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Garrie Fletcher

~ writing and all that

Garrie Fletcher

Category Archives: Comics

Angry!

17 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by fletcherski in Art, Comics, Drawing, Inktober, writing

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Art, Drawing, Drawing Challenge, Inktober, Inktober2018, Squirrel

This is the final panel of my one page comic strip. As you can see, we have one angry squirrel.

When I get the chance, I’ll put the four together. It may not be until the weekend now as I’m busy over the next couple of days.

Now onto the writing!

I have an ending that I’m struggling with. Bloody dogs!

Squidger!

16 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by fletcherski in Art, Comics, Drawing, fiction, Inktober, writing

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Birmingham, comic book, Comics, Drawing, Ink, Inktober, Inktober2018

Here’s the third panel of my four-panel strip!

Who knows, I may even get to draw the final panel tomorrow.

Now for an hour of writing.

2nd Panel – A Walk In The Park

14 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by fletcherski in Art, Birmingham, Comics, Drawing, Inktober, writing

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Birmingham, Cannon Hill Park, comic book, Comics, Ink, Inktober, Inktober2018, Walking

Following on from yesterday’s post here’s panel number two.

I split the panel in two and put two different scenes in the background to give the impression of movement.

The far leg isn’t great, and we won’t talk about the hands, but it’s looking okay in regards to comic books and storytelling.

Two more panels to go and then I’ll have to think of something else to ink.

Panel Show

13 Saturday Oct 2018

Posted by fletcherski in Art, Birmingham Literature Festival, Comics, Drawing, Ikon Gallery, Inktober, The Arts, writing

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Birmingham, Birmingham Literature Festival, Cath Tate, Dr Nicola Streeten, Drawing, Drawing Challenge, Graphic Novel, Ikon Gallery, Inktober, Inktober2018, uk

Yesterday, No.1 Daughter and I went to a marvellous workshop at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. The workshop was run by Dr Nicola Streeten and Cath Tate as part of the Birmingham Literature Festival.

We looked at visual story telling through greetings cards and graphic novels. Cath talked us through her work and considerations for greetings cards and Nicola the same for graphic novels. The two hours flew by and incorporated some fun and challenging drawing activities. The culmination of this was all of us producing our own four panel stories. The daughter and I agreed to leave our work there as a backdrop for a talk today, so I’ve recreated/completed the first panel above here.

Here are some pics of the work we produced on the night.

Comic Biog #2

24 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by fletcherski in Art, Comics, Drawing, Music, Sketchtember

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Art, comic books, Drawing, Music, Sketchtember

I’m going to be busy this evening so I’ll post the second page of my biographical comic strip. It’s not great, but you gett the idea.

Image-2

Prophet: Earth war

16 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by fletcherski in Comics, writing

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Comics, Prophet, Prophet: Earth War, Series finale

Here’s just one of the many reasosn I’m looking forward to getting hold of a copy of the concluding collection of Prophet. The scene below is from one of the previous stories, but it gives you a glimpse of the kind of brain-twisting visuals you can expect.prophet29-spread

The artwork throughout this series is continually exceptional as is the storytelling. This is sci-fi in the British and European tradition. A tradition of dark, bonkers ideas that stretch the imagination. Prophet is a rarity in comic books in that it improves with successive readings, but don’t just take my word for it. Check out this post at Paste Magazine.ProphetEW_02-1.png

 

Y: The Last Man

22 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by fletcherski in Comics, writing

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Brian K Vaughan, Comics, Graphic Novel, Pia Guerra, Stephen King, Y: The Last Man

Y: The Last Man is a stunning graphic novel that poses the question: would the world be a better place if it was run by women?

untitled

Written by Brian K. Vaughan and beautifully drawn by Pia Guerra the story is told across 60 issues that concluded way back in 2008. I read it a while ago but I’ve been prompted to post this after coming across a fine article in The Guardian today written by Sian Cain. Check out the article on The Guardian site and more imnportantly read the book for yourself. Don’t just take my word for it, Stephen King said it was the best graphic novel he’s ever read.

