CCGB #129

CCGB #128

News, news, news...

Firstly, happy new year everyone! I hope you all had a good christmas (mine was pretty good overall) and an enjoyable new year.

Secondly, the news. Exiting things are happening at Raven Towers. As I mentioned previously, I did some commisions just before christmas, and the response was such that I'm in the process of setting up a new website just to deal with the commisions side of my work. I can't say too much at present, as it's still in the planning stages, but hopefully, it'll be up and running before March. keep an eye on this blog, as I'll be announcing it here first.

I've noticed that my cartooning speed in increasing. This is good news, as it means I can produce more, including possibly submitting some more cartoons to Private Eye (I did recently, and got a lovely note from Ian Hislop, no less).

On the hardware side, my tablet now has Manga Studio EX4 (thanks Shelly), which will give me even more cartoon creation options than ever before. I'm also in the process of trying cartoons on canvas, using acrylic paints (more on this when it happens). All in all, January / February is going to be a very exiting time for me, cartooning wise.

My day job however, is making increasing demands on me - oh well, I suppose I'd rather be busy than bored... :)

Pork Chop

A paper / ink cartoon this time, at the request of Hans & Ulrike Twardokus, who have been collecting pig-based cartoonists signatures for over 20 years - I hope you like mine... :)

So sorry for the lack of updates recently...

...but I've been so busy. Not only has my day job been demanding, but I've finally started to get some cartooning work (thanks Annette), so my input into the CCGB compo has been limited,but there is news on the horizon...

Commission work seems to be popular, and I've had several enquiries lately for cartoons, including some on canvas (something I hadn't thought of), so coming soon will be a new look Hypervox website, complete with portfolio, and online ordering of commissions! I'm looking at offering cartoon and caricature commissions in serveral formats, including A4 framed prints, canvas paintings and so on. I don't know how far this will go, but the ride looks fun...!

2012 looks like it could be a good year for me - let's hope so, eh readers? :)

CCGB #121

CCGB #120

CCGB #119

CCGB #118

Tales of Tablets - Part Drei...

Yup - I'm back with an update!

Thanks to the guys at Speedie Computers, I'm now the proud owner of a Fujitsu Stylistic ST5112 Tablet PC...


Forgive the quaility of the pictures, as my phone is not the best. As you can see, the Fuji comes with a rotating stand (great if you want to do portrait stuff). It's faster than my old TC1100, and has more memory. Not only that, but it's a Dual Core machine....


My beloved OpenCanvas now seems more responsive, making it much more fun to draw. I used to draw my cartoon roughs on paper, scan them in, and then colour on the tablet - now I'm able to do everything on the tablet. It's not perfect - it has sometimes has problems with the digitizer when it comes out of hibernation, but all in all, I'm very happy with it.

CCGB #116

This was my original one this week - but went with this...

ccgb #115

Freddie Mercury

Got a massive 12 points for this one - WOOT!

ccgb #114

Tales of Tablets - Part Deux...

I was hoping by now to have done a few cartoons, and be able to enthuse about the speed, reliability and overall goodness of the Fujitsu tablet...

... but I can't. On the day of the last post, I arrived home to find a power supply, and with mounting exitement , pressed the "ON" button.

Only nothing happened - but it happened suddenly mark you!

I tried absoloutely everything I could think of, but no joy, so I've arranged for it to go back for them to attempt a repair - only it's not been picked up yet. And it's been nearly a week.

I am rapidly losing patience with the company concerned - if it's not collected today, I'm gunning for blood...

Tales of Tablets...

You've probably noticed that I'm churning out more cartoons these days - that's because I'm using a HP TC1100 Tablet PC as my main creation tool now. The TC1100 gives me a "mobile studio" that I can take wherever I want, whenever I want, and that allows me to draw cartoons faster than I ever have before. Combined with Portalgraphics OpenCanvas software, it's been a major boon, and although I had problems initially, I've now got to the point where I can't imagine using anything else.

That was, until last week, when I was given the opportunity to purchase a Fujitsu Stylistic st5112 Tablet PC. The Fujitsu is (supposedly) faster, more expandable, and possesses a larger physical screen (12", rather than 10.5"), all of which should give me a better working experience. Unfortunately, due to a delivery mix up, the tablet arrived without it's power supply or stylus, so I can't even test it out yet. Hopefully though, these items will arrive in the next few days, and I'll be able to give you guys a full report.

Another interesting thing, is that PortalGraphics has released Mangalobo, their own take on the "create manga professionally" software market that is currently dominated by Manga Studio. Although I have Manga Studio, I've never liked it, and after having a quick play with the Manalobo trial, I'm pleased to report that it looks promising. I'm looking forward to installing the trial on the Fujitsu, so I can write up a full report.

On a personal note, you'll have noticed that for the last few CCGB compos, I've created more than one cartoon, and I've also expressed doubts about the ones I've submitted. I've put this down to the "not believing in myself" or "going for the safe option" school of thought. I've been doing this for nearly three years (at the time of writing), and I know we cartoonists are a deprecating bunch, but I really should trust my own instincts when it comes to which cartoons to use... :)

CCGB #112

Think this one was better...

Another day at work...

CCGB #111

Here's another take on it...

Autumn...