The Art contest @ MCM Midlands Expo was judged by members of Inspired comics and Willie Hewes of Itch publishing. We were impressed with many of the entries, and it was hard job again to pick just four winners. We have only four prizes to give away, but for each category, we also picked runners up, art we felt deserved special mention.

PRE-MADE:

This category is for those of you who made drawings at home, and brought them in. We did not get very many entries in this category, so next year, don’t forget to bring a drawing in for a chance to win prizes.

Under 16:
WINNER:

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Jessica Parry for this beautiful soft pencil drawing. The judges were particularly impressed with the detail in the eyes of the characters and the very soft textures. Well done, some Letraset goodies will be coming your way soon!

RUNNER-UPS
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Beatrice Robbins, for these 3 very bold and cute characters. The expressions are great and a good choice of markers for colouring.

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Orlaith Baker
, for this great digital drawing. It has a great overall atmosphere and interesting positioning on the page giving it a feeling of movement.

Over 16:
WINNER

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Tyler Wilson for this bold digital piece. The lighting is interesting and makes the character really stand out from the background. You too win some arts materials from Letraset.

RUNNER-UP

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Ashley Mountford
, for this interesting drawing of 2 characters interacting. The shadows are bold and the characters have subtle expressions.

ARTISTS ALLEY:

This is the category for all those who sat down and drew something cool on the spot. The Artists Alley was busy all day, so we had a lot of great stuff to choose from, and it was hard to pick the winners.

Under 16:
WINNER

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Isabel Grainger drew a pretty blue haired character. The judges agreed that the bright colouring and bold shadows made it really stand out. Congratulations, Letraset will send you your goodies soon!

RUNNER-UPS

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Liz/Kyle Crompton for these 3 very different characters. Judges particularly loved the expression of the red haired character.

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Xantia Alloop for this pencil and pen drawing. We really loved the depth given by the background and the overall mood of the drawing. Gloomy, but very nicely done.

16 and over:

WINNER


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Fiona Robertson for this lovely Alice picture. The markers were used well to create soft lighting and the pose is great. We also loved the very dopey-looking Cheshire Cat. You win… some goodies from Letraset!

RUNNERS-UP

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Emily McGorman has a bold and distinctive style. We really loved the skill with the markers and the thick and thin line weights used.

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Bethany Carless-Turland for this great stylised image. The lighting is bold and the addition of the hand makes the image more interesting.


The good people at Letraset will send the prizes to the winners of each category, Jessica Parry, Tyler Wilson, Isabel Grainger and Fiona Robertson, soon.

To everyone who was commended: well done, we love your stuff! If we can see more of your work anywhere online, why not leave a comment to point us to it?

Well done and thank you to everyone who entered the competition. There were many more excellent pictures, but we can only put so many up on the website. We hope you had fun, and if you didn’t win, please try again!

{ 10 comments }

Since I keep getting complimented on it, I thought I’d give you my thoughts on how to have a website that’s easy to navigate. Because it’s not super genius stuff. In fact, it requires you to pretend to be stupid. Fun!

Finding the sugar in a strange kitchen

teaandsugarHaving a site that’s easy to navigate is very important, it makes a big difference to how people experience your site, and how likely they are to come back and have a good impression of you. The reason many sites are not easy to navigate is that the navigation system needs to be about three times clearer and more obvious than you think it does. It’s like having a well-laid out kitchen: of course, it’s obvious to you where you keep the sugar, but a guest trying to make a cup of tea will probably open every cupboard before finding it.

A navigation menu across the top, like you see above, is the internet standard. Standard is good, because it means people understand it. It’s like keeping your cutlery in the top drawer: your guest may have to go through all the cupboards to find the sugar, the first place they’ll look for a teaspoon is the top drawer. If that’s where it is, they’ll be happy.

When it comes to navigation, boring is good. Same as everyone else is what you should aim for.

The ‘home’ link should be on the far left, because that’s where people go looking for that particular teaspoon. If you have a ‘contact me’ page, having it on the right is smart. For other labels, the order is not so important. What the labels say, however, is vitally important. If there is any conceivable doubt in anyone’s conceivable mind where the navigation link goes, it’s not clear enough.

