Coal Yard

Coal Yard by John Welding | Make Your Own Book

I live in a working Coal Yard and thought it about time I documented it in some way. This book contains images from an early morning meander around the yard, exploring the nooks and dust encrusted crannies which have been part of my home for the past 12 years. I have neighbors in the yard and I don't own the yard so I tried to respect privacy and not give too many details away. I hope it catches the coaly atmosphere.

This has been an interesting experience. I like the idea of photos in books on a shelf within easy reach to the idea of them lurking on a hard drive somewhere out of sight and out of mind. This is my First time using Blurb and I have not seen a physical book yet, production takes two weeks which is just enough time to forget and be surprised when the post man arrives.

Attic Puppets

Drawing freehand with dip pen and black ink.

 

Script Writing

This is how I start writing a story, it helps me set the scene.

Tropical World Sketches

Today we succeeded in going to Tropical World in Leeds and I took my sketchbook and camera. I was not prepared for the sauna like heat which was great and well worth the £3.30 entrance fee in itself. This was the plan in cold January a few months ago but we managed to pick a day when they were closed and so ended up at Leeds Museum again. Tropical World is a great place to go for drawing , there are a variety of animals and some are really slow moving which is ideal. I have not sketched from life (with all the storytelling going on) for a long time, so this was quite luxurious in fairly comfortable surrounds.

 

Mrs Ma Page One Process

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

1) Starts with a Ben Haggarty script. 2) Page thumbnails and layout, very rough but becoming aware of the amount of text needed in each panel. 3) Pencil art drawn on scraps of paper at A3 size, scanned and arranged into a 300dpi A4 page using Photoshop. 4) Next is lettering, this is important so I don’t waste time colouring up a patch that then has a great big speech bubble plonked over the top of it. 5) Sepia colour layer with highlights and shadows painted in using the Dodge and Burn tools. 6) Using the Lasso selection tool I select areas and use the Hue/Saturation slider to get colours into the panels. Ideally this should be done all in one go, flesh, Mrs Ma Blue tunic etc, that does get really boring so I tend to work on it panel by panel. 7) Tweak areas with Burn and Dodge tools. 8) Experiment with effects. Exported the art layer into a free program called paint.net and applied a photo filter I like called Soften Portrait, then imported that layer back into Photoshop on a separate layer. Applied Overlay to the Layer then erased areas with a low opacity Eraser to keep some of the subtle details from being lost. 9) The finished colour page with tweaks and editor and writer editorial changes to make everything work on the page. Mrs Ma and the Dumplings can be seen in The Phoenix Comic #15

'Mrs Ma and the Dumplings' in The Phoenix Comic #15

I have drawn another four page strip, written by Ben Haggarty and it can be seen in the latest issue of the weekly The Phoenix Comic issue 15. AVAILABLE NOW! By subscription from The Phoenix Website and from OK Comics in Leeds.

Art Vs Ergo Line Pens

This is a follow up to the last post where I had just ordered a box of the new Artline Ergoline Calligraphy Pen 2.0, I was expecting to have to wait longer with ordering them over Easter but they arrived in this mornings post. I was giddy opening the box. First off, I have to restate how much I like drawing with the original Artline Calligraphy Pen, comparing anything to it would be a challenge at this point. The chisel tip of the Artline pen gives a lovely smooth line with a variety of line widths similar to that obtainable from a small brush but with the control and feel of a marker type pen. Ideal for sketching and for more solid drawing work. I have used the pens for cartooning and for large scale public art commissions and although a bit chunky it's also very nice to write with. The white barrelled old style Artline Calligraphy Pen pen was wearing a sore patch on my middle finger, I guess its not designed to be held for hours on end. I let out an audible 'oooooh' when I saw the smooth barrel of the Ergoline Pen. The lid also fits on the body of the pen when uncapped, which was something I found a irritating with the white version. Ink quality in this Ergo version is disappointing when compared to the original, which had a lovely solid matt pigment black and waterproof ink. The ink in the Ergoline is not waterproof and will create a grey wash when wet. Which is great if that's the effect you're after but say goodbye to using watercolour over the top of the line work. I have tried to show the effect of the ink wash effect in the sketch above, look at the yellow stars. That's not going to stop me using the pen though. It is so much more comfortable in the hand and is a great portable drawing tool for positive bold and expressive drawing. I am still a bit giddy from it all.

 

Another Attic...

I am starting on my next dream comic strip, it involves a duel with two 17th century gentlemen in an attic. I am trying to keep the original drawings together in a Moleskine (A5) sketchbook to keep this one a bit more focused. The last bit ‘Die at Midnight: the hunt’ sprawled on for months and lost a bit of it’s mojo. This one will be more of a short, vicious jab to the shoulder.

