Fool

It hit me while daydreaming that Antonia holds Mitzi across almost every universe. I devoted my afternoon, therefore, to making a video.

Colouring them all separately was an exercise in patience and a labour of love. I played with a LOT of transitions but I think the wipes were most effective, because in certain paused moments you can see half of the image laid over another half – and it just shows how similar their love is across each universe.

I didn’t set out for the wipes to look this good! I’m so pleased and emotional!

Just for fun, I will tell you what each picture means. Just for fun.

The modern universe: This must be in May or June or even later of year 2. Antonia has known Mitzi for around half a year, has been in love with her since she met her, and Mitzi is thoroughly oblivious. Mitzi smokes weed occasionally with friends from university – not the main group – and on a night like this, Techo receives a phone call from one of Mitzi’s friends through Mitzi’s phone.

Hello?

Hi, who is this?

This is Techo. Who’s this? This is Mitzi’s phone.

I’m Mitzi’s friend, Ellen. I called “Mum” in Mitzi’s contacts.

(Techo turns to Antonia and rolls her eyes. Of course.)

It emerges that the group have smoked a slightly weird zoot, and a couple of them are whiteying badly – Mitzi worst of all, and she was drunk already when she smoked. She is catatonic and they were calling to see if someone could come take her home safely.

Techo says she’ll be right over. Antonia insists on joining her. Underneath her surface, Antonia is sick with worry over Mitzi.

When they find her, Mitzi is mumbling and barely conscious. Antonia carries her the whole way home. Mitzi throws up down Antonia’s front. Techo is astounded that Antonia doesn’t even seem to be bothered by it.

The Villain Universe:

Mitzi and Antonia are two of the most advanced hackers in the country. Mitzi uses her knowledge to commit fraud, steal from companies and build a secret underground lair. The lair is entirely aesthetic – and so are the villain and required henchman outfits. Mitzi offered Antonia a job but instead, Antonia now devotes her time to breaking into the lair and stopping Mitzi’s criminal plans. They have a thing going.

One night, Mitzi shows up to Antonia’s apartment – something she’s never done before. She is bruised and injured, and collapses at Antonia’s feet. Antonia isn’t expecting company – she’s in pyjamas and slippers. Her cup of tea goes crashing to the floor as she catches Mitzi mid-fall. What has happened to Mitzi – and why has she come to her, her enemy, for help?

Kingdom Universe:

Antonia, the Jester, and Mitzi, the King, have had a fight. Antonia correctly pointed out that Mitzi is lazy, and leaving the kingdom-running work to Techo, her advisor. Mitzi doesn’t like this insolence and sends Antonia away.

The next evening, Mitzi refuses to see Antonia – but to her great annoyance, Antonia’s new friends amongst the Palace Staff throw a soiree together on Antonia’s newfound evening off.

The jealousy and upset creep into Mitzi’s bones, and when she does see Antonia again, she is so tired and the day so hot that she faints during her entertainment. Antonia catches her, her playing cards scattering across the golden steps of the throne room.

Naughty List: Full Zine

Below are images of the full zine, but storage limitations on WordPress have meant that they’re a little compressed.

I encourage you instead to click THIS LINK and view it in full quality on Issu.com!

Naughty List: Creative Writing

I was arranging the pages I made into the zine, trying to create a good narrative, when I realised I really was seeing a scene – from start to finish – in my head. I scrambled to open a sticky note and wrote, scrolling through my zine as I did so.

This piece is not merely anchorage: read alongside the zine, you can read the zine in a completely different way. Upon reading it back, the mood is a bit Gaimanny or Pratchettian – tongue in cheek, very human but still fantasy.

Naughty List

“Good morning. Ah – wait. Is it still morning?”

The proficient Demon checked its watch. You weren’t sure how it could see the time past all the hair. It lowered its wrist.

“I’ve just remembered – time doesn’t matter down here.”

It took its seat at the head of the long, white office table. Its reflection gleamed symmetrically back up from the wipe-clean surface. So too were the fluorescent lights reflected from the ceiling, down to the table, holding the office hostage in a cool diffuse light.

The demon’s suit fitted it well – was it Italian? You had no idea how different suits were tailored. All the fear had you thinking nonsense.

It caught you looking at the plant in the corner – a serene, healthy office plant, propped up on a tasteful glazed planter.

