Another great Robot Shorts review.

Robot Shorts has been reviewed over at www.curiosityofasocialmisfit.blogspot.co.uk and it's another really good one.

From SuperZeroes To SuperHeroes.

Following on from Robot Shorts, my collaboration with Steve Holder, will be a little book called From SuperZeroes To SuperHeroes and this time I'm collaborating with Seba Velez.

It's my take on super-heroes I guess and won't be your typcial book of super-villains trying to take over the world and super-heroes stopping their evil plans... well... OK, it'll be a bit of that, but also it'll be a bit different.
Seba and I are nearing the middle of book now and things are moving along very nicely.
I finished greycaling a page of Seba's artwork this weekend, which I've sampled above, great stuff.

A few things...

Colin and I had a great day at the Manchester Mart yesterday. We each shifted pretty much all of the comics and GNs we took. These varied widely, from recent Marvel titles to more difficult to find independent titles.
Paul L. Mathews also popped over to discuss a future Accent UK project with us. We'll release more information at the beginning of 2014, but I'm really looking forward to seeing it develop.

Oh, and the marketing for Robot Shorts continues at a pace, with the Forbidden Planet blog giving it some great coverage.

The Advertising Budget for Robot Shorts is nearly exhausted.

Steve Holder (co-artist on Robot Shorts) has been busy spreading the word about our book. Check out his photos over on urbanspaceman3.blogspot.co.uk

Looks like Steve has had a lot of fun with these, very effective.

It's been a strange few weeks. I went to the opening of the Contemporary Craft Open Exhibition and was a little humbled by the professionalism of the other entries. True to any form of art there were those that I liked and those that I didn't, but overall I felt a certain amount of pride that Belmat was even there.
He didn't get a prize of course, but he did look the toughest exhibit in the room and I certainly noticed that none of the other exhibits would look him in the eye.
I have plans for entering something next year, but we'll see if I ever find the time to make it.

Yesterday Accent UK had a table at the Comiket in London and sold a good number of our books. All was going very well until I sold a copy of Robot Shorts to a Spanish (I think) couple.
'My partner makes robots', the lady stated, very proud of her chap.
 'Hey, so do I', I felt a bond forming between myself and the gentleman. 'I make mine out of paper mache' I explained.
'Oh, he programmes his to avoid objects...'
'Oh... real robots...' I felt a little like Androx The Mighty and crawled back behind the table to deal with the next customer.
Still, it feels good to know that a Robotics Engineer now possessed a book of my about robots.
Next weekend I'll be at the Leeds' Thought Bubble Festival, so do pop in and say hello if you're in the area, and if you happen to be a Robotics Engineer it might be best to mention that early in the conversation, to avoid my embarrassing myself... again.

Robot Shorts gets another great review...

.. over on the Small Press Big Mouth podcast. It's Episode 39 and can be accessed from their blog.

Belmat goes to Kapow!!

Well, he's finished...

 ... and ready for his trip to London this weekend.

 I'm really pleased with how he has turned out ...

 it took quite a while...

 but he's worth it ;o)

 The final touches were his hands...

and then the handle on his loading door ...



not that the door opens on this model of course... not like it does on the real thing...

So, if you're at the Kapow Comic Convention this weekend then please do pop over and say 'Hi'. as well as seeing Belmat up close, we also have our new WesterNoir comic for sale (with artist Gary Crutchley on hand to sign copies with me) and hopefully the latest themed anthology, Zombies 2 or 2OMBIES as it says on the cover.



Robot Shorts reviewed in SFX.

I was very pleasantly surprised when sitting down to read this month's SFX (well, actually my daughter nabbed it first and told me to look at page 38 when it was my turn)...

when I got to Page 38 my eye was drawn to the Fanzines insert...

I recognised that cover...

Wow, what an encouraging review of our little book of Robot tales. It's this kind of thing that really helps us small press and independent creators carry on with our passion.
Thanks again to Steve Holder for his great artwork and Andy Bloor for the cover design.

Robot Shorts reviewed in Comic Heroes...

Robot Shorts gets a great little mention and review in the latest issue of Comic Heroes (Issue 12).

Not only does it sample art from the 'A to Z of Robots' and show the cover designed by Andy Bloor and sporting artwork from Steve Holder...

but it also gives the book a 4 out of 5, even if it does get the title of the book a little wrong.

...and on top of this it has some nice things to say about the little book, even if it does suggest that I may in fact be part robot myself ... damn ... I thought I'd hidden that all these years...

A great mention for my latest effort, with thanks to Steve and Andy for bringing it to life...

as it were.

From Comiket to Mocca

Well, we had a great time at the Comiket convention in London yesterday (you can read a very brief report over at the Accent UK news and reviews blog), and I'm now thinking about packing my bags for Mocca, NYC, USA. 
Comiket was a first for a number of things from me this time around... first appearance at a Con of Robot Shorts, first appearance at a Con of The One-Eyed-Robot and also first appearance of the first Robots Shorts - A to Z of Robots Greetings Card ...

