Garen Ewing

Merry Christmas

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:52:15 GMT

I started writing a review of The Rainbow Orchid in 2009 and my ramblyness got somewhat out of hand - it's ended up far too long, and unfinished, so I'll have to revisit and edit it down after Christmas I'm afraid. The new Adventurers' Society newsletter will also appear after Christmas.

In the mean time, have a lovely seasonal break (if you celebrate one), stay safe, happy and well, and thank you very much for all your wonderful support in 2009. Click on the figure of Julius Chancer below to see the full Rainbow Orchid Christmas card.

A few more reviews

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:06:01 GMT

Here's a quick post just to cover a few of the more recent Rainbow Orchid reviews. And don't forget the December sale is still on, though it's getting rather close to Christmas now if presents are what you have in mind (and what a good Christmas present The Rainbow Orchid would make!)

It was a lovely surprise on Friday to see The Rainbow Orchid mentioned by Nicholas Tucker in The Independent's best children's books for Christmas. Influential website Love Reading For Kids listed it as one of their Books of the Year, as did Mousehunter author Alex Milway. There was a lovely review on The Book Zone (For Boys) and Swedish comics review site Shazam also gave a very positive write-up (Google translation here). The review pictured below comes from The Teacher, the magazine of the National Union of Teachers which enjoys a print run somewhere in the region of 320,000, so some nice exposure there too.

Since finishing volume two I have been busy completing some commercial illustration work, so apologies for the lack of posts here recently. There will be an Adventurers' Society newsletter before Christmas, and a round-up of how volume one has done since its launch in August, here on the blog

December sale!

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:07:10 GMT

Just a very quick post to let you know that I'm lowering the price of signed and sketched-in Rainbow Orchid books by £4, and the same for t-shirts. Visit the shop here.

Thought Bubble

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:21:59 GMT

This was my first time at Thought Bubble (now in its third year) and the furthest I'd travelled to attend a comics event, but I'd heard such good things about the Leeds-based festival that I didn't want to miss it this time, and certainly wanted The Rainbow Orchid to have a presence there, if possible.

A break in the heavy rain on Friday afternoon helped with the journey up, though we were a little late leaving and managed to hit Cambridge at peak time, adding about an hour to our journey. We spent the night in the lovely little village of Belton in Lincolnshire, courtesy of Elyssa's dad and his partner, a perfect place to unwind and relax, not only from the A1, but the previous day I'd finished the very last panel of volume two of The Rainbow Orchid, and this was my first opportunity to just do nothing - and enjoy it!

We were up early on Saturday and braved thick fog to carry on up to Leeds, having to divert twice due to traffic accidents, but we still made it in good time. I was delighted to find that my table was right between two very talented artists - long-time RO friend and supporter, Graeme Neil Reid (aided and abetted by Jeremy Briggs of Down The Tubes), and manga artist extraordinaire, Sonia Leong. Both had their sumptuous art on display for the crowds, and I spent my few idle moments admiring the utter professional quality of their work - outstanding stuff.

There's not too much I can comment on regarding the substance of Thought Bubble, as I spent the entire day behind my table, selling and sketching in books, and talking to people about The Rainbow Orchid. As ever, it's such a boost to talk face-to-face with readers, both old and new, and I'm still taken aback by the generous enthusiasm people show for my comic - it really keeps me going after all this time.

What I can say is that Thought Bubble had a really nice vibe and a wonderful variety of attendees. And for a one-day event, I did very well, selling almost as many books as I did over two days at the MCM. I was really impressed with the friendliness and organisation that went into the festival - I can see why so many people have such good things to say about it.

I didn't attend any of the after-show events, I'm sorry to say. Elyssa and I found our hotel (the City Inn, which was really nice) and then went out for dinner, getting back to the hotel just as we really started to flag. It was nice to be able to take our time getting home on Sunday, stopping off for lunch once again in Belton, then driving on back down to Sussex (another hour added to the journey with the M11 closed, but Radio 4 kept us company). Some take-away fish and chips ended the weekend very nicely. I have no doubt I'll be at Thought Bubble again next year, a truly wonderful comics festival.

Train carriage sequence

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:21:28 GMT

I drew a panel a few weeks ago and decided to take some photographs of its development on my iPhone, with no particular reason in mind. But now it's inked and coloured I thought I'd put the sequence up on the blog along with some brief notes.

You can click on the image (below) to open it up bigger in a new window.

1) This is the rough sketch I drew in my little sketchbook so I had a plan of what I wanted. It's a secondary establishing shot, looking down on the characters in the train carriage of a 1920s Northwest Frontier train.

