SPX 2015 Panel - It's a Small, Small, Small Press World

SPX 2015 Panel - It's a Small, Small, Small Press World

Small Press Comic

2009.....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Uh, it was far more fun this way!

How to Draw Faces

Artista de Rua - Vagner Terra

Acrylic pouring for beginners - Step by Step - Chakra colors

Pouring - Mi Primera Experiencia con Acrílicos Fluidos. �� Acrylic Pourin...

You Might Not Know...

...if you do not visit the Black Tower Comics & Books Face Book page you will not know that over 100 more images were uploaded there today.

If you have questions about self publishing etc you can message me via FB

Don't be left behind -visit!

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Black-Tower-Comics-Books

Comics YOU Want To Create Do Not Fit In?

Let's get this out of the way: you -YOU- do not want to do super hero, action, horror, sci fi or detective/cop comics and so you feel frustrated.

Why?

With Small Press you can do what you like. Poetry. Haiku. Prose stories -even illustrated prose. There is humour.  There is slice-of-life. You can even have a fantasy feel to the slice-of-life.

The thing is taking into consideration a couple of things.  Are you doing the book for fun? If so, why not.  Is the subject matter something that might interest people enough for them to buy the book? Really, no one is interested in a 24 pager in which you moan that you have to work for a living or ran out of money getting stoned or pished and you've no money for food while at Uni and have to wait until mum and dad send more money.  Seen so many of those.

"My Depression" has its pros and cons especially if its aimed at other people who suffer from depression and want to try to help them or offer advice.

Take a look at publications such as Browner Knowle  
https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2018/12/browner-knowle-10-fnal-issue.html



Or even Dave The Cosmic Oddity and its subject matter.
https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2018/08/dave-cosmic-oddity-return-of-cosmic.html


The thing is that you are not bound to a specific genre -Myra Hancock used to produce zines from Lino cut-outs back in the 1980s. There are so many tools -excluding the computer- out there that you can use and all it takes to produce a unique "You" book is your imagination.

Do not ever think that everything has to be super hero or horror -if you check out the Black Tower Face Book page you will see that we are not limited to one or two genres.  Ignore the people who tell you how big a name they are in comics and that "Your work doesn't really fit into comics" because those people tend to have personal agendas and a narrow view of comics.

Be happy to call yourself a Small Presser -hundreds are doing the home made comic thing and there is no reason why YOU should not.

Try to talk to Small Pressers at events.

Go to Small Press events.

Go to those events and remember what you set out to ask but also remember to have fun and not be too serious!

It's Very sad

I had hoped that giving zinesters a place where their books could be reviewed or topics they were interested in could be explored was a good thing.

I notice the linocut post still gets high views!

But no comments, no feedback, no small press books sent in to be reviewed...looks like this blog will soon go the way of the others and be closed down.

If you scream "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" then send in books for review -just ask for the address where to send them -hoopercomicsuk@yahoo.com

I'll give the blog until mid March.

Fred Egg Comics: BREAK THE CAKE

p

80 pages. 
A5
Black & white / colour
£5.00

https://fredeggcomics.bigcartel.com/product/break-the-cake

Published by and with stories written and drawn by David Robertson and with guest artwork by Marc Casilli, Zu Dominiak, Olivia Hicks, Rebecca Horner, Védís Huldudóttir, Paddy Johnston, Tim Kelly, Francesca Mancuso, Norrie Millar, Neil Paterson, Ludi Price, Katie Quinn, Mike Sedakat, and Pam Wye).

I wrote a long review before Christmas but I certainly cannot find it on CBO -Blogger even refuses to accept that some of my own posts exist and I have to go online to search for them! So this is a briefer review as I can only remember some of what I wrote previously.

