Friday, April 16, 2010

I've just finished the first week of my residency at the absolutely fantastic firstsite and apart from being exhausted I'm also delighted with how it's going.

For one thing, because it's the second week of the schools' Easter hols, kids & parents have been flooding in and helping me out.

Having been commissioned to produce a comic work about Colchester and its people, I was really keen to get everyone who walked in the doors of the studio involved. The first phase of this plan required interested participants (and there has been no shortage of them) to produce short autobiographical comics.




How I've been coaxing people into drawing comics...



I'm in awe of how creative and hard-working all of the artists involved have been. This morning a mum and her son stayed for over three hours toiling away on their pieces, and it was absolutely worth the effort as both were incredible:





This was the artist's first time painting since school!


This is what the studio looks like in a rare quiet moment. I'd have taken photos when it was manic but I was too busy talking about comics and being covered in paint. Such is the life of an artist...





And this is my window. Drawing in the glass comics panel attracts quite a crowd. And I've already been told off once for leaving a bracket unclosed (many thanks to the young lady who sorted that for me).




Other amazing things that have happened to me this week include meeting Pat Mills (lovely bloke), being privileged to hear some absolutely great talks - all part of the WHAAM season here in Colchester - and hilarious, delicious, outrageous meals with Jes and Cath of firstsite, Martin of ACE Comics and Simon Grennan of Grennan and Sperandio.

That's it for this post. I'm back at my B&B and gearing up for a Friday night in Colchester.
I'm back in the studio tomorrow, so if you're in the area please pop in and say hi!

(Oh and if you're going to the Fleece Station party tomorrow, I'll hopefully see you there!)

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