A bunch of Character Designs, and also Post-Apocalyptic fish
Your usual update on The Last Day of Rain, plus a review of Still Life with Apocalypse, by Imogen Mangle.
Howdy, friends, and welcome to your friendly monthly update!
I hope you’re all doing great, and if you’re not, I wish you the best through whichever hurdles you’re currently dealing with.
This month’s newsletter will have more images and less writing. I’ve been burned out from social media and self-promoting for a few weeks, and writing this is the only thing I’m doing in that area. But still, it feels taxing, and I kinda need a break. I’m trying a little too hard. I’m tired of myself. I need to spend more time doing what I like: creating stories.
So let’s go!
We’ll begin with a sneak peek into the characters of The Last Day of Rain, some of which you haven’t seen in the story yet. Then, let’s look at a game I played with my fans on Instagram, from where the plan for a new story emerged. And, of course, the usual comic book review! This one is exciting, full of post-apocalyptic creepy-cuteness, wildfires and jumping fish.
And if you don’t feel like reading, scroll all the way down to see a calendar of the conventions I’m attending this year. It’s beginning to look busy. 😳
Meet the Characters of The Last Day of Rain
As people do, I decided to spend my time somewhere else instead of drawing the next chapters. It wasn’t entirely useless, though. Before proceeding, I needed to solidify the appearances and personalities of a few characters in my mind. If I know everything about them, they’ll be much easier to draw!
So in the last month, I created a line-up and individual images for each character in the story.
Here’s the line-up, from start to finish. I often hear people say they can’t draw, but the truth is that for most artists, every drawing begins with a weird sketch, where you place things on the page to help you visualise the composition.
There is more info about this crowd on the website, so please head there if you’re curious.
AAND, finally, after this, I’m ready to jump in and start pencilling chapter two. I’ve got proof. I have the book layout ready in Clip Studio Paint.
Disappointing, I know. Hopefully, next month this screenshot will look less blank! Until then, well… we’ll see.
If you haven’t purchased the first chapter yet, you can find it on the website:
Building a Story with My Fans
Calling my Instagram crowd “fans” is a bit of a stretch because I doubt anyone is my fan, but I prefer that to the word “follower”. It sounds a bit cultish, eh.
Anyway. Last month, I ran a poll on my Instagram stories after a random sketch that I made on the plane:
I asked people if they wanted to see a comic with these folks. One thing led to the other, and after a few more polls and a lot of fun, my audience helped me decide who the characters would be. Here’s the final result:
The story is already in my plans and will hopefully materialise into a post-apocalyptic comedy soon, either as a comic book or a webcomic (still deciding!).
Stay tuned! Or not. 🥹
Review: Still Life with Apocalypse
This month I’m reviewing a book my husband picked up at Plymouth Comic and Zine Fair. He brought it home, and I couldn’t take my eyes off it, so I sort of nicked it. It’s “Still Life with Apocalypse”, adapted to comic book format by Imogen Mangle. Richard Kadrey wrote the original story.
I haven’t read the short story. Still, from what I gather from online reviews, Imogen has peppered her comic book version with colourful details, a lot of imagination and beautiful visuals. Beautiful and eerie because that’s what the story lends itself to, and she achieved it masterfully.
The narrator leads us through a collapsed society, full of children scavenging and looking for remains of the old world. The main character calls it “the end of the world”. But you can’t help but think, how can the world have ended if they’re still there? I think that’s part of what makes this story so appealing. There’s a certain comedy angle to it, mixed with feelings of despair.
And they don’t know why the world has ended. Or when. They suspect that it was a sequence of events. But what events?
If you enjoy post-apocalyptic comics, oh, this definitely is for you. I know I do. But if you pick it up, don’t forget to follow up on the advice on the back cover:
Imogen also has a few online webcomics that you can look at. I’ll do that myself once I hit send on this post!
Curious fact
Did you know my printed comic books usually come with a Spotify playlist? Usually, you’ll see a QR code on one of the first pages looking something like this:
A few readers have told me they loved the touch, so here’s a link to my Spotify, where you can find all the playlists:
Fairs
This will be a year of fairs and conventions, and it’s setting itself up to be fairly tiresome. I’ll be travelling all around the country to sell some comics and prints! Here are some fairs where you can find me. And also my awesome partner, who somehow hasn’t gotten tired of tagging along yet (perhaps because he recently started building his own loot of comics).
June 10: Brighton Comic Con & Gaming Festival
July 7-9: London Film & Comic Con
September 2-3: Birmingham Film & Comic Con - Collectormania 28
September 23: Somerset Comic Con & Gaming Festival
November 11-12: Harrogate Thought Bubble
If you’re in the area, pop by my stand and say hello!
And if this goes well, I plan to apply to fairs in other countries next year. Do you have a favourite convention or fair in your country that you recommend? Hit “reply” and let me know!
Substack
For those of you who have been receiving my newsletter for a while, I have moved to a new newsletter platform, Substack. If you’re already familiar with it, please feel free to use the chat or notes functionalities to ask questions or make suggestions! Otherwise, nothing changes. :)
If you’re curious, you can also download the Substack app and explore:
Next Up
I’ll see you next month for more updates on The Last Day of Rain, more fairs (hopefully), and who knows what else. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. :D
As usual, if there’s anything in particular that you’d like to hear about, reply to this email and let me know.
See you soon!