[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-busy-weekend":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Where do I start? Well, I totally forgot to use my camera at the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.britishscbwi.org/\">SCBWI\u003C/a> writers and illustrators conference this weekend. But we had a buzzy breakfast this morning at the lovely hotel in Winchester, so I made a very rough drawing of it on the train ride back. Conference highlights included going to two talks by the marvellously poised and articulate \u003Ca href=\"http://www.geraldinemccaughrean.co.uk/\">Geraldine McCaughrean\u003C/a>, despite her claims to be otherwise (I'm a huge fan of her novel \u003Ci>The White Darkness\u003C/i>); getting to have conversations with the guy who makes all those marvellous linocut prints, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theartworksinc.com/folio/wormell/wormell.htm\">Chris Wormell\u003C/a>; leading a workshop with my friend \u003Ca href=\"http://www.laynmarlow.co.uk\">Layn Marlow\u003C/a> that went even better than we expected; seeing all the cool \u003Ca href=\"http://community.livejournal.com/scbwi/tag/comixtravaganza\">Comixtravaganza\u003C/a> stuff going up on the wall; and wandering for miles on the streets of Winchester at midnight with \u003Ca href=\"http://notesfromtheslushpile.co.uk\">Candy Gourlay\u003C/a>, probably one of the most fun people I know to get lost with.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_brek-785b725283.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nIn the afternoon, I took part in the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.ica.org.uk/Great%20British%20Comics%3A%20Past%2C%20Present%20%2B%20Future+18414.twl\">Comica panel\u003C/a> and got to see a whole bunch of colleagues from \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thedfc.co.uk\">the DFC\u003C/a>, including meeting \u003Ca href=\"http://www.adambrockbank.com\">Adam Brockbank\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://jimmedway.com\">Jim Medway\u003C/a> for the first time, and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.laurahowell.co.uk\">Laura Howell\u003C/a>, whom I'd only met once very briefly. I got to the ICA a bit early and got to have a good chat with Adam Brockbank before the panel and  hear about his concept work in the Harry Potter films. (He's working on \u003Ci>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows\u003C/i> right now, which will be split into two films but filmed together.) I was again awed by his work when we saw some new images on screen during the panel, really beautiful work, created mostly in Corel Painter.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/23nov08_1-90811a0b9f.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Patrice Aggs, John Aggs, Paul Gravett, me, Gary Northfield, Adam Brockbank\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nThe funniest thing about the weekend was the huge division between the children's book writers and illustrators group, which was about ten women to every man, and the children's comics event, which was the complete reverse of that. The Comica panel before us (five men) gave a great talk but it was the most boy-zone thing ever, all about war comics and football. Funnily enough, I showed a war poster by Fougasse when I was talking about my own influences, and mentioned the large amount of time I spent at the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.iwm.org.uk\">Imperial War Museum\u003C/a> looking at wartime posters when I first arrived in London. But there's a big difference between those guys' high-drama paintings of soldiers in the middle of combat and the posters I like, which show regular citizens pulling together on the home front, in a very cosy sort of way. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/23nov08_3-ec576a15e1.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Adam Brockbank, John Aggs and his sister, Rachel Aggs\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more More photos under the cut-->\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/23nov08_4-279ba6d4bb.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Woodrow Phoenix and David Leach\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/23nov08_2-081f8f53a4.jpg\">\\r\nShowing picture of the clay sheep I made, who later turned into the DFC's Vern\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/23nov08_5-9d03d75d15.jpg\">\\r\nJim Medway, \u003Ca href=\"http://jennylinncole.myartsonline.com\">Jenny Linn-Cole\u003C/a> and Gary Northfield\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/23nov08_6-4180c31823.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.robhinchcliffe.co.uk\">Rob Hinchcliffe\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.themousehunter.com\">Alex Milway\u003C/a> and Stuart\u003C/i>","2008-11-23T21:35:00.000Z","busy-weekend",[],"busy weekend!",1776628729278]