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Introducing The A.H.L. |
GIRLS, ARROWS AND FISH
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13/12/07
CM Team
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Ho! As the festive season of unwanted gifts and inevitable debt looms menacingly
over our homes and threatens to cut off the lights, another Candleman comic lies
in a dark box somewhere. Just waiting to bring light to our dismal lives once
more!
Well, sort of. It's not finished quite yet. Being a Christmas edition, it'll be
ready just before the 25th. That's all we know right now, so just wait and
see. Until then, wrap those peepers around a
4-page, full-colour action short -
introducing two members of the AHL (Action Hero League).
If you're wondering what on Earth this all is and how it ties in with Candleman,
it should become clearer in the Christmas comic.
Page four is censored because of this passage in our web host's T&C:
"Sites must not contain pornographic or other lewd material. Adult Material
includes all pornography, erotic images, or otherwise lewd or obscene content."
Whatever. The uncensored version is up at
ComicSpace.com if you're officially an "adult", and like drawn nipples.
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Going International |
CANDLEMAN HEADING FOR BRUM COMICS SHOW
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10/10/07
CM Team
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Another comic show rears its attractively printed head this weekend, and
Candleman is going to be there! With printed materials!
Of course we refer to the imminence of the
Birmingham International Comics Show
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On your left you will find a copy of the cover page for Match Man,
a small promo comic lovingly made for the show
alone. It will be available in its entirety at our table.
If you're at the show on the weekend, then pick up a copy!
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Officially Here |
LOADSA NEW STUFF NOW
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05/10/07
CM Team
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We present another glut of material - not too much, we hope. It has been a while
though. (for reasons see previous news post.)
First up, there are three new INFERNO pages:
19,
20 and
21.
Not animated, but the versions that Chris has been colouring in my absence - as
previously seen on his blog.
Speaking of the, there are also a bunch of new pictures from there up in our
Gallery section. Enjoy!
On the subject of the Birmingham Comics Show, the book (see right) we'll have
there is also
available at Lulu.com for
download as PDF or ordered as print.
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Apologies For the Absences... |
ALL ABOUT YOU KNOW WHAT
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30/09/07
Geoff
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Yes. I know Candlemania has been as dead as Betamax for a couple of months or
so. There's a good reason.
The last couple of months have been a rough ride for me. I just got out of
hospital on Thursday, where I spent five weeks being treated for a serious
illness that suddenly struck me. Well, after a month or so of it slowly creeping
up on me, and not even having the common courtesy of telling me its name!
Well, after subjecting me to all manner of horrific tests and toxic drugs, they
say the villain was none other than Ulcerative Colitis - and it just
happens to some people. (like one in n thousand or so...) It's a real nasty
piece of work, and it doesn't just go away afterwards. Well, whoopee.
"I guess he drew the short straw there.", you may be thinking, but I've come to
see this personal crisis of mine as the beginning of a new chapter in my life.
One I am determined to make a good one. Expect great things.
I seem to be on the road to recovery now and feeling a bit better every day. I'm
still very weak, and the drugs I still have to take in the morning make me feel
like a bucket of manure, but I can eventually crawl in front of my
computer and do all this - so I've not got many excuses anymore!
But don't anyone forget that Chris is still hammering away at the Candle Factory
with his blog:
http://cripspink.blogspot.com, so make sure you check it out if you want the
latest stuff, as things are still running a little slowly over here for now.
Also, anyone going to the Birmingham
International Comics Show 2007 will hopefully stumble across the Candleman
stall and see his first dedicated print comic! Support us and buy one! Or even
if you don't want to or they're all gone, then say hello anyway, damn it!
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Additions To the Gallery |
NEW ARTWORKS
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24/06/07
Geoff
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While the fiendish page nineteen is still yet to be finished, we
have a bunch of yet more Gallery Page
pictures to show for.