2, 3) Here the panel has been started on the actual page. I started with the figure of Lily first, lightly, then drew in the structure of the environment (three-point perspective on this view), then sketched in the other figures to fit. You can see I changed Lily's pose to cross her legs in (3).

4) As I started some of the environment detail I realised my two figures at the bottom of the panel were not quite placed correctly for the seats. I liked their fairly natural poses, so lightboxed them into my sketchbook, erased them and continued detailing the surroundings.

5) Here you can see I've lightboxed the figures back from the sketchbook and into the scene again, this time placed correctly.

6) Most of the surroundings are in now and there's another slight change to Lily's pose as I give her a water bottle to hold - those carriages get hot! One component missing is the Punjab infantryman's rifle as I needed to get reference for a Mark III Lee Enfield.

7) Here are the finished pencils scanned in, complete with correct rifle.

8) And here is the panel inked.

9) The completed and coloured panel. There's a bit of cheating going on with this scene because the reader's view has to be outside the carriage in order to fit the whole thing in, but you can do that kind of thing with comics!

The London Movie-Comics-Media Expo

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:21:01 GMT

Had a great time at the MCM Expo this past weekend, driving up for both days (on Saturday with Elyssa) and being amazed and entertained by all the fabulous cosplay that was going on. Sales were slower than at BICS, but it meant I had a little more time to chat to people, and by the end of the weekend I'd sold almost as many books (51 at BICS, 41 at the MCM, and of Murray's R'lyeh book, 10 and 5 respectively - not bad for some self-published poetry!).

The thing I really liked about the MCM was the diversity of the attendees and getting The Rainbow Orchid in front of a totally new crowd of people (for instance, I had my first Roman Centurion reader!). Most were probably manga/anime hard-liners and walked by with just a glance, but quite a number stopped to investigate more, wondering about this comic that reminded them of Tintin. Telling them I had the same UK publisher as Tintin seemed to legitimise me, in their eyes, and then I was able to tell them a little more about the whole Franco-Belgian scene where there are even more comics like this. Hopefully a few will go on to read the story, which is not quite so Tintin influenced.

It was a great weekend, and I was really pleased to be able to meet up with several friends and quite a few new people too (I was especially delighted to get my copy of Helen McCarthy's Osamu Tezuka book signed). I must say a big thank you to Dave West and Colin Mathieson (Accent UK) who brought me tea and lunch on Sunday when I was manning the table on my own.

I also thought I'd ask Elyssa if she'd like to write up her day at the MCM from her point of view - so here it is...

Elyssa's MCM report

Forget drugs and knife crime, today's teens are more interested in dressing up as cute cartoon characters and handing out free hugs, if last weekend's MCM (Movie, Comics, Media) Expo is anything to go by. A reported 20,000 young people [40,000 say some!-G] - and a few bemused parents - bought excitement and colour to East London's normally drab and soulless Excel Centre for two days of manga, anime and the latest film and computer game releases.

Garen and I were there to sell copies of The Rainbow Orchid (well Garen was there to sell RO, and I tagged along because attending comics events is the only way I get to spend time with my chained-to-the-drawing-board husband these days). After taking a wrong turn down Computer Games Alley, where kids were giving it their all on the latest addition to the Rock Band franchise - Lego Rock Band! - we found our table in the Comics Village. Alongside us was Philip Spence of Ninja Bunny fame, and opposite the ridiculously talented and utterly lovely Sarah McIntyre and Gary Northfield, selling copies of Morris the Mankiest Monster and Derek the Sheep respectively.

While most comics conventions I've been to in the past have been populated predominantly by white males, MCM brought steady sales from a hearteningly diverse range of customers - guys and gals of all hues, and a disproportionately high number of the aforementioned bemused parents. And when the novelty of selling stuff wore off, as it invariably does after a couple of hours, there was plenty to keep us entertained.

First up on the nearby stage was a couple performing Japanese karaoke. Next came a British guy who performed a cheesy dance routine (think the Macarena or Whigfield's Saturday Night) to a Japanese pop song, badly [it was para para -G]. Then he invited loads of punters on to the stage and taught them the dance, badly, and then they all performed it together, very badly. (This happened twice more during the day.) Rather more talented was the troupe of Taiko drummers, who drew a large crowd to comics corner.

