Confessions of a Comic Artist

Always pimpin'

2009-07-01T18:47:30Z

I don't usually advertise my House of Hirudinea auctions on here, but I've just had to fork out a load of dosh for some new Swears to wear for work as they're the only things that stand up to the amount of walking I do.
It had to be done as my old ones had got to the point that they were in such a state people were taking photos of them cos they couldn't believe I was still wearing them!
Unfortunately the end came last week when one of the soles split in two (which is impressive for something that's a couple of inches thick) and were threatening to trip me up as they flopped around all over the place, and the emergency taping together with electrical tape got me home but didn't last much longer than that.

I totally need to take a photo of them myself just to show how bad they got before I chuck them in the bin.

Anyway, here's this month's auction which are all for hats. If you fancy cutting a dash in the club with some fancy headwear then please take a gander;

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/houseofhirudinea_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZ (Free postage within the UK!)

By the way, if you're liking the stuff I make you can now become a fan of HoH on Facebook;

http://www.facebook.com/pages/House-of-Hirudinea/85459622629?ref=nf

For the few...

2009-06-28T23:22:07Z

The fast is broken at last. Nearly six years, bloody hell! Won't be doing that again.

hirudo @ 2009-06-26T20:08:00

2009-06-26T19:10:56Z

On the plus side today, Rob is now making watermelon vodka drinks (nom!) and I got my Vivenne Westwood retrospective book, which is payback for having to fork out dosh for art department materials. And we're going clubbing tomorrow night at Vagabonds, so I can wear my new PVC dress. Sweet!

Pretty cool

2009-06-17T11:46:47Z

I'm at home with a bad back and a tension headache, but this has cheered me up immensely- steampunk, bellydance and the Doctor Who theme, all in one package;

I think this is also the first time I've ever seen a mixed gender bellydance troupe, and I have to say that I take my hat off to them!

Will have to put some money aside to go to the local bellydance class that I've been meaning to join for well over a year now. I've got basic ATS training but I'd much rather learn Egyptian.

Sweeeeeeeet!

2009-06-13T12:49:01Z

Best start to the morning (and weekend)? Finding a perfectly good upright painting easel dumped outside the bins of our block, and dragging it back up the stairs to our flat.

Saving? £80-£100!

Only problem now is finding somewhere to put it....

perks

2009-06-02T21:47:36Z

I've only just found out about this rumour as I'm not a big Spiderman fan, so I don't follow the movie franchise, and I have to admit that I'm not holding my breath that they'll end up using him. Saying that, if they do announce it as happening I'd have a party!

Morbius in Spider-man 4

Holy crap! Some artwork!

2009-05-30T00:10:32Z

Needed to do some art for my own benefit, something for fun. Luckily for me Conceptart.org were doing robots for their current Industrial Design of the Week challenge, so I knocked this up over two days;

I have to admit I'm quite pleased with the result, might even put it in my online portfolio, whenever I get those sodding galleries working (grrr!). In the meantime I've got my first paying illo work in quite a few months so I'll need to get cracking on with that. Ironically that's also a robot, but a bit more traditional nuts and bolts than this one.

This week I also got my last mention in Lying in the Gutters, as Rich posted his thanks to various people in the industry at the end of his very last LITG column. As most of you comic types will know though, Rich isn't retiring any time soon- we're keeping our eyes on BleedingCool.com to see what happens next.

Crimes against crafting

2009-05-22T21:30:38Z

Repeat after me; "Less is more, less is more......."

http://thestylecunt.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/spit-spat/

Disaster!

2009-05-17T12:47:08Z

Last night my sewing machine went 'twang' as I was running up another pair of leggings, and I knew immediately what had happened- one of the motor belts had snapped. Argh! I had to hand-crank the rest of the seam that I was halfway through at the time.

Took me a couple of hours to take her apart to get to the snapped belt. The problem is that my machine is not a common brand (Frister and Rossmann, which was a German company originally but the modern ones are manufactured in Japan) and it's quite an old model (she's about 50 years old) so getting replacement parts isn't a breeze. Unlike the common American brands like Singer, which have smooth rubber belts, the Fristers have toothed belts, which is part of the reason way they run better as you don't get slippage when the machine is trying to sew through tougher fabrics.

