You’d think someone who works in theatre would recognise Stevie No-Pants when she sees him huh? PFFFT!!!

I stand by my initial statement, it is Stevie No-Pants. Who is this Laurence Olivier chap anyways?

I went along to the opening night on Monday and I must say, I was amazed by the whole thing. An incredible amount of work has gone into the design of the exhibition from everyone involved and the result is a moving tribute and an eye-opening view into a dark, worrying trend.

My comic went at the end of the exhibition, covering two walls and a staggering 13.75 square metres. Was pretty much over-whelming seeing something I’ve done on that scale for the first time. I had a few worries about certain aspects of it but was pleased to see everything printed out fine.

It’s been a pleasure to have been part of the Ben Kinsella Trust and I hope the exhibition takes off and gets the recognition it deserves. Thanks so much to Brooke and Ben Hyde for allowing me to be a part of it.

Here’s some pictures

Obviously I jumped at the chance and spent the best part of a year procrastinating until I finally knocked something together at the last minute.

Well guess what guys! Paper Science has LANDED!

Featuring stories from myself, Adam Cadwell, Marc Ellerby, David O’Connell, and more, Paper Science looks like being a real treat! It’s also looking like being the last one for the forsee-able future so make sure you get while you can.

They cost £3 and can be bought from here. I will also have them with me at the many conventions I’ll be attending this year, but more on that later in the week.

Very happy with my entry actually. Has been fun to work in colour for once and very keen on getting more colour stuff done. It’s strange how I found myself drawing differently with the intention of a full colour end product.

Thanks a bunch to Matt for giving me this opportunity. It’s nice to know something I’ve done will actually be seen by lots of people so thank you so much.

In other news, off to the launch of the Ben Kinsella exhibition tonight to see the other big comics project I’ve been working on in situ. Very excited to see it! Again, more on that later in the week.

Until then, peace out homies!

-Rob

I will remember this the next time I decide to be a massive pikey!

OF COURSE they weren’t going to have tobacco in them! They were left on a bus seat! I’m sure even the most careless of smokers would notice they’ve dropped two packs of baccy.

Oh well, you live and learn…

Ahhhh nights out in Shoreditch. You don’t half meet some interesting types. Got chatting to this guy (Armenian if I recall) after offering to take a group photo of him with his friends. We got onto the subject of his new job and he basically said that if we called him up a couple days before we planned on going to his eatery, he’d cook us something special!

Almost certainly drunk talk but HOW NICE IS THAT?!

I never took him up on his offer but thanks anyways.

Please note me and Matt sporting our mighty Movember moustches. Aww yiss!!

Thanks for your patience during the break. I couldn’t have got everything else I needed to do done otherwise and now, as I hoped, I am refreshed and ready to get going on some serious comic-ing again.

The Ben Kinsella comic is completed and sent off to the printers and I’m thoroughly looking forward to seeing it at the launch at the end of the month. Also, Paper Science should be landing around about that time also. Get your orders here or wait and buy one from me in person at a show (so I can get some moneys )

Also, Orful Comics Vol. 2 is almost ready to go to print! Finished up the cover last night and it is looking lovely. I should have it ready in time for London Super Comic Con in February so start getting excited people!

Talking of conventions, been lining up events for the year and I must say, I am looking busy in 2012! Not finalised anything yet but once I have, there will be a blog post about just that.

Anyways, enjoy your Friday’s!

-Rob

What a lovely bunch! I should crash parties more often. There was a bit of awkwardness when I bumped into the host outside and he wasn’t entirely willing to let a completely stranger in but once I explained how I was just trying to meet the neighbours and not trash the place, he was cool with it (mostly)

Fun night all round!

Anyways, final update of the year here at Orful HQ and boy have I been busy lately!

First up, reindeer!

I recently got the amazing opportunity through work to make a Christmas animation to go around the top of the BT Tower in London. It was a lot of fun to do and made me smile seeing it on the way to work every day. Was nice to be able to wish the whole of London a Merry Christmas in my own little way. Here’s a vid of it:

Next up, comics!

As you no doubt are aware, the usual update schedule has been put on hold for a little while so I can get a few other projects out the door. Well you’ll be glad to know that they are both pretty much done! Woohoooo! and in time for Christmas too!

