me know what you think!

Have a good week everyone, whatever you're doing.

Over and out.

Northern Sequential Art Competition Entry

2011-10-30T18:18:00.000Z

This is up on the Thought Bubble website now ( << direct link to page) so I thought I may as well put it up here! I can't tell how good it is compared to the other entries so far, plus there are more to come tomorrow, but there are already some pretty good ones up there. I'm very, very nervous. But, que sera!

(NB: I had to upload just a medium-sized file for this because it is so huge!)

After giving over the past month of my life to this I'm finally finished. I can't believe it! I have been so terrified about sending this off. What if the colours show up wrong? What if it isn't good enough? But it's sent now, nothing else to be done. And as worried as I am about how it'll do, I know as well that it's the best piece of work I've ever done. I'm so proud of it, it doesn't really matter if I win or not.

The brief for the Northern Sequential Art Competition was to create a standalone A3 comic, with the title in the top-left corner and at least 6 panels. Apart from that I had free reign. I had this idea floating around in my head for a while to do a piece of protest art (what else do I ever do...?) about how Native Americans basically got their cultural history / heritage screwed over by us English and the Spanish (among others, eg: the French as well for Native Canadians) popping over and taking over their country, massacring them, etc., etc. But this is a far cry from the layout that I originally had, where the totem pole was going up the centre of the page and separating out the good from the bad.

I’ve ended up now with a free narrative piece (where the panels aren’t in any particular order) and an aspect-to-aspect style (where there is more of a transition between parts of a place or mood or time rather than a story where you follow a character(s)). The aim is to summon up different moods depending on what order you look at the panels. The more saturated panels in mainly red, green and yellow are the parts of their cultural history that are good (mainly, but I’ll get to that in a minute) and the less saturated, grey and brown and teal panels are the bad parts. But, of course there are always grey areas which I’ve tried my best to portray.

So, I hope you like it! Explore it a bit, take it in in different orders or look at it in different angles. I’ve included a run-down of the panels below for anyone who’s interested.

From left to right, top to bottom.

1) Grizzly bear and cub

2) Spirit of the horse and the eagle in the clouds

3) Dogs. The Spanish, when they originally arrived in America, often fed Native Americans and their children to dogs that would savage them to death.

4) Priest grabbing a Native American woman. This can be interpreted in several ways. Firstly, it could be a woman being held back as her child is taken from her to go to one of the Residential schools (as was obligatory if parents didn’t want to go to prison or be kicked off the reservation). Secondly it could be a girl about to be raped by a priest in one of these schools, which was also common.

5) Totem pole.

6) Smallpox. This virus wiped out millions of Native Americans and there are widespread reports of English settlers deliberately giving blankets from people infected with both smallpox and tuberculosis to Native Americans during the winter to deliberately infect them.

7) (below smallpox) General Custer. Responsible for platoons under his command (indirectly) that massacred tribes of Native Americans (men, woman and children) in their sleep. Was killed at the battle of Little Bighorn.

8) (next to smallpox) A school photo from one of the Residential Schools that Native American (and Canadian) children were forced to go to, to get the “Indian” beat out of them. It was part of a wider plan to destroy the Native American culture and one of the quotes around at the time was “Kill the Indian, save the man.” There was widespread physical, emotional and sexual abuse at these schools (all run by religious orders) and over 50% of the children that went into the system never came out. Campaigns still go on to try and find out what happened to them and where their graves are.

9) (next to school) A petroglyph from the Petrified Forest in Arizona.

10) (below the petroglyph) A mother with her child.

11) Graves of children that didn’t make it out of the Residential schools.

12) The White House Ruin, Canyon de Chelly, Arizona

13) The White House, Washington DC

14) A funeral pyre.

15) The cross and Bible.

16) Tipis on the Great Plains.

