---

Wednesday, July 21 2010

San Diego Schedule

Friends,
Next posting will have all the hallmarks of a carefully-considered piece, covering some of the events and happenings of the last few weeks in some detail. I say it will have the hallmarks of such a piece, but I'm saying that in hope rather than expectation, though I'll certainly do my best to make it so. I do have a good chance of succeeding, as my last trip for the Summer in a long string of trips, is my usual journey to the San Diego Convention, and after it I'll have more time to write something with care rather than in haste : )
For any of you coming to the big show at the weekend, here's my schedule :
Friday, 1-2 at DC. Sat 1.30-3.30 at the Hero Initiative table and 4-5 for the Cartoon Art Museum, then 6-7 at Dark Horse. Sunday 12.30-1.30 at DC.
See you there?

Posted by David Lloyd at 12:50 PM | Permalink

---

Thursday, July 15 2010

Art For Africa

Friends,
I'm here to post quickly a notice of my next coach stop. I'll be back later, after the weekend, with more detail of things I've done recently, and things I'm about to do shortly, including San Diego's programme of my various appearances at the SDCC, should you be wanting to track me down in sunny California.
But, for now, news of attending a fund-raiser for Africa near Benevento, Italy - full details at www.comicsxafrica2010.com. I'm there this weekend, on Friday evening and then all day on Saturday and Sunday. Can't tell you where, what and when I'll be doing anything at the show, because I have no idea myself. The plan, I'd guess, is for me to sell sketches for donations, and intimidate people with my glowering presence if they dare to bid low for the pieces of original artwork which I and my colleagues have given for auction. See video on my Facebook page for images of the kind of African lifestyle commonly endured by those less fortunate than ourselves, and which the organizer of the event and the charity running it, Roberto Riccio, works to improve...

Posted by David Lloyd at 06:24 PM | Permalink

---

Sunday, June 27 2010

Paris When It Sizzles... Or Drizzles

Friends,
For a full week earlier this month I was helping out some clever students - one of their pieces seen below - in the study of sequential art at an excellent art school in Switzerland very soon after my trips to Canada and Erlangen, so I'm regrettably late in updating here again! At least I've avoided the gap of a full month between posts this time...
Though I'm not working on a project involving pencils and paper right now, it's amazing to me how the peripheral activities to my work - in the form of promoting it, or in charitable pursuits connected with it - take up as much time as I might have spent on some of the tightest, longest deadline jobs of my career. We all know how dealing with emails and researching on the internet can eat up the hours, and I've learnt to accept the burden of it, but weren't computers supposed to be designed to save us time? For instance, the seemingly unending, and unneccessarily complicated, job of trying to spread the word of the existence of Cartoon Classroom to those who should hear of it, takes up days and weeks in front of the computer - and no-one I've spoken to in all the appropriate areas to enquire from seems able to supply me with the information to cut that time down very much. At least I can comfort myself with the fact that it would take much longer without a computer. Though that's little comfort in reality when I'm looking at a monitor for so long each day... : (
Next signing for me is in Paris next week and weekend, when it will be sizzling, as it is here in England at the moment, or drizzling - the conditions I tend to take with me whenever I visit there, as some of my Parisian friends could tell you... The event is the Paris Comicon at the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre. Detail at http://festival.comic-con-france.com/index.php. I'm there from the 1st July to the 4th July and I'll be signing from 3.15-4.15 and from 5-6.30 on Thursday, from 10.30am-12.00 and 6-7 on Friday, 10.30am-12.45 and 2-4 and 4.45-6.30 on Saturday, and on Sunday from 2-4 then 4.30-6pm. I'll also be taking part in panels and be interviewed, as well. More detail at the website...
If you're in Paris come and say hi. As you can see from the schedule, there are plenty of opportunities for you to do that : )

Posted by David Lloyd at 10:30 AM | Permalink

---

Wednesday, June 02 2010

Enter Harry The Hotel Door

' Good evening, sir... Can I be of help? Don't want to be disturbed? Of course, let me handle that ...'

