Guff What I do.

2014 so far has been an interesting and difficult year. Unfortunately, life isn't easy at times and there are massive obstacles in my near future I need to overcome, they've proven to be emotionally draining and quite difficult to confront. I'm doing everything I can to help things a long but there's a real element of uncertainty that makes things a bit tougher than they need to be and it's going to continue to be difficult. Never losing faith though, it's just going to keep being uphill for quite a while longer.

Art-wise, I'm working at a few things at the moment. I wrapped up my 2nd Scoundrels issue early this year and if you missed it you can start reading it here. I had everything on my plate during the update rotation and had nothing short of a hellish time trying to get everything done on time. As a result I'm pretty much going to distance myself from Scoundrels for the rest of the year until I know I'll have time to really contribute again.

Right now though!

Most important current work is a big freelance job that's been a bunch of fun even though it's quite a lot to get through. I'm nearing my half-way mark with the workload and I've learnt a lot so far(including shining light on weaknesses I wasn't aware of before.)I'm grateful for the opportunity and I'm enjoying the challenge- it's not the kind of job you land easily so I'm quite eager to put the extra work in.

My focus on making sure I do a good and steady job on this has meant I've had to set a few other things to the side, including Felicity- which I hope to get updating again in early March. The other project I'm having to delay is Wayward, my story pitch I plan on getting under noses throughout the year. Time is the most important ingredient for a story so it's not a bad thing that I've had to delay production; the story is still taking a final shape and visually, I've barely scratched the surface. I'm keen to get started though, I've spent the last 8 years honing a craft and I feel like Wayward will be my first proper step towards showing what I can do.

The other active-project I have right now is doing odd bits of art for Yogscast And The Mystical Dreamtower, a 2d game that should be coming out on early-access(a BETA release of sorts)very soon. Games have always been my hobby and obsession so I've enjoyed my time working with Studio Flashback immensely, Games are goliath undertakings and it's hard to fully appreciate that until you're actually in the engine room helping piece it together. It's a craft I've always respected and admired but more so now having worked on this game and Rock Star Rising last year.

That leads me to another project beginning this year, all being well. The whole reason I began working with Studio Flashback on Yogscast And The Mystical Dreamtower was because I reached out to the founder about making a game together. That game hasn't begun just yet. But over the past year since asking, it has grown quite fully formed in my mind as a 2D platformer called Rascal N Tink. It's something that I'd love to get to prototype stage by years end but as I said, games are a massive amount of work and we may be needed elsewhere before the year is up.

Lastly! I'm trying to educate and better my understanding of business and reaching out to the many organisations we have set up here in Northern Ireland to help do so. I've got a meeting next week that will give me a chance to really test myself on where I want to go and what I want to do. It's going to require some soul-searching and for me to somehow articulate my passion in words rather than pictures(something I've never been too good at.)

Oh and regarding any previous stuff I'd said I would work on- Magpie springs to mind. Not working on them any more. There was always more support for Magpie than say, Felicity but I swore to myself this year would be about the pitch and that means as soon as my Freelance commitments quiet down a bit- it's full steam on Wayward. I hope this doesn't disappoint anyone(though I'm fairly sure it won't affect any one!)

Thanks!
-Adam.

Small World

Out of all the 'timewasting' websites and social media you can expose yourself to nowadays, there is one I feel is more useful than many give it credit.

Twitter!

It's not just food pictures and self-indulgence, far from it!
As a creative, Twitter is the ultimate source of inspiration, advice and promotion.

Ever since I joined twitter, the working comic professionals on there have been nothing but helpful and supportive. I've been able to talk at length with them about every intimate detail of pitching your own comic to the daily life you can expect if you're successful. Simply by tweeting them to ask. They're open and honest and always willing to share the information you might of thought was a 'secret'. I can't recommend it enough for networking with those who have earned a seat in the halls you're aiming for.

As a teenager I felt like Northern Ireland was a dead end for comics and it wasn't until I joined twitter a few years ago that I realised we actually have so many talented working professionals here and even more down South. Not only are there so many, I also quickly learnt they're not out for blood; they actually want to help each other succeed.

So thanks to Twitter, not just a waste of time!