The first of these projects is for anti knife-crime charity, The Ben Kinsella Trust. They are organising a touring exhibition to educate children on the dangers of carrying knives and kindly asked me to create a comic to go up on two of the walls. Really happy with the results of this and it’s great to know that a lot of people will be seeing my work and that it’s for such a good cause. Here’s a little preview image:

The other big project I’ve been working on is for the amazing newspaper anthology Paper Science. I had an email at the start of the year from Matt asking if I’d like to be in Paper Science 7 in a travel themed issue. Obviously, I jumped at the chance! I was hoping to be a good boy and get it done early in the year so I wouldn’t have to worry about it but then tragically, writer’s block struck me hard in the face. I tried writing a few things which then didn’t seem right. I then tried to do something a bit more personal and introspective than usual but then I felt like I was dumping problems on my audience. I tried out abstract but then I’m not so good at abstract. Eventually October came around and I had no ideas and ever decreasing amounts of time.

So I forced myself to smash out a semi auto-biographical strip with some jokes in it and got to work on some of the best artwork I’ve done yet in a comic. This, thankfully, worked. Here’s a preview:

Paper Science lands sometime in January? (Matt if you’re reading, when does Paper Science land?)

With those out of the way, I can now start working on stuff for myself again. YIPPEEEEE!!

Been working on a couple of website updates ready for the re-launch in January you’ll be glad to hear and also, I decided to draw some stuff that’s not for anything whatsoever other than my own personal enjoyment. Fans of Adventure Time, peep this:

Merry Christmas folks

Anyways, the other day, I logged into Twitter and to my surprise, found this gem in my feed:

It seems Peter, angry at my decision to halt the comic over Christmas and my lack of a Thought Bubble comic, took matters into his own hands and created this wonderful mash-up! Amazing! So happy!

Here’s where you guys come in!

I WANT YOU TO DO MASH-UPS OF ORFUL COMICS!!!!

Yes, I want you lovely people to trawl through the Orful Comics archive, download a few comics and use your Photoshop/Paint skills to create new and exciting stories! The sillier the better!

Feeling more creative than that? Why not do your own drawings? Animate your favourite page! Write a song about my face! I want to see/hear the best/worst you’ve got!

When you’re done, send your pages to orfulcomics (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll do a mash-up post some time in January.

No idea what the response will be to this, if any so don’t be surprised if this is never spoken of again. Fingers crossed though, I’ll have a few delights in my inbox in the next few weeks.

Come on gang, get to work!

So yeah! WTF is up with this no comics shit?!

As some of you may or may not know, the past few months has been a hectic mess of moving house, too many projects and other stuff, whilst still trying to hold down a paying job. I am TI-ERRRRED man!

Two of the big projects I’m working on lately are getting close to deadline dates now and I still have a fair amount to do which is why I’ve made the tough decision to shelve Orful Comics for the rest of 2011. As much as I love putting out a weekly comic, carrying on trying to do this with everything else on is proving detrimental to all projects, which I don’t want. I’m sure you don’t want that either.

So what happens next?

I will still be working on the comics in-between the other projects I’m doing but giving myself the luxury of a bit of time to work on them properly and hopefully might build up a bit of a buffer in that time which in the long term also means better comics as I’ll still have a bit of leeway to work at a reasonable pace.

I plan to make a return to the regular schedule on 13th January so keep your eyes peeled!

On a positive note, I am so happy with the way this year has gone for Orful Comics. Since 2011 rolled in, I have so far only missed one deadline, and that was a server failure and so completely beyond my control. I’ve seen the quality and quantity of my work increase and have loved seeing so many people at conventions being interested and complimentary of the comics. It’s also been great to meet so many new people in the small press scene this year and I thank you all for spurring me on to keep doing this! CHEERS ALL!!

So you’re going on a break. What are your plans for next year?

Next year is all about carrying on the momentum I feel I’ve built up throughout this year. The comic will continue to update every single Friday. I will finally get Scene City 3 finished (maybe even 4 too). I may even get a couple of mini projects I’ve been wanting to do out there too! I will be doing MORE conventions than ever (May is looking… tiring) and I will, as ever, love every minute of it!

WELP! That’s me done here for 2011! Time to make a brew, stick the feet up on the lightbox and take it sloooooooooooooooow

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

-Rob