Mighty, mighty mini-comics: work made by students on "Making Comics for Beginners"

Check out some of the amazing work above, created by students on my Making Comics for Beginners evening course at Brighton Metropolitan College earlier this year. The class were assigned the task of making an 8 page A5 mini-comic over the course of 10 weeks (whilst learning how to make comics at the same time) - no easy job. The results were astounding to say the least - the level of craft and consideration that has gone into these mini-comics is phenomenal (and these people claimed to be “beginners”!). Congratulations to everyone who completed the course! You’re all fantastic sequential storytellers and you rock.

I’m hoping to run the same evening class again soon, plus I’m tinkering with the option of an additional intermediate course, as these students are keen to do more! So please do watch this space if you’re interested…

Sign up for my "Making Comics for Beginners" evening course at Brighton MET College!

That’s right, I’m running an evening class for aspiring comics artists at Brighton Metropolitan College starting this September! The course lasts 10 weeks and costs £260. Classes are on a Tuesday evening from 6-9pm.

You can sign up via the college prospectus page HERE.

The course is aimed at beginners who want to create their own comics but aren’t sure where to start, or for those who have some experience but want to improve their storytelling skills.

During this ten weeks you will:

• Learn the storytelling techniques of comics, manga and graphic novels (and how to apply them)

• Discover different ways to develop a graphic short story idea, from conventional narrative structure through to autobiography and non-fiction

• Improve upon your drawing skills, understand basic figure construction and develop compelling characters

• Learn how to draw believable, immersive worlds for your readers to explore

• Create your own mini-comic, from script through to final artwork. We will also cover ways to promote your work

Interested? Then sign up today! Or if you if you have any questions drop me an email.

Hope to see you in September!

Recent stuff! Orwell, DROWSE and workshops

Hello! I realise I haven’t written here for a while. So like, what have I be doing? Well…

Sean and I have been working hard to promote our Orwell adaptation, Such, Such Were the Joys. There have been various workshops and talks, including a lovely book launch evening with the Orwell Society, where we were introduced by Orwell’s son, Richard Blair! I also got to speak about our friend George at the recent Street Noise Draw The Line UK book launch at the Cartoon Museum in London. You can always follow me on Twitter to get the latest on these events as they happen.

I’ve also been working on another project with Sean and economist Michael Albert called Next American Revolution - can’t tell you much more than that for now but here is a peek at one of the pages…

Alongside that, I’ve been illustrating the lo-fi supernatural crime series DROWSE, with Frank Verano, Nick Klinger, Taylor Esposito and Kevin Ketner. We’re really proud of what we’ve achieved so far and the amazing thing is that you can read it all online for FREE! I’d love to hear what you think. Chapter 4 Part 2 is currently in the works and will also be available to read soon. It’s the final instalment of the current story arc - so expect some dramatic scenes!

Finally, I had a lovely afternoon recently running a comics workshop at The Comic Shop, Crawley for Creative Crawley and their Enliven/’Give it a Go’ series of events. Got to meet so many talented young artists from the local area! A massive thank you to Louise and Sam from Creative Crawley, the WORDfest Crawley team, the fantastic staff at The Comic Shop and all the lovely participants!

Here is a sample of some of the fantastic works created:

Such, Such Were the Joys now available to buy - plus some events coming up!

That’s right, Such, Such Were the Joys is now available in all good bookshops! Hopefully it should be in some comic shops too. Hooray! You can buy it directly from Pluto Press here.

I’m also doing a couple of events to coincide with the book’s release…

First of all I’ll be speaking to Alex Fitch at Cartoon County this Monday 27th September at 7pm (BST). The interview will be broadcast online via Zoom and is free to attend. You can also ask me questions and join in the discussion! Click below to book a FREE place:

Secondly, I’ll be running a comics workshop inspired by the graphic novel at Jubilee Library on Saturday 9th October at 11am (BST). This is an in-person workshop aimed at 13-19 year olds, all materials supplied and again, totally free! Book a FREE place on my workshop below:

For those who don’t know, Such, Such Were the Joys is an autobiographical essay by George Orwell about his experiences whilst at St Cyprian’s boarding school between 1911 and 1916.

