London Expo portraits

Last weekend (23-24 May) was the May edition of London MCM Expo. I shared a table with Kat and Dave from Studio Two Sides Wide on the Saturday. Since I had literally only just finished Twelfth Night a few days before Expo, there was no time to prepare anything new to sell. Kat came back from a three-week-long trip to Ghana for her university project the same morning of Expo so she didn't have much time to prepare either. To earn back the table cost we started doing on-site commissions, of which "manga portraits" proved the most popular. There was hardly a moment to spare on the Saturday, but the Saturdays are always extremely busy.

Here are a few that were drawn that weekend:

There were also few which I didn't have time to finish during the Expo so I drew them back home. This also gave me a chance to scan the artwork properly.
This group of lovely ladies were cosplaying characters from Negima.

Something I must remember to do next time is to ask people for their eye colour. It's very difficult to see in a blurry photo and since manga eyes are so big, it becomes quite an important piece of information.
For anyone who might be waiting for their portrait and might be reading this, I mailed them out today. :)

There were quite a few people who asked me about my tools. I tend to use Copic Ciao markers for my convention sketches. Copic had a stall at Expo for the first time this year so it was easy to point them in the right direction.

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London MCM Expo, website.
Studio Two Sides Wide, website.
Copic Markers, website.

Twelfth Night is completed!

Last week I finished my work on Twelfth Night for SelfMadeHero.


Since starting the work in October 2008 I think I've learnt a fair amount. For one, that churning out 200 comic pages is no small feat! Mostly it's made me a lot more comfortable with drawing people and poses. During uni I really didn't draw much, so every drawing I did required considerable effort to make it look right. Twelfth Night has helped me figure out and get comfortable with a process that works for me (much thanks to my blue pencil) so drawing difficult poses isn't as daunting any more.
Soon I'll be posting a little bit more about using blue pencil for underdrawing.

Now a little early plugging for the book... Twelfth Night will be out in stores in September 2009! Meanwhile, the article series on the production of the book which I've been writing for NEO magazine will continue in August.
Last weekend a girl came up to my table at London MCM Expo and told me that she had already pre-ordered it which made my day! It is a strange feeling to see the book listed on Amazon before you've even finished it.

It's been a big project with many ups and downs along the way, certainly, but in the end I can't wait to hold the book in my hands, and that should be a good sign.

Twelfth Night Feature in NEO 58 - Cover and Character Design

The third feature on the production of Twelfth Night is out in NEO magazine, issue 58!
This one talks about the process of designing the cover, showing the (many) discarded thumbnail designs and the thoughts choices that were made in rendering the final image. There are also some more thoughts behind the character designs and you get to see a full line-up of the ensemble.

The two previous features on pitching and world design can be found in NEO issue 56 and 57 respectively. I'm not entirely sure if back issues can be ordered, although I'm under the impression that they can.


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NEO Magazine - http://neomag.co.uk/
SelfMadeHero - http://selfmadehero.com/

Mid-day nap

A bit of doodling in ArtRage. I find the tools rather hard to handle, but the result sure is unexpected. This doodle started out as a black mark I made by accident when trying out the Wacom tablet shortcuts. I didn't bother to erase the black mark and in the end it grew to become the star of the show.

3AM instant shot

This is what my desk looks like at the moment of writing. Twelfth Night is progressing... however slowly.


Also, I just found out about the Ninja Mountain podcast with a few familiar names in it, amongst others Andy Hepworth who was one of the finalists in the 2006 Tokyopop Rising Stars of Manga UK & Ireland competition. I haven't reached episode 8 yet, but I'm looking forward to hearing Mattias Snygg (Swedish pride!) who's artwork I've been aware of for some time.
The podcast has been very good so far. The hosts have been working in the art field for some time so there are a lot of good tips for people who are new to the industry.