Matthew Craven is an illustrator and former street performer from Grimsby.

Can you explain what you did with the Earthbound Misfits? Were you a tumbler or the bloke who got fired from a cannon?

Nor a tumbler or the guy who gets fired from a cannon! I used to do ‘street performances’ with the Earthbound Misfits, the guys who taught me from the age of 12 in school. Predominantly we would perform circus skills workshops and street theatre. We’d often perform character based acts and interact with our audience sometimes using strange costumes designed and made by myself, such as ‘Mel’ a shy, ugly and reclusive creature that collected smells using a coconut powered machine (captured on film here by Mr & Mrs Swing).  I used to teach unicycling, tight-rope, globe-walking, club passing, fire breathing, diabolo etc in schools, festivals and sometimes at the strangest corporate bonding/teamwork sessions and one for the young British Olympic Team, that was different, in a really posh manor house with a “buffet” consisting of raw vegetables, raisins and bananas!

What made you go from being a magician to starting up in illustration?  Do you still perform?

I had no real desire to become a proper magician. It stemmed from a lack of income and people asking the Misfits if we knew any magicians. It was however a real childhood passion of mine, almost an obsession. I began to loose interest after I won Young Magician of the Year at our regional Magic Circle and as I began sixth form college, I thought it was a bit geeky, I was a bit geeky. Both juggling and magic always allowed creativity in my work but never satisfied me as art and design could. I knew jumping straight into uni after foundation would be a mistake, so I deliberately lived in shared flats in Grimsby allowed the entertainment work to fizzle out and worked shit jobs to thoroughly depress myself into the realisation that uncreative jobs are unsatisfying and a massive waste of time and in time, I’m sure, would affect my sanity. These days I only perform magic when I’m bored at the pub.

You work in quite a few different styles and media, is there any particular type you enjoy more?

I’m still in the exploratory stage of finding what media works best for me. I enjoy the realism and credibility oils offer, but I’ll always resort to the first medium that I fell in love with; ink. Recently I tried working in 3D which I found to be quite successful, it caters for my more conceptual work that wouldn’t necessarily work as a 2D image. I’m looking for a happy medium that’s beginning to form in my recent experiments in mono printing and collage, combining them with ink drawings to form dark, rich illustrations which deliver much more than my previous work.

You can see some grotesque influences in the illustration like Ralph Steadman, Gerald Scarfe and the like – who else do you look at for inspiration?

Well I absolutely love Steadman, and for better or for worse my drawings have always been compared to his. Recently I was lucky enough to see David Hockney’s dry-point etchings for the Brothers Grimm Fairy tales at the Fishing Heritage Centre in Grimsby. These illustrations are absolutely beautiful and influencing my work  for their simplicity, intelligence and fine technique. It’s hard to think of all the artists who’s work inspires me but one’s which pop into my head are Ronald Searle, Jenny Saville, Gerhard Richter, Takashi Murakami, films by Joe Magee, Yuri Norstein and the sculptural work of David Shrigley, Ron Mueck and Wilfred Wood’s wonderfully weird characters. I also find inspiration in comedy, music by Young Marble Giants, old amateur photographs, doodling and people watching.

Looking at something like The Hump (which reminds me of an eerie cross between a morris dancers horse and some outcast from the Henson Workshop), do you ever want to stick costume/stage design into your work?

In all honesty costume design is unfortunately very time consuming, sometimes expensive, sometimes requires far too much sewing which I’m no expert. For future three dimensional work I’ll just be sticking to sculpture but these creature/costume ideas will no doubt permeate my 2D work in some capacity. But then again, if someone was to commission me to design costumes I wouldn’t say no!

Whats your Monsters series about?  I get the Barry & Paul and Bellamy references, what’s the Marcus one?

Those Monsters are a response to a university brief called “Make Me A Monster” it was character development project developed, I think, to delve in to the darker regions of our imagination. Initially my ideas were 1:1 scale deformed humanoid blobs in antique glass domes. I began thinking about their personalities, so I gave them names based on people from I knew years ago and of course the Chuckle Brothers who I never found funny, just disturbing. The naming influenced the designs and working with old personal photos and those I collect from books and newspapers shaped them further into what they are now. There’s something reassuring and haunting about these photos/stills from the past be it funny, innocent or profoundly sad. I plan to make more of these with more emphasis on a scrapbook feel to them with more critical distance from situations and people from my past Informing my 2D work and vice versa.

I’m at a very fortunate position at the moment, it’s the end of my second year, and I have a whole summer to waste on my artistic whims before the stress-riddled third year and finally the outside world.

You can find more at:

http://facebook.com/pages/Matthew-Crav-Craven-Illustration/125770520794866

http://crav.co.uk/

Reporter and former Green Beret Michael Yon is an unabashed supporter of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.  A divisive figure, he is openly critical of the management of the war but remains very popular with both servicemen and those at home in the US.

Where are you now and what’s happening with your embeds since your last one was cut off?

Today in Singapore but recently was covering the serious fighting in downtown Bangkok in which about 86 people were killed and about 1,900 wounded.  Insofar as embedding with the U.S. military in the future, I do not envision that happening again. I will go back to the war but unlikely to be embedded.

Is it likely you can get embedded with British forces again?  What about other different countries – does the attitude differ country to country towards embedded reporters?

The British invited me several times when news broke of my disembed with U.S.  I had planned to go with them this summer, but after what happened with U.S. (and disembed with U.K. last year), it makes more sense to go alone.  U.S./U.K. will not hesitate to waste your time and money.  No longer makes sense to embed.  Not with so much censorship creeping in under McChrystal and the unpredictable, moody nature of senior public affairs officers such as Admiral Gregory Smith.

