Wizard Week 2011: Day Five

It’s Friday! The last day of Wizard Week 2011! I really hope you’ve enjoyed it. Maybe you’ve seen a new artist you like the look of. Or maybe you really like wizards. Whatever you thought – I’d like to know so feel free to leave a comment here or something.

But whatever – you didn’t come here to listen to me make noises. So without further ado, here are the wizards!

Emails are pretty cool and letters are like paper emails, so they must be cool too. And if one person knows about cool, it’s Wendy! Wendy wrote this four (4!!!) page letter to…well…I won’t ruin it. Just read it. There’s even a CSI reference in there! Thanks for writing this Wendy! It’s brilliant. You’re brilliant! YEAH!

This big-eyed beauty of a wizard was sent in by my BFFurrito, Jon. We totally ate burritos – hence the nickname which I’m hoping that if I say enough, will eventually stick. Anyways – John’s wizard is surprisingly cute. What’s the secret, Jon? Also, thanks for finding the time to do this. I owe you.

If I learnt one thing from Sex and the City it’s that everyone loves shopping. And you know what, wizards love shopping too because wizards are people. And yes – I know that the SATC gals never went to the supermarket but Lisa, who sent this drawing in, knows all about the secret shopping habits of wizards. Yeah – it happens to be a bit risqué, but that’s life! Thanks Lisa!

He-Man must be pretty jealous of his wizarding sidekick, Orko. I mean, why wouldn’t you be jealous of some sassy and mysterious floaty wizard…thing? I mean, all you’ve got is some magic sword and a silly hair cut. But Orko has EVERYTHING! And an amazing hat. Oh. I forgot to say, that this was sent in by lovely Craig – a nice gentleman I met at a Birmingham show. Thanks Craig!

Oh Harry Potter. You’re so cool and popular and everyone loves you. But what about Voldemort – doomed to be hated and noseless. I think if I wrote the Harry Potter series, I’d probably focus more on the fact that Voldemort needs a new BFF but he’s not sure what to do. Oh, and Bellatrix would be the jealous one and Wormtail would be the sassy one. Or would it be the other way round? Maybe I should ask Andy? After all, he drew this picture. Thanks Andy!

 

 

This wizard was sent in by Anne – one of the driving forces behind We Are Words + Pictures. Anne’s wizard has a pretty epic beard, look at all the curls! And I especially like the fact that this wizard wants an extra star for his hat. Because, as we all know, the more stars a wizard has the more magical they are! Thanks Anne!

One of the sad things about not drawing hands or feet is that I don’t get to draw fancy shoes. But lucky for you, Anya loves drawing shoes (and beards!). And what shoes they are. Amazing, wizarding wizard shoes. Look at them go. And oh – the sparkles! Excellent work Anya! Thank you!

Say hello to Tchzipx, as drawn by Balnek. I bumped into Balnek recently which was nice. I feel a bit like a mean person for saying this but I’m glad I didn’t bump into Tchzipx too – that’s some spooky looking wizard. I like the cape and the lightning powers – two very wizarding things. But then there’s the whole green alien on a unicycle. But maybe I’m just narrow-minded. I believe in Balnek and if he reckons this is a wizard then I believe him…and you should too!

This gorilla wizard was sent in by Damien – a man I met years ago. Actual years. We got on really well – I mean, how couldn’t you get on with a guy who can draw a gorilla wizard. I was a bit worried about the rabbit to begin with but now I realise it’s just having a nap before they both go to the cinema. Thanks Damien!

Once upon a time, I was worried that a man named James was going to fight me because we both drew dinosaurs. But that didn’t happen. Phew – because I’m terrible at fighting… and most things in general. And look! James was kind enough to send in this great comic strip about wizard romance. Steamy stuff! Thanks James – I’m glad we didn’t fight.

I think was the last wizard I received for Wizard Week 2011. At least, it is at the time of writing. Joel and I go way back and I’m always pleased to see one of his drawings. He’s decided to draw Mr H. Potter…playing the air guitar wand. It looks like the sort of thing I can imagine someone playing on the Wii. Excellent work as always Joel – keep it up and maybe I’ll take you on an adventure!

This wizard stud was sent in by John – a man who possesses a pretty wizardy beard himself. John raises the excellent, but little known point of wizard groupies. You know the saying “with great power comes great responsibility?” Well, the wizard version is “with great power comes attractive ladies.” So if you ever wondered why so many people train to become a wizard…now you know! Thanks John!

