Category Archives: writing

Panel Show

13 Saturday Oct 2018

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

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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.

Up At The Lake

04 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by in Art, Birmingham, Birmingham Literature Festival, Birmingham Writers, books, Drawing, Inktober, Mantle Lane Press, Reading, Short Stories, Writers, Writers Group, writing, Writing West Midlands

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Another quick one – I just don’t have the time at the moment. This is a view of the south end of Coniston in the Lake District. It’s all fibre tipped pen and is actually black on white paper. The image is a sepia brown due to me taking the pic on my phone for speed.

Lake2.jpg

I did do a little tinkering in Affinity Photo to add the sepia splashes of cloud.

I’m hoping to get a bit of time at the weekend to do some longer drawing and some writing. That will hopefully be on Sunday once I’ve got my reading at Birmingham Literature Festival out of the way and finished working with my young writers group on the Saturday. I’ve set Saturday evening aside for watching crap with the family and drinking beer.

If you’re in Birmingham this Saturday morning (October 6th) come along to Birmingham REP, the Mezzanine, and hear some great stories from a bunch of wonderful writers. Hell, you could even buy some books.

Birmingham Literature Festival 2018

02 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by in Birmingham Literature Festival, books, Networking, Reading, Short Stories, writing

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I’ll be reading a short story, along with a host of excellent writers, and selling some books as part of the Room 204 meet up. It kicks off at 10:00 am this Saturday, October the 6th, at the Mezzanine, Birmingham REP.

Click here for booking details – entry includes coffee and a pastry!

Adios Amigo

01 Monday Oct 2018

Posted by in Art, Drawing, Inktober, writing

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If like me, British comics, and especially 2000AD, have a special place in your heart then today is a sad day. Today we lost Carlos Ezquerra. Ezquerra was a huge talent who co-created one of the most iconic characters ever, Judge Dredd. Carlos’s work had a huge impact on me as a child, and I would often try to copy his drawings. Therefore, it seems only fitting that my first offering for Inktober should be in honour of him.

I loved Ezquerra’s early vision of Dredd, a lean, mean justice machine. In more recent times Dredd has grown older and beefier, but it’s these early visions of a youthful Joe Dredd that still resonate with me all these years later.

If you look closely, you can see my initial pencil marks – I haven’t bothered to rub them out yet. This was inked with fibre-tipped pens and a sharpie.

Farewell Carlos.

The Tooth And Nothing But

12 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by in Art, Drawing, Sketchtember, workshops, writing

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Here’s some bloke with a toothy smile.

This is pencil on cartridge paper. I wonder what his name is?

I’ve been focusing on people recently because I want some interesting characters to use with my young writers group this Saturday. We’re going to look at advice columns/blogs. I’ll ask them to choose a character and to come up with a problem they need advice on. When they’ve written the problem, I’ll get them to swap with other members of the group and they can then write replies. I think it should be a good exercise for developing characters and stories.

Writing Writing Writing

11 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by in Mantle Lane Press, Short Stories, writing

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Remember that? The writing thing? Well, I’ve some good news with regards to published work and public performances.

First up, Mantle Lane Press have taken my short story, Electricity, to be included in a wonderful anthology that focuses on outsiders. The collection is entitled Songs for the Elephant Man. They’re also going to publish a long short story of mine called, Submerged. More news on this soon.

On the performance front, I’ll be reading a short story as part of a Room 204 sharing session at the Birmingham Literature Festival, and reading at Country Voices at a cosy pub in Ironbridge.

I’ll add full details soon.

Gee, Ren.

10 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by in Art, Drawing, Sketchtember, writing

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Tonight’s speed sketch is once again in pencil on paper. This is a real quickie as I’m short on time. This is a drawing of a 3D bath toy that a friend brought back from the States in the 90’s.

Hopefully, I’ll have more time tomorrow.

Also, tomorrow I’ll post some writing news regarding publications and readings – after all this is a writing blog.

Libraries are awesome.

07 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by in Art, Drawing, Education, fiction, Sketchtember, writing

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I’m re-blogging this essential piece on The Guardian website from Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell because it’s vitally important. Books give us access to vast amounts of knowledge and the essential world of fiction. Read on to find out why that is so important.

To read the rest of this click on the link here.