IN the Studio
Process Blog
Find out about how I make my comics & other art process thoughts.
Last year I spent most of my studio time working on re-drawing my Oh Brother thumbnails for my publisher. I have now finished and it’s finally starting to feel like a real book.
This year my pal Jake and I are being drawing buddies. Each month we’re going to take on a different drawing challenge together. This month we had a go at drawing each other’s characters.
According to my book tracker app, I read 128 books last year. Here is a list of my absolute top reads for 2022 (and the reasons why I liked them).
Back in 2016, I started work on a project I thought would take me a year (hah!). Flash forward to 2022 where I’m working with multiple editors at Penguin Random House to publish the book in 4 different territories.
For the past few months I’ve been trying my hand at watercolours (when I have a spare moment).
I always thought I’d be a diehard traditional artist but more recently I’ve really been getting into digital drawing & comics making thanks to my iPad and Procreate.
This week I was battling a head cold which made me reflect on the different way myself and my brother react and behave when we get sick.
An update on how the book is going and step-by-step description of turning my script (words) into thumbnails (very basic drawings).
A cartoon character holding up the peace sign with their fingers, leaning back on one bent leg and straightening out the other leg.
Following on from my previous posts about designing my characters and then practicing drawing their emotions, I had one final task: to practice drawing these characters in different poses!
Read More
Four cartoon drawings of a young boy (my brother) from four different angles. He has his fingers in his ears and is wearing a pink tee shirt and pink track pants.
The first thing I do when starting on a comic project is create the characters and draw up character reference sheets. Have a look at how the Oh Brother characters have developed over the 6 years I’ve been working on the book.
Read MoreLast year I spent most of my studio time working on re-drawing my Oh Brother thumbnails for my publisher. I have now finished and it’s finally starting to feel like a real book.
Read More
Trying my hand at working in B&W instead of my usual flat colours.
Read More
Bundle (a mushroom person) and Bugg (Bundle’s pet bug) stand out the front of their home in an old tree.
I always thought I’d be a diehard traditional artist but more recently I’ve really been getting into digital drawing & comics making thanks to my iPad and Procreate.
Read More
The 24 Hour Comic Challenge is an annual challenge where comics makers write & draw a 24 page comic in 24 hours (that’s a page an hour). Here’s a comic wrap up of my experience taking on the challenge.
Read More
We all get stuck sometimes. It's a pretty common ailment of making something. Putting your heart and soul into a project, whatever it is, can be super rewarding and satisfying but also super tiring and scary. It can take all my brain power just to write a few words, because getting started is, at least to me, the hardest bit.
Read More
I never thought I would actually look forward to and enjoy receiving feedback on any of my creative practices (I studied classical percussion at Uni and was terrible at getting feedback on my musical performances; I took everything personally and couldn't separate myself from the performance), but this method of editing has really helped me to embrace areas in my story that could be improved and not feel like I'm a failure of a human because my story needs some help from my friends.
Read More
I revise a short comic that I’ve revisited & adapted for my graphic novel Oh Brother. See how I’ve adapted the story and my style has changed over the years.
Read More
Following on from my last post about how the design of the characters in my graphic novel, Oh Brother, have changed over the 7-ish years I’ve been working on the book, this post is about my absolute favourite thing: drawing emotions!