PLANET OF THE APES

I entered the following strip about Planet Of The Apes into the Little White Lies 'Kick-Ass Creative Brief' competition.  You had to reinterpret your favourite film into a set 6-box format, covering the story from beginning to end.  The winner would get a two-page spread in the middle of the magazine (out tomorrow) amongst a feature on the upcoming film Kick-Ass.  I went with one of my dad's favourites, as Salo: 120 Days Of Sodom wasn't allowed.  Enjoy!

My strip didn't win - you can see the winning entry here (along with some other amazing entries in the comments section) - but apparently two as-yet unannounced runners-up get published as well.  And then there's a special digital edition of the magazine available via their site on March 5th which has more runners-up in it.  So fingers crossed I'll get published somewhere!

UPDATE:  Turns out I wasn't one of the runners-up printed in the magazine, as they are on display over at the Creative Review site, along with the winner and a bunch of Little White Lies' favourites.  I'm not among them - which doesn't bode well for getting in the digital edition - but up there is one by my friend Phil Marsden, so check it out.

SKETCHBOOK POST #10

It's been a wee while since I've posted any doodles from my sketchbook, but I assure you that I've still been drawing in them from time to time.  I tend to go through page after page in the space of a week and then nothing for a month.  Most of the time, it's a stress release thing or just a craving for doing something creative.  However, in general the work in there is shit, so I don't deem them worth posting.  The last couple of sketchbook posts were getting a little ropey, so I decided to stop until I'd gathered enough good ones to warrant the effort.

Yesterday, I was wanting to practice one of the 'proper' ways to colour on Photoshop - with multiple layers and separating the lines and stuff - as I'm getting sick of doing it the hard way.  Here are the results:

It's a whole different process to how I usually colour, but it certainly has it's advantages - for one I don't need to be constantly 'filling in' the line gaps and absently ruining some of the linework in the process.  Much more professional.  And once I get in the swing of it, it's MUCH quicker.  I got these two done in half and hour or so.

DOCTOR ZAIUS

I did this drawing of Doctor Zaius as part of a comic strip and was rather taken with it, so I thought I'd colour it up and post it for your amusement.

He's a handsome fellow, isn't he?  Reminds me of someone...

We didn't see much of Doctor Zaius after the Planet Of The Apes series - I heard he turned up in an episode of McMillan & Wife, but that was about it.  Such a shame.  Perhaps he was bitter after losing out on the part of Clyde in Every Which Way But Loose.

SUPER-AWESOME COMIC PARTY

The Paper Jam Comics Collective, of which I'm a proud member, never did get round to doing an official launch of our last anthology Space Monkey.  It was a bit of a mindfuck trying to organise a child-centric event - not least of all because I bandy around terms like "mindfuck" - so the plan was essentially abandoned.  At least for the time being, anyway.

Never fear though, as the guys have put together an adult launch/3 Year Anniversary party for the group.  It'll be on next week (Thursday the 18th to be precise) at the Telegraph pub behind Central Station in Newcastle, from 7.30pm.  There will be the usual bands, cakes and comics available and, for the the £3 entry fee you'll get your hands on your very own copy of Space Monkey!  Bargain.

See the above poster, lovingly put together by Messers Bainbridge and Fallows, for more details.

"COUPLEDOM" REVIEW AT FORBIDDEN PLANET

 

 

Phew.  After the disappointment of Coupledom's last review, I'm relieved to say that the latest one is a whole lot better.  Richard Bruton over at the Forbidden Planet blog has written a lovely review that sums up perfectly what I wanted people to get from the comic.  He doesn't heap lots of unnecessary praise on it (as nice as that would have been!) or make it out to be something that it isn't - he just takes it for what it is and celebrates that.


Highlights for me were...

"The joy of comics like this is the celebration of the moment, the simple pleasure in the everyday nothingness. And all that’s here in Coupledom."

and...

"I think he’d be happy if it occupied your time for a few minutes, made your day a little brighter and put a smile on your face as you recognise some of the moments here as small reflections of your own life. And that’s what I got out of Coupledom."

Check the full review out here.

I didn't think it when I made the thing, but it looks like Coupledom is definitely one of those pieces of work that people will either love or hate.  To use a lazy analogy - it's like Marmite.  To use a less lazy analogy - it's like Michael McIntyre.  However, if you are one of those people reading the blog and umming and arring over whether to take that step and actually buy the thing - read Richard's review.  There's even a sample strip on there to test the water.  If it sounds like your cup of tea, then go for it.

You can buy it here.