Contents for this 80 pager are:

01. GOODBYE, STAR WARS 
02. JONATHAN SWIFT: “I AM A FRAUD”
03. HOURLY COMIC DAY 2018
04. INTO THE COMICS ARCHIVE
05. THAT'S BILLY MACKENZIE!
06. THE AMAZING HANG-OUT (with Jack)
07. NUMBER THREE'S THE CHARM

08. TEA BREAK at the RAZOR FACTORY -which I'll mention here as I can remember most of what I wrote about it.

Being a pain in the ass I'll write straight away that the toning used here does not work. It would have been far better left as simple black and white art.  The lettering, as Moebius pointed out, is all part of the creative process and if the artist draws the strip he/she should letter it (unless you have useless fingers like mine then it is perfectly acceptable to computer letter!).

Here is a big problem -is the character in panel 2 and 3 a man or woman? In story telling you need to set these things out clearly to the reader and I have the memory of ex-Fleetway football comic editor Dave Hunt pointing at my artwork and telling another artist "See? This is clear: this is the blond guy and that's the dark haired one so we know the way these are featured they'll be the main focus". It was an odd statement at the time but I get his point.  Here the reader should see straight away that A is female or male -in the panels the neck looks massive.  You have to really think about this because as someone pointed out to me the "gets me out of the house" might also be dialogue from a stay-at-home dad.


09. BIG BUBBLES
10. MINTY McALLISTER, LADY JOURNALIST
11. SPACE STATION EXPLOSION
12. WHICH WAY NOW? (art: Marc Casilli)



Look at the above colour work on WHICH WAY NOW? Basic and simple colouring by computer and it looks awful. Believe me it could look a lot letter using simple water colours or even fibre tips or pencil crayons -I once tried using the computer colouring (IGrafix) and wanted to take a hammer to my fingers. Luckily, I decided to get the Windsor & Newton colour inks and brush out instead.  The solid black background in the third panel -it was a rear window in panel one) is a b-i-g mistake. It throws everything off.

"Roads are busy today" as dialogue  when we can see there are only three (?) vehicles does not work.  You have to be careful when it comes to dialogue and how you use.  One of my strips included a character pointing out that the sky was "full of spaceships" and, yes, I had to draw a sky full of spaceships since drawing only three would be more "Look, three spaceships".

If you use a script then before drawing thumbnails are usually a good idea because they will point out problems with the script and what you have to draw.

13. BAGUETTE DECISIONS (art: Zu Dominiak)
14. THE HOURLY CHANGEOVER (art: Olivia Hicks)
15. SPOILER WARNING (art: Rebecca Horner)
16. DESCARTES' CANDLE (art: Védís Huldudóttir)
17. SEEDLESS (art: Paddy Johnston)
18. URINAL GUM (art: Tim Kelly)




The art in Urinal Gum (above) was very reminiscent of Rob millar's art in the old Khaki Shorts or, going back further, to the old Knock Yaself Out zine.  This is a bit more basic butit shows promise since there are very few artists in the UK coming up with a humour style.  Be interesting to see how far the style progresses in a years time (though most getting into the Small Press tend to leave it after a year or so).

19. EVERYTHING IN MODERATION (art: Francesca Mancuso)
20. STAR-CROSSED LOVERS (art: Norrie Millar)

Star-Crossed Lovers...Absolutely nothing wrong here.  Lettering works, colour and art spot on. Any flaw is so minor it isn't worth mentioning. The strip was the highlight of the book.

21. WEIRD MOMENTS IN DAD ROCK Part One (art: Neil Paterson)
22. CO-PILOT (art: Ludi Price)
23. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS (art: Katie Quinn)
24. JURASSIC MENU (art: Mike Sedakat)
25. PUFFER LOVE (art: Pam Wye)
26. DOG WALKER
27. FRED EGG in “OUT TO LUNCH”

There is a problem I notice and it's like being poked in the eye constantly. The line of the art tends to vary. Most might use an unbroken thicker outline on figures and finer line for face details, etc. If you look at sample 1 above the fella to the left in panel 2 has two different line thickness -his left side has a thinner and broken line and with sample 2 the head looks awful with a thick line on top the head but broken thin line below that.

