Pen and ink drawing, comic strips and sketchbooks
I swore that I would never do comics again. They are too involved with all the layouts, penciling, design, inking, speech bubbles, colouring, editing, marketing and... I'm too old for it. Although something keeps drawing me back to want to do them.
About three years ago I started a strip called Chuffin' Billy with my friend and long time collaborator from the nineties Noel Hannan. I did layouts for the first five pages and then had a nervous breakdown. The two occurrences, layouts and breakdown were not related.
By March 2020 I was in a slightly better place both physically and mentally and decided,
with Noel's gentle persuasion, to give the Chuffin' Billy project a second go. Then
as if on cue, Covid-
CHUFFIN’ BILLY 2021
Presented here are the first four pages of Chuffin’ Billy. As a way of saying ‘I’m still here and I like what I’m doing artistically’. The drawing for the proposed 12-page strip is done by hand with Pental Parallel Pens. The colour palette is limited, and the lettering is a mix of Clip Studio and Photoshop. Some of these decisions seemed necessary to get the job started. The pens for instance are the only thing I can draw comfortably with. I spent months on false starts using digital drawing tablets, dip pens, marker pens and watercolour and it all came back to what do I like to draw with the most, what will not run out or dry up or switch off in these days of limited resources, financial uncertainty, and queuing. God. The queuing!
The limited colour palette works for me too. It saves time yet gets the feeling across and allows for additional mark making. It kind of
The limited colour palette works for me too. It saves time yet gets the feeling across and allows for additional mark making. It kind of
reminds me of old Valiant two-tone comics from the seventies. The shade of blue may be called French Blue. The lettering again was a time saving decision. I tried hand lettering the first few pages, but it took too long. Clip Studio does some great speech bubbles which I imported into Photoshop and added and formatted the lettering there. I started drawing like this for a small drawing project I did with Slung Low Theatre and Ian McMillan in March. I have been drawing for a long time before that and gone through many philosophies and techniques and this style feels like a coming together. A culmination of thoughts and ideas and inspired by Noel’s script of a giant, steam driven robot going for one last pint down the local to honour the dead.
I have Aphantasia I think, a neurological condition that leaves me with a 'blind mind's eye', the
I have Aphantasia I think, a neurological condition that leaves me with a 'blind mind's eye', the
inability to mentally visualise my thoughts. As an artist you would think that would be devastating but I work out my designs, drawings, and characters by squiggling lines on paper until something appears. These days I squiggle with ink. I used to squiggle with pencil then erase and try again. I can draw from life because the thing is in front of me, and I know enough tips, tricks and hacks to get me through a drawing. But drawing from my imagination is more akin to automatic drawing. Just letting go and the best work comes from this mind set, it magically appears on the page - after eight hours of mindless struggling.
By this timeline and working method the completed Chuffin’ Billy strip will be ready by 2023. It will be worth the wait.
- John Welding
HOLBECK’S NEVER ENDING STORY
I am waiting for the go ahead to reveal the illustrations I did recently for Slung Low Theatre. They commissioned Ian McMillan to write a poem about England’s oldest Working Men’s Club, The Holbeck in Leeds and needed someone to illustrate it. Slung Low run the bar at The Holbeck and provide space for performance, for them that need to perform. They are in the final stages of renovating the property and are working on interior decoration.
Having decided to cut back on illustration as my main income, it was with a sense of nervous trepidation that I said yes to the project. I had worked with Slung Low before, so it was my drawing abilities that were causing me a bit
Having decided to cut back on illustration as my main income, it was with a sense of nervous trepidation that I said yes to the project. I had worked with Slung Low before, so it was my drawing abilities that were causing me a bit
of concern. This would be my first paid illustration work for nearly a year. I used to document live events as a part my freelance illustration, drawing scenes at festivals, workshops, corporate meetings, that sort of thing. I quit because of the mental stress problems from the year before and more recently in Covid Britain, earning an income from the arts just got a lot harder for small fry illustrators like me.
Restrictions can sometimes make for better art, rather than having unlimited resources. In this case it was the limited time that helped develop the black line, blue tone squiffle technique I used for the final poem drawings. I am calling it my Denim period.
Restrictions can sometimes make for better art, rather than having unlimited resources. In this case it was the limited time that helped develop the black line, blue tone squiffle technique I used for the final poem drawings. I am calling it my Denim period.
DIARY COMICS
DRACULA
SKETCHBOOKS
“I have kept diary comics on and off for a few years, I used to self publish them but not so much now. Life passes far too quickly the older I get and diary comics are a great way of recording it.”
“ Having never read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I thought it about time to remedy the situation by reading it and drawing a chapter of the book every day over a period of 27 (ish) consecutive days.”
“I am a true believer when it comes to the creative power of keeping a sketchbook. I do lapse and get caught up in real life and always regret it. The practice of doing something regularly is key.”
MUNDANE DIARY 2022
October 2022 and it’s time to draw something each day until it’s time to not draw something each day. I have done this in past years and it is an interesting exercise that I can recommended to people who want to draw. It was killed off prematurely this year by a CEO pretending to know what they were doing and creating a ‘being beaten by a stick’ vibe. Which if you can walk away from you would walk away from. I got to day 25 and kinda asked myself, why am I supplying content to a social media site that obviously wants to change the demographic of its users?
October 2022 and it’s time to draw something each day until it’s time to not draw something each day. I have done this in past years and it is an interesting exercise that I can recommended to people who want to draw. It was killed off prematurely this year by a CEO pretending to know what they were doing and creating a ‘being beaten by a stick’ vibe. Which if you can walk away from you would walk away from. I got to day 25 and kinda asked myself, why am I supplying content to a social media site that obviously wants to change the demographic of its users?
I used my daily diary to generate the prompts this year. Juxtaposing my ‘mundane’ existence with a fantastical or in some cases just as boring image, being something I wanted to draw instead of something I felt I had to draw. I have a friend who prefers colour to black and white artwork. I had his voice saying ‘do it in colour’ going around the back of my mind and I have him to thank for haunting me into doing a colour version of each days instalment.
I started on the second part of Chuffin’ Billy but not getting paid for the first episode hurt, so it’s on the back burner for now. The cost of living crisis is effecting everyone and in the present financial climate
I can’t earn enough money to live and subsidise a publisher with free content with this drawing lark at the same time. Which means doing regular hours for someone else and all the joys of ‘serfdom’ that brings.
Drawing daily for myself back in October was a better situation and gave me a bit of distance and the desire to draw the Chuff again may materialise soon. If poverty does not claim me first that is!
CHUFFIN’ BILLY PART 2
UPDATE MAY 2021