It is finally here, Paper Science 7! It contains the fourth and final part of my children’s comic The King of Things & The Shrunken Giant Penny. Part 1 was published way back in April 2011 so if you’ve been wondering how it all ends you can buy it right now and find out. I’m really pleased with how this story turned out and it was a lot of fun to write and draw. A thank you is owed to Mr. Matthew Sheret for allowing The King and I to run rampant within the pages of his publication. There will be more King of Things stories on the way, don’t you worry about that.

Editor Sheret has put together another wonderful issue, there’s some gems in there from new faces and familiar names alike. This is also the last in the current run of Paper Science so if you haven’t read any of the previous issues now is an excellent time to buy issues 4-7 containing the complete The King of Things story and 50 pages of full colour, oversize comic goodness for a mere £8.

I also drew the cover for this issue and am honoured to be in the fine company of Luke Pearson, Kristyna Baczynski and Joe List. Here’s the artwork without all those pesky words on it.

All photos courtesy of Matt Sheret.

The above is a detail of a something I drew up for this:

I think the poster is pretty self explanatory but you can click the image to have a nosey around Orbital’s website or say “I’ll be there” on the Facebook event page. I’m really hoping to make it down at some point during it’s run to see other approaches to self portraits from all those talented folk mentioned above.

And not content with being in one London exhibition I’ve sent some work along to this:

Yep, as well an exhibition in a comic shop there’s one in a record shop too! It’s been put together by We Are Words + Pictures and Sean Azzopardi. The other exhibitors are none other than Marc Ellerby, Jamie McKelvie, Tom Humberstone, Sean Azzopardi, Kristyna Baczynski, Francesca Cassavetti and John Cei Douglas. I have 8 pieces of music related artwork in the show, 7 comics and one illustration.

So, if you’re around London in the month of September and you like comics or music you have a very good chance of seeing some of my original work. And one’s a big drawing of my head! Who wouldn’t like that?

The King of Things and friends.

It was announced near the start of the month that I will have a new comic appearing in the next issue of Paper Science (issue 4). I’m happy to reveal that it will in fact be the first of a four part story that will be serialised across the next 4 issues of Paper Science! The story is a children’s adventure called The King of Things & The Shrunken Giant Penny in which the titular King recalls the tale of how he obtained one of the rarest treasures in his vast collection of splendid things.

You don't know Jack? Find out who he is when you read Paper Science 4!

Head over to the We Are Words + Pictures site to find out more about the issue and the different ways you can get hold of a copy, or just head straight to the WAW+P shop to pre-order your copy or buy a subscription for the next 4 issues to make sure you don’t miss any part of The King of Things.

Paper Science 4 will be available nationwide on April 30th and it will look like this:

Cover by the infuriatingly talented Luke Pearson.

Richard Bruton over at Forbidden Planet International, wrote a hugely positive review of The Everyday Collection Four.

I was asked to contribute an illustration for Hype Machine’s Zeitgeist 2010 rundown of the top 50 Musical Artists of the year. I drew one of my favourites, The National who ranked at number 3. I’ve added this illustration to my Gallery too.

As part of Dan Berry’s wonderful ‘Snapshot Interviews’, I was interviewed over at his blog The Comics Bureau. Many of the comic artists and writers he interviewed were asked the same questions, so it’s interesting to compare the different backgrounds, processes and views on the current UK scene.

One of the Dan’s questions was “What does your workspace/studio look like?” so instead on describing it I took some photos of my studio in my new(ish) flat. Here’s a Flickr slideshow of them all.

I was also asked a single question as part of Avoid the Future’s One Question Interviews. On the back of my story in Solipsistic Pop 3, the question was about the influence of video games.

