Friday 29 November 2013

Four Drawings

Drawing of a bison done for Lizz Lunney.

Bison


From my upcoming book on the 2008 financial crisis, a portrait of Alan Greenspan.

crash 69


Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings.

Hercule Poirot


Two supporting characters from Agatha Christie's Poirot stories, Miss Lemon and Inspector Japp.
Miss Lemon and Inspector Japp

Thursday 17 October 2013

Uncle Bob Adventures


Out in November from Blank Slate will be the first volume of Uncle Bob Adventures.Volume two will follow some six months later in the Spring of 2014. These all ages books feature the 150 year old Uncle Bob, relating tales from his long life. Features: dinosaurs, Martians, cowboys, jungles, a giant gorilla, and the Frankenstein Monster. What more do you want?


bob vol 1 cover

bob cover vol 2


Wednesday 25 September 2013

Cover



Hey all! I'll be appearing at the the London Film and Comic Con on the weekend of Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th October. Find me at the Myriad Editions table.

Beyond that I'll be talking about mental health, creativity, and my book Psychiatric Tales. 4pm, Thursday (10th October) at The Revive CafĂ© at The POD, Coventry, Lamb Street, CV1 4AE. Copies of the book will also be on sale at reduced price.

18-20 October, I'll be appearing at The Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal, Cumbria.

Here's a possible cover for the book I have out from Myriad Editions next year.

 




Supercrash

Monday 26 August 2013

Brooksley Born


A few more pages from my book on the financial crisis. Still needs a little fixing. I hope you'll let me off for the moment.



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crash 31

Monday 22 July 2013

Derivatives

A few pages from my book on the 2008 financial crash. All about derivatives.


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Wednesday 10 July 2013

Crash



Here are the first four pages of my comic book exploration of the financial crisis. 

It's often said that there is a huge gulf between the general public and their understanding of science. I'm not sure that this gulf is as large as some claim it is, as science shows on TV are hugely popular. What is true is that there exists a Grand Canyon-sized gulf between ordinary people and their understanding of finance. It's a gulf that needs to be crossed if we've any hope of understanding the complexities of the modern world. 

This is my modest attempt to do something about the problem.



Crash 1


Crash 2

Crash 3

Crash 4

Thursday 4 July 2013

Supercrash


I had to write a piece for an arts grant application on what my current book is about. Here's what I wrote...

I'll be writing and drawing a full-colour book, dynamically illustrated in the comic strip format, that explains the causes and consequences of the 2008 economic crash. 

It will look at how the market in derivatives, and especially credit swop derivatives, caused the crash in the financial markets. It will explain, clearly, and in some depth, what these derivatives are, how and why they were developed, and how bad debt in the US housing market brought down the system.

It will look at the failure of austerity measures to solve the UK's economic problems and how these measures are being used to roll back the welfare state, creating further inequality. 

It will look at how inequality in a society is bad for all in a population, including the very rich. 

It will look at how the philosophy of libertarians, such as Ayn Rand, has captured the imaginations of business people and politicians on the political Right, especially in the United States, and how this philosophy has been put into policy.

And finally, it will look at at the current research into the psychological and neurobiological differences between liberals and conservatives. It will look at the psychological strengths and weaknesses of each of these political positions, why human beings have evolved this apparent split, and why this difference, when in properly balance, is useful to us as a species. 

Many books have been written on these subjects individually in recent years, but none have attempted to bring all these themes together in a popular and clear manner. This is what I'll be attempting to do. I've a passionate belief that words combined with images can have a powerful impact and one that is quite different in quality from either a novel or film. Reading a comic is a very immediate experience and one that works well as a way of presenting lots of information in a short space of time. 

Austerity, and how Western countries have dealt with the aftermath of the financial crash, is I think, the great theme of our time. It has defined the era we live in as much as the cold war defined the second half of the 20th century, affecting all facets of our lives. Having previously written two graphic reportage books on complex issues, and learned through doing this, how to take difficult subjects and boil them down into an entertaining and engaging narrative, I think I've developed the skills with which to successfully tackle this huge subject.


chrysler building

Friday 31 May 2013

News

I'll be signing copies of the new edition of Science Tales at OK Comics in Leeds, on 6th June, from 5:3o onwards.

Both Psychiatric Tales and Science Tales, in their brand new expanded second editions, are now on available to read digitally, via the marvellous Sequential App.

Sequential features graphic novels and sequential art for mature readers with work from some of the world's leading publishers including Knockabout, Blank Slate and Myriad, with work by creators such as Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell, Robert Crumb, David Lloyd, Hunt Emerson and many more. Here's the link to the app.

Here's a drawing of The Magical Unicorns of Keith the Wizard. Character's created by Lizz Lunney.

keith and unicorns

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Simon Harwood and Police Acountability

A ten page piece I wrote on the death of Ian Tomlinson for the much delayed issue of Solopsistic Pop 5, which editor Tom Humberstone has kindly allowed me to place here. Much of the information in the strip was taken from pieces written in the Guardian by Paul Lewis and Peter Walker. Many thanks to them.


Ian Tomlinson

Ian Tomlinson

Ian Tomlinson

Ian Tomlinson

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Ian Tomlinson 6

Ian Tomlinson 7

Ian Tomlinson 8

Ian Tomlinson 9

Ian Tomlinson 10
Want to help a struggling artist make more fine comic work? Then why not make use of the donote button (top left). I'd really appreciate it.  

Tuesday 30 April 2013

Token Skeptic Podcast Interview

You can hear an interview with me, taking about Psychiatric Tales and Science Tales, on the Token Skeptic podcast.

And here are four panels from my comic strip on the life of Ayn Rand. This strip is just one part of a book in progress that will be about aspects of the financial crisis and the failure of austerity measures. I'm going to be serialising the entire Rand strip on Activate.com, starting 2nd May.
Four Rand panels


Monday 1 April 2013

Off To MoCCA in New York


I shall be at MoCCA Arts Festival in New York on the weekend 6th and 7th of April. Where I'll be signing the US version of Science Tales, known as How To Fake A Moon Landing. Do come down and meet me if you can? Here's the link.
A panel from my comic strip on the life of Ayn Rand, which I'm still working on.
fountainhead

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Psychiatric Tales (Second Edition)


Here's the cover to the second edition of Psychiatric Tales which should be available over the summer (exact date to be announced). I've expanded the book by some 40 pages, adding a couple of new chapters and creating all new chapter headers.

New PT Cover


And here's a drawing done just for the fun of it.

Grey/Blue Funtown

Saturday 26 January 2013

Laydeez Do Comics


On Monday, 28th of January, I'm speaking at Laydeez Do Comics in  Leeds. Also speaking will be Kristyna Baczynski and Kate Ashwin. Do come along. Here's the link.

Here's a panel from the strip I'm working on at the moment about Ayn Rand. 

Rand Meets Frank

Saturday 19 January 2013

How To Fake A Moon Landing


I've been sent an advance copy of the Abrams' US version of Science Tales, and very good it look too. Out in March. I'll be over in New York to promote it at this year's MoCCa.
How to Fake A Moon Landing

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Ayn Rand 9

Another page of my comic strip about Ayn Rand.


rand 9

Saturday 12 January 2013

Samsonite CityScapes 3 Piece Spinner Set (Blue Print)


The hardbody cases I designed for Samsonite have arrived. Here's a photo of the largest.  See the details here.


Samsonite Case

Monday 7 January 2013

Ayn Rand Page 6

Another page from my strip on Ayn Rand.

Rand 6

Friday 4 January 2013