17) A dead child, after being pushed down the stairs by a nun at a residential school (reports of murders by priests and nuns at these schools are widespread in both the USA and Canada)

18) (below the White House) A Ku Klux Klan member. As well as lynching and persecuting African Americans, the KKK regularly threaten(/ed) Native Americans. On the KKK’s official website they say that

'The American Indian is neither American, nor Indian, he is of the mongoloid race'

19) Part of a traditional Luiseño Indian poem called "Song of the Spirit". This was a story about an eagle that went to North, South, East and West to try and escape death, but found that there was no way of escaping it.

20) (below the KKK) Native Americans engaging in a Fire Dance.

21) A road sign on entering a reservation. Native American reservations see higher unemployment, suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction and poverty on average than the rest of the USA. Often the levels in reservations are over 2x that of the rest of the USA.

22) A mine entrance. Native Americans were mainly driven off their lands so that European settlers could move in and mine for precious metals. Many treaties were made and broken with Native Americans through the Europeans’ (ok, it was mainly English) greed for mining land.

23) The raising of the flag at Iwo Jima. One of the flag-raisers was a man called Ira Hayes. He was a Native American and many have argued that his treatment by the press and the public after the raising of the flag was instrumental in his subsequent alcoholism and death.

24) (underneath the White House Ruin) Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians. His surrender speech is one of the most famous Native American quotes, part of it is quoted behind him:

'Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sad and sick. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.'

25) (next to Chief Joseph) Native American casinos. These are actually both a good and a bad thing, because there are only a few casinos (maybe 4 or 5) that actually make a lot of money and that money benefits only a few tribes. On the other hand they are used as an argument by many Americans that Native Americans are doing better than people argue. Not least Arnold Schwarzenegger, who declared when he was running for Governor of California that he would “declare war” on Native American casinos.

26) Mount Rushmore. Carved out of the Paha Sapa (Black Hills), which are sacred to many different Native American tribes.

27) The still incomplete Crazy Horse memorial, also carved out of the Paha Sapa. It was commissioned by a Native American chief, but not one of the same tribe as Crazy Horse. Work is also not being carried out by Native Americans, but a Polish American sculptor (now deceased) and his family. Although intended as a monument to Native Americans, which will dwarf neighbouring Mount Rushmore when it is completed (shown by the positive colours in my piece), it has been widely condemned by both Crazy Horse’s decendents, who argued that they weren’t consulted when work began and other tribes from the area who still consider the Paha Sapa (Black Hills) sacred and object to them being ‘destroyed’, even for a monument to Native Americans. This is shown in my piece by the negative colours in the bottom half of the panel.

FML #2 Cover Finished

2011-10-28T16:31:00.000+01:00

Finished! I totally buggered up my back today, so I had a bit of free time to get this finished... sorry to everything I was supposed to do today. I have a nice night of finishing off my costume for tomorrow now, please please please will my back get better before then.

In other news, I'm getting interviewed on Sunday! Thanks again to Rik and Jordan for sorting this out for me and to Simon for wanting to.

Their sites are here:Rik, Jordan

and here: The People I Have Known

Rik and Jordan are still raising money for their first issue of Ladies and Gentlemen at their IndieGogo site; there are a couple of days left on the fundraising drive so if you haven't donated yet you still have time! They are both brilliant craftsmen and very deserving of your support and cash :)

>>>>>>>HERE!!!<<<<<<<

FML #2 Work in Progress

2011-10-28T14:03:00.000+01:00

Just a quickie for you all! But I wanted to share something with you, since it's Friday.

A little bit I've been working on for the front cover of Issue 2. These pictures were both taken on my iphone (yes, I'm one of those, but it's only because my fingers are too crippled to work keypads on phones!) so sorry the quality isn't amazing. And it's still very much a work in progress.

I got a bit carried away with colour and Photoshop with my last issue, forgetting my first love of just working with a pen on a piece of paper. Seeing as this issue is doubling in size almost every time I sit down to get it planned out I think it'll probably have to end up in black and white anyway just to keep costs down. So I thought why not go in a slightly different direction anyway and get back to what I know I'm good at. For 2 hours work I'm pretty proud of this so far and the storyboarding for Issue 2 is going well too. You'll have to hang in there to see it, but it's good to feel like I'm coming on leaps and bounds since I finished #1 at the beginning of the summer.

