London MCM Expo Weekend + Illustration of the day!

So the Expo Weekend is finally upon us! If you’re coming along then I certainly hope to see you there! I’ll be in the Artist’s corner, on table C28 with Van, my Expo partner-in-crime, from Capes & Drapes!

If you’re unable to make it don’t worry – keep Sunday November 8^th in your diaries as I will be selling my work again at this year’s Comica Comiket at the ICA. This event will be free to all and I’ll keep you posted nearer the time.

Alas! Back to the Expo! So who is it that I’ll be dressing up as? The Malacca Cane’s “Lady of the Night”. I’m actually still deciding what her name should be (if you have any suggestions – feel free to contact me!), so for now, she is known as the lady of the night.

See you at the Expo! >_<

 

Japan Matsuri Festival, here I come! >_<

I’d just like to give everyone a big heartfelt thanks for voting for my Grateful Crane piece to be exhibited at this years’ Japan Matsuri Festival. Because of your support, I’ll now be part of their group exhibition and have a lovely space devoted to my art! Woot! >_<

So… thanks Y >_< Y

The Matsuri Festival will be held at the heart of Spitalfields Market (near Liverpool Street Station, London) on Saturday 19^th September from 10am to 8pm.

There will be plenty of food stalls, festival activities as well as art and crafts to look at and buy. I’ll be part of a group exhibition (alongside Juan-Carlos Cambon and Yuki Lamb) and am currently planning on what to exhibit (it’s so hard to decide, trust me) – I may even bring out my small-press work!

If you love Japanese culture or you’re looking to gain a better understanding of it then I would highly recommend coming to the Matsuri Festival – it’s a celebrated event in Japan and a great opportunity to appreciate what Japanese culture has to offer. Also…you’ll see my exhibition! Need I persuade you anymore? >_<

Please visit the Japan Matsuri site for details of all the events and directions.

Hope to see you there!

 

It’s time for… Collaborama! >_<

I’m afraid it’s going to be another Alternative Press Fair post, but we love small-press, so the more news the merrier!

I have just received news updates about Collaborama! Which will hopefully give you a better idea about what will be happening on the day. Read the details below and come and create on the day!

Collaborama! 1^st August at The Miller, by London Bridge – 11am til late.

“Welcome to collaborama! Our first day of collaborative zine making. Hopefully you’ll be eager to get involved and put your thoughts down on paper. Whether you’d like to write or draw something, or cut and paste it’s up to you. The zinesters and artists who have tables at the event will be happy to help you out and work with you to make a page, or if you like you can make something on your own, or both! In this zine there are ideas on themes and such as well as information about sizes, and the printer we are using today, which hopefully you’ll find helpful.

Step 1 – have a look around, get acquainted
Step 2 – have a chat, get some ideas flowing
Step 3 – write, draw, scribble, get those ideas out, work with someone else if you want
Step 4 – meet the footprint guys see your work printed later.

Let’s go collaborate!

Themes

Here are a some ideas which you may or may not want to consider:

“Strangers” – what are the people that you don’t know like? What are the differences/ similarities between us all? Are people nowadays distant, especially in the city?

“you and me” – the first time you met a particular person.
A story about the relationship between two people – or talking animals, your choice! How people work together and achieve things together.

It’s your call, these are just ideas, you can do anything!

The machine that the footprint printers co-operative will be using is a Risograph, it prints by pushing ink through a negative image kinda like screen printing.
-It can’t really deal with lines which are too thin, so keep that in mind.
-Also, black and white only.
-We will be printing the zine at A5 so please work to that size. There will be paper cut to the correct size around.

Pages will be accepted until 4pm. If you need anything, just ask! Enjoy yourself!”

Don’t forget between 12pm – 3pm there will be free workshops to inspire you and I’ll be hosting one on 4koma comic creating!

>_<

 

Sunday night’s review of LUC@176

LUC@176 was fun! I had a great time catching up with friends, drank loads of tea and melted in the heat of the 176 Art Gallery >_<

I must mention Richy K Chandler (who had some fabulous teddy bear box set comics – really nifty), Juan Carlos Cambon of Nipponaisuki who I shared a table with – I brought one of his beautiful A3 prints on a rich velvet-type-of-paper (now I just need to frame it!), Van Nim from Capes and Drapes (she is the master of book binding, might get some lessons from her). Cartoon Kid, who pinged me over a year ago on myspace and finally… found me! Wow! Terry Martin from Murky Depths (Dead Girls by Richard Calder, a new comic series adaptation running from the next issue looks amazing!), Josceline Fenton from Mild Tarantula (I FINALLY brought the whole compilation of Circle, her debut novel), “Lando” from Decadance (he brought The Art of Sleep II for his girlfriend and he’s an amazing animator and graphic artist himself). Daniel Fish (finally got the print of his comic Gary the Blu Tac dog!) Sooo many people I caught up with!

I also must thank Oli Smith and the LUC team for organising such a great event, there was an animation screen going on, a DJ set, tea and coffee on tap and generally, a fun event, so tanks! >_<

The next must-see event will be the Alternative Press Fair at the end of July, it’s going to be BIG, trust me! I’ll also be teaching manga at the Japanese Art Festival in a couple of weeks, so catch me then!