Have you been out today?

from the archives

2012-01-24T10:34:00.002Z

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

What was I going to do with that plank?

All pictures go big if clickified.

and also...

2012-01-17T10:31:00.004Z

With all of the Christmas, new year, book launch shenanigans (topped by an unhealthy dose of feebly surrendered to coldyness, sniffle) I've rather failed to mention that lovely shiny new children's comic, The Phoenix, launched a little over a week ago. Weekly and crammed full of original comicky goodness (unrelated to licensed properties and tacky merchandising and joyfully free of soon-to-be-landfill items of plastic tat attached to the cover) The Phoenix is a bit like the zombie DFC, risen from its grave (only without the lingering smell of decay). It is a lovely new thing of immeasurable goodness and you can subscribe via the link. Individual copies can also be bought at some independent bookshops and there should be distribution set up at Waitrose stores soon too. Seek it out and consume it. It will do you good.

Oh, and I have a four page story called Ghost Ant in the current issue. You might find it entertaining, especially if you like ghosts. Or ants. Preferably both.

from the archives

2012-01-17T10:29:00.002Z

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Some more Gerald Goes to Mexico-related stuff and some more Frank's Wild Years stuff, sharing a fiery theme.

All pictures go big if clickified.

kind words, part two

2012-01-10T11:54:00.002Z

Ah yes, I forgot to say, I was very pleased to see that Ms Julia Eccleshare, ofttimes of The Guardian, said nice stuff about my book (did I mention I've got a book out? I've got a book out. Buy it! Buy it now!).

from the archives

2012-01-10T11:50:00.002Z

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Aha! Some images there that went into another little photocopied mini comic/picturebook type thing, Gerald Goes to Mexico. The nearest thing I've ever done to a road movie. Gerald the cat goes on a crime spree across America. Had a happy ending though, so far as I can recall (which, admittedly, isn't very far at all). Oh, no, wait ... there may have been dynamite...

All pictures go big if clickified.

kind words

2012-01-10T11:20:00.003Z

A few kind words about my book over on Thomas Taylor's blog.

Ta very much, Thomas.

Oh yes, my book came out. I probably should have mentioned that. And done all that hard sell business. Right then. Ahem.

My illustrated children's novel, A Boy and a Bear in a Boat, published by David Fickling Books, came out last Thursday. I think it may be quite good. And funny. I would go so far as to say that I am unusually proud of it. If you were feeling so inclined and wished to buy a copy, perhaps from your local independent bookseller, then I believe you might enjoy it.

Phew. Sorry about that. Back to business as usual now...

from the archives

2012-01-03T10:14:00.001Z

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

All pictures go big if clickified.

Oh, and, happy new year and that.

advance word

2011-12-20T16:07:00.002Z

Advance word on me book, over at the Forbidden Planet blog, from "Mae in Year 4" here.

I liked it because of the excitement – I loved the way all of these exciting things just kept happening to them by accident, and it was really funny.

Thank you, Mae.

from the archives

2011-12-20T11:22:00.002Z

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Ah yes ... I drew the logo for a record company back in the day. Go me!

Admittedly, Stupidcat Records were more familiarly known as "Rachel and Andy from downstairs" at the time and they only ever put out about half a dozen 7" singles as far as I remember. But still, the logo was all right. Cat with its tongue sticking out and wearing a dunce's cap. Sophisticated stuff.

All pictures go big if clickified.

from the archives

2011-12-14T08:58:00.002Z

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Oops. Forgot the archive post entirely last week and a day late this week. Sorry. But you're all too busy Christmas shopping and stuff to notice, right? Right?

Anyway, a double helping now, by way of apology...

Ah yes ... I drew a two page comic strip version of the Tom Waits song Frank's Wild Years. I believe it's since been lost. The world need not weep.

"Wellyissimo", though. Well done me with that. Um, assuming it wasn't something I liked that someone else said and all I did was write it down. This is often a problem I have when I look back at old stuff: there'll be a gag or a line of dialogue or a phrase that I like and I can't remember if it was something I came up with myself or something I liked that I just noted down in admiration. I try to remember to acknowledge my sources a bit more often these days but I'm far from consistent.