What made you take up being a photographer?

Photography is fascinating.  Insofar as communications, I would argue that still photography is by far the most powerful and versatile communications vector for reaching large audiences quickly and powerfully.

You’ve previously said that you initially used the camera as a notepad for your writing – when did it start to kick in as a proper creative tool?

In the earliest days, I just liked taking photos so I bought a new Nikon FE2.  This might have been 1983.  I shot mostly plants, birds, weather, whatever interested me.  But for years I hardly picked up a camera.  Then I started writing in about 1996 and eventually bought a cheap digital as a note pad.  I shot thousands of images mostly as notes and finally photography started taking a life of its own.

What were you writing about when you first started out then?  How do you feel that has developed over the years alongside your photography?

My first book is called “Danger Close” and you can see it on Amazon.com.  My other writing projects are still somewhat confidential as have had to put them on hold during the war.  Insofar as the relationship between writing and photography, the more you do both, the more they meld into one.  Writing and photography used to seem like completely different art forms, and on some level they are, but on another level they are the same thing.

What sort of gear do you use – how much do you have to hump about?  How robust does equipment have to be to work in the desert?

For the first few years, I was a minimalist.  Not because I was truly a minimalist but because my skills were not sufficient to warrant buying top of the line gear.  I went to Iraq in December 2004 with a Nikon D70 and a cheap 50mm prime.  I made a readers’ choice Time photo of the year with that camera and lens. (Dispatch title: “Little Girl.”)  For probably the first couple years of work, nearly all of my images were made through 50mm prime.  In mid-2005, I bought a Canon Mark II 1ds and on nearly the first mission, shot some of my most well-known photos during a firefight.  (Title: “Gates of Fire.”)  These days I shoot with only the best bodies and lenses available, using everything from fisheye to 400mm f2.8.  The gear has no serious problems in the desert but often you need to bag it up from the dust.

I read an article recently which detailed other photographers using their iphone to get smaller, more intimate pictures in a war zone – is that anything you’ve been tempted by?  Are you also thinking about making more use of video?

Had planned to use more video this year until the disembed.  Have not heard of photographers using their iPhones for smaller, more intimate pictures, but I did buy a phone with a good camera.  When you walk in with a Canon Mark IV, everyone notices and it changes the situation which is bad for writing and for photography.  Few people pay attention to the small cameras.

Does your approach differ on reporting from a small, tightly compacted conflict like in Bangkok to one spread over a wider time and space in Afghan/Iraq?

The fighting I saw in Bangkok was very localized.  You could walk to everything or take a motorbike.  Fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is/was spread over vast distances and requires far more logistics.  In Thailand, the fighting was happening near the base of my hotel (which hotel was hit with a grenade while I was talking on the phone).  At times at night the fighting was so close that I could crawl onto the balcony or just walk downstairs and watch.  It was odd.  I would eat breakfast and walk straight out into the mix by walking across the street into the Red Shirt camp.

How do you find a balance when writing or shooting delicate moments?

Tough to do sometimes.  Especially with a big camera which changes the situation.  It’s all judgment.

Does people’s behaviour and attitude towards you in those moments vary between countries?

Yes, much.  Was just in heavy fighting in Thailand and they were letting people photograph anything under the sun.  U.S. or U.K. troops would never have allowed photographers to shoot some of the gore they were shooting.  I am not in for shock photos but some were and they were getting plenty of shock photos and nobody was stopping them.  Every culture is different.  Some are camera hams, some are the opposite, and there is everything in between.

Some of your best photography work is outside of the actual conflict, things like the Kopp-Etchells effect and the glowing star field pictures.  Apart from probably being relatively relaxing to shoot, what do you feel you get out of this particular aspect of photography?

That is pure enjoyment!  That’s why I love photography.  Photography can be like that box of chocolates.  You know there is a great shot, but are not sure what you are going to get.  This is especially true of low light shooting.

What other photographers, writers or artists do you like?

No particular favourites because there are so many great ones.  There is no shortage of outstanding photographers, writers and artists.  It’s like sampling food across Asia or Europe.  Don’t force me to pick a favourite because I don’t have one but get to enjoy widely.  That said — when I think of art, Italy often comes to mind.

Is this something you see yourself doing in 10/20 years time?  Could you see yourself reporting on a different area or subject?

Exploration has been a lifelong passion.  Writing and photography are also passions, and I like to combine these things with something worthwhile.  Something that benefits mankind and the planet.  Something that promotes peace while recognizing reality.

See more of Michael dispatches, go to http://www.michaelyon-online.com/

For more background on Michael, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Yon

Scott Meyer is the writer of Basic Instructions, a handy guide to living a more fulfilled life.

You started out as a standup and met or worked with people like Weird Al, Mitch Herberg, Doug Stanhope and Patton Oswalt.  What was the comedy scene in the US like at the time?

In the 80s, stand-up enjoyed what they refer to in the industry as “the boom.” It was a magical time when you could make a really comfortable living with nothing but twenty minutes’ worth of material and a willingness to travel. It lasted until 1991. I started in 1992.

It was like someone took the movies “Punchline” and “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” and put them in a blender together. There was an ever-dwindling number of clubs, housing ever-smaller and surlier audiences and an ever more desperate and hostile group of comics fighting for the same jobs. People who had been making six-figure incomes and squandered them were struggling to eke out a living and us new guys were left wondering what we’d gotten ourselves into. Over time the industry found an equilibrium, but it was a much smaller and more low-rent affair than I had anticipated.

