Getting out of your comfort zone…

Oct27
by on October 27, 2019 at 7:20 am
Posted In: Lloyd and the Bear

…and managing to get a conversation going.

Over the years I’ve struggled at comic cons. You see, I’m not great at starting a conversation. I either come off short, overly friendly, trying to force a sale (which I would totally never do) or just my usual socially awkward self.

To break down these social/mental walls I’ve employed a couple of tricks in the past.

One was introducing a Bear puppet and him being the starting point of a conversation (even though he never talks…) and the other was to wear a hat. A stupid had. A hat that would make me so uncomfortable that I was aware that no matter what I did or say it wouldn’t be as terrible as the hat that I wore. And for a while I tried this cardboard creation of a hat I’d made which ended up being fun (and I got comfortable wearing it – dang it!) but it was getting tatty and falling to bits(!)

So at the start of this week I decided that the puppet was causing too much pain in actually operating (it’s a bit on the big, unwieldy side) so I went and quickly made another hat…

 

The thing is I actually feel totally okay wearing it! To the point that I have to remember to take it off when I left MCM London comic con last night! But it’s still helping me break them walls so it’s a win all round!

But this wasn’t how it was supposed to look anyways! It was originally just going to be a small bear but I started making the head with no actual planning or design to work from and then realised that a full Bear body to go with Bear’s head would be WAY too big as the head I’d made was pretty big – for a cap at least! (See? I keep making Bear things that are way too big. Seems to be my thing).

So I went with the reduced version of head and arms and I’m so happy the design I’m already planning on a version 2 for next year! Slightly smaller and with a few additional features! Oh! And to have another cap with Lloyd too!)

But…. will I remember to actually get this done as I get towards MCM London next May? Hmm, guess we’ll find out?

Right, I’m off to get ready for the last day of MCM London. If this is your first time checking out my website then welcome and feel free to have a look around! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (links are on here too!) and I hope you had a great weekend at MCM London!

More soon! Bear hugs!

One shall stand, and one shall fall…

Oct25
by on October 25, 2019 at 5:58 am
Posted In: Lloyd and the Bear

It’s MCM London and although I got all my stuff ready super early this time I had a last minute idea to create a hat to wear throughout the weekend (which I’ll post about soon) and so got lost in creating that. Oops!

But hey, I still have prints to talk about!

So as well as the updated Tedpool and Woolbearine parody prints I also had two other ideas I REALLY wanted to go with! First of all, an IT parody!

I will admit that I’ve not seen either of the new films yet (although I did see the original way back when and intend to watch the first of the new line of films this Halloween) but having got the idea in my head I HAD to do this! And although I had a few ideas in my head there really was only one solid sketch that I felt totally worked!

Then there was my other idea which had looooong been stuck in my head and was a much needed parody of Aquaman what with having absolutely LOVED the movie! So yeah, I came up with Arfur Curry!

There was a bit of moving about with getting this all to work. I wanted Bear in the picture, I wanted the angry look that Aquaman gives off (movie version – got to love Mamoa for making that character so his own! And cool!), but I also wanted the trident and that’s a lot to fit in a page without leaving empty space! So yeah, I came up with the above picture.

But here’s the thing, I’m not in love with it. There’s a lllllllot of green in this and the background is an afterthought and I knew I could do better. 

It use to be that I would be so happy to get a working pun that I would run with it no matter what but I’m needing to be that bit stricter now and also go with my gut. I can do better.

And I will do for next year’s lot of conventions! Promise!

Arfur deserves better and I’ve been really pleased with my new Woolbearine and Tedpool pictures and that has really made me want to push the boundaries on what I’m doing! So yeah, 2020 for that! (And also a Mighty Fur (Thor, right?) parody!)

Anyways, that’s next year! Back to this year and MCM this weekend! I’m at table CV135 and got my new prints, old prints, books and all the other gubbins you’ve come to expect!

And the unexpected with my new hat! Oooh, the unexpected!

Hope to see you there!

More soon! Bear hugs!

New prints – part 2!

Oct15
by on October 15, 2019 at 6:50 am
Posted In: Lloyd and the Bear

And it’s not only another updated print but one that, like Woolbearine, has been updated twice!

It’s the bear with a mouth, Tedpool!

Having gone with from the cover from issue #1 of the original Deadpool limited series to the original movie poster of the first movie I decided to be original and come up with my own Tedpool print!

I only had two ideas for this one, the one I went with and a shot of Tedpool through a hole in what looks likes a rather famous honey loving bear….

It really came down to wanting a clearer picture of Tedpool and also less guns (as in zero) in the picture (because knives and slashing is okay, right…?)

But yeah, it was time for a change. The original picture is crazy old and I realised that it’s been a good few years since the first Deadpool film came out so yeah, time for something new!

And hey, do you recognise any of the bears I’m giving a nod to in the picture? I’ve only just realised that I missed out Yogi Bear! I should totally have had a tie flying through the air! Dang it! (Hmm…. maybe in the update of this updated picture? No?)

I really hope you like this one – it was a load of fun to put together!

More soon! Bear hugs!

New prints – part 1!

Oct14
by on October 14, 2019 at 6:50 am
Posted In: Lloyd and the Bear

It’s almost time for MCM London and that means new prints!

And hey, as you might have worked out I do like updating things and this time I’ve gone and done an updated Woolbearine picture!

The two pictures on the left are the old ones that I’ve done in the past and I’ve been feeling that it’s time to bring out a new one!

As you can see, I’ve kept with the Snikt/Knit pun but my big thing was to have a proper full body shot of Woolbearine rather than of his head!

I ended up not using any old covers to parody for this one although I almost did….

Do you recognise what was my inspiration for these ones?

The one of the left was super tempting and I had plans to have the starting of a jumper on Woolbearine’s ‘claws’ but I had an issue with it still being a headshot!

The other sketch was less of a contender and I figured that the sound effect running in a different direction from the logo might come off a bit confusing.

So yeah, full body shot with sound effect (which was inspired by the opener of the old X-men cartoon) became the winner!

So what do you think? Do you like the new print?

Let me know on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtaq #Woolbearine

More tomorrow with our next print (which is also an update of an old one!)

Bear hugs!

Back to work!

Oct02
by on October 2, 2019 at 4:30 pm
Posted In: Lloyd and the Bear

So I’m back from MCM Scotland set in the fantastic city of Glasgow (hey, I’m biased) and with a day off I’ve been busy continuing my updates on issue #14.

As I’ve said before there’s not that many changes to make in this issue and here’s an example of some of them small changes.

As you’ll see I’ve made a few changes to Rizos’ face as I found it kept changing throughout the issue. But yeah, with these panels I got to make another change/improvement too – getting Rizos to pull off a much better imitation of a scene from the movie Ferris Buellers Day off where Jeannie Bueller faces off against Ferris!

What do you think? Did I get it right?

And with that, I’m back to work! More soon!

Bear hugs!