All pictures go big if clickified.

some sketchbook scraps

2011-12-14T08:56:00.001Z

You know, for a change...

from the archives

2011-11-29T09:56:00.001Z

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

All pictures go big if clickified.

from the archives

2011-11-22T10:05:00.001Z

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

All pictures go big if clickified.

plugs

2011-11-17T12:04:00.003Z

There now follows a series of advertising announcements:

I will be attending the excellent Thought Bubble comics festival in the fine city of Leeds this weekend. Tomorrow I shall have the great honour of opening the golden envelope and announcing this year's winner of the Leeds Graphic Novel Award as won by my humble and astonished self last year. Then on Saturday and Sunday I will be generally knocking about including at some point spending some time at the Blank Slate table to sign copies of...

... Nelson, the amazing, multi-authored story of one girl's life from birth in 1968 to the age of 43 now (deliberately making her the same age as Rob Davis, whose brainchild the whole mad enterprise was, accidentally also making her the same age as me). I still haven't read the whole thing (I'll be picking up my contributor's copy in Leeds) but as far as it had got when I contributed my four pages' worth it was amazing. Somehow, a mad folly that was always doomed to be a directionless mess and a mish mash has been expertly shepherded to completion by Rob and co-editor Woodrow Phoenix to produce a satisfying and complete tale. No mean feat with 54 (I think) contributors to deal with. An amazing, singular creation featuring so many fine names from the UK's rudely healthy comic talent that the rich whole can easily survive the dilution of my own modest chapter. Standout chapters for me include those by Simone Lia, Faz Choudhury, Roger Langridge, Warwick Johnson Cadwell and Paul Harrison-Davies. Oh, and Kate Brown. Her chapter's hilarious.

And as if that wasn't enough, profits from the first print run all go to homeless charity Shelter. So go buy one. Or several. If you happen to be in smelly London or Nottingham then I believe that both Gosh Comics and Page 45 are donating their part of sales to Shelter too. So hurrah for them! And hurrah for you if you buy a copy from either of those places.

While I'm in a plugging kind of mode, I may as well remind you that my book, A Boy and a Bear in a Boat, is published by David Fickling Books on Jan 5th. I received advance copies a few weeks back (as I think I very briefly mentioned at the time) and I was really chuffed with how it's turned out. This is an unfamiliar feeling for me - mostly I look at work I've done and see only the faults and the things I could have done better but this time ... well, mostly I'm just proud. Which is nice.

I'm just in the process of arranging the launch event for that night. If you're reading this then you're almost certainly going to receive an invitation sometime in the next week or two. If you don't and you feel you should have then do drop me a line.

And finally, The Phoenix comic, also launching in January, has a special, free preview issue (Issue Zero, in fact) available by obtaining a code from the current issue of Waitrose Weekend. It's also now possible to sign up for subscriptions (a fine Christmas present, surely). For those of you that mourned the loss of the DFC, or for anyone with an interest in story-led, original comics for children that aren't tied to some dodgy licensed character, this is going to be a winner.

And now, we return you to your regular programming...

coupla scraps

2011-11-17T10:55:00.000Z

from the archives

2011-11-15T10:50:00.002Z

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Ooh, blimey ... some preliminary scratchings there prior to my only ever dabbling (by request) in the realms of a vaguely manga style for a strip called "The Straw Billionaire" (written by then fellow MA student Sari Tanimura). It wound up being an awkward hybrid of a sub-manga style and a poor imitation of Jaime Hernandez as I remember it. Oh well, you live and learn.

All pictures go big if clickified.

the real Ned Trumpet?

2011-11-10T13:49:00.000Z

Look at this!

from the archives

2011-11-08T09:09:00.002Z

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Hmm ... two spreads with no pictures and one of them not even my writing (a fellow student from the MA course I was doing at the time wrote that second spread - all to do with some map-related project we were working on). Have some extra pages...

There, that's a bit better.

All pictures go big if clickified.

marginalium

2011-11-03T08:24:00.001Z

from the archives

2011-11-01T09:58:00.001Z

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Nothing very exciting there, I'm afraid. Sorry.

sneak

2011-10-28T14:52:00.002+01:00

I just moments ago finished a little four page one off comic strip for some future issue of The Phoenix so I thought I'd share with you a sneak preview of the opening panel...

ooh!

2011-10-26T14:11:00.002+01:00

Arrived by courier today. In shops from January 5th.

