Tuesday 18 November 2008

LEEDS THOUGHT BUBBLE ROCKED!
















  • Wow...what a weekend!

    Here's what I expected: that me and Niki would be sitting there eating the 10 dozen doughnuts ourselves, watching people walk by, whilst doing a few sketches every now and then, and chatting to whatever artist/writer we'd be lucky enough to sit next to...

    In reality: I never stopped sketching! 35 sketches! 30-freakin'-5!!! It was great though--the 7 hours just flew by thanks to the incredibly friendly people I met, who patiently waited in line.I took photos of nearly all the sketches I did (shown above, with a few close ups of my favourites).

    I gotta give a special shoutout to a couple of great kids I met:Dominic and George--these lovely guys actually drew ME a picture in return for their sketches!

    The most popular requests for sketches were of Hellboy, Batman and Defoe--which put a big smile on my face, so thanks for all the kind comments about mine and Pat Mill's baby.

    Unfortunately, I didn't see much of the con myself as I was so busy--next time I'll give myself more than one 20 minute break--but EVERYONE has been calling it the best convention ever! So a huge thanks to Lisa and Tamsin for organising a hell of an event.

    I gotta thank Martin Grund as well--it was all thanks to him that I got an invite in the first place!

    I was lucky enough to be sat inbetween incredible artist Staz Johnson (who has the best hair EVER), and my old friends, writers Leah Moore and John Reppion.

    Later that night, we hit the big aftershow party at a fantastic casino venue where we hung out with all our good buddies including the likes of Frazer Irving, Emma Vieceli, Jamie McKelvie and Kieron Gillen (who I've done a 4 page story for in PHONOGRAM : THE SINGLES CLUB--more on that soon!). Just a real shame we only see each other at cons. Though I could've done without an unfortunate "vest" incident, and seeing a ridiculous bum crack on display throught the bash...
    I even gushed to Iron Man artist, Adi Granov, about how I'm getting the lifesized Iron Man movie bust he designed...I honestly thought I'd outgrown that type of hero worship, but y'know, caught up in the moment and all that...

    So yeah, an incredible weekend all round. I can't wait till next year!

    By the way, also posted above 3 of the finished inked pieces I took along with me (afraid I ran out of time to finish the Halo and Dredd pictures.)

    L

15 comments:

Alan said...

Those inked pieces are really outstanding. I'm trying to think of the vibe the ink style is giving me... Lovely brush-work. Certainly the zombie is all kinds of EC Comics. Favourite is Hellboy - a great composition and lovely inks. Nice con sketches too.

Jeez I think I was pre-pubescent when I was last at a con. I think Bolland had won maybe his first Eagle (after which he wrote a shaky autograph for me, then came back later when he'd calmed down to do a better one!) and my Mam (yes, I was with me Mam) body-slammed a very young Sienkiewicz to get his autograph - ah the memories.

Kieron said...

Man. The Vest.

Brrr.

KG

Leigh G said...

Thanks very much Alan! I'm pretty damn happy with them, which is a rare thing.

Very cool that you've met Bolland during such a legendary time in his career, and wow, BODY SLAMMING
Sienkiewicz!!! Get in there!

It's strange that I've never really experienced a con from a fan's point of view. I was always concerned with trying to get an editor to look at my work, which usually resulted in the most cringe inducing experiences...
L

Leigh G said...

Kieron, if there had been any women witness to "the vest incident", it would've been a whole different story...

Emsie said...

*looks at inks*
You know, you really are scarily talented!
It was fab to see you again, hon! ^_^

Leigh G said...

Vieceli!!!

Thanks,that means alot coming from a fellow pro such as yourself!
And it was great to see you too...

See? Why couldn't you have been witness to the "vest incident"?

L

ashbarron said...

Leigh thanks for the Hellboy Sketch

The Doughnut was pretty good too

Alan said...

What was the vest incidennnntttt???

Leigh G said...

Ash! Aww man, you should've introduced yourself! Hope I did you a good one anyway.

Alan....sorry sir, the "vest incident" is a tale of horror and woe, that will only be talked of in whispered voices in the darkest corners of conventions...

L

ashbarron said...

Leigh
Its cool you were kinda bombarded with sketches at the time.
I am on the photos though before they guy in thw white make up. Not the one dressed as Scarecrow.

You gotta tell me where you got the doughnuts from

Leigh G said...

Ash, go to: http://www.krispykreme.co.uk/
and find your nearest store. Original glazed is the best--if you get there when they're coming off the line, you get a free one!
I'd recommend microwaving them for 8 seconds!
L

ashbarron said...

Thanks for the info Leigh.
Shame the nearest store is Manchester.

Bradford to Manchester just for Doughnuts might be a little excessive.

Now if you could order online....

Anonymous said...

HI Leigh, thanks for last weekend, can I use the picture of you, looking up, for a fanzine report I am writing? Not sure who took it, and would like permission to use please. Luck would have it, you are drawing my Defoe as well.

Cheers

james

piglet at indigo dot ie

Leigh G said...

James! Yeah, I remember you sir.
By all means use the pic--I'd love to read the article when it's done!
L

Anonymous said...

Thats really cool, thanks Leigh.

I will post the web address here, it will be some sort of science fiction fanzine, not sure which one yet, a big long piece, 4000+ words about the day.

thansk a million

James