BLOG!

Hey so I’ve started drawing a comic strip for Doctor Who...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:36:17 -0400

Hey so I’ve started drawing a comic strip for Doctor Who Adventures magazine. It’s basically the monsters from Doctor Who, all cute and as babies. I can’t think of anything more fun to work on, so feel very honoured to be working on it!
It’s out every week, have a look! Available on the shelves or as an app i believe.

I drew a comic about how lovely pandas are.

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 08:43:13 -0400

I drew a comic about how lovely pandas are.

THIS. I’m doing this. it’s long-term, i just want to...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 15:06:50 -0500

THIS. I’m doing this. it’s long-term, i just want to get an idea of who might be interested. So spread the word if you can. Ta!

I was chuffed with the first panel of BVM in this...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 08:46:42 -0500

I was chuffed with the first panel of BVM in this week’s @phoenixcomicuk so here it is without the titles over it :)

Thinking it out: What if your book was an app, not an ebook?

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 04:23:00 -0500

I’ve been thinking a lot about the best way to tell stories and then get them to people. Yesterday I discovered GUMROAD, which offers a great pay-what-you-want system for artists to sell their books digitally. I bought a PDF from it, paid five dollars, all lovely.

The problem is PDFs. PDFs, man. They’re universal, seems like everyone can use them, but they feel kinda flat. Basic. If you want to tell the most amazing story in the world, laying it out on a PDF feels like making a cake with just the basic ingredients. It’s fine I guess, but y’know.

I was seeking out the advice of the excellent MARC ELLERBY on all the different ways and means of creating a book to sell digitally. From GRAPHICLY, to using THIS great new idea for easily creating your own E-Books (it will be fascinating to see how it turns out), there are a few different approaches. Once that’s done, and you’ve created something for multiple devices, you then have to get the product to your readers. The main outlets like Amazon and iTunes all seem a little restrictive, controlling, and inevitably take a slice out of your share. But they do, of course, reach a score more people than you potentially could on your own.

What I liked about Gumroad was the control. The incredibly simple transaction. Here’s some money, oh hey thanks here’s my book. Whether it’s a novel, a comic, or (in my case) an illustrated novel. No middle men, instead a direct communication between creator and reader. I love that.

Which is fine, for PDFs. But alongside the how of all this, I’ve also been really thinking about the what. What does a creator provide? A story, of course, but beyond that, could you provide the experience that goes WITH the story?

Apps. What if instead of making your story an ebook, you made it an app?

There are already excellent examples of this. WORMWORLD is one, where the comic already exists online, but you can download the app to keep updated on chapters, and even pay extra for the full experience. This experience includes sketches and even commentary. It is, frankly, such a stunning comic, I’d imagine it’s really paying off. BOTTOM OF THE NINTH is another beautiful example (thanks to @mattkamen for the tip).

These are such professional examples, it can be a little intimidating. But the idea is key, they are not just telling you stories, they are hauling you into the whole world they have created, and it’s a far more memorable experience because of it.

And creating apps is easy right? Pfft of course not. It’s highly skilled, especially to do it right. So hypothetically I was wondering if the following route could work, using a few different internet processes.

First you set up a Kickstarter/Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign, to pay for a developer to create your app. Wormworld actually did this in the start. Kickstarters of course are, themselves, a skill in themselves, and you’d have to offer some rather fantastic things to not only reward funders but, again, build your world for them. Use Kickstarter as a means to reach people and create, not just raise money.

Once/ if you make it, create the app. It features the story, of course, in an easy-to-read format (I’m glossing over the complexities of doing that, yes. I wouldn’t like to guess what a developer has to go through to create a beautiful and intuitive product), and it also features extras – nice title screens, sketchbook stuff, exclusive content, means to share some of the content across social networks.

The app goes on sale for however much you think, it would be tempting to price it as an ebook but apps do have their own unwritten rules and you have to be careful not to price yourself out of the market.

Alongside this, for those who don’t want to, or can’t, download the app, offer a PDF version on a pay-what-you-want system. It still tells your story, it’s not the full whammy of the app, but it reaches people you couldn’t otherwise reach.

And why not serialise the story online? That’s always the most immediate way to reach people, before they have to pay for/download anything.

This is what I’m thinking. The reason I’m blogging this out is because I’d genuinely love any input from you. Any problems you think might arise, any flaws in the system. A lot of this theory is taking a few things for granted, of course.

