New Look Squid Bits Daily Comic that may not be so Daily!

Okay, so you may have noticed a bit of a lull in my Daily Comics for which I apologise. After a bit of a crappy week of creative block/doubt, I'm hopefully now back on track and with a new look Squid Bits Daily Comic! Well, I say new look; more like new frequency of posting! As much as I love doing my Daily Comic, I've realised that the worry of getting it done every day has kind of pushed back more important work. I have a part-time job too so I can't always get the time I want to do it. Until I get a better timetable, I've decided to keep the Daily Comic as merely a comic, posted as and when. I will miss all the feedback from doing them daily, but hopefully they'll be just as good!

I haven't been totally moping this week though; I've been working on a Transformers Mosaic comic with my talented boyf, which has been fun and frustrating in equal measure! I've had to suck it up and draw cars and stuff! Well, as much of a car as I can draw anyway...! I'm looking forward to doing some more though, so here's hoping my vehicle drawing skills improve a bit!

More exciting news in the form of a table at the London Film and Comic Con where I will be selling more character paintings. William Shatner is the guest of honour which means Star Trek pictures will be a big yes! Looking forward to it as it's always a fun con and to be an exhibitor will be even better. JP will be selling some exclusive TF prints too so we're officially a comic con couple! XD

I'll also be doing a big push on the Milk Town website and finally adding new buildings and more goodies for members as I've left that on the side for a bit. Already looking forward to it!

Feedback on the Daily Comic situation is very much welcome. Here's to (hopefully) a less grumpy week!

A weekend of working!

This weekend, I've pretty much just been painting. The superheroes and film characters are piling up; I just hope they're quirky enough for people to want to buy them! I'm down to 5 canvases at the moment which will respectively be housing several Street Fighter 2 characters and a couple of horror icons. I wont ruin the surprise on them!

Also, I've been getting some awesome mini prints printed up and will be selling these very soon in my shop. They're 6x4 photo quality, glossy pieces of goodness that will be sold in packs for a reasonable price. They will also be adorning my table at the Bristol con!

Character Shizzle!

Another version of Walter Kovacs from Watchmen and my first attempt at an anime character! Tetsuo from Akira was always one of my favourite characters!

Don't you worry about blank, let ME worry about blank!

Oy vey! The next couple of weeks are going to be a bit hectic to say the least. As well as lots of illustration work to do, I'll be going on several jaunts so I'm trying to manage my time which is something I'm particularly crap at. Huzzah! Next weekend I'll be off home to Swindon for a few days as it's my 30th birthday on the 19th of April. I'm ignoring the fact on all counts and will be watching cartoons, eating sweets and generally be trying to cling frantically to my youth before accepting the inevitable. The following weekend I'm off to London with my other half to see a live performance of the Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers soundtrack by the London Philharmonic Orchestra while the film plays - eep! I've been a huge fan of such film composers as Thomas Newman, Howard Shore, Alan Silvestri, Elliot Goldenthall and Jerry Goldsmith for as long as I can remember and I'm really really excited to see a live performance.

Then, after that weekend, we're off to Florence, Italy for a week. This is a Christmas/birthday present from my wonderful boyf and I'm so excited, I've actually stopped being excited! The last couple of holidays I've been on (Japan and Prague), I've kept a sketchbook diary. I'll be posting some pages from these over the next few days, but they're really basic! As much as I'd love to fill the pages with gorgeous landscapes and wonderful life drawing (none of which I'm actually any good at), for the most part, my travel journals are full of bubble-headed people and rude items found in rude shops. I really enjoy making them though, as it's something I do at the start and end of each day of the trip and becomes a fun routine. Looking forward to buying a new sketchbook especially!

So lots going on; I'm also working towards the Bristol Small Press Expo in May too, so a lot of my time is going into original paintings to sell. I'm getting more ideas than I can get down at the moment but as always, am really enjoying it!

Robots in Diguise!