There was some great comedy going on, though. You mentioned three of the best: Mitch Hedberg, Doug Stanhope, and Patton Oswalt. First time I worked with Stanhope, I watched his set and couldn’t believe how easy he made it look.

Do you think you could go back to doing standup after doing BI for so long?

No. I’ve considered giving it a shot, but it’d have to be for the right reasons, i.e. that I have something to say that I can’t say in the comic, and I just don’t see that happening. Frankly, the comic is a much better vehicle for my style of humour than stand-up ever was. I just did a strip about a superhero who’s everywhere at once. That’s not an idea I’d be able to make work on stage.

Are your benevolent overlords at Disneyworld aware of BI? [Scott works as a cast member at Disney World Florida]

My immediate supervisors are.  If they’ve told Mickey or not, I don’t know.

What’s your approach to writing a strip?

Good question. I hadn’t really given it much thought until recently.

I had a bout of writer’s block that lasted a few weeks. I’d struggle to come up with anything I thought was good until the last minute, then I’d just go with the best idea I had, and it’d end up being pretty good. I realized that I’d been censoring ideas before they were fully formed for questionable reasons.

There’s a great documentary called “Gigantic” about one of my favourite bands, They Might Be Giants. Towards the end, one of the two guys named John who make up the band says that They Might Be Giants needs to be “a world of endless musical possibilities” in order for them to continue. At the time I didn’t get it, but now I do. BI has to be a reflection of whatever I find funny this week or it’s doomed. Nothing’s worse than someone writing something they don’t think is funny, but they think you will.

You seem to have come across a great way of stuffing plenty of jokes into one strip with the minimal amount of artworking.  Did that style come straight away from being a comedy writer or take a while to get right?

In the first few BI’s, I averaged about one joke every other panel. Then I started putting at least one attempt at humour in each panel, and that’s when I started being proud of my work. I’ve referred to it as “The Iron-Body style of cartooning” because I’ve seen too many kung-fu movies. Others have called it the “death by a thousand cuts” approach. That’s probably more accurate.

Often I’ll have an idea I love, and three good jokes, but I’ll be stuck on the fourth. It’s always tempting to just go with three, but it’s much more satisfying when I come up with that fourth joke.

Your wife Missy and friend Ric feature a lot.  Have you ever written something, then thought ‘This might earn me a clip round the ear’?

Yes, but not from Missy. If you look, she’s the only person in the strip who consistently comes off well. I haven’t been married thirteen years because I don’t know what I’m doing.

Many times I have written something about Ric and thought, “This time I’ve gone too far.” Invariably, those are Ric’s favorite strips. I don’t know if he’s a masochist, or just super vain. I like to think it’s a little of both.

I wrote a strip in which I suggest he look for a woman like him. He recoils in horror at the idea of dating a self-absorbed asthmatic. I thought that was going too far, but his parents clipped that comic out and hung it on their fridge. You never know.

Actually, that’s just Ric’s and my sense of humour. To listen to our conversations, you’d think we were both wretched failures and horrible human beings. We take self-effacing humour to an illogical extreme. I stood for Ric at his third wedding. He and his bride walked down the aisle to the fight music from Star Trek, the original series. That’s just what he finds funny.

What’s the future for Basic Instructions?  A Rocket Hat offshoot perhaps, or More Advanced Instructions?

My friend Ray Freisen (a much better artist than I am) talked about doing a spin-off of Rocket Hat, but it didn’t work out. My part of that project is going to be in my second book.

I’ve thought about a side project, but I’m busy enough right now just juggling a day job and BI.

Any particular favourite web comics of your own?

(This question can be read two different ways, so I’ll answer both.)

“Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal” is awfully good, and “Penny Arcade” continues to be one of my favourites.

OR

I was very proud of “How to Write a Superhero Story.” Also the series I did about applying the laws of physics to your personal relationship was quite satisfying.

The best single joke I’ve ever written was in “How to Express Condolences,” when I told someone I was sorry to hear that their pet had died by texting them “ROFG” (rolling on floor, grieving).

Help Is On The Way: A collection of Basic Instructions Volume 1 is available from Amazon, Vol 2 is out in May.

You can also get BI collections on yer iphone.

Jesse Thorn hosts The Sound of Young America, a radio show and podcast which covers comedy, film, music and other pop culture in the States.  Amongst his guests over the years have been Bill Withers, Jeffrey Tambor, Graham Linehan, Jimmy Carr, Jane Lynch and Rob Halford.  He also appears in Jordan, Jesse, Go! alongside Jordan Morris, and organises the now annual Maxfuncon festival.  I caught up with Jesse as he had just returned from the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

How did Sundance go for you?

Sundance was great.  It was our first time, and I’m a native Californian, so one thing that was wonderful was the snow – it snowed heavily the first two days we were there.  We also got to talk to some amazing people.  Our last interview was with Kevin Kline, and he was every bit as funny and charming as you’d hope.  My only disappointment was that I forgot to ask him to sing the “Hail to the Chief” song from Dave with me.

Everyone knows that the main point of Sundance, apart from rubber necking at Spike Lee, is getting promotional tat.  Did you get any decent loot?

I was too busy working, though I did get a patch for the “gang” that’s at the center of Taika Waititi’s excellent “Boy.”  Probably my favorite film at the festival – a big step up from Waititi’s first film, “Eagle v. Shark.”

A lot of people are looking forward to the new Chris Morris film Four Lions that was screened at Sundance, how did that go down?

I was at the premiere, and people seemed to like it.  Despite the subject matter, it’s surprisingly non-outrageous.  Certainly not as in-your-face as Brass Eye.  I certainly enjoyed it.