“A peace lily,” it commented. “They flower all year, you know.”

As it spoke, its face seemed to change. Whenever you looked at it directly – reluctantly – it seemed to shift, its features arranging and rearranging into expressions of human suffering. You weren’t sure where its voice was coming from.

Behind the demon, the office wall was made entirely of glass. You really, really wished it wasn’t.

The demon pushed a clipboard toward you. You had the unfortunate privilege of being acquainted with this board already, and you knew the drill.

You took a pen from a generously full pot sitting on the table. Each pen had the word HELL written across it in a thin golden serif. Did Hell merchandise? You wondered if anyone ever tried to steal one of the pens. If someone was already down here, perhaps one more sin wouldn’t matter.

“Oh, no,” the demon hummed, reading your thoughts clearly. “We have a special, separate part of Hell for people who steal pens. But you’re down here often enough: just enjoy them while you’re here.”

You sighed and skimmed your form. The demon tapped its nails on the table, in no rush.

BERNARD HARTSON 1942-2022

THEFT

ENVY

GREED

In signing as the Guardian Angel of this soul, I agree that the above sins are correct as listed and cede this soul to Hell, where judgement will be passed as It sees fit.

SIGNED ______________________

The demon laughed: it must have read your thoughts again.

“Don’t be so pessimistic. Perhaps you’re just unlucky with your souls. You can keep them as safe as you want, but you can’t protect them from themselves.”

It snapped its fingers and the clipboard disappeared from in front of you, reappearing in its hand.

“…Until next time?”

You pushed your chair back, making the metal joints squeal. The demon flashed one more smile as you turned away.

“Oh, but it is funny. And I didn’t think angels used that kind of language – even in their thoughts.

“Perhaps one day it will be your name on my little naughty list.”

I Ain’t Quittin’ You!

Jamie’s suggestion that I draw Drake and Ludwig as Jed and Octavius was in my head for many days. I’m absolutely stoked to be in October again: I want to draw Antonia as the mad hatter this year.

I like this version too, using the gradient map I created for Work Play Work!
Of course I like this one as much as, if not more than, the fuller illustrations. Oh, look at them, look at them.

Naughty List: Initial Spread Ideas

I thought nothing, if not “har har”, when I wrote “NAUGHTY LIST” in response to the text. I’ve thrown it on the front cover because I think it becomes clear quite quickly it’s about hell, but you get that juxtaposition of Santa and Christmas, which is quite fun, and sets a tone for a hell-based zine that’s not taking itself too seriously. Makes the reader work a little.
worked on the quite fun idea of patterning the demon’s suit with some of the penwork and drawings I’d made.
Proud of the way I managed to get all the marks to interact with this one. This one, as with many of them, rely heavily on mistake and chance, which I like. The spatters are where marks have bled through another page of newsprint. The demon’s face was quite tightly drawn, but the erased face with a screaming one behind it is quite effective, I think.
really into the atmosphere I created with this one. I’ve been trying to take an interest in patterning and repetition since observing far more of it than one would think in real life. I particularly noticed it at the Grand Hotel, in the architecture: even if you don’t register what the pattern is of, the repetition is pleasing at first glance. The hand breaking through the repetition and the anchoring of “PEN STEALING HELL” make this one successful, in my opinion.
I decide in this moment that I prefer this image to the one above. The silhouetted heads respond more directly to the text, referring to the five terrified souls looking down on what Hell has to offer. The background was copy pasting my hellflame pencil texture a bunch, slapping them on multiply, inverting it, and colouring on a – probably a darken layer or something similar. I think the marker bleeds look like sparking embers. Actually quite fun and effective.
I think they’ll never get me to relinquish text in my illustrations again. I’m surprisingly pleased with the background here – created similarly to the flame texture above. This is weird, but I get a real sense of depth with this one – like there really is three-dimensional space between the stalactites and mites.
This was my favourite of a series of at least twenty marks trying to capture what a grating squeak on a metal chair would sound like. Again playing with patterning and colour, but I took the mark further below – as this page is visually pleasing, but didn’t really add to any narrative.
Suddenly remembered the “two rows of fluorescent blue tube lights” along the office ceiling, and created a spread inspired by the cleanliness and whiteness of the office. I think a proficient demon with this mild interest in the plants – that’s a peace lily – enough so to mention this fact to the souls coming into the room – is a funny one. I also think that this laid against his complete apathy (or even enjoyment) of human suffering makes him even more terrifying and unpredictable.
Hugely into this one, and this – again – was a child of mistake and inaccuracy. I focused in on phrases about the lava being like sweets, molten candy, molten sugar. I just think the tone and colour as well as the way the marker reacts organically with the colour and background make it really cool.

