That’s right! My festival of generosity is back, right here- have a look and if there’s anything you fancy let me know as soon as you can, because it’s first come first served, so if you snissout, you’ll miss out!
There’s stuff i’ve never posted before, like this picture of Biffo, stuff from the other week’s suggestion special and other work from the last few years which is taking up a very thin amount of space which i could do with, so grab a bargain while you can!
I’ve decided to make some of my out-of-print comics available as pdfs for an extremely miniscule fee, including the very well received Ethel Sparrowhawk, which i’ve done a new cover for as the wraparound print cover isnt that punchy when it’s just the front bit (which is possibly my design skills at fault, but it was 5 years ago) and was in boring black and white on grey card, so i’ve jazzed it up a bit, whilst still keeping it melancholy. Likewise with Jolly Bear and Fun Coconut Summer Special where i’ve done a little colouring job on the original cover, which was just line art printed on a peachy card, so i’ve stuck to those kind of colours. Even though it was one of the first comics i did, it’s still one of my favourites and features a great poem by Gareth ‘Gaz Top’ Van Brookes in the first part, and lots of pictures of ‘Basic Instinct’ in part two.
Also available, the Completist comic, collecting anthology and unseen works by myself and Gareth, and the Banal Pig Landscape Anthology, which features the cream of British small press creators including Stephen Collins, Oliver East, Paul O’ Connell and Daniel Locke. The only reason i’m not reprinting this is that its full colour and is really expensive to print, so please check it out. You can buy them all individually, or as a bundle for just £2.50 which is a ridiculous bargain.
So here’s my piece from the ‘May the 4th Be With You’ show, the Star Wars themed exhibition of art and toys which took place last weekend at the Full Circle gallery in Leeds. As far as I’m aware it didn’t sell, so if you’re interested in buying it please get in touch (banalpig@gmail.com). I’m also doing a digitally coloured version as a poster which should be available soon.
Don’t forget, i’ll be at the Handmade Art and Craft Fair this saturday selling all the usual good stuff, it’s free entry and features an array of art and craft creators and their wares, so pop and say hello (it’s the least you could do).
I’ve had a free and easy day today, so i decided to throw open the subject matter of my day of drawing to suggestions from facebook and twitter, and here are the results. Firstly, Ethel Sparrowhawk co-creator Jemima Von Schindelberg suggested ‘David Cameron eating a big sandwich while England burns’. I enjoyed drawing Cameron, with his smooth bulbous head and funny little teeth, and i had to stop myself making the sandwich a metaphor for the working classes or something, like they do in political cartoons.
Next, another old pal Ez suggested ‘an Avenger’. i’ve always fancied drawing Scarlett Johansson’s funny face so here it is, where she is black widow in the avengers film.
Next was a suggestion from twitter, @CandyLikesFrogs suggested ‘Jellyfish’, so to mix things up a bit i did a strip, featuring our old pal Laser Skeleton, another one of the old space battles series i first did for the funnies.
next my brother Paul suggested ‘Nick Cave mowing his lawn’, so here it is:
and lastly, @
i’ve quite enjoyed knocking these out, i might do it again on a slow day, but if you fancy having something drawn especially for you that you can own, touch and display on your wall, you can get a one-hour drawing for just £20, details here.
So it was the 4th Leeds Alternative Comics Fair on Saturday, and by all accounts (certainly in my opinion) it was the best one so far. We had a great lineup of exhibitors, and a fantastic turnout with loads of people really interested and enthusiastic about what we’re all doing. As usual, co-organiser Hugh Raine has taken a masterful selection of photographs of the event so please look at them if you need evidence- the above photo is also one of Hugh’s. I was selling Christopher Wren for the first time (and made a little display especially), and there was a good response to that, with lots of people buying both the happy and unpleasant endings- there are a few left of the original edition, so go here for ordering details, along with a shonky video demonstrating the unusual format of the comic.
I’ve taken down the April Sale Madness page as promised, so thanks to everyone who took advantage of that, and yesterday i went through all the shop pages on the right hand side to update them and make sure there wasn’t any old weird offers and stuff that i’d forgotten about, and also to put prices up unfortunately. I’m not happy about it, but i’ve had to increase prices by 25p to cover the hike in postage costs (thanks David Cameron you cock), except for the BP Portrait Anthology which i have reduced to clear, and is now only £3 inc p&p. However, if you would like a few comics please email me at banalpig@gmail.com as I can work out a discount with the comics being posted together. Don’t forget, i’ve also got poster prints for sale and will do you a nice one-hour drawing of your choice for just £20, an ideal gift for your loved ones.
I also updated my about page, so have a look at that if you like.
Elsewhere, I’ve got a piece in the Star Wars show May the 4th Be with You in Leeds this weekend, so i’m looking forward to that, and i’ve got a table at the Handmade Art and Craft Fair at Wharfe Chambers, Leeds on Sat 12th May.
Just a little reminder about LACF4 tomorrow, should it be necessary. Copies of Christopher Wren have been painstakingly cut, folded, signed, numbered and bagged and will be available for the first time tomorrow in an exclusive limited edition. I’ll also be selling posters, badges and ALL MY OTHER COMICS including copies of the new Comix Reader 3.
SEE YOO THERE!
Here’s a few panels from my piece for the upcoming Star Wars-themed show May the 4th Be With You, it’s watercolour and pen on paper and features some of my favourite random Star Wars characters slagging “you” off for some reason (it kind of makes sense when you see the whole thing)- here’s the pathetic robot bounty hunter IG88 and Bib Fortuna (sorry for the slightly dodgy pic quality- i’ll show it in full after the show). It’ll be for sale for a very reasonable price, and i am also planning to do a digitally coloured poster print from the line art, to be released after the show if there’s demand for it.
As you will hopefully be aware, it’s the Leeds Alternative Comics Fair 4 again a week on Saturday, the 28th April, so please come along and see us, and why not buy my new limited edition Christopher Wren foldy comic, plus posters, badges and the rest of my wonderful back catalogue, along with the new Comix Reader 3?
I will also be peddling wares at the Handmade and Craft Fair in Leeds on May 12th, so it’s a busy couple of weeks for old Stevie T.
And speaking of peddling wares, don’t forget about the CRAZY COMICS SALE until the end of April which has proved quite popular so far, the one hour drawings available for just £20, and my services as animal portraitist, and i’m open for other commissions for extremely reasonable rates so please email me (banalpig@googlemail.com) for details.
Oh yeah, i’ve started Banal Pig 5 as well, and i’m very excited about it. If only it didnt take so damn long to make comics…
Look! Indeed at the APRIL SALE MADNESS!!!! page for bargains galore, special purchases which are available until the end of the month only, when the postage costs go up.
So here’s the front page to Christopher Wren, In Search of Excitement which i finished and sent off to my dad for printing today. As previously mentioned, it folds out like a map rather than the traditional pamphlet format, and has 2 different poster sized endings. gosh! anyways, i’m pleased with it as it stands, hopefully the finished product will be as good as i hope. It will be available for the Leeds Alternative Comics Fair 4, 28th April and i’ll be doing it in a small edition to see how it goes down.
Yo ho ho! Here’s a little snippet of the new comic i’m working on for the Leeds Alternative Comics Fair on 28th April. I’m trying to get it finished over this easter weekend, and i’m cracking on at the moment with the main page of exposition (it folds out so the pages get bigger as you read through the comic) before the big poster sized reveal (which is pretty much done). And yes, the colours are meant to look like that, i’ve decided to use a limited colour palette of browns and blues, plus yellow for little chris.