Really pleased with how it's turned out. Especially that cover.

from the archives

2011-10-26T14:09:00.001+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Oops. A day late. Sorry.

from the archives

2011-10-18T09:26:00.003+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Reckon that's another Ni(c)k Tuliani (agrochemical flatmate of mine at the time) bottom right there. A good, and sometimes rather wise, man, Mr Tuliani.

Ah yes, Jackie's cunning plan... This was the very excellent Jackie Batey whose expert tutelage on the MA course quietly changed my life. Ta, Jackie, hope you're well.

from the archives

2011-10-11T09:55:00.002+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

marginalia

2011-10-08T14:45:00.001+01:00

Doodles from the margins of the real stuff...

from the archives

2011-10-04T09:41:00.002+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Well, I quite like some of the above. The chap in the bowler hat for instance. Well done, thirty year old me.

messy methods

2011-10-02T16:01:00.001+01:00

Here's a terrifying insight into the Shelton working method...

Click image for much bigness.

rare

2011-09-30T09:22:00.002+01:00

I slept last night. A LOT. It was very good.

Normally, lately, it's been long slogs working into the night on Good Dog, Bad Dog Book 2. But last night I declared a holiday and was tucked up in bed before 9.00.

It was brilliant.

Anyway, here's a sneaky peek at a panel from page 11. It's a rare instance of me drawing a car (in fact one and a half cars) and not being entirely horribly embarrassed by the result. Hurrah!

Baggage

2011-09-27T10:19:00.004+01:00

Former and future colleagues the Etherington Brothers have their sumptuous original hardback comicky book (graphic novel, if you must) Baggage published by David Fickling Books as part of the The DFC Library imprint on October 6th. To celebrate this fact they're offering for sale on eBay an original page of Lorenzo's amazingly super-meticulous artwork for the book along with a stack of other goodies here.

Please bid often and bid high.

from the archives

2011-09-27T10:08:00.002+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Hmm ... well they're a bit dull. What are the next two like...

There you go: some pirates. Now I don't feel like I've horribly short changed you.

Clickify the picturiness to enlargificate.

from the archives

2011-09-20T10:16:00.001+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Clickify the picturiness to enlargificate.

in progress

2011-09-13T11:30:00.001+01:00

A panel from Good Dog, Bad Dog 2, currently in progress. Should be out sometime next year.

as recommended

2011-09-13T10:12:00.004+01:00

That there Julia Eccleshare of The Guardian has recommended Good Dog, Bad Dog as an example of books "combining humour and strong visuals" here.

So that's good.

from the archives

2011-09-13T09:05:00.002+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Note the accidental Robert Mitchum. This happens from time to time. Most recently (bizarrely) while doodling along to Robbie Coltrane as Cracker.

I'm yet to find a really good joke that begins "So, this polar bear walks into a bar..." There really ought to be one. Closest I've found so far was this back in 2005 (supplied by Vikki Nelson) but the presence of the salmon seems a bit of a cheat.

Clickify the picturiness to enlargificate.

from the archives

2011-09-06T08:02:00.002+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Oddly fond of that drawing now I look at it. I used to commute to the MA course in Brighton which meant two and a half hours plus each way on trains. I seldom did more drawing than this in all that time (though I did do a lot of staring out of the window which is a severely underrated pastime. Lights on in dark buildings as we pased through nighttime London. Lovely).

I like A L Kennedy's writing very much and seldom more so than in that particular quote: "No one should go to church - take them all to the seaside, do them good". Although sometimes I think the seaside is my church.

Clickify the picturiness to enlargificate.

Nelson line up

2011-09-01T12:05:00.001+01:00

The full lineup of contributors to the multi-creator comic Nelson (brainchild of the mighty Rob Davis, edited by Rob with Woodrow Phoenix) can be found here. Be amazed.

tayori

2011-08-30T10:17:00.000+01:00

Myself, The Main Squeeze, David Hughes, Paula Metcalf, Alexis Deacon and many more have contributed postcardy artworks for the above. If you're in Cambridge on an appropriate day then do please seek out the exhibition (and maybe even buy something). Should be well worth a (close) look.

from the archives

2011-08-30T09:41:00.002+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

The girl in the hat is derived from something by Alison Watt, I think. (Hmm, what's she doing these days? I shall have to check).

Some kind of a rubbish prize for anyone who can correctly guess the book about an insomniac referred to on the right hand page. (Only one guess per person. Please show your working).

