Gamesfest 4

Just a quick update of recent events, this weekend I attended Gamesfest 4 which is a relatively new and small but fun games convention in Watford.

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Watford Colosseum - not a Gladiator in sight.
Although there was a Samurai at the back.

After a slight miscalculation in travel times (thanks Sat-Nav!) and a couple of closures on the A1 south-bound (thanks Highways Agency!) I finally arrived and set up shop at the Artists & Authors table, where I spent the whole day drawing Space Marines, Eldar and loads of Sisters of Battle for the very patient men, women, boys and girls that gathered at the table.

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The drawing machine at work!

Geek Alert: I even managed to get my precious copy of Fighting Fantasy: Starship Traveller signed by Steve Jackson himself, wikkidz!

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My precioussss...

It was a great day, my fantastic sister, Dawn - who printed up the large posters - kept me company all day. I was looked after by the organisers very well; being watered, fed and kept amused by being sat RIGHT NEXT TO THE SPEAKER SYSTEM!

Joking aside, I look forward to seeing what those good people at Gamesfest have in store next year.

Super Sculpey!

Ooh, look what turned up in the post the other day!

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Ooh! Polymer Clay!

Who'd have thought some polymer clay and modelling tools would get me so excited. Having read loads about sculpting (thankyou Smellybug and Bruno Lucchesi). I've decided to jump right in and get cracking with some small maquette tests - generic heads, planes of the face, that sort of thing - basically a lot of stuff James Gurney talks about in his book, Imaginative Realism - which I raved about in my previous post.

In other news, my PC nearly had a fatal wobbly on me, luckily it turned out to be a dodgy old graphics card:

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Rust in Peace, dear friend.

Lecturing is going well at the University of Lincoln, there's more comics covers, magazine articles and book covers on the horizon. And finally, I'll be appearing at Gamesfest at the Watford Colosseum (sounds a bit gladiatorial) this Saturday - so if anyone wants a book signing or a sketch - come along and say hello.

Right, a modelling armature - I need to find some wire coathangers...