I would always tell any artist to use just two thicknesses of pen for inking -a 0.3 or 0.5 for outline (just see which you think fits your work best) and a 0.2 or 0.3 for facial details, etc.. the advice is just that and for a long time I used just Berol Fineline pens and you could vary the line to the degree that people think you are lying by saying you are only using one pen not 2 or 3.

https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2018/06/berol-pens-sharpies-and-drawing.html

I suppose that it all depends on what you are aiming for.  The Small Press was always the grass-roots of comics where artists and writers learnt their trade -Mark Millar and Warren Ellis both wrote pieces for Ben Dilworth zines in the 1980s for example and PhantomX's Andrew Hope produced strips for the small press including my own titles. If the publisher and creators involved are just doing this for fun then okay.  I know people criticise me for saying and writing that but the whole point is that the Small Press is NOT Marvel or DC and it is not a big money-making industry and is not bound by any set of rules.

Is the aim to one day produce a much more professional and sellable comic?  Then the lessons need to be learnt. I'm not here to tell people what to do but review and give an opinion.

At £5 for 80 pages it is certainly worth buying to read and with pages such as those by Norrie Millar you'll have a treat.

The book can be ordered online and it can't be much easier than that.

Worth looking at

The Review of Invasion Earth Trilogy I: The Return Of The Gods:Twilight of the Super Heroes

-The Return Of The Gods:Twilight of the Super Heroes/Cross Earths Caper -January ONLY Discount!

And if you want to know what one of Germany's top comic book bloggers thought about the book (and he HAS read a lot of comics in his time) go to Tales From The Kryptonian:
http://talesfromthekryptonian.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-return-of-return-of-gods.html

With the third part of the trilogy being worked on here is your chance to see the build up to The Green Skies at a discounted cover price!

I -The Return Of The Gods:Twilight of the Super Heroes

Paperback, 

A4

Black & White

331 Pages

Price: Reduced to £20.00 (excl. VAT) That's 331 pages for £20!!!

Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-return-of-the-godstwilight-of-the-super-heroes/paperback/product-22076337.html

It begins slowly.  It always does. It's a deception that everything in the world is as it should be and that never changes.

Earth’s heroes and crime-fighters are going about their daily tasks –fighting a giant robot controlled by a mad scientist’s brain, attackers both human and mystical -even alien high priests of some mysterious cult and their zombie followers and, of course, a ghost and a young genius lost in time. 

Pretty mundane. 

But psychics around the world have been sensing something.  A "something" that sends feelings of sheer terror through their psyches.

There is a huge alien Mother-ship near the Moon. Undetected by deep-space radar and other instruments, only a few on Earth have sensed it and they cannot penetrate the hull but only feel psychic screams and....worse.

And then it begins: strange orange spheres isolate and chase some of Earth’s heroes who then vanish into thin air –are they dead?  An attack by an old foe or foes -?

Black, impenetrable domes cover cities world-wide. 

Then it becomes clear to those within the domes what is going on: Alien invasion of Earth! 

A war between the Dark Old Gods and the pantheons that followed! 

Warriors from Earth’s past having to battle each day and whether they die or not they are back the next day! 

No one suspects the driving force behind the events.  One single evil guiding events.  Events that could cause destruction and chaos throughout the multiverse.

Assaulted on all fronts can Earth’s defenders succeed or will they fail...is this truly the end? 

II-The Cross Earths Caper

 

The Cross-Earths Caper: Part II of the Invasion Earth Trilogy

Preview

Paperback, 

A4

Black & White

107 Pages

List Price: £15.00

Price: £12.75 (excl. VAT)

You Save: £2.25 ( 15% )

Prints in 3-5 business days

 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-cross-earths-caper/paperback/product-22076318.html

Following the events on Neo Olympus and the Boarman invasion of Earth, many heroes and crime-fighters have withdrawn from activity. Some are trying to recover from injuries while others are fighting the mental scars left by the events.