Speaking of Solipsistic Pop 3, since it’s launch at Thought Bubble Festival last November, I have completely neglected to promote it here on my blog. Well, if you’re a regular reader you should know by now that SolPop is the foremost anthology of UK comics talent. Volume 3 has an all ages theme inspired by the comics of our youth, The Beano and The Dandy etc. I have a 2 page autobiographical story drawn in a Beano style called ‘The Best Day of My Life (So Far)’ which opens the book, after Marc Ellerby’s wonderful Chloe Noonan cover comic (concluding on the back of course). I’ve put page 1 of my story in my Gallery.

The book got numerous reviews back in November, of note are the FPI review and Paul Gravett included it in his ‘Great British Comics Now’ feature saying my story was “A strong opener” and “…warm without being sentimental.” All 3 volumes of Solipsistic Pop are available in the SolPop Shop.

I’ve redesigned the site a little bit and added a Blood Blokes section with a fancy preview  of issue 1 which will be coming out sometime this year. I’ve also added a few recent illustrations to my Gallery, the complete 6 page comic ‘The Tears of Tommy Cooper’ from Solipsistic Pop 2 and a few pages of a Lego Pirates comic I did for Lego and Kickers.

This came about through We Are Words + Pictures who organised a comics workshop at Legoland Live last Summer. Myself, Kayla Hillier and Mike Leader were paid to go to Legoland in Windsor for 2 days one sunny weekend in July and encourage kids to draw comics. It was awesome. There’s a full report on the WAW+P blog. After which I added extra story and activity pages and coloured it all, ready for kids to download. Though now it’s finally done I’ve not be told where online Kickers have put it! I could write a whole other blog post about the back and forth involved in dealing with two large companies at the same time, but I won’t. Instead here’s a photo of the Lego I just had to buy for reference and one of me at Legoland (more photos at the WAW+P blog).

“Aarrrgh, me hearties, we’re tax deductable! Aargh!”

I think that about covers it for all the 2010/very early 2011 news. Thanks for reading my humble blog and I hope you enjoy all the work I’m planning on unleashing in 2011.

Here’s more info from the WAW+P blog:

“Saturday May 1st is Free Comic Book Day, and to celebrate We Are Words + Pictures will be once again releasing the talents of UK comics press on you all with a new edition of Paper Science.

Sporting a brand new cover by Philippa Rice, we’ll be setting ourselves up in London’s Orbital Comics, with 500 free copies to distribute to anyone who comes in. We’ll also be running a Drop In + Draw day there, featuring Tom Humberstone and Mark Oliver as well as the Mobile Library.

This new edition of Paper Science has been created with the generous assistance of Newspaper Club. They’re printing us a 16page, full-colour edition of 500 in time for the event. We’ll also be offering a print-ready PDF of the paper on this site on Saturday under a Creative Commons license, for you to read onscreen or to take to a printer. You can knock up a run wherever you are, just let us know.

We Are Words + Pictures are joined in this madness, in order of appearance, by Philippa Rice, Francesca Cassavetti, Joe Decie, Octavia Raitt, Becky Barnicoat, Daniel Locke, Anne Holiday, Matthew Sheret, Tom Humberstone, Luke Pearson, Adam Cadwell, Geof Banyard, Mark Oliver, Liz Lunney, Douglas Noble, Kristyna Baczynski, Anna Saunders, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Sean Azzopardi, Edward Ross and Marc Ellerby.”

This Sunday, Valentine’s Day, I will be taking part in Drop In + Draw, an open comics and illustration workshop organised by the ever-impressive We Are Words + Pictures. It’s held in Notting Hill Arts Club, London from 3-6pm and is £1 entry. It was intended to be all ages, but last minute changes by the venue owners have meant it’s 18+ only, sadly. Click the banner above for more info.

After that, WAW+P are putting on a night of music called Modern Romance in the same venue. Bands and DJs will be presided over by the comedian Robin Ince. It’s £5/£4 entry and runs from 7:30 ’til late. Again, click the link for more info.

I’m very much looking forward to both events.

(Above: Detail of flyer design by Tom Humberstone.)