Do you want to explain a little about how you got started?

I started The Sound of Young America about ten years ago with my friends Jordan and Gene.  It was a college radio show – initially it aired at 7:30 in the morning.  That was before the campus shuttles at our college started running, so we had to walk a mile through the low fog in the dark to get to the station.  There used to be a fair amount of comedy on the show, but when Jordan and Gene graduated and headed to LA to work in entertainment, I refocused the show on interviews.

How has TSOYA built up over the years since you started it at college?  Where there any significant points where you thought ‘actually, this is going to work’?

My first balls-to-the-wall pledge drive was just short of two years ago now.  With the money we generated, I was able to hire my editor, Nick, one day a week, and pay myself a reasonable wage for the first time ever.  That was about seven years in, and probably the first time I actually felt secure in the show and in the idea that this was my job.

Can you explain how public radio works in the States?

Public radio stations are prohibited from carrying advertising, and primarily funded by listener donations.  They produce their own shows, and carry shows from three big distributors – National Public Radio, which is also a member organization of stations, American Public Media and Public Radio International.  I’m with PRI.  Stations that choose to carry my show pay PRI for it, and I get a cut of that money.  It’s a significant amount of money, but nowhere near enough to fund the show.  Most of my funding comes from other sources – especially donations from people who listen to the podcast, read the blog, and listen to our podcast-only shows.

How are you finding the difference between being a broadcaster via podcast rather than radio?

In radio, you’re targeting people who happen to be listening.  In podcasting, your audience is people who have chosen to listen – or people who might choose to listen.  The former is wonderful – it’s always nice to hear from someone who happened upon the show on their car radio.  The latter, though, is more rewarding.  On Jordan, Jesse, Go!, which is podcast-only, we can go a deeper into our, uhm, distinctive aesthetic.  By which I mean we can act like idiots, and everybody’s on board.

Where do you think podcasting stands in terms of being part of this new way where you can pick and choose your own entertainment?

I think there are still technical hurdles.  It’s still too much of a hassle to listen to podcasts for many people.  That said – I’m really happy to live in an entertainment world where people can choose what they want, rather than tolerating what they don’t not want.

What’s the state of comedy in the US like at the moment?  Has it all fallen apart since they’ve no longer got Bush to have a go at?

Not at all.  I think we’re in a golden age of comedy in the US.  There are certainly hacks out there making a lot of money – people like Carlos Mencia or Jeff Dunham — but there’s also more great stuff than ever before.  I think 30 Rock might be the funniest show of all time.  On cable, you’ve got It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Trailer Park Boys, [adult swim], The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and a pile of others.  In theaters, people like Zach Galifianakis and Michael Cera are getting to make movies.

TSOYA seems to glue a lot of US culture together in one convenient spot, and makes it appeal to people who are outside that circle.  What do you think the knack of it is?

It’s sort of like being the editor of Vogue or something – I know what I like.  That’s my main criterion, frankly.  Do I think it’s great?  If I do, I can find room for it on the show.  I work hard to make sure that those amazing things are accessible to people who don’t know about them already, and to find insight for people who do know about them already.

Do you think recording the show in your apartment gives interviews a different dynamic?  Didn’t someone get stuck in your lift?

A hip-hop group called the Lifesavas got stuck in my elevator, yes.  We had to take the doors off their hinges and hand them down a dining room chair to climb out.  They were exceedingly gracious about it.  Nice guys.

I generally get very positive reactions to the show being in my apartment, and I think it gives things a bit of intimacy they wouldn’t otherwise have.  My guests really are my guests.

Any particular favourites/hard interviews?  That Miss Piggy interview sounded like a bit of a struggle.

It was – I think the guy who does Ms. Piggy is a lot more comfortable doing the Miss Piggy voice than improvising as Miss Piggy.  Probably the toughest was Betty Davis, the funk legend who was once the wife of Miles Davis.  She was a very kind lady, but is not very social – she’s been a bit of a recluse for the last 20 years or so.  I posted the raw interview on the site so people could suffer along with me during the long, awkward silences.

How is Maxfuncon shaping up for this year?

Amazing!  Lots of my favourite people are coming.  Marc Maron, Maria Bamford, Jimmy Pardo, Al Madrigal… people who just warm the cockles of my heart.  Not to mention a chance to see all the great MaxFunsters who really made it a community last year.  I couldn’t be more excited.  And Andrew WK!  So delighted.

What’s the aim of TSOYA in the next couple of years?  Any progress on the TV show?

There’s always the possibility of a new TV show.  We’ll see if it ever happens.  We’re working on some other TV and video projects, but who knows if anyone will ever see them.  I think we’re just continuing to grow at our own modest pace.

Is there any particular podcasts that you listen to?

For comedy, I love Never Not Funny and You Look Nice Today.  Those are the shows that I get excited to see on my iPod.  Outside of comedy, I’m a huge fan of Radiolab (in fact, I invited Jad Abumrad to MaxFunCon this year) and of On the Media.  And of course This American Life, though I can’t imagine anyone’s not on board with that yet.

Subscribe to The Sound of Young America here.

Hear Jesse and Jordan Morris curse like well dressed sailors on Jordan, Jesse, Go! here.

MaximumFunCon is being held at Lake Arrowhead, California on 7^th-9^th May, more details here.

How did Tomahawk start off?