P.S. Since I last wrote a few jobs and Easter (which I had totally forgotten about) have come my way, so the time I thought I had to do the dream comic has been allocated to planning… and eating chocolate. The working in a Moleskine thing kind of evaporated too, I find working on A4 paper is a lot easier to scan and with no centre stitching to contend with either. I am thinking of working direct with an Artline Calligraphic 2.0 Pen as used in the image above. I used to use these chisel tip pens all the time, I used them for diary comics and for the line work for the large-scale street banners I did a few years back. They have a lovely line which can be used thick and thin and the ink quality is a very satisfying waterproof matt black. I loved the pen but I found with constant use the barrel of the pen was wearing a dent into the side my middle finger, so reluctantly I stopped using them… however. I found that Cult Pens now stock an Ergo version, with a black barrel. I have a box on order, they can’t be any worse than their white barrelled finger boring counterparts.

 

 

There's Something in the Attic...

I have had a good few days of late involving meetings which hopefully will keep me busy over the Summer. The intense heat continues, which for now is great, although a bit of nightly rain would be nice for the plants. Helen finished her canal drawings (sketches from 36 fishermen platforms) yesterday and in great documentary style I was not there to witness or mark it with a drawing of my own.   I sat out in the garden in the brightest of Suns drawing this made up attic scene for my next dream comic strip which has a duel to the death. It occurred to me what I like about drawing, film, art, comics, books... and that is shadows, the hidden shapes within shadows. It all seems to fit.   As I write in a note book, the biggest bumble bee ever (seriously, it's the size of a mouse) drifts on by followed by our saggy backed cat, I had better intervene for I know who will come off worse if the two of them connect.

 

 

 

Forget Spring, Summer Has Arrived...

As the weather is so nice today it seems a shame not to go and visit Helen by the canal. I take Ice cream from the local Co-Op Shop to help her with the afternoon heat. It's as hot in Alicante today as it is on this part of disused Barnsley Canal. I tried sketching but got a bit frustrated with it, so ate my ice cream took a photo and cycled home. Yeah, more bad drawings done semi intentionally, trying to loosen it up a bit. Helen was sat upon a fishing platform, sinking 30 degrees to the horizontal which was all a bit disconcerting.

Afternoon by Barnsley Canal…

Went out with Helen for another hours drawing this afternoon. Soon discovered after arriving at fisherman platform 14, that I had left my sketchbook at home with a bunch of stuff I had taken out of my bag from an earlier meeting. Luckily I did have an A6 diary with me which I enjoyed using and I think, went into making a half decent sketch for once.

 

Morning by the Barnsley Canal

It’s true the what they say on the radio, Spring is here. Spent another hour outside with Helen by a bit of disused Barnsley Canal as she sketched her way along the fishermen platforms. Although the sun was out it did get cold in the shade. Sitting drawing does not generate enough body heat no matter how well wrapped up you are. Again as yesterday, I felt like my drawing was not up to scratch, so moved around taking photographs. I made a comment yesterday about Photographers not spending as much time in front of their subject as a drawer, this is of course a huge generalisation. Photographers can spend lots of time in front of their subject, waiting for the right light or for the right event and so create  a memory of place and time.

Meanwhile, outside... there's some thinking going on.

Outside with Helen who has been drawing and painting intensively by part of Barnsley canal the past month, creating a concertina sketchbook record of the canal in her painterly style. This is my first outside 'sketch' since the autumn, having kept warm inside with drawing from my imagination. To be honest with you, the photographs are much better than my clumsy drawing and I hate that I can't get a decent likeness of the subject and the scene. I always maintained it was the physical act of standing in front of something drawing for half an hour, that had the edge over fancy 'snap and move on' photography. I still think that my memory and experience of the moment is enhanced by drawing, it's just the end result feels weak at the moment. Product over process? Maybe I should just get over it and do another bad drawing and another until one day, the drawing works better than a photograph.

Layout in Photoshop

I had to do a quick amendment to a strip I'm working on today. For the life of me I couldn't get the angle of the scene I had in my head, from the writers notes, down on paper. I was getting frustrated from standing still. Normally I would just sweat it out until I hit the right scene with scribbles on sheets of paper. With the deadline being set for today I wanted to employ something a bit quicker than luck and serendipity. I have seen this process done elsewhere, using Photoshop to make grids and draw in vanishing lines. Over the top of that I drew characters on separate layers to position them for the scene. At one point I thought of downloading Google SketchUp and creating a little 3D scene with that, but with that deadline looming thought better of it.   Now I have the scene set I can print it off and 'light-box' it to look like the rest of the strip which has been drawn in pencil with Photoshop colour over the top. This may seem a long winded way of getting something small done but sometimes the act of moving forward can overcome a standing still frustration.