My spring break is now over and I'm back in my part-time job, slightly grumpy and wishing I was at home drawing again. But I can't really complain as I got a lot done and had a bit of a break in between! The above painting was done in preparation for a one-page Transformers fan-comic I'll be drawing for my writer/colourist boyfriend. I've been putting it off, mainly because my confidence level in drawing a TF comic has been very low, but this pic has given me some confidence in actually getting it drawn. Before that, however, I'm itching to get a painting of Bumblebee and Soundwave done! :D

Character Paintings!

The first two of my new series of character paintings! Everyones favourite symbiote, Venom, and Walter Kovacs AKA Rorschach from Watchmen!

SPRING BREAK!

Okay, not quite spring break but I do have 5 whole days off of which I'm hoping to get a metric poop-load of work done! Since the con, I've slowed down a tad; I've been doing work but nothing particularly postable. From today until Tuesday though I have a rather large workload planned and can't wait to get stuck in. Today was kind of put aside for general errands but I'm fully stocked and ready to not leave the house! After a rather lovely tea-and-cake chat with Katie, I headed out to a couple of art shops to get some essentials:

Canvas! Paint! Brushes! New sketchbook! Pencils! A3 rough pad! What a veritable cache of booty! Perhaps the most exciting thing bought though (and by exciting, I mean sad because I got excited when I saw them) are the two pots of indian ink. I've been scrounging every last drop I could find out of existing bottles and finally have some fresh ones! Woo!

My drawing table is a bit of a state at the moment; the pile on the left is kind of my "inbox" where current drawings are flung aside ready to be scanned and coloured.

My painting table currently houses three WIP paintings and over the next few days there should hopefully be more! I've got a huge list of superheroes, film characters and video game characters ready to be put on canvas!


General clutter.

Some of the DVDs I'll be watching while I draw in the evening; I'm avoiding any TV at all, mainly because it's crap but mostly because I have the flat to myself and can just zone out and watch some cheese! You'll notice some guilty pleasures there including the two Young Gun films and D.A.R.Y.L - an awesome '80's film that still makes me weep whenever I watch it! Think Flight of the Navigator but with a robot kid and that's pretty much the film. I've also got a hankering for some Wes Anderson movies so I've put out the fantastic The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited, which I've only seen the once. This may not seem odd but if you know me it is as I watch films a stupid number of times and by all accounts, should have seen it at least 4 times by now!

One of many shelves of DVDs in my flat; these are mixture of mine and my housemates but for the most part, I'd say about 90% are mine! The toys are mine too!




My prized Maakies toys...

The 4 dudes on the left I got in Japan; I dread to think how much I spent on toys and gachapons when I was over there...

Anyway! That's my next few days sorted! I also have a pile of greetings cards designs to scan and colour too as well as many more designs kicking about in my sketchbook to draw up. I may even be REALLY exciting and post some of my current musical inclinations too! :P

Milk Town Paintings!

I've just finished my first batch of Milk Town paintings that will be up for sale at the Web and Mini Comix Thing at the end of this month. Had a blast painting these and I'm hoping to get another 20 done before the con; any that aren't sold will go up for sale in my up-coming Milk Town Gift Shop. They'll be sold at a special price for the con so if you can drop by and say hi all the better!

Productivity up the wiz-wang!

Well, I'm back in Swindon for a week and I'm already being more productive than I hoped! I'm really enjoying making my Milk Town website and I'm painting lots of pics for the Web and Mini Comix Thing in March. I completed 8 5x5 cavases today and hope to have at least 18 by the end of the week. I can't seem to stop working at the moment, which is great; I don't think I've enjoyed myself this much in ages. By the time I get back there's going to be tons to colour so look forward to a hefy helping of bloggings! Also looking forward to seeing The Crazies tomorrow; maybe I'll draw a film review! :P

Jim Dangle!

It's my boyfriend JP's birthday tomorrow and here's my home-made present for him; a painting of Lt. Jim Dangle from Reno 911! If you haven't seen it, it's a fantastic comedy show about a bunch of inept cops from Reno, Nevada. Jim Dangle is possibly the funniest character in it, mainly because of his penchant for wearing very short shorts!