There is the excellent new fan art by
Christian Zanotelli, (see above) plus the lovely Xmas 2006 pic by
Wil Overton. There are a
whole bunch of Crips Pink blog pics that were Candleman-relevant - well worth
seeing if you haven't already, and some other older stuff "that I found"
again...
Anyone who is interested in contributing artistically to our cause is more than
welcome to. Simply e-mail your comments, sketches or suggestions or anything you
like to: geoff(AT)candlemania.co.uk.
We're open-minded. Surprise us!
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Seite Achtzehn |
NOW PAGE EIGHTEEN
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26/05/07
Geoff
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Hooray! Page Eighteen!
...My unpredictability is getting predictable.
(But that's just you, Geoff!) - Excuse the internal monologue.
Seriously though, Things are still on track. I'm keeping the quality up, at
least. Pages 19 and 20 are both half-done, so they won't be long. I just have to
pull my finger out of my parallel port and bathe my eyeballs in more
high-frequency radiation like a good little trooper.
Hope you like the new page, bit of a cliffhanger, this one. Would have been
better with page 19 too. Well, sucks to it. It's not done yet.
About the weird title image - it's my Wacom pen, well loved as you can see.
I've only had it since we started doing Inferno, and it's already had a lovely
chunk of its rubber grip worn away by my index finger. The buttons are also
working loose, and the whole grip has slackened, so it can be slid off in the
fashion of some kind of S&M-style sweatband. (It's still usable, that is
until the tip wears down an awkward chisel-point. Which won't be for ages yet.)
I'm not saying the tablet is bad - it's great. The pens got redesigned, but they
were better before. Take a hint, Wacom. Sort 'em out.
Anyway, it's half past vampirism in the morning, so I need to get some shut-eye.
Till next time...
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(p6+p10)+1= |
PAGE SEVENTEEN
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23/04/07
Geoff
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Here is Page Seventeen, finally. I know it's not
Saturday, but I though I'd get this out just after it's finished.
I haven't recieved the inks for pages 18 and onwards yet
(I know they're already done...) so goodness knows when page 18 will be ready. I
will try my best to make it arrive as soon as possible.
Nevertheless, we all live in hope of a better future. One when INFERNO is
finished, and gets printed. Yes, it's going to happen, we are sure of it. Our
target is before Thing 2008, I reckon. I need to do some simple calculations,
and then gasp at how quickly I have to turn the pages out!
Enjoy, girls and boys.
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p6+p10= |
PAGE SIXTEEN
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01/04/07
Geoff
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Another week, another page, a day overdue again. I sort of have an excuse for
this - I was carving a huge foam hand yesterday...
Anyway, here it is.
Might be an update next weekend, I don't know yet as many things I R busy
with. (Including new video.)
If you're wondering about the fish guy, it's from the
Crips Pink Blog! I shall have to
scoop a heap of relevant material from there for our gallery sometime.
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Only Fifty-five More To Go |
PAGE FIFTEEN ET CETERA
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25/03/07
Geoff
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Been a bit lax on the updating recently, but will be on track again soon.
Page Fifteen is now done, and it's nice and shiny,
as expected. Pages 16 and 17 should be done by next Saturday.
The UK Web and Mini Comix Thing
was attended by myself, although Chris couldn't make it this time. It cost 30
squid to get there, and I think I spent about the same again on various comics
- being the raging (poor) skinflint I am. (I like to think choosy...)
I picked up a couple of copies of the excellent Thing 2007 Anthology
for the princely sum of 50p each. "Good" is an understatement considering it's
202 pages. Quite a hefty A5 book.
Overall the day was a very good and productive one. I discovered much about this
event, enough to be certain that we will be exhibiting next year.
I don't know if this happens to everyone visiting their first comics show, but I
distinctly felt a bit mean at the end of the day. There were about 90
tables in the hall, and seven hours to get round them all - so that's about 4½
minutes for every table. That's not including breaks.
