Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts

Friday, 31 December 2010

Leaving It Behind

So about 30 minutes ago I made the decision to leave DeviantArt (an online art community type thing). I was there for six years and recently it had dawned on me that I was getting no real benefit from it, no enjoyment. The signal to noise ratio was all wrong and that.

So it is the end of an era, after six years I say goodbye to DeviantArt. I will now be using my blog to share my various artsy bits and bobs, much as I've been doing already.

Now, on with the show.
I have two collages up on etsy and it seems I have neglected to share them here. 




I even decorated the frames myself.

Wednesday, 22 September 2010

Made in Newcastle

The opening...

Ding! - 175/365


Made in Newcastle, an Empty Shop Project baby that we found out about from the lovely Craft Mafia people at the Sunderland Friendship Festival (see last post). The aim is to bring together a community of local crafters, makers and artists into a space where they can display, sell and help others. It's an excellent opportunity that I have been very lucky to be a part of. The Paper Jam Comics Collective have our comics and stock and ready for the lovely customers to buy.

Paper Jam!

Many of the gang were present for the opening and much glorious fun was had by all, as can be seen in the photos below.

Tough Critics


Oh yes, as you can see here, we had a doodle wall, it was amazing!

Dooooodle!SquidFramedThe Wall!

The things we've done...

Made in Newcastle has provided a home for over 30 creatives in the North East, helping them in all kinds of ways, this is a photo of the shop a few days after opening, it has changed a lot since then, it's hard to believe it was only a few months ago.

The Shop

The end...

In some ways this blog post is bad timing. We have just recently received news that we will need to leave 22 Nun Street (our current home), as is the nature of Empty Shops, they get filled. We have until the 10th of October to make the most out of what we have in our current home! If you haven't been along to say hi yet, please do, and purchase some of our wonderful crafty items.

And Go!


The beginning...

As is the nature of enthusiastic creatives, you can't keep them down for long. Like a phoenix from the flames we shall rise from the ashes (metaphorically, we don't want to be done for arson) of 22 Nun Street with a new name, a new home and a wonderful new outlook on life! The group of strong minded individuals who have met through this project refuse to see it stop so easily, we will continue until the mythic day when there are no longer any empty shops left in the whole of Newcastle city centre!

To that effect, this is where you can help! If you, my lovely blog readers have any contacts at the council, any help you can offer with funding sources and applications or any well wishes, please pass them on. Made in Newcastle started as a community project and whatever it may be in the future it will continue to be for the community, for people to contribute to and benefit from. We welcome any help, whether it be that you have a premises you want us to fill or a spare sack of money lying around that you wish to donate.

Wish us luck!

Friday, 6 August 2010

Durham EGO - A Celebration of Differences (27th June)

First off I must say sorry that it's taken me so long to update with something other than reviews. Content go!

The Durham EGO Festival was the first of the events I've been to recently with the Paper Jam Comics Collective. It was held in the Head of Steam in Durham, a lovely event, with a great atmosphere. I had a lot of fun at this, there were a lot of interesting people and a lot of children who really wanted a go at making their own comics.


Skyline


As you can see it was an absolutely wonderful day, the sun was shining and the birds were singing, as were the bands. I have to say a huge thanks to the organisers of this event, we had so much fun. Here are a couple more of the photos I took at EGO.


The Table - 167/365
Our table, an expertly set out sales point, I'm sure you will agree.

Paul & Daniel
Paul and Daniel!

Jack & Daniel
Jack and Daniel of Jack and Daniels Comic Book Workshops who were kind enough to bring along some comic book worksheets, they went down great with everyone!

Updates to follow soon:

  1. Sunderland Friendship Festival
  2. Made in Newcastle opening etc.
  3. Art...And That launch event (including a sneak preview of my work for it)
  4. History...And That sneak preview
  5. Project Z sneak preview
Stay tuned!

Friday, 4 June 2010

MCM Expo

So, as you may or may not know last weekend I went to the MCM Expo. It was a great load of fun.
We started off on the Friday to give us plenty of time to get there and settle down, we were just leaving York when I let out an exclamation that should not be heard by young ears. I had left my DSLR camera at home, the charger was in my bag but the camera itself was not. I have never been more glad for my ancient compact in my life! I'd stuck it into my case the night before as a backup and partially to record video with. It became my camera for the weekend, this is partially why I have less photos than last year as the camera in question takes about 2 minutes to realise you want it to take a photo.

So anyway on the Friday night we hung out with a bunch of people who were messing on outside the Excel centre, was quite funny as my sister seemed to turn it into some sort of basic fight game.

 Round 1 ... Fight! Victory! - 139/365 Total Annihilation!

None shall be spared in her quest to take over the Expo!
It wasn't long before the effects of the long train ride were felt and we retired to our room for the night.

So then came Saturday, despite early entry tickets we didn't get into the Expo until 10, which worked out okay considering people without tickets had to wait even longer! There was a queue for the queue, so you can imagine the fun time we spent all lined up.

Seeing Double Glowy Another Iron Man Iron Man - 140/365

We finally got in and were greeted with the usual mixture of bright shiny things, scary tall things and very fun, very loud things. The day was full of fun and much comic buying! I spent a lot of time hanging around the small press tables, buying things. I saw a few panels and generally had fun. We were there all day really, as were most of the table holders. I made the mistake at breakfast that thinking the man sat about 5 tables away was John Allison, when it was actually Marc Ellerby, in my defence they were wearing the same shirt and glasses, it was an easy mistake, they really shouldn't cosplay as each other so often. 


Marc Ellerby


But the real question is, where's Wally?


Where's Wally?


The ranks started to thin out towards the end of the day, everyone was headed to the pub, by the time I got there I saw a very large amount of glasses around Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith (what do you expect), who were deep in conversation, I dared not interrupt them, it seemed very important. So as you can imagine the bar was filled with comic creators, it was all very very fun, had a jolly time chatting with Jon Scrivens, Ian Sharman, David Wynne, Stephan Burn and many others who I am very sorry if I have missed you out, give me a prod and I shall correct this oversight. We soon moved on from the pub (as it closed) to the bar at the hotel, where we seemed to mutate into a strange impromptu karaoke group. What was in those drinks?

Sunday. I woke up feeling rather tired, my feet hurt and I really needed a shower. So once I had grabbed a shower and had some breakfast we were queued up for Expo day two. The line was nowhere near as long this time, thankfully, and we were soon inside. My sister celebrated this fact with high fives.




And when we got in well... there were just so many amazing cosplays, not sure why but it seemed like there were more cosplays on the Sunday, it could just be that we could see them better because there were less people, I don't know. 


The Doctor and Dalek Queen The White Queen The Red Queen Yoko - 141/365 Mulan Lightning & Serah Cat Woman Death Note Caught

And of course there were the panels, an amazing set this time, really enjoyed the artists vs writers, was great fun and we were bribed with a free comic!

Artists VS Writers Artists VS Writers Artists VS Writers Artists VS Writers

Then there was the Sweatdrop Panel, these guys had a new book out for Expo called Telling Tales, it's an amazing book, the cover is so shiny, the art is so nice and the whole thing just fits together so well! You should pick it up from their website!

Sweatdrop Sweatdrop

The trip home was long and boring, I didn't sleep but I surfed the web.

Here's a photo of EVERYTHING I bought while at Expo.

Expo Swag - 142/365

So in short, the London MCM Expo was EPIC! I had lots of fun. Yay.

Friday, 12 February 2010

Updates

We've all been there.