Hog, Chicken and Chimp!

Here are three little canvases I've been commissioned to paint. I included photos as there are bits painted on the sides and I think they look much better in person! I love making these as they stand out as "objects" and are also free-standing. I think I'll make more for the Web and Mini Comics Thing!

More Paintings!

More superheroes/comic book characters! Usagi Yojimbo (one of my all-time favourite comics), Phoenix and Havok!

Character Commissions!

Commissions finished!

Dr Strange and The Shadow are done and done! I had a blast painting them; so much so that I've begun to sketch out a ton of other characters for future paintings. I'm expanding to video game characters too (more for my own amusement but I know people will like them!) and some '80's cartoon characters which will be a lot of fun. Some sketches so far include Usagi Yojimbo, Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, Phoenix and Havok. Any suggestions for more would be welcome!

Workin' on Commissions!

I've been working on the 4 commissions I received from peeps at Bics the last couple of days and it's been really fun. Belldandy and Thanos are pretty much done minus some small tweakage and The Shadow and Dr Strange are in the flatting stage. Belldandy has been my first female character and was frustrating yet satisfying at the same time! I'm also very fond of Thano's chin!

A Mixed Bag of...Nuts? Paintings?

I've had my first commissions for superhero paintings from a few people who were at Bics and I have to say, I'm pretty excited about doing them! I was hoping to get commissions from people for characters I haven't done/wouldn't have thought of doing and the batch of requests I've received from one chap (for him and three friends!) have come up trumps! I'll be doing paintings of Thanos, Dr Strange, The Shadow and Belldandy from Oh! My Goddess. I think that's a rather good mix of characters; I've yet to do a female character so Belldandy will be an interesting challenge! Looking forward to drawing The Shadow; I might even paint a Rocketeer for my own amusement too!

My Studio!

Well, after two weeks of stress, I've finally been able to settle into my new flat! I currently share a three-bed with my best friend which means our spare room has been used as a studio. This was one of the reasons we decided to take the flat as we're both arty types and really need space to work. So now I can finally work somewhere without socks and other bedroom-type bits getting in the way! Here's a little look around my cluttered but comfy workspace.

This is my portion of the studio; I have my computer/drawing table and a table for painting.

I've been working here for the most part on Christmas and shoe designs. My graphics tablet is kicking about somewhere too.

A few bits for the wall. There's an original Sean Phillips sketch of Zombie Captain America and a Duncan Fegredo Hellboy sketch. I had to put up my second place award for best 2D design from the Bristol Design Festival as I never really win anything and I'm proud of it! There's also a picture of Odo from DS9 that was a Valentine's Day gift from my boyfriend!

Canvas' and soft toys together at last! There's a plushie Cthulhu, a Moogle from Final Fantasy X, the mascot for Japanese soft drink Qoo and a very odd Japanese radish from a grab machine in Tokyo.

A few of my many books. Until the wall shelves go up, the rest are in my bedroom. For the most part these are arty books and magazines. Oh, and a Goomba from Super Mario Bros!

The all-important stereo and music! Also more toys including two Lums and a Godzilla from Japan, Toad, Mothman, Marvin the Martian and two uber-rare Hideshi Hino figures!

And back to the computer desk with a Spidey mug full of coffee and a pile of work ready for inking! You'll also notice the Animal Crossing mouse-mat and a little K.K Slider; another piece of win from Japan!

Bics 2009!

Well, Bics is over for another year and it was awesome. I sold lots of stuff, made lots of money and met lots of awesome people. My superhero paintings went down an absolute storm and I think I'm going to have commissions coming out of my ears, which isn't a bad thing! A chap from a comic shop in Halifax wants a bunch to sell for xmas which is great and may generate even more commissions. As usual, I was crap and pretty much forgot to take any pictures, but here's how my stall looked at the start of the weekend. By Sunday afternoon, it was looking a bit bare! I sold all but 3 of my 24 paintings! I only just realised how blurry the pics are too so apologies!