• -

Yesterday was the final night of the Comic Book Funnies events that have been on during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival where David Blumenstein has been presenting the humorous side of the comicbook medium on stage.

Though it was a gloomy and rainy evening... inside, the place was packed...

...and there were familiar faces about holding beer.


The esteemed Bernard Caleo launched the 'Sexiest Men in Comics' calendar that evening.

The two men of the evening. (Man, look at that chiseled profile!)

I have to admit, the launch of the 'Sexiest Men' calendar was nice BUT, John Retallick stole the show (for me) when he brought along copies of the mythical unpublished BIG NUMBERS 3 in a high-res large printed format. Beautiful. (Thanks John).

I have the first 2 issues of this beautiful work, and it was an absolute BUZZ when Mr Retallick Dropped this gem in front of us!... seriously, it was like someone showing you the unpublished 'Lord of The Rings 4' novel.

For those unfamiliar with the work, this was going to be Alan Moore's best... before it got killed after the 2nd issue that is. (Read more about it here.)

-Bobby.N

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• -

Things have been ramping up for Gestalt's upcoming anthology FLINCH, which is due for release next month. I know it's been the buzz in the local comics scene lately, and most are looking forward to it. The effort from Gestalt has been outstanding in getting this book out there. There's already an official FLINCH website. It's on pre-order from Amazon.com and from the Gestalt website, and recently it was submitted to Diamond's preview listing. There is also the Official FLINCH and EXAMPLE Book Launch at Dymocks on Collins St in Melbourne on Thursday the 7th-May at 6.30pm (be there!) ... but a few days ago Wolfgang emailed me to tell me that Diamond Distribution had axed the book due its now (more than doubled) minimum order quota. Not only that, but Diamond didn't even contact him to relay the news... but rather, he found out from a retailer in Montreal. The full story here.

This was a kick in the guts to Wolfgang and many others who have put a lot into this... but not missing a beat, Wolfgang said the launch in Melbourne would still go on, and he had a plan B and C to get the book distributed in other channels. It's great to see determination like this...

THEN, Wolfgang emails me the next day and says that it's been un-axed. Not only that, it's recieved a star-rating and now Gestalt has sold more books than ever!

Unless books meet their quota, Diamond doesn't let them through. Understandable i guess, but they're the only real game in town. They make few exceptions, and it looks that this was one of those times... and it's worked out to boost the book's orders. Lucky for Gestalt, though you'd hate to think they'd be subjected to this circus each time they try to put a good book out. Doesn't inspire confidence eh?... Make of it what you will. I certainly know how i feel about the state of this monopolized shebang.

So anyway, come along to the book launches of both FLINCH and THE EXAMPLE:

..........................................................
EVENT DETAILS:
Thursday, 7th May 2009 18:30~21:00

VENUE:
Dymocks Melbourne
234 Collins St
Melbourne VIC 3000
Australia

Tel: 03 9663 0900

Email RSVP would be greatly appreciated by 1st May 2009 to flinch@gestaltpublishing.com

..........................................................

Go out and buy the above books. They're great... and if you're in Melbourne on 7-May (in the evening)... drop by Dymocks at 6.30pm in Collins St and get a signed copy from the many contributing authors who'll be there!

-Bobby.N

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• -

Late last week, I got an email from a comicbook acquaintance to do a commission for a magazine. My concept and pencil had gone smoothly, and I was just about to start colouring it today to hand in tomorrow, when he emailed me saying that the story was found to be a hoax and that they were pulling the article. Ah well... not his fault, but I thought the illustration shouldn't go to complete waste, so I'm posting its short lifespan here. Enjoy.

First I do a very quick pencil of the idea I have in mind after I've interpreted the brief from the client. Then I wait for his ok on the concept.

After the client gives it the 'thumbs-up', I tight-pencil in the final layout (at the correct-proportioned magazine ad. size).

Then I ink it ready for colouring.

I might colour this illustration sometime for the fun of it, as I was happy with the way the composition came out, but ultimately, thats as far as it went for this fun little piece.

-Bobby.N

• -

This month's meet was great. Beautiful sunny Autumn day, and a whole bunch of Melbourne comicbook authors and enthusiasts. For those that didn't show up... you should have.

