[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-wigtown-sketch-interview-with-matt-badham":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I'm still plugging away at trying to learn a bit more about drawing landscapes. At the Wigtown book fest, I was telling Polly Dunbar about it and she burst out laughing, \\r\n'So you're doing it to impress Philip Reeve!' \\r\n'Noo!\" I protested vehemently. 'I really need to learn how to do this!' Then I thought about it a bit more, and decided that if I \u003Ci>really\u003C/i> wanted to impress Philip Reeve (who's been posting \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.tumblr.com/\">his own sketch-a-day\u003C/a>), I'd be posting anything \u003Ci>but\u003C/i> landscape sketches since it's the area where I'm least skilled. \\r\nAnd then I thought about it a bit harder and wondered if perhaps I was trying to impress him with my stubborn, pig-headed persistence. Yes, I decided, Polly must be right. I probably am trying to impress Philip Reeve (oh, the shame), but I can live with that if it forces me to keep drawing. I won't even tell you how fast I am whipping through his \u003Ci>Mortal Engines\u003C/i> books; he's impressed me, at any rate.\\r\n\\r\nHere's a stretch of riverside at Newmilns Farm, near Wigtown, where Angus and Mary live. I'm still trying to work out how to draw finely-textured light (or backlit) things against a dark background without having to draw every blade of grass. Tricky. I bought a used book at Wigtown's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.wigtown-booktown.co.uk/bookshop_info.asp?businessID=22\">Old Bank Bookshop\u003C/a> called \u003Ci>The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections\u003C/i> that I'm going to take along sketching with me, for reference.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/newmilnfarm-ffcbdb35df.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe countryside around there's so beautiful, Stuart and I just kept saying, 'Wow. Wow. Just... wow.'\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/wigtown-67bec6656f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nA big thanks to Richard Bruton and his daughter Molly, who have given \u003Ci>Vern and Lettuce\u003C/i> the ultimate thumbs-up. Richard writes: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>...when I asked her what she thought of the book after she’d read it (and reread it several times) she simply added:\\r\n'It’s my favourite comic.'\\r\nI really can’t think of any way she could have said it better and can’t really fault her judgement either.\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nAnd the other big thanks to comics journalist \u003Cb>Matt Badham\u003C/b> for the interview he did with me, cross-posted at the \u003Cb>Forbidden Planet International\u003C/b> blog and \u003Cb>Down The Tubes\u003C/b>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2010/vern-and-lettuce-mollys-favourite-comic-and-im-rather-fond-of-it-as-well/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mollyfpi-ef879600ae.jpg\">\u003C/a> \u003Ca href=\"http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2010/colliding-words-and-pictures-an-interview-with-sarah-mcintyre/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/fp_post-f58aef5b4b.jpg\">\u003C/a>  \u003Ca href=\"http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2010/09/colliding-words-and-pictures-interview.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/downthetubes-468e181b1b.jpg\" width=\"280\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003Ci>(Click on the pic to go to the different articles.)\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n(Blank Slate publisher Kenny Penman takes issue with the interview in the FPI \u003Ca href=\"http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2010/colliding-words-and-pictures-an-interview-with-sarah-mcintyre/\">blog comments\u003C/a>, hehe. Still trying to think how I might reply.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>If you're in London, don't miss tonight's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.nikjep.demon.co.uk/laywhen.htm\">Laydeez Do Comics event\u003C/a> just off Brick Lane\u003C/b>, featuring my fab studio mate \u003Ca href=\"http://www.littlewhitebird.com\">Ellen Lindner\u003C/a>, DFC colleague and friend \u003Ca href=\"http://patriceaggs.com/\">Patrice Aggs\u003C/a>, artist \u003Ca href=\"http://www.idrinkcoffeeanddraw.moonfruit.com/\">Steve White\u003C/a> and Charlie Bowden from \u003Ca href=\"http://www.pickledink.com/\">Pickled Ink Illustration Agency\u003C/a>. I'll be there, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.nikjep.demon.co.uk/laywhen.htm\">details here!\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>Edit:\u003C/i> Okay, now my studio mates are making fun of me. Just found \u003Ca href=\"http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l27/jabberworks/uploads2010/laurennote.jpg\">this\u003C/a> on my desk. As if Ms Deadlyknitshade did not beat me in reading the whole series.","2010-09-27T11:12:00.000Z","wigtown-sketch-interview-with-matt-badham",[],"wigtown sketch + interview with matt badham",1776628718816]