Me elsewhere

Tiny Pencil AND Hic and Hoc Journal!

Posted by Gary Northfield on September 10, 2013

As well as dashing around the country the last few months for comic events for The Phoenix and Teenytinysaurs, I’ve also miraculously found time to contribute to a couple of anthologies!

First up – TINY PENCIL

Earlier this year, marvellous illustrators, Katriona Chapman and Amber Hsu put together the first edition of Tiny Pencil, an anthology dedicated to the wondrous art of the pencil. I think it’s fair to say that it blew everyone away with it’s beautiful design and incredible collection of illustrations and stories from artists worldwide. So I was honoured to be asked to contribute to the second issue, named TP 2.0: Mammals, Monsters, & Mars!

Again, it is a masterclass in design; a fantastic oversized matchbox (with awesome cover artwork from Kristyna Baczynski), with three perfectly formed magazines utilizing a different spot colour of green, red or yellow for each magazine. The emphasis this time is on interactivity and it comes with stickers and pencils and plenty of puzzles and games throughout to keep you happy.

I did a little tour of mudlarking on the Thames, with my mud monster, Flotsam and his trusty seagull pal, Squawk. Flotsam tells you everything you need to know if you get a chance to wander on the low-tide river banks! Here’s a little interview I did for Tiny Pencil.

Amongst the many illustrious contributors, the book also stars Fleecestation chums, David O’Connell, Viv Schwarz and my fellow Fleece Officer, Sarah McIntyre herself! Check out the website for special deals with limited edition prints.

Secondly – The Hic & Hoc Journal of Illustrated Humo(u)r, vol II

From their website: “Edited by the always jocular Joe List (The Annotated Weekender, Freak Leap) and Lizz Lunney (Depressed Cat and many other titles forthcoming from Top Shelf Digital), the second volume of an anticipated 196 volume series of the best of funny comics throughout the world…”

I have a jolly two page strip, called Captain Zzap!, a character I’ve been wanting to get down onto paper for quite a while now. He’s a hokey, loser space dude who fights evil with the Galactic Princess, Lula. (Expect more Captain Zzap! in the future in some form or another.)

The anthology focuses on funny UK cartoonists, showcasing the immeasurable talents of Lizz Lunney and Joe List, who co-edited the journal, alongside Stephen Collins, Philippa Rice, Joe Decie, Luke Pearson, Becky Barnicoat, Fred Blunt, Gareth Brookes, Liz Greenfield Jonathan Edwards and plenty more.

It’s available from the Hic and Hoc website, but if you wait till the 25th of October, there’s a big book launch at Gosh! comics in London.

Hooray!

Soon, when I’ve finally recovered, I’ll tell you all about my MAD MONTH!!!! But first, sleeeep … zzzzzzzzzzz …

Filed Under: Hic & Hoc, Interviews, Me elsewhere, Small Press, tiny pencil | Tagged:

Burp! – Score and Script

Posted by Gary Northfield on March 19, 2013

Back in December I took part in John Miers very fun exhibition Score and Script. The unconventional premise was to base a comicstrip either on a visual, or written breakdown of a comic strip John had previously written and drawn. John describes the whole process in this excellent interview with Paul Gravett.

The breakdowns for each “Score” or “Script” were pretty bare and fairly abstract, particularly the Score (visual) breakdown. Boy the teeth-gnashing that filtered through for that one! I was lucky enough to dodge that crazy bullet, eventually plumping for the Script choice.

I took the bare-boned words and fashioned a jolly little story involving a couple of my favourite foils, Burp and Snake. I think I stuck to every cue and resolved any hanging plot holes that revealed themselves in the process.

Anyway, you be the judge! (I’ve put the script underneath so you can contrast and compare)

(Click to enlarge)

Here’s the script:

A has the flesh of a fruit which [he/she/it] begins to eat.

B has the seeds, which [he/she/it] plants.

A realises that [he/she/it] will have no source of food after eating the fruit.

B begins to starve while waiting for a tree to grow.

The remainder of the fruit will sustain A and B until a tree grows.

And here are a few more examples I found dotted around the net of people’s marvellous strips from the exhibition:

(If there are anymore out there, I’d happily link to them!)

Filed Under: Burp the Caveman, Exhibitions, Me elsewhere | Tagged: Tagged With: burp the caveman, John Miers, score and script

Derek the Sheep comes to New Cross!

Posted by Gary Northfield on July 19, 2011

Derek The Sheep Is Dead! Long Live Derek The Sheep!

Whilst the nation still mourns the loss of regular comic strip shenanigans in the Beano from our favourite woolly nutjob Derek the Sheep, it’s time to rejoice at his major new reappearance this Sunday 24th July at the spectacular festival knees-up New Cross Turn Left!

Check it out!

At 2pm you can bear witness to my brand new Derek the Sheep play for all the family, starring Chloe Lewis as Cecil the Bee and Nick Ofield as Derek the Sheep! Directed by Robert Clayton of Legend Theatre, this production will bring to life the madcap comicstrip craziness we all know and love in front of your very eyes. It’s very stupid and perfect for the kiddies, but kids of all ages (i.e. everyone) will undoubtedly love it too!

The actors aren’t being paid, so punters are encouraged to donate spare change to show their appreciation. I’ll also be selling and signing limited copies of Derek’s book.

And there’s plenty more going on at New Cross Turn Left! As well as exclusive exhibitions in the Olde Police Cells (including a topical, slightly deranged, performance piece by me and Matt Abbiss), there’ll be Lauren O’Farrell‘s Graffiti knitting workshops, comedy with Shabs and Nathaniel Metcalfe, comic clinics, an exciting book launch, DJs in the evening and a plethora of comics for sale during the day (alongside tea, cakes and booze for sale).

Here’s the timetable:

2PM – Derek The Sheep and The Quest for the Googly Glasses
3PM – Comics Clinic in the Fleece Station
4PM – Graffiti knitting workshop by Lauren O’Farrell
6:30PM – Art History Dropouts Launch

7:30PM – Comedy: Shabs Kazim and Nat Metcalfe

Check out the website for regular updates and directions.

A big thank you to Ellen Lindner for organising this amazing event! Check out her new comic Art History Dropouts co-created with Barnaby Richards exclusively launched in the evening!

Hope to see you there!

Filed Under: Derek Play, Derek the Sheep, Ellen Lindner, Festivals, knitting, Me elsewhere, New Cross Turn Left | Tagged:

Tumblr

Posted by Gary Northfield on January 23, 2011

Tumblrs are back! Little personal online scrapbooks where you can find all sorts of weird and wonderful images and links.

Maybe they never went away, but I had one about a billion years ago which I used for bookmarking lovely comic stuff I found. It was only a personal thing, so I gave it the crummiest name: Comic Scrapbook. Innovative, eh?

Here’s some tatty Tezuka book covers, just the sort of thing I loved to Tumblr…

Anyway, what with my over-burgeoning comic-related bookmark tab and a rise in brilliant Tumblrs to follow, I’ve dusted Comic Scrapbook down and I’ll be linking again to all sorts of lovely comic-related eyecandy.

Filed Under: Me elsewhere, Tumblr | Tagged: