The fourth issue of Goof!, the online monthly comic, goes live tomorrow (3rd November) and it'll feature another chapter of Derek the Troll. Here's a sneak preview of the finished art of the roughs I showed you yesterday.
Goof! features all-new humour strips for children from a variety of artists and each new issue goes live on the first Saturday of every month. It's just £12 to subscribe for 12 issues, and you can find out all the details here:
https://www.goofcomic.co.uk
One of these days I'll do a blog post on my production methods from beginning to finished version. For now here's a peek at the pencil roughs for the next Derek the Troll strip. The ruled lines are a guide for lettering, which I'll do before I ink the strip. (I letter directly onto the artwork.)
Update: And now here's the inked version. I'll clean it up a little when I scan it into Photoshop to colour it. At the last minute I decided to have his tongue handing out, after I'd drawn the mouth, so the original bottom lip line needs erasing.
The deadline is Friday and the finished strip will be in Goof! No.4, which goes online on Saturday! I'll show the completed preview in my next post.
https://www.goofcomic.co.uk
This morning I posted another dozen copies of Combat Colin No.3 to people all over the UK who had ordered copies (above). Tomorrow I'll be posting the stack shown below. And a few more every day this week.
Many thanks for your orders so far. Issue 3 is doing as well as previous issues in its launch week and although orders are bound to slow down soon I'm pleased with the response.
Of course, after PayPal's taken it's cut and the taxman takes his, I don't make much out of self publishing, but it breaks even at least... AND people who have been wanting my old strips back in print get their wish, so all's well!
If you're interested in buying copies of issue 3 or previous comics, you can order them directly from me here:
http://lewstringer.com/page7.htm
The third issue of Combat Colin is now in stock and ready for you to order from my online shop! 40 packed pages (4 colour covers, 36 black and white interiors) collecting more classic Combat Colin strips that originally appeared in The Transformers in 1989 and 1990.
This time, the stories become more bizarre than ever with Colin encountering The Brain, The Gunge, becoming trapped in The Place of No Return, and journeying to Mars!
PLUS bonus back-up features!
Not available in shops! Only available exclusively from me! Back issues also available! Order it via PayPal from my online shop:
http://lewstringer.com/page7.htm
My thanks to Kev Brett and his team for a very enjoyable Nottingham Comic Con yesterday. It was my first time as a guest at that show and I really enjoyed it. There was a steady stream of visitors to my table all day so I didn't have time to take many photos. Drew plenty of sketches of a variety of characters from Korky the Cat to Vampirella, and sold a few comics too.
My table neighbours were the writer Michael Robertson and fellow cartoonist Marc Jackson. I hadn't met Michael before so it was good to make his acquaintance. As well as being an author he's also the publisher of Off-Kilter Comics which you can find here:
https://offkiltercomics.bigcartel.com
Marc Jackson is also the editor/publisher of online comic Goof! which you can find here:
https://www.goofcomic.co.uk
It was also good to meet fellow Beano artist Steve Beckett at last, and to catch up with Matt Brooker, The Etherington Brothers, Steve Tanner and his family, - all too briefly unfortunately, and many more.
I was part of a panel on working in mainstream comics, alongside top artists Marc Laming and Chris Wildgoose, interviewed by the cartoonist Brick. An interesting and refreshing interview, focusing more on what the job involves rather than talking about the characters or the industry itself.
All in all, Nottingham Comic Con was a great day, and an ideal show to end my run of conventions for this year (13 in all).
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Combat Colin No.3 made its debut at the convention, and will be on my online store sometime this week.
http://lewstringer.com/page7.htm
It's always a risk to self-publish, but I've produced six comics over the past three years and they've all been steady sellers. (Well, I hope Combat Colin No.3, out tomorrow, will be the same anyway.)
They'll never make me rich, - it's just a sideline to my mainstream comics work, - but they break even and I enjoy putting them together and bringing my old characters back into print. Some people can't understand the pleasure of producing comics for limited financial gain, but that's their loss. I enjoy the creative control and people enjoy reading them, so that's my reward.
All of these comics will be available to buy at Nottingham Comic Con this Saturday, 20th October, at the Nottingham Conference Centre, Level 0. Hope to see you there!
http://www.nottinghamcomiccon.co.uk
Incidentally, in case you were puzzled because I'd previously said Brickman Returns had sold out... I found a few at the bottom of a box today, so I'll be bringing those along to Nottingham. (I'll be doing a third printing next year.)
I'll update my online shop next week so you can buy Combat Colin No.3 from there too!
http://lewstringer.com/page7.htm
To confirm what I hoped in my previous post, I will have a limited number of copies of Combat Colin No.3 on sale exclusively from my table at Nottingham Comic Con this Saturday, 20th October. (It will be available to order online next week when I've received more copies.)
Combat Colin No.3 is another 40 page issue reprinting classic Combat Colin strips that originally appeared in Marvel UK's Transformers comic. This issue covers the period from July 1989 to February 1990 when the strip hit its stride, with Colin (and his assistant Semi-Automatic Steve) encountering monsters, aliens, and new bad guys.
The comic also has a few back-up bonus features, including a look back at the comics that inspired me to create Combat Colin!
Come along to Nottingham Comic Con on Saturday to buy a copy!
http://www.nottinghamcomiccon.co.uk
