Merry Christmas 2005

Merry Christmas to you all.



SMALL PRESS EXTRAVAGANZA COMPETITION;
As a special Christmas treat, we've got together with a few of the leading UK Small Press Comic folk to offer up some goodies as a prize for a 'small press' Christmas Competition...

The prize is a bumper-pack consisting of the following excellent comics and magazines;

FutureQuake #5
MangaQuake #1
Lost Property #1 and #2
Omnivistascope #1
The End Is Nigh #2
Action Stations
SolarWind #1

Full details can be found on the SFX forum (in the comic section) see SFX for details

Jon & Gorath will be back next week.

In other news, I’ve won a competition ! The lovely PJ Holden ran a caption comp on his excellent Blog and I won. I have to recommend PJ’s blog at the mo, as he has started running a series of daily webstrips.

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Jon & Gorath 14

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Jon & Gorath 13

This week has been interesting. First there have been several bouts of illness in the Bolt-cave, with Nano-Bolt causing me to take an unusual day-off. That worked quite nicely as I managed to get the first page of Ghouls finished, save for some grey tones.

So I was therefore completely unprepared for what could be a major change in my programming- a different job! I have been offered a secondment in a different part of the place I work, and despite this being a temporary measure, it could well be the start of something more permanent. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, here is a pic from my archive that I was pleased to find.


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Jon & Gorath 12

This week has seen the start of work on the second episode of the ‘Ghouls of Grafton Street’ for Solar Wind written by Ben Clark. I’m on the second page of three.

I’ve received the first official review for Lost Property 02, thanks to John Robbins. Clicky!



Also, having a root through the old Bolt archive I came upon this piece that I did for my ‘O’ level coursework. Inspired by the excellent work of Mr Emerson I got a nice mark for this.


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The return of...

This week: Due to the launching of the second issue of Lost Property, I can now present some not before seen Jon & Gorath. These include a colour version of a strip that I could only print Greyscale.



FutureQuake and MangaQuake both did respectably over the weekend in Brighton, with FQ selling slightly better. A grand time was had by all, and the experience has taught me that next time FQP should really have a table for itself.

A big hello to all the folks to came and collected their comp copies of the comic, it was great to meet so many of you all.

Mini-bolt proved he is the unquestioned king of the sketch yet again, by actually getting paid to get sketches.

Lost Property itself did very well. I now have a brand new 512 meg flash drive thanks to decent sales, though I have had to spend almost the same amount on posting comps out.

The weekend was great for meeting up with folk I’ve not seen for ages, and even getting the chance to have a decent face to face meeting with the other editors for FQP.

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Brighton TOMORROW!

I'm a bit on the early side as I've got the day off tomorrow- in fact I'm not back at work till Tuesday next week.

This weekend sees the launch of FutureQuake 05, MangaQuake 01 and Lost Property 02.

We've got a decent location for the table apparently, so all being well we'll be nice and visible.

I'm collecting the comics from the Printers in the morning, before collecting mini-bolt from school and making the drive down.

If you see me, say Hi and let me know you read this.

Brighton minus 1 week.

This week has been one long round of organising and re-organising. I had all the strips sorted for Lost Property (a total of 87 strips along with 7 pages of article) and had them all sorted into a fair mix, so that strips were not jumbled together. I reached number 86 in my plan only to discover that I’d used all the strips. Took me two days to find the one I’d counted twice.

Still, all sorted now, and almost all printed too.

A night on the town should be finished this weekend, just some lettering to do, and I’ve even plotted the last part of the runaround robot story for the Yammer! Hurrah. I’ll be starting to run new episodes of Jon & Gorath next week, seeing as the strips will be available at Brighton.

Talking of Brighton I’ve got to go sort out a large poster sized version of a certain cover.

Laters

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Has it really been a month?

Well, doesn’t time fly?

Since Dreddcon it has been full steam ahead with getting the latest wave of FQPress titles ready for launch. As of Tuesday this week, FutureQuake and MangaQuake are at the printers, so barring anything unfortunate I’ll have a copy in my grubby digits next week. These titles go on sale at the Brighton Expo in just two weeks. We are sharing a table with The End is Nigh, which is having last minute prep as we speak (meaning I’m drawing a pic for it).