Tomorrow is Fab Cafe's Halloween party, which I'm mega excited for. If any of you know Leeds, Fab is just the best place in town, it's a themed bar/cafe/club place and just heaven for geeky types. But I've never been in there and had anything less than an amazing night and all the people who go there are just nice people, no dickheads or tossers. It's just wonderful. Me and some friends have been planning our costumes for like a week; we're going as zombified Batman villains (another part of my attempt to get over my fear of zombies!) Naturally I'm Poison Ivy; we also have Two-Face (burning his suit was fun!), Catwoman, Joker and Riddler. I'll share some of whatever photos we get with you all on Sunday, as I'm very very proud of our costumes and well, it is a bit comic related isn't it? It'll also be the first time I'll have properly gone out since the beginning of October... oh the joys of being a cripple! But I have benefitted a lot from being too ill to go out by having lots of time to sit in and work on my art.

Enjoy your weekend, whatever you're doing... and see you Sunday!

Over and out.

Ivy's Party Posters

2011-10-26T11:42:00.000+01:00

Hello folks, even more print/poster fun for us today! Here are my final versions of "Ivy's Party", in black and white and in colour.

I did this picture originally because I was fed up that the Gotham Girls were always portrayed as evil or sexy or both; I mean hypothetically they're real people right? They want to go out and get drunk and be normal sometimes. Today I felt like widening that out to getting some TLC from the people you love, if you know anything of Harley and Ivy's relationship I think that they're really the only ones that they can depend upon (most of the time). This final version is dedicated to my sister, who's away in China at the minute on a school trip. She gets back today but I miss her loads and that's what made me think of framing this piece like this. I can't wait for her to get home.

These pieces will be available as both posters and postcards in due course. Most likely I'll have something new for you again tomorrow.

Hope you're all with the people you love today!

Over and out.

The only explanation...

2011-10-25T11:24:00.001+01:00

After finishing my competition entry (some of the more regular of my visitors will have seen it briefly on Saturday, but I took it down again until after the competition deadline; check back November 1st!), I've started re-doing some of my older pieces to my current standard so I can sell them as posters and postcards at Thought Bubble. I figured my table would be a little bare without anything else. So this is a re-do of the Atomic Girl pin-up poster I did a couple of years ago, now entitled "The only explanation" since I removed that tagline. You can find the original here... As you can tell I've definitely moved away from nudity, does that make me a prude? I suppose I just didn't think it was neccessary.
The piece is supposed to be ironic, now even more so because I doubt they would've made pin-up posters of black women in the 1940s. History often makes me sad. I think she looks very beautiful, if I was a soldier out there during the war I'd like looking at her pretty face before I got blown up. Of course, by the time this poster would've come out (just suppose...) Japan would've already surrendered, seeing as it was only like a week after Fat Man was dropped.

Anyhoo, my little aside into historical fantasy over with, prints of this will be available in due course for anyone who wants their own copy!

Lots of love - Over and out.

Living with Monsters

2011-10-19T12:13:00.002+01:00

I have to spend a lot of my time explaining what Hypermobility Syndrome (HMS) is and what it's like to live with chronic pain and fatigue. I've been playing around with making a comic about it for a while, because I thought it might be easier to get across what it actually feels like through this medium, rather than trying to explain it to people myself and put a brave face on it.

I developed a strategy about a year ago of visualising my pain as a little monster, so I could feel more like it was something that needed looking after and helping rather than something that is attacking me and deliberately trying to hurt me. So Pea was born. She looks a bit like Stitch from Lilo and Stitch but crossed with a koala.

This was part of my day yesterday. I'm going to this really great pain clinicy thing at the minute and I have to keep a diary of what I do during the day which has been really helpful and yesterday I wanted to do something a bit more than just write it down. This is a page I did last night. I'll turn it into a comic at some point, but it'll most likely be ad hoc in between other projects.

