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degree show and fairies

Hey peeps, my degree show is on this week and I forgot to say anything!  Here, have a fairy to quell your terrible rage at my thoughtlessness.

The private view is today, but the show is open to the public from 10am-4pm for the next week, closing on the 9th.  Hopefully at least one person who isn't on my course reads this blog and will trundle down to Pittville campus (that's in Cheltenham) to see our lovely pictures, not to mention the work from all the other courses. If you need previews, you can see a collection of the illustration class's work HERE.

journal pictures and degree show madness

I finally got round to scanning some more of the pictures from my journal, so mooch on over to flickr to take a look at strange scenes from my life. In other news, my degree show is going well so far.  It all looks really good up on the walls and I think we've got a lot of good work in our class this year.  Sammy's put up some nice photos of work by the Inspired crew, which includes me, or you can find out more on the university website. It's weird to think that we're almost done after three years of work, work, work.  It seems to have gone really quickly, but at the same time 1st year feels like a lifetime ago.  I've enjoyed the course a lot and I finally feel like I wouldn't be ripping people off if I charge them for my work, which is a big milestone.  I can't quite believe how much my work has improved since we started.  (Of course then I look at other people's work from my class like Sammy,Jamie, Nathan and Rob and think 'Waargh they're all so much better than me! Panic panic flail flail' but I'm told that's normal and healthy in a creative field.) I hope some of you can make it down to the show!

Guess where I was last weekend! Inspired Comics (from whose blog I have stolen the photo) got a table at Birmingham MCM, so I went along to help and to monopolize almost a third of the table with all my junk. I think it looks sweet all together though, all muted colours and soft toy mascots. (Fox!) You can see the edge of our latest anthology in the corner there. Remember the new Inspired anthology will be debuting at Bristol Expo on the 12th-13th of May.

Thinking of debuts, issue 3 of What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? was on sale, and is now available in our online shop. You can find information on our features and contributors this time on the zine blog, and you can buy it at Comiket later this month if you'll be in London. If you want issue 1 you'll have to be quick - sales were good at Birmingham, so there's only two left in the shop. 

And thinking of shops, I now have an Etsy shop, how exciting! You can buy my postcards and miniprints there so far, I hope to have new products up soon, including some original paintings. That last picture is the header, before I cropped it. Isn't Tabitha cute?

I've been doing quite a lot of work that's not ready to show, along with frantically getting ready for Bristol Expo this weekend while doing many, many shifts at a tea room, so here are some old-ish sketches I did in spare time instead.

I don't think Andersen has appeared on here before, but he's a shape-shifting cat who is found by Jessie in a forest, and seems to have been abandoned by his people for some reason. He's mute, but he does understand speech. (Although he doesn't speak English.) It never really comes up in the story, but he hooks his tail over his leg like that because when he was little someone trod on it.

You should all recognise Coda, she's in white because she's participating in a ritual.

As I said, I'm also going to Bristol Expo this weekend with Inspired Comics, I hope some of you can stop by and see us. We'll have our new anthology, and with any luck I'll be bringing a new issue of What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? and an 8-page comic called The Bad Fairy Bakery.

*rush rush panic panic*

I wrote two comics for Inspired's newest anthology, Eat Me! (I was also very pleased to win the cover vote this time with my cheerful takoyaki.) The Mysterious Land of Under Noodle went into the anthology, so The Bad Fairy Bakery was printed alone and sold as a mini-comic at Bristol Expo. Since it's only 8 pages long, I thought I'd put up the whole thing for you all to read, like Patience is a Virtue. I hope you enjoy it!

These are some art cards I painted to sell at Bristol Expo. Originally there were going to be 14, all based on German fairy tales (so no Beauty and the Beast), but I only had time for 10. Rapunzel and Cinderella are still to be completed.

1 and 2 are Snow White and Rose Red. I mentioned in an earlier post that I imagine Rose Red looking a lot like my sister because we used to play a make-believe game based on the story, recently she told me that she remembers it too.

