January's Almost Over

Every year I think about doing a review of the last year for one of my blog posts in January and I tend to put it off, each year it happens later and later into January. So this year I'm not going to do it, it's clearly not working.

Instead I'm going to share some interesting things. Here are some photos from a very long time ago, photos of things which are vaguely interesting or that went wrong in an interesting way.

Things Happening

There are things happening!

First up on Saturday the 8th December we have the triumphant return of the Canny Comic Con.

What is the Canny Comic Con? It's a small festival of comics and illustration right here in Newcastle. Taking place in the Newcastle City Library, all day Saturday and free to all. There'll be activities, talks, panels and more comics than you can shake a long armed stapler at. What's not to like?

And if one day of awesome isn't enough, well we've got two!

The Make & Mend Christmas Market is kicking off this Sunday at 11.30am. I'm very excited about this one, it's the first time Make & Mend has returned to the Star and Shadow Cinema since I took on organising it. There are some truly amazing stallholders coming along to the last Make & Mend before Christmas.

Wonderful woolly Winter warmers for snug outings in the snow. Soft toys and handmade children's accessories for your younger ones.

Beautiful jewellery and accessories for all tastes including steampunk, vintage and felted creations.

Handmade textiles, wonderfully scented tea-cup candles, prints and illustrations to decorate the home. Plus Christmas cards and decorations to help get you into the festive spirit.

Comics for all and amazing luxury neck wear for the stylish tie wearer in your life.

A Visit to Dublin

Dublin, an interestingly familiar city. Paul commented that during his last trip, roughly 10 years ago, it felt a lot like Newcastle. The two cities have a lot in common, architecture, nightlife, that old industry feel. Over the last 10 years a lot has changed in Dublin. It also reminded me of Newcastle but for very different reasons.

Taking in the View

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon when we arrived. We stayed in the Christ Church area, seconds away from what turned out to be the first of many markets we'd see that day.

Jamie Lewis's felt animals
photo from Temple Bar Cultural Trust Website.

The Designer Mart takes place on Cow's Lane every Saturday and has a some fantastic stalls. It wasn't long before we found a book market, and food market too, both weekly and both very good.

The Temple Bar Food Market

We planned to head back past the food market later in the day, I was sad to find out it was only on until 4.30pm. They could do a fantastic evening trade I'm sure.

There was another market just around the corner in a place called Exchange Dublin, the appropriately named Exchange Market.

Image from Exchange Market Facebook page.

Exchange Dublin is a volunteer run space for groups to get together, exchange ideas and put on events. It has a lot in common with the Star and Shadow Cinema, I can see scope for some form of international collaboration of volunteer run spaces there.

Around another corner a strange thing came into view.

The wool is taking over.

Crochet Coral Reef

The Irish Reef, part of the International Hyperbolic Crocheted Coral Reef, a project that combines maths, marine biology and crochet. I have a soft spot for anything that combines science and craft, it's a winning formula. I never did learn how to knit, or crochet. Maybe I should learn, any volunteers?

On Sunday we wondered a little further, stopping for breakfast at Queen of Tarts, it must have been good, I went back there again on Monday for lunch. Delicious. On the way over to the National Gallery we spotted an interesting shop front. It was mostly interesting due to the 3D printer in the window.

Image from Science Gallery website. 

Make Shop is a workshop space for the making of things. All things. From electric buzzers to cross stitch, robots to salt dough creations. Make Shop is linked to Trinity College's Science Gallery, it's a pop-up space with all sorts of fun tools and toys, part workshop part shop of cool things. We had a great chat with the folks there about their 3D printer, the workshops they do and the ups and downs of being in a pop-up space.

Some other highlights of the trip:

Jack of All Trades - an exhibition of illustrations by Jack B Yeats, including his work for Punch Magazine, what fascinates me is how relevant his political cartoons still are.

Drawn to the Page - another exhibition, in the Long Room. I came across this as a result of going to see the Book of Kells which I understand is a thing you should do while in Dublin. The art in this exhibition was amazing, it's on until April 2013, if you get a chance you should go.

The Loft Market - a lovely boutique shop hidden at the very top of a shopping centre. This shop is full of independent designers, artists, jewellery makers and vintage collectors. The collective have been going strong for 7 years and are just bursting with talent.

So that was Dublin. I think I'll go again. What should I look out for next time? What bits of Dublin do you like the best?

An interesting fact, Dublin is twinned with Barcelona, another of my favourite cities.

I did a thing

On 24 hour comic day I created a comic. It was 24 pages long, it made enough sense to be called a story and had characters in it and everything. I'm happy with the result. Above is a little preview of the comic.

I didn't ink the comic though I would like to, I'm saying this counts within the rules of cleaning up for printing. A comic in blue pencil won't print up too well. I'll put up a few more images once I've taken them.

Anyway, here's a thing:

How Britt Survived 24 Hour Comic Day Successfully

1. Bring lined (or squared paper) for planning, planning on plain paper which should be used for drawing the comic can lead to problems down the line, also squares make the layout stage simple.
2. Spend the first 2 hours on your plot, write notes, words, themes. 
3. Go out while it's still light, have healthy but filling food (I had sushi for lunch and noodles for dinner).
4. Spend another hour on your page by page breakdown and supporting thumbnails, this means that when you get to 2am and have a major motivation issue you don't have to think. 
5. Every 4 pages take a break.
6. Drink tea, lots of tea. Good tea. Green tea. Matt where did you get that tea?
7. Midnight snack, balance your sweet and savoury, sugar rushes will not serve you well.
8. Music. 
9. A sleeping bag for warmth... followed by a quick 2 hour nap at 4am - I'd finished.
10. Mess about for the last 2 hours with music and inks.

Note: this method is how I survived 24 Hour Comic Day, it's not the only method and it may not work for you. Sleeping before the end may lead to being unable to finish for some. 

More Make and Mend

Here's the poster design for October.
I've also set up a website for the Make and Mend Market here: http://makeandmendmarket.co.uk/

Christmas is coming. I'll be introducing new Christmas cards over the next month, I've already made some available on my Etsy shop including this set of 6 Snowflake Christmas Cards.