Monday 10 December 2012

Porcelain: "Goodbye so soon"

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Finally I've just this weekend wrapped on my end of Porcelain, that's it, vamos!
(Pictured above: all the Porcelain work, to the left the inks and pencils to the right.)
It goes without saying that most artists, especially the ones I follow and admire, pull off this amount of work with double the skill on a monthly basis, so in comparison it may seem like i'm making a big deal out of this, but for me, career-wise, this is a big deal. It's my first comic project that I have completed that has gone beyond the 27page mark. I have others of a similar size in the works but this is the first to be completed.
It is sad to see the end and to say I loved those characters is a massive understatement. Thinking about it, it reminded me of when I had the chance to meet Becky Cloonan very briefly at the last Kapow in London. I was eagerly buying her short story The Mire from her and straight after buying I sat in a quiet spot and read the whole thing, a beautiful story to say the least. One of many things that struck a chord with me in this book was her dedication at the beginning, it read: "Dedicated to those of you with crushes on your characters". After reading the book I went back to her table and asked her to sign it and gushed over how much I agreed with that statement. Here I am at the end of the book and it's great, but almost heart breakingly sad to have drawn these guys possibly for the last time. Maybe we'll re-visit them again or they will be seen somewhere in the distance of another book, who knows? If they do ever come a knocking I'll have tea and little cakes ready. …and spoons.
This week I'll not only be catching up on some much needed sleep and time with my lady (and of course my Xbox may be hard wired into me for a little while) I'll also be sorting out some back matter for the end of the book. I’m hoping to cram in lots of behind the scenes paraphernalia, character sketches that made it in, some that didn't etc... So do stay tuned for the full book. It’s due out in February and I’m always happy to hear any feedback :)
Before I go, I just wanted to express A LOT of love (and cheeseballs) for Ben, Matt and Andre. Thank’s for being the best kind of work buddies.