Thumbs down…

…that is, I’ve almost finished the thumbnails.

Well folks, that’s the year of January over & done with.

I’m honestly not someone who’s bothered by such things, months come & go, my attention is usually on what I’m working on at the time. This year is no different.

Currently all my attention is on the new project Jingle Squad, written by Matt McCartney (Angel Eyes, that’s a book not a description of Matt!), lettered by none other than Rob Jones of Madius Comics & edited by comic book creator Andy Lanning (Marvel, DC but more importantly to me, The Sleeze Brothers!).

I’ve just spent the past week working on the rough thumbnails & on Wednesday we (the production team) had our weekly meeting to discuss all things Jingle Squad. I haven’t really worked this way before so it’s a new way of doing comics for me & I think I like it!

As a rule, living down here in beautiful Cornwall it’s very easy to feel a little ‘cut off’ from, well, most things. Don’t misunderstand me, I love that, but when it comes to comics & the required amount of time you’ll be spending locked away making the donuts it’s nice to occasionally get to talk shop with fellow likeminded folks. Throwing around ideas & helpful constructive feedback has turned out to be an absolute DRUG!

Overall the guys seemed very pleased with how it’s all coming along (at the time of the meeting I’d only done pages 1 to 15) & with some great additions/ suggestions which really sparked in my minds eye, I’m very keen to get the remaining pages (16 to 30) in front of them before next Wednesday’s meeting.

At the time of writing this (Sunday evening) I’m almost at the finish line having just completed page 25. I’ve probably spent a little too much time on these but some times you can’t help it, the more you get in to their world the more you want to spend in there with them. While I know the thumbnails are supposed to be a kind of visual shorthand I’m very tempted to use them as the pencils stage as well. I can see where I’m going with them & laying the inks down over these feels like the way to go, we’ll see.

I also believe I’m currently producing my best work so far & that’s all you can ask of yourself.

Saturday rolled around & after a full week of staying home it definitely felt time to get out into the wild & see how the world around me was shaping up? I figured a couple of local ales (no, I’m not an ale connoisseur, I just happen to have a local brewery in my front garden) & a slight change of scenery would be just the ticket. It was. Naturally I took work with me just to keep things moving along. It was a good day.

I should also mention my football team won 7-0, & no, not Forest (well played as well though) but the mighty LEEDS UTD, yes, DIRTY LEEDS💛🤍💙.

Get back to comics.

So in other news I also secured my Friends of Thought Bubble ticket which means, with the hotel already booked (I book pretty much as I’m leaving the previous one) I’m just about there already.

Also I’m currently casting an eye towards Angoulême, the seeds of a potential visit in a few years is certainly taking hold. It looks FANTASTIC!

Now it’s February I need to start putting together my next Kickstarter, even though I’ve got a lot of drawing ahead of me for the next month (s) I do intend on starting the process, hopefully getting it approved for another campaign & then going through the whole process once again & this time I’ll be opening it up to further shores, unless there’s some ridiculous new tariff that’ll come into being.

A little heads up regarding issue 2 of SPACEBOY & THE FUTURE KING: AWAKENING OF THE SPITTYPIG!… Basically it’s ready to roll, give or take a couple of panel redraws.

I can’t wait to get it out there.

I’ve got a lot to do.

Go steady & catch ya later on down the trail.

Rory.