An example

Say you’re an artist putting some of your work online. You want to have different pages for sketches, linedrawings and colour pieces. To keep things concise, you decide to go with:

Home : About : Sketch : Finished : Colour : Comics : Commissions

Let me stress that this isn’t a bad navigation menu. A reasonably intelligent person will, in context, work out what they’re going to get when they click on ‘Finished’. But it could be better, because the best navigation labels do not require any working out. People don’t like working out. It’s tiring.

‘Colour’ doesn’t really do what it say on the tin. You’re not showing people colours, or selling them colours (paints, perhaps?) or writing an essay about colour, you’re going to give them pictures. ‘Finished’ is even worse.

What’s finished? Who’s finished? Am I finished?

And, believe it or not, people who aren’t illustrators often don’t know what commissions are. Or rather, that’s not the word they use when they think about what they want. They’re looking for an artist to draw them a picture.

I would go for something like this:

Home : About me : Sketches : B/W illustrations : Colour illustrations : Comics : Hire me

Of course, the ‘me’ in this menu will only work if the visitor already knows you’re an artist. So that needs to be clear, too.

How to be stupid

If you’re not sure your navigation labels are clear enough, try to intentionally misunderstand them. Take them out of context. Look for ambiguity. Think of what it might mean, to an idiot. To someone who stumbled onto your page by accident. Then, think of a clearer label, and try to misunderstand that. Really put some thought into it, and then pick the one that’s least misunderstandable. You’re not going to get it perfect. But it’s worth the effort to try.

Try to think like an idiot. Again, it’s obvious to you what things mean because it’s your kitchen. Doing things that feel kind of lame and too obvious are generally just about right, when it comes to website navigation.

Putting a big label with “TEA AND SUGAR” on your own kitchen cupboard will get you funny looks, yes. If it were a kitchen in some kind of public space though, say, in a building where evening classes are being taught, it’d be really handy, and people will appreciate it.

Oh, look, sugar. That’s what I was looking for!

{ 3 comments }

Happy Birthday ITCH

3 January, 2010

in About ITCH

bdaypicHappy new year everyone, and, yes, this is also ITCH’s birthday. Two years ago, I started my little publishing business as a way to help artists get their work into print and into the hands of eager readers.

I kept meeting these great scribblers, you see, who for some reason didn’t manage the step from finished comic to printed book. I wanted to help them, on a small scale and in a principled way: it is important to me that creators own their own creations, and are in a position to profit from their own work.

In the last two years, ITCH has grown a lot: more events, more books in print, a better website with growing visitor numbers and a bigger audience.

More recently, I’ve been coming up against the limits of this growth, though. I am still only one person, and my resources are limited. By resources, I don’t just mean money, I mostly mean time, or even practical things like suitcase space. The number of books I can get printed in a year is limited, and so is the number of books I can carry when going to events. I look at the folder of submissions I haven’t responded to yet (I’m sorry!) and I know that I’m going to have to turn some of these people down, even though they are very good, because I just don’t have the capacity.

That kinda sucks.

Another issue is that, embarrassingly, ITCH is kinda running low on money. That’s because ITCH doesn’t make any money, and doesn’t pay for itself. It’s financial fortunes are tied to mine, and I’m in a place right now where I really have to keep a close eye on my spending. And that includes my spending on ITCH. Ya, I know. Sucks. I’m not out of money, but I now need to be a lot more selective about what books I print, how many, what events I go to, etc.

So… I’ve been thinking about what my mission really is, what I want from ITCH and what you guys need. My mission is still to help bright, skilled, talented but inexperienced artists to get their work into print and into the hands of people who will love it. That’s still what I want to do; it makes me feel meaningful. But I’ve been looking for a different way to do it, because my current way of working has reached the limits of its usefulness.

Perhaps, when it comes to publishing, you don’t really need me (or anyone else) to do it all for you. Many of the books (not just comic books) I read last year were self published. The authors had done it all themselves, by gaining the skills they needed and/or hiring expertise where necessary, and doing their own unique thing, start to finish. And they were a success.

They didn’t have any super powers or secret knowledge that allowed them to do this. And let me be very clear about this: I don’t have any super powers either. No angel came down from heaven and anointed me a publisher. I just started doing stuff. I did a lot of dumb stuff, and I learned, and now I do slightly smarter stuff. But I’m still not special. And everything I’ve learned, I can teach you. Everyone I’ve met, I can point them to you. If some of the technical stuff, like building a website, is daunting to you, I can do it for you. Rather than trying to publish all the cool stuff out there myself, I can give you the tools and knowledge to do it, and then get out of the way so your audience can easily find you, and get the awesome sauce straight from your brain.