It would just be great to find a more natural, and involving, way to get your stories to your readers.

NOTE: Another great example of an app for reading comics is THE PHOENIX app, as created by PANEL NINE.

NOTE 2: In my search I also found THIS, a means to create your own interactive stories. Will be interesting to see how it works out.

Me at a gig.

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:19:31 -0500

Me at a gig.

Interview + new magazine!

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 03:29:00 -0500

Woohoo! First blog for the new-look fumboo.com website, so HEREISTHENEWS:

1) I did an interview with the excellent Dan Berry on his Make It Then Tell Everybody podcast, where we chatted about drawing things, drawing things on the internets, drawing comics, and drawing more things. Do have a listen! (click the banner to go there)

(and check out the other artist interviews Dan has done in the series, some amazing talent!)

2) I’ve been drawing comics and characters for the new boys’ magazine MEGA, which is on sale next week. You can read more about it on the Down The Tubes blog, which will probably make more sense than I could.

That’s all. BYE THEN.

New website!

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:17:28 -0500

HELLO!

You may well be reading this on my brand new website. That’s because this tumblr is now serving as my main blog, and fits nicely into the site too (via some kind of wizardry). So come over and have a look at fumboo.com, i’ve filled it up with even more comics, and am going to fill it up with even more when i just get a spare blimmin’ minute.

Thank you. And welcome to the new blog.

Here is my handy guide to Game Of Thrones, from...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:21:01 -0500

Here is my handy guide to Game Of Thrones, from memory.

(Posted on twitter this morning and people seemed to like it, even made the GOT UK Facebook page, so sharing here too ^_^)

What If Comics Were Free?

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 06:39:00 -0400

My good friend Colin at the horror movie website zombiehamster.com (warning: horror, obvs) pointed me towards a new thinking some film companies are adopting, that is to release their films on DVD, or even better, stream them, at the same time as releasing them in the cinema. As an attempt to curb piracy, it’s an admirable one of course, and very long overdue. More than long overdue, blindingly obvious. Those who want to see a film legally, but can’t get to a cinema (incidentally, film companies, 3D is a great way to stop people going to cinemas), have to wait nearly half a year to get the DVD, usually dodging internet spoilers like smug little pot-holes all along the road. It’s no wonder so many people torrent. It’s easy, and immediate. And while it perhaps takes the uniqueness out of a film when it’s stacked up in a queue to watch, I do genuinely believe most people, having watched a film they enjoy, would recompense those responsible were there an effective, and sensible, way of doing it. Which there isn’t.

To reiterate, I believe people like to reward the artists who entertain them.

This has been the biggest ignorance of record companies ever since they were forced to look into digital by the runaway success of the (then illegal) Napster. It was beyond absurd they were complaining that people were downloading albums for free, when for decades they had charged ridiculous amounts, sloughed the profits away from the artists, and then treated fans like hardened criminals in their punishment. Lets be sure about this, I’m not condoning acts like illegal downloading. But to be so grossly indignant about the world embracing A New Way Of Doing Things just because it didn’t line the record company pockets was laughable, and worse, backwards. If something is obviously happening, far better to incorporate it and evolve.

Now we’re at a place where everyone is finding their feet, and testing the boundaries. Movies are perhaps beginning to learn the lessons of musicians, some of whom release albums for free, or using a pay-what-you-want system, embracing this beautiful internet and the obvious demand for their products to create a more natural symbiosis. Kickstarters, Indiegogos and all the crowdfunders are pushing this idea further along, where the audience is actively helping create the product. When crowdfunding fatigue kicks in, which may not be far away, I hope it’ll evolve into a more flowing business practice, enabling artists to directly connect and be supported by their audience on an ongoing basis.

And so, to comics. All the aforementioned is a fascinating path to watch unfold, but realistically, we all have to earn money somewhere. And it’s hard doing that online. It’s practically impossible. If you want to give away your comics for free to the internet, the old way of recouping it was to put a ‘donate’ button on your site, and every now and then blog about how your wall had fallen down and could everyone spare just two dollars. And 9 times out of 10, no one would click that ‘donate’ button. It became a stigma, a piece of stinky cheese you kept walking past but never dared touch. While I said before that people want to reward the artists they like, i think perhaps the Donate button has run out of steam. Now artists are trying crowdfunding, with varying levels of success, but I wonder if we need to go full rogue. I wonder if we need to go completely free.