Cartooning!

Taking what we see and stripping it to its core.

One thing that I hear a lot is that cartoons are easy to draw.
It's a really interesting point of view because they are deceptively simple in appearance but study it for any length of time and you open up a deep well of secrets that wind on and on forever after. It's something I wanted to blog about as I've got some experience with it now. Before that though- wanted to blab a little about how much cartoons and comics mean to me.

In my short lifetime (I'm 25), I've often experienced people who look down their noses at Cartoons. I had a primary school teacher who would make fun of me because I wanted to be a cartoonist. His mocking taunts still stick with me, not as a reminder of failure but as fuel for the fire of success.

Some though, some that one would expect to be more informed, go even further, dismissing cartoons as some sort of juvenile form of art adding the same distaste towards Comics or Animation- two fields of creativity that are already looked down on and never given their full due credit.

Truth is, for me- cartooning is much more difficult than any other form of art I've explored and as extension of that, one of the most impressive. I've studied art at a 'fine art' level because when I left school to pursue art, my only option was to enroll in a class that examined and took all of the 'mediums' of Art on board, except digital mediums or ironically; anything I use now to earn a living.

As such, Instead of learning how to draw storyboards or crafting character designs, we were looking at Fine Art History and its influence on culture as well as questioning the true meaning behind Modern Art, the only class I enjoyed was our weekly life drawing class, because it was freedom to interpret the body as you see it. And interpretation is something I'd later learn is key to being a cartoonist. It was during these two years of study that I met so much of the negativity facing any piece of art requiring imagination.

As a result, I struggled to even pass my classes because I fought tooth and nail for comics to be considered worthy as 'Art', writing dissertations on their worth and impact on culture and examining the process behind them. I know now, it was certainly the wrong place to be vocal about the art of imagination but it is still something that upsets me to this day- the lack of respect for the heroes of the comic world.

It could be born out of a sense of duty to the cartoons and comics that raised me- As a kid, I would  read a comic book and it would inspire my imagination to a world beyond wonder, I saw cartoon shows and wanted with all my heart for them to be a real place I could explore. When I got older, practically every authority figure over me scolded me for drawing things that weren't real, for using imagination- this always made me fight harder for my right to do so.

This was probably because of the incredible base of confidence my parents established in me as a child, they believed in my dreams and supported my efforts- especially if I drew something that didn't exist. I come from a talented family of artists, both on my mothers side (My grandmother was a tremendous poet) and my fathers side (My Grandfather painted beautifully)and so art is something our family has always respected and admired, a respect I perhaps mirrored onto my love for everything comics and cartoons.

I don't really know why I was so stubborn about comics getting respect when I was younger. I got a B- in my Art GCSE exam, the lowest grade any one in my family ever got for Art class because the teacher and I locked horns from the moment we were together. Art at GCSE was basically projects that were centered around a single word and up to the student to produce work inspired by what that word meant to them. She never liked what I turned in because I'd always find some way to twist that word to my favour- to allow me to draw planets or animals or something other than a flowerpot on a table. I know now she was trying to guide me to getting the grade I deserved, by setting me particular tasks or dismissing my own ideas for hers but I never backed down.

Silly goat, I was.

I'm very happy to say I've long since eradicated that stubborn streak but I think it speaks volumes about how I feel about cartoons and comics and informs my own opinion on the matter.

Now that I've my first years under my belt, I think cartooning is so impressive to me because of the sheer challenge. Drawing is a skill, as is every aspect of what we consider 'art.' It all requires discipline and practice, studying everything we might otherwise take forgranted. With a cartoon though, I feel there's that added challenge- you can't just reference the object or person, you have to draw from your minds eye. It's about reconstructing what we all see and recognise then stripping that down to its bare core, it's essence, so you can reimagine it as something new. And it's in that process, that I marvel at the skill of others I admire, their ability to create imagery that awes and inspires because it's not real- but it's informed by reality and brought to life by their unique vision.  So maybe That's why I love comics and cartoons, that's why I fought in education to have them earn some respect- there's a whole world we can't see. With comics and cartoons- suddenly, we can.

-Adam

Freelancing Thoughts.