Most entertaining of all, however, was the endless parade of weird and wonderful cosplay costumes that passed by our table. Among my personal favourites were the smiley fat Jedi with flashing teeth, the not very muscular Lion-O, and the cardboard-clad and streakily painted Lego man. Our most spectacularly dressed customer was a Roman gladiator, attending the Expo with his teenage daughter.

Mid-afternoon, I went for a wonder through the crowds, feeling like a foreign tourist amid the buzz and bustle of an alien culture. Back at our stall, Garen had been joined by John Wigmans, all the way from Holland. Garen and John have been corresponding for a couple of months, but had never met in person before. Now, at last, G had the opportunity to thank the Dutchman in person for his generous gifts of ligne claire comics from the Low Countries.

At the end of the day we migrated to the pub with John, Sarah, Gary, his sister, his young nephew in zombie make-up [wasn't it the Joker? -G], and several other comics friends, including Tozo creator David O'Connell, Beano illustrator Laura Howell, and Colin Mathieson and Dave West of Accent UK. After lots of fine conversation and greasy pub grub we headed home for a well-earned cup of tea and morsel of chocolate. Then I enjoyed a big, long lie-in while Garen got up early to do it all again the next day...

Orchid bits

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:04:13 GMT

Just a quick post to put up some bits and bobs that have been collecting and need a place to go.

Next weekend, 24-25th October, is the MCM Expo (Movie-Comics-Media) at London's Excel Centre. You will find me in the Artists' Alley on table C14 - see the floor-plan here. This will be a new experience for me as the MCM appears to have its feet firmly planted in the worlds of manga, anime and television, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes for The Rainbow Orchid.

There have been some new and positive reviews for RO in the wake of BICS. First, let me point you to Shiny Shelf, and when you've had a read of that, you can click over to the Monkey On My Back blog, and listen to their podcast too, where they have more nice things to say. And talking of podcasts, the Geek Syndicate lads were also generous in their praise. I must also point out what's becoming something of a rather nice 'fan page' by Linda Wada, with a huge list of updates here - scroll down from the audio interview. Thank you to everyone for these, I really appreciate the support quite massively.

Work on volume two is going well and I am now about a month away from completion. I've got three pages left to pencil, fourteen to ink and colour, and then all the little extra bits that are required for the book. As much as I like volume one, the work in it is actually six years old (with the exception of the few re-drawn bits and two new pages) and I'm over-familiar with it. I'm much happier with the art in volume two (even though some of that is a few years old too) and the story goes up a notch, or maybe I should say goes in a notch, as the plot deepens and builds. Volume three is the big release (I hope).

Anyway, you'll be able to decide what you think of it for yourself in April 2010, when it's published. For now, here's a little pencil detail...

Cheltenham Literature Festival

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:53:28 GMT

Leaving at a far more sensible hour than we had to for BICS, Elyssa and I had a trouble-free run up to Cheltenham on Saturday (well, a little traffic around Oxford) to attend the Literature Festival, that this year sees its 60th anniversary (it's the longest-running festival of its kind in the world).

Even with the handy sat-nav, we were slightly defeated by the town's one-way system, but made it to the George Hotel with just one major breach of the Highway Code and plenty of time left to stroll into town, have some lunch, and then make our way to the Writers' Room at the Town Hall to meet Sarah McIntyre and her husband, Stuart. I tried not to stare too much at the celebs who were lounging around, waiting for their various events, but to give you an idea, Sarah had just given a copy of her new book, Morris the Mankiest Monster, to Cherie Blair, and Michael Morpurgo and Martin Bell were deeply ensconced in their newspapers (until Sarah went over to say hello to Mr Morpurgo, jolting him into waving at us all while he bemusedly tried to place this group of people all excitedly grinning at him).

We then trundled over to The Playhouse where our event, 'Graphic Novels', was to take place, and to meet up with our fellow 'performers' (as our wristbands designated us), John Dunning (whose new book, Salem Brownstone, is just out) and Kieren Phelps (our host, and senior lecturer in illustration at Gloucestershire University). The festival organisers and stage manager were all very well practised in what to do with us, and in a few minutes we were mic'd up and had our slideshow presentations beaming onto the screen.

The panel itself went very well, I think. Each of us three creators gave a ten-minute slide-show and presentation on our work and the art of creating comics, followed by a few searching questions from Kieren, and then opening up to questions from the audience (which was about 40-strong, a nice mix of kids and adults, male and female). My talk introduced The Rainbow Orchid, its influences in both story (Haggard, Verne, Doyle) and art (clear line from various Tintin Magazine contributors to some of the present day adherents), the creative process, research, and the fact that in the end it's all about the story - not the medium especially (though comics is a wonderful, unique and fascinating medium!). It's interesting that we all seemed to have a fairly similar outlook to our creative endeavours, and are also enjoying the cusp of a new wave, I think, of UK-published comic albums from mainstream publishers (still relatively scarce). Afterwards we went out to the lobby where a travelling Festival stall of Waterstones had our books for sale, and we were able to meet our audience and sign books for them, which was very enjoyable.