The next steps will be to consider whether the zine will benefit from spreads that are more half-and-half composed, or whether this sprawling, atmospheric thing I’ve had going is working really well for it. I’ve designed the spreads with a simple colour scheme in mind already, to keep things simple with myself – black, red, orange. Any images that have been a little too funky I’ve thrown through a gradient map that operates like the photocopier’s “two colour” print mode.

I printed out a bunch of pieces using the photocopier and will play with physically tearing and arranging, because I know how much I like using my hands and it always yields something unexpectedly fun.

Later edit: some more work, now based on photographs and torn paper!

I tore up some paper to look sort of like curling flames, and for tonal contrast put it against the black background of my sketchbook. Played with more composed ziney shapes – I do like some good frames and rectangles.

This spread was inspired by Jim’s composition on the screen. The full bleed laid against the nice, framed piece is interesting to me.
Playing with layering effects that would look cool across the central fold of a zine. I see a face in the torn paper and the mouth.

Filthy Royalists!

In the context of me loving this:

Weighting of the speech bubble less than ideal. It messed up the composition somewhat. I think the type font could be better.

Castle wall could have been less saturated and perhaps higher contrast, and I should have changed the brickwork to a more conforming blue but forgot.

Move to the side quickly, boys: I think Techo and Mitzi are manning the murder holes!

Also obsessed that Drake has accidentally managed to cosplay as Dan Jones from Secrets of Great British Castles, who Ludwig has a huge crush on.

Dirty Roundheads!

Been enjoying living in the Castle scenes after my research on castles yesterday. I was a bit feverish after walking home without a jacket in the storm, and as I fell asleep the moving images were terribly realistic.

Thumbnailed these poses a few times and worked from a few references. Playing with texture and painterly colouring and tones next to flat block colour. All good fun.

Overall really pleased with this one – I got the “looking down-ness” I saw so vividly in my head, I got their expressions well, too. Capturing a moment of having just noticed Drake and Ludwig, as well as an elated moment of realising that they have the high ground. Ludwig has already educated the group on Arundel’s place in the civil war, and Ludwig is delighted by Techo’s little game. The next illustration will be its partner, but will likely be trying different things.

OC business – at the pub

I plan to print off the first sheet, and here are few brain cells for your consideration.

My research took me to Courtly Love, all about chivalry and nobility. I love this term and the places it came from. I’m thinking they will probably live in Courtington, a town on in the middle of the South Coast. I was going to go for Calliston but I prefer courtington and tell you what, there are stupider named towns out there. Shitterton and whatnot.

Let’s Get Down To Business

No Introductory blog post, no hello, just straight raw content into your eyes. Let’s go.

Ok, no, I owe you a little explanation.

Below is the first introductory zine of the first brief, Work Play Work. After this we began to respond to text, but I will photograph and post all of that together once I’ve made the work. Now scroll.

Today managed to completely overwhelm me. Jim ran a good workshop but loosening-up workshops are always exhausting.

I must also say, I didn’t take to any of the texts particularly well. The natural disaster one was completely bleak – something I don’t think anyone needs with everything as it is – the one about a naked person wasn’t conjuring many ideas outside of a naked person – and the tyranny text was quite political and wasn’t very visual. The proficient demon text was quite cool, but I suppose asking for more creativity and play right after two hours of workshop was just a bit much.

I think I need to go to bed and wake up with more passion, because I feel like I’m all squeezed dry. I don’t get this feeling when I draw for myself. I’m confused as to whether this is the intended effect of the workshop… I’ve not felt less inspired in a while.

All this being said, I never mind a bit of play like above, and really enjoyed markmaking and throwing things at the page as usual. I’m also endeared with these pages – I’m drawn to little curves and brush strokes, and the paint bleeding through the pages has quite a cool effect in lots of places. It did give me confidence putting everything down from my brain, because I am aware that I often edit for the sake of speed and convenience.

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