And that's just a spread full of bad drawings for which I can only apologise.

from the archives

2011-08-23T10:51:00.003+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

In case anyone was wondering, I missed posting last week due to being in a tent in Cromer. Which was good. I can heartily recommend the Henry Blogg Museum, the Lifeboat Café, the Rocket Café and the sea.

Another Wrong Dog picture on the right there, I think. I believe the gentlemen depicted were called Tall Paul and Small Paul.

Images are clickably enlargable.

McBoo

2011-08-22T14:43:00.001+01:00

Getting back into the swing of drawing the Dogs...

well, I don't really like to talk about it...

2011-08-10T11:44:00.002+01:00

Couple of postcard-sized things I did for a forthcoming charity auction. Turned out all right, I think.

from the archives

2011-08-09T09:08:00.000+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Images are clickably enlargable.

insect haunting

2011-08-08T12:24:00.002+01:00

Here's a panel from the silly and funny (at least I hope so) one off comic strip, Ghost Ant, that I completed last week for some future issue of The Phoenix.

It turned out all right, I think.

But you'll have to wait until sometime next year to read the whole thing.

from the archives

2011-08-02T08:40:00.002+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

That chap on the right was a character in my self-published little photocopied picture book The Wrong Dog (currently out of print). I forget his name just now but he was a nasty piece of work. Had a dog called Benito.

Images are clickably enlargable.

marginalium(?)

2011-07-29T15:54:00.002+01:00

from the archives

2011-07-26T10:27:00.004+01:00

Daler, A6 sketchbook number 11, begun 2nd January 1998.

Here we go again, then. The start of book number 11. A mixed bag, this one (same as ever I suppose). At this point I'm one term into the two year MA at Brighton. There will be memories along the way (but not especially with these first two spreads).

Images are clickably enlargable.

from the archives

2011-07-19T07:43:00.002+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

Oops. I hadn't realised the end was nigh or I'd have bunged these ones at the end of last week's archive post. On to number 11 next week and something a bit more interesting, I hope...

Click on images to see them bigger.

Scotch Corner

2011-07-18T08:46:00.002+01:00

Over at artblog Scotch Corner they're having a month of guest contributions - various scribbly folk answering a brief questionnaire-type thing in an entertaining fashion - and my turn was yesterday (though whether I was entertaining is not for me to judge). Do take a look, there's some fine folk who have already contributed and plenty more to come.

My thanks to the excellent Graeme Neil Reid for the invitation.

covers my book will not have, volume two, part six

2011-07-14T10:43:00.002+01:00

Again, I quite liked this but kind of didn't expect the publisher to go for it. And I was right. What I hadn't expected was that they didn't really go for any of the ideas I presented to them and asked me, in the nicest possible way, to go away and have another think about it.

This is the last of these for a while. I'll give it a rest for a bit (maybe even put some new stuff up instead of constantly delving through the past) and tell What Happened Next another time.

covers my book will not have, volume two, part five

2011-07-13T14:08:00.002+01:00

I Knew this one couldn't be used, really, but I like it a lot. In fact I like it so much that I may one day have to write a different book that it can be the cover for.

from the archives

2011-07-12T09:35:00.002+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

Ah yes, the yellow teapot...

I have no idea who Sue in Caldecote might have been.

Click on images to see them bigger.

covers my book will not have, volume two, part four

2011-07-11T11:57:00.001+01:00

Another quiet one.

Almost ... too quiet...

covers my book will not have, volume two, part three

2011-07-08T08:35:00.001+01:00

I rather like this one, looking at it now, but I was unsurprised when it didn't find favour with my publishers. I thought at the time that they had considered it too uncommercial but, given their eventual choice, maybe they thought it wasn't uncommercial enough.

... or possibly more like this...

2011-07-07T20:20:00.000+01:00

Ghost Ant, possibly

2011-07-07T11:07:00.002+01:00

covers my book will not have, volume two, part two

2011-07-07T09:25:00.002+01:00

This was the one that The Main Squeeze and I both thought would obviously be the one that Ness Wood, my designer, and the folk at David Fickling Books would like best and want me to develop.

Which just goes to show what we know.

covers my book will not have, volume two, part one

2011-07-06T09:51:00.002+01:00

So, a good while after I drew the various thumbnail ideas that I posted a while back, there was a meeting with my publisher at which I would need to discuss, among other things, ideas for the cover. I was confident I could rattle off half a dozen rough designs in no time at all because I remembered how pleased I'd been with that spread of thumbnails in my sketchbook. Easy peasy. No urgency to do it now...