That evening Elyssa and I went to a very ornate Thai restaurant with Sarah and Stuart, and then for a late-evening stroll round Cheltenham, before tea in our very nice little hotel room (where Sarah signed a Mankiest Monster we'd brought for a friend). We got back on the road pretty soon after Sunday's breakfast and managed to get home by lunch time, making very good time. All in all, a very nice event, so a big thank you very much to the festival organisers, and a special thank you too to Gemma Shelley from Egmont, who overcame a bit of a troublesome journey from London to lend her support, and to Elyssa for (once again) her great photos.

Edit: See Sarah's great write-up here.

The British International Comics Show 2009

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:01:33 GMT

Every year I've been meaning to go to BICS (the British (previously Birmingham) International Comics Show) and every year I've had to cancel my plans as something work-related took over. This year was different - despite the fact that two extra days of drawing would be very useful indeed right now, I had a book to sell and a table-share with Accent UK - I couldn't miss it.

Elyssa and I left early on Saturday morning, hoping to reach Birmingham for 10 am, but that plan went pear-shaped after a body was found on the M40 and a section of the road was shut. Somehow we got lost along the diversion and ended up at Brum's Millennium Point at just before midday. Thank heavens for the sat-nav though!

I was on the end of Colin Mathieson and Dave West's Accent UK table (choc-full of their lovely comics), and with my two new display stands had quite a nice little set-up, with just enough space to sign and sketch in books. And sign and sketch in books is what I spent pretty much the entire weekend doing, which doesn't make for a very exciting report, I'm afraid.

As ever, it was really nice to catch up with so many comic friends, old and new. The biggest surprise of the weekend was meeting Alex Bardy from my old fanzine days. We probably hadn't been in touch since the late 80s or early 90s, and it was he who accepted my first fanzine art submission, a cover for Cerebretron (his science fiction fanzine), which encouraged me to become a fairly prolific illustrator for several other publications too.

I don't want to start a long list of people I spoke to, because I always forget someone and feel awful about it later, but I will mention my table-mates of the weekend - besides Colin and Dave, there was the very talented Andy Bloor (master of shadows!) and Jason Cobley, who has several titles you should look out for from Classical Comics (Dracula with Staz Johnson looks stunning). I was also next to Ben Dickson who is always good company (you have read Falling Sky haven't you?). Having seen a few other BICS reports and photos now, I see there were so many other people I know and should have said hello to, but didn't see them all weekend. It seems silly when the show basically just consists of two (big) rooms, but that's the way these things go.

Elyssa and I stayed at the Britannia Hotel, a place whose glory days are long-past. We were on the ninth floor in a room that looked as though it had been the site of a violent brawl (gouges out of the wall, heavily chipped furniture) and with no windows, so come the morning it was still pitch black. It was a comfortable bed for the night though.

Sunday was a bit slower (which was quite nice actually), but I still made sales throughout the day. I also had my brother's new publication, Alice at R'lyeh, selling all of them by the end of the show (you can buy a copy here).

Overall, I enjoyed the weekend. It reminded me of the old UKCACs in London, quite a traditional comics show. It was great to talk face to face with so many people about The Rainbow Orchid and to hear what others are doing too, though a shame I was unable to go for a wander myself (I especially wanted to see Bryan Talbot's talk on Grandville). Apologies to those I missed or only managed brief conversations with. Most of all - thank you very much if you bought a copy of The Rainbow Orchid - the interest and response was terrific.

End of volume II

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:26:44 GMT

Here are the thumbnails for the final eight pages of The Rainbow Orchid volume two, and then a strip from the A4 roughs from the penultimate page.

Grandville

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:03:35 GMT

Last night I got a late train up to London, met up with Elyssa at work, and then we went to meet Pádraig Ó Méalóid and his lovely wife Deirdre (both over from Dublin) before going on to The Cartoon Museum to celebrate the launch of Bryan Talbot's new book, Grandville.

There was a short introduction by Bryan's editor at Jonathan Cape (his publisher) and then a few words by one of Bryan's first publishers, Lee Harris, who produced Brainstorm Comix in the 1970s. Bryan then said a sentence (literally!) and we all got on with the mingling and book signing.