This wizard was drawn on a Post-It note by Neil. I work with Neil and he is very nice. He has clearly gone down the much-loved old-school wizard design. And why wouldn’t he? It’s a design classic. Great work Neil! Thank you!

One of the confusing things about being a wizard is remembering what goes where. I mean, you’ve got to think about spell ingredients, instructions, rules and all that jazz. All that worrying and all that pressure. So much to worry about. I’d be a terrible wizard since I’m a terrible worrier. This wizard was sent in by Stu – a man who can clearly cross-hatch with the best of them. Thanks Stu!

Mary sent in this super cute mouse wizard. I like it’s little whiskers! Do you reckon that mouse-wizards can use their whiskers (or tails?) to cast spells? We need to do some research. Thanks for sending this in Mary! I can’t wait to see your costume for MCM!!!

Look! It’s one of the Wizarding Wednesday gang! AND HE’S GOT HANDS!!!!! Arrrrrrgh!!!! This wizard was sent in by Jack who was keen to point out he had use a mouse rather than a tablet. Whatever you used, you did a great job Jack! I have hand envy already. Thanks !

David is one of the nicest guys I’ve met and check it out – he’s drawn Roy Wood from Wizzard for Wizard Week. I wasn’t a huge fan of Wizzard but I did quite enjoy the Corss back the day. But you don’t need to know that. Here’s a brilliant wizard by a brilliant guy. Enjoy it! Oh – and I hear that David might be working on a new and exciting project... Keep your eyes peeled!

Andy sent me this photo on Twitter for Wizard Week! It’s of a wizard called Wirlin – which I like as a name since it rhymes with Merlin. But yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think the name just suits him. Anyone that can make a "FOOMPH!" sound effect must be a) a wizard and b) one with a funny name. Andy – thanks for taking part in Wizard Week 2011.

Getting dressed when you’re a wizard must be pretty easy, right? Robe? Check. Beard? Check. Hat? Check. BUT WAIT! If you’re a wizard, you pretty much have to always look your best. And if you’re a great wizard then standing out from the crowd is very important. Do you want stars on your hat? What colour robes should you wear? What about shoes – pointy or not? Maybe even a Cuban heel? It’s this perpetual dilemma that Lizz has depicted. It was designed to be an interactive dress-up game so keep your eyes peeled for that soon!

So…I’ve been saving this for the last day so we can go out with a bang. Yes! That’s right! Katherine made this REAL LIFE CUDDLY WIZARD! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! I’m sorry that I don’t have a proper camera to document the utter amazingness of the cuddly wizard so I’ll be bringing him along to MCM Expo this weekend for everyone to have a peep at. Thank you so much Katherine! Thanks!!! Thank you!!

So that’s it! I hope you enjoyed the whole week – both my comics and the submissions sent in by people. I’ve learnt a lot from the week too – like don’t do it in a place with a crappy Internet connection. And maybe take some time off work because all the typing gets a bit confusing. And that EVERYONE LIKES WIZARDS! So yeah, thanks for sticking around!

And speaking of thanks…

 

Wizard Week 2011: Day Four

Hello! It’s Thursday – that awful day that’s not quite Friday… Except it is sort of Friday for me since I’ve booked  tomorrow off work! I’ll be at MCM Expo instead but that’s sort of like not being at work? Or something. Whatever – here are the next batch of wizards for Wizard Week 2011!

We all know I can’t draw hands. So I should probably hate people that can. Except I don’t. If you want to know how I avoid such negative emotions, just check out this drawing by Joe. It’s just too cool to hate. It helps that wizards are cool in general but Joe’s wizard gets bonus cool points for having a cool hat and fancy shoes. And Joe gets extra bonus cool points just because. Thanks Joe!

Hahahahaha. This submission made me wet myself a little. Look! It’s Toby the dinosaur, except he’s been working out! Because he’s effing terrifying. This was sent in by Andy and I’ve got to admit that I’m a little jealous. If I could draw like that, Toby would always look that cool. Thanks Andy! I owe you one!

Cake + Wizard = double thumbs up from me. This wizard was sent in by Graham. Graham was actually kind enough to do a nice drawing of Toby and the wizards a while ago which I’ve been saving for this week! Here it is! I hope he doesn’t mind me uploading it here.

Thanks Graham!