Only I was forgetting that in the meantime the title of the book had changed. A bunch of the previous ideas rather relied upon, or at least referred to, the previous title, (Here Is Where We Are, and didn't really work with the new title, A Boy and a Bear in a Boat. Oops. And, what's more, mostly it was the ideas that I liked best that no longer worked.

So I worked up, mostly, some new designs to send along in advance of the meeting.

Here's the first...

...which could have been okay, I think.

Incidentally, I write this having yesterday completed a new cover for the US edition of the book. The American arm of Random House wussed out of (or, perhaps, had the good commercial sense to avoid) going with the daringly minimal UK design. I'm very happy with both versions.

from the archives

2011-07-05T13:23:00.001+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

Click on images to see them bigger.

from the archives

2011-06-28T08:53:00.000+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

Click on images to see them bigger.

nightshirt

2011-06-22T15:58:00.000+01:00

from the archives

2011-06-21T08:54:00.000+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

I think it's fair to say that we're slightly out of synch, time of year-wise, at the moment.

Click on images to see them bigger.

birds

2011-06-20T21:33:00.001+01:00

from the archives

2011-06-14T10:09:00.001+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

Click on images to see them bigger.

red dog

2011-06-10T08:27:00.000+01:00

dogs of noir number 1: Gloria Greyhound

2011-06-09T11:35:00.002+01:00

The first in an occasional series. Suggestions for future entries are welcomed (though I've a long list of possibilities already so I make no promises).

from the archives

2011-06-07T09:00:00.002+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

Hmm, bit of a step up in quality this week, I think.

Sam Griffiths no longer lives there. Please do not attempt to contact him. And I have no idea who Siobhan was (possibly someone offering a second hand Mac for sale via a postcard in a shop window - that's my best guess) but I'm guessing that she's most likely moved in the intervening thirteen and a bit years too.

There's a George Hardie (famous illustrator/designer type and head of the MA course I did in Brighton) on that left hand page.

Click on images to see them bigger.

from the archives

2011-05-31T09:58:00.001+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

Click on images to see them bigger.

ape

2011-05-27T12:19:00.000+01:00

spacemen

2011-05-26T11:05:00.001+01:00

from the archives

2011-05-24T08:44:00.001+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

Click on images to see them bigger.

the cover my book will have

2011-05-23T08:02:00.002+01:00

Well, I'm going to refrain from posting the image directly here for now but, before I'm busted by a gaggle of Twittering Spartacuses, I will confess that the cover that my book will have is now up on Amazon.

covers my book will not have, part 11b

2011-05-20T13:03:00.002+01:00

No, really, I'll stop fobbing you off with all these thumbnails soon but here they are all together, just to demonstrate how a bunch of them are just slight variations of one another in any case.

Click for bigger.

covers my book will not have, part eleven

2011-05-18T10:47:00.002+01:00

That's the last two of the early thumbnails to show you. Thank heavens for that, you're probably thinking.

from the archives

2011-05-17T10:11:00.001+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

Click on images to see them bigger.

covers my book will not have, part ten

2011-05-12T09:39:00.000+01:00

Quite like that bottom one.

Incidentally, I just heard that the marketing people all want to read my book now they've seen the actual cover we decided on in the end. And I'd thought they would see it as hugely uncommercial and hate it. Maybe I'm not trying hard enough...

covers my book will not have, part nine

2011-05-11T15:47:00.001+01:00

covers my book will not have, part eight

2011-05-11T15:43:00.002+01:00

That lower one's interestingish in its way but the bear turned out more like a mutant Roland Rat.

from the archives

2011-05-10T08:40:00.001+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

That's another one from The Wrong Dog.

Whereas that's just a page of bad drawings.

Click on images to see them bigger.

covers my book will not have, part seven

2011-05-09T10:50:00.001+01:00

You know, a lot of the foregoing I never considered very seriously but something like this might have been a goer...

covers my book will not have, part six

2011-05-08T12:57:00.001+01:00

full or half?