Now, I know, if you’re a comic artist or even a reader, your hair probably stood on end at that idea. So let me say, I’m throwing it out there as a notion. I’m asking a question. Since we’re all treading water waiting for the internet to throw us a speedboat and answer the ‘how DO we make money anymore?’ question, why not entertain other ideas.

The thinking is this. When I posted up about my ideas for A New Comic a few weeks back, I was stunned by the response. The goodwill. But since then I’ve thought about it a lot more, worked through the idea in my head, the practicalities and pitfalls. And I keep coming back to one part of it I liked the very most – making a comic, a real comic, not just on the internet, and giving it away. To schools. To hospitals. Leaving it on a train for the next person to read. Including it in a daily newspaper. Leaving it on the front desk of a toy shop (excellent suggestion by a commenter on the previous post). Encouraging people to read our comic, enjoy it, and then pass it on, or leave it around.

Just to get people reading comics again. To remember why they loved them. To make them smile.

The annual event Free Comic Book Day is a fine example of sharing the form, publishers producing free samples/anthologies of their titles. And the fact it has been going so long must imply some level of success, a recouping of costs. Perhaps though, it could go further. Free Comic Book Day appeals largely to existing comic fans, as it exists mainly in comic shops. What about the same idea, but everywhere? Make your free comic available wherever possible, ignite an interest, and bring people BACK into comic shops.

I was talking to an editor I know today who said he’d been thinking along similar lines, that comics could be best used being given to those who need them. Those for whom life dealt a crap hand and even just cracking a smile could be the most powerful thing. To me, it seems like the most beautiful idea. Every comic artists loves the thought that what they’ve created could affect someone’s life, even in the slightest way. The idea that something you’ve drawn can affect a complete stranger’s emotion, that’s such a powerful notion. So why not take it further, and try to reach everybody?

If you’re wondering how such a system is financially sustainable, it is this – we make comics become a part of life. They become a resource, a comfort, a friend and a dream. They begin to seep through into the undercurrent of society, to regain the respect they deserve. In different countries you can already see this happening. Everyone will cite the Japanese or French, who consume comics at a ferocious pace, as they are part of the fabric of their lives. Other countries, like here in the UK, they’ve slipped out of people’s sight. We all work hard towards the slow rise of comics back into the limelight, but in terms of mainstream, we’re lagging way behind other countries.

Maybe we’re being too insular by trying to address the existing comic scene. Instead of rearranging the furniture indoors, maybe we should be changing the landscape outside.

This way, we’re doing some actual direct good. And we’re reaching people who might never have otherwise picked up a comic, we’re influencing society, we’re slowly, very slowly, raising our beloved comics up, back into people’s view. And in the long-term, that creates a demand. And a demand builds an industry. And an industry creates not only work, but brings forth new talent.

For it to work for a publisher, it would require them to invest in extra printing (or to reuse the sale-or-return copies, what DOES happen to them?), to slip sampler comic books into other comics (like they used to do when I was a kid), new distribution methods and to crank the wheels of the promotional machine into overdrive. And that’s a big deal to ask, I realise that. But a passion for bringing comics to the masses, despite the cost, is excellent promotion in itself, and were at least some of the mainstream children’s comics available for free, the advertising prices that publisher could command would be through the roof.

It is all a little too much to ask, of course, but small steps. As I said, it’s an idea, conveniently skirting around the practicalities.

On the other side, for those of us not involved in publishing, there are perhaps more viable options. Setting up a crowdfunder to cover the costs of a comic you intend to release free, to those who perhaps comics would otherwise not reach, would be such a brilliant start. I’ve been entertaining the idea myself. It’s a system where everyone wins – the funders get exclusive content, you get to produce a comic filled with different artists and strips, without initial costs, and people get to enjoy it. Wrap that up with a supporting website and digital option, with a pay-what-you-want system to fund issue two, and you could have a whole new player in the comics scene. One which is literally funded by goodwill and passion. Imagine if some big name creators waded in and started doing the same. The fanzine ethic of ‘make it yourself’ returns, enabled by technology, and the comic industry as a whole can only benefit.

The creation of a comic, where artists get paid, and the finished product is free. What a phenomenally idealistic business model. But with crowdfunding, fanbases, the internet, and the sheer goodwill of people, what a realistic one.

So that’s the question, would it in any way be viable? Would big business ever help fund free comics JUST to make people happy? And crucially, would free comics undermine the medium, and ultimately be more damaging? Any thoughts welcome.