The article is prompted by the search for books that inspire rather than soothe and states that hope can feel intangible – but defiance is practical. What do you think?

y-the-last-man-032

SEN Comic Book Workshop…

07 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by fletcherski in Comics, Special Needs, teaching, workshops, writing

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birmingham uk, Bournville Bookfest 2016, Busy Parents Network, Comic book writing workshop, comic books, March 19th, Selly Oak Trust School, SEN, SEN and love comics?, writing workshop

What’s coming up on the writing workshop radar? Well, this.

Bournville_BookFest_cover

Those crazy people at the Bournville Bookfest have only gone and asked me to run a comic book writing workshop as part of their programme for children with Special Needs!

book fest slot

From the Bookfest brochure.

The workshop is aimed at anyone who’s interested in making comics. I’ll be using the Comic Life app to show you how you can very quickly make slick looking comic strips. We’ll be focusing on the essentials: character, plot and dialogue. Everyone who attends will have the opportunity to develop a unique story and to produce a finished comic strip. We won’t worry about drawing ability or drawing full stop, if you’re not comfortable with that, as you can use anything you want to tell a story. (You can use photographs from your iPad or take pictures on the day.) The only boundaries will be your imagination!

adventure-time-comic-book

Adventure Time meets the Avengers.

I’ve taught children with Special Needs for many years and have found that the visual, sequential nature of story telling used in comics is something that they easily relate to – just the same as mainstream kids – and that they can get a great deal of pleasure out of producing their own.

The workshop will be at Selly Oak Trust School on Saturday the 19th of March. There’s no recommended age for the workshop. We’ll leave it up to parents to judge for themselves, after all, no one knows your children better than you. All I would ask is that participants have an interest in comics and that they can tolerate me working with them. They will need some level of literacy – I’m not bothered about spelling – as they will be writing dialogue for their marvellous characters.

 

adventuretime-036-press-7-118908

Finn and Jake in trouble again.

 

How do I book this great workshop? Scroll to the end and I’ll tell you.

phoenix-weekly

The UK’s finest weekly comic.

 

Here are some examples of what you can do with the Comic Life app:

chubby bunny and dusty hare -1horrendous holiday!-1Blank-1

Booking for the workshop can be made by clicking here. The link will take you to the Bournville Bookfest booking page.

The programme can be downloaded here.

If you have any questions regarding the workshop please leave them in the comments section below.

 

Suits You Sir.

12 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by fletcherski in Comics, Film, Review, Uncategorized

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Colin Firth, Great movie, Kingsman, Mark Hamill, Mark Millar, Mark Strong, Matthew Vaughn, Michael Caine, Must see film, Samuel L. Jackson, Secret Service, Sophia Boutella

Kingsman

Do you pine for the days of the classic spy movie, for the suave Bond who dispatched enemies with grace and a witty aside? Or the megalomaniac villains with their jaw dropping bases carved out of the hearts of mountains and their singular vision of world dominance and destruction? Do you miss the sophisticated gadgets, the bullet proof umbrellas or the poisonous ink and yearn for the femme fatale with their killer smiles and razor blade feet? Then Kingsman is the film for you.

Rollicking fun.

Rollicking fun.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson, Kingsman is adapted from Mark Millar’s and Dave Gibbons’ comic book of the same name and whilst I enjoyed the book the film is far superior.

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot as I think this is a film that you all should see. It’s visceral, sharp, clever and just the right side of bloody: exploding heads anyone? Elements of the book have been tinkered with slightly, but these only add to the drama and a female Gazelle -played by the stunning Sofia Boutella- is far more graceful than the original black man in the comic book. Samuel L. Jackson is sublime as the lisping genius Valentine, a man who’s mission is to save the planet by killing most of its inhabitants. Firth is gloriously assured as the arse kicking Galahad -a member of the secret Kingsman organisation that spies on the spies bringing impartial justice to the world- and I can only imagine the Bond producers punching themselves repeatedly in the nuts having overlooked him for that role.

Valentine, Gazelle, Galahad, 'Eggsy' and Arthur.

Valentine, Gazelle, Galahad, ‘Eggsy’ and Arthur.

I wanted to take my son to see this, but he was less than enthusiastic at the time and I missed it at the cinema. I wont be making that mistake again, it really shouldn’t take sitting through Jurassic World to realise that a twelve-year-old is not the best judge when it comes to film, this is the lad who raved about After Earth and that was less interesting than watching flies crawl over dog shit.