2011-05-07T17:31:00.003+01:00

Not going to say much about this just now as I haven't done my bit yet (I think I get word of it in a week or so), but I shall be among the (many, varied, worryingly talented) contributors to Nelson, a multi-creator-ised single narrative graphic novel/fat comic/whatever you want to call them coming from Blank Slate in November. Further details of this ambitious and original concept (graphic) album - dreamt up by Rob Davis (who co-edits with me old mate Mr Woodrow Phoenix) - can be found here (from Rob himself) and here (from Blank Slate).

Apparently it's all going rather swimmingly thus far and the chapters so far produced are beyond splendid in appearance. Wish me luck that I do not fumble...

covers my book will not have, part five

2011-05-07T11:26:00.001+01:00

news from our correspondent in Burkina Faso

2011-05-06T10:39:00.006+01:00

Aha!

Word arrives from West Africa that friend of this blog, Mr Stephen Davies, has a new book for young adults out. Outlaw was published yesterday by Andersen Press.

According to the blurb:

Fifteen-year-old Jake Knight is an explorer and adventurer at heart but this often gets him into trouble. When a stuffy English boarding school suspends him for rule-breaking, Jake flies out to Burkina Faso where his parents are living. He is expecting a long, adventure-filled vacation under a smiling African sun. But what awaits him there is kidnapping, terrorism and Yakuuba Sor – the most wanted outlaw in the Sahara desert.

... which to be honest sounds all a bit ho hum to me. But have faith, gentle reader. Trust in the author and not in the publisher's blurb. I've yet to obtain a copy myself but if previous outings (and this glowing review on Bookwitch) are anything to go by then it will be original, proper exciting and with a brilliantly evoked sense of place.

I'll report back as soon as I know for sure.

covers my book will not have, part four

2011-05-05T13:08:00.005+01:00

covers my book will not have, part three

2011-05-04T13:47:00.002+01:00

Another couple of thumbnails. These are all from a double page spread in one of my sketchbooks incidentally. Shown here somewhat enlarged. The originals are maybe a bit under an inch tall.

Neither were ever contenders, I was just thinking through my pen(s). There's a certain minimalist charm to that first one though.

from the archives

2011-05-03T09:55:00.002+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

Ah yes, One of those houses on fire became an illustration in my small press mini-comic (well, actually, it was more a picture book I suppose) The Wrong Dog. Which is well overdue a reprint now I come to think of it. Maybe I'll get round to that someday soon...

covers my book will not have, part two

2011-05-02T20:17:00.000+01:00

covers my book will not have, part one

2011-05-01T18:38:00.002+01:00

The Book ("Brilliantly funny and tender" apparently) has recently gained its cover (although it's not yet on show at that link). But before arriving at the final design (which is a brave choice - possibly to the point of being magnificent folly - on the publisher's part) many another option was toyed with on the way. So naturally, I thought I'd share some of them with you, dear reader, to take some of the sting out of the long, eager wait for publication day (January 5th).

Here, then, are a couple of the first batch of thumbnail noodlings that dropped out of my pen when I first started thinking about the cover really quite some time (and a change of mind concerning the title) ago...

heading into trouble

2011-04-27T16:22:00.002+01:00

I think that I've finished my book.

There may well be a few odds and ends of corrections to text and illustrations and probably questions to answer and tweaks to tweak about cover designs and such but, essentially, it's done.

Hurrah!

As such, I've been tidying up the Mac's desktop and sweeping up all kinds of oddments, some of which I'll probably bung up here as I gear up to The Next Big Thing I need to do, which is book two of Good Dog, Bad Dog.

Anyway, here's one such scrappy scrap...

from the archives

2011-04-26T22:00:00.002+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

(I think I'd been told not to draw on both sides of the page by someone - probably the estimable and wise Ms Jackie Batey. It's all right, it didn't last long).

Click on images to make them grow.

parklife

2011-04-26T21:40:00.002+01:00

It's been sunny. Me and the Main Squeeze went to the park the other day (with a flask of tea) to look at people and perhaps, if the fancy took us, to draw them.

These are a handful of mine (hers were loads better).

a boy and a bear in a boat

2011-04-23T11:51:00.002+01:00

I'm just putting the finishing touches to the cover (about which, more later) and endpapers of my book. I think the original contract suggested I'd be delivering the finished work at the end of May 2010. So not quite a full year late then. Hope it's worth the wait.

fruitfly

2011-04-22T19:30:00.002+01:00

Today the kitchen has been visited by many fruitflies.