He recounts the ugly realities of the regime to which pupils were subjected in the name of class prejudice, hierarchy and imperial destiny. As Orwell earned his place through scholarship rather than wealth, he was picked on by both staff and richer students.

Comics writer Sean Michael Wilson and I have now adapted the essay into graphic novel form - with the hope of introducing Orwell’s writing to a new audience while offering a new visual dimension for those who already know it well.

Such, Such Were the Joys is being supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Such, Such Were the Joys coming from Pluto Press in August!

Exciting news alert! Such, Such Were the Joys: A Graphic Novel (previously titled Illustrated Orwell: Such, Such Were the Joys) will be published by Pluto Press this August. Not only that, you can pre-order the book at your usual online outlets! Just follow the links below:

Wordery
Amazon
WHSmiths
Waterstones
Foyles

It’s been a long time coming - but we’re so excited to be getting this book out there and can’t wait for you to see it. I’ll be posting sneak peeks on the usual channels over the coming weeks so stay tuned!

Latest projects now up on the site...

Hi there! Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Things have been non-stop since the Orwell project started back in 2018, with a steady stream of jobs landing on my desk (can’t complain!). Unfortunately the release date for Illustrated Orwell: Such, Such Were the Joys has been put back to January 2021 - but I’ve just put plenty of other recent projects up on the site - so hopefully this will keep you going for a while! Just click on the pics above to see what I’ve been up to…

I’ve also shared a few more images from Such, Such Were the Joys here. Enjoy!

PS. You can always follow my Twitter or Facebook account to get (slightly) more regular updates!

Illustrated Orwell: Such, Such Were the Joys

So excited to finally show you what I’ve been secretly working on over the past year or so: a graphic novel adaptation of George Orwell’s essay Such, Such Were the Joys, adapted by writer Sean Michael Wilson and illustrated by yours truly! Here are a few panels from Chapter 1 to give you a flavour of what it’ll look like.

Such, Such Were the Joys is an autobiographical essay about Orwell’s experiences whilst at boarding school between 1911 and 1916. He reflects on “the contradictions of the Edwardian middle and upper class world-view, the psychology of children, and on the experience of oppression and class conflict”.

It’s a fascinating read, especially when you consider it alongside his fictional work - Nineteen Eighty-Four being the most obvious comparison. The everyday squalor he endured is also vividly described, making it perfect material for depicting in comic book form!

The book is being supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and is set to be published by New Internationalist in early 2020. Needless to say, I can’t wait to share more snippets with you over the coming months… so watch this space!

G Bear & Jammo get reviewed!

Did a lot of shouting about this on social media when it came out but only now getting around to mentioning it on the blog... G Bear and Jammo got a glowing review over on Broken Frontier! Click the link or image above to read. Needless to say I'm over the moon with what Andy Oliver says about The Coolest Thing Ever, couldn't have asked for anything more complimentary and considered! Thanks again guys, you rock.

And if you still haven't read it, The Coolest Thing Ever is available to buy here!

Caption 2017 next Friday Dec 1st! Plus G Bear & Jammo now in the shop...

Just to let you know that I'll be speaking about G Bear & Jammo at Caption 2017 comics festival next Friday 1st Dec at The Phoenix Brighton! This event has been scheduled instead of the usual annual Graphic Brighton conference, which will be returning in 2018 (all organised through the tireless efforts of Alex Fitch). There'll be loads of other great speakers there, including Hannah Berry, Daniel Locke, Ottilie Hainsworth, Rachael Ball, Tom Cleary, Mich Mathias, Myfanwy Tristram, Hannah Eaton and Jenni Scott. Plus a discussion about music and comics with The Surreal McCoy and DJ Food (never thought I'd be on the same line up as him - wow!). Doors at 6pm, hopefully see you there!

