Lloyd and the Bear

So I’m back to updating issue #14 of Lloyd and the Bear and I had originally thought that this was going to be a quick and easy issue but it’s turning out to be a bit more of a slog!

Why? Well, it turned out that when I first put this book together I got super lazy (or more likely in a rush) and avoided giving Lloyd and Bear fingers in most panels and rather just went for circle stubs to the end of their arms!

Now hey, when I do small ickle pictures of them I’m totally okay with doing that but on close ups? Yeah, I need to add fingers. See?

And I’ve also progressed from how I use to do fingers and how they look when holding on to an object. I use to just go with ovals but now go with two joining circles (and hey, don’t they look like macaroni? Mmm….. Macaroni….)

So yeah, look at me all grown up and drawing actual fingers that point and stuff! I’m close to actually calling myself a comic artist!

Yay!

More soon! Bear hugs!

PS. Next! Toes!

…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!