John Allison

Paddy McAloon briefly but brilliantly discussing Green Gartside...

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:19:57 +0100

Paddy McAloon briefly but brilliantly discussing Green Gartside of Scritti Politti.

Everything I want from the new Star Wars movie, in one powerful...

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:43:18 +0100

Everything I want from the new Star Wars movie, in one powerful illustration that will move you

Hi I think you and your art are both lovely (also I think I freaked you out at Thought Bubble in Nov. sorry about that), do you have any specific methods for when you work on your art/comics, or is it just as and when? I seem to have trouble managing my job/art/free time and just never end up getting as much done as I'd like. Cheers!

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:05:06 +0100

When I worked a day job, I’d work on comics at the weekend, and the very occasional evening - if I was away at the weekend, they’d all be done in the evenings. That’s why my first five years of output look rough and ready - they were assembled at very high speed, always looking for shortcuts, with little time for reflection on what I was actually doing - I was doing five pages a week! Nothing did more damage to my writing and drawing at the time than drinking alcohol, which I was still doing to a collegiate standard at the time. Understanding this correlation has made me into a model of temperance (most of the time) today.

I still don’t really know how I managed to do all that extra work, I just hated working in an office for someone else so much that I pushed ahead regardless.

I wouldn’t expect anyone to slog away the way I did, doing five pages a week. Two good pages are worth more than five bad ones these days, with so many mediocre webcomics out there.

Now, when I have extra pages to do on top of my normal allocation of 4 or 5 a week, I tend to break them down - doing all the pencils, then all the inks, then all the colours. It makes me feel like the end is in sight if all four pages have got at least something on them.

I hope this helps!

I’d forgotten that Giant Days 2 was meant to be drawn in...

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:12:17 +0100

I’d forgotten that Giant Days 2 was meant to be drawn in my pencil & paper style. I chickened out after one page. COMPARE & CONTRAST!

Have any tips for someone trying to improve in drawing anatomy/gestures?

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:37:45 +0100

Just practice constantly! I find that drawing while watching TV is very useful - you always have a subject to draw and you’re forced to draw quickly. When I don’t keep up with my sketching, I find I begin to backslide into stale poses.

I realise that “practice” is the most boring answer to this question, but you’re training your eye as much as your hand. The more you’re able to recognise what you get right and wrong, the faster you’ll improve. There’s a world of anatomy and gestures right in front of your face.

I coloured my favourite of my drawings from last night’s...

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:55:29 +0100

I coloured my favourite of my drawings from last night’s Eurovision: Belarus.

Tweaked pencil lines and Photoshop - I love making drawings this way!

I love Fringe. I am ready to design the saturday morning Fringe...

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:49:00 +0100

Astrid Fansworth

Mr Peter Bishop

Walter Bishop

I love Fringe. I am ready to design the saturday morning Fringe cartoon series.

dumpylittlerobot: greatbeastcomics: The loooong awaited Blood...

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:50:03 +0100

dumpylittlerobot:

greatbeastcomics:

The loooong awaited Blood Blokes #3 is released TODAY after a successful debut at Toronto Comic Arts Festival last weekend.

The latest issue of Adam Cadwell’s slacker vampire comedy is now available in both print and digital editions from the Great Beast store.

Issue 3 features 26 pages of story and back-up illustrations by Tula Lotay, Josceline Fenton, Priscilla Tramontano and Sammy Borras.

We’ve got all 3 copies in at Travelling Man Manchester and I just read the new issue, HIGHLY recommended!

colleenaf: Sometimes you meet someone and instantly fall in...

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:29:52 +0100

colleenaf:

Sometimes you meet someone and instantly fall in love. That’s me with this gif.

From the 1949 version of the GREAT GATSBY which, based on this alone, is OBVIOUSLY much better than the 2013 version.

(via @emilyhughes)

where can I get a personalised Giant Days from?!

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:26:48 +0100

You can get one here - I have eight copies left then it’s gone.

Alias-themed commission. I loved drawing Victor Garber, what a...

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:11:18 +0100

Alias-themed commission. I loved drawing Victor Garber, what a treat that man is to draw.

That looks like the Giant Days 2 cover to me

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:16:00 +0100

That looks like the Giant Days 2 cover to me

Giant Days 2 cover… until I change my mind

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:14:39 +0100

Giant Days 2 cover… until I change my mind

radiomaru: it’s a rogue, y’all

Wed, 08 May 2013 15:26:17 +0100

radiomaru:

it’s a rogue, y’all

Why isn't the comic still called Scary Go Round?

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:59:37 +0100

I get asked this all the time. Why isn’t Giant Days called Scary Go Round? Why isn’t Bad Machinery called Scary Go Round? It’s on the same URL. There are characters in common.

The answer is really easy. It’s the same reason that a bank robber changes his name when he runs away to Brazil. So people won’t keep asking him questions about what he did back when he robbed banks. It’s a line in the sand. Also, I robbed a load of banks.

It’s still on the same URL because I don’t believe you should ever give people a jumping-off point. Disappearing from their bookmarks is a pretty easy way to lose a load of lazy dudes.

Based on how much stock I have left at home, you’ve got...

Wed, 01 May 2013 10:56:39 +0100

Based on how much stock I have left at home, you’ve got about 10 more chances to get a personalised Giant Days

c-check:

Got my books from one of my favorite comic artists today, complete with custom character drawings. Couldn’t be happier.

