Pfffft, so posting regularly was a habit that went out the window. Baby steps it is.
I have also had some issues with my email lately, so if you’ve sent me something and not heard back – please try emailing me again!
I recently had the good opportunity to illustrate for Oscar Wylee for their opening in my local shopping centre. It was an absolute blast meeting everyone and drawing for them, and I’ve posted some of my favourites to my instagram. It was my first digital live drawing session, and hopefully the first of many. The Oscar Wylee team were very well organised and accommodating, and an all round pleasure to work with.
Next month I’ll be at the Impact Comics Festival in Garema Place, Canberra. It’s been a while since I did a comic book just for me, but I’m steadily chugging out a comic at the moment. More news on that to come soon!
It feels like it’s been a quiet year for me, but here I am again. After thoroughly enjoying Brisbane earlier this year, I’m heading back to finally participate in ZICS, an event I’ve had my eye on since it first started. It’s next weekend, and I’m excited! I’ll be sitting with the Queensland(ish) side of the TTTSNB crew, Wraithdragon and DZYNE studios.
I’ll be bringing reCOLLECTION, my newest comic. Well, not exactly my newest – my newest comics are still works in progress, and not something I can share yet. But reCOLLECTION includes a number of completed pieces that I am very very proud to share.
a preview of the stockbox for ZICS…
ABOUT reCOLLECTION
Three of the comics in reCOLLECTION were written by the brilliant satirist Xeg, a very patient scenarist who has been emailing me his excellence since we met via BD Zine some years ago. I’m particularly grateful to Xeg as Experts are us, one of the scenarios he wrote that is included in reCOLLECTION, was him turning my grumpy frenzied ranting into something coherent, hilarious and lots of fun to illustrate.
Other stories include Talkback and Enso, both gratefully published in ACT Comic Meet anthologies. Finally there’s a brand new never-shared-before comic by me. And an illustration section.
reCOLLECTION is published with the permission of XEG, and with thanks to ACT Comic Meet and CSFG who held first print rights to some of the other pieces in the book.
How to get reCOLLECTION
Everyone who purchases the physical book at ZICS will get a coupon for a free digital download of the book as well!
And here it is: my new comic, The Retreat. There’s still more I want to do with this story, but that’s for another day. Right now I’m still proud of this: my writing’s come a long way since the last time I completed any project as long as this while still sticking with the themes and ideas I love. This comic was completed relatively quickly and took me completely by surprise – I had been struggling with a completely different story to work on for this week.
If you’re coming to Minicomicon tomorrow you’ll be able to get your copy directly from me in either easy-reading A5 or shy pocket-sized A6 versions. Otherwise, I’ll be posting it for sale on my Storenvy next week.
Happy February! I’ve been spending most of the past month quietly chugging away at the New Comic. At this stage, I’ve finished a first draft and am going over absolutely everything to get it looking more polished. Also, not yet done with the cover.
Here’s a quick preview of how it’s looking now:
…which reminds me, the comic will be in colour! I’m keeping it pretty simple for now, but am excited about it. The story for this one felt very different to a lot of the work I’ve been doing over the past year, and in a way it felt more like a return to my roots. It’s kind of exciting.
But in between all that busyness, I nearly ran out of time to do something for Valentine’s Day! (Well, sort of – if you follow me on Instagram you’ll see some of the miniature fake sweets I’ve been playing with. But they’re a bit harder to download.) So here’s something for other people who haven’t prepared for it either. I think it’s appropriately last minute for us.
Free download: Heart patterned giftwrap
Quick and dirty gift wrap pattern! For wrapping! You could potentially use it as a card, but that might look a little too lazy.
At least it’s a pattern you can use at any time of the year!
Actually, I changed my mind. They were designed for gift wrap, but I think you could do more interesting things with them. Like origami. Or paper sculptures. Let me know if you do!
Okay, so I have been pretty apathetic on the Valentine’s Day front. But I’m preparing something else for the Lunar New Year…
If you haven’t finished your hongbao (or angbao, depending on your preference!) prep yet, come back next week – I’ll have some red packet patterns for you to print, fold and give away! Or keep.