 

Moebius 1938 -2012

Jean Giraud aka Moebius died yesterday morning. His inspiration on my work started in my teens and early twenties. I was sending samples of bad comic strip art to all the big publishing companies and all the small companies’ in-between and was rejected universally by all. I think I know why, because they sensed I was trying too hard to draw , that there was something false in what I presented to them. I love comics; never been able to concentrate on a novel or even a short story for long, so comics was where I got my stories from. There was television but at that time TV was a family activity. Comics felt like they were mine. My teenage world, my secret and my little bit of ‘I know something you doesn’t’.

As a teen I read everything. The Beano, Dandy, Victor, Warlord, 2000Ad, Roy of the Rovers, Battle, Marvel and DC imports when the card shop or newsagent in the new undercover concourse could get them. I fell out of love with superheroes real quick. Their universe was huge and it felt like another clique I was trying too hard to bust into, I really loved Sci Fi in comics. Other worlds, better worlds, stranger than life worlds and I think this is where my love for European Comics came in, introduced itself and never left. I can’t remember the names of the comics I read into my early twenties although Tintin would have been in there as a teenager, if I searched the internet I could probably rediscover the titles, the American reprints and have a right old nostalgia fest. Nostalgia is one thing I don’t do.

I am not sure where I first saw a Moebius picture, I wasn’t cool enough to have seen the original Metal Hurlant but Heavy Metal was reprinting Euro stuff and then there was the Westminster Comic Mart I attended frequently, aiming for the Fast Fiction table first.

I tried a lot of things when I was younger, not the usual stuff that young men get into, I was too busy drawing and getting a few things printed in fanzines. Football, motor racing and sport in general bored me. I was shy and nervous around everyone never mind girls.  No friends to lead me astray either. I might have supped a can of shandy on one heady summer’s night but it was the company not the liquor buzz I enjoyed.

Meditation, Spirituality Churches, yoga, Kung Fu they seemed to suit my personality, which wasn’t social and didn’t involve alcohol. When I became aware of Moebius’s work it talked to me, here was an artist describing states of transformation. Floating souls, other worlds, other shapes… and it all kinda fitted beautifully into what I wanted from the world.

I have phase's where I try to draw like Giraud but it’s a lot harder than it looks. To be a good cartoonist you have to understand how to draw things well before you abstract from them. I never really liked the way his stories ended but I loved the journey, the lines, design and colour. He could draw loose and he could draw realistically detailed,  most jealousy inducing of all he could draw insanely freehand as demonstrated in ‘40 Days Dan’s Le Desert’.

I met him once at the Angouleme Comics Festival 1998, I queued to get an autograph and a quick pencil sketch. When it got to my turn I presented him with a copy of a diary comic I was making at the time which his minders dutifully took, “pour vous Jean” was all my meagre French could muster in the situation. A few weeks later I received a black and white postcard with the Ciguri on the front and a short message on the back from Starwatcher Graphics saying 'Moebius had read the diary comic and thought it was good, thank you'. That card doesn’t exist anymore, lost with a lot of other comics and graphic novel and physical remembrances from the past in the Yorkshire floods of 2007. A cellar full of memories turned to pulp in a night of heavy rain. Or were they, surely the memories remain?

Sunday 11.03.2012

March Updates

I am working on another comic strip for The Phoenix Comic. The cat wants to join in. Drawing paper and a desk lamp make for comfortable cat conditions. I on the other hand am uncomfortable with the arrangement but I know my place if I want a quiet life.

Portrait Monitor

I have been meaning to try this. Using dual monitors, one in a portrait position (better proportioned for comic strip pages) while I letter a page. I persevere but cannot lose the sensation of rubbing my head and patting my belly. And I am still zooming into areas which defeats the reason of the portrait monitor.

Keeping It Spontaneous

Character design	Composition sketch	Pencil panel from strip

Above are some of the stages I have been going through. Using a light box to trace off compositions for panels. These composition panels are not meant to be great drawings but a way of working out how to fit elements into a panel. I have found using quite a thick pen (2mm) helps in keeping the ‘bare essentials’ in and the ‘fiddling’ out.The pencil drawing on the right is also done on a light box, which helps keep directness in the drawing. The character design on the left is a pencil drawing with a colour Layer Multiplied over the top in Photoshop.

Early Morning Walk

An early morning walk through frosty Belle Vue Graveyard.

Die at Midnight: The Hunt

It forms the first part in a dream trilogy and Die at Midnight was never meant to take this long.  It became a project that was done in the background to other projects. A way of practicing my art, trying out different software and hardware techniques, that a paying client isn’t necessarily prepared to finance. It has taken nearly 20 months to finish the first 14 pages which is something of a record for me. The well worn theme of transformation is in the art style, from pencil to ink to brush to digital ink, it's all about change.

Does it make sense? Well, it’s based on a dream that I had, like most dreams it is ultra-real until you tell someone about how fantastic that dream is, then it loses compression, deflates and dies… horribly. So I have taken license to make it, hopefully, more enjoyable to read.

I made the layouts above not long after the dream and they have been invaluable in keeping me on track.

I am glad that I can put that sketchbook away and start on the next bit.