Besides being one of the UK's most important comic creators, Bryan is one of my long-time heroes, and when he offered to write a quote for the back of The Rainbow Orchid I was chuffed beyond belief. I'd been devoted to Bryan's portrayal of Nemesis the Warlock in 2000AD and was a subscriber to the Valkyrie Press Luther Arkwright series. And now we have Grandville, an utterly superb piece of work that looks as though it will spawn a series of albums featuring the main character - Detective-Inspector Lebrock of Scotland Yard (who happens to be a badger).

You can trace Bryan's career so far to see a kind of logical culmination in this book. He's always been a master of the intelligent action-adventure (Luther Arkwright and Heart of Empire), and the animals come, perhaps, from his studies into Beatrix Potter for The Tale of One Bad Rat. Mix in some history that resonates with a veracity that only comes through genuine research (Alice in Sunderland) and wobble it somewhat with a dose of the fantastical (Nemesis, Luther etc.) and you have Grandville (and note the lovely little nods to Spirou (the hotel porter character) and Tintin (Snowy appears as a washed-up drug-addict) that add a cheeky wink to the story). This is a stunning book and Bryan's work just gets better and better.

Four Comics

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:02:01 GMT

This has been such a good year for comics, I've never been short of new titles to buy and I always have several more on my wish-list. Here's a quick look at four recent books.

Dave West has published a collection of his highly excellent Strange Times, which came out as a series of mini-comics and then began serialisation online over at the Accent UK website. But, and I emphasise this quite strongly, you really must own this marvellous hardback collection! It's a substantial package and an absorbing read, as well as being a beautiful object to have on your shelf (really nicely designed by Andy Bloor). I'll be sharing tablespace with Accent UK at BICS this weekend, so you can buy a copy directly from Dave himself if you're going - and you really really should.

I got interested in Francesca Cassavetti's work after it was highlighted by Richard Bruton on the Forbidden Planet International blog, and after meeting her at Caption this year I finally did what I'd been intending to do for some time and bought a handful of her totally delightful comics. I love her natural cartooning style, with a dash of Posy Simmonds and a pinch of bande dessinée thrown into the mix. I'll particularly single out The Most Natural Thing in the World which focuses on the trials and joys of new motherhood, but there isn't a single title out of the four I own that I didn't enjoy.

After seeing a few bits of preview art online I was very interested in Richard Sala's Cat Burglar Black from First Second, and got my hands on it last week. It's brim-full of lovely drawing brought to life with sumptuous watercolour and offers up an intriguing story with an inviting cast of characters. Another one for the 'highly-recommended' pile.

I tried to buy a copy of Self Made Hero's The Hound of the Baskervilles a little while ago and failed, but have at last added it to my ever-tightening shelves. I really enjoyed this adaptation (by Ian Edginton and I N J Culbard) and rewarded myself with chapters when I reached little targets on some recent Rainbow Orchid pencils. Adaptation is an art all of its own, and Edginton has done a seamless job here, more than ably assisted by the characterful illustrations of Mr Culbard - I particularly loved the depiction of Dr Mortimer (though am wondering where one of the train coaches disappeared to on the journey to Dartmoor!). A Study in Scarlet is next and I eagerly await it.

East Grinstead Bookshop competition

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:03:55 GMT

Yesterday was the deadline for all entries into the East Grinstead Bookshop competition, and today I put all entrants into my trusty old tin and pulled out a winner. And that winner is Thomas Victor Leighton!

Congratulations, Thomas. As well as an original Julius Chancer drawing by myself, you'll get a complete set of the special promotional RO badges from Egmont and a Rainbow Orchid t-shirt. I also picked three runners-up who will each receive a set of the badges, so congratulations Fathi Tarada, Adam Wyartt and Raphael Moran.

To everyone else - thank you so much for buying the book from The Bookshop and entering the competition, I'm really grateful. Look out for a new competition in the not-too-distant future...

Crow

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:39:18 GMT

Two fantastic drawings of Evelyn Crow have come my way this weekend. The Evelyn on the left is drawn by David Goodman, and the Evelyn on the right is drawn by Rick Eades. Thanks so much, chaps! They've been added to the readers' art gallery, where new drawings are always welcome.

Volume II

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:03:56 GMT

The Rainbow Orchid volume two - proof of life.

The East Grinstead Rainbow Orchid book launch

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:35:47 GMT

Not content with one book launch, I decided to have two, the second being in my home town of East Grinstead at the local independent bookshop - The Bookshop on the High Street.