Anyway, as soon as I logged online today I started hunting for a replacement. So far I've found a company that sells the toothed belts for some different Frister models so I've sent them an email to see if they'll work for mine. If that doesn't work out I'll have to try and pop by the sewing machine shop about 15 minutes away. They stock modern Fristers so I'm hoping they might be able to help out.

No Sewing Sundays till my baby's fixed, ladies!

Update

2009-05-16T13:17:17Z

'Ello, chums, sorry for the radio silence. Just a mixture of laziness and too much going on.

I am, at the moment, ill with the dreaded lurgy- not con crud but more likely whatever nasty germs Rob had the week before Bristol. I actually don't feel quite a rough as I thought I would today, but then I have slept for 14 hours! God, I really needed that too. Mostly today I've just got a headache, a slight fever, a gakky throat and a gruff voice that'd put Leonard Cohen to shame.

Was supposed to be at Nunhead Cemetery today but had to cancel. I'm sure people would appreciate me not sharing my mucus with them. Instead I'm looking forward to Primeval and Eurovision to the telly tonight instead.

Next week is our last before we break up for half term holidays but it's going to be a mad one- three final GCSE exams in our department, with each one being two days long, plus moderation starting on Monday, and various other things. I'll need the following week off just to recover! Roll on the Summer holidays! Mind you I've still got an Art Exhibition to do before then....

Abney Park dress- the finale

2009-04-27T19:47:37Z

So, as many of you know, this last Saturday was the date of the Abney Park gig at Slimelight. Some of you will know that I've been working on an outfit for this for some time and in my last post on it's progress I promised a photo of the finished dress.

So for those who have been following this over the months, here's the original design I did just to refresh your memories (and a first peek for those of you who have been in the dark about it all)

And here's the outfit as it was worn on Saturday;

From General crafts

There are some obvious differences between the two; the underdress went from green satin to 'old gold' embroidered satin, the underbust band went straight and the design on the dress went from just cogs to an Art Nouveau steampunk design. Talking of which it still needs to be embroidered and hand beaded, but I'll do that over time. I was also planning on having a diamonte trim on the hem of the over dress but that's going to have to wait too as it's a bit expensive.

Sorry it's not a great photo- hopefully at some point soon I'll get a better one taken, especially as you're missing out on the full glory of the head-dress I made and the make-up.

Gallery update

2009-04-26T23:21:20Z

Okay, I've just spent this evening fiddling around with my website gallery as I really want to wipe it off my to-do list. I've managed to get the navigation to show up and the links are pointing to the right sub folders but I'm still not getting any thumbnails to show. I'm a bit stumped, to be honest.

Here's the link to the gallery, if you want to see the current error messages

Suggestions welcome! Is it requesting the full address for the subfolders containing the images, as there aren't any in the code for galleryGenerator.inc.php?

Off the beaten path....

2009-04-24T23:43:54Z

I was relaxing by scouring Ebay for interesting fabrics when I ended up coming across this Korean company that sells their brand clothing and accessories via Ebay. It's an interesting mash-up of punk,visual kei and assymetric design in the same vein as Plastik Wrap. Thought a few people on my friends list might find it interesting.

Assymetric layered top

Pinstripe trousers

Crop jacket/shirt

Funnelneck coat

hirudo @ 2009-04-23T14:34:00

2009-04-23T13:54:24Z

So I've been sent home early today as some kids set fire to the school hall this morning.
On the plus side it means I have a few hours to put some finishing touches to my outfit for the Abney Park gig on Saturday, before I have to go out to work tonight.
On the down side though I have an awful feeling I might have lost out on a job for tomorrow as the employer emailed me just before the fire alarm went off, and was expecting me to phone them asap. Unfortunately I ended up being stuck outside for two hours waiting around before we got sent home, so I've only just been able to contact them! Argh!

Oh well.....

hirudo @ 2009-04-20T00:22:00

2009-04-19T23:33:09Z

Just got back from watching IAMX play at Koko's. Damn fine show as usual, though the poor chap looks a wee bit knackered. Not really surprising though as they've been touring almost constantly for nearly six months, I think.

Pretty knackered myself after dancing through the whole set and sweating buckets!

