Five, Alive!

After five weeks of scribbling, from London to Warsaw, I'm now awaiting the delivery of Killjoy #5 from the printers (i.e. the wonderful Comic Printing UK). Hop over to the Shop if you'd like to order a copy. Much of this issue was produced more spontaneously than previous 'medium-length' stories of the Catch a Fairy project - with less pre-planning - and I'm hoping this process results in a pleasing narrative effect. Unfortunately, I broke my rule of keeping every issue of Killjoy self-contained: issue five contains the first instalment of a longer story - which I'm planning to conclude in issue six - 'The Great British Summer Holiday'.

In the technical production of this issue (including flatting and general colouring assistance in the making of the above cover), I was patiently and fruitfully assisted by Iza Świderska, without whom I probably wouldn't have met the print deadline for its planned debut. Many thanks to Mecha-Iś!

(Left) Makeshift studio in kitchen; (Middle) Work-in-progress pages; (Right) Some cartooning apparel.

Speaking of debuts, I'll be sat at table 69 (snigger) in the comiXology Marquee at the convention of the Thought Bubble Festival on 5th-6th November 2016, with the first copies of the new issue to be offered for sale. I'll also be bringing along a few copies of Portraits of Violence: An Illustrated History of Radical Thinking, published by the New Internationalist, for which I illustrated the chapter on Foucault (and drew the title-page portrait of Arendt). I hope to see you there.

You're the Spring in my Step

I was happy to hear that the Comica Comiket was returning this Spring (14 May), as I'd really enjoyed my time with them back in 2012 and 2013. Given the (lamentably) stiff competition for table space at London conventions, it was nice to get a spot at my first comics-specific show in the Big Smoke for two-and-a-half years. Thereat, I released the second edition of Killjoy #1, featuring a redux version of the 'Cub Camp' story adding three pages and grey tone, as well as reworked versions of a couple of panels. (Check out some sample pages over at the Shop.) Comiket took place in the sheltered courtyard of the House of Illustration, in King's Cross, on a mild Spring day; probably due to the event's recent resurrection and fairly late announcement, the footfall was lighter than in the previous years I attended, but it was an enjoyable event nevertheless. I look forward to their future shows.

Proper excited. © Lucy Brown

In my previous post, I mentioned spending a pleasant day pratting about with Gareth Cutter and a video camera. We cut the resultant footage into Gurning Bright, a little teaser for an imaginary film about a talking tiger. Press play, click for HD quality, and watch in glorious full-screen mode (and turn up your volume, too, as I amateurishly set the audio levels a little too low):

My Shadowlife

A short autobiographical strip, drawn on 23rd March 2010 - still feeling that obscuration of identity caused by day-jobs, to some degree.

The Anxiety of Influence

Another belated post about a comic release! No wonder I'm still nowhere near making my first comics million... The Thought Bubble Festival 2015 convention (14-15 Nov), at which I released Killjoy #4, was great fun, as always. The other half of the table at which I was seated had not been allocated, so I ended up having a whole table to myself - which was quite fortuitous, given that it turned out that arranging four comics in my usual fashion required the extra space.

Thought Bubble 2015 © Charley Wilcock

As always, thanks to everyone who dropped by the table, both pre-planned visitors and impromptu tarriers. It seemed that I encountered more familiar faces than ever before. (Initially I thought it seemed that people were especially chatty this year; eventually I had three long overlapping conversations with visitors to the table, and suddenly realised that I was the garrulous one. Whatever happened to my misanthropic aloofness?) I broke the three-figure mark in takings over the weekend, which I suppose is pretty good for an unknown solely hawking issues of black-and-white childhood memoir comics. I still can't bring myself to make any other merchandise.