East Grinstead's High Street features the longest continuous run of 14th and 15th-century timber-framed buildings in England, with The Bookshop being one of these, despite the fact that a German aircraft dropped a bomb behind it in 1943, killing the then owners and almost destroying the building outright. Luckily things were much more pleasant on Friday (21st August) as people started arriving from about 7pm for the Rainbow Orchid launch event.

We had Pimms, orange juice and snacks laid out, as well as six of the A1 boards that had been up at the Foyle's Gallery exhibition a couple of weeks beforehand. John, the bookshop owner, had even gone to the trouble of getting a lovely orchid in as part of the shop decorations. I sat down to sign my first book at about 7.10pm, and signed the last one at about 9.15, only stopping briefly half-way through for a quick list of thank-yous and to present Harvey with a giclée print of the Breguet plane that he so kindly constructed a model of.

I was determined not just to sign books but to give everyone a quick sketch as well (which I didn't do at Foyles), which meant that everyone in the queue was enormously patient as I scribbled away as fast as I could on each book. The turn-out for the event exceeded all our expectations, with a really lovely buzz all evening. I don't know how many books were sold, but after the copies on the rack were sold, a big pile on my signing table went and the window display also had to be plundered to fulfil demand. Sadly some people didn't have time to queue, so I was left with a few books to sign on Saturday to be forwarded to their owners at a later date. I'm really sorry I didn't get to chat to everyone, and I'm really grateful to all who came - especially those who travelled any kind of a distance. Some came from London which was really lovely - it's not that far, but I know a psychological barrier has to be broken to come to events outside of London as well as a geographical one!

There was a marvellous mix of friends, people I hadn't seen for ages, people I'd never met before, and men, women, and children (girls and boys) of all ages. The evening zoomed by for me. My wife Elyssa and good friend Louise had made an amazing Rainbow Orchid cake (including raspberries from our garden) which I hope everyone got a piece of.

An enormously-massive thanks to Elyssa who worked so hard to organise this event (and also managed to take these photos in the second half of the evening), and to all those who immediately went into useful mode and helped with the drinks and food - I'm very grateful indeed. And special thanks to John the bookshop owner for providing his lovely bookshop for the evening and staying late to host us. You can see an album of photos from the evening here (or start here), and there are some up on the Tintinologist Facebook page as well (thank you Simon).

Away with the Fairies: Caption 2009

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:29 GMT

I was up at Caption both days this year, accompanied by Elyssa who also did a fine job wielding a camera for the weekend. Unfortunately we spent about three hours on the motorway (the journey would normally be one and half hours) so we arrived quite late on the Saturday, but nipping into Costa to use the loo I saw Dave West, Colin Mathieson (Accent UK) and Shane Chebsey, so joined them for a nice cup of tea before going on to the venue (the Oxford Community Centre).

I had my talk later that afternoon which went okay. I wasn't totally pleased with it - I'd decided to concentrate partially on the journey from self-publishing to being published by a mainstream book publisher, and the changes to publishing in that time (from photocopying to the internet to print-on-demand), but most of my audience were already well versed in these changes and I did a lot of talking before bringing in my slide show, and felt things were perhaps a little stodgy up until that point. As soon as I started talking about the images and using those to spring subjects from, things livened up, so that's a lesson learned for any future talks I might do. I thought people might be bored by some of the minutiae of my story and art development, but actually I think it went over quite well. I'd also been very unsure about the cover I'd drawn to volume two, but getting a positive reaction from its first public airing has given me more confidence in it. It was also really nice to have Tim Jones from Egmont there to contribute.

For dinner we went to Lan Kwai Fong and had dim sum and noodles, surrounded by a little groups of comic creators at other tables. On ours we had Elyssa, Dave West, Neill Cameron, Colin Mathieson and Tony Hitchman, with Sarah McIntyre joining us from her table afterwards. After that we went back to the venue for Tony's annual comic quiz (this year's theme was robots) along with tea and some delicious Caption birthday cake.

Elyssa and I stayed at the Days Inn on the M40 services, which was cheap and, well maybe not cheerful, but certainly functional. Sunday was a lovely day with what was possibly the highlight of the weekend for me - Sarah's fascinating and very well presented talk on children's picture books and their relationship and crossover with comics (see her Caption report here). This was followed by another great talk by Asia Alfasi on her life and work in which she made some excellent points about the uniqueness of every creator - something I've always believed in (so many creators compare themselves unfavourably with their colleagues, forgetting that no one will ever do what they do in the unique way they do it). We had lunch with Asia, her brother, Sarah, Neill Cameron (who had been sketching everyone as pirates with dinosaurs) and David O'Connell.

