'So you're doing it to impress Philip Reeve!'
'Noo!" I protested vehemently. 'I really need to learn how to do this!' Then I thought about it a bit more, and decided that if I really wanted to impress Philip Reeve (who's been posting his own sketch-a-day), I'd be posting anything but landscape sketches since it's the area where I'm least skilled.
And then I thought about it a bit harder and wondered if perhaps I was trying to impress him with my stubborn, pig-headed persistence. Yes, I decided, Polly must be right. I probably am trying to impress Philip Reeve (oh, the shame), but I can live with that if it forces me to keep drawing. I won't even tell you how fast I am whipping through his Mortal Engines books; he's impressed me, at any rate.
Here's a stretch of riverside at Newmilns Farm, near Wigtown, where Angus and Mary live. I'm still trying to work out how to draw finely-textured light (or backlit) things against a dark background without having to draw every blade of grass. Tricky. I bought a used book at Wigtown's Old Bank Bookshop called The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections that I'm going to take along sketching with me, for reference.
The countryside around there's so beautiful, Stuart and I just kept saying, 'Wow. Wow. Just... wow.'
A big thanks to Richard Bruton and his daughter Molly, who have given Vern and Lettuce the ultimate thumbs-up. Richard writes:
...when I asked her what she thought of the book after she’d read it (and reread it several times) she simply added:
'It’s my favourite comic.'
I really can’t think of any way she could have said it better and can’t really fault her judgement either.
And the other big thanks to comics journalist Matt Badham for the interview he did with me, cross-posted at the Forbidden Planet International blog and Down The Tubes.
(Click on the pic to go to the different articles.)
(Blank Slate publisher Kenny Penman takes issue with the interview in the FPI blog comments, hehe. Still trying to think how I might reply.)
If you're in London, don't miss tonight's Laydeez Do Comics event just off Brick Lane, featuring my fab studio mate Ellen Lindner, DFC colleague and friend Patrice Aggs, artist Steve White and Charlie Bowden from Pickled Ink Illustration Agency. I'll be there, details here!
Edit: Okay, now my studio mates are making fun of me. Just found this on my desk. As if Ms Deadlyknitshade did not beat me in reading the whole series.