I’ve finished the lineart for A night to remember, and I’ve even made some decent attempts at greyscaling it.

Thanks to Andrew BartlettI’ve been sent this link to a review of Tales of the contrary by the folks over at Silver Bullet comics, which was nice.

Finally this week I’ve moved full time onto sorting the next issue of Lost Property, and by Jiminy it is going to be a whopper! At the moment the mag is 56 pages long, and my biggest worry is getting staples to handle that to fit my long arm stapler! I’ll have a full ad, next week.

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Dreddcon tomorrow!

Is it Friday all ready? Blimey. This week has seen the new Yammer cross-over strip get a good start, and I’ve also managed to fully pencil the three pages for a night to remember.

Over on the FutureQuake press stand we’ve finally sorted the covers out and have therefore come up with these two ads (that are part of the Ash-can due to arrive at Dreddcon tomorrow)

Talking of Dreddcon, say hi if you see me (I’ll be wearing my FQ T-shirt) and remember to stop by an collect a copy of Action Stations with a strip by me in it.

I’m also going to be hassling a certain alien editor with my stuff, so I may well be disconsolate on Monday! Wish me luck, It has taken me two years to get the nerve to show again.



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Thats another deadline met...

FutureQuake news: This week I’ve been building the Ash-can edition for the give away at Dreddcon next week.

We’ve received a piece of promo art that was meant to be used for issue 5, but it was so nice we’ve decided that it will now be a future cover! When you see it you’ll understand why.

Lost Property: review
This was sent to me by the watchful Ed Berridge and Is a nice review.

I even started on the story that comes after the end of Runaround Robot! This tale will (hopefully) be printed in LP 02, as long as it is finished in time.

In other news, I’ve finished the ‘Destroy All Japs’ strip for Action Stations and I’m starting on the ‘Night to remember’ strip for Loup Garou.

And I’ve also found out a secret about the next issue of Zarjaz!

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This week...

Stag Party update:
Here are the roughs for the sixth and final page:

This page has been a right so-and-so to get on the paper in any sort of finished form. I’m still not happy with the final version but everything is there that needs to be.

FutureQuake news: Only 17 pages left to fill! Who will meet deadlines and who will fall beside the road panting? Truth be known it is getting a little worrying that there is still so much to do to get this ready in time.

I’ve recently completed a pair of webstrips for the Monster Squad crew, and one of the scribbles I did turned out quite nicely:

Lost Property 2: revenge of the strip is also going to be close, especially as I’ve yet to break ground on my main contribution to the issue myself. I’ve had a fairly good idea for the back cover, but it needs work.

I’ve been pretty busy this week, working on a strip for ‘Death Camp Jones’ called…. That’d be telling wouldn’t it?

Page 1 is here but the rest of the strip in now pencilled and the whole thing is due for delivery next week.

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friday 9th Sept

Phew! What a week! Been all over the place sorting out this and that.

Stag Party update:
Here are the roughs for the fifth page:

The pencils for the strip are now complete! However deadlines for printed strips have now forced a stop on this strip. I’m planning on having two-three weeks grace and then getting stuck into the inks. This definitely means no to Dreddcon for this strip.

FutureQuake news: the table is booked! All we need now is some product….

Lost Property 2: revenge of the strip is gaining momentum and I’ve taken receipt of some really nice strips. This collection is very different to the first one, and I’m not sure still just how different.

I’ve accepted a commission to work on a strip with long-time collaborator Richmond Clements to work on a three page strip for the Loup Garou projest (click on the Graveyard shift link for more on that)



And finally, this is intended for use on PJ Holden’s Pencil monkey forum:

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Friday 2nd September

Hey there, back from Hols and up to speed. I got some nice sketching done whilst away and managed to complete a couple of Webstrips that will see the light of day sooner or later.

