Love and War

Finally I am submitting something to Tango. I have had a few attempts over past few years but never got myself into gear. To be honest I must admit that I could never get into the themes of the previous Tango comics. Love and War (Tango’s theme this year) was perfectly timed for me. I have been thinking about doing a war story for quite some time now and the coinciding of having just read ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and Tango Love and War seemed too good an opportunity to pass up.
So here are a few samples.

Other Peoples Dicks

Well, some poor time management and lack of research has meant that my new comic ‘The Dicks Anthology’ (working title) will not be ready for release at Armageddon Melbourne in October. I had thought Armageddon was in late November and had planned accordingly. I had forecast 50 pages or so but instead, with an early 2010 release the comic will be closer to 70 pages.
There’ll be pinups from Trevor?, Bobby N. and others whom I haven’t told. Stories by James Andre, Tom Taylor, Jason Franks, Jen Breach and myself and others…perhaps. Getting people to work other than their own in this indie industry is a big ask and extremely generous on their behalf as it takes them away from their own projects. So thanks guys!
Here are some samples from James Andre’s story ‘That Bastard Benway.’


…and Tom Taylor’s ‘Snakes on a Head.’

Nectar of the Gods

Over the past couple of years I've been doing some illustrations for a role playing game that a friend of mine has been creating. I don't know much about it but apparently Dungeons and Dragons went public several years ago and now anyone can release a game under the D&D logo - so this is what my friend has decided to do.
I don't know much about the story either but I do know that it involves dark elves, squidmen, beholders, giant ants and vast caverns. When completed it should be a pretty spiffy little production with some nice pictures too.
Here are a couple.

A review of The List

Here's a great little review of The List here.

Angouleme

The 36th annual 'Festival de la BD' was graced by my presence on the last weekend of January.
Not that it cared very much.
It was MASSIVE! I've not been to many conventions but compared to when I went 10 years ago it has at least tripled in size. Imagine an exhibition hall packed to the brim and then apply that to a small town. You could hardly move down the main street.
Of course when it started it was small and personal. You could easily go up to an artist and get your book signed but now you have to get in line with a ticket you got earlier. Of the locals I met none of them were BD fans though they enjoyed them and enjoyed the festival in its younger days. But you get that attitude where ever you go. If you're a fan Angouleme is the place to go. In fact there are heaps of conventions all over Europe and as far as I can gather they're all the place to go. Angouleme just happens to be the biggest.
The major publishers all had stalls with the artists set up doing signings. It's a real shame I didn't like any of the artists that were there. Except of course for Jean Giraud. But as I said before you needed to have a ticket which you'd picked up before some where else. The website is a mess, my French not so good and the place so poorly sign posted that I didn't understand any of this. I'll know next time.
The independent publishers where all there too and much more approachable. You could wait for only a couple of minutes and get a great little drawing/painting. I found some cool little anthologies - one even had a Dean Rankine comic in it! But once again, in my flustered state, I didn't profit from this and came away with only a few drawings.
They had a great tent full of second hand BD, original art and BD merchandise. You could grab a great bargain here. And I did. I found almost all the comics I've been looking for and not wanting to buy new (mainly because of new printing techniques and paper quality). I looked through lots of portfolios of work for sale and scrutinised how the greats do it. I learnt a few things.
Over all though my experience was very much like my experience at Bristol. I got very flustered and frustrated and felt very small and untalented. I had met up with my mate Roger Mason (who went to the festival 5 years in a row, made good contacts and got a job) the day before in London to chat comics and get some tips and contacts. Of his contacts I only managed to meet up with 2 and only one liked (some of) my work. I did manage to interest a couple of others who gave me their cards and asked me to email them some more stuff. I'm not holding my breath though. Going there really made me realise I've still got a way to go.

Sorry to not go more in depth. I'm an artist not a writer. But not a very dedicated one otherwise I would have done a comic about it.

The List

I've just finished one of the longest projects I've ever worked on. At least, the most amount of work to do in the least amount of time. The List, written by Paul Bedford, is an urban tale of horror, violence and religion. Hpop illustrated part I and pencilled part II which I inked.
More can be learnt at www.the-list.com and some other sample pages can be found at my comicspace website www.comicspace.com/tombonin
Part II of The List will be launched on the 17th of Jan 2009.

Leeds Though Bubble comic expo

Last Saturday I went to the Leeds international one day comic convention called Thought Bubble. It was actually part of a much bigger festival that involved lots of other art forms but Saturday was entirely dedicated to comics (and those things that seem to follow comics around, like Freddy Krugers with bouncy heads).
Leeds was quite a bit smaller than Birmingham in terms of publishers and retailers but there were just as many artists and indie stalls. There were even a couple of stormtroopers.
My mates from Newcastle had a stall (which I had hoped to put the second part of Don’t go into that Barn but it had not arrived in the post before I had to set off) so I checked their stuff first. What strikes me over here is that production values are quite high. There are very few photocopied slapped together sort of things. And even if they are photocopied people tend to find the best they can. Some people told me they had searched for months to find the right public photocopier. Also the indie guys tend to get a stall as a group. So you’ll find a table with the Manchester people, the London people, the Newcastle people etc.
Anyway after a quick little look around I noticed the pro’s corner and went over. There were huge lines around such names as Jock, Alex Maleev, Doug Braithwait and various others. I continued down the line to where I came across a fellow who’s work I had loved and hated as an adolescent reading 2000AD. There was no one in front of his desk so I went up and had a chat to Peter Doherty. You may recall from my Birmingham post that I said Duncan Fregredo was one of the nicest guys in comics, well, so is Peter Doherty. We chatted for a long time and eventually I showed him my portfolio. He pointed out lots of stuff that needed fixing but then said that they were things he needed to work on too. He explained to me a rule of continuity about sticking to one side of a group of people and the importance of good colour. Peter is a great colourist. I then bought a comic from him he did for the Grendel series several years ago. Great artist and an alright story which got better when I did a bit of research on Grendel the other day.
I then went to a seminar about the (artistic) success of comics to movies in Hollywood with Mark Millar, Andy Diggle, Jock and some other guys whose names I forget. The basic conclusion that was drawn was that comic movies are only successful if there is some one in the production team who actually gives a shit. For most people it’s just a job and if they make back their millions that’s all that matters.
Before plucking up my courage to go and talk to Andy Diggle I showed my folio to Fraser Irving, a young artist, mad as a cut snake, hired by Diggle to 2000AD when he, Diggle, was editor. He was great fun and told me that basically your success or non-success really hinges on which editors you present your work to. Fraser insisted that he would not be hired today if he was starting out. I told him about my ideas of approaching the French to which he put on a snooty French accent and said “backgrounds, where are your backgrounds? Stone? That is not stone. I want to feel the stone!” And like Fregredo he said that the money is no good unless you’ve proved yourself.
After some lunch I made my way over to Andy Diggle. He insisted that as a writer he didn’t think he’d be much help but I was asking him as an ex editor. As an ex editor he said 'go for it'. He reckoned that editors look for good story telling and said I had good story telling.
Wow hoo!!!
But wait, there’s more. Here’s the thing they all asked me. “Are you staying in the UK?” “No” “Bummer. ‘Cause doing the convention circuit is the only way. Building friendships and showing people your dedication and your year to year improvement.” That’s how Jock got hired by Andy Diggle.
Bummer indeed.
Maybe I need to stay here, brave the grey skies, interminable wet and mold and put that theory to the test. A job in comics or happy sunny life?