It was also great to see Ellen Lindner and Stephen Betts, fresh from their trip to India and I was slightly bowled over to meet Jason Little whose work I absolutely love, having followed his adventures of Bee online for quite a few years now. At first I didn't believe it was him as it was so unexpected to meet him at Caption, far from his home in Brooklyn. I also had a great chat with Al Davison about his martial arts experience - which is an astonishing story (we both do karate, though that's not his main martial art).

I met so many great people, I always do at Caption, and I have not mentioned half of them. I'm aware that sometimes these reports can just turn into a list of links. This was the first time I was out with The Rainbow Orchid and I sold a good number of copies over the weekend. Thank you so much to everyone who bought one - the support and positive comments I'm getting mean so much to me and I take every one to heart. Elyssa and I had a brief walk into Oxford to stretch our legs and have an ice cream, and then we drove home in much better time than our journey up. Enormous thanks to the Caption committee for yet another terrific weekend.

While I'm here, a few notices. A lovely Rainbow Orchid review from Rol Hirst. And Pàdraig asks a handful of comic creators what they think of the term graphic novel.

Book launch at Foyles in London

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:36:19 GMT

Better late than never, here is a short report on The Rainbow Orchid book launch that happened on the evening of Monday 3rd August 2009. The delay, I'm afraid, is due to the fact that the day before this event I came down with a bit of an unpleasant illness, and while I managed to rally on the day, I deteriorated again afterwards and have been out of action for well over a week.

But we won't dwell on that! The evening was something of a blur, but a pretty fantastic blur if my hazy memory is anything to go by. It took place at the Gallery on the third floor of Foyle's bookshop on Charing Cross Road, London, where a marvellous job had been done by Egmont in making up some stunning A1 boards of various bits of Rainbow Orchid artwork and sketches, which all went to give as good an impression of the book as was possible.

I got there a little early to be interviewed by Alex Fitch for his Panel Borders show for Resonance FM, and by the time we'd finished the gallery was starting to fill up with friends, colleagues and other invited guests, not to mention a strong showing from both Egmont, my publisher, and Blake Friedmann, my agents.

I'm going to avoid listing everyone who came, because a) there were quite a lot of people, and b) I'd hate to miss anyone out. But I must say how enormously grateful I am to everyone who showed up, especially those who travelled from a fair distance outside of London - I was genuinely flabbergasted and touched by the support on show and that is my main memory of the evening.

Tim Jones gave a very flattering speech about me being at Egmont and I'm afraid I gave a fairly vanilla list of thanks at which I was unable to convey my true appreciation of everything everyone has done to help get me this far with the book. I'm sure I left out a few people, but one person I'm absolutely sure I didn't mention, and who certainly deserves the most praise, is my wife Elyssa. Believe me, especially recently, if it wasn't for her there probably wouldn't be a Rainbow Orchid to be published - and that goes for volume two especially.

You can see a very nice gallery of photographs of the evening over on Facebook (see the album or start here), and there are a handful of people who managed to be far more industrious than I and get their reports up the following day, including Alex Milway, Murray Ewing, Sarah McIntyre, John Freeman and Julian Friedmann.

I believe my Panel Borders interview will be available as a podcast next week some time, and you can also see a short clip of me being interviewed by Iyare of the Fantastic Realms vidcast on the evening.

While I'm writing, a couple more links... some nice Rainbow Orchid reviews at the Financial Times, Comics Bulletin and Down the Tubes, and a short video version of Linda Wada's interview with me from April.

And not content with one book launch, I am having another on Friday 21st August at The Bookshop in East Grinstead - see here for details. Anyone is welcome to come along. And in the mean time, I'll see you at Caption in Oxford tomorrow!

The Rainbow Orchid volume 1

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:27:49 GMT

It's here at last - The Rainbow Orchid volume 1, published by Egmont UK, is now available. And if you'd like a copy, you're spoilt for purchasing options! Besides your local book shop (in the UK) you can order it from Egmont and get some badges, you can order it from me if you want it signed and sketched in, or you can get discounts at Amazon and Borders.

I also now have t-shirts available, and not forgetting the lovely giclée prints that have been up on the shop for a few weeks now.

There's a very nice interview with me, conducted by David O'Connell over at his Scribblehound website. I say it's nice because David asked some interesting questions that I really had to think about! And I should also mention all the events I've got coming up - but I'll just point you towards the new events page for that.