I added colour to the black and white (and grey) version that appears in the Robot Shorts book, and it looks really nice (and shiny). Hopefully tomorrow will see, along with the delivery of our first WesterNoir comic, the arrival of the second card (in the possible series) with Belmat.

I had to change the text a little to let him stand on his own, as it were, so the 'Belmat however was real big and mean..' becomes 'Belmat 2000 was real big and mean...'.
Tomorrow I'll start to pack my bags ready for flying out on Thursday... lots of copies of WesterNoir Issue 1 ... can't wait to see it... and get it on our table at Mocca... Stuart at UK COMICS CREATIVE has once again pulled all the stops to turn the WesterNoir printing around in a very short time... so a big thanks to him, as always.

Robot Shorts gets a plug in Starburst

Yep, Starburst has returned to printed format after a good number of years, and we've managed to get a mention for upcoming project 'Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist ?' (check the Accent UK Blog for details) in their first revamped issue (No. 374) and also for Robot Shorts in issue 375.

Sadly I think you have to subscribe to the magazine to get copies, which I've done, but each issue takes a hell of a lot of reading, and is worth the cover price.

Robot Shorts - first review

I always send review copies of Accent UK books to the guys at Burnt Weiners, who have produce a great fun podcast that is somehow very informative, I hate to count the books I've picked up on the back of their recommendations, and they are usually spot on.

So I sent a couple of copies of Robot Shorts over to the Burnt Weiner crew, in the hope that they'd enjoy it and also mention it on one of their podcasts ... looks like I got 2 out of 2 and you can hear what they thinik of it over at http://www.burntweiners.com/2012/02/26/burnt-weiners-episode-105-i-vampire-batman-robot-shorts/.

Thanks for the words of support and encouragement guys, you certainly picked up on the intention behind the whole thing.

Robot Shorts have arrived...

Thursday saw delivery of mine and Steve Holder's little book of short Robot stories, Robot Shorts, and once again Andy Bloor has added his design skills to make this a great little package. I can't be more pleased with how this has turned out.
I'll be in touch with people who contributed a pin up over the coming week, to see where to send their free copy to, and will have this on the stall at all future Conventions.
Belmat, who will also appear at Cons (if I can squeeze him into the bag) is still progressing, albeit slowly due to all the other things going on. Jane, my wife, made a little pair of shorts out of fabric with a robot print on it, to go inside the ex-washing machine. See... layers within layers :o)

I must say, he doesn't look too happy about it...

The Finished One-Eyed Robot.

I've managed to finish the silver One-Eyed Robot. He doesn't appear in Robot Shorts, sadly, but I'm pleased with how he's turned out.I managed to get some of the words to show through the paintwork, which is what I was trying to acheive, and the silver colour brings all the pieces together nicely I think. I've still got to finish Belmat's hands, but I'm getting there with him as well.

I must say that making these has been very enjoyable and I may do some more.

In other news, the cover proof for Robot Shorts has been sent out but is now in the local Royal Mail depot as nobody was in to sign for it ... drat. I'll pick it up on Saturday.

Also, it's EAGLE Awards time again and both Andy Bloor and The Fall Of The Wolfmen have been listed ... if you think them worthy then we'd welcome the vote.

Oh ... and there's another great Fastest Man review over at http://comicsanonymous.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/whatever-happened-to-the-worlds-fastest-man-2009/.

Belmat... as far as I got in 2011.

Well, this is as far as I managed to get with Belmat in 2011...

looks like my first project for 2012 will be to finish him off.

Belmat with head attached.

I decided to fix his head at a slight angle.

and used a couple of very small washers and plastic pins (no idea where I got them from) from the eyes.I think the multiple washes on the arms and legs have done the trick. Of course I still need to do the hands but I'll do them last of all. Need to fix the door now, and finish his back.

Belmat with rusting effect brown wash.

In order to age him a bit I've given Belmat a brown wash ... lots of water and not too much paint.

oops ... amd made a bit of a mess of the TVTimes whilst doing it. ..just need to darken the arms and legs now ... and then I can start to attach his head and the washing machine door and details.

Robot table display ... with a little paint.

So, here's how it progressed today. A bit of dry brushing to leave some of the text visible.

Getting there.

Oh .. and here's one I started earlier....

This is a robot that isn't in the Robot Shorts book. I started it about 6 months ago and re-discovered him when I sorted out the materials for Belmat.

I wanted to move away from the bipedal robots that I usually draw.

He has a hairdryer end piece for a base (hope Jane doesn't notice) and I did buy a shower hose for the arms, which was a bit naughty as the idea is to make these purely from salvaged bits and bobs.

Table Robot... update.

The papier-mâché-ing is underway ... a messy process where you end up with bits of glue and paper everywhere.The idea is that I leave some of the words visible through the paintwork, and so I've selected a book on mathematics for the paper used. This is a technique perfected by a lady called Julie Arkell. I'm sure my resulting efforts will look nowhere near as good as hers but if I aim high then falling short will still, hopefully, look good.
With the flash on the camera you can see the tin (from a used tin of soup) that I cut in half for the washing machine drum. Ah ... details details :o)