Tilda Wonderpup

Tilda gets my comic book make-over...

Reading Festival 2007

Friday night: head to the K West with Alex, Ryland and Nate as their bus leaves at midnight. Having an earnest political discussion with William (TAI) at the bar over vodkas and whiskeys, Suarez palms me a guest ticket and all-access pass for Reading Festival the next day. Genius.

Saturday: oversleep. Debate taking wellies after reports of mud, decide against it (end up wearing sneakers that give me blisters. Ouch). Hop on the train to Reading, once there follow the crowds to the festival grounds. Get sent to about five different gates and access points, doing almost a complete circle of the perimeter before someone notices the AA pass and says 'Well, you could have got in anywhere with that.' Now they tell me.

Miraculously find CS quite quickly once inside. Hotter than a - well, it's very hot out so I welcome sitting down in the (relative) cool and shade of their portakabin dressing room (which is about as luxurious as it sounds). Steal a bottle of water from their fridge, say hi to Gabe and Ryland when they show up. Ryland tells us about some journalist, Guy Ripley, who's around somewhere...

The day basically progresses as such: sit in the shade drinking and hanging out with peoples, walk around to the main stage to watch The Shins/Bloc Party/Arcade Fire, walk back to the dressing room area for more shade-sitting and drinking...



At one point we're all sitting in the yard between the dressing rooms when someone approaches us and asks the kids in the bands (two of Victoria's friends are here too) to do a drawing for charity (or something), which everyone gets way in to:



When Cobra goes on stage I venture out into the masses to meet up with two girls from work who are at the Festival all weekend. We're at the back of the tent where the boys are playing and still everyone around us seems to know all the words, which is cool.

With my AA pass I'm allowed on to the viewing platforms sidestage of the main stage so got some pretty killer views of the acts and the crowds (Suarez, I don't think I said thank you enough!)


Bloc Party




Arcade Fire

Probably should have made more effort to see bands whilst there but the heat and crowds cause major apathy - and I get to see the main bands I'm interested in anyway. I split after Arcade Fire as it's now dark and I have to walk back to the station and shit, and to be honest, by that stage I'm pretty festivalled-out.

On the train on the way back I get a text: "I'm at Reading Festival too! Am working in the Carling bar next to main stage, come find me for free drinks." Alas, too late! I get home and blissfully take of my slightly muddy sneakers and sit down to watch the highlights on BBC from the comfort of my sofa...

Full Decaydance photoset

The Decaydance Invasion

The Decaydance Invasion - photo set

Post-dim sum wanderings in Soho with Maria and Tayo, in Sister Ray on Berwick Street, browsing vinyl neither of us can really afford, my phone rings.

"Auntie Hannah!"

That name again. Can only be one person on the other end of that phone: the one and only Alex Suarez.

The Decaydance tour is in town: Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Gym Class Heroes, The Academy Is and Cobra Starship all in London to play the Hammersmith Apollo, to the delight of emo-teens everywhere.

We arrange to meet by the tour bus entrance later on, as we did last time. Only unlike last time, when I get there, there are hordes of teens waiting there too and when Alex comes down to meet me and give me my pass, they all start screaming his name. Which weirds me out a little. He agrees to pose for a couple of quick photos then we make our escape. He has to head back in as Cobra are line-checking, I say hi to Ryland and Gabe, then once line-check is over it's back upstairs to the dressing room. Theirs is on the top floor: "We like to call it the executive suite, but really it's just the furthest from the stage..." Victoria is in there with her friends who've come for the show too, Carly and Will, and vodka tonics are poured though it's not even 6pm.

Carly, Will and I nervously stand sidestage as final preps are made for Cobra's set, careful we're not getting in the way or to accidentally pull out any wires. Although they're the first band on and the audience is still being let in to the Apollo, Cobra gets a good reaction; a lot of cheering and yelling and singing along and snakes - and bras(!) - thrown on stage.

Back upstairs, more drinks, Suarez heads to shower and I go for a wander round the Apollo. Pretty much same old, same old, so I give up and wait for Alex then we go to catering. I'm still full from dim sum but he gets food and others trickle in: Ryland, Bob McLynn, Nate, William Beckett.

There's more drink, more chat, some myspace checking, more drink, missing all of TAI's and GCH's sets, checking out Panic!'s set for like a song then hunting down more beers, more talking, sitting in the tour bus, hearing that Plain White Ts had gone on randomly to do 'Hey There Delilah', then a lot of people heading in for the remainder of FOB's set. We get in as they're in the middle of covering 'Beat It' (the MJ classic). I edge a little further out on side stage so I can see beyond the guitars and crates littering the area and find myself next to a tiny girl in a red hoodie and black hat, which makes me think 'I need to wear hats more'; the girl then turns around and I realise it's Ashlee Simpson. She is ridiculously small. I mean, most of FOB are pretty pint-sized, but she's adorably little.