Recently, I was quite glued to the ITV2 show The Only Way Is Essex. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. I could never do it justice with mere words. This drawing by Darren sees a combination of two of my favourite things – The Only Way Is Essex and wizards. The guy he’s drawn is Joey Essex. I’d explain more – but you should really just watch it. Thanks Darren! Reem!

 

Say it with me now – it’s Daaaaaaaaan! If you ever want to know something about comics – ask Dan. He’s a super nice guy who knows all sorts of things. Except, until today I didn’t know that he knew about wizards as well! Because Dan’s right – some wizards HATE magic! No one really talks about these wizards because they mostly suck – but the mere fact that Dan’s knows about them shows how smart he is. Thanks for teaching us something new, Dan!

 

Wheeeee! A super cute comic strip about gnome-wizards? YES PLEASE! This was sent in by Rob who I met at Thought Bubble 2010. Rob raises an excellent point – if wizards have robes, beards and hats, then gnomes – which has beards and hats (but no robes or wands) must get pretty confused. I’d get confused if I was a gnome. Not that it matters since I’m neither gnome nor wizard. Regardless – thanks Rob!

I think there was a period when I worried that the Wizarding Wednesday guys didn’t do enough magic. So they all got a specific thing they were good at whether it was changing size or shape or this weird thing they do with arrows. And it’s this slightly bizarre arrow magic that Alex has drawn! HOORAY! I still don’t really understand what it does besides pointing at/through stuff but it looks cool and Alex has done a brilliant job. Thanks Alex!

This whiteboard wizard was sent in by the mysterious Dan via the medium of Twitter. Dan’s wizard has the three key items – a robe, a beard and a wand…but this wizard has a bonus feature! Whiteboard pens! In constant supply in every office, this wizard is super smart for keeping some handy. That way, everyone in every office will need him at some point… Thanks for the wizard Dan!

 

This wizard was sent in by Justin – and you know what, he’s got a point! Wizards would be great to have about the house – doing the cleaning, being positive role models to children. I think that having a wizard in the house would improve pretty much EVERYTHING. Justin – you are a very smart man. Thank you for both the wizard and for opening my eyes!

Is one man deserves a theme tune…it’s me. But after me, it’s Matt – the drawer of this comic. He’s done a great job of  drawing a great submission that involves zero wizards. A great skill and just what I’d expect of Matt. Thank you very much Matt! I’ll pay you back with a very special performance of Life by Des’ree.

If you’ve been reading these blurbs at all (which I hope you have since they take me about three hours to type) – then you’ll know that I reckon a good wizard has a brilliant beard. And I’m not alone in this theory – as Matteo, the brains behind this drawing has given his wizard a proper beard. Not only that, but the first time I met Matteo, he had a decent beard himself. Maybe he’s a wizard?! I don’t know. Either way, thanks Matteo!

 

Sad story: I am terribly unphotogenic. It’s like, point a camera in my direction and watch me turn into a big pile of gross. Which is why, if I see a camera within two metres, I hide. Don’t believe me? Ask Peter – the gentleman who drew this wizarding world. He was at a comic event with a camera…which obviously meant I had to keep hiding. It made holding a conversation pretty interesting. But still, he drew a wizard. Thanks Peter! Now please put the camera down before I vomit.

 

I have some really nice pals in real life. One of them is called Tom and he was kind enough to send me this wizard-themed haiku. Tom was also kind enough to make me pancakes on pancake day! See? Nice pals doing nice things. Thanks for sending this in Tom. You’re the nicest!

 Different people think of different things when asked to draw a wizard. Never has this been more apparent than with this drawing by Gillian. As you can see, Gillian was reminded of some weird milky-drink that was given out in class at lunchtime. I think we just had regular milk at my school (I might have just imagined that) but the idea of having wizard-branded faux-milk is pretty terrifying. If you’ve recovered Gillian, I would like to say thank you for taking part! Thank you!

Upon receiving this wizard from Warwick in my inbox, I suggested that I could maybe rename Warwick as Aceguy. Or Mr Ace. Something along those lines. He said that Warwick is fine but if I wanted to tell people that he’s ace then that’s OK. But I don’t need to tell you that Warwick’s ace because you can clearly see from the above drawing that this is indeed the case. Thanks Warwick! You’re ace!

So that’s Day Four of Wizard Week 2011 done. I hope you’re enjoying it. And obviously you should check out everyone’s web pages if you like the look of their work!