This would allow me to stay true to my mission and principles, potentially help far more of you than I currently can, and it also means that if ITCH were to ever completely fall on its butt, you can say, “thanks for all the fish” and be fine. That’s important, because ITCH is a one-person business. I get sick — nothing happens for a week. I fall off my bike and crack my skull open — nothing happens again, ever. I’m young and healthy and doing just fine thank you, but still.

Now, this doesn’t mean I’m going to stop doing what I currently do. As you may know, I’m in the middle of putting Leek & Sushi 2 together, and there’s a couple of other books currently in the works (like The Pariah’s Urn) and they’re not being scrapped. There are some events I may have to skip this year, but I’ll definitely be at the London Expos. And yes, you can still send submissions, as before.

I’m expanding the definition of what I do, not announcing a radical change of direction. But you may notice some ongoing adjustments, and occasionally new services or… other changes. I hope you’ll stick around to see what I’m cooking up for you.

Here’s to you in 2010.

{ 6 comments }

What’s going on?

30 November, 2009

in About ITCH

No, this illustration isn't relevant. I felt like having a picture, dammit!

No, this illustration isn't relevant. I felt like having a picture, dammit!

First off, to anyone who’s reading this as a feed, sorry, it went a bit funny there! Should be all right now. Thanks for you patience.

So you may have noticed that the ITCH site looks a little bit different this week. This is because, erm, it broke. I tried to update my theme, and then I tried to do some other stuff, and then all of a sudden my site was gone and I had to reinstall it. At least I’m getting faster at that as time goes on.

Second important point is that if you sent me your comic for Leek & Sushi 2 by the deadline of the 25th of November, you should by now have word about whether you’re in or not. If you have a hotmail account and you didn’t get word: 1) get an e-mail address that works already and 2) drop me a line.

If I got your entry late, I’m considering it. You’ll hear from me soon.

Work is under way to make Leek & Sushi 2 the biggest, bestest, most widely distributed ITCH book yet. It will have a high level of sweet and uplifting, with healthy doses of funny and the occasional profound. Super double plus thanks to everyone who submitted something, or encouraged other to submit something, or talked about the book, or got the first Leek & Sushi etc. etc.

Seriously guys, I wouldn’t be doing this if not for your support and enthusiasm, big thanks. Keep an eye on the blog for updates and word on how you can help Leek & Sushi put on their best show yet.

{ 4 comments }

In Production: The Pariah's Urn

November 21, 2009

New book coming up!
The Pariah’s Urn is a fantasy adventure with arcane magic and scoundrellous thieves. It’s currently in production, and it’s hard to tell you anything about when it might be out, but I didn’t think it was too early to let you have a peek at YdAo’s great-looking art and solid fantasy world.
Check [...]

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News! Important! Etc!

November 17, 2009

1. I understand that some of you are really stressing about the deadline, and the resizing and formatting, and how to get it all sorted in time. I don’t want to put off deciding on the selection for the book much longer, but of course I want you all to have an opportunity to submit [...]

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I may be disappearing a little while…

November 8, 2009

I thought moving house would be hassly, and might involve a couple of days without internet access, but I didn’t count on three weeks without internet access. O_o That’s what I’m getting though, so I thought I should let you know.
What this means:
Not a lot. It means I can’t do a lot of the stuff [...]

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New Book: Super Jax!

November 2, 2009

ITCH is extremely proud to present: Super Jax, a stand-alone super hero comic by Karen Yumi Lusted (famous for Final Blossom, Leek and Sushi and the art book Secret Colours).
Super Jax was available at the MCM Expo, and has prompted people to say nice things like:
“I got Super Jax – really enjoyed it, it was [...]

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MCM Expo – the usual crazy

October 29, 2009

Remember when I used to get someone to take a picture of me at my table, at events? And then I switched to just taking a picture of the table myself, without me in it? And now I don’t even have a picture at all?! I really need to work on a way to remember [...]

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Poorcraft: a to-be book on living well on less

October 17, 2009

So, the blog is still in hibernation mode, but I came across this cool thing and I just thought it worth mentioning quickly. Spike is the writer and artist for “Templar: Arizona”, one of the top webcomics out there (I likes it). She’s writing a book on how to live well on a cartoonists salary [...]

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