Dig that vibe

I'm back from parts foreign where, as you can see here, I have been working hard... and not just on my tan.

Flexing my comic muscles again, I will be appearing with my fellow Dessinators this Saturday 16 August at Comica Comiket at the British Library.

And while I am posting it turns out I should have been at the Ladeez do Comics curator's tour of the Comics Unmasked exhibition. Sorry, Nicola. I am such an arse.

Comics trips and comic strips

Last night saw me venture to the West End to this month's Ladeez do Comics and bump into my old pal David Baillie.

Cliodna Lyons was giving an account of her six month round the world trip with slides aplenty and notebooks full of sketches. Taking in 25 countries – St Helena, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, China, Mongolia and Russia to list a few – she travelled as much as possible via train or boat. One hell of an experience that will no doubt engender a wealth of projects for the intrepid traveller. A presentation by A. Dee of his 3D character work was followed by an all too brief tour of the work, background and mind of a cartoonist whose loose linework has delighted me for almost thirty years.

The brilliantly inquisitive and wonderfully glamorous Steven Appleby is as charming as his art, and he very graciously signed a copy of his Guide to Life for me.

Springing back into action

OK. I'm back. First more Angouleme report: before it all evaporates, I will mention some more highlights. Comes, master of black and white compositions and tales of witchcraft in rural Ardennes, was celebrated with an exhibition and saluted with a standing ovation at the closing ceremony. But as I check the Angouleme website for a link to his artwork, I find that we have just lost another great. There was a fascinating lecture from Jean Pierre Dionnet about mysterious italian fumetto artist Devi, a chance to catch Vuillemin in the flesh being quizzed about press cartooning , lovely nibbles and drinks at the opening of Brecht Evens'La Boite a Gand exhibition, and much hilarity at the polling booth when exercising our right to vote. Disappointments included the Spirou documentary and the Uderzo exhibition ( not enough original artwork among the blow-ups of pages and giant fibreglass models). And I never found my sketchbook. However I will move on. And draw more sketches. Like this. I will be appearing at Comiket next month, and have applied for table space at MCM London, along with my good friends The Dessinators.

Dessinators are go

It's been a while – I won't go in to the events of the last few months, suffice to say, Angouleme is upon us, and we are once again heading to foreign parts to spread the word of the London comics. We are now The Dessinators, a name which I believe will stick. Sean, Sally Ann, Dan, Oliver and I will be manning the table as usual. This year we will be flanked by none other than Paul Gravett, Peter Stanbury and the Comica Festival gang on one side, and the lovely Italians of Passenger Press on the other. Come and pay us all a visit in the Alternative Press tent. I have been preparing for the trip, as my kitchen bears witness.

Come and get it

Things are gaining some kind of momentum as the convention season gets into its stride. This Saturday you will find me touting the old comicfare at Comica's Comiket at the Bishopsgate Institute, 230 Bishopsgate, London, 11am to 6pm, alongside my old muckers and fellow B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S Sally Ann Hickman, Sean Azzopardi and Oliver Lambden and many other eminent folks of the comic fraternity.

Warm and fuzzy

The Christmas season kicked off with our very own Annual Empoverished Cartoonists Xmas Party on Sunday. Dan and I duly set off on the Oxford tube and swelled the attendance numbers by 100%. A most pleasant day was spent in the excellent company of Paul Rainey and Pete Clack, while we hatched our plan to take the comic world by storm and consumed many pints of ale. And onion rings, made with real onion no less.
Fired up with enthusiasm for social contact, I dragged Dan over to Brick Lane last night, only to find I had misread the email and Ladeez Do Comics is scheduled for NEXT Monday... I made amends with a pint of stout.
The last month has flown by with a trip to Paris to pack up Ma's belongings, Thought Bubble, the move, organising the work on the flat, and even a fair few days of proper work.
Thought Bubble didn't disappoint, definitely the best con in England for small pressers, and the bestest party afterwards. The next day I mumbled pathetically through a short presentation to the Ladeez (some of them were men) – I hope to give a better performance some time in the future if they ever ask me again.