The week before, I attended the opening of Orbital Comics' Underneath exhibition, to which Camila had invited me to contribute a piece. In line with the theme of influences & inspirations, I drew a page inspired by Chris Reynolds' Mauretania Comics (especially the story 'Whisper in the Shadows', which is collected in his incomparable Adventures from Mauretania), with his blessing. I exhibited the original art, which I'd not intended to sell, but after a rather fumbling (on my part) negotiation with one of the attendees, I received financial compensation for rehoming it. The show was excellent - thanks for asking me along for the ride, Camila! - and I hope you had the chance to check it out. I plan to publish my piece, 'Whispering Walls', on this site at some point in the near future.

Underneath © Laura Marie Scott

Did I ever tell you that I occasionally do things that aren't (directly) related to comics? One of those things is messing about with video cameras. After plans for shooting scenes for my own film project fell through, my pal Gareth Cutter & I decided to have a bit of fun, one Saturday in February, with a tiger character/costume he's explored in previous performances. We intend to build upon the footage shot with some more semi-improvised material to cobble together into a short film. Watch this space (but not too intently).

Tyger, tyger, gurning bright © Gareth Cutter

At the time of writing, I've just recently undergone a particularly trying home-move (hell, they're always trying) & am preparing to get back into the cartooning groove. Stocks of the 'historic' first edition of Killjoy #1 (printed way back in 2011) are finally dwindling, and so I'm planning a redux edition to build upon the original material & commemorate the fifth anniversary of its release. Thereafter, I'll be planning Killjoy #5, a return to the issue-length story format to cover the events of late summer '97. Before all that, though, I'm going to be working on a strip for the the Histories of Violence project, with Sean Michael Wilson & Brad Evans, about the theories of Michel Foucault. (I previously provided a cover for Hannah Arendt: The Banality of Evil.) Busy-ish times ahead.

The Portable Cartoonist

This month, I've started making some headway in drawing the fourth issue of Killjoy.

My usual drawing process requires a little preparation before I actually make the first marks on paper - that is, clearing space on my cluttered desk before setting up my drawing board (I use a Reeves' Art and Craft Workstation, A2 size, which is effective and inexpensive) and preparing whatever drawing materials I plan to use. As a result, I've only tended to make 'finished' work during occasional, preplanned sessions on free days or evenings.

As I intend to make single issues of Killjoy a little longer from now on, I'm making use of smaller pockets of free time - lunch breaks, idle café visits, &c. - in the production of comics. To this end, I'm drawing a number of strips in a sketchbook (Daler Rowney Ebony, spiral-bound), with a brush pen (a Kuretake No. 13 filled with Platinum Carbon ink).

Redrawing panels in Manchester's new Chapter One bookshop & café

Some of the benefits of the brush pen are its speed, convenience, and looseness; the last characteristic might be considered a disadvantage in some circumstances, but it helps in remedying the increasing fussiness I've developed in drawing a project that was intended to be freer. (I received some justified criticism of this tendency at last year's Thought Bubble Festival.) Watercolour brushes loaded with Indian ink are always more versatile and precise - especially for controlled wet/dry effects - but I can't just pull them out of my bag and get to work on any available surface during a few stray minutes. (I also think the coffee shop scenes in Jeffrey Brown's comics might've inspired a certain fondness for the idea of café-drawing.)

I must admit to a little former preciousness in respect of art materials - that sketchbooks and pens might not be 'proper' tools for 'serious' drawing, even though I've always theoretically agreed with Derek Kirk Kim's opposite opinion. However, I've become increasingly aware that brush pens are regularly used to brilliant effect by cartoonists whose work I could never hope to match: Frederik Peeters uses the Pentel Pocket Brush to draw his beautiful comics, and Blutch apparently keeps multiple brush pens to hand - and Kaz once told me that he began drawing Underworld with a brush pen in his sketchbook after a move that left him pressed for time. And, of course, to be a tools snob makes one a tool.

The only concerning disadvantage with this method is that bending over a horizontal sketchbook is painfully niggling a trigger point in my back. I'll probably draw about one-third or half of the issue in this manner, before moving back to a static, posture-friendly setup in a month or two.