Now pay attention 007... The Bond Poster Project Begins

I've not drawn in ages. That tends to happen when you have to do things like earn money. The little pleasures can fall by the wayside. Getting back to it now though, with a project to keep me out of trouble on an evening. Look...

Yes. Technically that's cutting out and gluing. It's the bit that comes after the drawing.

I've started a 'Bond Poster Project', where I attempt to create a fun little poster for each Bond film. I'm not doing it for any particular reason other than love Bond, drawing, and having nice things to look at. Hopefully you like looking at nice things too. If you follow me on Twitter for TV stuff (@robsmedley86), then you'll have already seen a couple of them wedged in between me moaning about Jonathan Creek. They'll all be featured on here from now on though, and in no particular order (so don't expect Thunderball after Goldfinger, etc)

I'm old-fashioned when it comes to drawing, and I'm no good at technology and photoshop and things like that, so each poster is/will be made entirely out of cut up pieces of coloured and patterned paper. The only digital trickery is scanning them into my computer box. So, like you see in the picture, there'll be lots of glue and scissors. And hopefully some nice things to look at as a result. 

Grandpa T-Rex...

...Returns on December 1st.

Just over a week now until Grandpa T-Rex outwits the Grim Raptor and returns from the dead for a run of cartoons that'll take us up to and into 2011. A couple of people have asked me how it's going to happen. Will it be with Jurassic Park style cloning technology? No, nothing as predictable as that! Will it be by burial in the Pet Sematary? (as my mate Matt has been campaigning for) Err...no. Wait, he was never dead? No, he was definitely dead. It'll all be explained on the 1st. Actually, I think I may have accidentally stolen the solution from Futurama or The Simpsons without realising it. I'm not sure. If I haven't then it's something you could definitely imagine happening to Professor Farnsworth or Mr. Burns.

Hope you're looking forward to the return of Grandpa T-Rex. See you all on Wednesday December 1st!

Writing for Graphic Novels

If you're interested in writing for graphic novels but have no clue where to start you might want to take a gander at a post I wrote for Fuel Your Writing, which takes you through the basics of getting your ideas down on the page. Here's the link, and I hope it helps!

Just a quick note to say that on Wednesday 1st December (36 days time!) Grandpa T-Rex will return for a run of cartoons that'll take you up to and into 2011. In the mean time, there'll be 'Drew' every week, and lots of one-off cartoons to keep your eyes busy.

Wait, will it really be December in just over a month?!?!?

'Drew': Page Changes

So, week one of 'Drew' happened. Did you like it? I hope so. Did you like the way it was presented? Because that's about to change this week.

The one problem about producing a daily webcomic is that it can feel a bit disjointed and a bit disconnected. When you're only getting two pages a day it can be hard to keep track of the story and keep the momentum of interest in it. Just as you're getting into it, it finishes and you have to wait a day to get the next piece. It's a bit like trying to see the entire jigsaw picture by looking at one piece at a time and building up the image in your mind. So rather than have two pages every day, there's going to be one post on just one day with a week's worth of pages (probably about ten, and probably this Thursday). That way you get a good chunk of story that won't feel all choppy. Why did I pick Thursday? I like Thursdays. Thursdays are good.

I said at the start that 'Drew' would be a bit of an experiment in the early stages and this is just part of it. If it works this week, it'll stick. If not, I'll find another way and in the mean time go back to 2 pages daily. If you have an opinion, then voice it. After all, you are the reader.

A New Daily Cartoon: 'Drew'.

Grandpa T-Rex is on hiatus until Christmas (oho, don't worry, he'll be back and in spectacular style!), just to give him a rest, give me some time to think up plenty of jokes for him, and overall make sure the quality of his cartoons doesn't dip. I'm not going to leave you without a daily cartoon though. Oh no. There's something new. You see, the other day I was thinking about different cartoon styles and people's differing levels of ability at drawing, and how, if all cartoons existed in one cartoon world (ala 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit') then the stick man would be the underclass of the cartoon hierarchy. You never see them in comic books or cartoons, yet we all know they exist. So what do all the stick men (and stick women and stick children) do all day? How do they feel about being poorly drawn in a world of well-defined characters? And that's how I came up with 'Drew':

In the Drawn World, the stick man is the lowest of the low. Downtrodden, discriminated against, and looked down upon by the better drawn characters, they're left to do all the menial jobs that keep them out of the spotlight and the eyes of the readers and watchers. They're not even allowed colour (when have you ever seen a stick man that wasn't black and white?). A lucky few have managed to get good work, but most make a living in the drawing rooms of InkCapable Plc., creating the scenery and items you'll find in the backgrounds of frames and panels. And that's where Drew (centre) works, designing the mundane objects that cartoon characters take for granted. Everything from bolts to bedside tables to batarangs. He's joined by pencil-drawn Casey, and his full colour boss Mr. Jaw, as well as a vast cavalcade of cartoons. And that's what it's all about: essentially a cartoon all about cartoons. It'll play with colours and drawing styles and the whole thing will have a much different feel to Grandpa T-Rex. It'll be a bit more bittersweet, a lot more satirical and allegorical, and there'll be the occasional cartoon cameo.

'Drew' begins on Monday 4th October and will go on for as long as I can think of good ideas for it. It's something I'm excited about and I hope you enjoy it.

Interview with a Dinosaur

The Newcastle University Alumni Association have a few Grandpa T-Rex cartoons up on their site as well as an interview with me. You can check it out HERE.