Ps. One new such comic already trying this model for a slightly older audience is Off Life. Why not check out their funding page, and encourage this simple, but wonderful, idea?

A New Comic.

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 12:27:28 -0400

Losing the print version of The Dandy, which was announced this week, presents a real hole in the market, and one which may well get wider. What The Dandy did, and did very well, was be silly. Gloriously, ridiculously, silly, a real mixed bag of the absurd. And while we still have The Beano, it always felt like The Dandy was its ever-so-slightly childish younger sibling (despite being older), bounding around, stomping on what few rules The Beano had. Especially since the relaunch, it was making an art out of anarchy.

The support for The Dandy, since we’re losing it, has been quite overwhelming. I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve told me they’re going to buy one (or more) copies, that it’s a tragedy, that they kind of forgot it existed. National media coverage stirred not only a nostalgia, but a real need for that childish surrealism we all took for granted when we were kids, but lose sight of a little bit when we grow up. There was a palpable need to reconnect with it again, and a very real fear of losing it.

So.

Every cartoonist has their own ideas what a comic should be. I think when something this culturally important happens though, it’s important we step to one side and take a look at what went wrong, and where we can go from here. Since this is comics we’re talking about, there’s a great swell of enthusiasm from creators and readers alike to push the art forward, to do SOMETHING to support comics. And while we’d all love to start up our own comics, the very real and very large problems of money, printing, distribution, all stomp those dreams into the ground.

Here’s what I think comics can do. These are just my opinions, but I believe them very firmly, and would invite any discussions/ideas on the subject.

I’d like comics to claim back the sense of anarchy. The very deranged ethic of Oink! comic, swerving dangerously all over the place, linking stories in with each other, mashing ideas together, creating whatever seems to work at the time without any fear or caution. At the same time, I’d like us to learn a lot from American models. The Adventure Time comic is a great example, it looks beautiful, it’s fun and crazy, and the style is something kids really attach to. Even looking at the world of Marvel, with their range of superheroes, each with their own stories to tell.

And this, I think, is key. Stories. Really strong, well rounded stories, led by really strong characters. Silly, daft, ridiculous characters, but strong in their design. A roster, or a family, a line-up even of instantly identifiable characters, to follow every week and get completely lost in their worlds. If you ever come up with an idea for a cartoon show on TV, do you know how long it takes? Years and years (trust me on this), even just to get through development. And in that time, characters and motivations are really thought about, worked through, tried and dropped. At the end, if you have a TV show that works, it’s because of all the love and effort that’s gone into it. So how do you get that same love and effort for a comic?

Simple. Creator owned content. 99% of the time, comics and magazines don’t allow creator owned content. At all. As a result, if you pitch your idea and it’s taken on, you either give away the rights and earn a living, or you don’t. And while we in the comics industry all work hard, and love the work we produce, there must be something to be said for working on a character you have very real personal investment in. The work would be better. Even if only in tiny, subtle ways, your character would come through that little bit stronger. In allowing this, a publication would have a happier, more productive workforce, creating better ideas, looking around for other ways to exploit these ideas (perhaps TV), and bringing a share of any potential revenue back to the publication, as a thanks for being the first to host these delirious ideas. That, to me, sounds like a very mutually beneficial arrangement.

Because it’s a mistake to think viewing characters as ‘properties’ is a bad thing, is a sell-out. ‘Properties’, to me, are the ideas which sparked off because they were good, and found a variety of mediums to explore. New ways to play with the characters. In no way could that be a bad thing, just the same as exposing your idea to as many people as possible can not be viewed as a bad thing. It’s like raising a weird, boggly-eyed creature from birth, then setting it free in the woods. You don’t know what’s going to happen, but hopefully it’ll make some people laugh and others shriek and cry.

The emphasis of all this, as I said, would be silly. Gloriously, wonderfully, silly. The kind of stories children would make up themselves. And lets involve them in it, teach them how to draw the characters, put cartooning tutorials online, show their work off in the comic. Make ourselves a community, to reward the readers.

Doing this all online would be the cheapest and easiest way. But if you’ll humour me for a second, I’m going to explore print instead.

