Current work: Liedekijn

I'm working on two non-Greener Pastures comics projects right now, one of which is a group gallery exhibition opening soon in Canberra. The interesting thing about the exhibition is that each piece of art involved is a single page in a narrative that makes up a complete story, The Song of Heer Halewijn. 

The show is called Liedekijn and it has been organised by the seemingly indefatigable Emma-Jean Stewart. The story is a medieval Dutch/Flemish fairytale originally written in a poem. The translated poem was split into 23 plot points and those points were handed to the artists to illustrate. Some pages, like mine, are in the traditional comic book format of sequential panels, while others are single illustrations. Each page progresses the tale though, the tale of Machteld and Halewijn, a tale of seduction and murder. 

There's a full colour art book to go along with the exhibition so that the story can be read once the show is over. 

It's a very interesting project to be a part of and I'm really excited to be going to the opening night. Feel free to join us there on Thursday the 28th of March. Many of the artists will be in attendance. Details below. 

By way of cajoling you into either viewing the exhibition or ordering the book, I present the pencils for my page below. My page appears about halfway through the story as Machteld and Halewijn meet for the first time. To see my finished inks, and to find out what happens next, you'll have to get the book. With a pre-order price of only $12 it's a steal!

Here are the details: 
Venue: The Front Gallery. Shop 3, 1 Wattle Place, Lyneham, ACT.
Dates: 26th March - 8th April, 2013. Opening night: 7:30pm, 28th March 2013.

Exhibition website: liedekijn.com

Gallery website: www.frontgallerycafe.com

Opening night Facebook event page: www.facebook.com/events/389157271170276
Order the book: emmajeans.bigcartel.com/product/liedekijn-artbook-preorder

What I Read Last Month…

What I read in… 
September 2012

This Is Not Your Mini Comic…

by Pat Grant.

www.patgrantart.com

A heartfelt start to the latest iteration of The Mini Comic of the Month Club. 

Superman: Earth One. Volume 1

by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis, et al. 

www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/superman-earth-one

Despite the sweeping brief of retelling and somewhat updating and modernising Superman's origin story I found this quite bland, both in the plot and the art. 

Mad Bonaz 4 Lyfe, Good and Beach Balloon

by Andrew Fulton. 

smallercomics.limitedrun.com

Another batch of Fulton comics that didn't disappoint and certainly did delight. Full reviews over on the Australian Comics Journal site here, here and here. 

I Will Beat You at Mario Cart and You Will Cry

by Ive Sorocuk, Andrew Fulton, and numerous other brilliant Aussies. 

smallercomics.limitedrun.com

A fabulously fun little mini that grew out of an equally fun little rivalry between Ive Sorocuk and Andrew Fulton about who was the better player of Mario Kart. Numerous fabulous Australian cartoonists added their voice to choruses of #teamive and #teamandrew, but the winner here is surely #teamcomics. Great fun! 

Behind the scenes at Cheez TV

In the latest episode of GPTV I uploaded a video of the first time Michael and I brought Greener Pastures to Channel 10's morning cartoon show Cheez TV. Here's some behind the scenes photos from that fun shoot… 

Michael and Tim getting the star treatment in the make-up chairs. 

"What do you mean my forehead is shiny!" 

Most of the crew in on planning what and how we're going to shoot. As you can tell from the video, the whole thing is pretty much ad libbed. 

"Just draw a damn picture McEwen!"

Here we are getting to know Ryan and Jade while waiting to start taping. A couple of top blokes honestly excited to have us there. 

Setting up the time lapse drawing shot. 

Jade, absolutely enthralled by what Tim has to say. 

"Comics! I draw comics GOOD!" 

Team photo! We had an awesome time that fine day in 1996 shooting Cheez TV, and it shows on all our faces. 

What I read last Month…

What I read in… 
August 2012

The Sexy Virus, The Sticky Goat Affair and The Convoluted Killbots
www.gloriousbounty.com

This trio of madcap space tales by Luke Milton and Edward J. Grug III are fab fun. 
A complete review will follow eventually. 

Supanova Brisbane 2012

I know it takes me forever to get around to posting these – what I loosely term photo essays – but better late than never, right? With my work for the next Supanova tour already beginning, it seems like the right time to finally post the first of the two cities we hit late last year during what I like to refer to as Supanovember… Brisbane!

Full disclosure: I'm one of the founders of Supanova, art direct it, and have a financial stake in the business. 

For me the weekend started with an awesome ComicBook MasterClass presented by the amazing veteran comics writer and artist Howard Chaykin. There's no doubt that all present were blown away as one comic making gem of information after the other was dropped by Mr. Chaykin. Let me tell you though, what a joy he was to photograph, even by an amateur like me. So! There's going to be lots of shots of Mr. Chaykin gesticulating and pulling the most amazing faces as he rammed home one point after the other with no bullshit but plenty of profanity. A really great experience. 

Artists' Alley was chokkas with interested punters! 

Along this line of fabulous talent is Samantha Calcraft, Mel Stringer, Benjamin Constantine, Glenn Manders, Cam-El manning the Phatsville tables, and way in the back Cameron Davis. 

From closest to camera here we have international guest Michelle Delecki, the always sexy Paul Abstruse, Jeffrey 'Chamba' Cruz, Leonard Bermingham, and the thorn between two roses at the end is Paul Mason, with Sarah Ellen on his right. 

Speaking of Paul (The Soldier Legacy) Mason, here's a panel he was on with the amazing James (The Deep) Brouwer, as hosted by David (Q-Dog) Quinn. 

Paul knows the score, and he's telling you what it is! 

Here's some more Chaykin goodness, and in this instalment he's giving David Yardin what-for! Looks like David's holding his own though. Not an easy thing to do. Further along the table is Tristan Jones and in the background (back to us), James Brouwer. 

While we're on the subject of Yardin and Jones, here's a regular occurrence at Supanova: The Artists' Draw-Off, this time featuring Yardin, Jones and Shane (Superman: Earth 1) Davis, hosted by Q-Dog and videoed by Supanova's Technical Director Bruce Moyle. 

A couple of shots from the exhibitor floor…

John Di Maggio and Billy West were a huge hit. John's known for Futurama, Adventure Time, Kim Possible and Batman: Brave & the Bold, While Billy's known for The Ren & Stimpy Show and Futurama as well. They packed out the auditorium to standing room only two days in a row! 

Most importantly from this trip: quite the hefty haul! Now if only I had time to read them all before the next set of Supanovas!