I saw a lot of stuff, and wanted more than I could afford; But I also had to
flip my "Diplomacy" switch, as there were more than a few tables visited that I
developed no interest in or were frankly inimpressive. It's quite a job being
careful and civil to so many people in one day - a lot more than I'm used
to. Though at least I can say that I made my choices and I'll be back next year.
I just hope being behind a table will be less of an emotional drain.
Alas, I have not yet been able to read much of the bought and free material, as
I'm still reading Charles Burns' phenomenal masterpiece,
Black Hole. I want to get it over with first, but that's easier
said than done. I get lost in the inks.
I know, I really should get back to the people whose stuff I bought at the show,
but they'll get their dues eventually. I will be sure to write a few little
reviews of the material I have especially enjoyed on this news page - as and
when I have read them.
I haven't got a "traditional" (i.e. not animated in Flash) Candleman comics page up
yet, as there's not really enough finished material yet. But here's the page
that we made for the
Thing 2007 Anthology. It's really rather good, if I say so myself.
Monochrome is a nice alternative direction for Candleman, as it represents a
different set of stylistic options, and is more in line with our future print-based
ambitions. I chose to shade this with a handful of greyscales and some simple
gradients, but I reckon it could have easily looked overdone if I had not been
careful.
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A Not-Unlucky Page |
INFERNO PAGE THIRTEEN
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24/02/07
Geoff
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Things are back on track somewhat this week, as here is a
new page.
There would have been page 14 too, but for us doing a single-page comic for the
UK Web and Mini Comix Thing 2007
Anthology. Whoever's reading this and is going to be there, be it known that we
plan to go too - albeit only visiting this year. Drop us a greet and we'll
make sure to try and find you.
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Escaping Reality Once More |
CANDLEMAN SHORTS #4
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17/02/07
CM Team
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What occurs when you put Candleman in a beer advertisement?
This, of course.
Special competition for ComicSpace members:
Anyone who correctly guesses the name of the cat in the video has a chance of
winning a piece of exclusive Candleman artwork!
Submit your guess by placing a comment at
www.comicspace.com/candleman. (If there's more than one correct answer, we'll
draw the winner at random.)
It's not hard, honestly. Try it, go on!
Plus there's our new VIDEO section, where all
the previous Candleman Shorts and various animated Flash clips are kept as an
ongoing archive. We also plan on introducing some better-quality downloadable
versions of the video clips in the near future.
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Still-ish but Beautiful |
INFERNO PAGE ELEVEN
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03/02/07
Geoff
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Yes, kiddies, it's time for page eleven.
I only managed to colour in one page this week as, frankly, it was bloody
difficult. The colours and lighting were a real neck-pain to figure out neatly,
even though Chris did me a rough guide for them. (which helped a lot, thanks
buddy.)
I'm very pleased with the outcome though, even though it's quite a still page.
That's mostly because if I started to move something on the panels with all the
little people, everything else would look like it needed moving around - and
would take a great deal longer. And probably wouldn't be worth it too.
10th Feb = Page 12 = more animation, though!
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The Magic Starts to Work |
INFERNO PAGES NINE AND TEN
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27/01/07
Geoff
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Check out pages nine and
ten - the finest so far!
It seems to me that these first ten pages of INFERNO have acted like some
sort of bizarre digital snow-dance - not with one's fingers, mind. Although that
would be interesting to see.
The only real snow we've had this winter fell last weekend, as the locals will
testify. I might have gone out and taken some pictures, but It was freezing cold
and three in the morning.
I did however observe that snow makes the sky a lot
brighter in the might than I thought it did! Oops. Call it "artistic license"
that the sky's a bit too dark in the beginning of INFERNO. I live
therefore I learn.
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Not One but Two |
DOUBLE INFERNO UPDATE
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13/01/07
Geoff
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Here we are with not one, but TWO new pages for INFERNO.
Pages six and seven
are now see-able. It's almost is if my colouring 'n' stuff is speeding up!
At least two more next Saturday.
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