All in all... about 15-25 people showed up. A nice big turout.


Tried taking a candid shot over Jason Frank's head... but Jen saw me... get it, 'saw' me... er, forget it. Anyway, didn't get a chance to chat to Jen or Trev, as they split soon after I got there... hope it wasn't something I said -;)

Paul was in his usual upbeat enthusiastic mood, and Brendan gave us a contact for a short-run local printer... sweet.

The whole group was a noisy buzz of conversation about comics. Some brought their stuff along to show, while the rest just drank and waxed.


MEMORABLE MOMENTS:

• Chatted with Bruce Mutard about my work and a delema I was having between chosing one direction vs another. It was a nice discussion, because the transition of Bruce's work from his earlier STREET SMELL days to his current SACRIFICE work is very very obvious, and I was at a crossroads in deciding what direction in drawing 'style' to take with a story I'm working on now. Bruce gave some nice words of wisdom on the subject.
• Bendan's new short run printer contact.
• Roundtable chat with a bunch of us about the new Watchmen film and Alan Moore's writing. Just between you and me... Paul Bedford and Henry Pop came out of the closet and confessed to not thinking very much of Alan Moore's work. Just between us, eh?
• Daniel Reed showed me the next big project he's working on. Some great big ambitious stuff. As you'd expect from Mr Reed, its very detailed and imaginative.
• Chats with all the rest of the gang.

It was another wonderful meetup. People gave their updates and opinions of last weekend's 'Supanova' exhibition (that I missed), and the overall consensus wass that it was a major improvement on last year's event. Most of last year's problems seemed to have been fixed, and the majority of people said they did fairly well over the weekend.

Here's an interesting example... Paul Bedford said that he sold MORE of Sunday than on Saturday?!... while others typically sold better on Saturday (Trev & Jen for example), though Paul said it may have had something to do with his 'selling' methods. On Saturday he consciously stood up and did the 'hard-sell' to people gesturing them to come over, and being very 'chatty'... while on Sunday he sat behind his table quietly working on his writing while he let people come over and discover THE LIST-II on their own, and he actually did better with that method. I actually prefer this method myself. I think you can 'potentially' scare some people off your books (particularly the majority of introverts) by badgering them when they walk past your table... so i look for eye contact and relay a polite 'hello' and gauge it from there. The Butcher method of "GETCHYA COMICS, HEY, GETCHYA COMICS HERE!" doesn't work for me. Besides, the character of my work (and what I'm writing and drawing about) negates that kind of 'pop' (carsales?) method. But, each to their own.

Anyway....

Seee you all next time, and keep those fists scribbling.

-Bobby.N

• -

I have a story I'm working on in the background whenever I get a chance. I'm using the inking method of jumping around to different scenes/arcs throughout the story so the final book looks more uniform. (ie. The artwork at the end doesn't look drastically better than the first page.) I used this method producing WITHHELD and was happy with the results.

Here's a page of the secret project (well, not so secret now), that I finished today...

Anyway, I doubt I'll make it to Supanova this weekend, so I'll see the rest of you at the following weekend's monthly meetup.

Prince Alfred Hotel
Grattan St, Carlton
Sat-Apr-4th
2pm


-Bobby.N

• -

Ok, just finished inking the last 2 panels of pg-15...

Just need to clean up and add my grey tone behind the artwork, and after that I attack (ink) the penciled pg-16 that's shown in the previous post... but now, it's 6pm on a Friday night, and I'm off to play some hoops with the guys at Williamstown.

Ok, so the next morning I finished page-15 off by cleaning it up, adding a grey tone, and lettering it.

Whenever I get to the final stages where I use the computer for minor polishes and edits, Im always mindful not to let it look like a machine has necessarily touched the artwork. I think the strength of the best comics are those that look like a 'hand' has actually made it.

Make your comic/book look the best it can. Care about the printing and presentation by all means, please... but don't forget that one of the best things about minis & zines is the fact that you can tell a person did it. It seems precious, worthwhile, and honest. Thats what people respond to. Computers take away that sincerity incrementally. Your work will start to look plastic. Your final printed pages will look manufactured instead of created.

Don't let the computer 'draw' your comics.