I will pick out two - if you visit Foyles gallery this week (from Tuesday, at the shop on Charing Cross Road) then you'll be able to see an exhibition of artwork and sketches from the book. And I'll be doing a talk at Caption about The Rainbow Orchid and some thoughts on self-publishing and being published - that's on the the Saturday from 5.30-6.30 pm.

And finally - don't forget you can sign up to the free Adventurers' Society and print out your very own membership card. If you see me and bring it along, I will stamp it with the official Society stamp!

Events and Society

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:59:24 GMT

Although the official launch date for The Rainbow Orchid is next Tuesday (4 Aug), I've heard from a few people today who have received their books after pre-ordering through Amazon. Also, if you take a look at the Borders home page, you'll see my comic featured there - I think for this week only (and with a bargainous price too).

I've also got some events to tell you about... Next week, from 4-7 Aug, you can see an exhibition of Rainbow Orchid art, sketches and behind-the-scenes notes at the gallery at Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road. The following weekend (15-16 Aug) I will be at Caption in Oxford where I will be giving a talk on the Saturday afternoon about The Rainbow Orchid and some thoughts on self-publishing and being published. There's a really great line-up of talks and workshops for Caption this year, including creators such as Sarah McIntyre, Asia Alfasi, Jon Spira and Jimi Gerkhin to name but a handful.

On Friday 21 August (7-9pm) I'm having a local book-launch event in East Grinstead at The Bookshop on the town's High Street. Anyone is more than welcome to attend - if you're on Facebook, please feel free to add yourself to the event page there. And on the following Monday 24-29 Aug, the Rainbow Orchid exhibition will be appearing at the East Grinstead library.

But it doesn't end there! Moving ahead into October I shall be sharing a table with the Accent UK chaps at the British International Comics Show (3-4 Oct). And the following weekend I shall be on a panel at the Cheltenham Literary Festival (10 Oct). Then at the end of October I have a table at the London Movie Comics Media Expo (24-25 Oct). I have one more event booked for now - a table at Thought Bubble in Leeds, on 21 Nov.

You can keep up to date on all these event over at the aptly named events page, and if there's any new ones I'll add them as things go along.

If you're a member of the Adventurers' Society, make sure you log in and print out your new membership card - you'll find it on your membership details page. If you're not a member - it's free to register! It'll give you access to competitions, the newsletter and other goodies.

Some reviews and garments

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:57:52 GMT

There have been some very nice preview-reviews of The Rainbow Orchid.

Richard Bruton writes on the Foribidden Planet International blog, Tim Pilcher writes a review on his blog, Jeanette Towey interviewed me for The Phantom Zone, and Win Wiacek writes a review at Now Read This!

By next week I should have my shop in order and, as well as books, there should be t-shirts.

Three editions

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:55:40 GMT

It's two weeks until The Rainbow Orchid is launched (I hope you've pre-ordered your copy!). But it has been available before, of course. Have you got all three editions?

The Egmont edition has given me the opportunity to tighten up the dialogue, re-draw the occasional panel, and even add two extra pages - so that's the one to have!

Lovely prints

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:01:35 GMT

I flicked the 'on' switch over at the shop, and while some parts remain dark, and some with the lights slowly flickering into life, one section is brightly lit and fully functional... prints!

I have two A3 prints for sale to begin with - the cover to volume one (sans lettering and logos) and the Tayaut Soviet poster (which also appears in the back of the book). These are not just churned out on my home printer! These are lovely high-quality giclée prints on 308gsm Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper with ink that will keep its pictorial depth for 70-80 years or more. Each print is hand-signed by me as well. Visit the shop here.

Nice words

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:34:20 GMT

A quick post, just to point you in the direction of a couple of very nice write-ups on The Rainbow Orchid (only a month until launch date).

On Tuesday, author Jeannette Towey dropped in for a chat about comics and art and writing and things and then went and turned it into a very thoughtful article over at The Phantom Zone.

And I was delighted by this detailed review that was brought to my attention yesterday. Some lovely observations and generous praise in both these pieces - thanks so much.

Competition results

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:46:21 GMT

At midnight last night, on the dot, I put the names of everyone who entered the 40th June competition into a tin and asked Elyssa to pick one out. So congratulations to Russell Stearman - the signed and sketched cover proof will be on its way to you within the next week or so.

And a huge thanks to everyone who entered - I'm sorry you couldn't all have prizes just for entering! There will definitely be more competitions to come.