3 and 4 are Snow White. I love painting her, I like to interpret the 'hair black as ebony, skin white as snow, lips red as blood' thing literally.

5 and 6 are Little Red Riding Hood. I tried to make her look German, and make the forest look like it could be a scary place, since it would have been back when the tale was written.

7 and 8 are The Frog King, or Iron Henry. That's probably my all-time favourite fairy tale, I always imagined the princess to be only 12 or so (I think because the frog addresses her as 'King's daughter, youngest daughter'), and I liked the traditional description of the prince as 'a king's son with kind eyes'. Also the version where she throws the frog against the wall is vastly superior to the kissing version in every conceivable way.

9 and 10 are Sleeping Beauty. I find that story pretty creepy, but it's got some nice imagery. In the version I was told the prince can only get through the thorns because the 100 years are up, and on the way though he can see skeletons of other men who've tried to get through and died in there. I'd like to do a bigger version of that some time.

I'd never tried selling originals at cons before, so I was pleased to sell two of them. I put the rest up for sale in my online shop.

This week Sammy was at Manchester MCM, and next Saturday (work shifts permitting) I'll have a little stall at Bristol Ferment Farmer's Market, so I made a mini-comic to give out instead of business cards. Sammy's been doing it that way for ages, and it works really well - people tend not to turn down a free comic. We also made a free mini-zine to promote What's the Time Mrs Woolf?

Anyway, I decided on a miniature Patience mystery, since I'm hoping to get the first full-length comic done before the spring cons next year.

Aside from the new issue of What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? (with a 'hairy' theme) the other things I'll be taking are all original paintings. I'll be posting some of those next week. I'll also have a few copies of Inspired's latest anthologies, and limited numbers of the mini-library Sammy tried at Manchester.

If any of you are near Bristol, I hope you'll stop by and see me!

Since I had very little time to prepare for the farmer's market this Saturday, I decided to do some more originals to sell instead of trying to make a comic or a book.

These sets of six are tags for presents, they're threaded with red embroidery thread now, but my camera is out of battery so I can't take a photo. 

The top set are my favourite spring flowers. The bottom set are based on tsukumogami, an item in japanese folklore. Supposedly when a tool or belonging reaches 100 years of service, it gains a soul and moves around the house.

I'll also have free mini-comics and mini-zines to give out, the latest issue of What's the Time Mrs Woolf, and a few copies of Science Fiction Octuple Feature and Eat Me! from Inspired.

These are some more originals I'm selling at the farmer’s market this Saturday.

These ones are miniature bookmarks, which I'm selling in these sets of three. The first set are meant to be birds that have symbolic meaning in England, the second set are elemental spirits.

I’ll also have free mini-comics and mini-zines to give out, the latest issue of What’s the Time Mrs Woolf, and a few copies of Science Fiction Octuple Feature and Eat Me! from Inspired.

Sooo... Rupert Everett came to the tea room on Monday. He had an earl grey and some coffee cake.

In other news, I'll be doing commissions at London MCM this weekend! We've started offering sketches and inked pictures at a couple of conventions, but this time I think it's just me, as Sammy's been very busy and wants to relax behind the table.

Still, we're loosely using Sammy's normal prices:

A5 sketch - £6

A5 inked - £8

A6 sketch - £4

A6 inked - £5

mini card sketch - £2 

mini card inked - £3

Behold, what I've been doing for the past few weeks! I kind of burned myself out making new postcards for Thought Bubble (I'll post those later, for now there's a photo of them on the stand), so once they'd been sent to print I decided to do something entirely different. I transformed my computer desk into a sewing desk and set about making a dress from Josceline Fenton's lovely webcomic, Hemlock! It's the first one we see Lumi wearing. Eventually I'd like to make all of these four, but I think I've done enough dressmaking for the time being. There's also a picture of the finished dress! Also of me awkwardly standing with Josceline trying not to seem creepy, which is hard when you just spent three weeks slavishly recreating someone's work in cotton form. She said it was very accurate, which makes me happy.

