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Monday, September 01 2008

The Chronicles of Narnia Fumetto

Friends,
First, news of more travel - the part of my business which is often the most enjoyable though rarely the most productive.
Narnia Fumetto is a comics event in the town of Narni in Italy, which has kindly invited me to attend on the 6th and 7th September, so if you're anywhere near there come and say hi. Same goes if you're anywhere near my next ports of call on this further tour of a very pleasant country, starting with, Fumettopoli in Regio Calabria on the 9th ; then in Bari, at Neverland on the 11th, and at Mondi Sommersi on the 12th ; and, finally, on the 13th at Antani Comics in Terni.

Secondly, as I mentioned in the July 19 posting , I wanted to show you more about how I work and why - and here's something that's all about that.
The Sherlock Holmes cover illustration that decorated that posting was from a client's simple brief, which called for the depiction of a body in a train carriage discovered by a guard.
Unlike other illustrators of my acquaintance, who often find the right idea popping into their heads from the moment they hear a brief from a client, then produce a rough, or maybe a few roughs to present to them quickly, I invariably find myself embarking on an epic voyage of discovery to try to find the perfect angle, shot, composition, design, lighting effect, and point of view amongst a pile of roughs I find it hard to stop drawing. I rarely find the one I think will be perfect for the client, because the client's viewpoint is his own, and I can't always guess what that will be. I might find one that I prefer above all others, but even that is rare. This particular cover didn't take me too far down that road, because it was so specific in it's location - there was very little room to swing an artistic cat. It was complicated further by my general preference to keep within the parameters of the possible in choosing a ' shot '. I'll bend the rules of perspective, but I won't break them ; I'll take a pov from any direction, but I won't take it beyond the setting.
However, in the case of this particular Sherlock Holmes cover, those limitations I'd imposed on myself were not giving me or the client what was required. They knew what they wanted, and it was something I hadn't been able to find for them. Their only option was to supply me with a sketch ( bottom right below ) to indicate the kind of thing they were looking for, which is what I ended up adapting to the purpose. Initially, I was frustrated with having to follow this because it took me out of my barriers. But it worked, and worked well.
It's comfortable for any illustrator or commercial artist of any kind to think of themselves as someone who can always be relied upon to come up with the goods - it bolsters a sense of security and professional worth - but the reality is that few of us are infallible, and we just have to accept that fact.
Later : even more insights into the agonies of the tortured soul...

Posted by David Lloyd at 06:19 PM | Permalink

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Wednesday, August 13 2008

Art And Wit

Friends,
Not only does the above term describe my own work ( he said, wittily ), it's also the title of a new course on the history and importance of cartoon art, which is due to start in September at Birkbeck College, London. More details on this are available from my posting at www.cartooncounty.com.
Other news : Once more I'm going to be depicting the activities of my old pal, John Constantine, in the company of another pal - the great Jamie Delano - for an 8-page story in a Hellblazer holiday special due for release at the end of the year. Holiday Special - doesn't seem like the right kind of context for John Constantine, does it..? Always brings images of beachballs to my mind. And buckets and spades. Hmm... maybe we can take him to the seaside this time. No... I'm sure that's been done..
More from me, shortly.