Wizard Week 2011: Day Three

It’s Wednesday and it’s Wizard Week 2011 – so today must be a pretty magical day. How exciting! And I really hope you’ve been enjoying Wizard Week so far. I know I am! Although it’s a lot more work than I remember it being!

Anyways – without further ado…

You know how highly I think of beards…mainly because I’m unable to grow one myself. And this drawing is all about the beard. That’s because it was drawn by Rembrand – a prince of beards! Maybe organising Wizard Week 2011 has come from my beard-obsession? Hmmm… Maybe I should seek help? Whatever – thanks Rembrand! I’ll buy you a cake whenever you’re in town next.

Uh oh – it’s another Discworld wizard…and I still haven’t read any of the books. This drawing of Rincewind was sent in by Rob – who I happened to bump into at the weekend. I should have asked to borrow a book or something. But yeah – I’m already a little scared of the Discworld books as there appears to be a magical chest with trotters. Is that a thing? I am so confused. But I’m not confused about saying thanks to Rob. Thanks Rob!

It may or may not surprise you to learn that I really enjoy a good fighting game. I hate fighting in real life but let me do a Spinning Bird Kick or a Hundred Hand Slap and I am all sorts of excited. That’s why I’m extra pleased to see Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat in Wizard Week! This drawing was sent in by Martin. Thanks for bringing back all sorts of memories. Now… FINISH HIM!

Do you like squids? Do you like wizards? If the answer is yes to one of these questions, then great. If the answer is yes to BOTH of these questions then this drawing is the one for you. Sent in by James, the Squid Wizard is probably a very talented wizard. Thanks for sending him along, James!

What’s better than a wizard with one beard? How about a wizard with TWO BEARDS! Yes – that’s right, meet Two Beard, as drawn by the talented Kyle. I don’t know Kyle so I can’t tell you an amusing story or anything – but I can tell you that I very much enjoy this wizard. Thanks Kyle!

You know what’s sassy? A wizard? You know what’s three times as sassy? THREE WIZARDS SINGING ON STAGE! And I’m clearly not the only one that things so as this drawing was sent in by Howard. I’ve never been to a festival (because I don’t think I could deal without a real toilet) but if there were wizards on stage, I would totally go. Why aren’t there more wizards in bands? Thanks Howard!

What is a wizard without his hat? Let me tell you – a wizard without a hat is like a…uh… Ghibli movie without a bunch of cute stuff. But talking of cute stuff and wizard hats, this comic strip was sent in by the owl-obsessed Amy. I don’t think you can be too small for wizarding – but I should probably investigate. More importantly – thanks Amy!!!

Watch out guys! It’s about to get metatextual as someone draws me appearing alongside my own wizards.  What’s going on!? This comic was sent in by John who I met at Thought Bubble 2010. He also got two of his pals to send in wizards too. So double thanks for that John. I totally owe you come cake. Or a song and dance routine. You can choose. Oh – and just to set the record straight, I don’t think I’m super cool or awesome…but I am quite nice. At least, I hope I’m nice? Either way, thanks John!

What’s blue, bearded and lives in your trousers? It’s obviously a wizarding version of Mike Dolphino! Those of you who aren’t familiar with Mike Dolphino really need to get up to speed. Mike is a very big deal…and he’s probably in your trousers right now! I’m really excited that he’s taken part in Wizard Week. Thank you very much Mike. I can’t wait to see you again!

 

Once upon a time, I went to work and asked a pal to draw a wizard. He passed the wizard-drawing onto someone else and that someone was Stephen… which is funny since I don’t really know Stephen so I’m not sure what to write here. He seems very nice? And I talked to him about comics? I guess it doesn’t really matter what I know/don’t know about Stephen – the important thing is that he drew a wizard. Thanks Stephen!

CURVEBALL! This drawing of the moody Juno (from the movie “Juno”) was sent in by Tom – officially one of the nicest guys I think I’ve ever met. Tom, as well as being a super nice, is also a freelance drawing guy so I’m double pleased he could find time in his schedule to take part in Wizard Week. Thanks Tom!

So…today’s comic on the website mentioned Scientists. As a bonus prize, I drew them for you! They are called the Sunday Science League - which is why you haven't seen them before because I don't make a comic on Sundays. The lady in the middle is their leader and I think she’s quite bossy…but only when she has an audience. Also, her hair changes colour a lot because of science. And the floaty thing is a robot head with a brain in it. You might see them all soon. WHO KNOWS!