If you're interested in the pain course I'm on you can find details at the Breathworks website. It's been really helpful for me after years of failure by the NHS (but I still support it fully Messers Cameron and Lansley!) and it's been especially helpful in helping me develop strategies to deal with my pain now that I'm off painkillers. I've been off them for 10 months now, before which point I'd been on them since I was 16 (about 6 years). Massive victory for Biz!

Shop-shop-shop!

2011-10-16T18:23:00.000+01:00

Finally, you can collect your copy of FML #1 directly through my website! (securely processed by Paypal)

Have no fear, other "exciting products" (it's so hard not to get into advertising mode) will be appearing soon.

Here you go chaps:

Shop

Seeing as we're all being constantly told that Christmas is just around the corner... (for once I am so glad that I don't have a TV!) ...Buy a copy of FML for a loved one (or an enemy...?) this year!

Postcards/flyers

2011-10-13T13:50:00.001+01:00

I'm kinda cheating with these postcards; I'm getting them printed as photos at Boots because they're really cheap if you get more than 200 so I can get lots! So technically speaking they won't be postcards at all, but I'm going to use them as flyers at Thought Bubble so it's not much of a biggy (famous last words...?) Hope you like them!
In other news, I'm picking up my comic from the printer's today. Huzzah!
Over and out.

Exhibition buddies

2011-10-11T14:36:00.002+01:00

Hello friends near and far!

No little doodle today I'm afraid, I'm speeding ahead with this competition entry and my head's all full of Native Americans (you shall see whence I finish!)

I just wanted to share these two lovely gentlemen with you. I have the great pleasure of sharing my exhibition table with Rik and Jordan at Thought Bubble this year as they also release their first comic. I've had a sneak peak and it looks amazing so I wanted to share them with you because otherwise you'd be missing out on a treat! Be warned, friends who come and visit me at Thought bubble, you will end up walking away with a copy of their comic (because you won't be able to resit, not because I'll bully you into it. Bullying is wrong kids!)

Because I don't want to discriminate, here's all of their links I could find:

Please spread the love people!

Over and out.

2000!

2011-10-10T11:39:00.002+01:00

...another very quick one!

Yay! We did it! Over 2000 visitors since February! I can't believe it's been less than a year of me really trying to get my comic and art up and running on the tinterweb and already I've had over 2000 people visiting me (2,053 as of this morning! :D)

Actually we passed the milestone last night which was unreal, I had so many people on my blog yesterday while the updates were going on it was fantastic. But I was so knackered from doing all that work that I just had to go to bed and got up early to knock a little thank you together. Thank you! So much love for you all right now!

Ps if you're wondering what the writing is on my arm there, it's one of my tattoos; a quote from the Yeasayer song "Red Cave"...

...I'm so blessed to have spent the time with my family and the friends I love in my short life; I have met so many people I deeply care for.

Blimey! Worra lorra updates!

2011-10-10T00:24:00.001+01:00

Very quick and crappy... sooooooooo tired!!

Well, I hope you all like the new design!

There's been a lot going on today. I've got myself the new design, upgraded my Deviantart and am now also on Facebook and Twitter! It's taken all day, but on the plus side, I have had a whole mess of cake and curry to keep me going which has been soooo guuurrrrddd! It was my housemate's birthday yesterday and between all our friends we managed to make 3 cakes and a chocolate mousse for his curry night party. Nom nom nom.

Anyway, the updates are all very exciting. Add to that the good progress I'm making on my competition entry,a lot of commission interest and being so close to our 2,000th visitor... things are really starting to take off!

Also, through my own attempts to maintain my languages and also the help of very kind and patient friends, starting soon FML will be appearing in languages other than English. This is for all you lovely people who read FML from abroad (I never knew my site would have such a global reach, thank you all for tuning in!)

FML will (definitely) be appearing in Française, Deutsche and Svenska.

If your language isn't here, don't worry! I'm talking to a lot of people who may be translating it into other languages too. But if you would like to help me translate it so your friends can read it too without having to struggle with the English version, I can reward you with free copies of FML for your time and effort. If you're interested, email me at bizhorne-comics@hotmail.co.uk

Check me out on my other platforms and spread the love. Keep an eye out for my finished competition entry in the next few weeks too and if you're an arty type think seriously about entering; it's a great opportunity!