Posted by David Lloyd at 12:09 PM | Permalink

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Saturday, July 19 2008

San Diego Time

Friends,
For any of you lucky enough or unlucky enough - depending on the amount of work you may have to do there - to be in San Diego this year for the biggest Comic Convention in the world, here are my signing times for the days I'll be there from Thursday 24 to Sunday 27, so if you're one of the folks I'm fortunate to know by whatever means, please take note of them. If you miss me anywhere else you'll be sure to find me at those.
Thursday at DC - 3-4pm. Friday at DC - 12.30-1.30pm and then at Dark Horse - 6-7pm. Saturday at DC - 12-1pm.
I'm always being asked what I'm working on by people interested in seeing more of my work, and in recent times I haven't had much news to give them of anything fresh coming up soon. It'll still be a while before there is. This is not because I'm idle, but because the work I'm doing is not always easily accessible or advertised through the mainstream sources that so many readers are used to - and I'm also taking some time out to help with a new website that aims to centralise all information on the study of cartoon and comic art in the UK - Cartoon Classroom. This endeavour has been in the making for some time now and needs a push to get it to launch, so I look on that as a kind of priority at the moment. I will keep you in touch with what's happening, and I'll also be spending more time updating this News Plus dept of the site with material on my work and the way I work. Any specific requests any of you may have re this, can be emailed to the contact address on the site's home page.
Meanwhile, if you're one of those folks who may unsurprisingly still not have heard of my graphic novel, Kickback, please get it from Amazon if your local store hasn't got it, and, if you like it, tell all your friends about it.
Lastly, for those of you in GB, the BBC's Comics Brittania TV series is getting a nice-time re-run on BBC2 on Saturdays. Lots of interesting chat from great people like Kevin O'Neill and me. Don't miss it this time if you have before.
Signing off with one of the things you may not have seen of mine if you're not a fan of Sherlock Holmes who's clued in to the very clever and well-written radio dramas for the BBC that Bert Coules creates. I've been commissioned over a few years to do the cd covers for these dramas when they're issued, and have just completed another one. The one here is from '07.
Hope you're all having a great Summer!

Posted by David Lloyd at 11:12 AM | Permalink

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Tuesday, July 01 2008

Strip Extravaganza

Friends,
Cluing you in to a fantastic feast of movies currently available to see on the big screen this summer courtesy of the British Film Institute in London. A season of feature film adaptations from comic strips old and new stretching from Joseph Losey's Modesty Blaise to the latest Batman - The Dark Knight, and including James McTeigue's V For Vendetta, Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy, and Mario Bava's Danger:Diabolik. A must for a visit.
Full details of all showings, lectures, etc at www.bfi.org.uk/comics.

Posted by David Lloyd at 10:30 AM | Permalink

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Tuesday, June 17 2008

Okay, Buddy - Talk!

Friends,
I'm giving a talk at Highgate Library in London on the 25th of this month. As you'll see by the info below, you'll need to pipe up before appearing if you want to benefit from my words of wisdom. Space, I hear, is limited. I'll be signing afterwards, too.
See you.

Posted by David Lloyd at 10:54 AM | Permalink

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Thursday, June 05 2008

Back To The Boot

Friends,
Many apologies for this late alert owing to server problems with my site.
I'm heading East to that kicking country Italy again this weekend. Then
jumping West to it's neighbour Sardinia for a signing in the South, then a
signing in the North. Here's the detail for all those who can make it along to
say hi :

Thursday 05 June 08
21.30 at a book festival in Piazza Luni, Sarzana, Liguria : ' I Libri per
Strada, le Strade per il Libro '.
Friday 06 June 08
18:30 signature session at "Loriga Fumetti",Cagliari, Sardinia.
Saturday 07 June 0818:30 signature session at " Libreria Azuni", Sassari, Sardinia.

Just in case you think my existence is just one dazzling blur of
globe-trotting, I should let you know I've actually done
some work at the drawing board over the last month. Tell you about it next posting.
Hope you're all having a great Spring/Summer!

Posted by David Lloyd at 02:18 PM | Permalink

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Monday, May 05 2008

Bye-Bye, Blanc de Blanc, Hello, Bristol

Friends,
Well, I regret I can't tell you much about the festival in Hautvillers, simply because I'm short of time - the thing that always hampers my communications with you here, I'm sorry to say - but it was home to an astonishing exhibition of Francois Bucq, which made me appreciate what an absolutely extraordinary cartoonist he is, and wish that his work was seen by more people in it's original art form, where it glows. If you're unfamiliar with his work, please get to see some when you can. Magicians Wife, Pioneers of Human Adventure, are two. Met a lot of great fellow artists and festival folk and drank some fine Champagne - one time at an early morning sampling overlooking the very vineyards that produced it... Ahh...
Nice place for a holiday weekend, you guys. The Eurostar to Paris Nord, from Paris Est to Epernay. That's the whole journey. Then a taste of the French countryside and some of it's finest creations...
Next stop for me is the very British Bristol ComicExpo from 9th-11th. Please come and say hi, if you're around. I'm at a table next to Incognito comics most of the time I'm there, but at Frontier Entertainment's table from 2-3 on Sat, and at the Titan table from 2-3 on Sunday.

