Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Say a little prayer




you know me pig fans, i'm not political, but i would like to say something regarding my beloved football club:
AND LEEDS ARE FUCKING SHITE! what a disgrace.

i'm very much looking forward to the Bristol Comic Expo, and i'm probably going out for a drink with Jeffrey Brown on Thursday, or at least i'll be standing around in the same pub as him. best ever.

i'm glad that Ethel Sparrowhawk is over and i can crack on with Jolly Bear and Fun Coconut Summer Special Number 2 and All New Banal Pig 4!

here's something you've not seen before, unless you went to the royal college, my picture, and its particulars.

Take Care

Love you

Bye

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Ethel Cover



hi pals

it's currently ten to eight on monday morning and today is the day that i've got to get ethel sparrowhawk finished. i've got about 4 pages to finish off and its entirely do-able, the only things against me are that my black ink has run out so i've got to go and get another, and its a real miserable bastard outside. how's the weather where you are pig fans?

as you may have guessed, this is the cover, a nice wraparound job. i think it does the trick as i didnt just want a picture of ethel on the front, and the fact that her and her cat are giving each other evils is a nice introduction to the story. those are my horrible kitchen cabinets by the way.

see you on the other side!

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Nearly finished- cheesed off


it's that point now which i have with every comic where the time constraints and desire to get it over with sap the enjoyment out of making them. i just want to get the fucking thing over and done with. dont get me wrong, i'm very excited by it and think it's gonna be very good but it all seems a bit too much like hard work at the moment.

Here's an interesting snippet though. What's this fellow up to, eh?

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Yet more Sparrowhawk


Yes here's another for you friends.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

More Ethel



Waasup!

Another Ethel pic- 7 pages scanned in and almost print ready- thats 25% official!

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

First Look! Ethel Sparrowhawk!


Yoo hoo!

Here's the first pic from Ethel Sparrowhawk which i feel ok about having worked on it all day. It's probably just over half finished now, but i had a good day today and am confident it will be done in the next few weeks. The image itself doesnt really mean much on its own, but there's a lot of flashbacks and stuff which doesnt make much sense out of context. Hopefully i'll have a few more panels up this week.

I wish there was a selection where you could make the o's of "look!" into eyeballs like on carpet warhouse posters.

in other news, Tales from the Flat have put the rather unkind thing i wrote about them (which i wont repeat) up as a quote on their website, as a kind of ironic thing i guess. i'm very much regretting doing that now, as i dont want to create vendettas in the comic world, but hey ho as someone once said, what's done is done. it's like the rivalry is being whipped up by the press like blur vs oasis to get publicity, apart from the fact that it's not, and no-one outside a group of about 4 people really gives a shit.

Saturday, April 21, 2007


Well the say hello thing didnt really work did it? i knew it wouldnt.

According to my scientific analysis the comic Ethel Sparrowhawk is 43% finished. Unfortunately, all the pages that are print ready so far are not really suitable as previews so you, the eager consumer will have to wait a few days. I'm off work now til next tuesday, and it's my birthday on monday so get your presents in the post before 12 today if you havent already. Anyway this holiday is all about binge eating drinking and drawing. Binge!

The pic is Dignity and Impudence that i was on about before, and i'll post some pictures of my new character, Popexe, and his arch-nemesis Fat Martin someday soon.

p.s. i've got broadband now, it's all gravy!

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Hello Bloggery!

There was a thing in the paper (guardian) today about blogging, and the fact that there’s no real point to it, and the majority of people’s blogs dry up after about 3 months. Although there is no particular structure to this‘un, that is, it’s not a diary or review site or webcomic specifically, it does have a function for me. Obviously, it’s a kind of advert for the comics, and once I write something down it kind of commits me to doing it (although looking back at a few things I have changed my mind on minicomics and that).

There was also a thing about a blogger’s code of conduct, where you shouldn’t slander people, or say things you wouldn’t say to someone’s face but that missed the point a bit doesn’t it? Us computer friends don’t say anything to people’s faces, socially inept as we obviously are, and writing down so it gets read by three people is somehow harder than just thinking it or something. Finally, on this somewhat ponderous and rambling post, it says comment posters shouldn’t be anonymous which is fair do’s, so if you’re reading this and I don’t know who you are, say hello! and tell us all where you come from, it’ll be exciting, plus it’ll give me a better idea who’s reading this so I don’t offend you, you set of bastards.

Also, I’m thinking of doing a little project based on the excellent painting “Dignity and Impudence” by Edwin Landseer (google it) where I expand upon the lives of the charming odd couple of dogs depicted, one’s dignified, one’s impudent- with hilarious consequences! Probably!

Don’t forget, say hello!