Tomahawk Press started up because there are just too many really interesting subjects for a book, which mainstream publishers won’t touch.  They focus on popular stuff – we go for quality.  Sort of like the Morgan car of publishing.  Each project is lovingly managed.  Our first book, Greasepaint and Gore is a wonderful book to study – filled with never-before-seen makeup designs and test shots from Hammer horror films.  No publisher wanted to touch it.  It was the actress Barbara Shelley who suggested going it alone.  “How?” I said.  “Learn”, she said.  I did.  Everything else followed.

Zulu. Apparently, there were quite a few of them.

What’s the process of getting a book together, do you approach writers for commissions or do the manuscripts gravitate towards you?

We get more submissions than we could possibly publish.  I just go for what excites me most – no real rules here.  Even though we are niche, there still has to be some commercial worth to a project.  I do have some ideas that I would like to see someone develop, though.

Is there anything particularly surprising that you’ve come across whilst putting a book together?

Everything is surprising in putting a book together.  If I’m not surprised, I’m usually not interested.  We publish mostly things that no one knows about.  But what always does surprise me is how diverse people’s interests actually are.  Any one subject can attract individuals from all walks of life.  We seem to publish books on subjects about which many people are passionate.

The books you’ve released so far cover a specific time in film making, are there plans to release books covering different periods?

We’ve covered pre-war Gainsborough films through to films made in the ’80s in our books.  We like nostalgia though.  I never chose any particular time period – but these are the books that seem to flood my way.  I think our niche was created by the market – certainly not created by me.  I’d consider anything good for publication.  Even published a book on Thorntons chocolate this year! And it turned out to be a best seller!

Bruce and Handsome Dan from Wayne's World receive a Saxon Sandwich

Are there any particular areas or people who you’d like to release a book about?

We seem to have strayed into biographies/autobiographies.  I like these. People’s lives are always fascinating.  I’d like to do more books on rock music and jazz though – these are my passions.  I will be publishing a book on Saxon (and their relationship to Spinal Tap) very soon.  Maybe that will lead to other music projects.  My son works for a major music label – maybe I can get one of his famous clients to do something with us.

I am sometimes disappointed with the rich and famous always flocking to major pop publishers, who are into a quick buck.  Maybe a few of them are individualists who can help give a smaller publisher like me a break.  I can often do a better job with a book than a mainstream publisher, too – both with design and marketing.

I don’t view Thornton’s or Saxon to be a departure for us – as our milieu is the untold story.  Each of our books tells the reader something that most people don’t know.  And each of our books are on a subject about which some people at least are very passionate.  As I have already said – I am led by the nose by the market.  The market defines our niche.  And most importantly, I publish important, interesting books that tend to be ignored by the mainstream big business publishers.  As in the music industry, it isn’t healthy for several large multi-nationals to control what we read. This is the dawning of the age of the Indie publisher, and Tomahawk is at the cutting edge!

You recently had to publish a new edition of The Battle for Bond after legal wrangles over some of the material within it.  Can you explain a bit more your recent adventures with the Fleming Estate?

The Fleming estate were looking for any reason they could to ban The Battle for Bond, which is an entirely factual, well-researched book that argued that the screen version of Bond was not created by Fleming.  And not only that, Fleming then went on to plagiarise the character that others had created.  I found the Fleming family to be bullies and small-minded.  They gained nothing by trying to cause problems for us, and the book became more popular as a result.  In fact – soon to be made into a Hollywood film – but can’t say much more about that yet.  There are more detailed statements about us and the Fleming family on our website and also in the new edition of The Battle for Bond.

I recently read Shepperton Babylon by Matthew Sweet, which covers the period between the pre-war silent era to the early eighties.  From that I got the feeling these days that apart from Ealing comedies, Hammer horror, early Hitchcock and the odd Powell and Pressburger, there’s a vast amount of British film that either gets dismissed, unreferenced or unseen – there seems to be a set of chosen films and the rest just get dumped.  Where do you think that this attitude comes from?

That’s an interesting question.  Maybe because there is a lack of familiarity with much British film?  Little of it ever gets shown on TV.  Or maybe because of lot of it is in black and white, which many younger people don’t like.  Remember – Hammer was mostly in colour.

Within university academic departments, there’s loads of interest in British film, and many experts.  Film studies students certainly get exposed to many British films.  But they are far too academic in their approach. I think it might be the responsibility of the BFI (or should be) to promote British film heritage.  But they are rather bad at this, and for a national organisation certainly too much London-centred.  I would like to think that some of Tomahawk’s books are making a small contribution too.  We like out books to be academically competent, but also readable and interesting for a general audience.

But, I am no film expert.  I am sure that our authors would have more to say on this than I could.

Tomahawk will be releasing The Studio that Dripped Blood – Amicus Films by Phil Nutman and new biographies of Charles Hawtrey, James Caan and Jeff Bridges this year.  To find out more about Tomahawk Press and their catalogue, go to http://www.tomahawkpress.com.

All images are the property of their original owners.

“It’s nicely positioned in that it’s not strictly a comic’s con and more an arts festival”

Ken Johnson

Thought Bubble is the Leeds Sequential Art Festival held over 4 days across various venues in the city.  Due to having only a short amount of time, I just went down to the main convention on the Saturday which was held in that dedicated monument of achievement:  Savile’s Hall in Leeds Armouries.

Wandering around, almost everyone exhibiting a table was approachable and happy to chat (although there were the odd one or two sourpusses – what’s the point of you being there if you’re just going to sulk?).  Adam Cadwell gave me a huge breakdown of every stand and exhibitor there (which I promptly forgot most of) and Matthew Craig crushed more information about the Birmingham comic scene into five minutes than I could fully digest or keep up with.