After FOB finish up everyone heads out - we've lost Suarez at this point and I'm with Ryland who's clutching a bottle of Jameson that I keep eyeing and talking to Ryan (P!ATD) about the similarity of their names (of all things). A Decaydance group photo is called for.

Someone mentions the in-venue afterparty so I head up to the upstairs bar with Will where we find it's open bar on wine and beer. Somehow it gets to 12:20ish; most people I'm with have already decided to boycott the official afterparty at China Whites that Travis is DJing, and I decide, before anymore alcohol clouds my judgement, to call it a night (laaaaaame-o) so say my goodbyes and head on out, because I'm getting - ssh, say it quietly, old - and I'm just not quite rock'n'roll enough...

in memoriam

So it's taken me like a week to post anything about Tony Wilson's death; a week during which I've listened to Joy Division and New Order repeatedly and re-watched 24 Hour Party People (had forgotten how great it is).

I remember New Order as a kid - who could forget the England song? ("We're playing for England - Eng-er-land!") - I knew Joy Division songs before I knew who the band were (if that makes sense), and I remember being aware of the Happy Mondays and that whole 'Madchester' scene, but I was a kid while that was going on. I was a late bloomer musically and Factory Records didn't mean much to me until I was out of university, but I'd say Joy Division are probably one of my most listened to bands now (still can't get into the Mondays though...)

This evening I paid my own private homage as I sat in my makeshift studio (a.k.a. my sister's room while she's away travelling...) and stuck Unknown Pleasures on and tried my hand at drawing Ian Curtis, for something I'm working on:

Better words from other people:
Five Ways Tony Wilson Changed the Music Industry
The BBC's obituary
The Independent's obituary

Take a look at the lawman, beating up the wrong guy...

Oh god. I just finished watching Life on Mars. I can't begin to describe how utterly brilliant and amazing the show is. The writing! The acting! The music! Augh!

As the show kept getting better and better (and nearer and nearer to the end, there only being 16 episodes spread over 2 series in total) I was starting to spack out about how the hell had I missed this show... and was then relieved to discover that it actually started on BBC when I was still living in NY, and I therefore had a valid reason for not really being aware of it - and it wasn't just my usual "Pah, all TV sucks! Cough*apart from Dr Who*cough" stance that had made me miss out on this gem.

Thank the stars for DVD boxsets, and people persistently telling me how good it is.

I actually had to watch the last episode twice. I was so scared they were going to fuck it all up with a crappy ending but... Oh.

Life on Mars blows my mind. I think it may have just slotted in at number two on my very short list of truly excellent tv shows (the others being, in case you were wondering, Buffy and Spaced, at places one and now three respectively, with a small cluster of Freaks and Geeks, Arrested Development, Dr Who, and some of Angel and Roswell kind of hanging around just below that).

A wee taster, courtesy youtube, right near the beginning of episode one, when Sam first arrives in 1973. C'mon, if this doesn't tempt you...



All episodes can also be found here. Although I'd recommended getting hold of the boxsets, personally.

Art School Confidential part two

rough sketch of image for back page of our final project, a 4-page comic, which had to be 'about the sea'. ack. as it was our interpretation of 'the sea', i went off on a tangent and did something about revisiting the normandy beaches.

CB: tell me about skool
H: it was FUN. it made me feel happy
H: and kind of unblocked
H: and more creative
H: all of which are good
CB: wow. that's the best ever!
H: i forget how stifling office environments are
H: we went to the comics museum one day too, that was cool. it's only tiny but interesting


couple of panels from first page of final project, about normandy beaches

CB: is the class done? will you keep drawing?
CB: what were the other students like?
H: yeah it was only a week long
H: yes i think i will... although i'm still not much of a drawrer (that's so not a word)
H: other students were a real mix - almost as many girls as boys, ages from.. 18 to 40-ish... some had previous illustration experience, some had none
H: a couple of people dropped out by about the second or third day, which is kind of lame
CB: yeah! in a week class! losers
H: exactly
H: one guy was talking about getting us all to keep in touch and starting a quarterly comic where each have four or five pages to fill
H: which could be cool


panel from third page of normandy beach mini-comic.