Posted by David Lloyd at 05:18 PM | Permalink

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Friday, April 25 2008

French Toast

Friends,
Next stop in my travels is Hautvillers in France for their second comics festival, BD-Bulles. I'll be there this weekend from Friday to Sunday - as will the amazing and extraordinary Vendetta touring exhibition detailed in a previous entry on this site - so if you're in the area, please come along. This festival is held in the Champagne region, so there couldn't really be a much better place to pop along to for a sketch from some great artists from the Continent and one from little old England.
Among other guests at this ideal meeting point for aficionados of the medium are Bruno BELLAMY - DAV - Elvire DE COCK - Juliette DERENNE - Bruno DI SANO - Jean-Louis DRESS - ESTEBAN - Thib GORDON - Antonio LAPONE - Olivier MARIN - Pascal MILLET - Pascal REGNAULD - Jean-Marc STALNER - Edmond TOURRIOL- Luc TURLAN - Virginie VERTONGHEN - Marc WASTERLAIN - WYLLOW.

Posted by David Lloyd at 09:26 AM | Permalink

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Wednesday, April 02 2008

Greece Is The Word... Then Oranges, Then Apples

Friends,
This weekend I'll be in Athens at Comicdom Con Athens from 4th-6th, April.
It's the first time I've been in Athens for 18 years, when I visited on a day trip from Pireas, where I was staying at the time on a two-week attempt to cure incipient workaholism. I'd just headed there for the sun, really, and Greece - and Crete before it - had it in spades. I really hope it'll be shining there again. From 4.30-6.30 on Sunday I'll be in an interview/QnA/signing session with Mark Buckingham, and no doubt be around at other places during the event. If you're around, come and say hi, and pick up a copy of the Greek edition of Kickback, which will be launched at this event.
Then the week after next, I'll be at the one-day con at Tampa, Florida, on Sunday, April 13th, at the Doubletree Hotel, 4500, West Cypress St for the whole day, which might be closer to home for many of you!
After that, I'm right on to the New York Comic Con from Friday, 18th -20th, April. Signing times are 4-5 on Friday, and 3-4 on Saturday at the DC booth, and 11am for early birds on Sunday at the Dark Horse stand.
Look forward to seeing any of you who can make it out to see me :)
As a supplement to my last entry, I'm signing off with a nod of the head to another of my great influences - the great comics artist/illustrator Ronald Embleton, whose work in a story called Wrath Of The Gods made more impact on me than anything else. Here's a bit of it.

Posted by David Lloyd at 02:16 PM | Permalink

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Friday, March 28 2008

Security Check

Arthur C Clarke died recently, and though I wasn't a dedicated fan of all his work, I amired the short stories of a collection called The Other Side Of The Sky, which was one of dozens of paperbacks I was buying in the Sixties that fed my hunger for sf and fantasy. This strip is an adaptation of one his stories Security Check. It's the first real strip story I ever did. There was no stopping me from then on. I was addicted. As you can tell, at the time I was massively influenced by Steve Ditko. Of course, I still am. But then I was literally fascinated by his work and wanted to somehow emulate what he did. The way he drew creases and folds in clothes was astounding and beautiful to me - art in itself - and I tried to copy it, not knowing what the hell I was doing, of course. My drawings were a hymn of praise to him.
The original story is a clever one and almost about Arthur C Clarke himself, because he is famously supposed to have come up with the idea of the Early Bird communication satellites before the space scientists did. Like the sinister agents in this story, some US intelligence people may well have thought Clarke's pre-empting was the result of a security leak...

Posted by David Lloyd at 06:56 PM | Permalink

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