I’m sending my Star Trek: Voyager comics directly to UPN,...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:14:47 +0100

I’m sending my Star Trek: Voyager comics directly to UPN, it’s time to get this baby greenlit!

laurasnapes: I am really sad there won’t be any more proper...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:25:16 +0100

laurasnapes:

I am really sad there won’t be any more proper ATPs after this December. In tribute, some memories. Though owing to the nature of ATP, I probably forgot the best memories the day after they happened.

The first ATP I ever went to was …vs Pitchfork in 2008, at Camber Sands. I met a Dutch guy called Hugo who I have seen at every single ATP since. I also saw Jens Lekman for the first time, and cried like a big fat baby (mostly because I broke my brain watching Deerhunter the night before). My friend Rob delivered the best (and obviously, most prickish) heckle I’ve ever heard, to Marissa Nadler. As the crowd clapped for the end of her first song, he yelled, “One more!” It is still my favourite heckle to this day.

Pretty much the only thing I remember from the Melvins/Mike Patton one was a) seeing the Melvins three times, b) walking in on Bohren and the Club of Gore by accident and finding that I loved them. They were very hangover-appropriate.

ATP vs the Fans 2 was the first ATP I went to with Leah. Devo did a dance where they ripped off their boiler suits to reveal little shorts underneath, we used the power of Twitter (so new back then!) to stalk Ed Droste and Nico Muhly in Pizza Hut, and every time we bumped into Marnie Stern (which was a lot) we high-fived/chest-bumped her. She was very sweet. “Means a laaaat laaaadies!” One night, we were all dancing in the Crazy Horse, egging each other on to go and say hi to Warren Ellis, who was being infinitely sexy in the corner of the room. I went to the loo, and when I came back, they had all said hi to him, danced with him, and HE HAD LEFT. I danced so furiously that I fell down, skidded on my bum halfway across the floor, and landed at Marnie Stern’s feet. It was not classy.

The photo above is from one of My Bloody Valentine’s two (three?) sets at their ATP. Above is the “gin defeat” pose; later on, during the “Holocaust” section I stood up, threw my earplugs halfway across the room, and went deaf for the rest of the weekend. It was a good ATP for bonding with the manky Butlins carpet - I think I fell asleep on the floor during De La Soul. What do I mean, I think, I know I did. Classy. Seeing Sonic Youth play the pavilion stage was one of the coolest things ever.

Tenth Birthday Party: Had to leave a show helmed by a grown man dressed as a tree with lasers coming out of his fingers, rejoiced at Papa M playing all of Live From a freaking Shark Cage and the For Carnation too. Dreamy days!

The worst decision I’ve ever made (well, nearly) was to sell my ATP Pavement ticket (£40 to a fringe member of Los Campesinos) because I had an exam on the Monday. I QUIT UNIVERSITY ABOUT TWO WEEKS LATER SO IT WOULD NOT HAVE MATTERED IN THE SLIGHTEST IF I HAD FAILED. I never did see Pavement :c

Went to the Animal Collective weekend for two days. If Animal Collective offer to bring the whole Paw Tracks roster to your party, Just Say No, because it won’t be a party for long if they do.

Battles/Caribou/Savy Fav: another year for “revelations”, Nisennenmondai, cor! Caribou curated an actual smell.

About five weeks into a “relationship”, we hastily made plans to go to the Jeff Mangum ATP SEVERAL MONTHS LATER. What could have been danger days proved a prescient decision, as here we are 18 months later, him swearing he will never go to ATP again after a “bad experience” with some “powder mould” in December, me crying at its demise.

There was a point on Sunday at the National ATP where Deerhoof were playing, and it was the rockingest thing of the whole weekend, and I also thought, “Man, it’s easy to take Deerhoof for granted.” I think I broke the record for the world’s indiest thoughts that weekend, surviving a foul cold and gross bedding with BLOOD AND PUBES in it by the sheer willing of needing to be alive at 1am on Monday morning to see the National play some new songs.

In short, ATP, it’s been amazing, and worth every penny. Please can some smart person pick up their mantle and make a new version of ATP.

audrea-achi: Fanart Bad Machinery by John Allisson

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:37:45 +0100

audrea-achi:

Fanart

Bad Machinery by John Allisson

How long did you plan on having Ryan and Amy end up together? By comparison, how much of this story arc was known in advance? Basically I want to know what ratio of dream-cultivator to dream-murderer you are, Mr. Allison. I want to pay you in Thatcher memorabilia for this outrageous display of plausible character development which has actually been really well written, damn you.

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:31:29 +0100

It’s really difficult to remember when I made this decision. I like to think that Ryan really fancied his chance with either Shelley or Amy back in 2003, in a pretty uncomplicated way. The characters weren’t terribly deep back then. By the end of Scary Go Round, I think he’s given up on that idea up until the point that those two are the only two of the original cast left. I like to think that after the curtain dropped on that last strip, it just became inevitable.

The carry-over of characters and setting from Scary Go Round to Bad Machinery was an olive branch to readers who I knew probably wouldn’t much like the child-centred mystery strip at first. Ryan and Amy’s marriage was meant to be a bit of audience glue that would sugar the pill. It was also helpful to me, as I was feeling the whole thing out and those were characters I already knew how to write. Remember, Bad Machinery started a week after Scary Go Round!

As regards the current story, nothing was really plotted in advance of re-starting it. The first five pages were published in mid/late-2011 and I didn’t really know where to go with it or even if I should. I found those pages when looking for something else about a six weeks ago, liked how they looked, had some ideas and started from there. Lucky, as I had no idea what I was going to do as a fill-in story before then!

In conclusion: I don’t exactly have a gimlet eye on the future.