Contrarty to all previous expectations, & indeed, contrary to anything I have told anyone who has asked, I now WILL be at this year's Thought Bubble.
I won't be on artist's alley (or whatever they are calling it), I'll be in the marquee (not exactly sure what that means, but I guess all will become clear on the day) at a table hosted by my local council (Wakefield Council) to promote a comicbook project they produced recently. Sounds unusual, I know, & I wish I could say something to prove it's all perfectly normal, however, truth is, it IS a very unusual project. Designed to mark the two hundedth anniversary of the death of pioneering biologist & local celebrity eccentric, Charles Waterton, it is a comic in three acts, each drawn by a different artist.
John Welding provides his unique comedic vision to a tale of Waterton's childhood,
Richard Bell depicts the events of Waterton's elderly life (when his eccentricities really came to the fore) & I illustrate the middle tale, which tells of (as you might expect) Waterton's middle years when he spent much of his time in South America searching out previously uncatagorised anilmal species. While both John & Richard tackle the colouring & lettering of their strips themselves, I was ably abetted by
Dylan Teague on colours &
Jim Campbell on lettering. All three stories were written by Wakefield Museum currator John Whitaker.
Here's some of my pre-cleaned up,coloured & lettered artwork, all inked over blueline printouts of my thumbnails, come to table 56 in the Thought Bubble marquee to see how it ended up looking. Also, despite being there to specifically promote the Waterton project, I will be sketching (£35-), should anyone wish. See you there.