Friends,
Let me introduce you to Harry The Hotel Door, taken with a ghost camera at - not the Overlook hotel - but the Empire Landmark Hotel in Vancouver. This spooky distant cousin to Thomas The Tank Engine - which, incidentally, I vaguely drew in a lunchtime break for the young son of the owner of Red Skull in Calgary - is, of course, not a manifestation of the spirit world, or my next foray into the world of creativity, but merely an amusing trick of the light. His face is merely that of the hotel notice and fire instruction. But a comforting presence nevertheless. A stout fellow to depend on in an emergency...
Had an excellent time in Bristol, and then Canada afterwards, marred by an absence once more of Kickbacks to sell to people, due to - in Bristol - Diamond only having 8 copies in the ENTIRE COUNTRY, and - in Calgary - Red Skull not being able to get ANY from Diamond, and - in Vancouver - the Con not being able to get ANY from Diamond. The store I signed at in Victoria - Legends - managed to get lots of them and they were all sold ahead of the signing with more ordered. Yes, yes, I know - Diamond has to order stocks of books that are regularly ordered by the comic stores because there's no sense in having books in stock that the stores are not regularly ordering, and this makes me just as equally direct my dissatisfaction at all the stores throughout the UK and Canada and the US for not realising the value of keeping copies of Kickback always in their stores, putting them next to Vendetta, which is what everyone knows me from and appreciates me from, and then taking the money from the customer who will more than likely recognise it's worth and buy it - meaning they benefit, I benefit, and the customer benefits by getting a very good book to read. It's a win/win situation. But I guess I'll be still be saying this til the earth freezes over because hundreds of stores just do not see the value of that book, and/or don't see it as a graphic novel they should always have in stock as a key example of it's kind. It's that or they're still are unaware of it's existence, as many non-comic store owners are : (
Lastly, on a brighter note, the next stop on my current signing itinerary is the major festival in Erlangen in Germany - the biggest in the country - running from this Thursday, June 3rd to next Sunday, June 6th. I'll be doing my usual stuff there, and, like I always say, if you live in the area or are coming to the show, please come and say hi! I'll have lots of German-edition Kickbacks there, I'm pleased to say. For details go to www.comic-salon.de. Over 300 artists there, including my great colleagues, Howard Chaykin, Mark Buckingham, Milo Manara, Thomas Ott, Matthias Schultheiss, and many others besides.
And that's it for now : )

Posted by David Lloyd at 09:40 AM | Permalink

---

Saturday, May 15 2010

Next Sitting

Had an excellent weekend in Caen at a Book Fair in a castle which mixed sequential art with prose : regular books with bande dessinee like they were equal, which, of course, they are... It couldn't happen here. Spent all the working time signing and sketching at the tables of the most excellent bookstore - La Cour des Miracles - and spent much excellent time with my hosts, Jean- Marie and Sophie, and many other excellent folks of their acquaintance and, now, mine.
Took a walk around town in the time I had before catching a train out of there, got somewhat lost , and asked two random folk for directions. BOTH spoke English. Imagine some poor lost Frenchman in some town here trying to get some sense from us guys... hah. Caen also has an excellent old abbey dating back to 1066, where William the Conqueror obviously said his prayers before taking his sword to us lot. Fantastic eroded stone carvings on it, here, look... They're restoring some of the other religious edifices around town, but, for me, nothing matches the truth and beauty of the weathered images that adorn these ancient niches.
And just to add some contrast to the picture you'll be getting of the place, just at the bottom ( ahem ) you'll see the exotic seating arrangements in my hotel room. An example of the kind of surprising and amusing style and flair that France often, thankfully, blesses us with : )
Next sitting... I'm at the Bristol Con in England on the 22-23rd. Great con to come to, if you haven't been before, though if you haven't got a ticket - it's ticketted - already, you might be disappointed. But it's a mix of small press and big press, and very friendly, so if you want to come, try to. I'll be at a table close to the info desk for most of the show, both days, so you can find me if you want to, no problem. Details at www.fantasyevents.org.

