Thought Bubble 2015

I love comic books as much as I love animation. The comic books I am into is not the typical superheroes comic series, so I went to Thought Bubble yesterday which is a comic convention held yearly in Leeds in the hope of finding quirky independent comic books artists. It is a really eye opening experience since this is my first time going to a comic convention. I realised that there is a plethora of independent comic book artists who creates artsy or even 'trippy' pieces. And, of course, I could not resist to get one of the Nobrow magazine which is a compilation of eccentric wordless comics.

Nobrow 9 Magazine and Postcards

At first, I did not know where to go except the Illustration students zines booth since I could not recognise any familiar names. However, as I stroll around the venue, I do not feel like leaving empty handed. Luckily, I managed to hold my desire to shop impulsively, and selectively choose what I am getting. Apart from Descender, these are all made by independent artists. I got a rhino poo Astro Boy print (because I find it exotic to have rhino poo paper hanging on my wall), some free postcards and Badger's Day Out.

Science Fictions

I talked to Howard Hardiman, the maker of Badger's Day Out which is a friendly person. Hence, I kind of regret not having him to sign the Badger book that I bought. He explained to me about his Badger series that accounts a silly adventure of a badger that he made for fun in the beginning and how he managed to pave the way for his success. He uses post-its to draw the panels, take a picture of them and upload them to Instagram on a regular basis. He thinks that the series got to the heart of many people because it simply shows the innocence of the everyday life of a badger hence gives a calming effect to the audience. He even joked that his readers often read Badger's Day Out as a bedtime story. To bring variety to the series, he uses different medium to draw. In this book, he uses pencil while for the other two books he uses ink & watercolours and brush pen separately. He also enjoys to animate and he made an gif animation of the sleeping badger, and he gave me the postcard of the frames that he uses instead since he could not show me the animation at that moment.

Howard Hardiman's Badger's Day Out