Tag: community

Lansbury

Last month I went to a comic book convention, meeting several nice folk and purchasing merch. Just opposite from Matt Dyson of Mookeo fame (who I knew a little before his success), and down from the smiley Philippa Rice of My Cardboard Life, stood Timothy Winchester from People I Know.

I’ve only met him twice, but he’s such a lovely person we’re like friends. After buying some badges (sadly lost on the train ride home), he extolled the virtues of Angela Lansbury, an actress remembered for Murder, She Wrote but star of many more works. He asked for my help on something.

For a couple of years, Tim has dedicated a whole week to this woman, with various guest artists providing drawings to his blog. That week is now, and today my entry landed – The pirate maid Ruth from the Pirates of Penzance movie!

Angela Lansbury as Ruth

There’s been a whole bunch of fine drawings through the week, from various talented and/or enthusiastic people. This link will line up all the days on one page for ya!

Puffins, Dogs and the 3rd Dimension

February was a busy month: After Hourly Comic Day (see previous post), I had a project to return to.

The Puffin Digital Prize 2011 is not so much a prize as a contest. Running from late November to February 28th, the brief was to storyboard a children’s picture book… for iPad. At least 2 spreads had to be fully finished, while the rest could be rough layouts & sketches.

The submission guidelines contradicted themselves, there was no hotline, and the hot-email-address server broke. Nevertheless, I persevered and got it done!

The end result is 775 words, with 9 finished images (6 complete pages), 24 doodles, and a pile of digital post-it notes.

No, you can’t see it yet.

…Alright, i’ll give you one image (and not the best one):

Highland Terrier using a kite as a hang-glider
I should explain, it’s about unconventional dog racing.

This contest also reintroduced me to Fineliner pens – I was a fool to ever let them go.
Here’s hoping for a shortlisting!

And now, on to the second item. A man in Hebden Bridge is taking a year out to teach himself and others about 3D filming, and he hopes to get a project going. Here’s his article from the local paper last week.
I went to the first meeting on Tuesday – he’s a thoroughly nice chap who knows his stuff, and you should have seen the test footage!

There's some of this, but it's mainly about the new, better 3D.
There’s some of this, but it’s mainly about the new, better 3D.

I’ve passed his article on to my old uni lecturer (now the Dean of Computing), to see if any undergrads are interested. If you’re interested, give H. Clegg a shout!

A Day of Drawing

February 1st was Hourly Comic Day. Once a year, amateurs and professionals alike draw an hour-by-hour account of their day (ideally as the hour to be drawn is coming to a close). Some people ink & colour their pics later, while others just scan their doodles.

This year, I joined in for the first time. You can click the below image to view it.

Carl Mitchell's Hourly Comic Day 2011
Like Hansel, i’m so hot right now.

The forum for this years event, where you can see dozens upon dozens of hourly comics, is right this way.

In other news, this site’s asthetic was bugging me, so i’ve upgraded it again!
To provide more visual interest and definition I introduced a coffee colour, shuffled things around, changed font sizes. Gradients appeared as I learned the wonders of -moz-linear-gradient and -webkit-gradient. Code’s been cleaned up.

Finally, I added a little Geek-ster egg which is easy enough to find (hint: less than 200 pixels down), but not that easy to figure out 100%. Tee hee.

Ghostbusters, Monkeys and Smoking Jackets

Did you think you’d see those three things together this morning?

Recently I joined a small group of candidates, applying to illustrate an “epic poem”. The ringmaster sent each of us an excerpt, requesting a couple of sample images in return. Here are my two submissions:

Old Egon (thumb)

Suave Monkey (thumb)

Why you’re seeing them now? Well, the email I received last night states that I didn’t get the contract. At least that means these images are totally my property.

3,000 DA views!

Hey hey! My DeviantArt account just ticked over 3,000 pageviews this morning!

I had been preparing a special little comic to mark the occasion, but by the time it was finished the count read 3,007. It’s still good – here’s to 4,000!

3000 page views comic - Click to visit
If you’re asking “Who’s that Short Round accompanying your handsome self on the hill?” it’s my old character Super Turnip: He hasn’t been in anything for a while.