Sunday Gem: Commercial Artist Brian Bysouth Interview

 The artwork for Matt Helm by Brian Bysouth, 1966

 A piece of unused concept artwork for Judge Dredd, 1995, by Brian Bysouth

Not Comics: A fascinating look at the work and career of a commercial artist.
An extensive Film on Paper interview with British designer and artist Brian Bysouth.

Images from Film on Paper.

English Comics Daily Diversion: Wonder May 25 1946

Productivity and Motivation: Jason Franks and Paul Mason

Part three of talking with self-publishing/small press cartoonists about productivity and motivation.

Jason Franks

Do you experience a drop in productivity upon completing a comic? Have you developed methods to deal with creative lulls? What do you consider the primary obstructions of your productivity?

Nope.

Because I am principally a writer, it usually takes months or years for any given piece that I write to see print--so I'm already well into the next project. In fact the converse is probably true: depending on the publisher, pushing a book through the lettering/production process might interrupt my writing schedule for a period, so my productivity usually goes up right after a book comes out when I can settle down and get back to creative work.
  

 Paul Mason

After spending maybe 4-6 months solid on a book writing, drawing, colouring, lettering, assembling/pre print etc, especially ruining my body clock in the process, I can’t help but blow off a few days doing very little creatively as I recover. Read a favourite book, stare at the idiot box, dust off the Playstation for my twice a year game session etc, and maybe sleep longer than 5 hours.

But no method is better to beat this than the next pending deadline/task on the list. I remind myself “Don’t be an amateur”- This applies not only to my comic tasks, but also my sports or work practices. A pro would tough out the pending tasks and get it done. I figure I can’t reach my goals screwing about, and not bringing out new stuff. Not much of a method, berating myself mentally, but it’s true. It’s the same when I have to find the time to train for a world championship or tournament while working, studying and comicing- I might have worked all day at the day job, sat through peak hour traffic, get home to more work, an empty kitchen that needs groceries, sort a meal out, prep for the next day etc. and think the last thing I want to do is exercise. “Would an amateur relax? What would a champion do?”. There’s my answer. That comic page needs to be done by the end of the evening. “Would a pro watch TV and play video games instead?”

The fact that I hate one of my day jobs, and I have a doctoral degree to complete soon is a motivation. Improvement should always be an answer to procrastination. Don’t just “exist” in life. Accomplish things.

The enemy- Social media. A necessary evil in terms of keeping in touch, promotion etc, but you can easily get caught up looking at nothing important at all, chatting to people etc. A great time-swallower. Really though, the enemy is me. The TV or internet doesn’t turn itself on. It’s a battle, since comics can be a solitary pursuit, and the social media contact can be an alluring time-waster. But my main drive? Reminding myself that I don’t have much time; every minute wasted is potential sleep time disappearing, and that book down the track might not get done on time.

English Comics Daily Diversion: The Wonder Nov 24 1945

Supanova Melbourne 2013

Ive Sorocuk and Scarlette Baccini

Ben Hutchings

Frank Candiloro

The Liedekijn table: Bonny Ross, Ele Jenkins, Henry Pop and Mei Hikari

Emmett O'Cuana

Ceili Braidwood and Lauren Hills

W. Chew “Chewie” Chan

Jason and Yuriko Franks

 Dean Rankine

Chris Sequeira

Colin Wilson

James Andre, Kenny Chan, David Blumenstein and Tim McEwen

Paul Mason

Paul Abstruse

David Blumenstein

Bruce Mutard

Stewart Cook and Joel van der Knaap of Square Peg Publishing

Dave Gibbons

Milk Shadow Books

Matthew Hoddy and Caitlin Major of Space Pyrates

T-Rex Jones

Royd Burgoyne

Happy 28th Birthday, Richard Fairgray

Marriage Equality in New Zealand

I can recall when The New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Act was passed in 1986 and yesterday marked another historic piece of legislation with the passing of MP Louisa Wall's bill to legalise gay marriage in New Zealand. Several New Zealand cartoonists provided commentary on the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill being passed into law, making New Zealand the 13th nation to allow same-sex marriage.
 

  Rod Emmerson

 Al Nisbet

 Brendan Boughen

Alex Parsons

 Rod Emmerson

 

Richard Fairgray

This gallery was compiled from online sources and all images are copyright of the respective cartoonists. Any cartoonists who wish to have their work removed please email me.

English Comics Daily Diversion: Chick's Own May 24th, 1952