#JustPaperAndInk – a pop up indie comics show

On November 7, 2023 By hesirIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

So, this happened earlier in the year… #JustPaperAndInk (article by Broken Frontier)

June through July (2023) to be precise.

Basically a small independent comics creator pop up exhibition curated by Sean Azzopardi of PhatComics and myself. And, I guess, sort of an extension of the discreet exhibition he had held at his former shared studio space, called, “Framed”. with some of the artists who had showcased their work there, also having work in this show.

The show ran for just over a month, we were based in a shop unit ran as “The Space”, a arts project ran by a local access to arts organisation and pop-up gallery team called Creat-Hive, and we were just a couple of doors along from Hull’s Forbidden Planet store in The Prospect Centre.

I got to spend my days during the show away from my usual working form home environment, and at my temporary drawing board in the gallery space itself which as always was both fun and eye opening. The show itself bookended around the Hull Comic Con weekend event too, which was great as we were able to promote that as part of our show (one of the original thoughts that had instigated our event to be fair).

I chatted to a lot of people over those few weeks, as we had over 700 people come in and engage with the work/exhibition (ie not including the people who came in looking for other things (shops, another gallery, etc) or who left once they realised it was about comics). Which is a fair amount of people. We got to chat to about #MakingComics, comics as a fairly democratised artform, and storytelling medium, and even got to discuss the possibility of further projects with other organisations in the city, and outside of it.

I cant thank enough those people who took time out of their schedules to come and chat, it was very much appreciated, so cheers… you know who you are.

We even did a radio spot with our local BBC Humberside comics fan Kofi.

The show itself was divided up into four main sections, “the big noisy art“ at the front to draw people in (which seemed to work, cheers to Sean for providing those big fun colour pieces). Then we had a section showcasing the work of several “UK indie creators“, with which we added some hard copy examples of the books hung on the wall to show the work “in its natural environment” rather than a gallery wall (to paraphrase Crumb). And we made sure to show the creators SocMed links too, in the hope that even a couple of additional follower always helps, who knows?

Followed by two linked sections looking at “Comics Made In Hull“… which was a surprisingly big section, not only for the visitors, but for us as well. We even had someone come in on the first day and tell us that they made comics in Hull too. Which was great… Comics, the unseen communities, laughs.

…and finally “Hull In Comics“, a section that showed the city itself appearing as a character in some of that local work.

As part of the interpretation in the show, we added a number of text panels looking at other aspects around the world of making comics, so that it might be perhaps more accessible for those who had left comics behind some time ago, or just for those who had never ever really engaged with the medium.

In these sections we discussed the early history of the art form, how comics are seen in Europe by comparison to the UK & US, the balance of traditional and digital comics work currently being produced (and the threats posed by so called AI/Plagiarism Software), the use of comics in education, new voices, representation and the ever present dilemma of “But, Is it Art?”.

Amongst these we scattered a number of quotes by creators, critics and celebrated comics readers from within and outside the medium, who weren’t in the show, but who had discussed important aspects of comics and their value.

We also had a few books from our own collections to chat about and use as examples in discussion.

All in all it seemed pretty well received, and we have discussed holding onto the name of the show #JustPaperAndInk for further shows and exhibitions, workshops etc.

So I guess watch this space!

_{NB – I’ll consider this post a raw draft… I’m sure I have some better photos than this, I’ll replace them ASAP and delete this note.}

Ferens Open Exhibition – Comics Related Art, Accepted!

On February 16, 2020February 20, 2023 By hesirIn Art, Comics Art, Exhibition, Hero Noir, printsLeave a comment

I had thought my submissions for this years event had been rejected, and was pretty pleased to get an eleventh hour message letting me know that, in fact, one of my submissions had made the cut, being accepted into the annual Open Exhibition at Hull’s Ferens Gallery

The piece in question is one of the works first seen at Salt earlier in the year (a joint exhibition with Joseph Cox, nice to see his work at the Open as well, see image below, second from the right).

The piece I submitted was originally one of a set of comics iconography inspired, cinematic pieces called Hero Noir.

All were created using a number of techniques from traditional ink and paint on board, to digital paint on the iPad. Finally printed using the giclee print process onto textured paper and worked into traditionally one last time before each embellished print is signed and rubber stamped.

It will be interesting to see what the general art audience makes of it all.

Comics… divisive stuff I hear.

A New Gig – “Flintlock” / Time Bomb Comics

On February 14, 2020February 20, 2023 By hesirIn Art, BooksLeave a comment

I was pretty happy last year when I was approached to submit an art trial and subsequently be given the task of taking over art duties on Steve Tanner’s “Flintlock” title, found in the historical anthology comic of the same name, published under his Time Bomb Comics imprint (as it stands Book Four is now out in the world, and the script for Book Five is currently in my in-tray).

This was the first book I’ve worked on completely digitally, using Procreate fro the entire process from thumbnails through “pencils” and “Inks”. You can see that process in the video below. A real learning curve, but it certainly had its benefits.

EB0D2632-8A29-4ECB-8354-D466F2603365 If you are not aware, Flintlock follows the adventures and trials of a highway-woman in 18th Century England., the book also features two other female character led historical tales in each issue, with a bunch of other great artists. If you wanted to check it out you can find Steve at many of the major comic con events around the UK, or check it out on his site/store (he has a whole range of similarly historical adventure titles on there too). It is also currently being republished in the pages of Comic Scene magazine, which is available in most WHSmiths, which is cool.

The book has been great to work on despite throwing up some challenges, not least that the predominant mode of transport/travel involves horses, laughs. But I guess an artist just can’t keep avoiding equine anatomy. One big boon is that I already had access to a tricorn hat and a brace of flintlocks.