But things have to go on.  As heroes from other parallels who helped during the recent events return home, members of the Special Globe Guard are shocked at the sudden appearance of Zom of the Zodiac. Never a sign of good things a-coming!

Very soon, a group of heroes mount a rescue mission and find that a quick rescue mission can turn sour equally quickly. As they overcome one challenge the the heroes become lost between parallel Earths and face new threats.

 Sometimes one Earth just is not enough. The complete story published in issues 7-10 of Black Tower Adventure now in...one handy dandy book!

ALL artwork and characters are (c)2018 T. Hooper-Scharf and BTCG

Linocut Printmaking Tutorial Series Introduction

I think it fair to say that in the 1980s Myra Hancock was the Queen of Lino cut  zines.  why not try it yourself?

Unbelievable January Discount On Invasion Earth Trilogy I & II

-The Return Of The Gods:Twilight of the Super Heroes/Cross Earths Caper -January ONLY Discount!

With the third part of the trilogy being worked on here is your chance to see the build up to The Green Skies at a discounted cover price!

I -The Return Of The Gods:Twilight of the Super Heroes

Paperback, 

A4

Black & White

331 Pages

Price: Reduced to £20.00 (excl. VAT) That's 331 pages for £20!!!

Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-return-of-the-godstwilight-of-the-super-heroes/paperback/product-22076337.html

It begins slowly.  It always does. It's a deception that everything in the world is as it should be and that never changes.

Earth’s heroes and crime-fighters are going about their daily tasks –fighting a giant robot controlled by a mad scientist’s brain, attackers both human and mystical -even alien high priests of some mysterious cult and their zombie followers and, of course, a ghost and a young genius lost in time. 

Pretty mundane. 

But psychics around the world have been sensing something.  A "something" that sends feelings of sheer terror through their psyches.

There is a huge alien Mother-ship near the Moon. Undetected by deep-space radar and other instruments, only a few on Earth have sensed it and they cannot penetrate the hull but only feel psychic screams and....worse.

And then it begins: strange orange spheres isolate and chase some of Earth’s heroes who then vanish into thin air –are they dead?  An attack by an old foe or foes -?

Black, impenetrable domes cover cities world-wide. 

Then it becomes clear to those within the domes what is going on: Alien invasion of Earth! 

A war between the Dark Old Gods and the pantheons that followed! 

Warriors from Earth’s past having to battle each day and whether they die or not they are back the next day! 

No one suspects the driving force behind the events.  One single evil guiding events.  Events that could cause destruction and chaos throughout the multiverse.

Assaulted on all fronts can Earth’s defenders succeed or will they fail...is this truly the end? 

II-The Cross Earths Caper

 

The Cross-Earths Caper: Part II of the Invasion Earth Trilogy

Preview

Paperback, 

A4

Black & White

107 Pages

List Price: £15.00

Price: £12.75 (excl. VAT)

You Save: £2.25 ( 15% )

Prints in 3-5 business days

 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-cross-earths-caper/paperback/product-22076318.html

Following the events on Neo Olympus and the Boarman invasion of Earth, many heroes and crime-fighters have withdrawn from activity. Some are trying to recover from injuries while others are fighting the mental scars left by the events.

But things have to go on.  As heroes from other parallels who helped during the recent events return home, members of the Special Globe Guard are shocked at the sudden appearance of Zom of the Zodiac. Never a sign of good things a-coming!

Very soon, a group of heroes mount a rescue mission and find that a quick rescue mission can turn sour equally quickly. As they overcome one challenge the the heroes become lost between parallel Earths and face new threats.

 Sometimes one Earth just is not enough. The complete story published in issues 7-10 of Black Tower Adventure now in...one handy dandy book!

ALL artwork and characters are (c)2018 T. Hooper-Scharf and BTCG