Posted by David Lloyd at 05:47 PM | Permalink

---

Wednesday, May 05 2010

No Weeping

Friends,
Well after all that concern about the sun deserting me for a little wander around Shrewsbury last Saturday morning, the rain held off, so I spent a pleasant few hours looking around the town and walking by the river, where, as you can see, weeping willows decorate the bankside. It's a very nice town, full of history, and dotted with half-timbered houses defying the years with impressive fortitude. Sadly, the impact of the automobile has been no blessing to it, like many towns around the country which were not designed in any way to be cut through with motorised traffic. But that's the modern world for you - it has no compunction about invading the past : (
And talking about invasion, my next stop for a signing is in Caen in Normandy, France, where William The Conqueror came from to invade England in 1066. After all that time we're still no good at learning French here, but next weekend on 8-9, I'll be doing my best to communicate with any of you who are in the neighbourhood of the Book Fair there who want to come and say hi. Please do! Long time since I've been in France, and I'm looking forward to it : )
And if you've never been to Shrewsbury, like I'd never been, correct your behaviour and try it - it's nice. But stay away from the roads...

Posted by David Lloyd at 09:15 AM | Permalink

---

Monday, April 26 2010

The Order Of Release

Friends,
Below is not a picture of one of the many unfortunates just emerging through an arrival gate at last after being stranded for days abroad, though it could as well be... No, this touch of class I'm attaching to my posting this time is for no other reason than I was reading a book about Millais recently, and I thought I'd show you the painting of his that made the strongest impression on me as a kid - The Order Of Release. I couldn't believe how he made it so grippingly realistic. And we used to have a dog like that... Amazing stuff. Anyway, if you're in the UK, this terrific picture is in the Tate Gallery. Don't pass through London without seeing it!
And talking of visits, I'm off on another signing trip this weekend, and, as long as no volcano erupts under the rail line from Marylebone to Shrewsbury between now and Saturday, May Ist, I will be signing and sketching, etc, at Infinity And Beyond, 31, Wyle Cop, Town Centre, Shrewsbury, from 1-5pm. They're on +44 (0) 1743 360666. Their website - www.infinitybeyond.co.uk.
If you're not heading off into the now ash-free clouds on that long bank holiday weekend, and fancy spending your time in the beauty of the green and pleasant English countryside instead, make sure you come and say hi : )

Posted by David Lloyd at 04:30 PM | Permalink

---

Tuesday, April 20 2010

KICKBACK - The Video Slideshow

Friends,
One of the things I always miss if I have to miss any conventions I'm scheduled for in the US, is the opportunity to introduce people to Kickback who may never have heard of it or seen it before. It especially pleases me to see how pleased they are with its look and quality - its ' presence ' you could describe it as. This is difficult to evoke effectively with the pictures and descriptions I have on this site alone. So I've posted a photo album to my Facebook page that you might like to see - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=694430869#!/album.php?aid=175660&id=694430869. I'm also embedding a video slideshow of the collection right below this message. And please make sure you've got the sound up on your computer when you run it because it's meant to have a musical accompaniment...
More from me shortly : )

Posted by David Lloyd at 03:39 PM | Permalink

---

Saturday, April 17 2010

Turned To Ashes

Friends,
An update for any of you planning to say hi at C2E2 in Chicago. Due to the flight restrictions I'm not going to get to the show for even that one day I thought I might be able to make it for! Failing yet another volcano erupting in Iceland and blowing it's ash in the direction of the UK, I should be at the San Diego Con, so if you're a convention-goer to that venue, I hope to see you there!
Til then... : )

Posted by David Lloyd at 08:13 AM | Permalink

---

Thursday, April 15 2010

Upset Volcano

Friends,
News for any of you folks coming to Chicago and planning to pop along and say hi - you'll catch me at my table only on Sunday. And right now even that's provisional. Reason being the volcanic cloud that's closing down airspace all over the UK and beyond. Means I can't get out of here today, though I'm hoping to make it on Saturday. I'll confirm the Sunday date as soon as I can and let you know about it. Hope you all enjoy the show if you're going!

Posted by David Lloyd at 06:33 PM | Permalink

---