Asylum Incoming!

It seems to come round oh so quick, but it unbelievably is a year since the last Splendid Asylum Steampunk Festival in Lincoln and I'm all set to go again. This means I'm busy, busy, but check these images out for what I and comics chum David Morris will be up to this coming bank holiday weekend! 

 

Busy, Busy Comics Weekend!

Enjoying a nice busy spell at the moment so apologies for not posting updates on recent Brecon and SALUTE events which were both very enjoyable as I've been preparing for another pair of events this Bank Holiday Weekend.

First up is a welcome return to Scott's comic shop in Warrington Market, Scott's Pop's & Comics for the annual Free Comic Book Day event! It's a fun celebration of comics, graphic novels and the talented creators behind them with this year an amazing seven guests - here's a wee clue who they are but see his page for full details!

It's a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK which means a bonus day off for many folk but rather than wash the car or mow the grass I'll be showcasing my comics in the rather wonderful Victorian Pavilion Gardens for Buxton Comic-Con! This will be my second appearance following last November's enjoyable trip - see details & pics here, so looking forward to it.

I wonder how this chap spends his Bank Holidays....

P.S I've even been working on something new!

SALUTE is on!

ATTENTION! Almost time for our annual return to SALUTE! The UK's largest wargaming event this Saturday 11th April at its usual Excel Convention Centre home in London's Docklands. 

I've been going a few years now and although comics are clearly not the focus of the convention, I've found there's a lot of overlap with gamers and I've received a warm welcome with genuine interest in my publications.

New batch of ZULU Graphic Novel Sketch & Print Packs!

The convention itself, with a new committee, have noticeably upped their game in the time I've been attending, widening the event's appeal to embrace the many new and varied aspects of the hobby and attracting a larger and younger audience which can only be a good thing. 

At last year's SALUTE! - Modelling our TJ16 location!

This year, I return as Colin Mathieson Comics to TJ16 marked by the red circle on the plan below - don't worry if its a bit small to see, I'm close to the central boulevard and there's of course a larger map in the event programme!

Hope to see some of you there :)

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Thought Bubble is Go!

Delighted to confirm my attendance at this year's Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival :) 

It really is a special event and one that's grown and grown. I know that demand for exhibitor spaces is high so it must be such a difficult task to decide who is accepted, disappointing many others in the process. But for all comic fans the competition ensures that there is a great variety of tastes and talent to discover in the lovely historic Yorkshire town of Harrogate.

In addition to comic creating exhibitors, Thought Bubble also offers a diverse range of guests from around the world and a packed programme of talks and workshops to entertain, inform and inspire. These are normally announced periodically between now and the festival dates in November so its worth keeping an eye on their website and socials.

Don't delay too long though if you're thinking about going, tickets are already on sale and have come closing to selling out in recent years. Hopefully see you there!

I've also had news confirming a couple more appearances as this year's schedule take shape, so watch this space and I'd best get cracking to finish the projects I'm working on!

Macc-Pow Returns!

Yay! Delighted to have been confirmed for a table at this year's Macc-Pow! Comic Art Festival! Alongside Thought Bubble, it's one of the UK's best comic art festivals with the focus purely on comics and the creators that make them. I'm lucky that it's fairly local for me and the facts that it's run by Marc Jackson, one of the nicest chaps in comics and is supported by many great comic artists and writers makes it a fun day out.

This year will be the 11th and may be hard to top last year's special 10th anniversary but Marc promises a few surprises with the already announced guest list looking great. If you've been before, you'll already have the dates on your calendar, if not, its worth thinking about making the trip for an inspiring creative day out with a difference - see you there!

Here's a few snaps from last year. 

Tom Scioli !

Charlie Adlard !

Museum Cover Story!

On a recent London visit, Scott visited the National Army Museum in Chelsea where he proudly reported that my 'comics installation display' was still there which I was delighted to hear. The project is a few years old now but the fact it has been retained following a re-modelling of the original gallery it was commissioned for was welcome news.

The original brief was to show how Society's portrayal of the military had evolved over the years in various forms of media and following a successful tender exercise, I was selected to write and illustrate this aspect for the comics medium from Victorian story papers through to the popular 1960's & 1970's boys comics, adapting my storytelling and art style accordingly. I worked with the museum curation team to identify relevant publications from each era to feature and the ever talented Matt Soffe coloured my approved artwork. The outcome was a multipaged 'flip book' on display in the museum gallery for visitors to read and learn from.

I've previously written about various parts of the process, including here and here so thought I'd briefly share my rough sketches for what would become the project's cover. I'd already conceived that the story content would be viewed through the eyes of a news vendor, so having a newspaper type masthead seemed a logical fit, 'thumbnailing'  a couple of options.

The central paperboy figure option was selected allowing soldiers from different eras to be featured 'bursting' out of the comic pages within and away we went. I also sneaked in a couple of my favourite Zulu War combatants in although they don't feature on the era spreads within! Matt's dramatic colours really add drama and a period feel to things to give everything a polish for the finished article.

Here's Scott in the re-modelled gallery a couple of weeks ago and I'm hoping to visit again myself before too long. 

You may be interested to know that after consultation with the museum, I recently adapted my artwork and content to form a new short booklet to provide an affectionate and nostalgic view of the war comics of yester year and take a brief look at recent modern graphic novels dealing with themes of conflict entitled, WAR COMICS 'A Memento'. Only a short number of this publication are available directly from me at my convention and festival appearances.    

Yeti's are fun to draw!

Here's a fun wee panel of mine that makes me chuckle for some reason, ably coloured by Matt Soffe of course. I've always loved Yeti's, whether it was Tintin in Tibet or those Taun Taun's from Empire Strikes Back, so it was delight to have a bit of fun with one for this short strip I did for the Scottish charity comic, Life Support in aid of CHAS, where a black and white version appeared in our natural dialect.