Northern Sequential Art Competition

Northern Sequential Art Tester

2011-10-02T00:25:00.004+01:00

Well, I've had photoshop for a whole week now, so I decided to spend my Saturday perusing some tutorials online about how to use it a bit and do some tester pieces for my entry into the Northern Sequential Art Competition that’s running in conjunction with Thought Bubble this year. All the entries are exhibited online and across the UK and the two judges who’ve already been announced are the editors of Spider Man and 2000AD (eek!). I’ve got no expectation to win, but getting my stuff out there is the aim with this one and hopefully impressing a couple more people enough to make them want to check out my other work.

So I decided to have a play around with a new concept I’ve been spending the day on because the piece I was working on has hit a bit of a wall and I wanted to step back and try getting at it from another angle. I found this really amazing skin tutorial on Deviantart, [+ part 2], so had a go at trying to digitise the skin in.

I have to admit, I’m still not sold on digital inking, although I know that in most cases it looks amazing, I think I’m really a traditional girl at heart and it’s difficult doing things with a mouse (I’m still not convinced/sold enough to take the leap and get a tablet) and I love working with watercolours and markers too. It all just feels so much more real when you do it yourself, with your own hands on a real piece of paper. But, like I said, there are some pretty amazing digital arts out there (my favourites on Deviantart are full of them). Also, I don't really know if it "fits" with my style, which relies a lot on the linework, rather than blending it all into the shading like a lot of comic art does these days. But with practice I'm sure I'll work out a way to make them friends.

This is what I ended up with, after a couple of hours of playing around (ie: trying really really hard to get it right!) I'm not so happy with the left eye, but that's a flaw with the original drawing I did, not the inking. I think I'm going to need a lot more practice with this programme!

On another note, I’ve almost reached 2,000 visitors to this blog. Thank you all so much for your interest and support! Believe me, it doesn’t go unappreciated. I’ll do a little ditty-piece when we hit the big 2-0-0-0

Over and Out!

Printing! (Finally!)

2011-09-29T13:40:00.002+01:00

Hello everyone!

After a few very hectic and horrible weeks trying to get my first issue ready for print, making a lot of mistakes I won't make again (touch wood!), I'm finally sending it off to the printers.

You may notice that I have sneakily changed the online copy to match the printed one. Email me at bizhorne-comics@hotmail.co.uk if you want to get your hands on one. This is a limited edition print-run, so I will be doing something lovely for people who buy a copy, but I'm not sure what that is yet. So it'll be a nice surprise!

Cool Commentator

2011-09-02T14:43:00.002+01:00

Look where I am! I'm on the bloody front page!

Cool Commentator

I have to say a really massive thank you to Alex D for this, thank you, thank you :)

FML One: Priya

2011-08-25T14:20:00.006+01:00

Finally, finally! Issue 1 [of 15] of FML, ready to go. Obviously it won't make much sense, the first issue is to build intrigue rather than provide information (that's for later). The layout leaves a little to be desired, but unfortunately that's something I can't get around with this blog.

I'll be getting some copies printed to showcase at Thought Bubble this year; remember if you're in Leeds on the 19th and 20th of November the tickets are really cheap and it's well worth a visit for anyone who has even a passing interest in art or anything pretty.

Let me know what you think. Feedback and comments are always appreciated! Also, if you're interested in getting a hard copy let me know. And keep an eye out for Issue 2!

LINKS
Forced Marriage.net
Critical Social Policy
Unreported World: India: Love on the run
UN Women
End Violence Against Women
Human Rights Watch
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit
Karma Nirvana
Shame
Daughters of Shame

I really value your opinions and any constructive criticism you might have. Please use the comment form below to tell me what you think.

FML Teaser

2011-07-29T19:34:00.003+01:00

So, I've redone Issue 1 of FML, and made a lot of changes.
Here's a teaser of the improvements made, with a before & after of one of the pages. The image on the left is before, right is after.