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Sour Grapes- Epilogue

It seems that the "sour grapes" post has received quite a lot of attention, probably the most commented upon post i've had. Anyway, i want to draw a line under it now; while i stand by the things said, and i know that other people agree with them, perhaps to single out a certain comic was a little unfair. After all, there is a lot of stuff out there that doesnt appeal to me (choosing words carefully) and i suppose in a way its healthy that there is different stuff out there. My frustration comes most of all in that there doesnt seem an easy way to get your products seen and give the punter an informed choice. Who is this punter anyway? it seems most sales i make at cons are to other makers, who knows. anyway, hopefully the catalogue idea will work, and i'm getting a lot of traffic through the website, although i still need to stick the anthology on there and get paypal sorted, which im gonna do when i get broadband, because dear friends i have coped with frustratingly slow dialup for a long time, and i will finally be entering the 20th century next week.

ethel sparrowhawk is rumbling on, and i should have some finished pages to preview soon (i hope so, its got to be finished in three weeks).

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Reviewed at Last!

Have a look at Size Matters: http://shawnhoke.blogspot.com/ for a review of Banal Pig 3. Thanks for the heads up Oli.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Mo' Money Mo' Problems



Today i am taking stock of my comics business as the financial year is all but wrapped up. i've made a considerable loss and am wondering where my profit margins can be increased. buying a laser printer and doing the job myself is one option, not doing the big conventions, and putting up the price of the comic are all options, none of them easy. hopefully i'll get some tax back again, but i've got to start being a bit more canny, which is not the side of the business i'm interested in. any ideas?

today's picture is entitled "wifebeater".

Sunday, April 01, 2007

good gravy!




after the somewhat vitriolic diatribe of the last post, i thought id bring in the love with a few nice drawings. "england cunt" is copied from a picture out of the paper from last summer during the world cup where some scumbag had decorated his house with england flags, and theres the rough (and so far only) version of an uncle ken strip where he has a go on his nephew's minibike, and, as you'd expect from uncle ken, hilarious chaos ensues. ho ho ho! hopefully, some good karmic gravy has been returned to the humble author of this blog.

best wishes,

stevo xxx

Friday, March 30, 2007

Sour Grapes

As you, dear reader, may or may not be aware, i put myself forward for the eagle awards in the category of best british comic black and white or something. anyway, i'm not too bothered that i didnt get shortlisted, as it was more to be there or thereabouts as part of my awareness campaign. however, i am extremely chagrined at the fact that tales from the flat got shortlisted- it was actually the fact that they were in there that made me get involved- i thought if that bag of spanners is on there, my quality publication surely deserves a crack. i dont really understand the small press scene. there's some many pairs of buttocks masquerading as comics out there, which i think even to the untrained eye are self indulgent tripe, tales from the flat very much included, which seem to do well and be popular. horses for courses i suppose, for every arsehole who's a dickhead, theres a shit comic for you, for every conoisseur of excellence, theres a banal pig.
there. i've published my thoughts. let my sour motherfucking grapes dissipate into the etherel world wide web...

p.s. vote for the eagle awards, my recommendation would be vented spleen, anything but tales from the fucking flat please.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

cameras knackered




the attached photos are taken with our camera. as you can see, its chinned. stil it wasnt bad- julie found it on the bus about 4 years ago in south kensington and weve had a lot of use out of it. ever since its been broken i cant go five paces without spotting a so-called kodak moment, like on the way to work where someones painted CLAMPING CLAMPING all over everywhere, along with baby writing saying "You will be clamping", and there were some ducks and stuff. cops with cameras on tonight. gravy!

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Selling,Watchmen,Drawing

A few things i feel inclined to document today. Gareth (Man Man) Van Brookes tells me that Gosh! in London have sold out of Banal Pig 3's and are happy to take some more.This is good news as last time i sold all but one of BP's 1 & 2 which meant they wouldnt take any more. They're also taking some anthologies so if you're a smoke dweller pop down and check it out.

In other news, i read Alan Moore's Watchmen this week, which i found to be excellent. As i have mentioned in previous posts i am naive to the conventional comics world (dc and marvel et al) and before i actually started making comics i had read very little and this being oft-mentioned i thought i should read it. It was a christmas present from my sister which arrived on Monday (yeah, cheers sis). What i like about Moore's writing (and i think the same is true of HG Wells) is that he assumes the reader is intelligent and there is no flab explaining to idiots whats going on. very anti-hollywood, no easy answers, everything isnt black and white. the drawings are great as well.

I'm also cracking on with Ethel Sparrowhawk, and have started inking some bits (although its not all pencilled yet), so hopefully there will be a few glimpses of finished pages soon. i think im alright for time, ive got about 6 weeks, 10 days of which i'm off work for, but i'm doing this victorian horror story, plus Jolly Bear and Fun Coconut Summer Special number 2 is roughed out, and all being well will also be ready for Brizzle, as we moronic west country folk call it. This features another excellent verse by Gareth and is as dark as a piece of ebony in sunglasses drinking a pint of guiness at midnight.

