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!

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!

Buck

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

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?

Workshoppin'

Next month I'll be doing some comics making workshops! Firstly, I'll be at the Brighton Mini Maker Faire, the festival of making, creativity and invention at Brighton Corn Exchange on Saturday 5th September! Here I'll be doing scheduled workshops throughout the day, each lasting around an hour. I'll be talking about what makes a good 4-panel story/gag strip and getting visitors to make their very own! The results will be exhibited on this blog and/or on me Tumblr. All ages welcome! Although younger kids might need grown-up supervision. Do come down, as there'll be loads of great things going on including arts & crafts, robots and engineering, wood and metalwork, electronics, science, tech, music and more amazing do-it-yourself creation!

Following on from that, I will be hosting the Alligator's Comics Club on Thursday September 24th at the Alligator's Mouth children's bookshop in Richmond! This one kicks off at 4pm and is aimed at 7-12 yrs. Do RSVP the lovely people at Alligator's Mouth if you fancy coming as space may be limited! Again I'll be talking about how to make your own comics and also giving an insight into my working process...

And to finish the month off - not so much a workshop but a night of talks - there's the Brighton Digital Festival event Paper Versus Pixels. This one is all about comics and digital media with some great speakers lined up, including: Jade Sarson, David Lloyd, Nye Wright, Alex Fitch, Chloe Pursey and erm...me.

So yeah, do come say hello at either one, two or all three of these exciting comics happenings! September's gonna rock.

A date for your diaries!

Coming in September: Paper versus pixels: comics, digital media and their mutant offspring - an evening of talks about comics in print, on-screen and everything in between. Presented as part of Brighton Digital Festival 2015!

Yep, that's right - I've gone and organised an event! It's all going to be happening on Tuesday September 29th, from 6-8pm at the new Sussex Humanities Lab, based in Silverstone Building, Sussex University. Directions can be found here. A big thank you to the lovely people there for letting me use the space.

And guess what? It's free!

Here's the official list of presentations so far:

When is a comic not a comic? When it’s an app Comic artist Jaime Huxtable relates his experiences illustrating Think Like Churchill (Touchpress, 2014), an app that mixes comics, animation, historical archive and gameplay into a new breed of graphic narrative.

The comic page as time machine – panel based time travel and simultaneity in From Hell, One Soul and Here All comics are a form of time travel. Comic journalist, podcaster and film critic Alex Fitch explains how the paper page of the comic can create a transcendent experience that more interactive formats (such as tablet computers) can only hint at.

More speakers to be announced, including artists from Myriad Editions

So make a note of the date and see you there!

Another robot..

..happier with the looser brushwork on this one.

Robot drawing - step by step

STAGE 1 - I created a new A3 document in Manga Studio. Using a sketchbook doodle as reference, I roughed in the robot's pose using a blue line first and then darkened and defined the basic shape of its body with a grey pencil.

STAGE 2 - still pencilling with the darker line, I've started to add more definition to its various joints, fingers, body cavity, etc. Also dropped in a background, which was a bit of an afterthought (not always the best practice!). Thanks to the blue line I'm able to see what I'm doing pretty clearly and am saved from making the page a grey mess as I work things out. The soft eraser tool in Manga Studio also helps me keep things clean. I tend to be quite a messy penciller and a bit of a hard presser so blue line definitely works for me.

STAGE 3 - Inks. Using the G-Pen nib in Manga Studio I draw in the basic outlines. I then pluck up the courage to put in the heavy black areas. Some zip-tone was then dropped in loosely for the mid tone areas. The brush droplet tool was used together with white paint to get some of those dented FX and also push back the mountain range. The upper legs and arms were a bit of a struggle here - I tried to draw those tube rings in a way that wasn't too mechanical but also not too sloppy. Not entirely happy with the result but time to push on with....

STAGE 4 - Colour! For this stage it's time to export to Photoshop. I then block in the basic flat colours on a new layer and add a custom pattern effect to get that watercolour paper look. The darker areas are added on a separate layer using a brush with 'wet edges'. Adjustment layers are then added to some of the line work to push the background further back. Finally I dropped in some highlights, again with a wet edged brush set to 'luminosity'. Done!

Next stage? Possibly getting this bad boy made into a print for the shop?

My other place (Tumblr)...

So here's a selection of sketches, doodles and scribbles that you can see over on my Tumblr site, called Jaime's Other Place. I'm currently mulling over making it my main news feed and linking directly to it from this site's main menu...we'll see. Anyway, do take a look - hope you enjoy!