There's the Inspired table, with Sammy behind it because we used my camera this time, my postcards, 5 issues of What's the Time, Mrs Woolf, my art cards hanging out with some new ones by Sammy and Shaz, a shot of my side of the table, complete with Patience, miniprints, Bad Fairy Bakery etc., and a portrait commission I did! If you look really closely in the back you can see a little drawing of Patience that Sammy gave me. It's so cute! I seemed to do pretty well at Thought Bubble, and we certainly did well as a table. I also bought about £80 of comics, and John Allison said some very nice things about our work, so I'm very pleased with how it went. There'll be a write-up of Thought Bubble on the Inspired blog soon as well, now that I've got round to sending the photos to Sammy.

Attention duelists! I will be at Comiket with Sammy this coming Saturday! I would love to see some of my London-based pals there if you can make it.

Also Inspired comics have a tumblr that you should probably follow, especially because the dates of shows I will be attending are put up much more reliably over there.

Sarah and I booked a last minute little table at Comica Comiket independent comics fair this Saturday. We’ll be taking highlights of our most recent solo comics plus our collaborative music zine and Inspired’s Eat Me! anthology!!

Thanks and see you there!

Sammy 

Prefer Tumblr? www.inspiredcomics.tumblr.com

Prefer Blogger? www.inspiredcomics.blogspot.com

haha it's me behind a table!

Hello! Massive thank you to all those who visited the table for chatting and purchases over the weekend! We had a great time at Bristol Comics Expo!

Photo reading: Tuk Tuk by Will Kirkby - it’s ace!

Treebeard has struggled getting work in Hollywood despite his role in LOTR. We got him a temp job being sandwich board guy. (really what happened is that I forgot to pack a extra stand, but did remember to bring a Treebeard action figure to hang out with)

We have 1 copy left of Alien Rendez-vous and Beyond Fantasy. They’re both listed on my Etsy.

Thanks again! See you at London MCM Expo and Manchester MCM Expo!! Sammy Prefer Tumblr? www.inspiredcomics.tumblr.com Prefer Blogger? www.inspiredcomics.blogspot.com

Yay! I've actually made 3 more of these now, so there's lots to choose from. There's only going to be 5 of each cover though.

I'll also have stickers made with the same designs, some A6 cloth-bound sketchbooks, Bad Fairy Bakery comics and What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? zines. I hope there's space on the table!

London MCM Expo part 2

How cute are these Zelda note book/sketch book covers?! Sarah Fogg will be taking limited print runs of these designs!

There's me behind the table! We had a great time at London and did much better in sales than we have at any other event so far!

It's a shame we didn't take a picture of the table before we sold out of some things, but Saturday was so busy that there just wasn't time!

Hello!! London MCM Expo was totally crazy this year! A MASSIVE THANK YOU to anyone who came by our table and said hello or bought things. And thank you to Sarah and Shaz for helping out behind the table.

Our new friends Intern (made by Phlipa Rice) and Noface (made by ponymonster) were helping us!

I completely miss judged how much we needed to take and I’m sorry that we sold out of some stock early on sunday.

We have all the books avaliable online so heres a list of where to find things

Sammy’s Etsy Shop www.etsy.com/shop/sammyborras

Mixtape

Lumpy Space Princess Perzine (also read for free on tumblr)

Best Day Ever

Jumping The Shark

Giant Rhinos On Tour

Smoothie Wars

Sarah’s Etsy Shop www.etsy.com/shop/sarahfogg

Avalible Issues of What’s The Time Mrs. Woolf?

Bad Fairy Bakery

Postcards and ACEO sets

Jack’s Etsy shop www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JackDaviesarts

Alex The Abominable

Thanks again! Hopefully we’ll see some of you again at Manchester MCM Expo!

Sammy

Prefer Tumblr? www.inspiredcomics.tumblr.com Prefer Blogger? www.inspiredcomics.blogspot.com

Here's another thing I'm selling at Manchester MCM at the weekend! I've printed a limited number of mini-comics, using my submission to Bear Pit 6. We'll also have a few copies of the entire zine to sell.