-Bobby.N

• -

Right now I'm inking the last 2 panels on pg-15 of my story OXYGEN... but just so you have something to look forward to, here's the pencil of the next page (pg-16) of the story ready to be inked as soon as I'm done.


-Bobby.N

• -

As mentioned previously, I have my complete story WITHHELD reprinted in the upcoming anthology FLINCH along with a whole bunch of other great illustrators & authors. This wonderful book is now available for pre-order on the official FLINCH Website, or through Amazon. So order now before it sells out!

Here's a video preview of some of the art in the book...

Or view a bigger version of it at YouTube ... enjoy!

-Bobby.N

• -

A while ago, Trev Woods asked me to contribute a small piece for the back of their next SAWBONES trade paperback. I said, "sure!"... and then proceeded to forget all about it. At yesterday's meetup, Trev reminded me that he was putting the volume together for publication this coming Friday and wondered how i was going with my drawing, so a little embarrassed, I appologised and began sketching some ideas right there at the meetup with people drinking beers all around (Acting all anti-social)... and here is the artwork after I finshed inking it this afternoon...

Hopefully Trev & Jen don't mind me showing it.

-Bobby.N

• -

Today had a real overcast 'Spring' feel to it, and I was looking forward to catching up with the local comicers this month. I got there just after 2pm and found the elder statesmen Greg Gates and Colin Wilson sitting there chatting outside in the cool air. It began with a "Hello gentlemen" from me, as others started to drip in to the meet.

Soon Jason, Trev, Bruce, (and newcomer) Ivan dropped in. Bruce brought a long a complete pre-press dummy of his next epic tome (The Silence) that will be published by Allen & Unwin later this year. It looks absolutely beautiful. If you haven't already seen Bruce's work, then buy his most recent novel The Sacrifice and you'll be able to see just how good this chap is.


There was a decent sized turnout this month of about 10-12 people. Brendan brought along a selection of recent GN's that we flicked through, and I sat sketching ideas for a picture for Trev & Jen's next issue of Sawbones which I'd promised them, but forgotten to do (...bad Bobby, bad).

MEMORABLE MOMENTS:

• Chatting with Greg & Colin about the older Golden/Silver age inkers that have gotten worse through time.
• Talk with Jason & Jen about writing in comics.
• Flicking through Craig Thompson's 'Carnet De Voyage' and remembering how good it is.
• The red softdrink that Trev bought a jug of... mmm refreshing.

Late this month will be SUPANOVA here in Melbourne:
Dates: March 27-29, 2009
Venue: Melbourne Showgrounds
Event website: http://supanova.com.au

Drop in for all the comic and pop-culture fun!

-Bobby.N

• -

Yesterday (Sat.21.Feb.2009) I popped into Pat Grant's booklaunch at 'Brunswick Bound' bookshop on Sydney Rd, Brunswick. It was a warm afternoon, and walking up those familiar stairs...

... to the exhibition space on the top floor brought back memories of Mandy Ord's booklaunch where is was a sweltering hot day too! What is it with people booking this bookshop for their exhibitions?... are they only available on hot days? (heh)... well anyway, Pat Grant's work is great. (Check out his website).

The launch was already hoppin' when I arrived...

and it started to get full fairly quickly...

The presentation of Pat's work was failry nicely done. Hand painted material was on the walls, as well as pages of his comicbook work (both framed and 'raw'). The were nibblies & drinks. A nice event.


Pat's new comic 'The Last Share House' was launched & for sale.

A few local comic'ers were also there to support Grant and his work, which is always good to see. Also there was 3CR's (The Comic Spot) John Retallick, Jo Waite, and a few other faces who's name I can't recall. Though sweating, everyone looked to have had a good time.

-Bobby.N

• -

Have been more productive on finishing the next issue of DIGESTED (though printing it might have to wait until I'm employed again)... so here's that previous page I inked last week (see 3 blogs previous) all toned, lettered & complete.

Since this page, I've done another 3 in all the free time I have now... but I don't want to spoil the surprise for you all by showing them ALL to you now. You'll have to wait for DIGESTED.02 to come out. Right now, it's looking to be a nice chunky book (compared to the first 20-pg issue.). It's around 36-44 pages in length at the moment, so until I find another job, I'll keep working on it, and who knows... it might end up being 50 or 60 pages?! - :)

-Bobby.N

• -

Let me start by mentioning that the day was a stinking furnace of 46.7 degrees Celsius!