There’s a lot of humour and warmth in this film and fun, tons of fun. It’s not a high-brow soul beater, far from it, but it’s everything a movie should be -I love films that make me think, but this is not a film, it’s a movie, there is a difference. I’d be interested to know how it did in the States as it’s a very British film with run down boozers and Millwall scarves. Matthew Vaughn has said that it’s his hymnal to the stuff he watched growing up: Bond, The Avengers, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. etc. and the inclusion of the umbrella had me pining for the days of Steed and Emma Peel.

Bespoke tailors or spy HQ?

Bespoke tailors or spy HQ?

The original idea was that this first film would be the start of a trilogy and I can only hope that that happens and that the writing and directing stays as razor-sharp as this. Mark Strong, who plays Merlin -Kingsman’s answer to Bond’s Q- has said that, “This [movie] will be to Bond what Kick-Ass (2010) is to superhero movies” and I can’t help but agree with him.

Check it out and let me know what you think and see if you can spot Mark Hamill.

Raven soars.

14 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by fletcherski in Art, Comics, comissions, New Birmingham Library, Raven

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Anya Jung, Art, Birmingham, Birmingham Literature Festival, comic book, Comic book script, Drawing, free, Kings Heath, Raven, short story, uk, writing

At last, after weeks of scribbling, typing, retyping, sketching, revising, colouring, conferring, editing and nail biting, Raven is here. Has it been worth the wait? Oh yes.

Raven

Anya Jung and I were commissioned, what seems ages ago, by those wonderful people at Writing west Midlands to produce a comic strip as part of the Birmingham Literature Festival.

The initial idea was to produce a graphic novel over the space of the festival, a mere ten days. We quickly abandoned that idea. For Anya to draw the number of pages to make a graphic novel, to the high standard that she does, we would need at least a year and whilst it would be wonderful to have a year long festival there simply wasn’t the budget.

So, we decided to do a short story in comic book form, a mere seven pages long. Seven pages is not a lot, but I hope you will agree we’ve crammed quite a lot in and created a story with a punch, an incredibly strong look and a resonance that stays with you long after reading.

Raven started with a  conversation between Anya and I as I drove us back to Kings Heath. We spoke about the power of art, the need for creativity and the loss of innocence, it all sounds a bit pompous, but that’s what we did.

Raven3

I very quickly decided that I wanted to write a story about a woman returning to Birmingham after a long time away. I thought it would be something about childhood and creativity, about travelling home to rediscover something she’s long forgotten or has chosen to forget and it sort of is and it sort of isn’t.

I was shocked by the ending of my story. Not by the nature of it but by the fact that I never saw it coming. I don’t want to get all writers are mystics on you, because we’re not, but I won’t lie to you, I never planned for it to end that way.

I shared the story with Anya and to my great relief she loved it, phew!

I then set about translating my tale from a short story into a comic book script which was not as easy as I’d thought it would be, far from it. All that lovely description and atmosphere that I’d built up through the careful selection of words I had to let go of. and hand it over to the artist. Instead of describing the way the city looked from the rain spattered train carriage you just type: Frame 1, a train travels across a large viaduct that cuts through the city. Gripping stuff.

So, I had to rethink the way that I work and to rediscover the story I’d written by looking at what needs to be said that can’t be shown. Eventually the script came together and I handed it over to Anya.

Raven2

Anya mocked up a rough layout of what the story would look like. She nervously handed over a hand drawn A5 booklet; she wasn’t best pleased with the work it contained, which was odd as the work was stunning. This is great! I thought, if this is what her rough stuff looks like we’re onto a winner and we were.

Over the ten days of the festival Anya was based in the wonderful Library of Birmingham. People were invited to stop and chat to her as she completed the pages and many of you did, we even had a Q and A session in the library entrance! During the course of completing the pages Anya made some alterations which meant I had to tweak bits of text here and there. We sent work back and forth and slowly it all came together.

This isn’t how comics are usually produced, it’s just the way we did it.

Anyway, enough yakking from me. Why don’t you click on this link and read Raven for yourself? When you’ve read it please pop back and let me know what you think of it.

Cheers

p.s Here’s the first page of Raven. Click on it to read the full version.

Raven 1st page

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