Stag Party update:
Here are the roughs for the fourth page: The only page awaiting final pencils is page 6, which id giving me some severe grief. I’m not satisfied with the look of that one and it needs so more re-working.


I’m still hopeful of having this ready in time for the October 1st Dreddcon, but it could well be close.

This weekend is the Moniaive festival, in Scotland. Apparently the last one, I’ve contributed the art for a strip by Paul Glasswell. This is the preliminary scribble I did—



Had some bad news on the FQ front; looks verry unlikely that we will have a finished issue in time for Dreddcon, so instead we are launching at the Brighton Expo Fingers crossed for no more bad news.

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Mighty Yammer 37 Last for now

Mighty Yammer 37- last for now

Did anybody notice the new look? I’ve learned a few things and will be trying to finally get this place all personalised over the next few months.

This week:
My strip for Moniaive is all finished and delivered, really pleased with how it has turned out. 3 pages of B&W line work and I’ll post up a scribble or two as time moves in closer.

Stag Party update:
Here are the roughs for the third page: Full pencils are done for the first two pages.


If you look to the right of this you will see the Bloglet subscription box, which will let you recieve these updates over the Email, and I’ve begun putting up a list of links ! The latest there is for Cavan Scott’s Graveyard shift, a blog promoting his latest publishing venture. I’ve been asked to draw a strip for this and I’ll keep you posted as to any news !

Work has begun to snowball on Lost Property edition 2, with several creators new to me showing interest in contributiing. For anyone interested, please Email me and I’ll happily tell you all about it !

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Mighty Yammer 36

Presenting :



This week has seen the strip I’m doing for Moniaive move into high gear. Page 1 is completed (&lettered) and I finished the inks on page 2 at 7am today. I aim to have page 3 inked by the end of the weekend and then It’s back to the-

Stag Party update:
Here are the roughs for the second page: Full pencils will be done soon.


In other things, I have begun lettering the strips that have so far arrived for FQ05- and even 1 for issue 06 ! That one is taking some time as we are trying a few different approaches to the lettering to those I normally do.

The FutureQuake website suffered at my hands last weekend, when our Webmaster updated some of the formatting for me and I forgot to save it before overwriting with my latest waffle. Now though all the Monster Squad webstrips are hosted (even some that were not on the orininal Monster Squad website) and more are being developed.

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Mighty Yammer 35

Presenting :



Stag Party update: I’ve completely finished the roughs for the six pages, but due to an emerging case of deadline doom, I’ve had to put that strip to one side. What am I working on? Can’t say yet- but it is for the Moniaive comic festival so I’ll be able to say more when the time comes.

Here are the roughs for the first page: Full pencils will be done soon.




The second of the Small Press multi-ads is in the new Comics international, and I urge anybody reading this to have a look at the delightful selection of titles on sale. There will be a further ad next month, then we are resting till nearer the Brighton Expo in November.

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Mighty Yammer 34

Presenting :



FATTIES!


This weeks fattie sketches. I’ve now managed to block in four of the pages for the Stag party, though I’m hoping for a productive weekend so I may be making more progress soon.

I’ve been practising my editorial and layout skills (such as they are) by working on an article By Ed Berridge for the next edition of Lost Property. He’s written a really strong piece covering the history of the three panel shortform and some of the art to go with it is truly breathtaking.

Ed has been a busy boy as well for FutureQuake, he has designed a poster promoting issue 6 (Due spring 2006) that I lettered for him.



I’ve seen a real slow-down in my page-rate since Bristol this year- why? Couple of reasons: I’m busier with other things (lettering, organising strips for FQ etc) and I’ve decided to alter the way I put a strip together in that I’ll rough a whole strip out and then tighten the pencils before inking. A more time consuming business all together, but the inking is a lot quicker and it can pay dividends in terms of all the pages being more immediate.

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Mighty Yammer 33

Presenting :



FATTIES! I’ve drawn nothing but fatties this week in prep for the Stag party.



Just some of the scribbles I’ve done this week. Starting to get there I think.

On the job interview: Not going to be changing job anytime soon, but that’s cool.

