No, unfortunately to some, i am quite the contrary, i am alive and well (well-ish).
Admittedly it has been a very long time since i last posted anything on my Sweet Animosity site, and obviously the main reason it has been neglected is because all of the work output for 2013 has been published and released as School of Bitches stuff, and that however has not been neglected. School of Bitches has had an incredible inaugural year that now seems to have passed by rather quickly.
If there is anyone out there who follows this site and somehow does not follow the School of Bitches stuff, then you can find all the information here - http://schoolofbitches.co.uk/
Right, what has happened this year? well, following the School of Bitches first appearance last year at the Malta Comic Con we have continued to make a number of appearances around the UK (Namely Cardiff, Bristol, London, Derry and Melksham) whilst showcasing issue one of Genesis and completing the publication of issue two. Which has been completed and will be released next week at the Malta Comic Con taking place 30th November - 1st December.
An animation is also being shown, it will be a preview of the chapter which will be released following chapter XVI - Virtue's Chronicles. I didn't really have anything to do with this at all, i was used in discussions by Alan Stealth and Todd Collier, the members of the team who actually made it. Other than that, i pretty much sat and grew continuously more perplexed watching them use lines to make things move. I have never been a real fan of technology or film, so there was no real hope for me to understand any of this from the start.
As for the comic cons throughout the year, i have really enjoyed witnessing peoples reactions to our work. Admittedly, the 'artists' work, but hey, every long haired guru type need a sociopathic front man. When they don't, they tend to become employed in obscure, independently owned (insert irrelevant possession here)-shops. It also does help a lot when the artist in question has some mad skills and is able to draw people in the first place though.
I have noticed that my abilities to communicate with the public and fellow exhibitors has developed greatly, and a lot of skills have been learnt as a result of being a member of School of Bitches. I know how to use Adobe InDesign, when i didn't know what Adobe was this time last year. How marketing and social media works, and even artistically from formal and creative writing, business applications and press releases to beginning to slowly believe that i can, in some way, say what 'art' is.
By this point you're probably thinking, 'get to the point', I'm sure if you wanted to read all this then you would have checked it out during the time we were actually experiencing it. So, what is the point of this post?
Well, i have currently begun working on a second project separate from School of Bitches. The project is currently titled 'Enigma', and will be a single standing graphic novel project i will be writing, and which will be drawn by Maltese friend and artist, Maria Isabella Grech.
Although still in the very early stages of production, the story will be dealing with the inner psychology of impoverished citizens of Great Britain. A dark story of emotional control and social expectations in areas more deprived and suggestible to persuasion. There will be more details as the project progresses, and that is why i am back on the Sweet Animosity site.
As for now, it's time to get ready to leave for Malta.