I love printed comics. I love online comics too, but i tend to flick through them without really paying attention, and they can easily get lost in amongst the competition. With a printed comic, it requires a certain type of concentration, and a certain affection on the part of the reader. A US comicbook size comic. With a beautiful cover every issue, a different character to showcase. It would sell at supermarket checkouts for a cheap price, the perfect impulse buy, there for adults and children alike to flick through, laugh at, and add to the foodshop. We would print sampler issues and include them with newspapers, give them away at underground tube stations just like they do with free papers, something to read on the way home. Give samplers away every month in schools. We would flyer, oh the flyering, and internet campaign our little socks off.

Oh the internet, we would use that too. We could use crowdfunding to raise the money for issue one, the more we make, the more the artists get paid. Every funder above a certain level gets the comic, a goody bag (man i don’t care how old you are, ‘goody’ and ‘bag’ are still two of the most exciting words in the universe), and a page of original artwork from the comic! A piece of history. Something really special. The website itself, with integrated apps and whatever else you need, featuring extra exclusive content, constantly changing reasons to come back to. A support act for the main event, the comic book.

Is this feasible? It’s far from easy. We would need a publisher to take us on, or a sponsor, or a rich benefactor who just wants to see people laughing again. Someone to take charge would be good (hey I’m passionate about this, but time spent organising is time not spent drawing, and i know from experience that can be frustrating). Someone who knows their marketing would be great too. The problem we’ve heard about existing comics is not the content, people love the content when they get to see it. The problem is getting it under their noses in the first place. One of the reasons the big licensed comics like Simpsons, Moshi Monsters etc sell so many is because they have the almighty weight of hugely successful TV shows/toys behind them. That is something ordinary comics don’t have, and they suffer massively for it.

So that’s the dream. Character-led comics. Creator owned properties. A mutual love of comics. And above all, the silliest, most gloriously stupid thing you’ve ever read.

Anyone?

OPTIMISM motivational poster (from today’s www.whubble.net...

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 05:46:53 -0400

OPTIMISM motivational poster (from today’s www.whubble.net strip, grab a full size version off the site!)

click to read all the Whubble strips ->...

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:31:31 -0400

click to read all the Whubble strips -> http://www.whubble.net

WHUBBLE returns today, and every Wednesday, at least for the next five weeks. That’s how many I have in store, although if it goes well maybe I can find a way to keep him going regularly. I always love drawing Whubbles, its just finding the time that’s proved difficult lately. But the positive response he gets keeps on bringing me back, it means a lot to know people are enjoying him, thank you!

Fun fact: Whubble’s been taken on by two different syndication companies over the years, in following that dream of seeing him in print. Neither came to anything, obvs. It would be lovely to see him in a daily newspaper one day, if you happen to have any contacts, do send them this way. No, I’m not too proud to ask, clearly.

Whubble returns!

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 11:47:00 -0400

Whubble returns!

Oh move ON, Batman.

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:41:26 -0400

Oh move ON, Batman.

bigger version here Tried to break my comics funk by doing...

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:54:33 -0400

bigger version here

Tried to break my comics funk by doing something different + drawing the first thing that came out of my head:

I drew Batman and Joker for a thing I’m doing for The...

Thu, 31 May 2012 10:52:00 -0400

I drew Batman and Joker for a thing I’m doing for The Dandy. Probably best you buy The Dandy every week until it appears!

THE TWING

Mon, 14 May 2012 05:01:00 -0400

Dare you read THE TWING? Click the pic (or here) to check out the comic.

Drew a Beastie Boys pic for The Mooks’ excellent...

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:58:12 -0400

Drew a Beastie Boys pic for The Mooks’ excellent ‘Draw Beasties’ tumblr thread. Also check out his ‘Draw Sendak’ tribute http://mookiest.tumblr.com/ (and then why not contribute too!)

CLICK HERE to read the entire book from the start. If...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:49:24 -0400

CLICK HERE to read the entire book from the start. If you’ve been waiting to read it complete then now’s a good time, no plans for a print version just yet (one day) so you might wanna sit back and enjoy the story online before book two begins.

Corporate Skull is the story of a man who hates his life and his job, but is transformed when he loses his face in a horrific photocopier accident. He becomes CORPORATE SKULL, hero of the workplace, a drunk, rude and violent success, leaving a trail of destruction and body fluids in his wake. But Skull’s initial enthusiasm for his job is tested when questions about his employers emerge, questions involving dark conspiracies, incredible secrets, and rather huge quantities of blood.

Corporate Skull contains offensive humour and violence. So ENJOY!