I’ve spent this week living as a single parent, as Mrs Bolt has been on her residential in Edinburgh for a week. I had all these plans for getting copious amounts of drawing done but all I’ve managed is 1 page of pencils so far.

And to top it my dog sat next to the PC last night and bent my flash drive! I’ve managed to get it to access the data again but I’ve lost some files that weren’t on any other system.

Ah well,

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Mighty Yammer 32

Presenting :



Not really done much this week due to having to prepare for a job interview. I’ll have to wait till Monday to discover whether or not I can lay my stores key down to join the ranks of the data crunchers!

I ‘have’ been doing some sketch work for my next major strip, The preview image for this was presented at last years Dreddcon and looked like this:



I’ll have some of the sketches up here soon enough as well.

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Mighty Yammer 31- Reprise!

Re-Presenting :



This is the last episode of the Yammer that I ran earlier this year., seeing as the next episode picks up from this one directly then it aint rocket science to realise that I’d be best to start here!

This week I’ve finished Dry County, and I’ve done three new Jon & Gorath strips, which mark the start of the next batch of strips for Lost Property Vol 2.

I’ve had some interest from folks who didn’t work on issue one wanting to put stuff together for issue 2 which is really nice, especially as the first issue didn’t do very well at all. Still at least I’ll be able to keep it in print!

Over on the FutureQuake website the shop is almost complete and there should be some strips going up soon to boost the actual ‘comic’ content.

FutureQuake also features in this months Comics International! We get a decent review, as does Tales of the Contrary.

FutureQuake also appears on the first UK Small Press multi-Ad organised by Mr Solar Wind himself, Paul Scott.


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Jon & Gorath 10

Presenting :



This week I’ve reached the inks on page 4 of Dry County, which is coming along nicely, and I’ve completed the latest six episodes of the Mighty Yammer! (remember him) I’ll be starting to run those next week as I start work on the next batch of Jon & Gorath scripts.

Over on the FutureQuake website I’ve begun hosting webstrips for those loveable rogues in the Monster squad. These are due to be changed each week for the foreseeable future, and as the strip progresses there will be a succession of guest creators including me!

This is all thanks to a new FTP program that I’ve bought. Thanks to those guys over at Cuteftp for all the help with getting going with this.

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Jon & Gorath 09

Presenting :



Strontium Dogs: Dry county. This week I’ve finally managed to finish the pencils for this strip. I’ve only been working on this since before the Bristol Expo last month. I’m hoping that the extra time taken will pay-off in the reduced inking time as I don’t need to noodle.







This will be in the next edition of the Strontium Dog Fanzine DogBreath logo

Due in the autumn.

I’ve also begun sketch work for a strip to be pitched for the Monaive festival later this year. I don’t want to say too much about that yet, but it will be a cracking little strip if it gets the go-ahead.

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Jon & Gorath 08

Presenting :



This week the first strips have been assigned for issue 05 of FutureQuake, and we’ve even begun looking at the content for 06. The new roles for the editors are being defined and things are beginning to settle down.

Over on theFutureQuake website we are gearing up for the launch of the shop and the weekly webstrip. Hopefully these will prove popular

Jon & Gorath 07

BLOG PREP!

Presenting :



This week I’ve been trying to make a start on the next FQ, whilst decorating my lounge and discovering a fear of the inking pen L

I’ve managed to complete some new episodes of the Mighty Yammer, ; which ‘ll be running when Jon & Gorath finish their current run, and then hopefully I’ll have some new J&G for you all.

In other news : Mr Boo Cook has proved once again that he is an absolute gent by allowing me to use some of his pages for a lettering submission, and sending a rather nice birthday pressie through for Mini-bolt. I’ll try to get a pick asap.

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Jon & Gorath 06

Jon & Gorath 05 & post Bristol

Presenting :



Back from Bristol!

It was great to meet everybody there and we all had a complete blast. Futurequake did better than we could have hoped and has almost broken even.



Work is now beginning on the next issue, with the script editors reading feverishly to determine the tales for issue 5.

D