EGO and Beach

Out and about - attended the EGO festival in Durham, Britt, Daniel and Jack, representing the Paper Jam Comics Collective, then went for a walk up the coast. A good day.

How I Do Speech Bubbles in Photoshop

This is a real quick tutorial knocked up as a reminder - obviously I'd normally be paying a lot more attention to exact positioning, font sizes and line thicknesses, spending a sickening amount of time selecting the wrong pen tool.

Font wise, I'm using Digital Strip, free from Blambot here, but in this particular comic, I'll be looking for something more European, maybe in proper case.

Picasso Stories

This has moved to my new Blog:

PaulxThompson at Tales of the Hollow Earth

Artex & Cosmology

Fake Polaroids : Artex & Cosmology

A bit of messing about with depth, light and fake polaroidiness. Rushed and ill so taken this from where I was sitting. The Shakeit app for the iphone emulates the polaroid green/gloom to the degree where every pic I take reminds me of living in a student flat. Granted, the Artex in the hallway doesn't help and needs to go.

I think the fake polaroid is a fad i've just got to work through. Bear with me.

Antiques

Fake Polaroid : Antiques

The Best of All Possible Playgrounds

A Writer's Extreme Creativity Challenge: Write a story a day, in May. That's it: http://storyaday.org/. Obviously it's not May any more - wrote these last week on a tiny laptop on trains and the like... so expect mistakes 

#19 : The Best of All Possible Playgrounds

Through a small gate at the end of an old street in London was an unassuming wrought iron gate, a gate which lead down a leafy overgrown pathway to a magical kingdom. The best playground there had ever been. Swings. Roundabouts. Climbing frames. A wooden castle with a forty foot helter skelter. An intricate giant spiral slide.

And while this may seem underwhelming to you in these days of xbox, iphone and twenty four hour news coverage, the kids put these things aside and flocked there whenever they could.

And if this does seem underwhelming to you, you are drunk or too old and should not enter. For while children will leave their multicoloured screens and have a great time in the morning dew and afternoon sun, the park would always eat alive any adult who should set foot inside.

Sam and Eric stood by the gate. Eric's younger sister, Charleen had just ran inside with her friends Alice and Kylie. Sam and Eric hesitated.

“Do you think... maybe... we're a bit old now?” said Sam

“I'm fourteen in July” said Eric

“Fourteen is definitely too old. Jeremy was fourteen, and went in there with Catherine. She came out and he didn't. Said he'd tried to feel her up, but she wouldn't say what happened after. She won't come near, now” said Sam

“Jeremy deserved it” said Eric

“You're fancy her? Hah!” said Sam “If you want to go find Catherine, we can do that instead, but she hangs out with those lads from East”

“You're only just thirteen” said Eric “You should go in. I'll wait here.”

Sam thought about Charleen. He wanted to go in the park, but he didn't care for rope swings and climbing frames.

“I think... I don't think it's how old you are in years” said Sam “Got nothing to do with Birthdays. I think the park decides who's adult and who isn't”

“You want to go find Catherine?” said Eric.

“Are you not worried about your sister?” said Sam.

“Are you?”

And so they waited.

Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois

seems like someone I should have known better.

As it was, I saw this amazing bloody giant spider in Tokyo.

PS: Gary Bainbridge is more eloquent than I am, here.