In other news, G Bear & Jammo: The Coolest Thing Ever is now on sale in my shop! 36 pages collecting together their entire first adventure plus bonus material featuring Mike McSkunk! All for a fiver and just in time for Crimbo... (I'll also be bringing copies to the talk next week if you want a personally signed copy!)

G Bear & Jammo at Thought Bubble Festival, September 23rd-24th!

That's right, I'll be at Thought Bubble Festival, Leeds in a few weekends' time debuting G Bear & Jammo in print form! Check out the cover above... 

If you've been following G and J's twice weekly adventures online you'll know that The Coolest Thing Ever recently reached its dramatic (and altogether rather silly) conclusion. This storyline has now been collected as a 36 page American format comic together with a bonus strip featuring Mike McSkunk (you might remember Mike from Jammo's brief brush with fame midway through the story).

To celebrate I'm offering my newsletter subscribers a sneak peek at the bonus material plus £2 off the marked price for those attending Thought Bubble! Sign up here to get your discount copy: jaimehuxtable.com/contact 

For those who can't make Leeds, don't worry - it'll be going up in the shop soon after and I'll still be offering the same discount to subscribers - whoop!

Exciting times - see you in a few weeks?

G Bear and Jammo - the story develops..

Hey everyone, just a quick reminder that my webcomic G Bear and Jammo is happening right now over on gbearandjammo.com! Here are the latest six pages to get you all excited.. What is Jammo building? Is it really "the coolest thing ever"? And who is Melvyn Smedley? All will be revealed over the coming weeks.. follow the link and stay tuned to find out! Updates on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

ComicPopUp this Saturday 13th May at The Hanover Pub, Brighton!

This Saturday 13th May I will be drawing a giant improvised comic (and selling my work) as part the ComicPopUp small press pop-up shop at The Hanover Pub, Brighton! The pop-up shop is for one day only, as part of Brighton and Hove's Artists Open Houses.

You can see a catalogue of all the amazing comics that will be available here and the Facebook event page is here! The shop is a new collaborative model for selling independent comics and is the brainchild of designer/illustrator Simon Russell. You can read a bit about how it all works in this interview with him over on Pipedream Comics.

As for the improv comic I'm doing, I'll be inviting audience members to contribute by leaving cunning spaces within the panels for you to fill in the blanks with drawings, text or whatever. You can even get to keep your panel for a measly £5! I will then present the entire comic on this 'ere website a few days after the event...

Oh, and the pub does lovely pizza. What's not to like?

G Bear and Jammo: my new webcomic is here!

After years of planning (and one or two false starts) I've finally launched G Bear and Jammo, my latest webcomic! I'm super excited about it and hopefully you will be too. So click the link and enjoy... Plus don't forget to tell your friends about it - if you're on Tumblr, you can even do all that "reblogging" and "liking" malarky - whoop!

Draw The Line

Here's a section of an illustration I've just finished for Draw The Line, where over 100 comic artists have been invited to illustrate positive political actions anyone can take. Initiated by Myfanwy Tristram, the project will initially take the form of a website followed by a book. There are some big names involved - can't wait to see it all collected together!

In other news, my first newsletter is due to go out sometime next week - so if you haven't signed up already do it now! Especially as I will be treating my subscribers to an exclusive peek at a brand new web comic I'm working on..

.. c'mon, you know you wanna.

2016 over and out.

Happy New Year! So that was 2016. Despite all the awful stuff that happened, I still managed to enjoy some great creative projects and am looking forward to what 2017 may bring. I just might not watch the news as much. Anyway, here's a round up of what I've been doing over the past twelve months..

First there was the Graphic Shakespeare competition. I didn't win but I really enjoyed making my little Macbeth piece, which you can read in full by clicking the image above! I also got to create a nice fold-out comic from it, that went down really well at comics fairs. Yuss.

Next I adapted a segment of John Le Carre's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold for Russ Kick's Graphic Canon of Crime and Mystery, to be published soon by Seven Stories Press. Drawing a spy comic was quite a new thing for me but I really enjoyed having a go at "noir" and you can see some of the pages by clicking the car image above. Let me know what you think, I'd be interested to hear what people make of it!