Sally-Ann Hickman

Oliver East

Paul Rainey

Mal and Jo of Fallen Angel Media

Things what were highlights:

• A massive amount to crush in.  The sheer breadth of stuff there was quite impressive and made the Eurogamer event I’d been to the previous month here look a bit sparse.
• The general atmosphere of cheeriness and enthusiasm (which is sometimes rare in events).
• Being able to chat to the artists and creators directly freely (with the odd bit of queuing for people like Adi Granov) without some surly PR or salesman scowling at you.
• Oliver East quite happily plugging stuff for Blank Slate, who couldn’t be arsed to man their own stall.
• The bloke on the Alpha Gods stall playing guitar and managing to clear the blocked crowd down that aisle so people could get through easier – sterling work fella!
• Going to buy The Manly Boys Annual from Steve Tillotson, only to be told he’d forgotten it (his mum later came to the rescue).
• Watching Keiron Gillen (Phonogram) regaling some tale to an itinerant hack in the Alea lobby like some senior club member blithering on about the Crimea.

There was a right old wodge of things to see and do, most of which I missed.  Tucked away in the curtained corner of the convention hall and in the Alea Casino opposite were talks, discussions, portfolio reviews and cosplay costume competitions.  On the Sunday, there were screenings at the Carriageworks, Alea Cinema and the Hyde Park Picture House of various Manga films, loads of workshops in Leeds Library and Art Gallery and a Dr Sketchy’s Burlesque Drawing Night.  If I’d have had more time, I would have ploughed into most of the events on the different days, but it’s also structured that the Saturday gives you enough to look at.

Ken Johnson

Howard Hardiman

Matthew Craig

For someone whose comic knowledge extends to the Beano and Viz, I found Thought Bubble really friendly and approachable.  I was initially hesitant to go, mainly because to me (and from reading up on similar events) it seemed a bit of a closed world and the cosplay stuff could come across as a bit much.  Once I got there though, there was enough for everyone at whatever level of interest.  As Ken Johnson says above, it comes across as more of an arts festival with a lot of comics in it, and because it’s got a very broad spectrum with the likes of Marvel and DC through to small press work and individual artists, there’s something for everyone.  If you’re planning to go next year, and it comes highly recommended that you do so, make sure you scrutinise the timetable on the Thought Bubble website and plan ahead.

These people particularly caught our eye:

Sally-Ann Hickman – http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2008/propaganda-sally-ann-hickmans-beautifully-crafted-tales-of-smelly-dogs-and-brutally-honest-autobiography/

Paul Rainey – http://www.pbrainey.com

Philippa J Rice – http://www.philippajrice.com

Jim Connolly – http://www.jimcportfolio.co.uk

Kristyna Baczynski – http://www.kriskicorp.blogspot.com/

Fallen Angel – http://www.thefallenangel.co.uk/

Howard Hardiman – http://www.cutebutsad.co.uk/comics/

Matthew Craig – http://thematthewcraig.com/

Liz Greenfield – http://www.lizgreenfield.com

Pew pew +1 eleventy!!11 etc.

Now in its second year, Eurogamer acts as a mixture of showcase, mini careers fair and developer talks host for the general public to get a hands-on look at what’s coming out games wise in the next year or so. The punters, a mixture of nebbish young men, their reluctant girlfriends and Leeds hipsters, piled in by the thousands but the well laid out Expo meant that everyone could casually wander about.

Quiet, but as deathly silent as the Dragon Age stand

One of the major attractions this year was Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel to last years zombie smashing first person shooter on the PC and Xbox 360. Its brief demo was attracting a large bulk of people eager to smack zombies and each other in the face with a frying pan, leaving only some disappointment that it was only playable on a love-it-or-loathe-it-for-FPS Xbox controller. Dragons Age: Origins, sadly dumped opposite like an older uglier sister, seemed unable to compete and grabbed little interest.

Retro Remakes Rob Fearon performs abysmally at his own game.

A small section of the hall was given over to the Indie Games Arcade, a showcase for smaller developers who have less of a budget and criteria to work for (or as one overheard punter called it, “the hippy section”). My favourite was Joe Danger – a friendlier, bouncier alternative to the addictive but frustrating Trials 2. Sat next to this was Squid Yes! Not So Octopus 2: Squid Harder, the inscrutably named and eye watering shooter by Rob Fearon of Retro Remakes. Other standouts were the meandering bicycle game Fig. 8 – the equivalent of idly running your finger round a patterned piece of paper, and the claymation modelled Cletus Clay.

Other notables on show included God of War III and it’s identikit cousin Dante’s Inferno (smashy smashy), the Batman:Arkham Asylum game showcasing nVidia’s new 3D Vision with stereoscopic specs (like watching a hologram in a fish tank) and the new Aliens V Predator (sadly only showing one single multiplayer section). The rest seemed to merge into a mishmash of driving, fighting and sports sequels.

Hello Games’ Sean Murray gloats over my poor attempt at a Joe Danger run.

At the end of the day, Eurogamer resembled more of an old arcade than an actual expo. Except for the Indie Games Arcade, there was a lack of anyone who could actually talk you knowledgably through the game unless you just wanted learn the demo controls. There was a distinct feeling that a lot of potential goodies were down in London (where they were possibly also giving away free money, diamonds and sex). As the Eurogamer Expo continues, which it most definitely will, the organisers should probably work on evening or matching up the events between the locations. The publishers should definitely put more effort in to getting someone who knows what they’re talking about, even if it means coaxing the odd programmer out of their darkened, womb-like hole.

Squidge Magazine: How did you get started in design?