H: looking at all the different kinds of comic book and graphic novel, there are so many that are like.., my style - ie, relatively basic - of drawing - like quite a few of the autobiographical graphic novels and stuff
H: you know what i mean?
CB: yeah! that's what I was saying
CB: I mean look at Scott Pilgrim
H: yeah - i did a few sketches and stuff from those american manga style books, they're pretty easy to copy
H: and i can copy quite well. guess it's just another way of learning.
CB: it totally is! that's what I did from when I was 9
H: lolCB: I mostly copied the Dungeons and Dragons manuals. LOL*
H: hahahah brilliant

So in summary:
I had a good week, it was good to be in a creative environment again and have the opportunity to just sit and draw and sketch all day.

In terms of what I learned, I think the Eisner and McCloud books actually do a better job of teaching the theory and work behind it all, of which I thought there'd be more in this course. However, for me personally, I can't underestimate the powers of the practical side of the class; I have sketch books coming out of my ears but I can never quite bring myself to sit down and properly do some work - so the act of actually *having* to was a good breakthrough, and I'm kind of hoping I can keep that momentum going. I have those three books I've just referenced on my shelf, which I totally intend to re-read once I've waded through the three stacks of books I have to read (most of which are on loan from schminnie or the library, so I really should get cracking).

I mean, it's not like I'm going to go off and become an illustrator. We all know this isn't a new career path for me. It was mainly about branching out and opening up - and escaping the office - all of which it did.

The one downfall of the week: the proximity of Central St Martins to Gosh Comics... It's been recommended to me before, but this was the first time I'd actually visited. And needless to say I went most days and spent too much money.

*CB, don't disown me for publishing that...

The finished back page image

OMG

I bunked off class this afternoon because I was feeling really out of it, and swung by Kings Cross station on my way home (except it's completely the wrong way from home, so I just swung by it) to check this out...

Harry Potter rules. Word.

Art School Confidential part one

I know from experience that I can't handle long stretches in an office without some kind of creative outlet. When I first left uni, I would do short temp. contracts with the broadcasting company then go play on film sets or do some writing in the month or so between the jobs. The year in New York, when I HAD to stay a whole year in the same office job really ground me down at times - probably what pushed me to really get the freelance thing going. The writing, along with planning and doing small zines and projects with CC (with more emphasis on the planning; this 'planning' often took place at Union Pool or the Pink Pony or somewhere similar, which may explain why it was more talk, less action...) helped make the continuous office existence more or less bearable.

Back to the present, and what with this "two week temp job" now stretching into its eighth month, and fed up of office life, I took a week off work to go do summer school - 'Illustration for Comics and Graphic Novels' at Central St Martins.

Having booked the course in a flurry of excitement with the intention of re-reading Will Eisner and Scott McCloud and getting back into drawing practice, it then happened that I was given a last-minute freelance assignment (Siouxsie Sioux!) with a super-short turnaround, which basically squashed my ideas of turning up well-read and well-prepared. The Sunday night before the course I started having kittens (What if I'm not good enough? What if everyone can see I'm a fraud? I won't be the only girl, will I? What if everyone is younger than me?); I had somewhat panic-stricken conversation with Dan, who, as my chief source of all things art-related, I had hoped would calm my nerves, but when he left to go for brunch (the five hour time difference, folks), I succumbed to the fear - and gave up and watched the musical episode of Buffy. Good prep work.

As it turns out it was all fine. I got up to Holborn with about half an hour in hand so I downed some coffee then went up to CSM HQ on Southampton Row. I was directed to room 214, where I sat and waited until the lecturer turned up near to 10. We chatted a little about my background (writing) and comics and stuff, while waiting for the rest of the class to appear. They never did. The lecturer eventually went to see what had happened - and turns out we'd both been directed to the wrong classroom. We went up to the third floor where everyone was waiting. Once in the new classroom we were made to do those horrendously awkward intros that people leading groups are so fond of making you do. I was relieved to discover I wasn't the only one that wasn't an arts major (nor was I the only girl, or the oldest).

These first couple days we've had to keep pairing up and drawing each other in different poses and so on - first of all focusing on facial expressions, then moving on to full body poses - and of course both times I got the guy who's doing an MA in illustration and the guy who's in the middle of an arts degree and whose drawings reminded me quite a lot of those in the 'Fables' series, making my amateur attempts look... well, even more amateur. It was, however, quite heartening to hear a lecturer (from Central St Martins, no less) tell me "I don't know what you're talking about, you CAN draw".

A selection days one and two; the central figure is a copy of Ramona Flowers, heroine of the Scott Pilgrim series, created by Bryan Lee O'Malley





Better bigger

sigh

As per my usual image-'n-music posts, I tried to find a fitting yet somewhat cool song - alas, I kept coming back to this cheesy gem, so I'm going with it...

If You Leave Me Now - Chicago

Whilst we're thinking of this song, may I all remind you of the fabulous 3mobile advert of a couple years ago...