Click to zoom

FML

2011-07-17T22:17:00.002+01:00

I've taken down the first issue of FML for a little while. I've done a really massive re-do of it and it's now vastly better than it was before. I'll put up the new cover in a few days to give an idea of the new look. I'm really proud of it actually.

See you in a couple of days!

Ivy's Birthday Party

2011-06-21T14:17:00.003+01:00

With speech (click to zoom)

Oh dear! It's Poison Ivy's 50s-themed birthday party and she's had a little too much to drink... but everyone's having a good time! She made herself a nice parasol as a birthday present to herself but now she's drunk she keeps accidentally whacking people in the head with it. Harley bought her the dress, so she'd have something to remember her birthday by (plants have a habit of dying in the end).

I wanted to do this piece because there aren't really any pictures of the Gotham girls where they look like normal people... ok so they're not really normal people at all, but all the pictures of them out there are of them being sexy, dangerous or both. I just wanted to try something different, and give them a more human edge.

Pen and watercolour on watercolour paper (I don't have my markers with me at the moment)

Without speech.

Both Harley and Ivy are the property of DC comics and their respective creators

FANTASTIC NEWS!

2011-06-10T09:18:00.004+01:00

Best news ever! I've got an exhibit table at this year's Thought Bubble Comic Book Festival! I figured that since I'll probably have at least 3 or 4 of the FML comics finished by then (look out for Issue 1 in the next few weeks!) it would be worth trying to get some showcasing done, and luckily I had both a wonderful friend to suggest Thought Bubble to me and had not missed the application deadline.
Check the website for the festival out- it's in Leeds and is one of (if not the) biggest comic and sequential art festival in the country. If you're in to any kind of art at all I'd really recommend going, not only to give me some support but there are so many different types of things going on there there really is something to suit everyone. I went last year and it was really amazing- lots of wonderful artists (both famous and relatively unknown) and they had super-duper cheap comics on sale. And tickets are mega cheap too, so from a comics-purchasing point of view it makes perfect monetary sense! I'm exhibiting on the 19th and 20th November in Royal Armories Hall, but there are other events going on in the week before then. There's a link above if you're interested in checking it out (do! do!)
So, look out for FML updates and also new stand-alone pieces I'll be doing in the run-up to November. Hopefully I'll get to see some of you there.
Biz x

FML

2011-05-09T21:37:00.001+01:00

Hello all!

Some of you may know that I've been planning and writing a comic for the past 8 or 10 months. I'm finally in the very happy position of putting pencil to paper and drawing! It's called FML, which stands for "F*** my life". It has superheroes in it, but with a very different edge, not least in the various techniques I'm using to actually draw it. It's more about life, and about issues people have to deal with as part of who they are. I didn't want to make something that was a "typical" superhero comic, so I've tackled some pretty big issues even just dealing with the central characters. I don't want to give too much away, because I'm really, really proud of the story & the visual ideas. But stay tuned, it won't be that much longer to wait until I release the first installment! I hope when I release it you'll all love it as much as I do!

As always, thanks for reading,
Biz x

POL: Genie

2011-03-30T19:59:00.001+01:00

The first in my Portraits of Love series. This is my sister Imo (but I call her Genie). My scanner is really awful, so it doesn't have the same level of shading or detail as the original. I'll try to take a good picture of it later on.

Pencil

Concept work

2011-03-28T04:47:00.000+01:00

A bit of concept portraiture work for a new project of mine- "Portraits of love". I've decided to go in a slightly different direction, which is why it's unfinished, but it's always nice to satisfy your ego with a little self-portrait!

Pencil on watercolour paper

Keep an eye out for the first of this series soon!

Guatemala

2011-03-21T03:48:00.000Z

I'm in the process (still) of writing a comic / illustrated novel of my time away in Guatemala in 2009. I kept a really extensive diary so it only feels right to make it into something, even if it's for my own benefit. These are some biro concept pieces I did in late 2010 when I was playing around with the idea of making an insect-themed comic. Since then I've decided to go down the avenue of an illustrated novel, mostly in watercolour but maybe with some other elements. But knowing how I've been humming and hahing over this for years, it'll probably change a lot more before (if) I get it done.