Morgan Gibbons: Well I guess you could thank my mum for that, pretty much as soon as I could hold something she’d stick crayons in my hand to keep me quiet. When I was 5 my younger twin brothers were born and I found myself having to keep myself occupied, so I’d sit in my room and draw spaceships and cars for hours.

As I approached my teens Hip Hop and Graffiti were just arriving in the UK from the States and this immediately caught my interest. The manipulation of text in graffiti was so inventive I had to get involved. This is probably where my graphic design skills started proper as I find I’m still using skills I learnt then for work I do now. School was typical with nothing to note apart from being suspended on the last day for tagging up all the toilets and getting caught!

After school I started A Level Art and BTEC Art & Design which I didn’t complete due to personal circumstances, so I started working full-time in restaurants and sports shops and the like – I was 19 at this point. 2 years passed until my step-dad asked if I wanted to take a job at the newspaper printers where he worked. This was 1992 and when my career in graphic design started. I was at the printers for 5 years and this gave me good knowledge of what can and can’t work in print. I meet a lot of designers now that don’t know much about the print process and this shocks me.

After working at the printers in the pre-press department I decided I wanted to learn more about desktop publishing so I worked my way through various companies over the next 10 years to get the relevant skills… newspapers, fashion agencies, internet agencies, creative agencies, marketing and promotion agencies and advertising agencies. I ended up starting my own company and freelancing here and there. This led to SEGA.

SM: Apart from whining about wrong logos and colouring in pictures of Sonic the Hedgehog in-between the lines with blue crayons, what do you do day to day?

MG: Firstly our Head of Creative Services would fill me in on any pressing tasks for the day, and then I’d check over my emails. As we oversee creative for all of Europe and Australia there may be assets to supply or problems to solve from any of the local offices. My role is then divided between hands on creative artworking which usually involves talking an existing piece of artwork for a front of pack or advert and re-purposing it for our European customers, and managing the artworkers in the studio and helping them produce their particular job.

I love what I do as it can be so varied, from designing the logo for a game to making a design for a promotional item such as a T-Shirt to searching through our archive of artwork to find the packaging for an old title that we’re re-releasing on another platform. I’m also responsible for the templates that come in from Microsoft (360 and Games for Windows), Nintendo (Wii and Nintendo DS) and Sony (PlayStation 3 and PSP). I make sure everyone is up to speed on how a title would be produced using them if they’ve changed.

SM: Do you get much creative input in terms of the boxed designs or is it pretty much already set in stone?

MG: It all depends on the title in question. Usually on titles developed in Europe we’ll have more creative freedom. This is not always the case though.

SM: Do you still keep up with your own artwork or is it just a work thing?

MG: I wish I had more time to do my own art but with work and two children it’s not very easy finding the time. Saying that I recently got in touch with some of my graffiti mates on Flickr and that got my creative juices flowing again. Every Sunday morning my daughters and I sit down and do some drawing together, I can practice my graffiti skills and get to teach them as well.

SM: When was the last time you went out to bomb up Brentford?

MG: That’s wishful thinking; I gave up illegal graffiti activity almost 20 years ago!

Squidge Magazine: What have you been up to recently?

Emmanuelle Walker: I moved to Paris 2 years ago especially for the third year of specialisation in Animation Direction at Gobelins School.  Before that I was living in Montreal Quebec where I studied traditional animation in a three years programme at The Cegep du Vieux Montreal, and worked three years in the animation industry. Since a year now I have been working on a few commercials, TV idents, clips, in different commercial/post-production companies here in Paris.

SM: Après La Pluie was your graduation film from Gobelins, what sort of reception has it been getting from the festivals it’s been shown at?

EW: People seem to appreciate it.  We often receive kind emails and comment concerning ‘Après La Pluie’. It has been in a dozen of festival around the world, so we are pretty happy with that, even if we can’t afford to follow it everywhere! The film gets to travel alone now.

SM: What was the process behind the character designs?

EW: I made a first series of characters, with all its psychological attributes in mind, and showed it to the team. Then everyone told me what they thought about it, and I made a few more series of drawing with their comments in mind, until everyone was pleased by the final design.

SM: Your illustration style has a very relaxed, cheery feel to it.  Do you find it’s quite an easy thing to do or is it harder than it looks?

EW: Well it depends. Sometimes it’s easier, because I am more motivated. Also, the more the brief is precise, the easier it is.  But it also depends of the mood I am in at the time. But like anything, if you sit down and draw for a while, something nice will come out in the end.  Oh and finally backgrounds are hard for me to do, that’s why mine are always so simple… or missing.

SM: You’ve also done a lot of visual development and direction work for people like Virgin, Orange, Lacoste, Cartoon+ and Midas. Do they give you free rein with what you can do or are they quite specific about what they want?

EW: A lot of the things I have worked on were pitches, so they weren’t all developed in the end, but it depends of the client. When I work as a designer/director, they usually like what I propose at first, but in the advertising industry, there are so many stages of approval that it is rare to be free from A to Z. There will often be someone telling you that this is too green or not big enough or that the character on the bike has to wear a helmet. However, clients that trust you, and let you try things out exists… but it’s rare. I have worked on some projects that could have been clearer, and more coherent, but (I find) ended up going in all kinds of directions, because everyone (and often non creative people) needs you to apply their artistic advice. But this is advertising, you have to accept it, defend your ideas, and make the client trust you. That’s why I so passionate about my job!

SM: Having worked in both Paris and Montreal, do you think there’s a different mindset between the two?

EW: Yes. It’s two different cities, with two different mentalities and culture. With as much differences as resemblances. So obviously it’s different at work too. I prefer some of Montreal’s aspects, and others from Paris… It’s really hard to stop comparing… that’s the uprooted’s problem I guess.

