Sebastian Chow

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Chris Lewis, writer/creator of Drones, had contacted me and asked if I could collect remaining issues that were currently being sold at Orbital comics in Leicester Sq. Orbital has a healthy turnover of self published titles every 2-3 months (Drones is by far the highest quality comic I have seen in that section in a long time). So after collecting these I thought long and hard about where these issues could continue their happy life, hence my trip to Krypton Komics!

Krypton Komics is one of the few comic book stores in London, and fortunately for me, its very close to where I live! The store is owned by a very friendly and talented Gary Ochiltree who also worked on a home produced comic called 'Tales of the Wonder Kind' (to which I have all 3 issues and the TPB). They have a great selection of back issues and have a great new year's sale where any issue (including the more expensive comics) are all half price. I had previously found a Wildcats Vs X-men Golden Age one shot by Travis Charest (one of my favourite artists) and it was signed!

I had asked Gary if I could donate these remaining issues of Drones to the store and told them about the Kickstarter that Chris has started for the TPB. Check it out in the link below if you haven't already, he is close to reaching his goal!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/511329223/drones

Here are some pics of Krypton Komics located on Blackhorse Rd Walthamstow.

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Yesterday I attended the second ever life drawing session at the Orbital Comics Shop. I've been waiting for something like this to be organised and had missed it the first time round. It was a great opportunity to draw with artists interested in comic book illustration. Many artists attended with us all crowding around the main table.

Des Taylor lead the class providing helpful tips into his own process. Des follows a similar style to Bruce Timm, using minimum brush strokes to get maximum detail on the page. Typically he tries to get as much information down on the page quickly to provide a rough form. Then he refines the picture and finally adds detail before inking and colouring.

The sessions were split into 15 to 20 minute drawing stints with two great models posing for the class. Nina Hearne and April Banbury provided many interesting poses and did a great job holding form despite getting numb limbs from the poses. There were many great artists who attended and it was refreshing to see a variety of styles, particularly from a group of tattoo artists who came along.

This was really my first life drawing class and I learnt a lot from it. Firstly I draw way too slow... like really really slow. I've always known this but the class really highlighted it. Getting as much of the drawing down on the paper in rough form not only helps with the flow of the drawing but really helps to improve eye-hand co ordination. As I continued, anatomy weaknesses started to come through particularly when drawing hands and feet. I also realised half way through the class that I was trying to draw in a traditional art style when really I was interested in comic book illustration. When I applied my usual comic style I produced a piece I was fairly happy with and even got it signed by Nina Hearne when the class finished.

I really do hope there are more of these classes, they are very useful and above all great fun.

Check out the pics below (click to enlarge) as well as one of the sketches I did (there was only one sketch that I felt good enough to post).






april , banbury , comic , des , drawing , hearne , life , nina , orbital , sketch , taylor

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antenna , astro , chimp , monkey , shirt , space , tshirt

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These books are great for sketching in. The paper quality is really smooth and works well with brushes. This one was a gift from some old colleagues and I thought its time I put it to good use.

These are just some random doodles. I had an passing idea for different t-shirt designs based on the theme "Astro-Zoo". Each t-shirt design would be an animal in different Astronaut garb, although don't ask me what the monkey below is wearing on his head... antenna?



astro , moleskine , monkey , sketch

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LSCC 2013 saw a marked improvement on last years event with a better layout of tables, more creators attending and more exhibitions and stands set up.

Many cosplayers turned up with some impressive costumes, many of which have found their way to YouTube. Personal favourites included the Tim Burton Batman costume.

Highlights of the event were some of the panels scheduled. David Finch, Neal Adams, Brian Bolland and Gary Franks sat on the panel for "Batman through the Ages" which started out with Neal Adams sharing his singing voice. Many great questions were asked including whether Robin's character added or detracted to the Caped Crusade, to which the general consensus was that Robin should have stayed in the circus.

I managed to get a quick portfolio review with Zenescope's Anthony Spay. I had a very limited portfolio to share but it was good to get some feedback from working professionals in the business. Portfolios should consist of a variety of sequential pages displaying different scenarios, characters etc. Anthony confirmed much of what I thought were my weaknesses (some anatomy issues, background, stiffness on final pages and a lack of content).

I managed to get some interviews with different creators including Grant Perkins who delivered a great sketch of Spiderman (to be posted on the blog soon) as well as David Finch who had queues of fans waiting to get books signed and con sketches completed.

Below is the interview of David Finch who was super nice despite having fans around him constantly and having a long list of sketches to complete in a short time. Check out the interview with David below (note the work that David will be doing with Comic Experience soon in the future).

Cons are a great source of inspiration especially when try to get your stories off the page and into production of some kind. Many teams/creators have achieved this and it's always good to discuss how different creators have overcome some of the obstacles of the creative process.

Onward with my creator owned story Clandestine!

Here are some general photos of the event including some of the cosplayers. Enjoy!

book , comic , con , convention , david , excel , finch , London , LSCC , super

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comic , convention , LSCC

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