Anyway, I started the day by meeting up with Colin Wilson at 11am in Footscray to show him a quaint little art shop (West Art) that i shop at. It's tucked away in the corner on Buckley Street, as has a great selection of inks, nibs & other art stuff. Colin bought a few things, then we went back to my girl Zora's place to relax in air-conditioned comfort to waste some time before the meetup.

1.30pm came along and we drove down to the city toward Carlton for the meet. We got there pretty much on time and found Matt Emery there already. It wasn't long before Paul Beford, Jen, Trev and the rest trickled in. Here's a pic of the numbers this hot, HOT day...

Considering the fan-forced oven weather, I was surprised that we had as many people brave the elements to show up... but hey, it shows how much we all like our comics and gathering up.

John Retallick and Matt Emery actually rode in on their push-bikes?!


The meetup was fun and enjoyable, but all were definitely a litle flat due to the heat. A few stayed longer just so they didn't have to go outside. We were waiting for the promised 'cool' change to arrive. At around 4.30pm Jen looked up some information on her mobile, to discover that it was still 46.7 degrees outside!... but a cool change was promised in an hour. We waitied and sure enough it came as we all decided to leave.

The meet this month was more about just chat & catching up... and it was at least nice to be in an air-conditioned pub than outside.

• Next week will be Target-44 at Sticky Institute. So come by if you can, and join in too!
• The following Saturday will be Pat Grant's book launch at Brumswick Bound... so come down and support a local creator.

Til next time.

-Bobby.N

• -

Lost my job this morning, and though it was a great company to work for, America's greed (the financial crisis) has kicked me in the gut and I'm one of the unemployed now.

Spent the morning updating my resume (found at: www.bluetoaster.com/folio), applied for 1 job, and am now typing this. So... thats it. Have done my bit for the morning and will start hitting up the Agencies for work tomorrow. I think I'll work on DIGESTED.02 for the rest of the afternoon to unwind a little.

On a brighter note, it's my brother's 29th birthday today, so I'll be unwinding tonight with a choice of about 8 pizza's and dvd's at my parent's house for the occasion.

Catch the rest of you guys at the meet on Saturday afternoon:

Prince Alfred Hotel
Grattan St, Carlton
Sat-Feb-7th
2pm

-Bobby.N

• -

I don't know why, but I've been hitting a humble rhythm in my productivity lately. Perhaps it's being in the 'home-stretch' of completing DIGESTED.02 that's given me this momentum because I've been getting about 2 pages done a week (on average) recently.

This weekend, I just finished inking and touching up the short 1-page story from the previous post. It's been scanned, toned and lettered and been checked off as 'done' on my little list of things to do for the DIGESTED.02 issue.

After this, I pulled out the very first story that I started drawing after I finished the first issue, but put on the back burner (for whatever reason), and am now going to finish it for this next upcoming issue of DIGESTED.02.

Initially, I only began sketching ideas, followed by what I was sure was the opening sequence. This was the initial start I made some 6 months ago...

... so based on this previous start, I sat down on the weekend with the old script (and the above page) and re-wrote it out again in revised thumbnail form. Soon it was done, and I began to sketch the panels/scenes out in my sketchbook, and then finally started to ink in the final panels/scenes. (NB: The above inked page won't be wasted.)

Here's a page of the continuing sequences to the story that I started to ink last night:

And a closeup of the eager little girl...

Like I mentioned a few posts ago... I'm having fun inking at the moment... just letting go and enjoying the fluid stokes of the process and trying to be more productive. A constant reference of mine (and inspiration) is Dave Cooper. This guy is simply my favorite comicbook cartoonist.

Anyway... I'll be at our regular monthly comicbook meetup this Saturday, so if you're into comics or draw your own... come by and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.

NEXT MELBOURNE COMICBOOK MEETUP:
Prince Alfred Hotel
Grattan St, Carlton
Sat-Feb-7th - 2pm

See you all there.
-Bobby.N