We also have some new Free Minis to give out if you know the secret password* and some new Zelda notebooks!

*the password is 'do you have a business card?'

Haha I'm so slow at reblogging. Here are the pictures Sammy took at Manchester MCM last Saturday, we had a really good time and sold lots of things!

Also Sammy is quite right that I only have one copy of The Bad Fairy Bakery left, and it is listed on my Etsy shop if you'd like to nab it!

Super big thank you to everyone who came by our table at Manchester MCM Expo! Sarah, Jack and I had a great day! I hope you enjoyed the mini comics! Here is a tour of the table …

Sarah brought some super cute Zelda mini notebooks and stickers! I think there is only one copy of Bad Fairy Bakery left now - you might be able to get a copy from Sarah’s Etsy shop.

We had all available issues of What’s The Time Mrs. Woolf? on the table including the brand new summer issue!

This Is Not A Serious Music Publication Summer 2013 was printed just in time! (This Etsy!)

Mixtape is our latest Inspired group comics anthology!-Available from my Etsy shop.

Bear Pit is a zine created by a group in Bristol. Sarah has a comic in the latest issue! you can read more about their zines (and fairs) here

We also made a bunch of mini comics and zines recently! because they’re so much fun to make!

Jack had copies of the thick full colour Alex comics! They are available from Jack’s Etsy shop! I printed a new nostalgic slice of life story called 2002! There is also only one copy of Jumping The Shark left. I’m not planning to reprint them - it’s listed on Etsy if you’re interested. Thanks again for a super time! Sammy Prefer Tumblr? www.inspiredcomics.tumblr.com Prefer Blogger? www.inspiredcomics.blogspot.com

So... one of my housemates left a muscle-building guide in the bathroom. It had diagrams. I did... what was necessary.

Also, events I will be at in Autumn! Sammy and I will be going to:

Bristol Comic and Zine Fair - 5th October

MCM London Comic Con - 25th, 26th, 27th October

Thought Bubble - 23rd, 24th November 

We'll have issues of What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? notebooks, comics, mini-zines and mini-comics, stickers and sundry other trinkets, and most importantly a new anthology! It is GOTH THEMED. I am so excited.

Yusss a fun time was had by all! Even accidentally dying behind the table couldn't stop us.

Please come and see us in Cheltenham if you can! We'll be launching the Autumn issue of What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? as well as bringing the various comics and trinkets you see in these photos.

We had a brilliant time at our first October event! The Bristol Comic and Zine Fair!! Thank you very much to everyone who came by our table for a chat or to buy comics. We hope you enjoyed the free mini comics.

We’ll be doing the same thing next weekend at The University of Gloucestershire’s Small Press Fair. The event will be held in a marquee in the Imperial Square, Cheltenham. The Literature Festival is being held at the time, so there should be more to see than just the fair.

And remember the secret password for free mini comics is ‘Do you have a business card?’

Thanks!! 8D

Thanks, see you there! Sammy Prefer Tumblr? www.inspiredcomics.tumblr.com Prefer Blogger? www.inspiredcomics.blogspot.com

Yeeeah it was a great time at MCM! I hope we can see everyone again in May!

Thank you very much to everyone who visited our table at London MCM Expo last weekend! Sarah and I had a great time chatting and eating cake! I hope everyone enjoyed their comics! This is the last spooky photo for October. I hope you are having an awesome halloween!

We took these photos on Sunday morning, so there is a couple of comics missing from the photos. We had a lovely time catching up with Gemma Sheldrake and now we have some stock for our table at Thought Bubble! We should also have more copies of Jack’s Alex The Abominable comics!

I’m excited to go to Thought Bubble already! You’ll be able to find our table in the all new Allied London  Hall. It looks much bigger than I expected! So many comics to see!

  Thanks agian!

Sammy 

Prefer Tumblr? www.inspiredcomics.tumblr.com Prefer Blogger? www.inspiredcomics.blogspot.com