I always knew this panel would be a bastard, and I still haven't peopled/ shaded it yet. I'm afraid my eyes have given up the ghost for this kind of thing though...for the next few hours, at least. All those lines...blimey :)

Just a handful of pages left, then I'm pretty much set for the convention. The room is booked, weekend tickets are bought. Just the press-pack left to assemble. I'm pretty excited about it, actually :)

I'm much happier now with the way the story starts, and I've managed to sneak in some more back-story for the pages I'll be working on next.

Well, a page before page 1...or the new page 1. I decided that the beginning of the 'Chickenheads' story needed something a bit less abrupt, so I've drawn a page that eases you in, in much the same way those frenetic bursts of action between titles at the beginning of some movies ease you into the first main scene.With the Bristol comics convention about 3 weeks away, I've my work cut out to complete pages 15/ 16/ 17 and 18, colour them, and also get a press-pack ready. I'm also in the process of re-lettering, and have bought 3 new fonts from here to that end. I've lettered the first 7 pages again, and they certainly help give them that professional finishing touch. Comic Sans isn't really the answer :)

Looking forward to Sunday's life drawing sesh...As my ex work colleague Toni says, 'it must be nice swanning around drawing all day' Well, yes, actually it is :)

It's taken 2 hours over the weekend plus most of the morning for this...setting up two very similar frames to show a transition from one scene/ time to another, but with all characters in the same pose in each. A cinematic trick, I guess. Anyway I think it's worked quite well, so I guess it was worth spending time on it :)

Today was a beautiful spring day, so we picnicked in the park for a few hours, playing tennis and exploring the woods with the kids, getting carried away. So I wandered into life drawing class about half way through the sesh. Still, I managed to get a good-ish stab at it. I'm so glad I found this class.

I'm now on page 14 of Chickenheads...lots of perspective to render, and also the introduction of Bruno to the story. Cool, because I really like drawing the character. I managed to sketch the first 2 panels early this morning, so hopefully by the end of this coming week I'll be back on course for my six-pages-per-month target, with a bit of self-discipline of course. :)

With Easter, looking after the nippers, and dental appointments I haven't done as much as I'd like with the Chickenheads strip, although I've managed to pencil page 13. So at least I've made a start :)I don't know whether to pencil all six and then ink them in one hit, or ink as I go as I have been...For some reason today I feel like drawing new stuff rather than embellishing very recent work. Then again, at the end of the pencilling, embellishing 6 familiar pages in a row might just blow my mind :)

Well I've finally taken the plunge. I got my first critique from 2000ad a few weeks ago, and their main areas for concern were my inking (no argument there, and I'm working on it) and my sometimes weak figure work...yet again, fair enough. So I've taken steps to rectify the hokey anatomy, and have found a local life drawing class run by Jimmy Johns.

Jimmy also has alot of comercial art experience, even in comics, and has already given me a few real gems of knowledge to point me in the right direction. Today was my first session, and I can really see this helping with my overall standard of artwork. After all, it's about time I stopped faking anatomy :)

My first effort:Second effort...and the one I was happiest with:

Phase 2, that is :)

Lettering over the remainder of the weekend, then I'll try and get the next six pages done and dusted for the convention. Happy Easter, btw :)

Just one more to colour, then I'll have to letter the last 6 pages. I'm not too convinced with Photoshop lettering to be honest, despite it being better than my hand-crafted efforts. It may just be down to the poxy default fonts it gives you. Maybe I'll have to look into getting some software designed specifically for the job?

A cameo appearance of my script-writer friend Martin Buxton's creation, Crowman:

The comic is making pretty good progress, and I'm nearly at 'phase 3'. I have to think of it in those terms, because I approach it in bite sized chunks...partly to keep a coordinated work flow happening, but mostly so I don't get discouraged by a perceived LACK of progress. But that's a fallacy, because I'm keeping up the 6 pages per month routine that I'd promised myself, even down to colouring/ lettering the buggers now.So with phase 2 winding down (the finishing off of the second batch of 6 pages...colouring and lettering) I've actually scripted pages 13 - 18 already. This is an introduction to the Lion character, Bruno, and the story switches to his point of view for a bit. The sympathetic villain ploy. :) It is also the build up to the first major action sequence in the story (I am seriously looking forward to scripting/ drawing pages 19 - 24) and so I'm hoping to keep the pages churning out at a good pace to reach this point swiftly.

There's a comics convention coming up in May in Bristol. But there's no way I'll have 'Chickenheads' ready for it, and I really wanted to show the whole thing to people, rather than half, backed up with a load of waffle and a few pages of left over script. Tough call really. Do I show it in part, or do I just go to the convention and soak up the comicky vibes? I'll have to think about this VERY carefully :)