SM: Are there any specific differences that come to mind?

EW: I don’t want to make generalities, here, but in France, people tend to be very direct and critical, and on the streets sometimes even aggressive. While Quebecers use a little more diplomacy to say things and are often more laid back and accommodating. With these in mind, I don’t think that working in Paris is a bad thing. On the contrary! Being surrounded by critical and frank people will push me to put more effort into my work and make me evolve faster.

But working in Montreal has its good sides too. I think people trust you more easily, as well as personally than professionally. When I was working at Spectra Animation on Toopy and Binoo series, the boss often asked me if I had personal projects I would like to develop. I nearly didn’t have any previous experience in the animation field at that point so I was surprised by his offer.

Also, I could add that it’s harder to approach new people and to make friends in France, but once you are friends, it’s stronger and true. On the other hand, in Quebec, it’s easy to talk to people in bars and on the streets, but you probably won’t see these people again. Some people I spoke with think of it as hypocrisy, I don’t think it is… you might be friendly with everyone, but you can’t be friend with everyone.

SM: What are you working on at the moment?

EW: I just finished working at Wizz. A communication and post-production company based near Paris, on an ‘Origami Star’ commercial for Orange. At the beginning I was on the development team. Then I worked as a 2D animator and did a little coordination as well. I am developing my own personal project at home, whilst taking new animation/visual development offers in different companies.

Emmanuelle’s portfolio site including acres of great sketchbook stuff is here. Her blog is here.

Carlton Hibbert is a designer, illustrator and art editor for WPT Poker: Official World Poker Tour magazine.  His clients include EMI Parlophone, Dorling Kindersley and Future Publishing.  He also was (briefly) the drummer for Mansun.

Squidge Magazine: How did you get into illustration and design?

Carlton Hibbert: I was always a bit of a doodler as a child and spent many a rainy day creating a mess (whenever I wasn’t kicking a ball). Like so many other kids, Tony Hart was a great inspiration to me. However at school I never really got into art, it seemed too stuffy. It wasn’t until my O Levels (that ages me a bit!) that I rediscovered my love of putting pen to paper. I did a short course in graphics and suddenly all my other subjects paled in comparison. When I got to A level stage I realised that becoming an engineer wasn’t really what I wanted to do. I dropped out of Physics, messed about in Maths and concentrated on my design. I hadn’t really planned what I was going to do but found myself suddenly doing a degree at the London College of Printing (as it was known then).

SM: You’re responsible for the Patterns for Colouring blog, how did that come around?

CH: This is a project that harks back to when I first messed about with pencils, pens and paints. As a little lad I used to beg my mum to buy me colouring books. The ones that fascinated me most were the pattern books by Altair – I think you can find some of the original seventies versions on Amazon. These books where full of geometric shapes. The blog is basically a huge nostalgia trip for myself, as well as hopefully being something that will inspire other youngsters to become more creative.

I’ve not made the site too complicated – just download, print out and start colouring. I’m not sure you’d get the same experience if the patterns were in a Flash interface and you coloured them online. I’ve got a couple of young sons that need entertaining on rainy days, and they usually end up grabbing the Wii, arguing over what game to play. The patterns are an attempt to get them away from computers and TV and give them an alternative way to spend their free time.

SM: You’re in the enviable position of being able to commission yourself; does that make you a harder taskmaster?  One of my friends called you a lucky bastard for being able to do it.

CH: Heh, it tends to be a case of “needs must” when I do an illustration for myself! I never take on a brief in my own mags if I have a budget that allows me to commission others. It’s always much easier to critique someone else’s work and this is the way I prefer to work. However, once in a while, you find yourself as a designer looking at an article that is screaming for a decent image but you’ve got no money left in the coffers. It’s then that I get the digital crayons out. I much prefer doing images for other clients, I like to get paid!

SM: A lot of your illustration is quite distinct in that it’s quite bold and functional, is this because of your background as an art editor?  How does it affect your approach when working on a picture?

CH: You’re probably right. I tend to think as a designer first. I try to think of the image in the context of the mag and what other furniture might be on the page. When I commission other illustrators I’ll supply them with a PDF of the layout and show them where their image will go, try to give them some idea of where the gutter might be, whether its a right hand page or not, will there be a headline overlapping etc.

The style of my work is probably down to time constraints more than anything. If illustration was my main role I would definitely work on creating a more robust style. My main concern is in getting the subject matter across to the reader without distracting them.

Design by Carlton Hibbert, illustration by Sean Rodwell

Design by Carlton Hibbert, illustration by Paul Insect

SM: Did you start out as a designer and then move into being an art editor or was it part of a do all job?

CH: I started out in non-fiction books as a designer. I worked for Dorling Kindersley on the Eyewitness titles for children. Art editor is just a fancy name for a designer that’s been promoted. It means different things in different companies. Some companies say art editor others use art director – I just find saying you’re a designer is easier to explain. I moved from books to multimedia and then back into print on magazines. I think these days you’re expected to be capable of moving seamlessly from print to web to legal to marketing, the list rolls on!

SM: Have you ever got in contact with anyone from Mansun? [Carlton drummed on Egg Shaped Fred and Take It Easy Chicken until being turfed out in 96 for throwing a pineapple at guitarist Dominic Chad.]

CH: Paul Draper and myself are still in touch, we’re old school friends. I’m not sure if the others still talk. Mansun was a great experience, but luckily I had design to fall back on!

You can see Carlton Hibberts portfolios here and here.