Goth Anthology - Occultist Schoolgirls

Character designs for one of the goth-themed comics I’m making with Sammy! We’re putting them in a Goth Anthology which we hope will be ready for London MCM. (Is it still an anthology if it’s only two people?) One of my comics is about some occultist schoolgirls, who summon the ghost of former pupil who was murdered there.

These are Nastasya Nikolaiovna Zossimova, Angela Deborah Deacon, and the ghost of Charlotte Lawrence. Their school uniform is surprisingly goth-friendly…

Autumn Events

Sammy and I have confirmed some tables at cons this Autumn, so I can give you a list of where we'll be:

Bristol Comic and Zine Fair - 5th October

MCM London Comic Con - 25th, 26th, 27th October

Thought Bubble - 23rd, 24th November

We'll have all sorts of lovely things to sell! The Autumn issue of What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? our brand new Goth anthology and activity book, mini-comics, mini-zines, postcards and notebooks and sundry other trinkets...

I hope some of you can come and see us!

Flight

This is the cover and a couple of preview pages from a 6-page mini-comic called Flight. This is another one that was originally for Bear Pit Zine (this time issue 6), but I printed 25 copies of an extended version to sell at conventions.

What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? - Summer 2013

Another project I've been working on is the Summer 2013 issue of What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? Here are a couple of the articles I did for this issue. (I also did the cover and overlay this time.)

Stepping Stones

This little comic was originally drawn for Bear Pit Zine no. 5, which had the theme 'Expedition'. Due to an admin problem it got left out, but I printed it in the Summer 2013 issue of What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? instead.

I think despite the fact that scanning it was a bit of a nightmare, this is still one of my favourite things I've made so far this year.

Music Zine - Summer 2013

One of the projects Sammy and I have been working on is a new issue of our music zine, This Is Not A Serious Music Publication. Of all our projects, this is probably the most fun to make. Although I admit I had more trouble thinking of material this time, probably because I don't keep up with music as diligently as Sammy does! I hope I'll be able to come up with more, because I'd love to make more of these in future.

The Mystery of the Roof-Runner

This is one of the things I've been working on lately - a new free minicomic to give out at conventions! I love making these. Not only are they a cute alternative to business cards, but they really help me to get a bead on characters and environments for longer stories. For example, now when I finally have time to draw a full-length Patience mystery, I won't have to work out the layout of her room.

The Tale of the Chocolate Shop

I forgot to post this for so long. These are pictures from a little manuscript book I made my pal Nam last year. It was based on a twitter conversation about my trip to a chocolate shop. I wanted to make it as nice as possible (since I had… er… forgotten to get her a present for her birthday AND Christmas) so I painted the pictures onto heavy card pages, hand-lettered the text in my best rounded gothic, (still not very good, hahaha) and bound it all up into a hardback book. I forgot to take a photo of the finished item though. I think the middle picture of me in the chocolate shop is one of my favourite things I drew that year!

If you’re curious, the Tale of the Chocolate Shop runs thusly:

Once upon a Time, Sarah went to the Chocolate Shop. Sarah was going to be a Good Girl, and not buy any Chocolate. But then she bought some anyway.

The book was only 3 pages long.

Sabriel

This is an illustration I did based on Sabriel, by Garth Nix. At some point I’d like to do a whole series, but I’d need to have a lot more free time.

I also realised after finishing it that I've managed to contradict the text, which is something I try very hard not to do. (Sabriel climbs steps on the way out of the valley, but not into it.)  I'm pleased with the light effects though.

Rooftops

This is a little painting I did for my Grandma, on account of being a terrible granddaughter who forgot to make her a card this year. I wrote her a letter on the back.

I also remembered to scan it at various stages, which is something I've been meaning to do for a while. You can see the original idea doodle and thumbnail on a sketchbook page, and then the sketch, ink and paint stages of the finished piece.

I'm not completely happy with the colours, I think I inked it too heavily and made the whole picture too dark. I'll do better next time.

Zelda Notebooks

These are some tiny notebooks I made to sell at MCM. I'm not sure how I feel ethically about making money from fanart, so I compromised and only made 5 of each. Unfortunately that meant a few sold out before we remembered to take a photo of the table, so I thought I'd put them all up for you to see.

A lot of people didn't recognise the top three. They're the Minish, from Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap.

London MCM Expo

Last weekend Sammy and I went to London MCM Expo. We had a great time! It was much busier than we expected (a lot of people in Comic Village were surprised by the number of guests) and we did very well for sales!

The downside is that we sold out of a lot of stock, which has never happened to us before. We need to get a move on making something new before our next event at Manchester MCM in July.

Sammy has put up a lot more pictures and some descriptions of everyone's work on the Inspired blog.

What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? Spring 2013

This is my cover for the Spring 2013 issue of What's the Time, Mrs Woolf?, with and without the tracing paper overlay. We didn't set a theme this time, so I decided to go with a wolf (our mascot) and some Spring flowers (specifically wood anemones).

We took this issue to Bristol Expo last weekend and sold quite a few copies, so I'm quite happy with the cover. It seemed to catch people's eyes.

I've also started putting What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? up in my etsy shop.

Inspired Anthology 2013 - Cover

This is my cover for the 2013 Inspired anthology, Mixtape. I was very pleased to win the vote again this year, as the other cover was very good! I'm a little worried the colours won't be bright enough once it's printed, but we've never really had that problem before so hopefully it won't be an issue.

You can play two games with this cover. One is 'spot the character expats', I'll start you off by saying Iona from Patience is a Virtue is very easy to find. The other is 'spot which headphones were added in the digital colouring stage because Sarah realised the composition wasn't good'.

Inspired Anthology 2013 - The Music Cupboard

I've been working on two short comics for this year's inspired anthology. This is the second one, The Music Cupboard, featuring Poppet the House Hob. This time Poppet and her friends are infiltrating a human school, concealed in a cello case.

Poppet previously appeared in The Bad Fairy Bakery (which was also drawn for an Inspired anthology) and answers questions in What's the Time, Mrs Woolf?. The Bad Fairy Bakery is available to buy online, but you can also read it on this blog.

The finished anthology will be available at Bristol Comics Expo, London MCM Expo and Manchester MCM Expo this year.