I squished one and scanned it for artistic purposes and share it with you here for your undoubted delight...

beardyface

2011-04-20T12:19:00.002+01:00

Doodling with brushy brushes in Photoshop...

from the archives

2011-04-19T09:57:00.001+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

Ooh dear, a pair of dull ones there. Oh well, that's the way it goes some weeks I guess.

Click on images to make them grow.

from the archives

2011-04-12T10:25:00.003+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

That list of punsome (and mostly killingly unfunny) book titles on the left hand page was for a proposed series of cartoons called Misheard Classics that may or may not have been the brainchild of Mr Steven Haslemere. I don't think I ever got round to drawing up a single one (as had been the intention). And I suspect that the few genuinely amusing ones must have turned up on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue before now anyway.

Hmm, "...their breaths kissed in the air between them." I still rather like that. Perhaps I'll find it a home somewhere someday.

Click on images to make them grow.

50/48

2011-04-05T11:51:00.002+01:00

Saturday I answer the phone and it's a girl working for some three letter acronym of a market research place and, unusually, I agree to answer some questions. I am not from the 18-26 age bracket in which they are especially interested but apparently they still value my data highly enough to bother talking to me. I'm expecting a series of questions about my favourite laundry detergent or something but instead I'm quizzed on a variety of subjects including general stuff about income brackets and specific stuff about internet usage and social networks. We're a good ten minutes in when I'm somewhat thrown...

"So, on a scale of zero to one hundred - zero being a very cold, negative feeling and one hundred being very warm and positive - how do you feel about the Palestinians?"

I take a moment. Consider. I do not laugh. I do not comment upon the validity of the question, nor the way in which it has been put.

"Um ... 50?"

"Okay. And, again, on a scale of zero to one hundred - zero being a very cold, negative feeling and one hundred being very warm and positive - how do you feel about the people of Israel?"

I take a longer moment. I still do not laugh. But I hope that my questioner might.

"Er ... 48?"

"Okay..."

The next couple of questions are also about Israel and Palestine. I opt for "don't know" as my answer and then, when it becomes apparent that more of the same is to follow I suggest that, perhaps it will save time to just mark me down as "don't know" for everything to do with Israel and Palestine.

"Oh, right. Okay. Hang on a moment ... There, that's done."

She returns to her script.

"Now then - Iran—"

"I think maybe it's best if you just mark me down as 'don't know' for anything to do with the Middle East as a whole."

"Oh, okay."

Happily, there isn't much more after that.

At the end I am thanked for my time and asked if I might be marked down as someone who would be happy to take part in further such surveys. I politely decline.

from the archives

2011-04-05T09:23:00.003+01:00

A6, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook number 10, begun 31st October 1997.

I'm guessing there's a touch of Fargo in that right hand page, though it had come out over a year earlier. I remember seeing it (probably a number of times) at the old Cambridge Arts Cinema where I used to be an usher. Good film for ushers. All those snowy scenes early on made for a relatively well lit auditorium so latecomers didn't need so much help finding their seats.

Click on images to make them grow.

Heston

2011-04-02T17:38:00.002+01:00

I am buying beer, chicken thighs, carrots and bread at the Co-Op. The cashier is unusually smily and chatty. "Hello, how are you today?" she says chirpily. "Um, very well thanks," I say, more or less truthfully. Then, rather halfheartedly, "And yourself?" She informs me that she too is very well. Then she says, "You know, in those glasses you look a bit like Heston." I assume she means cookery's Mr Science, Heston Blumenthal, rather than Charlton Heston (the possibility of which only occurs to me later). I do not resemble Mr Blumenthal and my glasses do not resemble Heston Blumenthal's glasses. Nevertheless for the duration of a four item purchase we conduct a conversation about the proprietor of The Fat Duck in Bray during which it becomes apparent, to me at least, that the girl on the till knows considerably more about him than I do (I consider mentioning that Dave McKean illustrated his last book but decide against it). I am informed, for instance, that she made his orange chocolate cake (I think that was it, though that seems rather ordinary for HB - possibly it was lychee and squirrel and I've misremembered) at Christmas. It was good, apparently.

The transaction complete we wish each other a pleasant evening and I depart. I think about it some more. I really do not look like Heston Blumenthal. My glasses really, really do not resemble Heston Blumenthal's glasses. What she was saying, I conclude, was "you are bald and wear spectacles." Fair enough then.