2014 round up...

Hey, Happy New Year! Hope you had a great Christmas. It's been a bit quiet on here recently but all for good reason - 2014 was pretty busy... Firstly, there was Better Beasts, a graphic novel proposal written by the multitalented Mark Pembrey and illustrated by moi. Based on the lives of early palaeontologists Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen, Beasts was well received by those who read it and even got on the long list of the Myriad Editions First Graphic Novel Competition! Mark is currently sprucing up the script for the next few chapters ready for me to resume artwork duties in early 2015!

Following hot on the heels of Better Beasts there came a commission for Llangorse's favourite son, the Afanc. The lovely people who organised the first Llangorse Lake Big Swim and Triathlon needed a mascot to feature on their racing t-shirts and prize medals, I was honoured when they chose my interpretation of their local legend for the job. Here are the two designs I submitted featuring our furry friend in action and below the final t-shirt (sorry about the creases) and medal!

Next up, character illustrations for crime writer extraordinaire Phil Viner. Earlier this year Phil launched a new website to coincide with the release of his second novel, Summer of Ghosts. He wanted the site to feature his lead characters drawn in a pulp, noir comics style. Here you can see Tom and Patty. The website in all its glory is here. And do check out Phil's fantastic books, including The Last Winter of Dani Lancing.

And then the biggy, Think Like Churchill; an app that takes the form of a graphic narrative from the clever people at Touchpress (who hired me for the job of illustrator) and Hodder & Stoughton. If you own an iPad or iPhone, do give this thing a look. Using a mixture of comics and animation, the reader is taken through some of the biggest decisions Winston Churchill made throughout his life. At crucial points within the narrative the reader/user is asked what they would do in Churchill's shoes! Some of my favourite illustrations from the app below. A big thank you to Touchpress for commissioning me and big shout out to all the great people I worked with over the past 5 months: Josie Gardiner (Producer), Ned Pennant-Rea (Writer/Researcher), Matt Aitken (Designer), Matt Gibbs (Editor), Warren Dockter (Historical Consultant) - you're all amazing.

So what's coming in 2015? Well, I've just completed two extra chapters for Think Like Churchill so hopefully you'll be seeing them soon. Then there's more Better Beasts to come and possibly some other projects with Mark too! Oh...and I think it's about time the Afanc made a come back...

...watch this space for updates!

Think Like Churchill

Think Like Churchill Trailer 2 from Touchpress on Vimeo.

Finally I can reveal the secret project that's been keeping me quiet all these months! I've been illustrating an exciting new app from Touchpress all about the life of Winston Churchill. I won't say anymore than that for now, just watch the video and sign up for more info here!

I'm still here!

So it feels like I've been off radar again recently. I'm working on something top secret at the moment (hence the silence) but whilst that's going on I thought I'd share some of my last commission: a series of illustrations for amazing Brighton based crime thriller author P.D. Viner.

Phil wanted some portraits of the major players in his stories, the most recent volume being Summer of Ghosts (out now!). These portraits are then going to feature on his website. They're not up there yet so I thought I just a show these two for now, Dani and Jim.. hope you don't mind Phil!

Jammo reviewed!

My anthology comic collection Jammo has just had an amazing review in the Small Pressganged section of Broken Frontier! I'm really chuffed and just want to say a big thank you to Andy Oliver for writing such nice stuff about my work! He's a top fella who writes loads of cool stuff about small press creators. You can read a particularly great one here.

More Beasts and another work in progress...

Unfortunately Better Beasts didn't make the Myriad shortlist but Mark and I were still chuffed to get as far as we did. So onwards and upwards - and in the meantime here are some more sneak peeks, plus another work-in-progress I'm in the middle of at the moment...

Better Beasts

Remember I said I'd been working hard? Well here are some sneak peeks at Better Beasts, a graphic novel I'm currently working on with Mark Pembrey. It's all about the first palaeontologists and the bitter rivalry between them, in particular Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen. More pics and info to come soon. Oh, and as you might've already guessed, the stuff in pencil is yet to be inked but you get the idea!

Jammo a la mode.

A little bit of silliness I knocked up this morning instead of getting on with what I'm supposed to be doing. With apologies to all the great comic artists/illustrators out there who work in pencil.

Blockbuster 3000

Sorry about the long patch of silence...been working hard. More on that to come. In the meantime, here's a recent cartoon I did for Electric Sheep Magazine, the theme being convoluted film titles...