awcomix

I recently saw a thread on social media about advice for beginners wanting to make comics. Of course the best advice is just jump right in. Want to be a writer, write. Want to be an artist, makes things. While this is the best advice it might also be frustrating for true beginners that don't know what that looks like. It can be easy when you've adept at something to forget what it is like not to know it. This is known as the curse of knowledge, that is once you know something, it's almost impossible to imagine not knowing it. On that note here are ten non-comprehensive steps for beginners to dip their toes in. These are ten practical things to start 'just making comics'. At the end are a few philisophical tips to help you practice and avoid some beginner traps.  Practice Read a lot of comics , think about what you like about them, why do they work? Analyse every aspect of them. This can either be detailed notes or just vi...

It's been several years since I added a new design to Redbubble. I came up with this idea based on a story someone told me about mistaking Someone's name as 'Sir. Wolf'. I immediately pictured this image and had to see it come to life.  Sir Wolf T-Shirt

  After learning of Joe Matt’s passing last year I was in shock. All those years ago when I started making comics I came across Joe’s work and it changed how I saw comics and what I wanted to do with my work. A few years later I came across David Collier’s work which had a similar and subsequent effect on my work. But now that Joe Matt was gone, it felt like a big part of my artistic dream was gone. It sounds dramatic and perhaps a touch silly, but that was my immediate reaction.  Before I heard the news, I had already been intimately studying Joe work for the umpteenth time. I’d been exploring lettering and art sizes, trying to find the perfect one for both. I loved Joe’s comics and so I got out my ruler and measured his panels, lettering sizes, brush work. Copying and redrawing pages. One thing that struck me is the deceptive simplicity of his work. There was nuance and subtlety in his line work that wasn’t immediately obvious unless you tried to copy it.  I knew the be...

After years of development, I've finally released a Procreate brush pack ! The delay was partly because I'm always striving to improve the brushes I use, a habit from being a stationery fiend. You always think there's a better pen just around the corner. Well, after using these brushes for the past few years, I realized they were indeed ready to share. 5c Penny Brush Pack (Procreate)

The Cosmic Gutter is a free monthly dispatch of a new comic or drawing on UFOs. I've been into reading about UFOs ever since I picked up Timothy Good's book Need to Know over 17 years ago.

My brand new Christmas card for 2023 is here!

This page is now located here

This is a review for the Savage app Procreate Dreams. Dreams is a brand-new animation app from the makers of the popular drawing app Procreate. Released on 2014, Procreate has since become the number one digital drawing app of choice. For this reason the announcement of their new animation app Dreams came with much excitement.

Ever since I picked up the iPad app Procreate, I have discovered a new joy in making comic pages. It was tricky at first, however I have now drawn over 100 pages of comics and settled on a good layout system.

Procreate recently unveiled its upcoming animation software, Procreate Dreams, set to launch on November 22nd. Given Procreate's widespread popularity in the realm of digital drawing, there's considerable anticipation surrounding the features this new app will bring. While I haven't delved much into animation in the past, I've played around with loops and animated gifs in Photoshop before transitioning to Procreate. The announcement of Procreate Dreams has sparked my interest, and I'm eager to explore animation using this new tool. Currently, I'm scouring the internet for reviews, previews, and helpful hints and tips through various videos. I've gathered a few of my findings here, and I'm also excited to share my preparations as we await the official release.

After reading some fantastic Haiku comics by Summer Pierre   here , I decided to try a few of my own. What I like about these is that I'm forced to say less. It's like a puzzle trying to figure out how the words are going to fit and make sense.  The format is a good antidote for the occasionally monotony of dairy comics. By thinking of the comic in these haiku terms, I'm forced to boil it down to a single moment of uniqueness. Even if most days are waking up, having breakfast, go to work, lunch, more work, come home, cook and clean, watch TV, go to bed, rinse, and repeat... Autumn is here. Drake Hall. Car Park. Monica .

Part 2 comig soon... Footnotes Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal article,  https://thedebrief.org/intelligence-officials-say-u-s-has-retrieved-non-human-craft/    David Grusch Interview with Ross Coulthart (Newsnation),  https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/we-are-not-alone-the-ufo-whistleblower-speaks/ In Plain Sight  by Ross Coulthart,  https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57734614 What the Heck Is Going on With These U.F.O. Stories?,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjAyxA4sI1k Congress holds hearings (live),  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NE9IhP5mZw David Grusch statement to congress,  https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Dave_G_HOC_Speech_FINAL_For_Trans.pdf David Grusch interview with Jesse Michels,  https://youtu.be/kRO5jOa06Qw?si=a2UJY1iVZDbzBfh7

Do you want to get your own comic strip going but don't know how to start? This template will give you all you need to jump in and start creating your own strip. Maybe your interested in making daily diary comics or you’d like to start a regular webcomic in the classic strip format. Over the years I have made diary comics on and off. I wanted to create a template that made it easy to pick up this diary comic practice again. After some trial and error I landed on this template. I went through a few variations, but I landed on a winner once I added the notes area underneath the panels. This is essential for writing notes and plot point to help your comics strip start to take shape. I tested it out over the course of a month and it worked so good I decided I needed to share it.  The template contains seven grouped layers, one for each day of the week. Each grouped layer contains three layers for lettering, final art, and the rough sketch. It use the page assist features for easy...

  A brand-new comic series by Anthony Woodward. Following on in the tradition of other comics artists, Anthony has created this new series to showcase and experiment with a collection of new comics. This issue is over 50 pages in length and contains three stories. A brand new 34-page story about moving to Canada in 2014 and the difficulties of being a newcomer. It also includes the comic ‘This Place’, previously published with a limited distribution. And lastly a three-page epilogue written for This Place and ended up inspiring the main story. Published June 2022.

Almost 20 years ago in 2006, when I was at art school, I was looking into photocopy techniques in art and printmaking and came across the work of Carl Beam. I quickly fell in love with his process and work. Now in 2023 I am living in Canada and was invited to First Nations University for an outreach event. We were kindly offered lunch as part of the event. After grabbing a plate, I sat down at a table and an artwork on the wall next to me caught my eye. My head whipped around as I realised it was a Carl Beam Original! The I turn my head more and there are three more originals.

Despite being home sick I was able to participate in hourly comic day this year. Turns out sitting on the couch with brain fog and feeling terrible is conducive to writing hourly comics. 

 A few years ago I stumbled onto the web app called Airtable . I was already a heavy user of spreadsheets to organise information, but Airtable came along and offered so much more. I've played with it on an off over the years trying out a variety of applications but despite how much I liked it I never felt I found a practical reason to use it (other than it's fun). 

When I first launched SPP I thought I had most of the mail order stuff figured out. Afterall, I had been making and selling zines and comics for over 20 years! I soon realised there were a few fundamental things I had either mistaken or hadn't anticipated.

I am pleased to announce that I can now accept international orders for spare parts press!

Just after covid hit in March 2020 I started hitting my stride with drawing digitally. I'd had my iPad for just over 4 months and had been dabbling even before that. Up until this point I hadn't felt comfortable with the drawings I was making digitally. I could create something on paper that was personally satisfying, but I digital drawing felt like I was drawing with a sharpie with my left hand.