Leaving Central Station, Newcastle

After the drowning

Inside Central Station, Newcastle

Comet on the beach

Here's an unfinished version of one of the watercolour / pen pieces:

Dead Turtle on the beach

If you're intrigued about the content, stay tuned! (although it may be for a very long time)

PF 0006

2011-02-15T20:15:00.001Z

6th Pulp Fiction; when Bruce Willis wakes up after the scene with the watch, and before his big fight.
Pulp Fiction is Quentin Tarantino and his crew's baby, not mine.

PF 0005

2010-12-25T20:13:00.002Z

Christmas Pulp Fiction! Before Samuel L. Jackson's biblical recitation. Merry Christmas everyone!
Pulp Fiction is Quentin Tarantino and his crew's baby, not mine.

PF 0004

2010-12-14T20:12:00.004Z

4th in the Pulp Fiction series; this is the beginning of the dance scene.
Pulp Fiction is Quentin Tarantino and his crew's baby, not mine.

Dinosaurs

2010-12-06T04:02:00.001Z

A bit of a binge on dinosaurs this week! I'm sure they were really this lovely.

PF 0003

2010-12-02T20:10:00.001Z

Third postcard in Pulp Fiction series; this is the frame after the second postcard.
Pulp Fiction is Quentin Tarantino and his crew's baby, not mine.

PF 0002

2010-12-01T20:09:00.002Z

The second of the Pulp Fiction postcards; from after Uma Thurman's OD.

Pulp Fiction is Quentin Tarantino and his crew's baby, not mine.

PF 0001

2010-11-18T20:06:00.001Z

The first of the Pulp Fiction postcards for Dan's 20th birthday present. This is part of the scene where Uma Thurman and John Travolta dance.
Pulp Fiction is Quentin Tarantino and his crew's baby, not mine.

Commissions

2010-09-02T03:46:00.000+01:00

The Town Moor- Newcastle
Acrylic and fabric on canvas

Council Flats detail
Acrylic and fabric on canvas

Night-time rain in the city
Acrylic on canvas

Commissioned canvases that I painted of Newcastle

Pyramid Song

2010-08-04T04:08:00.000+01:00

A remake of a massive poster that I made for an old boyfriend, based on "Pyramid Song" by Radiohead - this one's much, much smaller!

Pen on paper

And some photos of the original :
(the border is made of the album covers and the shiny parts are silver pen)

Pen on mounting board

Suzi:won

2010-08-01T19:58:00.000+01:00

Promotional work that I did for suzi:won for their 31/7/10 gig at 02 Academy Newcastle

http://www.myspace.com/suziwon

Flyer Back

Detail

Flyer Front

Poster

Iraq

2010-08-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

A piece I did in early 2009 depicting the relationship America and Iraq had during the war.

In hindsight it would've been cleverer to make her blood look like oil, but I still think it's a good analogy. Unfortunately now this is relevant to many more places in the Middle East.

Pen on mounting board

Bomb girl

2010-06-28T04:29:00.000+01:00

Here's a piece that I finished in February, and the blown-up version on my bedroom wall (still a work in progress!). It's based on a very, very old acrylic painting I did, but with a lot of alterations since then.

She's supposed to be one of those old pin-up posters... just of the atomic bomb the U.S dropped on Hiroshima.

Pen on paper

A whole bunch of stuff on my wall

Zero

2010-06-13T04:39:00.000+01:00

Based on "Zero" by the Smashing Pumpkins. I think somehow I felt that the blood compensated for the lack of nudity in this one...

Pen on paper

Poison Ivy

2010-06-04T04:35:00.000+01:00

From May.
I really, really love Batman. Shame about Uma Thurman though.

Pen on paper

Petra

2010-06-03T04:37:00.001+01:00

A bit of landscape practice.

Pen on paper