Process: Secret 7s

A few months ago, a bunch of my drawing pals were retweeting a shout out for people to draw stuff. It was for the charity/art project Secret 7"s where people design covers for songs by popular musicians and other people buy them for money. There are other things too like screenings and talks and all the money raised is sent to a good charity to do good things.

I wasn't planning on submitting anything for a number of reasons - mainly that anything that relies on being voted in makes me scared. but also because I thought it was just going to be for proper drawing people that use a selection of pencils or can draw hands etc.. But I also *really* wanted to give it a go and it couldn't be that scary, right? And my drawing pals were being encouraging. Thanks pals!

So, after a bit of faffing about and doing some bravery training (looking in the mirror and saying to myself 'you are a brave and sassy dude'), I got to work.

The seven acts that you could design a sleeve for were Elton John, Haim, Public Enemy, Nick Drake, NAS, Laura Marling and Jessie Ware. For me, it was a toss up between Haim and Jessie Ware but I finally opted for the former.

After sketching out a few ideas, I settled on the idea of the Haim gals flying into action. So I drew them out on paper (along with some other stuff I was working on, hence the dog) and inked them with my fancy pen.

My inking, as always, is terrible - the eyes are wonky, the cardigan is a mess... which is ridiculous since my drawings are so basic. Oh. And there was a ghost in my original idea too! SPOILERS: Poor ghost didn't make it through to the final thing.

I was planning on using my original line drawings so I tidied them up. Stray pixels *really* annoy me. I put them into position after this too, along with the ghost.

Having done all that though, I decided to redraw them again using work paths. I think I just really wanted it to look slick... so that's what I did!

I also rejigged their positions and finally decided that the ghost just did not belong there. Look how unwonky those facial features are now! And how smooth their hair is! Hooray!  I'd made the bits and bobs on multiple layers so, before colouring them in (or even flattening them), I deleted all the bits that I didn't need to show up.

I was finally happy with the layout and the lack of ghost. So it was time for my favourite thing - COLOURING IN! Thanks to the computer, staying in the lines is no longer a concern!

I wanted something really bright and cheerful for the background, to contrast with the more muted colours of the Haim gal's outfits. I spent a surprising amount of time deciding what they should be wearing. Who would wear socks and who wouldn't? Would this outfit work on stage? How practical are their shoes?

But I felt like it looked a little flat. I know my style is pretty 2D anyways, but I wanted to give it a bit more of a polish... so after a bit of playing around, I ended up with this...

And there we go! This is the final version I submitted!

I was over the moon when I got the email to say that I was in the actual 700 and it was a super hard secret to keep. I went along to the opening party and bumped into some pals and we had a great time going through all 700 sleeves, trying to work out what act they were for and whether we knew the person behind it.

A lot of my pals went along to look at the sleeves too and didn't seem to have any trouble pointing mine out to me. I was quite pleased because it means I have a 'style' that people can recognise and being selected for the project in the first place has given me a much needed confidence boost. There were loads of amazing sleeves on display and mine was there, right next to them. And it's not everyday you get the chance to say you designed a sleeve for a sassy band like Haim.

And if that wasn't enough good news enough for one blog post, I was sent a tweet by the person that bought it when they all went on sale. HOORAY!

So, in conclusion... if you ever have the chance to submit something but are worried, stop being a baby and give it a go! You might not be as accomplished or as popular as other people, but that's not always the most important thing.

Happy 3rd Birthday... and the PROJECT

Guess what!? It turns out that it was my website's third birthday a few days ago... and I totally forgot. Well, I didn't forget but I guess I was just distracted on other things like getting 'Hello Future' sorted and getting more webcomics done. So yes, happy third birthday to my website. I hope you are enjoying the comic!

To celebrate, I figure that now is a good a time as any to write about the PROJECT.

For a long time, I've been thinking about putting together a big book of People I Know comics. Don't believe me? Look at this comic from last year! The main problem was working out how to put together something that felt like something more than just a bunch of webcomics plopped together. Is there a way to give it a bigger story or a new reason? Well, the answer to that presented itself during Boyfriend Week 2012 - it made sense that a People I Know should begin and end with stories about Toby's relationship.

The next hurdle was finding the time to put a book together - I wasn't under any illusions that it would take a while to collate the comics I wanted to include, think about how to design it and all the extra bits and bobs to out in... Luckily, I was allowed to take some unpaid time off work to get it all done and... well, here's the front cover!

Wheeeeeeeeeeee! And there's a back cover too! How mysterious!

So yeah - the book got done. For future reference, there are lots of things to consider when making a book. If you ever make a book, give yourself plenty of time! I sent the files off to the printers and the sample arrived. Here is a photo of it!

The actual book itself will look a little different in regards to the finish and stuff but that's pretty much it. After three years or webcomics, and what feels like three years of planning and preparation, I finally have a People I Know book to be proud of.

It should be back from the printers by December but I'm hoping that it will be here in time for Thought Bubble in November. Fingers crossed. I'll do another blog post later on about the exciting bonus comic and information that goes with it and the comics it includes and even the SUPER EXCITING MINI COMIC I've made for people that get it early on... Oh who am I kidding, I can't keep the last one totally under my hat. Here is the front cover for it! Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Wow. This was a pretty epic blog post. So yeah - happy third birthday. Thanks for sticking with me and I really hope you're as excited about the book as I am!

Stay out of trouble
TWx

DINO-SAW-US!

This was posted over at the Dino-Saw-Us blog...so I've just copy and pasted it here because I'm too stupid to know how 


DINO-SAW-US is an awesome sticker collector game that will launch at the Web and Mini Comix Thing March 27th 2010!

Artists- to be involved simply order your passport stickers from moo.com (£4.99 for a book of stickers) or get a passport style stamp made of your artwork, then mention you are part of the project so we can link you below. If you mention it on your blog too and spread the word then await millions of people (or maybe just two) who will visit your stall in order to collect their sticker (and hopefully buy loads of your stuff as well!)

Collectors- just come along to the Web and Mini Comix Thing in London (link below for details) where you can get a passport booklet for FREE! You can then take this passport to your favourite stalls who are participating and begin your collection of exclusive stickers! It's like a treasure hunt, but with stickers.

It's fun! And cool. And maybe you'll make some new friends.

Sorry if you read this and the right hand column so you read it twice (ha ha a trick!) Oh and the stickers/stamps you make don't have to be dinosaur related, we have just themed this to go with the Web and Mini Comix anthology theme this year which is DINOSAURS. You can make your stickers to go with your work (or dinosaurs if you want, anything is fine. But nothing rude.)

Dinosaurs are pretty great...

I am really sleepy. I stayed up super late to get all my files in order to send to the printers. I hope everything turns out well and that people actually want to buy it.

Maybe I should set up an online shop or something. Does anyone have any advice on the subject?

Also, here is a picture of a dinosaur. I've drawn quite a few of them for a project which may or may not happen. I hope it does happen though. I also hope that it goes REALLY well... Also, this dinosaur is called Clive and he is a Smoochasaur.

Bed time!