Take care, love you, bye x

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Round Winston Churchill's House/ ROAD JOKES!

Another reject from the anthology- it didnt seem to have that many funny things at the time so i put "What does fishface do?" in instead.


Round Winston Churchill’s House

So I’m here with Winston and his friend Phil in the drawing room (his dog’s in the corner as well). This one of many rooms in this large country retreat- I’m staying here tonight, and I feel very eager to impress.

Winston and Phil are smoking cigars, and he offers me one. When I politely decline he seems terribly offended, and at once his attention turns from me and I am excluded from the conversation. Five minutes pass and I continue to be ignored so I decide to ask for a cigar after all. Winston’s demeanour changes at once. His attention reverts back to me and he watches with delight and expectation as I light the cigar. I disgrace myself as the pungent smoke makes me gip and cough, and I am unable to prevent a considerable string of saliva lowering itself from my mouth onto my tie.

The next morning, Winston and Phil have already breakfasted when I get downstairs, and rather than cause a fuss, I go hungry.




Road Jokes

What does a road say when he wishes to thank you?

TAR!

Whats a Road's favourite Grandmaster Flash song?

WHITE LINES!

What does a baby road do before it can walk?

KERB CRAWLING!

Go on have a go!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Website update as well

Wassap my bruvvas?

i forgot to say that my website has been updated (clicka da linka----->, still cant do links). can someone send me the html for putting links in? ive just made it so it links back here, to my myspace and comicspace and other rubbish and stuff from bp3 is finally on there too. its took ages because my brother facilitates it (its basically his website) and hes bin roaming for a while. by the way (smug stand up comic voice) comicspace- whats that about? for some reason i cant upload any images other than the little profile pic. probly cos ive got a mac, thats usually the problem.

also its reassuring to know that my profile views have gone up a bit- 104 or summet which means 101 people have looked once and tutted, and you my hardcore friends remain or something. due to this popular demand, im gonna start posting a lot more. probably a load of bullshit, but 104 profile viewers cant be wrong.

more also i cheekily put the swear word cunt as one of the labels for an earlier post, and strangely enough it rates quite highly when you google banal pig. (probably not when you google cunt i would think though).

i feel quite positive after the weekends miniature successes.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Whathappenedatthewebandminicomixthingstevo?


well, i'll tell you what happened. it was quite a good day, and as the punters there are our specific target market we did probably as well in one day as we usually do over the weekend at the big cons. the new anthology went down quite well and there were quite a few of the contributors there to pick up their issues. i didnt actually buy anything but there was some decent stuff there- The Sound of Drowning, Dan Locke's Green comics, Monkeys Might Puke, Beaver and Steve spring to mind - there was plenty of shite there too. Plenty of fucking awful shite. Gareth managed to get Man Man 3 out too, and we were also selling good old Oli Easts Trains Are Mint which aslo went down well.
it does make me think that there should be more cons like this, as it would actually mean we started to make money at these fairs (i dont know anyone who does), although the entry fee £4 was probably a bit steep, most of this went towards the anthology/catalogue thing which was like a phone book and had colour printing but was on sale for 50p. i didnt buy this either because although i sent a submission, which i posted here first under the title "New Exclusive Banal Pig Mothercrushers!" they didnt use it for whatever reason. fuck em.

the image is the cover pic from, yes you guessed it, the portrait anthology, and the art lovers amongst you will recognise it as a pastiche of Durer's Self Portrait with Leather Gloves.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Am I still on about that fucking anthology? You bet your ass!

sup g men and home girls?

yes, the anthology is at the printers. its banal pig comics' 9th publication. not bad eh? anyway if you're reading this its more likely than not that you contributed to it and are struggling to keep the drool in your mouth thinking about it, as it so mouthwatering to simply imagine. 40 pages, colour cover (thats right!, glossy too dont you know). we'll see if it actually sells soon enough. hope so, although its not as comicy as some of its rivals on the open market. classy, cerebral you know.
the banal pig is all about value for money, but i dont know exactly what it'll cost until our man at the printers tells me tomorrow.

moving on good old ethel sparrowhawk is also underway, and what about this pig lovers, jolly bear and fun coconut summer special ...number two! wherein fun coconut finds a new film that he likes, and jolly bear goes missing, oh crumbs!

what about that for a teaser? what about this for some rhetoric?

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Quiet


Hello pals! i've been quite quiet recently isnt it? To say i was too busy with the anthology would be a half-truth- i'm not really working that hard on it or anything. lazy. it will be ready for the web and mini comix thing though- i'm currently debating whether to make it A5 or not- with A5 a colour cover is viable, but some of the images might be a bit small. any thoughts would be appreciated.
i'm also working on a few freebies for web &.

glad tidings to you and yours xxx