Back at work tomorrow (boo) but if ever there was a perfect way to end your holidays it by dancing like a loon at an IAMX gig. Fortunately tomorrow is an inset day so I think I'll be taking a few CDs in with me. I haven't played any IAMX at work yet- I'm sure they'll like it :p

Small victories

2009-03-13T14:46:19Z

One of the protagonists in Sanguisuga has finally named himself. Waahey! He's no longer referred to XX in all my scripts.
Heh, all my recurring characters end up with code till they find their names- TFM,XX, XXX, SM, etc. Sounds kooky, I know, but it's really wierd when people have the wrong names, both in real life and in fiction. For instance there's a guy I work with who's totally a Paul, but his name is John. I keep having to stop myself from calling him the former.

Logo revamp

2009-02-16T22:47:00Z

So I fired up Photoshop today to get on with some digital painting, got started and then got sidetracked, as I suddenly decided that I really needed to redesign the logo to Carson City. To be fair I've been hating the old version- it just screamed 'amateur' and really didn't gel with the rest of the cover design for issue 1, so it's something I've been wanting to redo.

Anyway, here's the new version I whipped up;

I've sent this and the updated version of the cover to Ryan and our publisher for feedback. I'm possibly considering actually redesigning the cover to issue 1 entirely- it does look much better with the new logo, but the composition is still bothering me, so I might scrap it and start again (using the new logo of course). I just want it to look as fucking awesome as possible when it finally comes out.

Rob's snow Pacman and ghost

2009-02-02T18:22:09Z

Always happy to oblige;

They've now been joined by a snowman made by our next door neighbours children.

hirudo @ 2009-02-02T17:39:00

2009-02-02T17:39:36Z

Woohoo, school's closed tomorrow as well!

Addendum

2009-02-02T16:02:55Z

Whilst I had a nap for a few hours this afternoon Rob went out and built a snow Pacman and ghost just below our balcony. I love that man.

Just to annoy Bevis

2009-02-02T09:26:49Z

Snow day! Both Rob and myself have today off work as our respective schools are closed. I think I might go back to bed for a bit.

Here's pics of snow outside our flat;

From Snowstorms 02/02/09

Just to show how deep it is; that's a traffic cone buried under the snow in the middle of that picture above....

From Snowstorms 02/02/09

Hah, our flatmate's just come back as I was typing this- he got 2/3rds of the way to work before he got the phone call saying his work was closed too. Poor sod.
I can't believe that there are no buses running at all in London today, and there's more snow on the way this afternoon. Think this is the most snow I've ever seen in London- reminds me a bit of what it was like when I lived in Germany.

hirudo @ 2009-02-01T19:56:00

2009-02-01T20:01:56Z

Rob and I have just got back from the Londonedge tradeshow about two hours ago, and it rocked! Saw some awesome stuff! Spent ages on the Lip Service stand chatting with one of the designers and oogling stuff.
Alchemy Gothic also have some amazing new things coming soon which I admit I am tempted to buy in for House of Hirudinea if I can afford to.

Currently hoping that we may get a snow day tomorrow or Tuesday! That would be ace!

Too many exclamation marks!!!!

hirudo @ 2009-01-21T09:22:00

2009-01-21T09:24:57Z

For those of you who wanted to know;

Sat 18th July Exclusive UK Show Doors 6pm

KMFDM

plus support

£15 Adv www.flagpromotions.com / www.eeetickets.co.uk

Islington Academy N1 Centre 16 Parkfield Street London N1

hirudo @ 2009-01-20T22:11:00

2009-01-20T22:12:24Z

Holy crap-KMFDM are playing London in July!

A musical interlude.....

2009-01-19T15:05:54Z

I'm a bit snowed under this week trying to spend three grand of our department's budget on photography and art materials before they close the books for the financial year here, as well as sort out everything that needs to go up on Ebay next weekend, so apologies if I'm slow to respond to just about anything- juggling a load of other things too.

I was sad to hear over the weekend that Tony Hart had passed away. I never missed an episode of Take Hart when I was a nipper and there's no doubt that it influenced my interest in and approach to art. Art Attack and it's ilk just don't have what Tony did. There'll always be a fond place for him in my heart.