Minibooks for Expo ^_^

Teeny tiny comics! A very short little handmade book for Expo ^_^ See you there!

Also, decorating GETS! I've been wanting a vintagey dressing table for ages, and today got this one for free from someone who no longer wanted it! Will probably paint (cream/off-white?) - just need to find basic cheap little table to put it on ^_^

Free Comic Book Day

Quick reminder to all - this Saturday is Free Comic Book Day! 

Check out the list of participating shops on the site - UK list here. If one's in your area, be sure to toddle on down! 

Either/Or and Refugee Week

Hey all,

this past week was Refugee Week, which saw a lot of fantastic events around the UK getting people connected and motivated, and fostering education and understanding and all that good stuff ^_^

On Friday I went down to Loughborough University for a seminar on Women and Migration, which had a nice mix of policy and art-related groups present.

I thought it might be appropriate to post one of the stories from Little Thoughts (my mini-comic) - and if you're in London btw there are a few copies at Gosh at the moment! (Go! Buy! ^_^)

Refugee Action is a great group, so check out their website to learn more, keep up to date, and get ideas on what you can do to help. Their Refugee Awareness Project booklets ("Make Your Neighbourhood Nicer: How to Welcome Refugees and Asylum Seekers in 11 Easy Steps" and "Mobiles, Money and Mayhem: The Facts and Fibs About Asylum") are also gorgeous pieces of design as physical booklets, and are downloadable on their site.

http://www.refugee-action.org.uk/

Extra note: in the latest Geek Syndicate podcast (85) (www.geeksyndicate.co.uk/) there's a very very lovely little review of Little Thoughts, which totally made my day. Thanks David! ^_^

Oh yeah, final note - trying "normal" sized text (above) - even though I think the "small" (here) makes the blog much nicer looking as a whole, wondering if people are less inclined to read small text. Thoughts?

Bristol Roundup

Okay yes, this is supercrazy late. In all fairness though, I came back to MA evaluations and a photography exhibition (looked awsome, and we had 800 people through over the long weekend, so that's all good!)

Anyway! Obviously, I met loads of fabulous talented people at Bristol, so I definitely needed to post some links. Go look at at least some of them, otherwise you'll be missing out!

Firstly, I somehow ended up in the most awesome corner of the whole hall. Yes I did.

For starters, I had Caroline Parkinson as my tablemate, who brought her some gorgeous new work. Check out her recently redesigned site!

Then on the one side, we had as neighbours the amazing trio of Jamie McKelvie, Marc Ellerby and John Cei Douglas! (I missed picking up a copy of John's gorgeous minicomic Buffalo Roots, but he was kind enough to send one to me! It's beautifully done)

What's more, on the other side, I had Thomas Plaskitt, whose work is some of the most thoughtful and inventive I have ever seen, ever. It will be to your detriment if you don't check out his work. I came home with a copy of his minicomic Dreams, which is packed with surprises and oddities - it's seriously a wonderland.

Moving on from this fabulous little corner of the world I ended up in, I had as my roommate the lovely Blossom, and got to see some of her new work - exciting stuff!

A couple of minicomics I picked up that I really enjoy:

If you want breakfast in bed eat in the kitchen, by Cliodhna Lyons

Hazy Thursday by Oliver Smith

Also lovely to see some Emma and Sonia from Sweatdrop, to (briefly) meet the very talented Kate Brown, (also briefly) meet the Geek Syndicate guys,  and to see the very cool John Aggs and meet illustrator David Andrews. 

Had a lovely chat with Yosh from Yokaj Studio. Also, couldn't help doodling on one of their doll templates for their onsite Yokaj Doll contest, which won and has been turned into an adorable icon on their bbs. Go look, it's cute ^_^

Oh! And finally, for something that is not comics (gasp!), go check out The Polaroid Press, Matthew Sheret's art and writing project featuring weekly updates of polaroid art and flash fiction. Gorgeous site design and earthyy, atmospheric writing.

Whew!

Little Thoughts - MiniComic preview!

Okay, here we go! This is the minicomic I'll be bringing to Bristol with me. It's 24 pages, and features four short stories - Tango, Joined, Either/Or and Distance. Here's a sneak peak at the cover, and the first two pages of Tango.

MIMC entry preview

First 5 pages of my 24-page Kodansha entry, which will probably be self-published (unless it happens to win anything ^_^)






What is this myserious valley? What will happen to it? Oh, the suspense!

First update from England

Well, have moved country, and continue to be internet-less at home. But will do my best to get things up here anyway. For now, here's a girl. And a tree.




And here are a couple of preview images from my entry for a short manga contest at the Japanese embassy. Rising Stars previews to come soon!