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!

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?

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.

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.

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!

Little Green Pig's Little Green Pop Up!

Earlier this month I was invited to take part in a story-making workshop and lunchtime artist residency as part of Little Green Pig's Little Green Pop Up at No Walls Gallery. Little Green Pig is a Brighton based charity offering children and young people free writing workshops. They believe this vital form of self-expression builds confidence, communication and social skills. Pretty cool, right?

In the morning I was on hand to illustrate ideas thought up by clever young writers during a story-making workshop led by writer Laura Wilkinson. Some pretty crazy stuff came out of this, my particular favourite being Victorians regressing into cave people. 

Afterwards I was asked to carry on a story started earlier in the week as part of a series of lunchtime writer and artist residencies. For this last bit I created the comic strip you see above! I also got to chat to people as they entered the gallery and sit under a sign saying "Creative Genius"....nice. All in all an amazing day, and just to say thanks to Ella, Laura, Natalie, Julie, Catherine, Peter and everyone at Little Green Pig! 

Sussex Research Hive

Some new illustrations I've created to promote the Sussex Research Hive, the dedicated doctoral research space at the University of Sussex Library! Should hopefully be winging their way on to some snazzy postcards, etc soon.

All Night Write - this Saturday 18th June!

Hey, just a quick plug for a writing event I'll be attending this Saturday 18th June at 88 London Road theatre bar, Brighton. Organised by Dark & Stormy, it's called All Night Write and yes, that's exactly what it is - an all night writing session from 10pm to 6am Sunday morning! So if you're a budding writer (be it comics, novels, film, TV, theatre, music, whatever!) and want to take the opportunity to write alongside some professionals then this is for you. There will be a series of exciting talks throughout the night and the writers listed above will also be on hand to give hints, tips and one-to-one advice! Top names attending include Brighton crime writer P.D. Viner and comics extraordinaires Hannah Berry and Ian Williams. Plus I'll be mooching in the corner working on something or other...

Comica Comiket at the House of Illustration tomorrow Saturday May 14th!!

Okay, so I'm advertising this at quite short notice but hopefully you've spotted it elsewhere already! Tomorrow, Saturday May 14th I'll be exhibiting my work as part of the Comica Comiket at the House of Illustration in Kings Cross, London! I'll be selling my usual wares plus an all new foldout Macbeth comic...

..Whoop! There'll be loads of great publishers and artists there too, as well as the celebrity guest Drawing Parade. You can see a full A-Z list of exhibitors here. It's being held to coincide with the last weekend of the fantastic Comix Creatrix exhibition, which I'm really hoping to catch whilst I'm there!

Hopefully see you there too?

Graphic Shakespeare

 

Sadly it wasn't shortlisted but here is my entry for the Graphic Shakespeare Competition 2016: Macbeth Act 1 Scene 3!

The shape of things to come

Oh dear, I seem to have left this web presence thing slip again. Sorry about that. Pretty busy working on lots of projects, including contributing to an anthology and designing characters for an animation start-up, more of which I will reveal in good time. In the meantime here's a panel from a recent competition piece.. more about that too once the judging is done and dusted. Speak soon, stay frosty.

November & December round up

 

Hey folks, just a quick post to let you know what I've been up to over the last two months..

Firstly, Thought Bubble! Despite the rain I had a top weekend. Met some great people making awesome comics, plus Mark and I aired our latest sample from Makers of Monsters and got a generally positive response - very encouraging! And a big thanks to Rachel for helping out so much with the stall - you rock.

Next up, I was invited to speak to Creative Media Production students at City College Brighton & Hove. I told them all about my work on Think Like Churchill and then got to look at some their sketchbooks. There was some fantastic work in there, plus they were a really welcoming and friendly group - I'm hoping to pay them a visit again sometime soon!

Finally, I took part in an 8 hour comics challenge.. Adam Moore laid down the gauntlet, inviting Anthony Atkinson and me to join him in producing 8 pages in 8 hours with zero prep. Based loosely on the 24-Hour Comic challenge created by Scott McCloud (which is now an international phenomenon), we decided to do a cut down version because, well, we're wimps. That and also the fact that we were taking part in Monthly Milk, a great monthly arts event in the centre of Brighton that um, lasts for 8 hours! Anyway, here is my contribution in all its badly drawn glory: JAIME'S 8 HOUR COMIC CHALLENGE (warning: contains swear words and toilet gags). Here is Adam's amazing creation, Anthony's will be made public soon!

Whilst all that was going on I've also been keeping the Afanc ticking along - so do head over to afanc-tumblr.com to check out the latest instalment. More coming in the New Year...

Anyway, that's pretty much it for 2015 - hope you had a great year and enjoy a relaxing Christmas holiday! See you in 2016!

Mental.

New sequence for Makers of Monsters! Plus more Afanc & Thought Bubble this weekend!

Writer Mark Pembrey and I have been busy putting together a new 6 page sequence for Makers of Monsters (formerly Better Beasts), our graphic novel in progress! And you can see it all by clicking the pic above... There's even some new character studies up there too. You can read a little bit more about the project over on Mark's website here. I'll try and post the full synopsis at some point soon.

There's also been some new Afanc activity over afanc-comic.tumblr.com! There are new characters and everything, including a dog called Mr Cuddles..

And what are you up to this weekend? Going to Leeds perchance? Then do swing by the always fantastic Thought Bubble Comic Arts Festival and say hi! I'll be selling my wares on table 41a in the Royal Armouries Hall. See you there!

Last month's workshops and presentations - quick photo round-up!

Photo Credit: Rachel Malic

So September was a busy month! To start with there was The Brighton Mini Maker Faire, where I ran a comic strip making workshop, the result being these awesome creations. Some extremely talented people out there. Thanks to everyone who came and took part, I had a great time so hopefully they'll have me back again next year!

Photo Credit: Mark Pembrey

Then there was the Alligator's Junior Comics Club at The Alligator's Mouth bookshop in Richmond! Here we made comic strips again and just to say, those Junior Club artists know their stuff - their comics knowledge put me to shame! Here I am doing a quick example featuring a Knight, a Dragon and a..erm..bucket. This month the club is being hosted by animal illustrator extraordinaire Zoe Scammell and it's Halloween themed! You'd be crazy not to check it out.

Photo Credit: Angie Thomas

And finally, there was my Brighton Digital Festival event: Paper Versus Pixels! Here I spoke about my experiences working on Think Like Churchill. However, the real stars were all the other amazing speakers who took part: David Lloyd, Jade Sarson, Alex Fitch, Chloe Pursey and Nye Wright! Thanks to you all, you made it into a fantastic night. Thanks to everyone who came and watched too. For those who couldn't make it, fear not! We recorded the whole thing and I'm hoping to put it online soon...

So, I'm having a little breather from speaking for the next couple of weeks but do watch this space for upcoming events. Next on the list I guess it's Thought Bubble...see you there?