Following on from this, some more work for the University of Sussex. They wanted me to create friendly and inviting images for their Research Hive, a total contrast to spies in Cold War Berlin. Still, they were fun to draw - simplicity can give you lots of creative freedom.

A large proportion of the year was then spent doing workshops, including B.fest's Graphic Novel in a Day, Phil Viner's All Night Write and Little Green Pig's Little Green Pop Up. Plus I got to be part of the Drawing Parade at the Fall Comica Comiket!

On top of this I made a two page comic especially for Brighton zine fair The Rose Tinted Spectacular, which featured in their publication Tune Zine - a book all about musical epiphanies.

To finish off, I also managed to do another comic strip workshop for Little Green Pig, speak about Think Like Churchill at Graphic Brighton 2016 and pay another couple of visits to the Creative Media Production students at City College Brighton & Hove! Phew.

Whilst all this has been going on I've been beavering away at a top secret project, which I'm hoping to reveal in early 2017. Here's a sneaky preview below.. but hey, why don't you sign up to my soon to be launched quarterly newsletter so you can find out more?

Here's to a bright and fun-filled year ahead.
Cheers.

Buck

A jolly comic I did about some stuff that happened to me recently. Happy holidays everyone!

Talking Churchill at Graphic Brighton this weekend!

This year's Graphic Brighton festival and conference is taking place this weekend at the University of Brighton City Campus! It features loads of great guest speakers, including Dave McKean, Bryan and Mary Talbot, Kate Evans, and Ben Dickson. The theme this year is War, Conflict & Resolution.

On Saturday 10th at 2pm, I will be talking about Think Like Churchill and artist Chris Geary will be speaking about his amazing International Aces comics series, in a session that explores what it means to make comics about "heroes". Should be really interesting so do come down if you can!

Tickets are priced between £5 and £20 for a ticket to all of the public events, and from £30 to £60 to include the additional academic strand on Friday (tomorrow!); available from the University of Brighton online shop.

The Rose Tinted Spectacular!

This Saturday I'll be exhibiting at the Rose Hill pub in Brighton as part The Rose Tinted Spectacular Zine Fair. It promises to be a "day & night of spectacular zine related activity! Zines! Illustration! Literature! Music! Stalls! Performances! Fun!"

All profits will go to Brighton based migrant charities.

The fair is being run by illustrator Adam Moore (who drew the cool poster above) and artist/poet Alice Owen. You can find out more about who'll be there over on the Facebook page.

Adam and Alice have also put together a publication to tie in with the fair called Tune Zine, in which they've asked contributors to submit a piece of work based around a musical epiphany (I think). I drew a two page comic all about my love of The Jesus Lizard track Chrome, a panel of which you can see above! Come down on Saturday to pick up a copy of the zine. And remember, it's all going to a really good cause!

Comica Fall 2016

Photo credit: Peter Stanbury / Paul Gravett

Here are some pics of me taking part in the Drawing Parade at the Fall Comica Comiket, held last Saturday at The Lightbox Gallery, Woking! I decided to draw Jammo the dog escaping from some Tripods - in a nod to Woking's H.G. Wells connection. I had a fantastic day and met loads of lovely people - plus a special thanks to Gary Northfield and Jessica Martin for being such top table neighbours!

Comica Comiket at The Lightbox Gallery this Saturday October 8th!

Yep, it's Comiket time again! Organised by Comica London, the Comiket is an independent comics market where you get to meet loads of amazing creators who are selling their work. This time it's taking place at The Lightbox in Woking to tie in with their The Story of British Comics So Far: Cor! By Gum! Zarjaz! exhibition. The market is free to get in and there'll be loads of amazing exhibitors there.. plus me! Things kick off at 10.30 am. This time I'll also be taking part in the live Drawing Parade so do come down if you want to see me draw a robot, a bear, a dog or possibly all three. I haven't decided yet..